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Friday, December 29, 2023

Black teachers are leaving. How can Maryland schools get them to stay? Montgomery lost 11% of Black teachers


...
Black teachers like Ferrentino leave their schools at higher rates than teachers of any other race in all but one Maryland school district. They’re also underrepresented in school systems — a third of Maryland students are Black, but just 20% of their teachers are...

...Black teachers are underrepresented relative to Black students

In every school district but Garrett and Prince George's counties, there is a higher percentage of Black students than Black teachers...




COVID-19 Reinfections Can Increase the Risk of Organ-Failing Long COVID and Other Severe Respiratory Diseases


...The study shows that the more reinfection cycles a patient endures, the more the disease alters our immune system. Over time, it obliterates the T-cells responsible for helping our body remember how to fight the virus. The virus seems to thrive on repetition, exploiting our weakened defences with each encounter and increasing the risk of long-term organ system damage. This is true even for low-risk groups such as the vaccinated, younger people or children...

https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2023-12-28-covid-reinfections-increases-long-covid-risk

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Montgomery Co. schools urges teachers to ‘align’ social media posts with ‘system’s values’

Teachers and staff at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland are strongly urged to watch what they say on social media and make sure it “aligns” with the “system’s values” after four teachers were put on administrative leave.

According to a letter sent by the school system’s chief operating officer, Brian Hull, there has been a rise of “staff accounts being reported on,” which Montgomery County Public Schools had to follow up on...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/12/montgomery-co-schools-urges-teachers-to-align-social-media-posts-with-systems-values/

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Quince Orchard High School students report overcrowded bus conditions, difficulty finding seating



As Jonina Villalba-Lopez climbed the steps leading onto the school bus, violin case in hand, she readied herself to navigate the large crowd forming inside. Villalba-Lopez has been taking the bus to and from school since the sixth grade. Now, as a 16-year-old junior at Quince Orchard High School, it has become increasingly difficult to find a proper bus seat.

For many Montgomery County Public School students, the school bus is their main option for getting to-and-from school. However, several students who take bus route 2305 from Quince Orchard have reported uncomfortable riding conditions – including Villalba-Lopez – saying that some riders are forced to either squeeze into filled seats or sit in the aisle.

When the dismissal bell rings, Villalba-Lopez must factor in the amount of time it takes for her to leave her last class and make her way to the afternoon bus. If she takes too long, she may find herself struggling to get a seat...

https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/quince-orchard-high-school-students-report-overcrowded-bus-conditions-difficulty-finding-seating/article_5ec4a800-9b7b-11ee-9042-1f1f389ee294.html

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Teachers, students protest suspension of educators who shared pro-Palestinian views

Students and educators in a protest Tuesday evening called on Montgomery County Public Schools to reinstate teachers who were placed on administrative leave for sharing pro-Palestinian sentiments.

About 50 people rallied by the entrance to the Carver Educational Services Center in Rockville, which houses the county board of education, while a meeting was taking place inside. They chanted, “Reinstate our teachers now.”..


https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/12/20/montgomery-protest-teacher-suspensions-palestinian-israel-gaza/

Virginia’s Fairfax Schools Urged to Clean Up Privacy Safeguards After Data Probe


Superintendent Michelle Reid said the district would follow the advice of a firm it hired to examine a massive disclosure of student information.

Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the nation’s largest districts, should make several changes to safeguard student privacy, according to legal experts who investigated the recent accidental release of sensitive, confidential records on more than 35,000 students. 

Several of the documents were internal memos about special education services and litigation against the district that included the names of two former students who had brought lawsuits related to alleged sexual assaults. Another spreadsheet identified at least 60 students struggling with mental health issues including suicidal thoughts, self harm and eating disorders.

In the future, investigators said that attorneys should review and label files before a parent inspects them and urged staff throughout the district to be trained on the “importance of redacting and safeguarding confidential information.” In a letter to families Thursday, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the district would comply with all of the recommendations...

Virginia’s Fairfax Schools Urged to Clean Up Privacy Safeguards After Data Probe – The 74 (the74million.org)

Friday, December 22, 2023

Navarro’s MCPS pay released: three months, $96.62 per hour

Nancy Navarro will be making $96.62 an hour during her three-month, part-time stint as Montgomery County Public Schools’ senior adviser for external affairs, according to a Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) request filed by MoCo360 and answered via letter late Thursday.

Based on the IRS definition of a part-time employee, Navarro could work up to 30 hours per week or 130 a month. At her current hourly rate, she could pocket up to $37,681 in three months...

