Around Maryland

Expert review teams focused on career and technical education have begun to visit all 24 school districts, the start of a two-year plan to help school officials find ways to partner with local businesses and nonprofit organizations to boost high school apprenticeship programs. Under the plan, approved Thursday by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), 26 schools in 13 school districts will be visited this school year by individuals who include members of the state’s Career and Technical Education Committee (CTE), staff with the state Department of Education and staff with local workforce development boards.

Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are rallying to donate emergency equipment and supplies to hurricane-impacted regions in Tennessee. On Monday, Cambridge city commissioners will vote on a proposal to donate an old, unused fire truck from the Cambridge Rescue Fire Company to assist recovery efforts. One local farmer, Jessica Tanglao from Denton, is also working independently to deliver much-needed agricultural supplies.

Overall crime has decreased “significantly” in Montgomery County, Maryland, according to crime statistics presented to the county council’s Public Safety Committee last week. According to the data for the first three quarters of this year, the number of homicides and rapes has dropped and the number of car thefts, which accelerated wildly during the pandemic, has slowed, with the actual number of auto thefts down by 2%.https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2024/10/montgomery-county-crime-downward-trends-continued-problems/

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich plans to run for a third consecutive term in 2026, which would be his last eligible four years under a term limits law passed in 2016. But an initiative on next Tuesday’s ballot led by the Republican who tried to unseat Elrich in 2022 would keep the Democrat from running again by limiting county executives in Montgomery to two consecutive four-year terms.

An increasing number of school systems around the D.C. region have policies that govern cellphone use inside the classroom — Prince George’s County, Maryland, isn’t one of them. As it stands, the decision on such policies is left up to local school systems, which is why some leaders in Prince George’s County are pushing for action.

The Baltimore Police Department hopes to soon be in full and effective compliance with two more portions of the consent decree, but staffing and the department’s fleet of vehicles are still major concerns. “We still have a long way to go, but we are getting there,” said Baltimore police Commissioner Richard Worley.

A flood of cash has poured into Maryland school board races, an unusual influx sparked by culture war debates that have inflamed nonpartisan contests traditionally focused on local budgets, curriculums and teachers’ salaries. The Maryland Democratic Party and the conservative 1776 Project PAC have each injected tens of thousands of dollars into more than a dozen school board races in counties that have seen protests over books with LGBTQ-themes, tensions about a state school funding law meant to increase equity, and, in one district, a ban against Pride flags being displayed inside classrooms.

The investigator tasked with looking into allegations of misconduct and financial mismanagement in Prince George’s County Public Schools says school leaders — both in the superintendent’s office and on the school board — continue to throw up roadblocks and make his job harder. It’s to the point that Integrity and Compliance Officer Frank Turner says things have moved from “resistance” to “discomfort” with his role in providing oversight for the Maryland school system.