Billions in School Covid-Relief Funds Remain Unspent

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/school-districts-are-struggling-to-spend-emergency-covid-19-funds-11652866201

Rockville 18-year-old charged in attempted Georgetown kidnapping

An 18-year-old from Rockville, Maryland, was arrested and charged Thursday in connection with a kidnapping attempt that happened Tuesday in Georgetown, D.C. police said.

According to authorities, Emilio Andres Rizo was speaking with a young boy around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 3100 block of M Street Northwest...

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/06/rockville-18-year-old-charged-in-attempted-georgetown-kidnapping/

Child suicide rates have🚫NOT INCREASED🚫during the pandemic.

📉Suicidology (USA)📈

Child suicide rates have🚫NOT INCREASED🚫during the pandemic.

There continues to be ZERO support for the claim that pediatric suicide rates increased during the pandemic. I can now accurately compare March-November of every year going back to 1999.

/1 pic.twitter.com/nwyjpv1Mrh

— Tyler Black, MD (@tylerblack32) June 10, 2022

Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Darryl Williams is on the hot seat after a scathing letter from a majority of the County Council to the school board president.

Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Darryl Williams is on the hot seat after a scathing letter from a majority of the County Council to the school board president.

In the letter is a call for a new superintendent search.

In the letter is a call for a new superintendent search.

| PDF: Read the council members' letter

The councilmembers said their two-page letter to the school board president comes out of frustration with Williams' administration -- from how it's addressing ongoing transportation issues, regarding late school buses, to low teacher and student morale and a recent uptick in school violence.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/request-made-to-consider-replacing-superintendent-darryl-williams/40221750?fbclid=IwAR1NIet0z0IMnrQDHkGfE9R22_sXdOom2rcSctlfy4YGe994R8OOQiS4HcA

NEW: MoCo Police responded to Blair G. Ewing Center in Rockville on Tuesday for a student with a loaded gun, sources tell me. The school serves as an alternative learning center for students within Montgomery County Public Schools.

NEW: MoCo Police responded to Blair G. Ewing Center in Rockville on Tuesday for a student with a loaded gun, sources tell me.

The school serves as an alternative learning center for students within Montgomery County Public Schools.

I've contacted MCPS seeking more information. pic.twitter.com/ItCFmAIALi

— Kevin Lewis (@KevinLewis7News) June 10, 2022

 https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-blair-ewing-center-student-brought-handgun-ammunition-bullets-found-police-sro-resource-officers

Alexis McDaniel, the mother of murdered NWHS student 17yo Jai’lyn Jones, reaffirmed today she believes her son’s murder stemmed from bullying within @MCPS & Northwest High School. @MCPS will not answer # of Qs

TUESDAY: Alexis McDaniel, the mother of murdered NWHS student 17yo Jai’lyn Jones, reaffirmed today she believes her son’s murder stemmed from bullying within @MCPS & Northwest High School. @MCPS will not answer # of Qs citing student privacy & the ongoing @MCPS investigation. https://t.co/8S7CmmVo08

— Stephanie Ramirez (@RamirezReports) May 17, 2022

Covid Is Way More Lethal to Kids Than The Flu

...Covid and kids: more deadly than the flu

In the US, nearly six times more kids and teens died from Covid in one year than did from the flu, according to a new analysis of pediatric mortality data.

Millions of kids get sick with the seasonal flu each year. But although it can be dangerous — especially for those who are unvaccinated — it's much less lethal than Covid. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, childhood flu deaths during the regular season have ranged from 39 to 199 since 2004. Meanwhile, in 2021 alone, more than 600 children died from Covid-19, according to the analysis done by Jeremy Faust, a professor at Harvard University Medical School and physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston...

 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-06-03/coronavirus-daily-covid-is-more-lethal-to-kids-than-the-flu

Need for training on 911 calls, using ‘bleed kits’ highlighted in Magruder High shooting report

Schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, need to train staff on making 911 calls and how to use “bleed kits,” according to a report sent to the Maryland Center for School Safety in the months following the January school shooting at Magruder High.

The report also said the school system should review whether law enforcement agencies have access to the technology — including school-issued key fobs — needed to open locked doors in emergency situations...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/06/need-for-training-on-911-calls-using-bleed-kits-highlighted-in-magruder-high-shooting-report/

Most workers who died of COVID in 2020 had something essential in common, study finds

Most working-age Americans who died of COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic were so-called essential workers in labor, service and retail jobs that required on-site attendance and prolonged contact with others, according to a recently published study led by a University of South Florida epidemiologist.