...After Navarro was hired, school community members, county residents and advocates were eager to learn about her compensation and details surrounding the decision-making. At the time of the announcement, MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram did not answer questions about Navarro’s employment and the details of her employment were unknown until now.

Janis Sartucci, a member of the Montgomery County Parents Coalition, an advocacy and MCPS watchdog group, said at the time that the hiring was “shocking” and brought into question the priorities of the school system.

“We’ve seen other superintendents … that would bring in consultants, advisers, mentors and to be honest, we always have the same questionWhy are those positions more important than classroom teachers? Is that what it means to fund an education system?” Sartucci said.

She echoed that sentiment of Friday, saying that teachers “beg” for school supplies in a Facebook group and believes that should be a spending priority that comes before hiring an senior adviser.

Sartucci also said that she and other advocates are left wondering if Navarro will have an expense account, credit card or a car, and whether Board of Education had involvement in the hiring process...

Navarro’s MCPS pay released: three months, $96.62 per hour | MoCo360

MCPS Proposed 505-Page Budget Calls for $157 Million Increase


Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight’s proposed $3.23 Fiscal Year 2025 budget for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) includes a 5% increase and calls for a decrease in full-time employees in elementary through high school and increase in special education employees.

The budget was released Thursday.

Also Thursday, MCPS revealed the salary of former Councilmember Nancy Navarro, who was appointed recently as senior advisor for external affairs in McKnight’s office.

According to the Maryland Public Information Act filed by MCM, Navarro will be paid $96.62 an hour with no benefits for her work as a temporary, part-time position. The Dec. 21 response did not reveal how many hours she was hired for and whether there was a limit on those hours...

MCPS Proposed 505-Page Budget Calls for $157 Million Increase - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

Thursday, December 21, 2023

School systems to receive more time to develop next Blueprint plan submissions


Maryland public school officials will receive more time to submit a second set of Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform documents, and it will be done in two phases.

The original date to submit responses by March 15 remains, but local school officials will only have to answer questions and prompts on one page labeled “Systemwide Blueprint Implementation.”

One of the prompts request school officials to address in their responses: “How your district is communicating its goals and plans with those implementing the Blueprint in the district, including principals and educators; soliciting feedback; and adapting its communication strategies to improve stakeholder understanding of the Blueprint’s purpose.”..

School systems to receive more time to develop next Blueprint plan submissions - Maryland Matters

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

After months of stonewalling, MCPS finally provides retroactive contract for Jackson Lewis services

With a huge amount of help from the Public Access Ombudsman at the Maryland Attorney General's office, the Parents' Coalition has finally obtained a copy of the contract between the Montgomery County Board of Education and the Jackson Lewis law firm.

The contract, which was never approved by the Board of Education as required by law, is dated August 24, 2023 but covers the period July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.  To be clear: The Jackson Lewis law firm began their work long before the contract was signed.  We're not sure that matters much, though, since the contract has never been approved by the Board of Education — unless they approved it in secret, which would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Since the contract was never approved by the Board of Education, there is literally no executed contract between the Board of Education and Jackson Lewis.  The Board of Education isn't obligated or even authorized to pay Jackson Lewis for their services.











Superintendent McKnight unable to read calendar

Note to Supt. McKnight: December 20, 2023 is a Wednesday.  

Click on image to enlarge.


Tuesday, December 19, 2023

3 Unions Praise Superintendent McKnight’s Proposed $3.32 Billion Budget [Without Ever Seeing It]


Although specific details of the $3.32 billion proposed next school year budget by Superintendent Monifa McKnight have not yet been made public, members of three unions wrote in a joint letter that the budget is “rightly prioritized.”

The news release from Service Employees International Union, Local 500, Montgomery County Education Association and Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals praised the proposed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Montgomery County Public Schools budget for “fulfilling many of the basic agreements that are required to retain the highly qualified staff who work to keep this system going day in and day out.”..

3 Unions Praise Superintendent McKnight's Proposed $3.32 Billion Budget - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

2 arrested after gummy bears brought to elementary school in fentanyl-laced bag: Authorities


Two people have been arrested after a Virginia elementary school student brought gummy bears to school in a container that tested positive for fentanyl, sparking a medical emergency, authorities said.

The Amherst County Sheriff's Office said seven children at Central Elementary School in Amherst "experienced a reaction to ingesting gummy bears" while at school on Tuesday. Five students were transported to area hospitals for treatment, officials said...

