• Thursday, Oct. 19 – Parent Academy: Active Parenting Now! Part 2 
• Monday, October 23 – 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families(English and Spanish sessions)
• Tuesday, October 24 – Finding the Right High School Program(Presented in Spanish)
• Wednesday, Oct. 25 – Parent Academy: Roadmap to College
• Thursday, Oct. 26 – Board of Education meeting
• Thursday, Oct. 26 – Parent Academy: Active Parenting Now! Part 3
• Saturday, Oct. 28 – ACT administration
• Tuesday, Oct. 31 – Early release day (Innovative Schools Only)
• Tuesday, Oct. 31 – Board of Education’s Facilities and Boundaries Preliminary Presentation and Work Session

The full MCPS calendar, with additional information, can be seen here.

Per Montgomery County: “The City of Rockville Police will be hosting their first free Halloween “Boo-Vie” Night with a double feature of the family-friendly It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown followed by Hocus Pocus shown on a big movie screen starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27. The special event, which will include complimentary food and treats, will be held at Fallsgrove Park at the Thomas Farm Community Center.

All attendees are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes and to arrive early for the lawn seating, which will open at 6 p.m. The Thomas Farm Community Center is located at 700 Fallsgrove Dr. in Rockville.

Those going to Boo-Vie Night are encouraged to bring a blanket or lawn chair to better enjoy the movies.
The event will have complimentary pizza, popcorn, treats and more while supplies last.

In the event of rain, the Boo-Vie Night will be held on Sat, Oct. 28. The Facebook page of the City of Rockville’s Police Department will have updates in case of inclement weather.”

Prepare for an epic battle of Old School vs New School this Fall! The Teen Program in Takoma Park will be hosting a basketball game with 10 adults against 10 teens to determine the ultimate Old School vs New School match up! Who will take the crown?! The winning team is awarded a trip to a Washington Wizards basketball game! Teens (Grades 8-12) and adults wanted! If you would like to participate as a player and submit your team, please register on ActiveNet. PLAYERS MUST be registered by Wednesday, November 10th, no exceptions! Additional information below:

Where:
Piney Branch Elementary School
7510 Maple Ave

When:
Friday, December 1
6-8pm

Rockville voters will decide between two candidates for mayor and 12 candidates for six council seats in this fall’s vote-by-mail city election. The six council candidates with the most votes will win the six council seats. The Mayor and Council serve four-year terms. Every U.S. citizen living within Rockville city limits and over the age of 18 by Nov. 7, 2023 is eligible to vote in the city election. To be sure to receive a ballot, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/election to check your address, update your information and register online to vote.

Ballots will be mailed to registered voters on or before Friday, Oct. 13. Return your postage-paid ballot to the city. All ballots must be received at City Hall, 111 Maryland Ave., by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7 to be counted. Postmarks do not count. Completed ballots can also be dropped off anytime before 8 p.m. Nov. 7 at a secure ballot drop box. Two outdoor drop boxes are located at City Hall and Montrose Community Center. Four indoor drop boxes are located at the Rockville Senior Center, Lincoln Park Community Center, Twinbrook Community Recreation Center, and Thomas Farm Community Center and are accessible only during hours of operation. Completed ballots can also be dropped off from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 7 at the vote centers at City Hall or Thomas Farm Community Center. Same-day voter registration will be available at City Hall for eligible residents who are not yet registered. Those residents can register and cast their vote from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at City Hall.

For more information, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/election or call 240-314-8286. Meet the candidates below:

The candidates for mayor are:

• Monique Ashton
• Mark Pierzchala

The candidates for council are:

• Danniel Belay
• Kate Fulton
• Richard Gottfried
• Harold Hodges
• Barry Jackson
• Ricky F. Mui
• David Myles
• Anita Neal Powell
• Paul Scott
• Izola (Zola) Shaw
• Marissa Valeri
• Adam Van Grack

Barbara Escobar, principal at Neelsville Middle School, received the Hispanic Educator of the Year award at the Hispanic Leadership Awards Gala. The award was presented by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County (HCCMC). Escobar was appointed as principal of Neelsville in June 2022.

