Monday, May 14, 2018
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
ABC7: RMHS junior, and two unknown accomplices, approached a male student
ROCKVILLE, Md. (ABC7) — A teenager sitting along a walking path immediately adjacent to Richard Montgomery High School was beaten and robbed at gunpoint by a fellow classmate, Montgomery County Police said.
The violent incident, which occurred Feb. 21, is only now coming to light — nearly three months later — as school leaders did not issue a public alert. ABC7 News learned of the pending criminal matter through law enforcement sources.
According to criminal charging documents, Malachi Lansdowne, a 16-year-old RMHS junior, and two unknown accomplices, approached a male student who was using his iPhone on the path around 7 p.m. All three suspects were wearing ski masks, including two who were in possession of handguns.
http://wjla.com/news/local/police-student-robs-beats-classmate-at-gunpoint-beside-richard-montgomery-hs-campus
ABC7: Here are the charging documents regarding the student-on-student armed robbery on a walking path directly adjacent to the Richard Montgomery HS campus in Rockville.
COURT DOCS: Here are the charging documents regarding the student-on-student armed robbery on a walking path directly adjacent to the Richard Montgomery HS campus in Rockville.— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) May 11, 2018
“[The suspect] produced a black handgun, racked the slide and pointed the handgun at the victim.” pic.twitter.com/FliJHiiNNO
NIH: Crumb Rubber in Playgrounds and Children's Health
March 20, 2018
Recycled rubber artificial turf and similar products were introduced into athletic fields and playgrounds in the 1990s to make playing surfaces more comfortable. This recycled rubber comes from automobile tires, which are ground into very small rubber pellets, called crumb.
Scientists and doctors have expressed concern about crumb rubber use in play grounds and artificial turf because safety testing of these products has not been conducted, and tires are known to contain heavy metals, cancer-causing chemicals, and other toxic substances. Children can be exposed to the harmful substances in crumb rubber when the pellets touch their skin, when small pieces are accidentally swallowed, and when some of the chemicals are released from the rubber in the form of gas which can be inhaled, or enter the environment through leaching.
In this podcast, learn more about what scientists are doing to understand the health risks of crumb rubber in playgrounds, and what you can do to reduce children’s exposure to potentially harmful contaminants.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
MCPS says it didn't report the violent crime since it occurred off-property + after normal school hours.
NEW: Richard Montgomery HS student (pictured) allegedly robbed, beat fellow classmate at gunpoint.— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) May 10, 2018
Happened in February along walking path, directly adjacent to the school.
MCPS says it didn't report the violent crime since it occurred off-property + after normal school hours. pic.twitter.com/cprIvebejB
Serial school thief continues to evade police, despite charges throughout region
[2017 Press Release from Montgomery County Police]
--------------------
May 9, 2018:
A Maryland man is wanted by police in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, as well DC for trespassing at schools and stealing from purses of teachers.
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May 9, 2018:
A Maryland man is wanted by police in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, as well DC for trespassing at schools and stealing from purses of teachers.
There are pictures of Nakym Sheffield roaming the halls of schools across Montgomery County and he's been seen intruding at schools in Prince George's County...
...The charges for the thefts in Montgomery County, all dropped. The charges for stealing and trespassing on schools grounds in Prince George's County, all dropped. And when a DC school teacher reported it to police, she says she got the cold shoulder.
Marraco: You never got a call from the detective?
Teacher: Never.
Marraco: No one ever came out?
Teacher: No.
Marraco: No one ever asked any questions no one ever called. No one ever asked for the surveillance video?
Teacher: No.
Teacher: Never.
Marraco: No one ever came out?
Teacher: No.
Marraco: No one ever asked any questions no one ever called. No one ever asked for the surveillance video?
Teacher: No.
While charges against Sheffield were dropped in both Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, officials from both say the cases are still being investigated and could be brought back for prosecution...