2 arrested after gummy bears brought to elementary school in fentanyl-laced bag: Authorities - ABC News (go.com)

Friday, December 15, 2023

Youth Safety and Substance Abuse Update

Montgomery County Council
Health and Human Services Committee
Education and Culture Committee
Public Safety Committee

... 
There were significant increases in violent crime involving juveniles (ages 17 and under) 
between FY22 and FY23:
o Arrestees increased 329% from 92 to 395.
o Victims increased 216% from 215 to 679.
o Suspects increased 178% from 150 to 417.
...
• Significant annual increase in opioid poisoning and opioid-related ER visits in the County
for 10-21 year olds began in FY22 and accelerated in FY23.
• Youth ages 10-17 account for 12% of opioid overdose-related ER visits from July 1, 
2022 to November 20, 2023, and 18-21 year olds make up 10% of these visits. 
• Hispanic youth make up 42% of the total opioid overdose related ER visits by 10-21 
year-olds, followed by African American youth at 26%, and White youth at 18%. 
• Fire & Rescue reports 91 high confidence opiate ODs from January through October of 
this year, with greater concentrations in the Wheaton, Aspen Hill, and Silver Spring
corridor. 
• MCPS reports that Naloxone was administered 18 times in FY23, and once in FY24. The 
MCPS overdose response program distributed 450 Naloxone kits/doses to schools and 
286 doses to community members at training events
...

Judge Rules School District Let Special Ed Student ‘Abscond’ From Classes


RALEIGH, N.C. — The Wake County school system could be on the hook for more than $300,000 after a state judge found that a school allowed a special education student to “escape” dozens of hours of classes whenever he wanted.

In September, state Administrative Law Judge Stacey Bawtinhimer ruled that Wake County had violated federal law by not providing a free and appropriate public education to a middle school student with disabilities. Bawtinhimer ordered Wake to provide the student and his family with 402 hours of compensatory education services, which have an estimated cost of $87,500.

Fresh off the state win, the family filed a federal lawsuit against Wake on Oct. 20 to try to recoup $219,193 in legal fees...

Judge Rules School District Let Special Ed Student 'Abscond' From Classes - Disability Scoop

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Montgomery County teacher convicted of sexually abusing students for 15 years faces new charges


MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A former Montgomery County elementary school teacher convicted of sexually abusing his students for over 15 years is facing even more charges.

An indictment was returned against John Anthony Vigna on Nov. 30. Officials say Vigna is additionally charged with one count of sexual abuse of a minor and three counts of third-degree sex offense...


...According to Montgomery County Police, new victims have come forward since Vigna's initial conviction. Detectives said they believe more victims could still be out there. They are asking anyone with information about the case to contact the Special Victims Investigation Division of MCPD at 240-773-5050. Tips can also be reported online at www.crimessolversmcmd.org


New charges filed against Maryland teacher convicted of sex abuse | wusa9.com


Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined


For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Opinion Montgomery County Public Schools failed its staff

Regarding the Dec. 2 Metro article “Watchdog identifies evidence of misconduct”:

The Montgomery County Public Schools system should be humiliated. It took a Post investigation to uncover the facts about an allegedly unsavory middle school principal, Joel Beidleman, whom the school system was ready to promote to high school principal.

So let me understand: Seven years and 18 complaints from staff members were apparently not enough to convince Montgomery County Public Schools that Mr. Beidleman was not a good staff member to keep, never mind promote. I wonder what the threshold of complaints needed to be for the school board to have acted...

https://wapo.st/3NpyavI

Montgomery County Inspector General: "in recent years the OIG has experienced a steady increase in the number of complaints received regarding MCPS operations"


...Additionally, in recent years the OIG has experienced a steady increase in the number of complaints received regarding MCPS operations. Our revised staffing plan includes 2 additional investigators which will allow us to conduct proactive engagements aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of MCPS operations while also completing timely investigations that will deter and root out fraud, waste, and abuse... 

Work Plan & Projected Budget Fiscal Years 2022 – 2025 (montgomerycountymd.gov)

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

***BREAKING: New Charges filed on former MCPS Cloverly Elementary School Teacher John Vigna

Please see our previous extensive coverage of the arrest, conviction, vacated conviction, and re-trial of former MCPS elementary school teacher John Vigna. Recall that Mr. Vigna was never fired by the Montgomery County Board of Education and his teaching license was never revoked.  He was allowed to retire and voluntarily surrender his teaching license. His original conviction was vacated and he was released from prison.  A new trial on those charges has been scheduled for 2024.  Now additional charges have been filed against Mr. Vigna.  

