Commentary

Before classes commence each day at Hampstead Hill Academy, the pre-K-through-8 public charter school across from Patterson Park in Baltimore, all student cellphones go into locked pouches. Six hours and 45 minutes later, at the end of the school day, students hold the pouches against a special magnet, the pouches open, and the kids have their phones again.

It comes as no surprise that the after-action report regarding the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting on July 2 offered evidence of police indifference toward the community. Clearly, some individuals responsible for public safety in this city demonstrated a stunning level of disinterest as crowds gathered for Brooklyn Day, an annual event for which the Southern District was ill-prepared.

Remember when you couldn’t wait for the first day of summer? “No more pencils, no more books. No more teacher’s dirty looks.” Suddenly the stress of exams and the burden of homework were gone. There was no alarm clock, no rush to catch the school bus. Instead of dodging that scary bully on the recess yard, you’d leap at trips to the beach, the local pool or the amusement park.

Labor Day marked the unofficial end of summer and the start of a patently uneven election season for Democrats and Republicans in Maryland. On their end, Democrats enter the fall still enjoying their electoral mandate and regained single-party rule. Their power is bound only by the limits of voter preferences, the looming structural deficit and their own political will.

After hearing about resistance from teachers and opposition from the system’s top staff, the Frederick County Board of Education has postponed a decision on the proposal to install cameras in some special education classrooms. This is not an easy decision, but installing the cameras is one the board should support. Having cameras in classrooms would help reassure the parents of special education students that their children are being protected by the system from potential abuses.

This week’s record-setting heat wave — with the potential for triple-digit high temperatures in Baltimore — would seem the perfect backdrop to ponder Baltimore Gas and Electric’s proposed three-year rate hike, which is projected to hit consumers by an average of $810 annually per household by 2026. Energy prices are rising generally, of course, but it’s fair to question the estimated $1.8 billion BGE intends to invest in natural gas and whether a multiyear approach to rate-setting is even appropriate.

Was there ever a weekend like this? On Friday evening, gunfire erupted in Baltimore again, this time stopping a high school football game between a private school team from Baltimore County and one of the city’s best public school teams. It was a sudden horror, traumatizing for anyone who was there, and another setback for the city.