Sexual abuse victim speaks out after former teacher convicted on 21 counts

 TUCSON (KVOA) - They say the "wheels of justice move slowly." For one Tucson woman, it took 20 years, but her abuser was finally held accountable.

"It is a roller coaster. One day I feel very strong, very empowered . The next day it really hits home of wow, what was done to me was so bad that this person has now been found guilty by a jury of 12 men and 12 women of all counts of what was done to me," said Stephanie Langlitz.

Langlitz was a 14-year old student at Ironwood Ridge High School, in the Amphi School District, when her teacher, Mark Lindrud, sexually abused her. He taught at the school from August 2002 to May 2003. Lindrud was arrested last year in Aurora, Colorado, where he was teaching in the Aurora Public School District.

Last month Langlitz testified against him in his trial.

"So I had to get up there and it was uncomfortable. It was very unpleasant. We did have to go through very explicit details," she said...

https://www.kvoa.com/news/sexual-abuse-victim-speaks-out-after-former-teacher-convicted-on-21-counts/article_03c18c6e-0600-11ed-b6e3-732b0061a9e0.html

'Disgusting:'10-year-old and his Mother take on Baltimore County Public School Lunches

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — It was the courage and public speaking skills of a 10-year-old on display before the Baltimore County School Board in June.

"There’s mold sometimes expired and unhealthy ingredients, does this look like lunch to you? Would you eat this? asked Matthew Reedholm.

Complete with a poster board with pictures, Matthew Reedholm described the food he said was being served at his elementary school...

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/city-in-crisis/disgusting-10-year-old-and-his-mother-take-on-baltimore-county-public-school-lunches

Montgomery Co. schools, teachers union at odds over involuntary transfers

The superintendent of Maryland’s largest school system said Monday that the county is operating within the confines of its contract with the teachers union by moving teachers to different schools as a result of a staffing shortage.

At a schools safety summit Monday, Monifa McKnight said that Montgomery County Public Schools is “working within our contract” to address staffing challenges.

Five teachers have been involuntarily transferred from Sherwood High School, said a county spokesman. But Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, said the number of involuntary transfers is unusually large...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/07/montgomery-co-schools-teachers-union-at-odds-over-involuntary-transfers/

Here's a thread with many places that are mandating masks! Please let us know if you hear of other places!

 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1550719279112355840.html

Masks are now required indoors at San Diego Unified School District schools, offices

 

Indoor mask mandates returned Monday for the San Diego Unified School District schools and offices as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations tick up in the county.

Mandatory masking in indoor public spaces will be required for all students, teachers and staff at least through the end of summer school...

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/masks-now-required-indoors-san-diego-unified-school/story?id=87008125

We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. [This is NOT about @mcps @mocoboe]

Abrome

Our 2021-22 academic year just ended yesterday.

We just finished our 3rd year without a single case of COVID-19 in the space. That means not a single person was exposed “at school.” Doubly impressive given the transmissibility of the current variants.

How did we do it? 

First, we prioritized community care over white, upper middle class, reactionary insecurity. We recognized early on that COVID was falling heaviest on BIPOC communities, the immunocompromised, those without access to quality healthcare, etc. All our decisions centered them. 

Second, we acknowledged that nothing we do impacts only those at Abrome. All Facilitators (“teachers”) and young people (“students”) go home to families, friends, and into other communities each day. If we were to spread COVID at Abrome, we’d spread it elsewhere, too. 

Third, there is no such thing as a harmless single case of COVID that someone with “a healthy immune system” can overcome. Each case has the potential to seed a superspreader event. Each case has the potential to host a mutation that can become a new variant. 

So we focused on two things.

1) not bringing COVID into our education community.
2) not spreading COVID if it did find its way into the community. 

To not bring it in we started with going remote during periods of very high spread. This was easy in the spring of 2020 when all schools chose to do the same. It got much harder in 2021 & 2022 when society bought into the argument that kids and teachers should accept infection. 

We also had each family conduct a daily COVID screening. If someone showed up having not completed it we did it with them in-person before allowing them to enter the space / join the group. 

It worked. During every wave we had some students or staff get infected outside of Abrome, but because of our practices none brought it into the community (which would have then spread out beyond the community). 

To not spread it if it snuck into the community we acknowledged that #COVIDisAirborne. We mandated masks whenever indoors. KF94, KN95, N95, or better. Zero indoor “mask breaks.” And folks had to go outdoors to eat.

Outdoors they had to wear masks when close to each other. 