The study looks back on COVID-19 deaths in 2020 and affirms what many had already known or suspected — that Americans who could not work from home and who labored in low-paying jobs with few or no benefits, such as paid sick leave and health insurance coverage, bore the brunt of deaths during the pandemic’s first year, said Jason Salemi, an associate professor in USF’s College of Public Health and co-author of the study...

https://news.yahoo.com/most-people-died-covid-2020-100000339.html

Many children who contracted COVID-19 during pandemic did not develop antibodies to ward off Omicron, study says

A new study from researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows that fewer than 10 percent of kids who contracted COVID-19 in 2020 or early 2021 developed antibodies capable of warding off the Omicron variant of the virus, according to a statement posted to the medical school’s website.

The statement said the study findings, published May 27 in the journal Nature Communications, track with prior studies of adults that showed getting COVID-19 once sadly doesn’t guarantee antibody protection against repeat infection at a later date...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/06/07/metro/many-children-who-contracted-covid-19-during-pandemic-did-not-develop-antibodies-ward-off-omicron-study-says/

"Ventilation is a key strategy recommended to reduce COVID-19 spread in school settings" —new @CDCMMWR report So why aren't we doing that everywhere?

"Ventilation is a key strategy recommended to reduce COVID-19 spread in school settings" —new @CDCMMWR report
So why aren't we doing that everywhere?https://t.co/mkhKpV9PGL #COVIDisAirborne pic.twitter.com/vA150WKy0n

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) June 7, 2022

We Need to Improve Indoor Air Quality: Here’s How and Why

Upgrading buildings’ ventilation, filtration and other factors would not only decrease COVID transmission but also improve health and cognitive performance in general

We spend 90 percent of our lives indoors, yet most of us seldom spare a thought for the quality of the air we breathe there.

More than a century ago, pioneering nurse and statistician Florence Nightingale proclaimed the importance of open air and bedroom ventilation for tuberculosis patients. Today in Nordic countries, it is common practice to let babies nap outside, sometimes in freezing temperatures. But even though humans have long attributed health benefits to fresh outdoor air, it is a lesson many of us seemed to have largely forgotten—until the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to relearn it.

It is now widely acknowledged that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, is frequently transmitted by airborne droplets called aerosols that hang in the air and can travel over short and long distances. “This is a virus that spreads through the air almost exclusively indoors. If we start there, then the building matters,” says Joseph Allen, an associate professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and director of its Healthy Buildings program...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-need-to-improve-indoor-air-quality-here-rsquo-s-how-and-why/

MoCo Board of Education Hires Nonprofit to Evaluate Multicultural Learners

The Montgomery County Board of Education has selected the Center for Applied Linguistics, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit,  to engage a stakeholder commission and evaluate current MCPS practices, with the aim of improving engagement and achievement of Emergent Multilingual Learners (EML) students in the English Language Development program, and Latino/Hispanic students in various programs across the system...

https://mocoshow.com/blog/moco-board-of-education-hires-nonprofit-to-evaluate-multicultural-learners/?fbclid=IwAR1QmS_iFdfNNX9a6M71dquj71VDk-UNTL50hvkZTIJih7yfn3Q-w2jgIxA

New Poolesville High School Under Construction

A new, renovated Poolesville High School is under construction. Local leaders and community members gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at the school on Monday.

Once complete, the new Poolesville High School will be about 234,000 square feet and will have capacity for 1,500 students, which is an increase of 400. The school is planned to open for the start of the 2025 academic year.

Poolesville leaders said the new school helps ensure fair access for western Montgomery County...

https://www.mymcmedia.org/new-poolesville-high-school-under-construction/

Gymnasts sue FBI for $1 billion over mishandling of Larry Nassar case

A group of 90 women that includes former U.S. Olympic team gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman filed a lawsuit against the FBI, alleging it mishandled its investigation of former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar, allowing him to continue to sexually abuse them even after they had reported him to the bureau in 2015.

The women are collectively seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI in a lawsuit filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 law that makes the United States liable for injuries “caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment.” They join 13 others who in April filed a similar lawsuit against the FBI, citing a July report released by the Justice Department’s inspector general that found the bureau failed to properly investigate serious sex-abuse allegations against Nassar.

