Kids need fresh air to learn. This is known. Fresh air improves cognitive function. This is known. Your kid’s classroom probably does not have fresh air, and easily could. pic.twitter.com/2UTSVX9Vnn
— Joe Oliver (@joeolivermd) August 27, 2022
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Kids need fresh air to learn. This is known. Fresh air improves cognitive function. This is known. Your kid’s classroom probably does not have fresh air, and easily could.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Two Bethesda Juveniles Arrested on Vandalism Charges
Gaithersburg, MD - Two juvenile males from Bethesda have been arrested, following multiple vandalism incidents at Pyle Middle School.
On Sunday, June 25, at approximately 11:35 p.m., Montgomery County Police 2nd District officers were called to the 6300 block of Wilson Lane in Bethesda, for the report of a vandalism that just occurred.
The responding officer spoke with school security, who stated they witnessed two juvenile males painting graffiti on the back of the school building. They were seen leaving the area on bicycles.
The second incident occurred on Saturday, July 20, at the same location. The responding officer met with the school principal, who stated two male juveniles were seen spray painting vulgarities on the school walls, basketball court and track.
The principal believed the individuals appeared to be the same subjects involved in the first vandalism at the school.
Officers were called to the school again, on Sunday, August 21. Responding officers discovered that a wall near the baseball field had been vandalized with spray paint.
During the course of the investigation, two juvenile males were identified and charged on August 24 and August 26, with three counts of malicious destruction of property, related to the vandalisms on the above dates. The juveniles were released to their parents and their cases are now being handled by the Montgomery County Department of Juvenile Services. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) may apply disciplinary measures in accordance with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct.
# # #
Release ID: 22-434
Media Contact: S.D. Goff
Categories: vandalism
Equivalent CO2 - A New Invention I've been working with @KashPrime on the Raven Clean Air Map. https://ravenapp.org/cleanair We want to use CO2 to assess our risk of airborne transmission, but monitoring CO2 has a bunch of limitations. Is there any way we can address them?
Equivalent CO2 - A New Invention
— Joey Fox, P. Eng, M.A.Sc (@joeyfox85) August 23, 2022
I've been working with @KashPrime on the Raven Clean Air Map. https://t.co/RulXcH0D4T
We want to use CO2 to assess our risk of airborne transmission, but monitoring CO2 has a bunch of limitations. Is there any way we can address them?
1/11 pic.twitter.com/GluJFfq9SN
Monday, August 29, 2022
In case you're having difficulty locating the actual Community *Transmission* Map (since the CDC apparently keeps making it harder to get to on the site) here is an updated link.
In case you're having difficulty locating the actual Community *Transmission* Map (since the CDC apparently keeps making it harder to get to on the site) here is an updated link. (And yes, that's today's map shown below.)https://t.co/T6tza0y0lm pic.twitter.com/z7SvYyYtlm
— Stephanie Tait ♿️ (@StephTaitWrites) August 18, 2022
Teachers are now spending an average of $820 of their own money on school supplies
Kentucky: 👂 AUDIO ENHANCEMENT | By the end of this school year, all @JCPSKY classrooms will have audio enhancement systems that amplify teacher and student voices, making it easier to hear!
👂 AUDIO ENHANCEMENT | By the end of this school year, all @JCPSKY classrooms will have audio enhancement systems that amplify teacher and student voices, making it easier to hear!
— JCPS (@JCPSKY) August 19, 2022
📺 Watch to learn how this system has already made a difference at @BowenBees! ⬇️ #WeAreJCPS pic.twitter.com/mnvOOzQUm9
Friday, August 26, 2022
Biden Brings His Own Ventilation to @mcps High School #COVIDisAirborne #CO2
On Thursday, August 26, 2022, President Joe Biden held a rally in the gym of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Montgomery County is currently in a period of HIGH COVID-19 Transmission with a Positivity Rate of 11.65%. What's a President to do with a potential super spreader event? Why, bring his own ventilation, of course!
"respiratory etiquette"**
Take a look at the air handling units that were added to the outside of the Richard Montgomery High School gym for President Biden's rally.
How do MCPS students that use this gym year round get the same type of ventilation upgrade for their use of this space?
