Rockville HDC to review demolitions at Montgomery County jail

Rockville's Historic District Commission will review the proposed demolition of seven unutilized structures at the Montgomery County Detention Center campus at 1307 Seven Locks Road at its meeting this Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 7:00 PM. The Montgomery County Department of General Services is seeking the demolitions, to clear the way for a potential Montgomery County Public Schools school bus depot. 

No formal proposal for the bus depot has been submitted to the City as of yet. The HDC will consider the potential historic significance of the seven buildings. But under the mandatory referral process for government projects, the City can only advise changes; it cannot stop a County project from moving forward.

Maryland School Board votes to rescind statewide school mask mandate

The Maryland State Board of Education voted overwhelmingly yesterday to rescind its statewide mandate that required masks to be worn inside of public schools. However, the masks won't be coming off immediately in Montgomery County Public Schools. First, the Maryland General Assembly committee that originally approved the Board mandate must approve the decision to rescind it. Then the Montgomery County Board of Education will have the power to decide its own mask policy.

Photon via State of Maryland

MCPS drops 5% threshold for virtual learning

MCPS Interim Superintendent 
Monifa McKnight

Montgomery County Public Schools announced its latest coronavirus policy about-face this afternoon. After starting the spring semester with a 5% threshold for Covid-19 cases that would trigger a school to switch to virtual learning, eleven schools were forced to go online. But when more than 100 schools met the threshold days later, MCPS canceled a scheduled Thursday email update to parents. It then announced in the past hour that it is dropping the 5% threshold for virtual learning.

"Moving forward, MCPS and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will examine schools on a case-by-case basis to determine if any particular school needs to transition to virtual learning for a designated period of time," Interim Superintendent of Schools Monifa McKnight and Acting Chief Health Officer James Bridgers wrote in this afternoon's statement. "Factors considered will continue to include the number of students and staff who have tested positive; the number of students in quarantine; the number of staff absent for COVID-related reasons; and the level of spread of the virus in the school."

McKnight and Bridgers cited the fact that the state of Maryland does not call for a specific threshold to suspend in-class learning. Their statement did not explain why the threshold was adopted if not recommended by the state. It said the Thursday emails will resume next week. Take-home rapid test kits will also be distributed to all students and staff next week, the statement added. Students who test positive will have to isolate for 10 days from the date of the positive test.

Photo courtesy MCPS

11 Montgomery County Public Schools switching to virtual learning for 2 weeks

Montgomery County Public Schools are closed today, but students at eleven schools won't be returning to the classroom anytime soon. MCPS announced this morning that the following schools are switching to virtual learning for two weeks, due to student coronavirus case numbers:

Cannon Road ES

Forest Knolls ES

Hallie Wells MS

Monocacy ES

North Chevy Chase ES

Roberto Clemente MS

Rock Terrace School

Rosemont ES

Seneca Valley HS

Sherwood ES

Waters Landing ES 

Rockville "undercover billionaire" finds Camaro Z-28 he drove while student at Richard Montgomery High School

Billionaire Glenn Stearns is best known as TV's Undercover Billionaire, and as the founder of Stearns Lending. Lesser known are his Montgomery County days, when he attended Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Stearns never forgot his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28, but never expected to find it again after being forced to sell it later.

But, as he tells Hot Rod magazine, Stearns incredibly found the car while attending a Barrett-Jackson auto auction with football legend John Elway. The Glacier Blue Z "was a known fast car on the streets of Rockville, Maryland, and among fellow students at Richard Montgomery High School," Hot Rod reports.

Now Stearns is once again behind the wheel of the car that once cruised the streets of Rockville. Bidding by phone when he had to leave the auction early for business, the billionaire reclaimed his long lost car. As sports car aficionados know, it's hard to stay "undercover" for long driving a Camaro Z-28.

Democratic congressional candidate Maxwell Bero charged with sexual abuse of 14 y.o. MCPS student

A Democratic congressional candidate who currently works as a teacher at Watkins Mill High School was arrested by Montgomery County police yesterday, and charged with multiple sexual offenses involving a former student when he was employed at Col E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring between 2014 and 2015. Maxwell Bero, 30, of Clarksburg ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Congress in Maryland's 6th Congressional District earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Bero was charged with sexual abuse of a minor, and multiple counts of committing a third-degree sexual offense. His alleged victim was a 14-year-old girl at the time, and is now 19. The sexual interactions Bero is accused of took place on school property, police said. Bero also allegedly exchanged "inappropriate sexual materials and messages" with the girl.

