CDC now talks about CO2 monitoring as an indicator of good ventilation. https://t.co/Ph6OcYf3Cd "One potential target benchmark for good ventilation is CO2 readings below 800 [ppm]." Caveats: non-human sources of CO2 (gas stove), filtration removes particles not CO2. HT @citlanx
— Linsey Marr (@linseymarr) June 9, 2021
Board of Education Award Co... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...
There were no reports of an incident at the school in Silver Spring that day.
According to a letter from Principal Joe Rubens, school staff “worked quickly to cover the images.” He said he was “deeply disheartened” to learn of the vandalism “that included language and references of symbols of hate speech that are harmful and unsettling for many in our community.”..
...Email requests for information to Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery County Police were not returned...
The two returning and two new Montgomery County Board of Education members were sworn in Thursday and immediately took their seats.
Board President Brenda Wolff from District 5 and Karla Silverstre, an at-large member, were re-elected in November. Also elected was Grace Rivera-Oven and Julie Yang.
“The success of Montgomery County depends on the success of our children in MCPS,” Silvestre said. “Thank you for your support. We will need it now and into the future.”
Wolff called the previous two years “an incredible journey for us, because we had incredible things to deal with.” Her goal during her second term is to ensure that all students are college or job ready.
Rivera-Oven, who represents District 1 and is a native of Bolivia, promised “to work very hard to ensure your voices and heart,” she said, referring to the students who represent 156 countries and speak 115 languages.
Yang, who represents District 3, said, “Education has made the biggest difference in my life” and referred to her second-grade teacher “who didn’t give up on me.”
While serving on the board, Yang hopes to “have a positive influence on the life trajectory of a student, because every child can succeed if they are given an opportunity to.”
BOE members also honored outgoing members Scott Joftus, who was not re-elected, and Judy Docca, who has been on the board since 2006...
MCPS Board of Education Members Sworn In - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)
.@MCPS was joined by @MontgomeryCoMD Public Safety Officials to discuss response to January 21 Magruder HS shooting @LindsayAWatts @fox5dc https://t.co/Uqe4KKXXxR & @wtop parents say school officials apologized for shortcomings in communication & response https://t.co/zqDq6mQ0ba pic.twitter.com/xHHuMpBf56
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) December 1, 2022
...A complaint, which lists Thomas’s mother, Karen Thomas, as the plaintiff and was filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, alleges that the county deprived Thomas “of his right to a reasonably safe and secure public education” and that the school system did not take any action to curb rising reports of violence on school grounds after students returned to campuses after remote learning during the beginning of the pandemic...
Family of student shot at Magruder sues county, school board (msn.com)
Burtonsville Associates and Burtonsville Crossing LLC allege the county essentially blocked construction of the church in violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act by refusing to alter its master plan and extend sewer service to the planned building, as it had done for a secular facility.
Montgomery County, in its responsive high court filing, said Congress enacted RLUIPA to prohibit government from imposing a substantial burden on religious exercise through land use restrictions.
Lawmakers, however, did not require counties to make special accommodations for religious facilities in land use decisions, as that would violate the constitutional prohibition on governmental establishment of religion, wrote the county’s lead attorney, Howard R. Feldman.
He added that the county’s decision to stick with its master plan on sewer service did not substantially burden the church’s religious exercise because a septic system would still enable the church to have an 800-seat facility rather than its preference for one that would accommodate 2,000 congregants...
Montgomery County urges Supreme Court to deny religious burden claim (thedailyrecord.com)
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students enrolled in Montgomery College (MC) dual enrollment classes recently got good news—their tuition is free for the current academic year, and beginning in the Fall of 2023, dual enrollment students will not pay any costs associated with attending college while still in high school.
An Oct. 7, 2022, memo from Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury detailed that students will not be required to pay any portion of tuition for college (this new legislation includes WDCE classes as well as credit classes) courses they are enrolled in at MC, regardless of their financial status.
Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, students may sign up for college courses through dual enrollment at no cost to student or their families. This includes all college tuition, fees, required textbooks, and instructional supplies.
The MC-MCPS partnership offers several unique dual enrollment programs for students:
Any student who wishes to apply to participate in the Early College (10th grade students only) or Virtual Middle College (8th grade students only) programs for fall 2023 must submit an MCPS Interest Form by the November 11, 2022, deadline. Students can find the link to the Interest Form on MC’s dual enrollment page.
We are pleased to have assisted @MCFRS and other local emergency personnel on the effort to safely rescue the individuals who were stranded in the airplane. We have restored electric service for all customers who were impacted by tonight’s incident.
— Pepco (@PepcoConnect) November 28, 2022
Dana Edwards, chief of district operations in Montgomery County, said at a meeting this week that in weighing calendar options for 2023-24, there’s more to think about than when the first and last days of school should be...
How long should winter break be? Montgomery, Arlington schools working on new calendars - WTOP News
One after another, members of the General Assembly’s Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee expressed astonishment that the agency decided — as a matter of policy — not to seek liquidated damages from Optum, a health claims-processing company whose shortcomings were the subject of a harsh audit last month.
