Around Maryland

The Board of Education of Harford County unanimously voted on Jan. 8 to adopt an inclement weather policy that replaces three traditional snow days with asynchronous learning days for students during the 2023-24 school year. The Maryland State Department of Education requires local school boards to submit their inclement weather plans annually.

It's budget season for local governments, and on Tuesday, Hagerstown Community College was the first agency to make its pitch to the Washington County Commissioners for their Fiscal Year 2025 budget. And it was the kind of budget request the commissioners don't often hear. HCC President Jim Klauber's presentation was comparatively short and sweet. The community college is not seeking any increase from the county for its operating budget this year, he said.

When her son, Izaiah Carter, was killed nearly a year ago outside Patterson High School, Michelle Hines couldn’t bear to let her other two children go back to city schools in person. So they began attending the city’s virtual school, a holdover from the pandemic. While most families were more than ready to ditch virtual learning after the pandemic, a small number of families saw it as a perfect fit for their children — and they don’t want to let it go.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, observed annually on the third Monday in January, is widely known as a day of remembrance for the late civil rights activist and faith leader. For some in Frederick County, the federal holiday is also known as a call to service. This year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on North Place in Frederick hosted around 350 volunteers eager to put their day off to good use.

Johnston Square in East Baltimore has scored another victory. It may seem small, but it’s telling. A three-story home that had been vacant for 40 years has found a buyer. The property, a rowhouse with marble steps, new baths and kitchen, stands at East Biddle near Forrest Street. The selling price was $325,000. “We are now confident we’ll strike our asking prices,” said DeVonya Jones, a development manager with ReBuild Metro, the nonprofit leading the neighborhood’s revival.

A federal appeals court announced Thursday that it will reconsider a 2016 case challenging Maryland’s handgun qualification law, which the majority of a three-judge panel ruled in November was unconstitutional. The case before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will be heard en banc, or in front of the full court. According to the court’s order, the case is tentatively scheduled for the oral argument session between March 19 and 22 in Richmond, Virginia.

The Maryland State Board of Education will host a series of virtual town halls to obtain feedback from families, educators, administrators and community members on the State Superintendent of Schools selection process. The town halls will be conducted by executive search firm Hazard, Young and Attea via Zoom on the following dates: Tuesday, Jan. 16 — 9 a.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 17 — 1 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 18 — 6 p.m.

As Frederick County Public Schools grows faster than any other district in the state, officials are hoping for legislative progress on a persistent sticking point: how schools are funded. Districts receive a certain amount of state funding per student each year. But the state issues that funding based on the district’s enrollment from Sept. 30 of the previous year. So, as FCPS enters next school year, it will only have funding for the number of students who were enrolled in the system on Sept. 30, 2023. Any students enrolled since then will not be accounted for.

Parents and students who attend a virtual learning program rallied outside Baltimore City Public School headquarters Thursday night in protest of the program ending for elementary students. Charm City Virtual — a program started during the coronavirus pandemic that some students and families have continued to use for its flexibility — relies on federal funds and will expire this summer.