Police are concerned Bero may have additional victims. Detectives of the Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking anyone who believes that he/she is a victim of Bero to call SVID detectives at 240-773-5400. Montgomery County Public Schools has placed Bero on administrative leave. Bero's bond information was not released by police yesterday.

Montgomery County Public Schools not the top school system in Maryland, analysis says

Prominent data analysis firm Stacker has used hard numbers to determine the best school district in each state across America. Montgomery County Public Schools was not the winner.

Stacker says Howard County public schools are the best in the state. They determined this by reviewing statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, SAT/ACT scores, college readiness, teacher quality, and graduation rates.

MCPS has been in a steady decline since 2010, despite record spending on public schools over that same time. County elected officials have panicked this fall as a sizable number of parents transferred their MCPS students into private schools, and only a fraction of the anticipated number of new students materialized on the MCPS 2020-21 student roster.

Montgomery County health officer rescinds order closing private schools

St. Bartholomew's Catholic School
in Bethesda

One of the most bizarre weeks in Montgomery County political history ended yesterday with Health Officer Travis Gayles rescinding his latest order closing private schools through October 1. Gayles knocked over a hornet's nest a week earlier with a similar order issued in the dark of night as the weekend began. Parents filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the order. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan rebuked County officials, and issued his own order blocking the County from declaring a blanket closure of private schools. Gayles rescinded his first order, and then issued a second one based on a different Maryland law. As the week ended, County officials ignored a tepid memo from the Hogan administration, and were moving aggressively to shutter private schools as some began to announce they would start the semester online-only.

The aggressive stance County officials had taken Thursday made their capitulation Friday appropriately bizarre, in keeping with a turbulent week that made national headlines, with Montgomery County a topic on cable news. Gayles said he decided to rescind his order after reading the memo from the Maryland Secretary of Health. But that memo was issued more than 24 hours prior to Gayles announcing he was rescinding the order.

What is clear is that virtually all of the deliberation about the whole matter has taken place behind closed doors, out of public view. If the County had no legal standing, why did it issue the order in the first place? The County has often broken the law and prevailed in court virtually every time. What did they fear would happen this time?

Many believed the move was to stanch the outflow of Montgomery County Public School students to private schools this fall. MCPS had projected it would register 2500 new students for the fall semester. Instead, only 300 had signed up by mid-summer. Parents who felt their children were ill-served by MCPS online instruction last spring sought the in-class instruction many private schools will offer this fall. Student athletes sought private schools where they could still impress college scouts, where MCPS has cancelled sports this fall. And MCPS has been in a steep decline since 2010, no longer considered a premiere school system.

It's unclear what the week-long Kabuki theater by the County accomplished, other than riling up a new group of residents into political activism. Parents may or may not remember that the County Council supported the closure of private schools when they vote in 2022. A few schools and a few students may have changed plans, but ultimately County officials lost more than they gained.

Gayles issued a new order yesterday. It does not force private schools to close, but basically says it is unsafe for them to open, and that they will operate over his objections. The order essentially gives Gayles ground to say, "I told you so," if there is an outbreak of Covid-19 at a private school this fall. However, many have pointed out that summer camps and daycare programs have been operating all summer without a reported outbreak. If the outcome is anything like the run-up, we can be sure it will be unpredictable.

Montgomery County appears to have upper hand on private schools closure order until court date

Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

Tepid state response comes amid some

private schools' decisions to accept 

online start to fall semester

Is the newest order by Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles closing private schools through October 1, 2020 legal, in light of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's own order forbidding such blanket closures of non-public schools? We likely won't even begin to know the answer to that question until it gets its first courtroom hearing a week from today. But Montgomery County's aggressive approach, and one state official's tepid response to it Thursday, appears to have given Montgomery leaders the upper hand in the interim.