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Man Charged for Inappropriate Touching of Juvenile Victims
Man Charged for Inappropriate Touching of Juvenile Victims: Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) have arrested and charged Ancelmo Osmin Diaz, age 59, of Longmeadow Drive in Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg High School Employee Charged With Sexually Abusing Three Family Members
Gaithersburg High School Employee Charged With Sexually Abusing Three Family Members: Man allegedly touched two juvenile girls over course of years
...Diaz, of Longmeadow Drive, is accused of inappropriately touching one juvenile girl for about three years, police said. Another girl told police Diaz had inappropriately touched her for five years, and a woman told investigators he had inappropriately touched her when she was 18. The victims spoke to police this month. Police did not specify the age of the victims when the abuse allegedly occurred.
Diaz allegedly “made statements partially admitting” to the touching, police wrote in a press release Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Diaz turned himself in to police. He was charged with six counts of sexual abuse of a minor, one count of second-degree assault and seven counts of fourth-degree sex offense. He is scheduled for a June 1 preliminary hearing in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville.
Police have asked parents of students at Gaithersburg High School to talk to their children about their interactions with Diaz and to call 240-773-5400 if they believe their child was victimized.
MD State Board of Education President Andy Smarick Congratulates John Deasy on Latest Superintendent Position
Congratulations to John Deasy, one of the most curious, open-minded, energetic education leaders around. https://t.co/CpvuBN56Xz— Andy Smarick (@smarick) May 3, 2018
And this Tweet from the reporter who covered the vote to hire John Deasy to be the Superintendent of Stockton Unified School District in California.
Heading home now. Story on the next #SUSD superintendent John Deasy will be online soon and in print Wed. Couldn’t fit all what happened in, but I will say no one in audience cheered when vote was made.— Nicholas Filipas (@nicholasfilipas) May 9, 2018
"We may need a cell tower in the North End of Hagerstown, but I don't think we need it on North Hagerstown High School property," #Milestone @MABE_News
After months of debate, the Washington County Board of Education on Tuesday voted 4-3 to allow a telecommunications tower to be built on the North Hagerstown High School campus.
Board members Wayne Ridenour, Jacqueline Fischer, Michael Guessford and Pieter Bickford voted in favor of a motion to finalize a contract with Milestone Communications, which has proposed a 115-foot cell tower at North Hagerstown High School in what's been described as a traditionally underserved part of the city.
"We have these devices; they're part of our lives," Ridenour said, referring to the need for more cellular service. "We need them. They're important for safety."
But opponents have argued that the potential health risks to nearby students and the surrounding residential neighborhood outweigh the money the school board stands to gain through a ground lease.
"This is a travesty," Marsha Fuller, a city resident who opposes the project, said following the decision.
Board President Melissa Williams, along with Vice President Stan Stouffer and board member Linda Murray, voted against the motion. They sided with four speakers who opposed the project during the BOE's public comment period before the vote.
Williams said it was "regrettable" that the BOE was forced to consider permitting a cell tower on a school campus as a potential revenue generator to support the school system...
Monday, May 7, 2018
MD Legislature Up to It's Usual 11th Hour Tricks: “At the last minute, the last half-hour, what people didn’t know is they changed that..."
WASHINGTON — After facing years of criticism, the passage of Noah’s Law in 2016 was supposed to show that Maryland lawmakers took drunken driving seriously and were willing to impose stronger sentences.
But now advocates are growing frustrated that the law may not be having the impact it was supposed to thanks to a loophole that allows some people to walk out of court with minimal sentences.
When Gov. Larry Hogan signed The Drunk Driving Reduction Act of 2016, or Noah’s Law, it was widely thought anyone caught driving under the influence would have to get an ignition interlock put on their car, even on the first offense, just like several other states have implemented.
The devices, which come with Noah’s picture on them in Maryland, require you to pass a breathalyzer before you start your car and subsequently again at random times as you drive.
But a key phrase in the way the law was written left open a big loophole.
“The law initially had in it that it was upon arrest that a person would get an interlock,” said Rich Leotta, the father of Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta, whose death at the hands of a drunken driver inspired the law.
“At the last minute, the last half-hour, what people didn’t know is they changed that so it was upon conviction.”..