Last month, during Hispanic Heritage Month, MCPS recognized Escobar with the following tweet, “Barbara Escobar is the Principal of Neelsville Middle School. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She believes education is important because it serves as the instrument that ignites curiosity, reinforces determination and unlocks limitless opportunities.” which shared the following quote from Escobar, “I take immense pride in my role of serving the wonderful Neelsville Middle School “comunidad” and setting an example of Latina leadership for my students“.

HCCMC provides a forum for matters affecting Hispanics in business. “We advocate on behalf of the organization’s membership to achieve economic, educational, and social equality under the law, ensuring a positive and inclusive public image of Hispanic-owned businesses.”

Featured photo courtesy of HCCMC

MCPS is hosting a series of forums to learn more about the process for the 2024–2025 operating budget. Join us for a discussion with MCPS leadership and an opportunity to engage in breakout sessions.

In June, Montgomery County Board of Education has unanimously adopted a $3.165 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, an increase of $245 million or 8.4 percent over the prior year. The adopted budget will allow Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to make investments to support enrollment growth and student academic needs, while providing staff wage increases to competitively hire and retain highly qualified teachers, administrators and support service workers. Events for the 2024-2025 operating budge will be held on the following dates:

• Thursday, Oct. 19, 6:30–8 p.m., virtual forum. Click here to attend. This event will be livestreamed on the MCPS homepage. RSVP.
• Wednesday, Oct. 25, 6:30–8 p.m., Damascus High School, 25921 Ridge Road in Damascus. RSVP.
• Tuesday, Nov. 14, time to be determined, Walter Johnson High School, 6400 Rock Spring Drive in Bethesda. RSVP.

Per Montgomery County: “Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC), in partnership with Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), will host a town hall on Thursday, Nov. 2, to hear ideas from residents on how Maryland can address the opioid crisis.  The event will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. in the third floor hearing room of Montgomery County Council Office Building, which is located at 100 Maryland Ave in Rockville. 

The town hall will also be livestreamed on County Cable Montgomery and on several Facebook accounts, including Maryland’s Before Its Too Late and DHHS.

Emily Keller, Maryland’s special secretary of opioid response, and the Maryland Opioid Operational Command Center have hosted town halls throughout the State for the past several months to hear about the impact opioids are having on communities. Joining Secretary Keller will be County and State officials including Alyssa Lord, deputy secretary for behavioral health with the Maryland Department of Health and Montgomery County Health Officer Kisha Davis.

“Like many communities across Maryland, Montgomery County has been impacted by the opioid crisis,” said County Executive Marc Elrich.  “We appreciate the sense of urgency that Secretary Keller and the Moore-Miller administration have and their desire to hear about the challenges facing communities.  We have been working hard on addressing the issue here, but we cannot do it alone and we welcome the partnership with the State. I encourage residents to attend.”

Information about County programs and services will be available at resource tables from 6-6:30 p.m.  On-the-spot training also will be offered on how to use Naloxone, the nasal spray used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.  The listening session will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Attendees of the town hall will have an opportunity to speak and share their ideas on supporting people with substance use disorders, and for preventing overdoses in Montgomery County.

The event is open to the public but advanced registration is highly recommended.  The registration form includes information on signing up to make public comments. Registered speakers will have two minutes and will be called on to provide their comments.

Anyone needing a sign language interpreter or services to participate is asked to make those requests with as much advance notice as possible.  Organizers would like to have at least three full business days in advance of the meeting to plan. Requests can be made by contacting Stella Sharif at 240-777-1603 or by sending an email to [email protected].  Last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible to fulfill.

The OOCC is Maryland’s principal coordinating office for addressing the opioid and overdose crisis. The OOCC works to increase collaboration at the State and local level to promote access to compassionate, person-centered care by supporting substance-use programming across five pillars: prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and public safety.

For more information about how Montgomery County is addressing the opioid epidemic, visit KnowTheRisksMC.org.

Visit BeforeItsTooLate.Maryland.org for information on the State’s strategy for reducing overdose deaths.”

Per the State of Maryland: “Governor Wes Moore today announced that the Maryland Department of Commerce has received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to broaden the state’s international reach and help companies create jobs and access new foreign markets. The funding is the highest single award that the department has ever received through the State Trade Expansion Program, which supports participation in overseas trade shows in targeted industry sectors and funds the state’s ExportMD program.