“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015. For 421 days they worked with USA Gymnastics and USOPC to hide this information from the public and allowed Nassar to continue molesting young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” former Team USA gymnast Maggie Nichols said in a statement released by lawyers representing the group of women...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/06/08/larry-nassar-victims-fbi-lawsuit/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3DIPZFyAa5SiIG52no2X7bo8OFabTpujqqiocLMOCxN4vskqOB7paaXao

Board of Education SUCCESS in Spreading COVID-19 in Schools! 19 @mcps Schools on MD Outbreak List, 28 Schools in Montgomery County.

The Montgomery County Board of Education is all about promoting themselves as world class Board of Education members.  Here's their latest success: They have ignored ventilation, masking, vaccinations and promoted the spread of a highly transmissible virus during a global pandemic.  

Previous weekly reports at this link.

School- Cases associated with COVID-19 Outbreak - Date of Report

Beverly Farms Elementary School Montgomery 15 6/1/2022

Brooke Grove Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

Burning Tree Elementary School Montgomery 18 6/1/2022

Clarksburg Elementary School Montgomery 6 6/1/2022

Clopper Mill Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

Damascus High School Montgomery 25 6/1/2022

Flower Valley Elementary School Montgomery 5 6/1/2022

Germantown Elementary School Montgomery 4 6/1/2022

John L. Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) Montgomery 5 6/1/2022

Lake Seneca Elementary School Montgomery 5 6/1/2022

Little Flower School Montgomery 8 6/1/2022

Luxmanor Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

Mary of Nazareth Catholic School Montgomery 20 6/1/2022

Meadow Hall Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

Olney Elementary School Montgomery 5 6/1/2022

Rochambeau French International School - Bradley Campus Montgomery 16 6/1/2022

Rochambeau French International School- Forest Rd Campus Montgomery 34 6/1/2022

Rosa M. Parks Middle School Montgomery 58 6/1/2022

Sherwood Elementary School Montgomery 11 6/1/2022

South Lake Elementary School Montgomery 8 6/1/2022

Spencerville Adventist Academy Montgomery 7 6/1/2022

St. Andrew's Episcopal School Montgomery 41 6/1/2022

St. Peter's School Montgomery 6 6/1/2022

The Academy of the Holy Cross Montgomery 15 6/1/2022

The Siena School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

Washington Christian Academy Montgomery 4 6/1/2022

Wheaton Woods Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/1/2022

William Farquhar Middle School Montgomery 4 6/1/2022

Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education.

Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:

Classroom/cohort outbreak definition:

    1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or

School-wide outbreak definition:

    2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or
    3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).

Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue.

These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.

https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/school-resources

Playground Fire in Poolesville

19,700 Fisher Av near Milford Mill Road, Poolesville, playground, outside fire, @mcfrs PE714, B714 on scene pic.twitter.com/TnNFSyxmmf

— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) June 5, 2022

Child charged in Montgomery Co. playground fire

A child has been arrested and charged with setting a fire at a playground in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Sunday. Flames were seen coming from a playground on Fisher Avenue at Milford Mill Road, near the Maggie Nightingale Library in Poolesville, Sunday afternoon, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/06/child-charged-in-montgomery-co-playground-fire/?fbclid=IwAR1ay_VmA9KavQV1pkymJOZ8Ytvh9cd0IvUKvCq0ksaDrioTQqIaZr5Qyxw

After Action Report on the Magruder High School Shooting

 Here is the After Action Report on the Magruder High School Shooting.

2022 Magruder High School a... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

220513 Col Zadok Magruder HS After Action Report by freestategal on Scribd

The shooting occurred on January 21, 2022. We received the After Action Report today, June 6, 2022.

Former Whitman HS teacher Kirkland Shipley pleads guilty to sexual abuse charges

Former Whitman social studies teacher Kirkland Shipley accepted a government plea offer at a court hearing yesterday morning, pleading guilty to sexually abusing a high school student and possessing sexually explicit material of a minor.

The former crew coach faces a maximum penalty of either 10 years imprisonment or a $25,000 fine for each of the two counts and must register as a sex offender for life, according to court documents. The court may also require Shipley to pay restitution to the victims. 

 “NVRDC and our clients are glad that Defendant Shipley accepted responsibility for the abuse he inflicted,” wrote Network for Victim Recovery of D.C. attorney Matthew Ornstein, who represents the victims, in an email to The Black & White. “We will be spending the next few months preparing for the sentencing phase.”..

https://theblackandwhite.net/72441/news/former-teacher-kirkland-shipley-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-abuse-charges/