Showing posts with label Back room deals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Back room deals. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Screens and Kids: Through the Looking Glass The MD General Assembly...

Screens and Kids: Through the Looking Glass The MD General Assembly...:

Through the Looking Glass The MD General Assembly and Classroom Screen Safety: 
A study of disturbing nonsense

For student health advocates across the state and across the country, watching the developments surrounding the nation's first classroom digital device safety legislation during the recent Maryland General Assembly was a surreal, Alice in Wonderland kind of experience.

Just the idea that parents would have to take their case to the state legislature, to protect their children from serious harm caused by their teachers and schools is a bizarre concept. Aren't teachers supposed to be caring, nurturing people who protect children? And yet, their silence is deafening, even after learning of the myopia, retinal damage, sleeplessness, muscle pain, eye strain, anxiety, depression and addiction associated with daily use of digital devices in school.

Perhaps they are silenced by a craven shadow government, the Maryland State Department of Education, that consumes the lion's share of any budget, and then arrogantly dismisses the people who pay their salaries, while utterly disregarding the medical needs of the growing children, whom they are paid to serve.

A culture of fear 

Bloated and self-satisfied, state and local school boards and the crony political groups who shape them dole out mandates without a single thought to the health of our kids, and then intimidate any staff member or teacher who doesn't get onboard, according to what teachers say privately. 

http://www.screensandkids.us/2017/04/through-looking-glass-md-general.html?spref=bl

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

80-year old tree on BCC High School grounds killed

BCC High School ushers in the New Year with the destruction of one of the oldest trees in the neighborhood. The 80-year old, healthy mature  tree crowning the BCC entrance on East-West Highway (at the center of the Google Earth photo) is no more. It came down in front of the eyes of students and astonished neighbors. What could possibly justify this loss to the canopy and the neighborhood? Did the new BCC principal Dr. Dona Jones know about the tree removal and did she approve it? Why was not the community consulted? Will East Bethesda awake to more killed BCC trees tomorrow?



UPDATE 2:00 PM:  MCPS is cutting down trees at BCC High School to make way for classroom trailers and parking during construction of an addition.  MCPS claims this tree was cut down by PEPCO.  How many trees will BCC High School lose in total from PEPCO and MCPS construction?

 http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/Web-2016/Bethesda-Chevy-Chase-High-School-Students-Protest-Tree-Cutting-Needed-to-Make-Way-for-Addition-Project/




Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Exclusive Memo: Bowers Giving Away School Land Without BOE Approval of Sites, BOE Withholds Bower's Plans From Public

Get ready to take notes.  Here's how a superintendent tricks a Board of Education member into thinking that somehow they "already" approved turning 60 acres of public school land over to a commercial vendor.  

Superintendent Larry Bowers is a pro at doing this, having signed for the Board of Education in 2008 on a major purchase of Promethean Boards when he was only the Chief Operating Officer.  

The Parents' Coalition has obtained a copy of an October 7, 2015, internal memo [shown below] from Superintendent Bowers to the Board of Education.  This memo shows the sleight of hand that Mr. Bowers is using to hand over 60 acres of public school land to a private company without having the Board of Education vote on this major loss of future school sites.

  • On April 27, 2015, the Board of Education approved a contract that would put solar panels on the roofs of 8 existing schools and at a remote site that was not owned by MCPS.  But, slipped into this memo was a sentence that MCPS staff could also hand over as many additional schools and as much Board of Education land as they so desired!
April 27, 2015 BOE Memorandum