**So in 2022,
@mcps
takes a hard pass on ventilation/air purification upgrades but leans in on Here’s the other side of the wall. Look what they have to do to cool that Rocket air! 🚀 👊 pic.twitter.com/TIlaLxZeOt
— Jeremy Koenig 📚 (@KoenigRMHS) August 25, 2022
Meanwhile, MCPS parents continue to advocate for the Board of Education to acknowledge that #COVIDisAirborne. The President of the United States gets it, why doesn't the Board of Education get it?
So in 2022, @mcps takes a hard pass on ventilation/air purification upgrades but leans in on <checks notes> "respiratory etiquette" pic.twitter.com/9s7l2auyEa
— Lloyd Matthews (@Mlloyd_2010) August 25, 2022
Every time someone says we are in a “different place” in the pandemic and “have the tools” to operate schools safely and without disruption… ask them how many local schools have classrooms with 6+ air exchanges per hour; had their HVAC systems upgraded?
Every time someone says we are in a “different place” in the pandemic and “have the tools” to operate schools safely and without disruption… ask them how many local schools have classrooms with 6+ air exchanges per hour; had their HVAC systems upgraded?
This report highlights the time that has been squandered by far too many regions despite funding available. Through a widespread failing, these disparities hit poor and predominantly minority schools hardest.
These improvements truly could make schools a safer and healthier environment for the long term, yet the confluence of minimizing the impact of COVID on kids, habitual lack of support of 💰, & the demonization of teachers who called for safer working conditions has led us here.
CDC’s new guidance on the acquiescence to a new “normal” calls for the use of prevention methods that we know are not being used sufficiently in most places, and resists those that could help stem the tide in their stead.
This is isn’t public health.
This is isn’t public health.
H/T to @betsyladyzhets for her piece in Time highlighting this issue.
Please also look to experts such as @jonlevyBU who approach this issue mindful of the inequity that exists in environmental health for schools.
• • •
Thread by @pwhickey on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
Toronto: Website logs carbon dioxide levels to help assess COVID-19 risk
By Dilshad Burman
Posted Aug 23, 2022, 6:11PM EDT.
Last Updated Aug 23, 2022, 6:37PM EDT.
A new web app aims to help people assess their risk of contracting COVID-19 in a particular space by logging carbon dioxide (CO2) levels at different locations across the city.
The app was developed by a three-person team including Toronto emergency room physician Dr. Kashif Pirzada.
“Lets say you’re in a room full of people — everyone breathes out carbon dioxide. If there’s a lot of carbon dioxide in that space, that means the ventilation system is not moving it out. That means all the viruses in the air from those people is still in the air too … and the more likely you are to get COVID,” he explains.
Anyone can log CO2 levels on the Raven Clean Air app wherever they are with the help of a portable monitor and the numbers are reflected on a map. Pirzada says in broad terms, outside air has a baseline CO2 level of about 420 parts per million (ppm). For indoor air, 800 to 1,000 ppm is acceptable. Above 1,000 ppm indicates poor ventilation.
“There’s about 500 users around the world in about 10 countries now. And we have about a thousand data points around the world,” says Pirzada. “Overall we have 150 cities — In Canada, where the majority of them are, maybe 70 or 80 cities.”
Currently, information is being logged both by the general public and local volunteers like pre-med students.
“I just go on to the app and then I log in where I was, the CO2 levels and the time and the weather and [approximately] how many people are in the space, what time it is and all those different details and I just log it in and that’s it,” explains volunteer Bahja Farah.
“It’s extremely useful, especially for people with underlying conditions or someone that’s vulnerable – it really helps to know whether you should be in these areas or whether you should protect yourself in these areas,” says Sidone Grange, another volunteer.
They add that it also has many practical applications in their daily lives, like deciding which restaurant to go to or whether they feel it necessary to wear a mask in an indoor space.
In addition, Pirzada says as back-to-school season approaches, monitoring CO2 levels in school will be very useful.
“CO2 is a way to tell if your school’s ventilation for your child is good. So you can share that data with other parents and you can prevent your child from getting COVID potentially,” he says. “That’s a big win because in hospitals where I work, the last wave was driven by kids getting sick, getting their parents sick, getting their grandparents sick. These people fill the hospitals and collapse the healthcare system. So getting this information out there is extremely important right now.”..