A few private schools have begun switching gears amidst the impasse, announcing they will begin their fall semesters online, rather than in-class. This may demoralize some opponents of the County's order, if their students enrolled in those schools can't have in-person instruction before October anyway. Some Catholics have criticized the Archdiocese of Washington for not making a more forceful stand against the closures of their schools, while others have said Catholic leaders are most effective negotiating quietly behind the scenes.

But a response from Hogan putting the County in its place that many opponents hoped was coming from Annapolis yesterday never arrived. In its stead was a letter from Maryland Secretary of Health Robert R. Neall. Rather than threaten legal or law enforcement action against County officials for violating Hogan's express order, it simply laid out "the State of Maryland's position" on the matter. The letter reiterated Hogan's order that counties may not institute blanket closures of all private schools, but that health officers retain the authority to shut down individual schools in violation of CDC and Maryland Health Department protocols on reopening of schools. Montgomery County promptly ignored Neall's letter and proceeded forward.

Perhaps the state's low-key response is strategic ahead of the upcoming legal battle. But in the short term, it appears Hogan will not take immediate action to enforce his order. That leaves parents to continue to be the primary opposing force for at least another week. It also leaves the outcome in the hands of the judge in a courtroom, a place where Montgomery County Government almost never loses, it must be noted. If Montgomery County's order isn't legally airtight, they're sure acting like it is - and in the absence of action from Annapolis, they aim to take a knee and run out the clock.

With the overall goal being about protecting enrollment numbers at Montgomery County Public Schools amid an exodus of students as much a public health, the luxury of no strong opposition from Annapolis is a winning hand. That time ticking away, and the uncertainty, is already having an impact on some private schools' plans.

"The way forward for Good Counsel is to focus on stability," Our Lady of Good Counsel High School President Paul G. Barker said in a statement yesterday, announcing the school will begin the semester online. "We have just over a week to faculty orientation, two weeks to freshman orientation, and three weeks to the first day of classes for all. We have waited as long as we can to provide our teachers and families a clear path for the start of school."

Montgomery County digs in to fight parents with new private schools closure order

Bullis School in Potomac

Order again prohibits

private schools from opening

through October 1

Montgomery County officials moved aggressively Wednesday to signal they will fight private school parents on the question of whether private schools will be allowed to open for in-person instruction this fall. County Health Officer Travis Gayles was heavily criticized for issuing an order late last Friday evening prohibiting private schools from opening through October 1, 2020, and then hiding from the local media until Monday. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) first criticized the County's order, and then issued his own order prohibiting any Maryland county from issuing a blanket closure of private schools. A group of private school parents then filed a lawsuit against Gayles' order. Despite this, Gayles issued a new order last evening, again blocking private schools from opening through October 1.

The new order cites a different, very broad Maryland law to justify the closures, Maryland Code Annotated Health General § 18-208. However, this law states:

a)(1) When a health officer has reason to believe that a disease that endangers public health exists within the county, the health officer shall:

(i) Report immediately to the appropriate county board of health;  and

(ii) With the approval of the board:

1. Investigate the suspected disease;  and

2. Act properly to prevent the spread of the disease.

The County board of health in our case is the County Council. Gayles may "act properly to prevent the spread of" Covid-19 "with the approval of the board." So far, the Council has not taken a formal vote to approve the closure of private schools in Montgomery County. To the extent that the Council has discussed the topic at all, most councilmembers supported Gayles' original order. Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) has attempted to have it both ways by sending Gayles a letter with questions about his decision, but did not rake Gayles over the coals when he testified before the Council earlier this week and had the opportunity, much less openly oppose the closure order.

Similarly, the Council does not wish to accept the political responsibility for closing private schools, and are glad to cede that role to Gayles, an unelected official who does not have to face voters in the 2022 elections. There's no question they support it, however, as the Montgomery County political cartel is demanding the private school closure.

Considering that Montgomery County Government virtually never loses in any courthouse located within the borders of Maryland (even when laws or County rules have been broken, as in the Westbard case), a judge might find the Council's verbal support and lack of action against Gayles' orders to be sufficient to say Gayles is acting "with the approval of the board." How Gayles' latest order can stand in the context of Hogan's order preventing a blanket closure of private schools is the biggest legal question, it would seem. Hogan has not yet responded with any new official action since the new County order was issued Wednesday.

The October 1 date is significant from a federal funding standpoint, not a health standpoint. That the County would take such an aggressive posture to ensure a closure through October 1 merely confirms that the exodus of students from Montgomery County Public Schools to private schools is significant and intensifying.

In fact, the closure order and successive media frenzy has been great advertising for private schools, possibly ending up as a backfire for those who sought to use the ban to stop the outflow of students seeking in-person instruction and athletics. Everything from MCPS funding to teacher salaries depends upon the enrollment numbers in the public school system, understandably leading those who will wind up losing from a mass flight to private schools pounding the panic button.

There is a legitimate question as to the risk to students, teachers, parents and the community at large that private schools opening would pose during the pandemic. But the legal questions as to the authority of the health officer and governor over the matter are likely to be resolved first, in the hours, days and weeks ahead.

Hogan issues emergency order prohibiting blanket closure of private schools by Montgomery County

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has issued an emergency order prohibiting Montgomery County from closing private schools this fall. The order, which applies to all counties, states that opening and closing decisions during the pandemic are to be made by local education authorities. Hogan's order asserts that private and parochial schools have the same authority to determine their ability to open, and that Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles exceeded his authority in issuing his order late Friday evening.

"Over the last several weeks, school boards and superintendents made their own decisions about how and when to reopen public schools, after consultation with state and local health officials," Hogan wrote in a statement accompanying his emergency order. “Private and parochial schools deserve the same opportunity and flexibility to make reopening decisions based on public health guidelines. The blanket closure mandate imposed by Montgomery County was overly broad and inconsistent with the powers intended to be delegated to the county health officer."

After initially stating his opposition to Gayles' order over the weekend, Hogan has now taken action, entering what has become a contentious fight between private school parents and Montgomery County. The Republican governor, who has had to navigate a majority-blue state political sphere for two terms, is widely expected to be a candidate for president in 2024.

Montgomery County health officer reportedly set high bar for Covid-19 positive tests before ordering private schools closed

Holton-Arms School in Bethesda

Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles reportedly said a major decline in positive coronavirus tests would be necessary to allow private schools to open this fall, prior to releasing his controversial order prohibiting private schools from opening through October 1. A person who was on a call between Gayles and a private school advisory group earlier last week recalled Gayles seeking daily positive Covid-19 test results to be in the single digits or teens before giving private schools the green light to reopen. Based on current case trends in the county, that is unlikely to happen this fall, much less by October 1.

Many are seeking answers as to what the specific data metrics behind the private schools order were, in part to discern whether or not the standard is one that could be met by October 1, or if the County is simply seeking to stanch an outflow of students from the public school system this fall. Gayles did not make himself available to the media over the weekend after releasing his order late Friday. More than 3000 private school parents have organized to oppose Montgomery County's order in the three days since it was issued.

Montgomery County private school parents mobilize to challenge closure order

Holy Redeemer School in Kensington

Montgomery County parents of children in private schools have moved quickly this weekend to counter a Friday county government order preventing those schools from opening through October 1. As of this morning, I am aware of two legal challenges to County Health Officer Travis Gayles' order being prepared. At least one Facebook group was started, and quickly grew to over 2000 members. And an online petition has begun gathering signatures.

In addition to challenging the legal authority of the County to shutter private schools, some parents have also questioned the blanket nature of the order, rather than having the County review the specific plans of each school by set standards. For example, a member of the Holy Redeemer School advisory board noted that the school's classrooms all have exterior doors, and that the school has no buses or cafeteria, and argued that such circumstances would allow it to operate with a greater degree of safety. 

Advocates of keeping instruction online-only for now counter that it is the enclosed classroom environment that will put students, teachers and the at-risk populations they interact with outside of school in danger of contracting Covid-19. Some private school teachers had lobbied for a closure in recent weeks, saying they want the same protection that Montgomery County Public School employees are getting with the closure of public schools for the fall semester.

