THANK YOU!

With your help, I came in first in the District 5 School Board Primary election. The results are shown below. Now, the two top vote-getters become the candidates who will be on the November ballot.

There are five months between now and the November 6th election.

The candidate who came in second place has the resources of the unions behind her. Not only will this provide her with significant funds, the MSEA, NEA, and HCEA publish newsletters to their members with stories about their chosen candidates. Nonetheless, I believe voters understand the critical nature of this election, and have confidence that our message will prevail.

On May 23, the Board of Education named current Acting Superintendent for the Howard County Public School System, William J. Barnes, to become the permanent superintendent, effective July 1, 2024.

After a comprehensive nationwide search and interview process, the Board chose Barnes to serve as just the eighth superintendent for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) since 1949. 

"He brings to the job many years of experience and roles at HCPSS in the Division of Academics, his national reputation as a leader in Mathematics instruction, and keen mind for problem solving. He demonstrated agility as he stepped into the Acting Superintendent role, collaboratively worked with our county funders, and demonstrated heartfelt compassion during challenging budget times. At his core, Mr. Barnes believes in the potential for greatness of Howard County students and for the Howard County Public School System. The Board looks forward to supporting his efforts to make this a reality,” said the BOE Chair, Jennifer Mallo at the May 23rd meeting.

As the school year draws to a close for students and many teachers, the Board of Education continues to meet to deal with the growing list of issues facing HCPSS.

At the June 6 meeting, the Board considered changes to POLICY 4200 Meal Charges.

The confusing testimony of Brian Ralph, Director, Food and Nutrition Services, left most listeners -- including the Board members -- confused.

First, he acknowledged the Policy clarifies that "parents have the ability to request that charges not be allowed."

Chair Mallo then asked, If the student hasn't brought lunch and goes through the line, what happens then?

Mr. Ralph answered: We are obligated to give the child a meal. We will never deny a child a meal.

Student Member Ayaz asked, so if the parent said no more charged meals, but you give the meal anyway, what then?

Mr. Ralph answered: "Hmm, that's a great question."

Member Scates: So you give the child a meal, but the parents aren't charged, right?

Mr. Ralph: No, we send the bill to the parents. . . . . .

So how did the Board resolve this conundrum? They DELETED the PARENT'S right "to request that charges not be allowed" from the Policy.

Going further, the above conversation seemed to shed some light on why the Meal Services has so much Bad Debt. Which raised more questions.

Ayaz: So what happens to bad debt?

Ralph: We they try to collect delinquent debt for three years. After that it becomes Bad Debt. We have just about $1 million of Bad Debt, but "we have never addressed it in our operating budget, for obvious reasons."

And we wonder why the Howard County Public School System has budget problems. . . .

Recently, a teacher privately mentioned "an assignment announcement for a student I had been teaching virtually. It was titled Analyzing Influences of Intersectionality."

The teacher's comment was as follows: "This is the political and moral indoctrination HCPSS is doing to our kids. What does this have to do with health?" The teacher was concerned that this kind of stuff was being sneaked into the curriculum and noted: "I believe most parent have no idea that this is going on."

Below, is the assignment: