PGCPS Superintendent Kevin Maxwell Writes Letter About Milestone's "less than desired standards of transparency" #celltower

From Superintendent Kevin Maxwell's letter to Milestone Communications:

"I concur with you that Milestone Communications has not met our desired standards of transparency, communication and community engagement. Your displeasure with their process, which we share with you, has been clearly communicated to Milestone Communications.
In response, we have been notified by Milestone Communications of its decision to withdraw their application for the proposed telecommunication facility (cell tower) at Eleanor Roosevelt High School.
I greatly appreciate your continued advocacy for our students, our schools, and your constituents." 
   

Cell Towers Do Not Belong At My Child's School : PGCPS CEO Dr. Maxwell Writes Letter About Mileston...: Prince George's County CEO  Dr. Maxwell writes letter stating that: " I concur with you that Milestone Communications has not ...

Exclusive: County Parks that Lost Funding to Pay for the Replacement Blair HS Artificial Turf

The artificial turf football field at Blair High School in Silver Spring failed.  The Blair football field is on M-NCPPC (Montgomery Parks) property. 

The artificial turf surface at Blair High School failed while under warranty from FieldTurf.

But, Montgomery County Parks did not replace the field under the warranty.  Instead, they bought a new field from a different company. 

Where did Montgomery County Parks get the $725,117 from to pay for this new artificial turf football field?

Everyone must already know the answer to this question because we live in award winning, transparent Montgomery County, right? 

For those that do not already know how this replacement plastic field on top of stone was funded, here is the list of Montgomery County Park projects that were deemed "not politically sensitive" and the funding for these projects was deferred by Montgomery County Parks to pay for the new Blair High School plastic football field. 

Was there any public notice or opportunity to comment for these communities?

Infield renovations at South Germantown and Ridge Road, Germantown

Fencing replacement at Sundown Road Local Park fields 1 and 2, Laytonsville

and Johnsons Local Park, Gaithersburg

6 rectangular field renovations (unknown locations)

Ridge Road Recreational Park:  Bleacher and access improvement construction, Germantown

Northwest Branch Recreational Park - irrigation, Aspen Hill

Thanks to all those "not politically sensitive" communities, Blair High School has a brand new plastic football field!  You are welcome to use it anytime!  That is, anytime you pay the rental fee.
 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers' Day to all our moms! You are the best.
(Carol M. Highsmith, photographer, 1980)

Blair High School needs new artificial surface field

Why didn't M-NCPPC know the Blair High School artificial turf field was unsafe?  The field was being tested annually.  Didn't M-NCPPC read the reports on the field?

March 2017
SILVER SPRING – Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is having Montgomery Blair High School’s artificial turf field replaced after a retest showed the field was unsafe and within a year of the end of its useful life.
John Nissel, deputy director of operations, said the warrantee for the field managed by M-NCPPC is due to expire in August.
“It’s like if you buy a car and it wears out before the warrantee; it’s certainly not what you paid for,” said Nissel, referring to the field lasting seven years and four months.

He said M-NCPPC had planned to replace the field about 10 years after FieldTurf installed it.
The field is supposed to last eight years from the date of installation, according to the warrantee.

M-NCPPC hired Shaw Sports Turf to replace the field, including organic infill made from coconut to replace the crumb rubber, Nissel said.

He said M-NCPPC would not have known that the old field was unsafe for play if a parent hadn’t contacted the field company FieldTurf to say she saw excess black crumb rubber laying on the surface of the field. FieldTurf then met with the parent.

“The fibers start to break down, what you’re seeing is a lot of crumb rubber, so that raised an eyebrow with us,” Nissel said. “When they came out and did the test and we did the subsequent test, we felt that there was an issue.”...

...“Due to the excessive consistent fiber wear, compacted infill and surface infill, we do not recommend competition use of this surface until implementation of proper professional maintenance services to address the items noted within this report as well as improve the conditions of this athletic field,” Teeter said in his report from Oct. 14. “The severely worn fibers are not able to withstand proper routine maintenance by the owner due the fragile fibers shearing off the surface of the infill.”
M-NCPPC closed the field as soon as it received the report Oct. 18, Nissel said.

“Failing g-max is the biggest concern when you do a field test like that. When you fail a g-max test then you subject your players to a concussion (risk),” Nissel said...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/news/local/item/4905-blair-high-school-needs-new-artificial-surface-field

2015 State Teachers' Union Investigated Cell Towers on School Grounds @MSEAeducators

Anyone see the 2015 report generated by the Maryland State Teachers' Union on cell towers on school grounds?  

