From the Second & Sixth web site:
According to an internal source, the Montgomery County Office of the County Attorney is currently in the process of preparing their response to a complaint that was filed with the Maryland Attorney General’s Open Meetings Compliance Board in early March. The complaint alleges violations of the Maryland Open Meetings Act by 60 different county boards and commissions.
This happens in Montgomery County, and has for years, despite complaints.
Story by reporter Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report, via NBC. Full story here.
Taking away recess to discipline elementary school students doesn’t work. Experts say it’s time to stop.
In Florida, kids in a second grade class were told to walk laps during recess after no one confessed to taking money from a classmate. In Kentucky, a first grader who hadn’t been paying attention in class had to sit on a bench next to his teacher and watch his friends play. In Texas, after a few students misbehaved, an entire first grade class had to sit inside silently for recess.
Amid long, structured school days filled with academic demands, recess serves as a critical outlet and break for kids, according to pediatricians and child development experts.
But, on any given day, an untold number of children in elementary schools nationwide have all or part of their recess revoked for infractions such as failing to finish their work, talking out of turn or not following directions. The long-standing and common punishment in schools occurs even though the practice flies in the face of considerable research supporting the importance of free play for young children.
Recently, there has been growing momentum to pass laws to protect recess time. Lawmakers in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Minnesota introduced bills over the past year to prohibit schools from withholding recess as a punishment.
"Liability limits - the Self Insurance Program would not cover vehicles it does not own (the liability goes with the vehicle) so in this case, it appears clear that the contractor covers them for liability. See page 36 – their insurance requirements and page 48 – MCPS insurance requirements."...
Epidemiologists estimate that 20 to 30 percent, or even as much as 50 percent, of people infected with COVID-19 end up developing long COVID, which encompasses a wide variety of disorders people experience weeks, months, or even years after their initial brush with the disease.
Some people lose their taste and smell; others have developed crushing fatigue, memory lapses, heart and lung conditions, vision loss, anxiety and depression, and other ailments that impede nearly every aspect of their daily life...
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/1-in-5-educators-say-theyve-experienced-long-covid/2022/04
...“I’m trying to stay optimistic,” he says when the doctors inform him he’s got all the signs of long Covid. They’re telling him this in March, and if he wants to get better he needs to take it easy. That means no basketball for a while. Lincoln hates hearing this. Still, they start hatching a plan—something none of the other doctors he’s seen have been able to offer. It’s too late for what would have been his freshman season of high school, but they’re hopeful he’ll be back on the court in time for his sophomore year. “We’ve got you,” says Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious diseases expert who runs the long-haul Covid clinic at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s hospital in Cleveland...
Jennifer Martin, the president of the Montgomery County Education Association, told reporters that when she visited one school on Tuesday, “One mid-career teacher told me she wouldn’t be back next year.”..
...The Parent's Coalition of Montgomery County, a local watchdog group, said Highland gave the State of Maryland an operational start date of August 2021 when it applied for an $817,000 grant to help pay for 19 of the district's buses. The Coalition points out some electric buses have had issues in other states....
From the Austin American-Statesman, May 4, 2022, reporter Niki Griswold. Full story here.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that Texas would consider challenging a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring states to offer free public education to all children, including those of undocumented immigrants.
"Texas already long ago sued the federal government about having to incur the costs of the education program, in a case called Plyler versus Doe," Abbott said, speaking during an appearance on the Joe Pags show, a conservative radio talk show. "And the Supreme Court ruled against us on the issue. ... I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different than when Plyler versus Doe was issued many decades ago."
The remarks came days after a leaked draft of a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court opinion revealed that a majority of justices are poised to revoke Roe v. Wade, the landmark case establishing the right to abortion.
Maryland Office of Legislat... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...
Finding 6 – We recommend that BCPS
a. periodically review employee access capabilities to ensure all access is appropriate and incompatible duties are segregated (repeat)In Progress
Finding 8 – We recommend that BCPS implement appropriate database monitoring controls over the aforementioned critical systems. Specifically, we recommend that BCPS
a. log all significant database security, audit related event, and processing activities, included direct changes to critical database tables, and generate reports that include this related database activity(repeat)Resolved b. ensure that individuals perform regular, independent documented reviews of the aforementioned reports and retain the information for reference purposes(repeat)
Resolved
c. restrict assignment of critical database administration roles to only those personnel requiring such access fortheir job responsibilities (repeat)Resolved
Finding 9 – We recommend that BCPS
a. relocate all publicly accessible servers to a separate protected network zone to limit security exposures to the internal network segment (repeat) Resolved
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
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...
The proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget includes a reduction of overall full time equivalent positions by 113 due to a decrease in student enrollment. According to MCPS, enrollment as of the beginning of the current school year dropped by 2,347 due to the pandemic. However, the proposed budget calls for an increase of 2,000 students...
In 48 hours I take a closer look at the new electric school buses over at @MCPS @7NewsDC is asking why only 7 are on the road transporting students if the electric buses started to arrive in December of last year? #ElectricSchoolBuses #CrisisInTheClassroom pic.twitter.com/izblsHjO7E
— Scott Taylor 7 News I-Team (@ScottTaylorTV) May 3, 2022
Full story here, note this is from March 25, 2022 on AP, by reporter Brian Witte. Because nothing could go wrong here in Maryland, right? We all remember when Texas was solidly Democratic and Ann Richards was the governor. And when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. So, as long as Democrats control the general assembly now, nothing will ever change and our abortion rights are safe forever.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A proposal to enshrine the right to abortion in the Maryland Constitution failed to advance in the Maryland Senate on Friday, though other measures to expand access to providers moved forward.
After legislation received preliminary approval in the Senate to expand abortion access in the state, Senate President Bill Ferguson said those measures would be “the only time we take up this issue this session.”
“I know there are lots of other possible ideas out there. I think this is the issue that we will take on for this session,” Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, told his colleagues at the end of the Senate’s Friday session.
Tax ID: 16‐05‐03129480
Parcel: P:P765
Tax Grid: KR52
Acres: 16.4271
3300 BRIGGS CHANEY RD
SILVER SPRING
MCPS Cluster: PAINT BRANCH (NEC)
Deed: 13885/643
Date: 1/24/1996
EMORY LANE ES
Tax ID: 16‐08‐00702253
Parcel: P:P585
Tax Grid: HS33
Acres: 4.3700
EMORY LN
ROCKVILLE
MCPS Cluster: MAGRUDER
Deed: 08978/241
9/5/1989
EMORY LANE ES
Tax ID: 16‐08‐00702300
Parcel: P:P547
Tax Grid: HS33
Acres: 4.0500
EMORY LN
ROCKVILLE
Cluster: MAGRUDER
Deed: 08978/241
9/5/1989
Tax Id: 16‐13‐00954593
Parcel P:P790
Tax Grid:HR61
Acres: 8.2451
LAYHILL RD
GLENMONT
KENNEDY (DCC)
Deed: 04699/301
Date: 10/7/1975
FOXHALL ES
Tax Id: 16‐13‐01390021
Parcel: OL:A
Tax Grid: HR61
Acres: 0.1428
BRIGGS RD
GLENMONT
KENNEDY (DCC)
Deed: 04699/295
Date: 10/7/1975
