Commentary

I do not believe there is such a thing as a “born leader.” The phrase is often used to describe someone people want to follow. It does not mean that as the leader evolves, they will possess the skills to identify and unlock human potential in service of a shared goal, something a great leader does. Instead, I believe that great leaders are not born, but built. Their greatness is supported by the building blocks laid through a lifelong journey of continuous improvement.

At a time when prices remain sky-high and local families are scrounging to make ends meet, we should all come together in a sense of common good to deliver relief. Instead, the Anne Arundel County Council took the bait, raising costs on struggling residents in the name of green policy that lines retailers’ pockets. The recently passed ban on plastic retail bags also creates a new tax on paper bags, the latest in a curious trend of Maryland’s retailers linking arms with the activists at the Sierra Club.

The day Sarah E. Carter broke the color barrier in Anne Arundel County nearly a half-century ago, she said she recognized the significance of her achievement. “I had a lot of people helping me and it’s amazing to win,” she told Michael Wentzel, a reporter for The Evening Sun newspaper. “We didn’t do it alone. People told me that I’m with white people too much. They’d tell me they wouldn’t vote for me when the time came. This proves that racism isn’t good from any angle.”

“So do you think that some time this school year, you’ll want to walk by yourself?” I asked my kid. We were unpacking Amazon boxes of notebook paper and No. 2 pencils, and as I envisioned hauling them down to the school building where he’s going to be starting fourth grade today, I suddenly thought, “What if he doesn’t need me to walk him with him anymore?” Then: “What if he doesn’t need me anymore?”

The word futuristic is defined as an “imagined” future. Which is an upbeat way, as schools get ready to reopen, to view the nationwide future of public education. The alternative to an imagined future is the somber present. Public schools are widely viewed as facing a bleak future. Learning loss from the pandemic is getting worse not better; even before the pandemic, nearly 70 percent of schoolchildren were below proficiency in literacy. There’s a growing loss of faith in the political possibility of true education reform.

Over the past year, 12 construction workers have come forward alleging they have not been fully compensated for work performed on new school buildings in Prince George’s County. Wage theft is a crime. The number of lawsuits filed against the lead developer, as well as several subcontractors, is growing as wage theft allegations — including failure to pay overtime, misclassifying employees as 1099 contractors, and failure to pay wages entirely — continue to surface on Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS).

In both an interview and speech last week, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore became the first of the region’s elected officials to say in public that the state’s economic performance in recent years has been “lackluster” and that it has underperformed adjacent states. In June, Moore, a Democrat, established an Economic Council that is to report its recommendations in January. Though the governor did not say so, he surely knows that Maryland’s economic problems are interdependent with those of the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.

Listening to proponents and opponents of “accessory dwelling units” — garages converted to small homes, in-law flats, basement apartments — this seems obvious: Proponents bring fresh ideas and common sense to the nation’s housing shortage; opponents offer only tired arguments. Opponents say what they always say when advocates or developers propose more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families: It will bring crime and increased traffic to nice neighborhoods, burden schools and disrupt “the character of our community.”