   MSEA:  Maryland Public School Cell Towers by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Young adults with autism face many new expectations and challenges — with none of the support that is available during high school.

A giant wave of children diagnosed with autism in the 1990s are now reaching adulthood. Researchers estimate that about 50,000 young people with autism turn 18 every year. What’s clear is that this is a perilous phase for many of them, with at least three times the rate of social isolation and far higher rates of unemployment compared with people who have other disabilities. Whereas the majority of young people with language impairments or learning disabilities live independently, less than one-quarter of young adults with autism ever do so...

https://spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/twenty-something-free-fall/

School System Superintendent To Get Another $8,000 for Moving Expenses

School System Superintendent To Get Another ,000 for Moving Expenses: Smith waives disability insurance in budget-neutral contract change

Amid serious concerns, Tower Committee Meeting Postponed #NorthwestHS @NorthwestJags

MCPS Retooling Model for Ranking School Expansion, Revitalization Projects

MCPS Retooling Model for Ranking School Expansion, Revitalization Projects: Proposed approach would take capacity into account

Second Teen in Rockville Rape Case Ordered To Be Released

Second Teen in Rockville Rape Case Ordered To Be Released: Henry Sanchez Milian now faces two counts of possession of child pornography

Former Super. Joshua Starr saw "far too many" "lifeless classrooms"

As a superintendent, no part of my job was more important than visiting schools and seeing students, teachers, and leaders in action. Those visits kept me grounded, reminding me of the real-world importance of every decision we made in the central office.

But that’s not to say that I always liked what I saw. Sometimes I would drop in on random classes and see inspiring examples of high-quality teaching and learning. But other times I saw teachers going through the motions and students waiting around for the bell to ring.

Whenever I visited one of those lifeless classrooms — and I saw far too many of them — I found myself wondering how the kids manage to show up every day instead of lashing out in rebellion against dull lessons and mediocre teaching. What explains their willingness to keep attending a class taught by a teacher who isn’t interested in them? Maybe it’s the price they have to pay to pass the course and move on toward a diploma, but if they chose to play hooky sometimes, who could blame them? Wouldn’t that be a rational thing to do?...

http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/04/20/counting-attendance-in-school-ratings-could-be-smart-or-completely-misleading/ 

Ike Legget Tops List:

Chauffeurs? Body guards? I-Team investigation reveals the pricey perks of local officials

http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/7-on-your-side-reveals-the-top-3-most-expensive-elected-officials-in-dc-md-and-va

Blair High Parents Confront Parks Officials Over Softball, Baseball Field Closures - Bethesda Beat - Bethesda, MD

Blair High Parents Confront Parks Officials Over Softball, Baseball Field Closures - Bethesda Beat - Bethesda, MD

Spying on Students: School-Issued Devices and Student Privacy

Students and their families are backed into a corner. As students across the United States are handed school-issued laptops and signed up for educational cloud services, the way the educational system treats the privacy of students is undergoing profound changes—often without their parents’ notice or consent, and usually without a real choice to opt out of privacy-invading technology.
Students are using technology in the classroom at an unprecedented rate. One-third of all K-12 students in U.S. schools use school-issued devices.1 Google Chromebooks account for about half of those machines.2 Across the U.S., more than 30 million students, teachers, and administrators use Google’s G Suite for Education (formerly known as Google Apps for Education), and that number is rapidly growing.3
Student laptops and educational services are often available for a steeply reduced price, and are sometimes even free. However, they come with real costs and unresolved ethical questions.4 Throughout EFF’s investigation over the past two years, we have found that educational technology services often collect far more information on kids than is necessary and store this information indefinitely. This privacy-implicating information goes beyond personally identifying information (PII) like name and date of birth, and can include browsing history, search terms, location data, contact lists, and behavioral information. Some programs upload this student data to the cloud automatically and by default. All of this often happens without the awareness or consent of students and their families.
In short, technology providers are spying on students—and school districts, which often provide inadequate privacy policies or no privacy policy at all, are unwittingly helping them do it...

https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy

ICE blasts Montgomery Co. for releasing accused Einstein HS student despite immigration detainer

On Saturday, April 29, Mario Granados-Alvarado, 18, a citizen of El Salvador, allegedly broke into a Rockville police car, snagging a shotgun, AR-15 rifle and ammunition from the vehicle's trunk. The unmarked Chevy Impala was parked outside of an off-duty officer's house at the time of the overnight break-in.
 

