Disenfranchising the Students

Buckle up, folks; I'm feeling salty tonight. Why? Because this controversy over the Howard County Student Member of the Board of Education is getting on my last nerve. This week, Howard County parents Kimberly Ford and Traci Spiegel filed a lawsuit to challenge the SMOB's voting rights. As I've explained in great detail before, the SMOB, Zach Koung, is authorized by law to vote on Board of Education motions with some exceptions. Because a recent vote on school reopening did not give Ms. ...
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The Case for Affordable Housing

Recently, a woman contacted Columbia Community Care needing assistance; she was living out of her car in Harper's Choice Village in Columbia, but it was in need of repair and a jump start. She had lost her job earlier in the pandemic, and she now had a new job, but she needed her car repaired so that she could drive to work. The woman, a veteran of the U.S. Army, updated the CCC Facebook group some time later and thanked them for their support and helping her get into a shelter. There's a ...
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Common Sense

As I write this, I am at the end of a quarantine resulting from a member of my household needing to get tested for COVID-19 due to symptoms similar to a cold. The test came back negative, which is an immense relief. As I watch the COVID-19 statistics for Maryland and the U.S. getting worse by the day, I know that this probably won't be the last time my family will go through this. As Ned Stark's famous line from Game of Thrones goes, "winter is coming." Common sense told us that this was ...
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The SMOB vs. the Mob

This week, the Howard County Board of Education held a work session to discuss hybrid learning models for the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year. After a long and arduous discussion that illustrates the quagmire that is making education decisions in a pandemic that is worsening by the day, the board voted to maintain a virtual learning model in the third quarter of the school year with the option to bring small groups into school buildings for in-person learning. Five board members ...
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Hall of Shame – November 12, 2020

COVID-19 is worsening throughout the U.S. as we approach a quarter of a million dead from the virus. In Maryland, the metrics have returned to concerning levels, and Governor Larry Hogan and some local jurisdictions have announced new restrictions to reverse the disquieting trend. Given these circumstances, I found this post from Reopen Howard County yesterday to be... well, read it and choose your own adjective. Wow. I won’t dismiss the very real concerns of parents whose kids are ha...
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