The Maryland Public Schools Sports Athletic Association (MPSSAA) conducts an annual Minds In Motion Scholar-Athlete Scholarship program that recognizes those who have excelled on the playing field and in the classroom. Two MCPS, Zam Nwosu of Clarksburg High School and Leo Kugel of Einstein High School, were selected to receive a $1,000 scholarship and were awarded inside the Baltimore Ravens locker room. More on both below.
A time capsule was buried in 2002 by students at Spark M. Matsunaga and Longview School and will be opened at an event at the school that will be broadcasted live on YouTube at 10am today (Friday, June 3rd). Matsunaga Elementary and Longview School, is named in honor of Senator Spark Masayuki Matsunaga from Hawaii. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1962, and later served in the Senate from 1977-1990. Matsunaga Elementary is the first school in Montgomery County named after an Asian-American. The school is also the first co-located school in Montgomery County and represents an end of separating students with special needs from their peers.
To commemorate the co-location of these schools, students raised $2,100 in 2002 for a time capsule that has been displayed at the school’s Media Center. In addition, students and their families have contributed written works and letters that will be included in the capsule. The capsule will be opened in twenty years when its count-down clock reaches zero, which will be at 10am today.
Here are five things to know for Thursday, June 2. They include graduation celebrations, reminders about COVID-19, free vaccination clinics and more.
Montgomery County Public Schools
Three staff members have been honored with 2021–2022 Counselor of the Year awards. The trio—one each at the elementary, middle and high school levels—were recognized at the May 26 Board of Education business meeting.
This year’s winners are:
Greg Mullenholz, principal at Ashburton Elementary School in Bethesda, is this year’s winner of the Mark Mann Excellence and Harmony Award.
The Mark Mann award is presented annually to an MCPS administrator who has shown exceptional performance in promoting academic excellence, positive human relations and community outreach.
Earlier this week, on Monday evening, multiple people on social media shared screenshots of KKK-related images that were posted on the review page for Damascus High School on Apple Maps. A search for the high school leads you to a page that allows users to read and write reviews for the searched location. In this case, a user uploaded the hate symbols under the reviews, which Apple pulls from Yelp.
In a message to the Damascus community, principal Kevin Yates wrote, “I was informed yesterday afternoon that an Internet app brings up hate symbols when Damascus High School is entered. I alerted MCPS Security and our Technology Specialists and was advised to go to the app and report the images as hate symbols and request that they be removed.” The symbols were removed less than 24 hours later.
The MCPS website now contains information for students, staff, parents, and community members, but it only started 27 years ago. Below you’ll see a brief history of “MCPS Web”, courtesy of MCPS:
March 14, 1995: In the beginning there was a DEC Alpha server running the Unix operating system and the Netscape web server. David Kreisberg, with the help of a small group of brilliant Blair High School students, brought the server to life and created the first web pages in March, 1995.
Vikram Reddy, a 14 year old 8th grader at Frost Middle School in Rockville, will compete as one of 234 participants in this year’s Scripps Spelling Bee, which begins today.
Reddy is sponsored by The Meakem Group in Bethesda and will be the only participant hailing from Montgomery Founty in this year’s contest. He enjoys playing tennis competitively (his favorite sport), and also plays the bass. In addition to sports and music, he has written several short stories for competitions.
The details emerging concerning how the gunman gained access to the school and the police response have raised questions across the country about school safety. At this time, not all facts are known, but I want to share with you what we do in MCPS to ensure safety and to be prepared against these types of attacks. Our preparedness is rooted in four key areas.
The questions now being asked about the police response during the school shooting in Texas, and specifically, the time it allegedly took to enter the classroom, have prompted a conversation with our police partners. We have since reaffirmed with Montgomery County Police that their policy and training regarding an active shooter situation is that the first responding officer(s) would immediately move to preserve life. This is accomplished by actively engaging any suspect who may demonstrate imminent harm to any student or staff member inside or outside any school in Montgomery County. Our allied law enforcement partners also support this approach.
A celebration of life for longtime MCPS physical education teacher, Mr. William S. Allen, will be held at Earle B Wood Middle School on Saturday, June 11th from 1pm until 3pm.
Mr. Allen was a physical education teacher at Wood Middle School for 52 years before retiring last June. He passed away on Friday, May 20th at the age of 76.
Nearly 6,000 MCPS employees increased their physical activity during Well Aware’s spring physical activity challenge: Fountain of Youth. They took part in a variety of physical activities to compete for prizes, and more importantly, to adopt or maintain healthy lifestyles. Each of the top 15 schools averaged at least 76 minutes of physical activity per employee per day.
Congratulations to all those who improved their health by participating!