AR-15 assault rifle

On Monday, May 1, a school resource officer assigned to Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, stopped Granados-Alvarado. The 18-year-old, who is enrolled as a junior at the public school, reportedly ran away while shouting, "I scared. I scared." Officers were ultimately able to handcuff Granados-Alvarado and later located the AR-15 in the trunk of a blue Mazda he had been driving.

ABC7 contacted Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner, Council Vice President Hans Riemer, Councilman George Leventhal, Councilwoman Nancy Navarro, Chief County Spokesman Patrick Lacefield and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation seeking comment about why the county felt it necessary to disregard the request of a federal agency. As of Monday evening, ABC7 had not received a response.

Full story at:
http://wjla.com/news/local/ice-arrests-moco-student-el-salvador-citizen-accused-of-bringing-rifle-to-school-grounds

ICE notice:
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-arrests-public-safety-threat-after-detainer-not-honored

BOE Sacrifices Teacher to Give Smith Buddy $50K #NoBid #Consultant

The above screen shot if from the May 9, 2017, Board of Education consent agenda.  Obviously, no schools need teachers!  The Board of Education is happy to pay $50,000 to another no bid, no clue why this person is needed consultant.

http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/ALXLBS4F5E14/$file/Contracts%2025K%20or%20More%20170509.pdf

Superintendent Jack Smith has been associated with Katheryn Gemberling for many years.

In fact, Jack Smith brought Gemberling in as a consultant for himself last year.  Now she is going to "consult" for the MCPS Chief Financial Officer.

http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/AD3MWU5CEC7C/$file/Contracts%2025K%20or%20More%20160825%20Revised.pdf 

MCPS, where consultants are always funded before teachers. 

ICE Arrests Albert Einstein HS Student Accused of Having Gun in Stolen Car

ICE Arrests Albert Einstein Student Accused of Having Gun in Stolen Car: Mario Granados-Alvarado had been released on bond before being picked up by federal immigration agents

How Other Communities Investigate and Report on Sexual Abuse of Students by Teachers/Coaches

Published on Mar 30, 2017

Beyond The Badge's "Edina Investigates" spoke with a childhood sex abuse victim who wants to spread awareness of what to look for before it's too late.

Md. high school security guard accused of having sex with student again

Again. Where is the elected Board of Education? Where are their statements on this?  Superintendent Smith is the employee of the Board of Education.

From WUSA9:

The director of security at Richard Montgomery High School was arrested Friday after being accused of having sex with a student again, police said.

And:
Detectives are asking all parents of students who attend Richard Montgomery High School to talk to their children about their interactions with Mark Christopher Yantsos and contact detectives at 240-773-5400 if they believe their child was victimized.

To read the whole story, go here.

Rape Charges to Be Dropped in Case Cited by White House as Immigration Issue

From the New York Times, May 5, 2017, reporter Matt Stevens. for the full story go here.

Prosecutors in Maryland said on Friday that they would drop rape charges against an undocumented immigrant and another high school student, adding a new twist to a case that the White House had held up as evidence of the need to be tough on illegal immigration.

And:

But on Friday, John J. McCarthy, state’s attorney for Montgomery County, said his office had concluded that “the facts of this case do not support the charges originally filed” against the two students, Henry E. Sanchez-Milian, 18, and Jose O. Montano, 17.

 And:

 

Though he said he would drop the rape charges against Mr. Sanchez-Milian, Mr. McCarthy said his office had filed a new child pornography charge against him, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Mr. McCarthy did not elaborate. A spokesman for his office said the charge was filed on Thursday.

At a news conference on Friday, lawyers for Mr. Montano said the state had also decided to file pornography-related charges against their client in juvenile court.

“It’s egregious that the state is doing this,” said Maria Mena, one of Mr. Montano’s lawyers. “The purpose of the pornography statute was to go after adult predators, not juveniles.”

And:

Andrew Jezic, a lawyer for Mr. Sanchez-Milian, said if his client is found guilty of what he called a “throwaway” pornography charge, “that’s nearly guaranteed to be fatal to his immigration case to keep him in the country.”

The authorities have not commented on Mr. Montano’s immigration status because he is a minor.

But David Wooten, one of Mr. Montano’s lawyers, said his client’s family members are United States citizens and confirmed that his client is in deportation proceedings.

“He came here on his own in order to be reunited with his family because he didn’t have any family back home left,” Mr. Wooten said.