And we went outdoors for the entirety of the 2020-2021 academic year! In the Texas heat! This year we had at least one cell of people outdoors pretty much each day except when we went remote during Delta and Omicron. During very high levels of spread, everyone went outdoors. 

We also filtered our indoor air. Each room was equipped with HEPA filtration systems or Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, each with a CADR that would deliver at least 6 ACH per room based on room volume, and 8 ACH in bathrooms. 

“Sure, but you can only do that because you’re a well-funded private school!!”

Wrong. We are not a rich private school. Our sliding scale tuition give us only 40% of the tuition per student that the local public schools receive. We just prioritize community care! 

On top of filtering the air we ventilated the indoor space. We opened windows and created lots of cross flow. We used CO2 monitors as a proxy measure for ventilation. When the readings went above 650 we cranked the AC and opened the windows further, if it hit 800 we vacated. 

We implemented capacity limits indoors, for each room and for the total number who could be indoors at any given time.

We also broke our community up into smaller and smaller groups/cells as cases rose. And pushed them outdoors. It is safer outdoors. 

If someone would have inadvertently come into the space / group infected, the smaller cells limited the pool of people who could be exposed.

No one came in infected (as much luck as it was preventative policies) but even if they did the number they could infect was capped. 

When the CDC catered to politicians and corporations and said that local spread should not be the driver of how we choose to meet, we ignored them. When the CDC said that we could drastically shorten quarantine and isolation periods, or not require testing out, we ignored them. 

Next year we will also have a vaccine mandate except in very rare cases of medical necessity (everyone in our community is vaccinated already). 

The pandemic has really tested our community. Centering community care has put a big dent in our enrollment. But we understand our obligations toward our families, our community, and our society. 

We benefited greatly from the scientists who were not beholden to corporate or politician interests for helping us think about our policies. Shoutout to @PeoplesCDC @kprather88 @JimRosenthal4 @tylerblack32 @linseymarr @HuffmanLabDU @EricTopol and many others!! 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1545758673242411009.html

Most voters couldn’t recall who they picked as their school board candidates as they left their voting sites.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/19/early-results-would-move-montgomery-school-board-incumbents-nov-election/ 

@mcps Still Not Able to Run all Summer School Buses

 The following summer program bus routes do not have coverage for the morning of July 21. This list is up to date as of 7:45 a.m.

Route #	AM Schools	PM Schools
S2422	Northwest HS @Clemente/Darnestown	Northwest HS @Clement/Darnestown ES
S2502	Poolesville HS/ Maryvale ES	Poolesville HS/Maryvale ES
S2110	Clarksburg HS/Gibbs/Clarksburg ES	Clarksburg HS/Gibbs/Clarksburg ES

3M scientists: This Corsi-Rosenthal box movement is legit

 What can you build with duct tape, air filters, and a box fan?

This might sound like the set up for a dad joke, but according to new insights from 3M, the answer is less of a punchline and more a breath of fresh air: Corsi-Rosenthal boxes.

What is a Corsi-Rosenthal box?

The box is a do-it-yourself air filtration device that is an alternative to traditional air purifiers on the market. It was popularized by an indoor air quality researcher and an air filtration expert in the summer of 2020 and designed to help reduce the number of virus-laden aerosol particles in indoor settings.

The design is straightforward. You need one box fan, four high-quality air filters, duct tape and some cut-out cardboard. Most boxes can be constructed in less than 45 minutes with materials costing about $80 to $100.

But does it work?

The short answer is yes.

https://news.3m.com/2022-02-24-3M-scientists-This-Corsi-Rosenthal-box-movement-is-legit

Traffic Study for the new Woodward High School on Old Georgetown Road

 Parents' Coalition has obtained the traffic study that was completed for the new Woodward High School, now being constructed on the east side of Old Georgetown Road. The study was completed in 2020. The data are from before the operation of the expanded Luxmanor Elementary School and the Tilden Middle School/Rock Terrace co-located schools and so are out of date. One of the conclusions nevertheless is that the intersection of Tuckerman Lane and Old Georgetown Road will fail, i.e., will be 'unacceptable' during "...the morning peak hour..." (page 19 of the report). Read the study here.

Woodward High School Traffic Study-3 by freestategal on Scribd

Fairfax County Public Schools employees face embezzlement charges after police say they stole more than $2 million in laptops that were set to be auctioned.

