Around Maryland

With employee health care costs leading the way, Maryland’s public school districts spent $21.1 billion between fiscal years 2019 and 2022 not on teacher and staff salaries, but on everything else that keeps the schools running. That’s the bottom line if you add up all 26,000-plus vendor payments of $25,000 or more made by Maryland’s school districts between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years.

A new report showed that Baltimore continues to have one of the worst drug problems in the United States. The San Francisco Chronicle created an online tool that allows people to track drug overdose deaths for any given city or county in America. It concluded that the highest number of overdose deaths were in Baltimore.

Bryson Hudson, 16, once carried a gun out of fear and was shot for the first time in December on his way home from squeegeeing car windshields in the Inner Harbor. Last week, he was shot again, fatally this time. His funeral will be soon and there are some other things his family would like the city to know about him. As a kid, Bryson played football. He could play the piano. He was a rapper, stage name of LorB, with a music video. He liked to dance and joke and smiled often.

The faculty at Frederick Community College has voted to form a union and will file official paperwork at a rally on Monday, the Maryland affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers announced Friday. In a news release from AFT-Maryland, Greg Coldren, a math professor at the college, said that “the solidarity and power we are creating with our union will ensure our protection.”

Poolesville High School parents are approaching the new school year with trepidation after construction on a lengthy campus renovation project caused health concerns last semester. Montgomery County Public School officials say the most invasive part of the project—roof tarring—will be completed before students return on Aug. 28 and have committed to a “frequent communication and feedback loop” to address any ongoing concerns about the $60.2 million project.

Towson University is seeking direction from the state government after the Office of the Attorney General said that a state commission’s approval vote for a new doctorate program was “of no effect,” a university spokeswoman said Friday. “TU awaits additional guidance from (the Maryland Higher Education Commission) on next steps in this process, given the unprecedented circumstances just days before the start of the fall term,” university spokeswoman Jamie Abell said in a statement.

Whether stopping by for a visit on Student Appreciation Day or helping students cope with the death of a classmate, therapy dogs have a local contingent who say they can play a role in supporting students. One local nonprofit has received a “dramatic increase” in requests over the past year for therapy dog services across Montgomery County Public Schools. This summer, the school board has been asked to ease the way for more dogs to visit more MCPS campuses.

Howard University leaders sought to reassure students and parents this week after the school year began with alarming incidents on and near campus that injured multiple students and left one person hospitalized after a stabbing. University leaders described a throng of 50 or so young people — a “fight club” that campus and city safety officials had been monitoring this summer — swarming areas around campus over the weekend as students were arriving for the school year.