AP: Maryland moves toward curbing abusive teachers’ job movement

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — After high-profile sexual misconduct cases in schools, Maryland took a step Thursday toward joining a growing number of states enacting legislation to prevent teachers with records of misconduct from moving school-to-school.

The Maryland House of Delegates voted 140-0 to ban nondisclosure agreements involving sexual abuse for school employees who have direct contact with children. The measure, which now goes to the state’s Senate, also would require prospective school employers to conduct a thorough review of applicants’ employment history.

“Child sex abuse is a horrible thing to acknowledge. It’s so much easier to turn a blind eye to it. That’s been failing our children for generations, and so we’re not going to turn a blind eye to it,” bill sponsor Del. C.T. Wilson, a survivor of child sexual abuse who has spoken of his experience while advocating for laws to protect children, said in a recent interview. “I’m going to do my best to make it as public as I can. If we air out our dirty laundry, we can clean it tomorrow.”..

https://apnews.com/55dc6d7f916d4ad6ae989567aafeb1b1?fbclid=IwAR2APpiYLeW16NiiLcT6vaUC6qpPpJ2kecP1g22hODgKgPjdCv-mF_rgQFI

On average, a school employee that has been alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse or misconduct will be transferred to THREE different schools before they are reported to the police. .@MarylandSCCAN .@paulpinsky .@ericluedtke .@clarencelammd

Exclusive: Kagan, Zucker and MCEA employee Pinsky vote No to Guidelines for Digital Devices in Classrooms #progressive #AppleBallot

The Parents' Coalition has obtained a copy of the voting record for the Maryland Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee vote on Senate Bill 1089, the bill to provide guidelines for the use of digital devices in public school classrooms. 

From the voting record we learn that two Montgomery County Senators voted against moving this bill forward.  

We also see that on the same committee with Montgomery County Senators Cheryl Kagan and Craig Zucker is Senator Paul Pinsky.  While Pinsky technically represents citizens in Prince George's County, he is also a long time employee of our Montgomery County teachers union.  

Does Kagan and Zucker voting against this bill along with Pinsky signal that our local teachers' union (MCEA - Apple Ballot) has secretly put the kibosh on this bill, thus killing it for all public school children in the state of Maryland?

If anyone can get Senator Cheryl Kagan or Senator Craig Zucker to explain their NO vote on this bill, please let us know their explanation.

As a reminder, the national organization Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood supported this bill. 

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2017/02/campaign-for-commercial-free-childhood.html

Schools could hold class on Presidents’ Day, Easter Monday under Maryland bill

Closing schools for Presidents’ Day could become optional for Maryland school districts under a bill being considered in the General Assembly.
The same could happen to Easter Monday.
Concerned about Gov. Larry Hogan’s 2016 executive order requiring the state’s 24 school districts to start classes after Labor Day and end by June 15, several state lawmakers want to give local jurisdictions flexibility by removing Presidents’ Day and Easter Monday from the state’s list of mandatory public school holidays.
“These couple of days would be important to the school schedule,” said Del. Pamela G. Beidle (D-Anne Arundel), the chief sponsor of the bill...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/schools-could-hold-class-on-presidents-day-easter-monday-under-maryland-bill/2017/02/19/393212ae-f311-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?utm_term=.e6d186fee72f#comments