New charges were filed against Mr. Vigna on November 30, 2023.

From Maryland Judiciary Case Search: 

Circuit Court For Montgomery County - Criminal

Location: Montgomery Circuit Court

Case Number: C-15-CR-23-001418

Title: State of Maryland vs. JOHN VIGNA

Case Type: Criminal Indictment

Filing Date: 11/30/2023

Case Status: Open





 

11 Investigates digs into people wrongfully ticketed by automated cameras on school buses [Bus Patrol America]


...“They said ‘We even ticketed the school bus,’” Frangos tells 11 Investigates. “The gotcha moment was when the police officer with the school system said that center divide needs to be a certain height.”

Frangos was told the median wasn’t high enough, but that’s not what state law says.  PennDot’s law clearly states:  “If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from the bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping.”

If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from the bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping. Just on principle, I’d spend $2,000 to fight it before I will pay the school system,” Frangos added.

Jay Beeber wrote a report for the National Motorists Association.  He says data nationwide shows automated cameras don’t make kids safer and a cut of the revenue goes to the local school district...

11 Investigates digs into people wrongfully ticketed by automated cameras on school buses – WPXI

Monday, December 11, 2023

National watchdog group calls on Baltimore County Council to reject Jones’ amendments


The association representing inspectors general nationwide today took the unusual step of denouncing amendments proposed by Baltimore County Council Chair Julian E. Jones Jr., saying they serve no purpose but to “undermine” and “restrict” Kelly Madigan, the county’s inspector general.

Noting that a blue ribbon commission had spent over a year crafting plans to enhance the powers of Madigan’s office to undercover waste, fraud and abuse in county government, the Association of Inspectors General said Jones’ amendments would upend the county’s “progress towards the creation of a truly independent office of the inspector general.”

“The AIG calls on the Baltimore County Council to reject Council Chair Jones’ amendments to Bills 83-23 and 84-23,” the group, which represents 2,000 federal, state and local government watchdog offices, said in a statement released from its New York headquarters.

The statement follows Jones’ attempt last Monday to slip unpublicized and unvetted changes into inspector general bills up for a final vote at the Council.

Shortly before the scheduled vote, The Brew disclosed the secret amendments, which Jones had sent to fellow Council members the day before on his private email account...

National watchdog group calls on Baltimore County Council to reject Jones’ amendments | Baltimore Brew

A teacher wrote a Palestinian rallying cry in her email. She’s on leave. Montgomery County, Md., has now suspended at least three teachers for such speech

...Hajur El-Haggan said in a complaint filed to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week that other employees at Argyle Middle School in Silver Spring similarly have expressed support for political and social causes through their email signatures but that she was the only employee known to face disciplinary action...

https://wapo.st/41kguHm

11 Investigates viewer complaints about school bus cameras wrongly ticketing people [BusPatrol America]

PITTSBURGH — Safety on the roads is of critical importance when protecting kids and school buses.

But now, Pittsburgh Public School buses are using automated cameras that send tickets and our viewers say they’re not working.

“I think the system was designed to make money,” Lance Duggar tells 11 Investigates...

...He got a $300 violation in the mail and said he was so surprised, he thought it was a scam. He was able to go online and look at the video footage showing his “violation.” The video showed he didn’t pass the bus on Brownsville Road while the red lights were flashing, so he went to court and won.

BusPatrol says a Pittsburgh Public Police officer looks at the video before a citation is actually mailed out. Dugger says, based on what he saw, he’s not sure anyone reviewed his case. And it came with court costs he said he had to pay for in cash.

“$90. I don’t have 90 dollars [in court costs] to give away,” he said...

11 Investigates viewer complaints about school bus cameras wrongly ticketing people – WPXI

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Prince George's County parents want public schools to supply more safe water fountains


PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (7News) — 7News wants to know why it's taken Prince George's County Public Schools 19 years to supply safe, lead-free, and filtered water at fountains on each floor of its schools.

"This is a chronic problem. They started a lead remediating program in 2004 and they said they had finished all their steps in their strategic plan in 2018 - and here we are in 2023 and the schools do not have filtered water," says Christina Toy who has a student attending classes.

Since 2019, every school has been provided at least one filtered water fountain with a bottle fill, district officials told 7News. That's at least one filtered water fountain at each of its 200 schools with roughly 131,600 thirsty students combined...

