Monday, May 21, 2012
Archdiocese's superintendent: Vincent Spadoni 'sets high expectations.'
Vincent Spadoni, principal of St. Elizabeth Catholic School in Rockville, is the Archdiocese of Washington’s Distinguished Principal of the Year. The school surprised Spadoni with an announcement assembly on May 4 attended by students, staff and members of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Catholic Schools office. Spadoni was recognized "for his superior spiritual leadership and strong commitment to academic excellence," according to a news release from the archdiocese. “Mr. Spadoni’s dedication is evident in the students’ academic achievements," Deacon Bert L’Homme, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Washington, said in the release. "He sets high expectations and provides the support for those expectations to be met — one of …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Phoebe Temkin is a short story contest finalist at Saturday's Gaithersburg Book Festival.
This is the second of three profiles of Rockville authors whose work is part of the third annual Gaithersburg Book Festival. The festival will be held on Saturday at Gaithersburg City Hall. The first two profiles feature finalists in the festival's second annual high school student short story contest. Click here for Wednesday's profile of Jasmine Smith. Phoebe Temkin, an 18-year-old senior at Richard Montgomery High School, was assigned by English teacher Davina Smith to write a short story for the Gaithersburg Book Festival’s student short story contest using the same line as her classmates. “Mrs. Smith has been fantastic in encouraging my writing,” Temkin said in an email. “She forces me to push myself to write and think creatively.” …
Teen substance abuse now is similar to the problems of 1993, when authorities were called to action to combat teen drinking and driving, police said.
A year ago this week Montgomery County was rocked by the loss of three Magruder High School students killed in a drunk driving accident. Now, activists say, it’s time for the community to wake up. The Montgomery County Council of PTAs hosted a community action forum Wednesday, gathering police, community leaders, parents, teachers and students to discuss a growing substance and alcohol abuse problem in Montgomery County. “We are far too overrepresentive of drug and alcohol related tragedies. The number one cause of death continues to be alcohol related crashes and teen driving crashes,” said Captain Thomas Didone, director of the Montgomery County Police Traffic Division. “The summary of what’s going on with underage drinking – we’ve …
School news from across Montgomery County Patches.
With nearly 200 public schools and scores of private schools in Montgomery County, there's bound to be plenty of news. Here are the top school headlines from across Montgomery County's Patch sites from Friday, May 11 through Wednesday, May 16. Student's Election to County PTAs Post Draws Ire, Defenders ROCKVILLE—The election of 15-year-old Richard Montgomery High School freshman Richie Yarrow as recording secretary of the 48,000-member organization that represents PTAs from schools around Montgomery County yields controversy. Read the full story on Rockville Patch. Reports: MCPS Rolls Out New Curriculum COLESVILLE—A new curriculum that focuses on critical thinking skills is now in more classrooms throughout Montgomery County Public Schools…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Governor calls budget package "good for all Marylanders." Republicans say burden to local governments may force county governments to increase taxes.
The Maryland House of Delegates gave final approval Wednesday to a package of three bills that increases taxes on some state residents, shifts part of teacher pensions to local governments and undoes the so-called "doomsday budget." The votes Wednesday afternoon capped the three-day special session called by Gov. Martin O'Malley in order to override more than $500 million in cuts made in a budget passed in early April. The Senate approved the same three bills Tuesday. As part of the package, legislators approved by a vote of 86-51 what amounts to a 50-50 split of teacher pension costs with local governments. The split will be phased in over the next four years beginning July 1 with the new budget year. That bill also includes a doubling of…
Jasmine Smith is a short story contest finalist at Saturday's Gaithersburg Book Festival.
This is the first of three profiles of Rockville authors whose work is part of the third annual Gaithersburg Book Festival. The festival will be held on Saturday at Gaithersburg City Hall. The first two profiles feature finalists in the festival's second annual high school student short story contest. Jasmine Smith was lying in bed one night, unable to sleep, when the thought popped into her head: What if someone is watching me? That first question led to another: Why would someone want to watch me? And from those two thoughts on that sleepless night, Smith, a 17-year-old senior at Richard Montgomery High School, was inspired to write a short story that is among the 13 finalists in the Gaithersburg Book Festival’s second annual high school…
County police, school staff and the State's Attorney's office will host a forum on Wednesday.
Do you think teenage drinking is a growing problem in Montgomery County? Is substance abuse getting out of hand? Are you just curious about the issues? Police, school principals, representatives from the Montgomery County State's Attorney's office and school board members will come together tonight to present a community action forum on teen drinking and substance abuse. After a presentation from the panel, there will be a question-and-answer session about the risks of teenage substance abuse and the impact it has on lives. The presentation starts at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Carver Educational Services Center, at 850 Hungerford Drive in Rockville.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Richard Montgomery freshman's election signals 'student engagement,' incoming MCCPTA president tells The Gazette.
The incoming president of the county council of PTAs is defending the election of a Richard Montgomery High School freshman as one of the organization's officers. Richie Yarrow, 15, was elected recording secretary of the 48,000-member organization that represents PTAs from schools around Montgomery County, The Gazette reported April 30. "Richie, a freshman at Richard Montgomery High School, served last year as the vice president of Eastern Middle School’s PTSA. He was also president last year of Montgomery County Junior Councils, the county’s organization for middle school student government," The Gazette reported. Some delegates to the organization were surprised to learn they had elected a teenager. Delegates questioned Yarrow's ability …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The debate surrounding school resource officers continues. Montgomery County Council members and the county police chief have suggested a roundtable to address the issue.
What place do police officers have in Montgomery County's public schools? The issue of how to fund school resource officers continues to baffle county officials. The county's schools, police and council all recognize the benefit of the placing officers at local public high schools, but disagree as to its implementation and its scope. Police Chief Thomas Manger in January told the council that adding officers to schools would greatly impact the department's ability to deal with youth crime. With the budget cuts in previous years, only one SROs has been assigned to each police district, although previously the county boasted one officer per school cluster. The cities of Gaithersburg and Rockville supply officers to their city high schools…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Plan to fix "Doomsday Budget" includes $247 million in tax increases and elimination of exemptions for single filers earning $100,000 or more and joint filers earning $150,000 or more.
UPDATE (5:59 p.m.)—Some Maryland residents will pay more taxes in the coming year under a plan worked out between Gov. Martin O'Malley and legislative leaders. O'Malley, accompanied by House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, announced the nearly $35.8 billion plan during a Wednesday morning news conference in Annapolis to discuss the upcoming special session. "To leave this budget incomplete, to leave this budget as it stands right now, would damage the very forward motion that all of us, together, have worked so hard to achieve for our state," O'Malley said. "Progress is a choice," O'Malley said. "Job creation is a choice. Building America's number one schools, making a college education affordable, …
Theresa Defino
3:50 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
Fascinating story, Phoebe. I really liked it. Good luck at the festival! more ›