Montgomery County prohibits private schools from opening through October 1

Sidwell Friends Lower School in
the Edgemoor neighborhood of Bethesda

Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles issued an order prohibiting private schools in the county from opening through October 1, 2020. A statement from the County says Gayles will consider extending or terminating the order prior to October 1. Gayles said "the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers. We have seen increases in transmission rates for COVID-19 in the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia, particularly in younger age groups, and this step is necessary to protect the health and safety of Montgomery County residents.”

The order came as many parents with the financial means to do so were scrambling to transfer their children out of Montgomery County Public Schools into private schools for the Fall 2020 semester. MCPS has already announced it will not offer in-class instruction, continuing an all-online instruction method begun this spring. A number of MCPS student athletes were also counting on transfers to private schools in order to play sports, so that they can be considered by colleges for scholarships.

As such transfer plans are now possibly moot, some are suggesting the County's move was political, to discourage a mass exodus from MCPS. If MCPS loses a significant number of students, it will also lose funding in the future. Some also questioned the legality of the order, calling for a legal challenge.

A few critics of President Trump cheered the move on social media, noting that the order would prevent his own son, Barron Trump, from receiving the in-classroom instruction the president has advocated for the nation. Barron Trump attends St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac.

Montgomery County says that any private school official who knowingly disobeys the ban on in-class instruction will face a one-year jail term, or a $5000 fine, or both.

Richard Montgomery football coach, others speak out on MCPS cancelling fall, winter sports

Montgomery County Public Schools announced Tuesday that all sports for fall and winter have been cancelled, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was one line in a larger announcement that no on-site instruction will take place in MCPS for the fall semester. Many coaches and athletes' reactions ranged from resigned disappointment to devastation and anger.

One common theme among those opposed to cancelling sports was to question why fall and winter sports could not be either postponed or rescheduled for a different part of the school year, rather than have a lost season. Randy Thompson, head coach for the Richard Montgomery High School varsity football team, summed up these matters - and the short-shrift the sports decision was given in the MCPS statement - in one tweet.

"The announcement from MCPS to cancel fall and winter sports instead of to postpone and reevaluate, seems unjust to our student athletes, certainly given the fashion in which it passed over in a single sentence," Thompson tweeted. "Why not [reevaluate] 1 month from now, two months from now?," tweeted Quince Orchard High School head football coach John Kelley.

An online petition has been started to play fall and winter sports in the spring. At the same time, some MCPS parents expressed relief at the announcement, believing that having students gathering for practices and games would have put the larger community at risk for Covid-19 transmission.

Thompson, Albert Einstein High School football defensive coordinator Joe Bruneel, and other MCPS coaches vowed to do what they could to salvage some benefit for their student athletes this coming school year. Bruneel proposed football coaches across the system organize for a spring football season. Thompson said he would try to get his players on film to showcase their talents for colleges.

New coronavirus case in Montgomery County as retail traffic falls over virus fears

Rockville students exposed

to covid-19, boosting calls

for MCPS to close schools;

MoCo spooked by mysterious

haze in the sky Sunday

Foot traffic at Montgomery County retail centers has fallen significantly since the jurisdiction's first coronavirus cases were announced late last week. Even before a fourth MoCo covid-19 case was confirmed Sunday by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a spot check of malls and retail properties across the county found lower numbers of shoppers out and about.

Google's live foot traffic measurement
confirmed anecdotal observations of
smaller crowds at MoCo retail centers
since coronavirus panic began

Anecdotal observations of smaller crowds were confirmed using Google's live measurement of foot traffic Sunday. Google's stats (live numbers indicated by red bar) showed foot traffic notably below average at Westfield Montgomery Mall, Bethesda Row, Ellsworth Place, Milestone Shopping Center and Rio Lakefront, to name just a few. The numbers were down even as the area experienced good weather and a temperature over 60 degrees.

Montgomery Mall was "not too busy,"
Google live traffic count declared Sunday;
the red meter shows traffic down more
than a third from usual around 2:00 PM

If fewer residents are putting themselves into public gathering places, they're also increasingly concerned about their children's exposure to coronavirus in the human petri dish network known as school. As rumors surged of a long-term closure starting Monday, Montgomery County Public Schools sent out messages dismissing them, emphasizing that schools will be open as usual Monday.

Google showing foot traffic down
at Bethesda Row Sunday

But it's too late for students at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville. Several students there volunteer at The Villages at Rockville retirement community, the only confirmed MoCo location any of the county's coronavirus patients visited that officials will publicly discuss. Parents there are expressing concern about the potential further exposure of other students if Frost holds classes today. MCPS insists classes are going forward.

One very smart publisher got this
timely magazine onto racks this weekend;
with the U.S. stupidly allowing travelers
exposed to coronavirus to reenter the country
without 14-day quarantine, it's a must read

According to Fox 5, Thomas Wootton High School students may have been exposed as well. Wootton parents have been notified by MCPS and the County Health Department about exposure, the station reports, but did not specify if it was related to Wootton students also having volunteered at the Villages.

Toilet paper panic is not limited to
Montgomery County amid coronavirus,
a scan of YouTube finds

As coronavirus panic continues to intensify, essential items continue to fly off of grocery and drug store shelves countywide. A single 3-pack of Puffs tissues was the only paper good left on the shelves at the Safeway at 5000 Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda late Sunday. Trucks are still delivering, however, as the Westwood Giant in Bethesda had plenty of paper goods on their previously-stripped shelves.

Mysterious haze over
Montgomery County Sunday

The stress of coronavirus had residents on edge when a mysterious haze descended over large areas of the county yesterday afternoon. Was the Deep State spraying us all with coronavirus from high-altitude aircraft? Well, it was the federal government creating the haze. But they told the public it was the U.S. Forest Service conducting a controlled burn near Quantico in Virginia. As residents rushed back to their homes with armfuls of Charmin to continue their Netflix binge, Quantico must have seemed suspiciously far from Bethesda.

Coronavirus cases in Montgomery County confirmed, MCPS preparing for potential school closures if needed

Hogan declares state of emergency

after 3 MoCo residents test

positive for COVID-19

Three people in Montgomery County have tested positive for coronavirus, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Thursday evening. Officials will not reveal the specific parts of Montgomery County where the three individuals live, where they traveled overseas, or what public places they have visited since returning from their travels. Hogan described them only as a married couple in their seventies, and an individual in his or her fifties.

At a press conference, Hogan said he had informed Vice-President Mike Pence of the three Maryland COVID-19 cases. Pence is leading the Trump administration's federal coronavirus response effort. Hogan also alerted Montgomery County officials, including Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith. The state's Emergency Operations Center has been activated, Hogan said.

Shortly afterward, MCPS released its own statement, which emphasized in boldface that schools will not be closed for coronavirus Friday. The statement said that there is no evidence the three patients, who Hogan said are under quarantine, were in contact with MCPS students since returning from their overseas travel. However, MCPS did say they are preparing for the real possibility that schools will have to close for an undetermined period if the pandemic continues to worsen.

"This is exactly what our state has been actively and aggressively been preparing for," Hogan said. He said this will allow the state's emergency offices to increase cooperation and coordination with federal and local officials. "We encourage all Marylanders not to panic," the Maryland Emergency Management Agency tweeted. MEMA conducted a coronavirus preparedness conference call with emergency managers from local jurisdictions around the state Thursday.

County Executive Marc Elrich is scheduled to give an update on the coronavirus cases at 10:00 AM this morning. Hogan will hold his own press conference at the same time. How much more detail either will give regarding the current cases is unclear. There are increasing calls from the public to know which public establishments, and parts of the county, the three infected people may have spread the virus in over the many days between their return from overseas and yesterday's positive test results. No one expects the names and addresses of the individuals to be released, of course, but simply to know whether they may have been exposed to the virus.

Meanwhile, the EPA released an official list of disinfectants that kill coronavirus, or prevent its spread. Panic buying of such products, along with bottled water, paper goods and other necessities, continues. Can't find hand wipes or hand sanitizer at your nearby stores? Here is a recipe for how to make hand sanitizer disinfectant at home, using vodka or rubbing alcohol (although the latter is also hard to find in many stores, as well).

Montgomery County Board of Education candidate forum scheduled for March 16

A Montgomery County Board of Education candidate forum has been scheduled for Monday, March 16, 2020 at 6:30 PM at the Potomac Community Center, located at 11315 Falls Road in Potomac. Candidates vying for the three open seats on the board have been invited to participate.

Thirteen candidates are competing for the At-Large seat; the two top vote-getters in that April 28 primary race will advance to the General Election in November. The two candidates running in each of the District races are unopposed, and will face-off in the General Election. Key issues are the school system's funding and budget, the achievement gap, academic decline over the last decade, student safety and a highly-controversial redistricting study now underway that some on the current board have openly said should include the forced busing of students to schools outside of their communities.

The forum's sponsors include the Montgomery County Federation of Republican Women and its four clubs, as well as the GOP Asian-American Association and the Republican Legislative District 15 Political Action Committee.

Montgomery County stagnant or getting worse in all key areas, residents say

Montgomery County's elected officials haven't improved any major area of concern or crisis, residents say in a new County-operated survey. Vast majorities countywide say there has been no progress or improvement in the moribund County economy, Montgomery County Public Schools, traffic congestion, crime and public safety, quality of life or the environment in the last two years.

86% of residents say there has been no improvement in availability of affordable housing. 76% feel there has been no improvement in crime prevention and public safety. A whopping 87% found no improvement in traffic congestion over the last two years. In fact, it's getting worse.

63% of residents say there has been no improvement in MCPS, which has declined steadily over this decade, as test scores and graduation rates plummeted and an achievement gap worsened. Yep, that's getting worse, too. But rather than improve failing schools, the corrupt MoCo cartel is trying to ready a forced busing strategy that failed nationwide decades ago, and is preemptively calling those who favor neighborhood schools "racists" and "white supremacists" - terms regularly deployed as the nuclear option when one has lost a debate on the facts.

Montgomery County's stagnant economy reached rock bottom in the region this decade, and residents' opinions squarely reflect that reality. A powerful 69% of residents say there has been no improvement in job growth. 61% report no improvement in business growth. Montgomery County ranked at the bottom in the region on both measurements this decade.

Progressive and green Montgomery County is leading the nation in environmental policy, our elected officials assure us weekly. Mmm...not so much, counter Montgomery County residents. 68% of residents say the environment hasn't improved, or has gotten worse, since 2017. 66% responded that quality of life opportunities in the county - the arts, culture, recreation and libraries - have either not improved or have gotten worse.

Rockville's St. Raphael School named 2019 Blue Ribbon School; MCPS shut out

Montgomery County Public Schools were shut out again in the U.S. Department of Education's 2019 Blue Ribbon Schools list. Not a single MCPS school was named a Blue Ribbon School this year, and it's not the first time this decade this has happened. MCPS performance has steadily declined across the board since 2010. Its failure to close the achievement gap certainly did not help earn an award that partly considers schools' success in doing so among its criteria. Overall academic excellence is the other major consideration for recognition as a Blue Ribbon School.

The failure to show in this annual federal measure of academic excellence is just the latest embarrassment for MCPS. Surging drop-out rates, questions about student safety, failure to fully-vet staff, repeated sexual abuse scandals, a persistent achievement gap, poor test scores, and a chronic class attendance problem have already tarnished what was once considered the premiere school district in the Mid-Atlantic. MCPS has also begun to earn a national reputation as lightweight in academic rigor; a new, easy grading system has really taken the shine off top marks, and when students continued to fail final exams, MCPS simply got rid of the exams. Neither move will impress college admission officials as word spreads.

Unlike Montgomery County, public schools from Calvert, Howard, Prince George's and Worcester counties were recognized on this year's Blue Ribbon Schools list. Only one Montgomery County school made the list this year, and it was a Catholic school - St. Raphael School in Rockville. Students there celebrated with Chick-fil-A, according to the Catholic Standard. 

Montgomery County officials have continued to throw greater amounts of money at MCPS, with no positive result, clearly indicating that the problem is not funding alone. With Montgomery County floundering on every front from education and economic development to crime and traffic congestion, it's clear we need new leaders who actually know what they are doing, and will put the best interests of children ahead of their own political calculations. We must overcome a political cartel that suffers from a severe case of Lake Wobegon Syndrome, and accept that this County is in real trouble, folks.