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/08/23/carbon-dioxide-monitoring-app-covid-19-prevention/
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Monkeypox cases at 10 universities so far: Texas State University, Penn State, University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, West Chester, George Washington, Bucknell and University of Delaware
Monkeypox cases at 10 universities so far: Texas State University, Penn State, University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, West Chester, George Washington, Bucknell and University of Delaware https://t.co/vc8RlesVTI
— Roland Baker 2.0 (@RolandBakerIII) August 25, 2022
What Do Masks Do to Kids? Face masks keep kids safe from Covid-19 and keep schools open. There’s no evidence they harm kids developmentally.
...The problem is, so far there is no evidence to support these claims. I talked to several speech therapists, developmental psychologists, and pediatricians, and no one has seen evidence for delayed or changed development in children because of masks. Masks probably aren’t the culprit when it comes to changes in children’s mental health, either. And about two-thirds of Americans support wearing masks, including in schools, according to several polls...
Maryland schools 'lower bar' amid shortage, despite more money to attract better teachers
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
💰💰💰 Watch as @mocoboe Wastes $500K of Education Funding. Couldn't be Bothered to Put Purchase out for Competitive Bids or Use Existing Contract.
$500,000
That's how much the Board of Education overspent on the purchase of school buses on August 23, 2022.
That's nothing in Montgomery County, Maryland, right?
Montgomery County is a wealthy county, and no one cares about spending an extra $500,000, not even when the money could have gone to paying teachers, substitutes, school staff or for classroom supplies.
Montgomery County is flush with cash.
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education approved an "emergency" purchase of $9.7 million dollars for diesel school buses.
The Board of Education already had an existing contract in place that could have been used to purchase the school buses, but they didn't bother to use that contract.
They could have put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for this purchase and taken bids, evaluated vendors (minority/women/disabled) but they didn't bother to do that either. One vendor has already filed a Protest.
They ended up spending $500,000 more than they would have if they just used the contract they already had in place.
The Board of Education meeting covered this no RFP, no bid purchase for exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
A MCPS administrator shuffled some papers around, gave no explanation for why this was an "emergency" and the Board unanimously voted to spend an extra $500,000 on school buses.
Watch:
How's in-person learning working out for @LASchools without COVID mitigations? Not great!
How's in-person learning working out for @LASchools without COVID mitigations? Not great! In this real school, one sick kid has now passed COVID to 7 other kids and their teacher, with more positives likely. Without any mitigation, more kids will lose instruction. #covidisntover pic.twitter.com/1IByH0FSlW
— LA Parents for COVID-Safe Schools (@LAParents1) August 21, 2022
Baltimore City: 'TELL THE TRUTH' | Schools 'mistakenly' emails parents private comments from leadership
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
BREAKING: Vendor Files PROTEST with @mcps over Today's EMERGENCY $9.7M Diesel Bus Purchase. EV Vendors weren't able to bid on this purchase.
Electric School Bus vendors were not permitted to bid on the MCPS procurement of 64 School Buses on August 5th. That purchase, made without a public bidding process, is set to be ratified at today's Board of Education meeting with a unanimous vote of the Board.
64 DIESEL school buses were purchased by MCPS staff on August 5th. Why didn't they consider purchasing 64 ELECTRIC school buses in alignment with the alleged goal to convert the entire MCPS bus fleet to electric?
AutoFlex Fleet Protest to M... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...
‘I’m going in’ — Montgomery Co. police on school safety, role under new agreement
Police are operating under a revised agreement on officers’ roles within schools. Maryland law requires that schools have “adequate law enforcement coverage” at each public school...
‘I’m going in’ — Montgomery Co. police on school safety, role under new agreement - WTOP News
Monday, August 22, 2022
Board of Education Expected to Vote Tuesday 8/23 on Who Makes Land Use Decisions @mocoboe @mcps
Under the request from Superintendent Monifa McKnight, “the superintendent of schools or his/her designee” will approve and execute permanent easements, utility easements, rights-of-way, rights-of-entry, memoranda of understanding for land-related issues, and land-related agreements of a routine nature with governmental entities and adjoining land owners, to provide greater administrative efficiency.”
If this consent agenda item is approved, the facilities management staff will decide issues surrounding school land and placement of cell towers and bus depots, according to the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, which was formed in 2002 for “greater transparency and accountability,” according to its self-described principles...