...The investigation began after detectives were notified in March of “several thousand Fairfax County Public School laptops that were believed to be illegally reallocated,” police said in a statement. They were stored at a warehouse in the 6800 block of Industrial Road and were set to be auctioned...

 https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/fairfax-county-school-employees-accused-of-stealing-up-to-35k-laptops/3105693/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand&fbclid=IwAR2oCMc-vOq6z6q_XS7EehON-O3ulZDNBnldFSBBNq8KIdOLNrgIYwSUecI

July Election: Only 25,000 Mail In Ballots Turned in by Monday out of 88,000 Requested

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/07/20/elrich-and-blair-are-tied-again-in-montgomery-cassily-fitzwater-haire-and-mcdonough-romp/

BRIEF: MOVEMENT BREAKS IN THE CLASSROOM IN BOSTON, MA

This brief summarizes a CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership model examining a strategy to integrate movement breaks into school classrooms in Boston, MA. This strategy incorporates five-to-10-minute classroom physical activity breaks during class time in kindergarten to fifth grade classrooms. 

THE ISSUE

One in three first-graders in Boston has overweight or obesity.1 Being physically active can support children in growing up at a healthy weight, though not all schools provide students with the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week or 30 minutes per day.2,3 Regular physical activity can boost brain health, including improved cognition and reduced symptoms of depression.4 Students who are physically active also tend to have better grades, attendance at school, and stronger muscles and bones.4...

https://choicesproject.org/publications/brief-movement-breaks-boston/

COVID-19 vaccine will be included in back-to-school shot requirements for DC students ages 12-15.

COVID-19 vaccine will be included in back-to-school shot requirements for DC students ages 12-15. DC Council passed legislation last year requiring the FDA-(fully) approved vaccine for eligible students.

— Scott Gelman (@Gelman_Scott) July 19, 2022

3 Teens Charged in Carjacking After Leaving @mcps Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents in Rockville

...The man got out of the vehicle, and three teenagers piled in and drove away, the police said.

At about the same time, the police said, they were notified that three teenagers — two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old — had left without authorization from the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents, a school and residential treatment facility for children and adolescents about a mile away...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/07/3-teens-charged-with-rockville-md-carjacking/

 

Loudon County: "The School Board is not above the law,"

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/judge-allows-grand-jury-to-investigate-how-loudoun-county-public-schools-handled-sex-assault-cases

Whitman HS Artificial Turf Football Field Fails Again. @mcps Pays for Upkeep on this field. What's the total so far?

After the zeolite infill failed at the @WWHSAthletics new artificial turf field, they replace it with a wood infill called #Brockfill. They promised it would not float or migrate. Then it rained. #whatabrock #fieldofbaddreams #hotmess @mocoboe @MCPSAthletics @bdubbsonline pic.twitter.com/xrwmV1Ku8R

— Safe Healthy Fields (@SHPFC) July 14, 2022

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Breaking: Whitman HS Artificial Turf Field has Failed. 3 Yr Old Field not draining at required rate, infill must be removed.

https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2022/02/breaking-whitman-hs-artificial-turf.html

. @MCFRS Fire Investigators recently arrested Bill Clinton GOMEZ, Rockville, age 18, Charged w/ 2nd degree arson, vacant house

.@MCFRS Fire Investigators recently arrested Bill Clinton GOMEZ, Rockville, age 18, Charged w/ 2nd degree arson, vacant house (4/23/2022 N. Horners La, Rockville), along w/ a juvenile, both Charged w/arson, motor vehicle theft (April & June car fires) & other charges pic.twitter.com/tqpGzEVaup

— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) July 14, 2022

Breaking: ‘Unaware’ of Changed Deadlines, MCPS Did Not Hold Reviews of Violent Incidents in Time

After-action reviews of stabbings at Montgomery Blair and Clarksburg high schools during the recently-completed school year were not conducted within the required 45 days.

The Maryland Center for School Safety must be notified of any “critical, life-threatening incident” that takes place in a public school within 24 hours after the school learns of the incident. MCPS did notify the state in the proper time...

...Edward Clarke, Montgomery County Public School Chief Safety Officer, who was the former director of the Maryland Center for School Safety, was unaware the timeline reporting requirements..

https://www.mymcmedia.org/unaware-of-changed-deadlines-mcps-did-not-hold-reviews-of-violent-incidents-in-time/?fbclid=IwAR2sflOaith6eN8K_-WkwKsS5Ror3GSw9ECB2Y1_nTV2l7MrG4fGtAKZwcY

Public Notice: .@SenatorSusanLee .@DelArianaKelly .@mkorman .@SaraLove4MD .@Andrew_Friedson can't say they never heard about the plan for a cell tower on the home team bleachers at new North Bethesda high school.