County Council Weighs Adding $ 21.6 Million More to Next Year’s Proposed Budget
County Council Weighs Adding $ 21.6 Million More to Next Year’s Proposed Budget: Members also recommended just $ 1.6 million in cuts from County Executive Ike Leggett’s spending plan, significantly less than in previous years
Loopholes in Maryland Let Administrators with Criminal Backgrounds in to Schools
...Maryland has strict laws regarding the hiring of individuals who have been convicted of sexual crimes or crimes of violence to work for public and non-public schools. Schools can lose their state certification. An applicant for an education license who is found to have made a material misrepresentation or concealment in an application or filed a false report or record about a material matter in the application for certificate may have their license suspended or revoked.
The Freddie Dean Smith case in New York has been an ongoing travesty but Smith's experience in Maryland suggests loopholes that need to be closed in the Old Line State:
- Smith was able to work in schools in the Baltimore City Public School [BCPS] district by working as a consultant and working for a non-profit which runs BCPS charter schools.
- BCPS does not independently verify to a non-public school that a prospective job candidate has had a background check let alone whether the person passed or failed.
- It appears impossible that BCPS ran a 50-state criminal background check on Smith because several of his convictions would automatically disqualify a candidate and yet he passed, twice.
- MSDE [Maryland State Department of Education] failed to verify Smith's doctorate, relying instead on what may have been an altered UVA transcript.
- A BTN board member [Charter School operator] flagged Smith based on a Google search but there was no follow up by BTN.
- No one at BTN, BCPS or MSDE bothered to do even the most limited fact-checking of Smith's record.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Former P.G. Superintendent John Deasy finalist in CA school system
...John Deasy was named Wednesday as the finalist to become superintendent of San Joaquin County’s largest school district.
“I’m thrilled to be taking the job,” Deasy, 58, said during a phone interview from Los Angeles. “I’m humbled, honored and very thankful for the board to consider me.”
Deasy’s career in education spans 35 years, with beginnings as a high school teacher, principal and several superintendent roles on both coasts.
Most recently, Deasy led Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, from 2011 to 2014. Before that tenure, he served as superintendent in Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland from 2006 to 2008, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified from 2001 to 2006, and Coventry Public Schools in Rhode Island from 1996 to 2001.
After his time at LAUSD, he became superintendent consultant for the Broad Center, where he coaches current and emerging national education leaders, according to an online biography. He also maintains a management consulting practice and is active on a number of boards, including those of UnboundED, College Summit and Cambiar.
He is the board chairman of Reset: New Day, New Year, an alternative prison for young men, and editor-in-chief of “The Line,” a magazine dedicated to civil discourse on pressing social issues, education and social justice.
Born in Boston and raised both there and in Providence, Rhode Island, Deasy earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Providence College and a doctorate from the University of Louisville in Kentucky...
More than 6,385 third-graders participated in the selection process, according to the school system. About 1,120 students were accepted or actually placed on the waiting list.
Md. school [MCPS] district mistakenly told third-graders they were on waiting list for gifted program
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-school-district-mistakenly-told-third-graders-they-were-on-waiting-list-for-gifted-program/2018/05/03/73ac0c64-4f13-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html?utm_term=.2af3ca8a2d03
Thousands of Montgomery County families were mistakenly told their elementary-school-age children had been placed on a waiting list for a program that enrolls gifted students. In truth, they hadn’t been accepted.
The letters arrived April 20 at the homes of more than 5,265 families. The news was promising: Each family’s third-grader was on the waiting list for one of the school system’s Centers for Enriched Studies, which exist at 13 elementary schools and offer accelerated curriculums to gifted students.
Days later, parents received a second letter retracting the first one. The second letter told parents the students’ current elementary school can meet their “accelerated and enriched programming needs,” according to a copy of the letter that parents shared.
Derek Turner, a spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools, apologized for the mistake, blaming it on a “printing error.”..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-school-district-mistakenly-told-third-graders-they-were-on-waiting-list-for-gifted-program/2018/05/03/73ac0c64-4f13-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html?utm_term=.2af3ca8a2d03
Former MCPS Community Superintendent Sean Bulson finalist in Cecil County Superintendent Search
...Sean BulsonBulson spent the first 16 years of his career in Montgomery County Public Schools, where he finished as community superintendent, supervising 36 schools with approximately 24,000 students. In 2011, he became superintendent of Wilson County Schools in North Carolina, supervising 12,000 students and 26 schools. Today, he works in the University of North Carolina system, where he focuses on educator preparation and directs a portfolio of statewide programs that support schools and school districts.