Anne Arundel County teacher: ‘We feel abandoned’ [Contractors in Public School Classrooms]
I build kids’ confidence along with their skills, help them through some of life’s toughest challenges, and have some of the most amazing colleagues and administrators anyone in the profession could ask for. I consider myself well-paid when it comes to the teaching field, and for that I am grateful. But, being a single mom and dealing with the rising cost of being alive, I ventured on to Indeed.com last week to look for some ways I could earn additional income to make ends meet. That’s when everything changed.
I saw a posting for a special education teacher by a company called Staff EZ. Location? The north county cluster of AACPS, where I work. The pay? $100,000. People who were not allowed to be considered for the role? Current AACPS teachers. This is a number I wouldn’t be able to earn even if I spent the rest of my career in AACPS. My heart sank. I had to know what was going on...
Anne Arundel County teacher: ‘We feel abandoned’ | GUEST COMMENTARY – Baltimore Sun
Your Kid's School Needs Better Ventilation to Help Keep COVID-19 in Check
In response, some parents and experts are trying to improve ventilation in schools, since better air quality in buildings can reduce COVID-19’s spread and even improve other health outcomes. But, despite readily available resources—including millions of dollars in funding from the federal government—many schools have not invested in upgrading their air quality...
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Tell the Montgomery County Board of Education Not to Eliminate Transparency in Land Use Decisions @mocoboe
The Montgomery County Board of Education is voting this Tuesday on a resolution that will hide controversial approvals like school cell towers and massive bus depots by delegating land use decision-making to a civil servant.
This action will remove the public scrutiny of the Board of Education having to vote on this issue.
If this resolution is approved on Tuesday, land use decisions, such as whether to install cell towers on MCPS property, will be made behind closed doors without public notice, public input, or a public vote of the Board of Education.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Send a Letter Now! CLICK HERE to tell the Board of Education to move the Delegation of Authority resolution out of the consent agenda. This item should have 30 days for public input and be left to the incoming Board. Send a Letter Now.
Contact the Board of Education TODAY
BOE Telephone: 240-740-3030
BOE Fax: 301-279-3860
Email Yourself: Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org, Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org, Shebra_L_Evans@mcpsmd.org, Rebecca_K_Smondrowski@mcpsmd.
Tues. 8/23/22: Board of Ed to Delegate Authority to Park 22 Buses at Each High School - Magruder/Wootton/RM/Rockville/Gaithersburg/Watkins Mill
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education is going to hand over the power to make major, controversial land use decisions to the Superintendent who can then hand over that power to the MCPS Director of Facilities, Seth Adams.
Under the Board of Education's current policy these same school land use decisions can only be delegated to the Superintendent and only for non-controversial matters.
But on Tuesday, that will all change with the Board vote. Not only will the Superintendent be given the power to delegate these important land use decisions to a mere staff member, but the land use decisions subject to delegation will include controversial matters.
Over 130 MCPS school buses will be parked at the following high schools: Magruder, Wootton, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Watkins Mill.
That works out to about 22 school buses parked at each high school.
In order to move the 400 school buses to these various locations, land use documents will be needed. Memorandums of Understanding, permits, easements etc...
After Tuesday, August 23, 2022, if the Board of Education approves the Resolution to Delegate their land use authority to the MCPS Director of Facilities, Seth Adams, all of those controversial land use decisions will be made without public notice and without a public vote of the Board of Education.
It won't matter who you vote for in November, Board of Education members will have already given away their power to decide controversial school land use matters.
Friday, August 19, 2022
With school starting across the country, these officials should set clear rules that guard public health as a goal bigger than any one person’s individual risk.
“We have been waiting for three summers for some higher authority to tell us how to navigate Covid. There is none,” wrote the directors of an overnight camp one of our children attended. “There is no local, state or federal authority mandating that we do anything in terms of Covid and our unique congregate-living environment. ...We’ve been left to our own devices.”
Halfway through this summer, COVID was spreading and the camp faced a choice. If it ramped up testing, many COVID-positive campers would be sent home to isolate even if they just had mild symptoms. On the other hand, if it didn’t test, COVID would spread further. Some kids and staff might have more severe symptoms or end up with long COVID.
The camp doctors, with the support of camp directors, made the choice. The end result? A request to parents to sign a waiver and select this option: “Please DO NOT test my Camper for Covid-19 if he/she/they present with mild cold symptoms.” In other words, let COVID spread...
