Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Friday, December 2, 2022
Friday, October 21, 2022
1,000 Stafford High School Students Out Sick With Flu-Like Symptoms
Nearly half of the student body at Stafford High School have flu-like and gastrointestinal symptoms, a spokesperson for Stafford County Public Schools told News4.
As a result, Stafford High School has canceled all activities and athletic events through Sunday.
School officials are working with the health department to try to identify the root cause of the illness, according to the spokesperson.
There are about 2,100 students who attend Stafford High School, officials say.
Monday, May 16, 2022
@mcps @mocoboe COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team member tweets:
Silence from the MCPS/Montgomery County Board of Education COVID-19 Advisory Team as Montgomery County Public Schools are in another COVID-19 surge. No advice, no guidance, no updates, no information whatsoever from this super secret advisory team.
But one member of the team took to Twitter to Tweet advice:
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Exclusive: As @mcps @mocoboe COVID-19 Cases Rise, Meet the Secret MCPS COVID Operations Advisory Team
On September 15, 2021, Superintendent Monifa McKnight formed the MCPS COVID-19 Operations Advisory Committee as part of the Montgomery County Board of Education's Five-Point Plan for Further COVID Safety and Mitigation.
Establish a COVID-19 operations advisory committee
The committee will comprise MCPS staff and students, representatives from the employee associations, MCCPTA and community organizations. We will request a DHHS representative to also serve on the committee. Committee feedback will help guide the district’s work in responding to COVID-19 throughout the year.
But what happened to the COVID-19 Operations Advisory Committee? First, they were renamed the Team instead of Committee to allow for the cool acronym of COAT.
COAT began meeting on Thursdays with the first meeting on October 7, 2021.
Then what happened? Nothing.
COAT has never issued any reports, they have never presented to the Board of Education, they have never been heard from ever. Further, Board of Education President Brenda Wolff disavowed interest in COAT.
What we now know is that as soon as COAT began meeting attendees were told that meetings were CONFIDENTIAL.
Apparently the COVID-19 Pandemic is a secret that MCPS administrators and the Board of Education think can be hidden from teachers, staff, students and parents.
The Parents' Coalition has obtained the list of COAT members. 50 members are adults and 6 are students.
27 members of COAT are MCPS employees
10 members are from groups outside MCPS, but with MCPS connections (MCCPTA/PTA etc...)
8 members are from Montgomery County Government
5 members are labeled as medical related
6 members are students - student names are not listed
Meet the Team that isn't telling you what they are doing or recommending during the COVID-19 Pandemic:
Lisa Adkins MCPS
Nicole Allain MCPS
Aggie Alvez MCPS
Kea Anderson
Olivia Bailey MCPS
Gary Bartee MCPS
James Bridgers
Nicole Brown
Anita Chan MCPS
Kate Chance
Wylea Chase
Sonya Chawla Medical - internal medicine
Chris Cram MCPS
Jimmy D'Andrea MCPS
Val DaSilva MCPS
Jeanie Dawson MCPS
Ashwin Dharmadhikari
Robbie Dodd MCPS
Heather Dublinske MCPS
Dana Edwards MCPS
Shawn Ellis
Jane Ennis MCPS
Linda Ferrell MCPS
Joanie Glick
Nina Hagan MCPS
Darlene Harris MCPS
Christi Hay Medical - Pediatrics
Mark Hodge
Stephanie Iszard MCPS
Henrietta Jenkins MCPS
Byron Johns
John Landesman MCPS
Jenny Lazo
Michael Lewis MCPS
Sean O’Donnell
Jackie Quan
Dourakine Rosarion
Claire Rosche Matzzie
Oriole Saah MCPS
Mariana Serrani
Stephanie Sheron MCPS
Cynthia Simonson
Jeff Sullivan MCPS
Crystal Townsend Medical - Healthcare
Melanie Travers MCPS
Prabha Viswanathan Reddy Medical - Pediatrics
Diane Vu
Travis Wiebe MCPS
Kathleen Williams Medical - Healthy Communities
Julie Yang MCPS
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Exclusive: @mcps Super Monifa McKnight's Secret COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team Meets Once a Week. What do they do? Next Meeting May 5th @ 4:15 PM.
The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD has obtained the dates for MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight's COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team meetings.
But what does this Team do? They don't take minutes, so are these meetings just a social gathering?
Who is on the Team? Do any parents or community members ever hear from the Team members? Do they put out any reports or recommendations with regard to COVID-19 in schools?
COVID-19 Operations Advisory Team Meetings
Thursdays, 4:15-5:45 p.m
October 7, 2021
October 14, 2021
October 21, 2021
October 28, 2021
November 4, 2021
November 11, 2021 CANCELED
November 18, 2021
November 25, 2021 No Meeting - HOLIDAY
December 2, 2021 CANCELED
December 9, 2021
December 16, 2021
December 23, 2021 No Meeting - Winter Break
December 30, 2021 No Meeting - Winter Break
January 6, 2022
January 13, 2022
January 20, 2022
January 27, 2022
February 3, 2022
February 10, 2022
February 17, 2022
February 24, 2022
March 3, 2022
March 10, 2022
March 17, 2022
March 24, 2022
March 31, 2022
April 7, 2022
April 14, 2022
April 21, 2022
April 28, 2022
May 5, 2022
Sounding the Alarm: DC schools fail to prep for shootings, fire, other emergencies
According to DCPS records, fewer than half of its schools practiced 10 annual fire drills every year since 2017 as required by the fire code. Forty-three percent of D.C.’s public schools failed to do two required lockdown drills each year since 2017...
Thursday, October 22, 2020
"We would certainly appreciate a standing procedure," said Jack Smith, the superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools.
Maryland school leaders ask state for guidelines on COVID-19 vaccines, outbreak
Thursday, October 8, 2020
MCPS superintendent says it will take ‘tremendous amount of planning’ to open schools
There is still no date set for students in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools to return to their classrooms, but the Board of Education did hear from the superintendent on the issue this week.
“Everyone understands that we’re not going to open the schools tomorrow,” Superintendent Jack Smith told the board Tuesday.
“It’s going to take a tremendous amount of planning and logistical building of systems and structures in order to open schools.”..
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Friday, March 13, 2020
MCPS has a Pandemic Flu Plan. Where is it?
It was mentioned in the MCPS 2010 Baldrige Application.
Pandemic Flu Planning
MCPS has worked with Montgomery County government agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a comprehensive plan that is aligned with the MCPS Pandemic Flu Response Plan (PFRP) (AOS). Many aspects of this plan were put to the test with an outbreak of the H1N1 virus during the 2008–2009 school year. In fact, the county health department closed down Rockville High School for three days, due to a confirmed case of the Swine Flu (H1N1 virus) and high absenteeism. PFRP served as a guide to implementing protocols for communicating to schools and communities and collaborating with DHHS, state, and federal government agencies...
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/baldrige/docs/BaldrigeApplication.pdf