Prince George's County parents want public schools to supply more safe water fountains | WJLA

Math Scores Dropped Globally, but the U.S. Still Trails Other Countries

In a global exam for 15-year-olds, only a handful of places, including Singapore, Japan and Australia, kept math performance high through the pandemic.

The math performance of U.S. teenagers has sharply declined since 2018, with scores lower than 20 years ago, and with American students continuing to trail global competitors, according to the results of a key international exam released on Tuesday.

In the first comparable global results since the coronavirus pandemic, 15-year-olds in the United States scored below students in similar industrialized democracies like the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, and well behind students in the highest-performing countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Estonia — continuing an underperformance in math that predated the pandemic.

The bleak math results were offset by a stronger performance in reading and science, where the United States scored above average internationally.

About 66 percent of U.S. students performed at least at a basic level in math, compared with about 80 percent in reading and science, according to the exam, the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/math-scores-pandemic-pisa.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FU0.gdCH.yjbq4RSm6pyN&hpgrp=c-abar&smid=url-share

Watchdog finds evidence of misconduct by Montgomery middle school principal

An investigation by Montgomery County’s inspector general found that a former middle school principal violated the system’s sexual harassment and bullying policies, including making repeated comments about the appearance of female subordinates and having a sexual relationship with someone he supervised.

Joel Beidleman, former principal of Farquhar Middle School, was placed on administrative leave in August after an investigation by The Washington Post found Montgomery County Public Schools had received at least 18 reports alleging misconduct by him dating back to 2016. After the report, the school system — Maryland’s largest — hired the Baltimore-based law firm Jackson Lewis to investigate The Post’s findings. The law firm identified additional complaints, making the total 25...

https://wapo.st/48aPv3t

Friday, December 8, 2023

Victims lawyers defend Maryland’s Child Victims Act following Washington archdiocese challenge


Attorneys for several men who say members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington sexually abused them in Maryland decades ago defended on Friday the new law that allowed them to sue the Catholic Church: The Child Victims Act.

The filings from plaintiffs’ lawyers respond to a legal challenge from the Washington diocese last month, with the church’s attorneys arguing Maryland’s child victims law is unconstitutional, and that the men’s lawsuits, filed in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, should be dismissed as a result.

Archdiocese attorneys contend the legislature granted defendants immunity from child sex abuse lawsuits after the victim turns 38, when it expanded the statute of limitations to that age in 2017. They argue their legal protection stems from a rare provision in the law known as a statute of repose, which created “vested rights” that lawmakers cannot simply change.

Lawyers for the victims in the lawsuits disagree.

In their filing Friday, attorneys for a man who sued the Washington diocese in Montgomery County said the diocese’s lawyers’ interpretation of the law runs afoul of “well-settled principles set forth by the Maryland Supreme Court.”

“Applied here, those principles demonstrate that the law at issue here is a statute of limitations, which the General Assembly is free to modify under Maryland’s constitution,” wrote attorneys Robert K. Jenner, Philip C. Federico and Steven J. Kelly, all of whom are representing the man suing in Montgomery Circuit Court...

Victims lawyers defend Maryland’s Child Victims Act following Washington archdiocese challenge – Baltimore Sun


Thursday, December 7, 2023

MCPS Releases 2022-2023 Statistics on Demographics, Graduation and Retention Rates

...In the previous school year, MCPS’ graduation rate was 90.3% with Asian students graduating at a rate of 97% and Hispanics at 80% The district, with an operating budget of $3.16 billion, has 24,907 employees. Close to 14% of teachers left MCPS, which is fewer than the 21.7% who left during the previous school year.

Kindergarten literacy rates increased 24%, from 48% to 72%. Twelve new math coaches were hired this school year, and 22 schools were added to the expanded enriched literacy curriculum in elementary schools, for a total of 63 schools.

MCPS now has six wellness centers in six high schools and 117 mindfulness rooms and spaces...

MCPS Releases 2022-2023 Statistics on Demographics, Graduation and Retention Rates - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

High court struggles on whether officials may block social media critics

The Supreme Court will decide several cases this term that impact the future of free speech on social media platforms

...The pair of cases before the justices presented a fresh opportunity for them to consider when public officials — in this case, two school board members in California and a city manager in Michigan — can bar critical voices from social media accounts that are increasingly used at all levels of government to communicate with citizens. They are part of a set of legal controversies the justices will review this term that will clarify the future of speech on social media platforms...

https://wapo.st/41d23oP