Baltimore City School budget balloons to $21,000 per student this year
For this coming school year, City Schools’ budget has ballooned to $1,620,788,542. That’s nearly $230 million more than the previous year’s budget of $1,393,777,695. It amounts to about a 16 percent increase. Enrollment in City Schools is going down and has been for years. So, that’s a lot more money for fewer students...
Baltimore City School budget balloons to $21,000 per student this year | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Parents question whether Baltimore County special education students will get needed services amid staffing shortage
Every time someone says we are in a “different place” in the pandemic and “have the tools” to operate schools safely and without disruption… ask them how many local schools have classrooms with 6+ air exchanges per hour; had their HVAC systems upgraded?
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1559617693929467904.htmlEvery time someone says we are in a “different place” in the pandemic and “have the tools” to operate schools safely and without disruption… ask them how many local schools have classrooms with 6+ air exchanges per hour; had their HVAC systems upgraded? pic.twitter.com/8jetIcAsJn
— Patrick Hickey, MD (@pwhickey) August 16, 2022
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
UPDATED: .@mocoboe Board of Education to Hand Over Power to MCPS' staffer Seth Adams, Remove Transparency, Remove Public Input from Land Use Decisions
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Board of Education will vote to remove public input from some Public School Land decisions on their Consent Agenda.
Placement of an item on the Consent Agenda means that the item being voted on won't even be discussed. It is assumed that the item is so trivial that Board of Education members will unanimously approve it without discussion.
The Agenda item will hand over all these Public School Land Use decisions to the Superintendent and she can then hand those decisions over to Seth Adams, Director of Facilities Management, so he can make the decisions without public notice, without public input and without oversight. Seth Adams will be able to make these land use decisions even if they are of a controversial nature.
What decisions might be included in this broad delegation of authority to the superintendent? Moving bus depots, moving bus parking, cell tower compounds, removing trees/forests etc...?
How might local Public School Land be changed by these decisions that will now be made by one MCPS employee alone behind closed doors? If the Board of Education approves this Resolution, those questions will be for the Superintendent and Seth Adams to know and the public to never find out.
6.10 Delegation of Authority to Execute Permanent Easements, Utility Easements, Rights-of-Way, Rights-of-Entry, Memoranda of Understanding for Land-Related Issues, and Land-Related Agreements of a Routine Nature
Toxic chemicals lurk at playgrounds
The sight concerns Zuckerman, because as president for the National Center for Health Research she has testified in front of multiple municipal and even state governments about the toxic chemicals that can lurk in rubber playground surfaces.
The chemicals can include neurotoxins like lead and other heavy metals, as well as carcinogenic chemicals like polyaromatic hydrocarbons, endocrine-disrupting chemicals like phthalates, and chemicals linked to other organ damage like volatile organic compounds and PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...
https://www.eenews.net/articles/toxic-chemicals-lurk-at-childrens-playgrounds/
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Teacher union and parent react to MCPS staff shortages
Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight said she won’t be satisfied until the district is fully staffed. According to MCPS this hiring season they have almost 900 new teachers who will begin orientation next week. They also say they have been actively recruiting throughout the year, but it is more competitive because so many districts are looking for candidates and less people are graduating from programs...
The FDA recommends 3 home tests if you're exposed to COVID to boost accuracy
Previously, the Food and Drug Administration had advised taking two rapid antigen tests over two or three days to rule out infection. But the agency says new studies suggest that protocol can miss too many infections, and could result in people spreading the coronavirus to others, especially if they don't develop symptoms.
The new guidance applies to people without symptoms who think they may have been exposed. People with symptoms can continue using two tests spaced 48 hours apart...
FDA recommends 3 home tests if you're exposed to COVID : NPR
Multiple BCPS employees took six-month hiatus from work, audit report says
The 12-page document is a year-end report from the Investigative Unit of the district’s Office of Internal Audit.
Shared without any discussion by members of the Board of Education on Tuesday night, the report outlines investigations into dozens of BCPS misconduct allegations from the 2022 fiscal year.
The allegations range from theft to falsification of records, to overtime abuse...
Multiple BCPS employees took six-month hiatus from work, audit report says | WBFF (foxbaltimore.com)