@SenatorSusanLee @DelArianaKelly @mkorman @SaraLove4MD @Andrew_Friedson You all going to tell yr constituents about cell tower going on home team bleachers at new high school? Or are you just going to let parents be surprised? This is your public notice. https://t.co/No9xr5XGfK pic.twitter.com/NvnPfGknrc

— Parents' Coalition (@PCMC1) July 18, 2022

@mcps Still Can't Find Bus Drivers for Summer Programs, Including Special Education Schools

 IMPORTANT MESSAGE: 7/18/2022 at 8:02 AM -- Refresh page to update message

The following bus routes will not be served on July 18 due to staffing challenges, S2422, 2502, 2216, 2307, 4304, 4415, 4237, 4605 and 4406. Visit the Department of Transportation website for up to date information

The following summer program bus routes do not have coverage for the morning of July 18. This list is up to date as of  8:00 a.m.

 

Route #	AM Schools	PM Schools
S2422	Northwest HS & Darnestown ES	Northwest HS & Darnestown ES
S2502	Poolesville HS & Maryvale ES	Poolesville HS & Maryvale ES
S2216	Clarksburg HS & Little Bennet ES	Clarksburg HS & Little Bennet ES
S2307	Jones Lane ES & Marshall ES	Jones Lane ES & Marshall ES
S4304		Rica  &  Matsunaga ES
S4415	Longview	Longview
S4237	Seneca Valley HS   &  Watkins Mill ES	Seneca Valley HS   &  Watkins Mill ES
S4605	Katherine Thomas	Beall ES   &   Katherine Thomas
S4406	Longview	Longview

Two Juveniles Arrested Following Germantown Robbery

 For Immediate Release: Friday, July 15, 2022

Gaithersburg, MD - Two 14-year-old boys have been arrested following a robbery in a Germantown store.

On Thursday, July 7, 2022, at approximately 6 p.m., Montgomery County police officers were dispatched to the Tobacco and Vape Zone in the 13000 block of Wisteria Dr. in Germantown.

Earlier that day, at approximately 3:15 p.m., a store employee was sitting outside the store when three teenagers approached the front of the store. The employee recognized the three teens and told all three they were too young to enter the store, and to leave. Words were exchanged between the teens and the employee, and the teens left.

A short time later, two of the juveniles retuned, with suspect number one wearing a black ski mask covering his face and head. He walked quickly to the front door and entered the store. As the employee stood up to stop him from going inside, suspect number two attempted to hit the victim.

Once inside the store, suspect number one went behind the store counter. The employee followed and attempted to remove him from behind the counter. There was a physical altercation between suspect number one and the store employee. The suspect then grabbed several tobacco products. The victim attempted to call 911 but the suspect knocked the phone out of his hands.

Suspect number two, who had been outside, put his ski mask on and entered the store. Both suspects then fled the store and ran behind the shopping center.

On July 8, 2022, a 5th District patrol officer recognized the suspects from the robbery after seeing their pictures. He observed three juveniles walking on Century Blvd near Crystal Rock Dr. The officer exited his marked patrol car and asked the group to stop.  All three juveniles ran.  After a brief foot chase, suspect number one was apprehended. He was arrested and transported to the 5D station. 

Suspect number two was located a short time later.

Suspect number one has been charged with robbery, while suspect number two has been charged with attempted second-degree assault. The Montgomery County Department of Juvenile Services was notified of their arrests, and both have been released to their parents.

# # #

https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail_Pol.aspx?Item_ID=41879&fbclid=IwAR1HBudrO7PPONodzEg0_xyrH-g5zdbGpoAMrCM2oGt2h-77lrbLW1TGWn4

Cell Tower Collapses on Football Stadium Bleachers. Could this happen at @mcps Woodward High School site? Absolutely.

The Montgomery County Board of Education has secretly decided to put a cell tower in the bleachers at the football/soccer/lacrosse stadium they are building at the site of the former Woodward High School in North Bethesda.

The image shown is from the flyover video shown to the Board of Education in April 2022.  

Not a single Board of Education member said a word about the placement of the cell tower in the home team bleachers.  

This image shows what happens when a cell tower catches fire and falls on the football stadium bleachers at a high school in California.  The full story is in the video: 

The Montgomery County Board of Education knows not to say a word about putting a cell tower in stadium bleachers because they already know that parents and guardians are vehemently opposed to a cell tower in stadium bleachers. 

Just watch the first 10 minutes of the Wootton High School meeting shown in the video below where the Board of Education wanted to put a cell tower under the football stadium bleachers.  

To say parents, guardians and community members were opposed to this proposal would be a massive understatement.  In order to avoid hearing from parents and guardians again on this idea, the current Board of Education just isn't going to tell them.