“Maryland’s economy will grow and thrive when our small businesses have more opportunities to succeed,” said Gov. Moore. “We thank the U.S. Small Business Administration for their support in expanding Maryland’s global economic reach. This record funding represents boundless possibilities.”

During the first half of the year, the Department of Commerce assisted four dozen businesses across the state through the ExportMD program, which provides matching grants of up to $5,000 to help local companies market their goods and services to global customers. The program’s success is greatly attributed to the Small Business Administration program, allowing the department to quadruple the number of companies it has funded annually over the past decade.

The next application deadline for the ExportMD program is November 1. Eligibility requirements are available on the Maryland Department of Commerce website.

“The U.S. Small Business Administration continues to be a strong advocate for Maryland’s international efforts, having awarded this funding to our agency for over a decade,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson. “Our team is hitting the road with the Maryland Partners in International Trade alliance to provide in-person outreach on available exporting programs—this will ensure our programs are reaching businesses in every region of Maryland and make sure everyone knows that opportunities for global expansion exist.”

Maryland’s Office of International Investment and Trade stimulates foreign direct investment in the state, offers export assistance, and coordinates international trade and investment missions and trade show opportunities for Maryland companies. The state has 19 foreign trade offices, including in Durban, South Africa; Singapore, Malaysia; Sydney, Australia; São Paulo, Brazil; Montreal, Canada; Santiago, Chile; Shanghai, China; Bogot, Colombia; Delhi, India; Tel Aviv, Israel; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico, Liima, Peru; Taipei, Taiwan; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Manchester, England; Heidelberg, Germany; and Paris, France.

ExportMD grant recipients for 2023 to date include: 

Anne Arundel County
Atomic Biometrics
Contiem Inc.
Patriot Group LLC
Pugh and Tiller LLC

Baltimore City
BrickRose Exchange
Icosa Apparel LLC
North American Wave Engine Corporation
SEW BROMO
Sisu Global Health
Stellar Scientific LLC
True Chesapeake Oyster Co.

Baltimore County
AirPhoton, Inc.
BCR Cyber
HurleyIR Inc.
Longeviti Neuro Solutions
New Horizons Diagnostics
Restorative Therapies
Sun Automation Group

Carroll County
LAI International

Charles County
Day and Night Labor Services

Howard County
Ardent Security LLC
Shea Radiance

Montgomery County
AboutWeb LLC
AMTeal LLC
DSFederal Inc.
Heritage Series, LLC
ICON Scientific Inc.
KoolSpan
Lumo Imaging
Machfu Inc.
Maven Engineering
N5 Sensors
OfficePro Inc.
Perform-Link
SeeTrue Technology
Societas Analytics
Torpedo Line Consulting
Zena Ziora LLC

Prince George’s County
Airgility Inc.
Broadband Connect LLC
Dynamic Green Radiance
Era Wine Bar
Kinetic Solutions LLC
Upliftology

St. Mary’s County
Decorelle LLC
NEANY Inc.
Platform Aerospace

Wicomico County
Arcon Training

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez. Gomez Valasquez was last seen on Monday, October 16, 2023, at approximately 8 a.m. in the 300 block of University Boulevard East in Silver Spring.  He is 5’6″, 130 lbs., with black hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing black sweatpants with white stripe, black shirt with rose design and a black sweatshirt.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public's assistance in locating Cesar Urial Gomez Valasquez.https://t.co/wUBXDRTMcc#MCPNews #MCPD #missingperson pic.twitter.com/tyLnJh1WZR

— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) October 18, 2023

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public’s assistance in locating Xavier Beltran. Beltran was last seen on Monday, October 16, 2023, at approximately 1 a.m., in the 200 block of Poplar Spring Road in Rockville. He is 5’6″, 120 Ibs., with black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black hat, black hoodie and black sweatpants.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Xavier Beltran is asked to call Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency (301) 279-8000 (24-hour line).

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking for the public's assistance in locating Xavier Beltran.https://t.co/6EwmfWgre5#MCPNews #MCPD #missingperson pic.twitter.com/MyOXSfHyo5

— Montgomery County Department of Police (@mcpnews) October 18, 2023