“To me, leadership is very much about relationships,” he said. “A leader needs followers.”
Bulson emphasized that a leader should strive to be visionary, collaborative and entrepreneurial.
A superintendent may work closely with a school board, but he or she should be steering the direction of the ship, he added. Once established, the superintendent should be the greatest cheerleader and proponent for the vision decided upon.
“I am an includer by nature; I always want other experts in the room helping me come up with solutions,” he said. “I never assume I’m the smartest guy in the room.”
A superintendent should also examine the resources that already exist in a community to see what can be leveraged to improve outcomes, he said.
“A school district does not exist independently of the broader community,” he added.
Bulson said it’s also important to provide excellent customer service to families with students in the system as well as members of the broader community who fund the system.
“The broader community needs to see the importance of the schools. We not only prepare workers but we also attract them,” he said. “If they’re willing to come here and put their kids in our schools, it makes it easier on them to exist as a business.”
Bulson, who started his career as a Montgomery County teacher for students who were non-native English speakers, said his experience in the classroom taught him to “look at students as individuals, bringing very different experiences to a classroom.”
“I served kids from 15 or 20 different countries, speaking 18 different languages — everything from kids coming out of war zones escaping with only their lives to ambassadors’ children,” he said.
Those experiences also informed him that the best solutions often come from those closest to students: their teachers.
“We need to have high expectations for our teachers, but we also need to give them a great deal of respect for what they do. And the more they’re engaged in making a difference in addressing some of these challenges, the easier it will be to keep them and the more sustainable our results will be, because they are a big part of solving those problems,” he said. “That’s going to exist long beyond an initiative that came from my office.”
As a superintendent in North Carolina, Bulson said he tried to give his teachers as much flexibility as possible.
“You can lead for results or you can lead for process, and I generally lean toward results,” he said. “I can’t tell you what to do and how to do it. Let’s set high standards and then support you as much as possible, but also give you space to do the work and succeed.”
Bulson noted that as missions of county and state agencies overlap, there’s a greater need for coordination to reduce redundancy and increase partnerships that produce positive outcomes for all students.
Bulson recalled his work in Wilson County, N.C., where the local detention center was located directly across the street from his office, and every day he watched as they drove in new prisoners.
“My goal was to keep kids off the street,” he said, noting that he strived to place students with behavioral problems at alternative programs within the system in order to avoid them dropping out. “I’m constantly looking for more solutions to student behaviors. There’s no perfect solution, but you come to those solutions in working with the other leaders to find the best fit.”..
http://www.cecildaily.com/schools/superintendent-finalists-discuss-views-on-leadership-schools-role/article_54e15fb4-5696-5f07-84a8-76bdf441a8b7.html
SoccerPlex opens 3 Fields with Zeolite Infill in Artificial Turf
SoccerPlex
Turf Talk
March 27, 2018
...And the icing on the cake is the synthetic turf. We chose one of AstroTurf's most innovative products. In fact we travelled to California to check it out. This synthetic turf is an 80 oz product (our previous turf was 40 oz). The increased weight equals density of turf and durability. The rootzone (which looks kind of like a thatch layer) helps with the overall density of the turf, which by the way is only 1.25" (closer to the look and feel of natural grass). The rootzone also traps the infill and reduces the dreaded "splash".
Last but not least is infill. This is one of the coolest parts of the new turf (pun intended). Zeofill, also known as Zeolite, is a mineral mined in Death Valley, making it completely organic. What makes it unique is that it is porous and can absorb 80% of its weight in water which helps with drainage and the evaporation helps to cool the temperature of the turf. Once the infill is settled down into the rootzone (about 2-3 months) there will be no "splash". In the meantime you might see some little white stone-like material around. Never fear you won't see it in a couple of months...
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