  • And, just like that, Superintendent Larry Bowers tricked the Board of Education members into approving a contract that robs MCPS students of 60 acres of future school sites.  There was no public discussion of overcrowding.  There was no public discussion of the hundreds of classroom trailers in use.  There was no public discussion of current or future school land needs.  60 acres is gone without any public notice or discussion. 
  • On October 7, 2015, Superintendent Larry Bowers handed Board of Education members a memo (shown below) that presents them with the surprise announcement that he is turning over 60 acres of future school sites to a commercial vendor based on their April 27th vote.  What about the public process?  Oh, it's all been taken care of by MCPS staff.  They have looked at everything, in secret, of course, but it's all done.  All the analysis, the site review, the long range planning, it was all handled behind closed doors.
  • It's now November.  We now see that Board of Education members sat on this information for a month.  They didn't discuss the October 7th memo at the recent Board meeting, and did not inform their constituents of this surprise plan. 
If you have ever wondered why have MCPS students been in classroom trailers for 30 years, you have got your answer now!  The Board of Education does no long term planning.  Dedicated, public school land is up for grabs by commercial vendors, and the Board of Education has no interest in preserving public school land for public school students. 


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

$2,310,000,000 +/- MCPS Operating Budget for FY16 Set for Council Approval

MCPS, unions may revise contracts amid budget shortfalls

...“Union and district officials have been “scrubbing the budget” to look for potential savings, Prouty said. He said he doesn’t know where the contracts might stand at the end of the process.”...

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Exclusive: BOE Produces Memo Previously Withheld from Public


After the Parents' Coalition filed an Open Meetings Act complaint with the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) finally made public the memorandum from Board President Phil Kauffman that established the credit card committee.

Note that the BOE did not produce this memorandum in their initial response to the Open Meetings Act Compliance Board.

The BOE did not produce this memorandum until July 16th, five days after the Parents' Coalition alerted the Open Meetings Act Compliance Board to its existence. 

The memorandum, shown below in SCRIBD, from BOE President Phil Kauffman states that the backroom, no public allowed credit card committee was initially established just because Mr. Kauffman decided it was time to review the policy. 

The memorandum makes no mention of the fact that members of the Parents' Coalition had picked up over 300 pages of Board member credit card bills and expense reports just two days earlier on April 23, 2014



----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: KMKoger@Venable.com
To: opengov@oag.state.md.us; AMacNeille@oag.state.md.us
CC: -------SMWilliams@Venable.com; KMKoger@Venable.com
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 10:45:44 -0400
Subject: RE: Open Meetings Act Complaint (MCPS) - response to Venable LLP

Ms. MacNeille:

Attached please find a copy of the April 25, 2014 Memorandum referenced by Ms. Wilson in her July 11, 2014 letter.  As noted in the Memorandum, Board of Education President Philip Kauffman created the ad hoc committee to review the processes and guidelines relating to Board of Education expenditures as set forth in the Board of Education’s Handbook.  In reviewing such processes and guidelines, the ad hoc committee is carrying out an administrative function and is not developing new policies for Board of Education expenditures as suggested by Ms. Wilson.  As noted in my letter of July 3, 2014, the Open Meetings Act also did not apply to the gathering of the ad hoc committee because such gathering did not involve a quorum of the Board of Education and the ad hoc committee is not a public body that is subject to the Open Meetings Act.   Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.

Kristin M. Koger, Esq. | Venable LLP
t 301.217.5643 | f 301.217.5617
One Church Street, Fifth Floor, Rockville, MD 20850



Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Andrews: County Executive failed to notify school system or council

 Rockville Patch: All Signs Point to "Yes" to Peary Sale
Council committees give nod to $1.9 million purchase by Hebrew Academy; final vote expected Tuesday
..."Not at issue is that the academy has been an excellent tenant and neighbor. But that is not the issue that the council should vote on. The judgment is based on the long-term interest of the county," said Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.
Andrews wants the county to retain the site to use as a temporary high school when other county high school sites undergo major renovations and modernizations.
He said he feels the deal was "rushed," saying he first learned of the academy's intention to buy the campus in late October. 
"The County Executive's office may have been working on this for months but it failed to notify our school system or this council," Andrews said. "This issue should not be taken up by a lame duck council that is no longer accountable to the voters."