The Minnesota-based firm processes billions of dollars in behavioral health claims each year. The review of Optum’s performance, which was conducted by the Office of Legislative Audits (OLA), uncovered numerous problems.
Auditors discovered more than $220 million in payments for behavioral health services that lacked proper documentation or haven’t been recovered, lapses that prevented the state from receiving nearly $30 million in federal reimbursement for which it was eligible. In addition, mental health providers, who have been stretched thin and subject to burnout since the pandemic began, have been forced to spend long hours reconciling payment errors.
Agency officials gamely sought to reassure lawmakers that they have penalized and withheld payments from Optum, but they acknowledged that they decided not to seek liquidated damages for fear of harming their relationship with the firm. The admission appeared to stun members of the panel.
“I think it sends the wrong message to contractors that work with the state — and makes a laughingstock of our contracting process,” said Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard), a committee co-chair. “If we enter into contracts with vendors who are unable to deliver, and yet do not pursue damages when those contractors are costing the state millions of dollars… it’s an example of what’s broken with our state procurement process.”
Del. Kirill Reznik (D-Montgomery) called the agency’s decision “unconscionable” and a dangerous precedent...
“Wastewater surveillance will be a game changer for our efforts to better predict outbreaks and prevent them from happening,” said County Executive Marc Elrich, in a news release...
Montgomery Co. monitoring wastewater for COVID-19 - WTOP News
Kelvin Brown of SEIU Local 500 complained about a shortage of drivers, low pay and too many no school, no pay days, including during winter and spring breaks.
“Bus drivers are overworked and underpaid,” he said. Drivers sometimes must double and triple back on routes to make sure all students are transported “while not being compensated” for the extra time.
Brown also said some routes that aren’t covered due to a shortage of drivers aren’t always listed on the MCPS transportation website. Therefore, families are not warned and don’t have time to come up with alternate transportation.
He also pointed out that there sometimes is not an aide on routes carrying special education students, something that never occurred in previous years...
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight said school bus drivers will once again receive a $25 bonus for each extra route driven. If there’s an extra route in the morning and another in the afternoon that would add $50 a day to the operator’s pay.
The bonuses were paid during part of the last school year but were terminated at the end of the school year...
Montgomery Co. reinstates extra route bonus for school bus drivers - WTOP News
Here's one of several uncovered electrical outlets at a county facility that numerous children use daily. This is a violation of the electrical code and a significant safety hazard. It's been reported to the county and we're waiting for a response.
Note that the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) will not provide any protection to a child who sticks his curious fingers along the edge of the receptacle because the exposed wiring and terminals are on the "line" side of the receptacle, before the GFCI. The child will get a severe electric shock and could easily be killed.
And again, this is just one of the junction boxes that is missing its cover at this facility.
Incredibly, county employees pass this open outlet every day, yet no action has been taken. It will take literally two minutes to install a new cover, but no one has bothered to do so.
The investigation also identified more than 600 victims of sexual abuse, according to a new court filing.
The report itself, along with the names of the priests, is not yet public. The Attorney General’s Office disclosed some details in a court filing Thursday requesting permission to release documents that the Archdiocese provided in response to a grand jury subpoena...
...“The Attorney General’s investigation uncovered pervasive sexual abuse amongst the priesthood and repeated failures by the Archdiocese to protect the children of Baltimore,” the office wrote. “Time and again, the Archdiocese chose the abuser over the abused, the powerful over the weak, and the adult over the child. Hundreds of Marylanders have suffered mentally and physically for decades because of the Archdiocese’s decisions.
“Now is the time for reckoning,” the filing continues. “Publicly airing the transgressions of the Church is critical to holding people and institutions accountable and improving the way sexual abuse allegations are handled going forward.”
The filing describes pervasive sexual abuse and a church that tried to cover up the problem. One congregation was assigned 11 sexually abusive priests over a span of 40 years, the document claims. Victims sometimes ended up reporting sexual abuse to members of the clergy who were themselves perpetrators...
...“We need to see the names of the perpetrators.” he said. “We need to hear the stories of the survivors. … That’s the only way, sometimes, you come forward. You say ‘I’m not the only one.'”
This story will be updated...
“You mean can you walk half a mile and miss half of the class..? Sure. Take a pass.”
If bathrooms are out of order, we need to do something to fix them because students need to pee. Having half of the bathrooms unavailable (or any at all) is not good for students or staff—seeing as some staff choose to use the student bathrooms because they are closer to their classes.
Given that students are also prohibited from leaving class in the first and last ten minutes of class, closing half of the bathrooms in the school can lead to disaster. Holding excretions in is unhealthy for anyone, but if a student tries to hold it in during the last ten minutes of class and cannot find an open bathroom during the transition time, the risk for urinary tract infections (UTI) and other illnesses increases.
Closing the bathrooms in one half of the school also keeps kids out of class longer. If they have to walk halfway around the school to get to the bathroom, it becomes increasingly difficult to spend the maximum amount of time in class.
We do understand that things break. And safety in the bathrooms is important. But we ask that Montgomery County Public Schools work harder to repair bathrooms quickly given that this is a basic human need. And if the issue is students skipping class or misbehaving in bathrooms, please consider stationing security outside rather than closing them altogether.
