The MCPS STEAM Festival takes place on Saturday, October 21st from 10am-1pm at Wheaton and Edison High School campuses (12401 and 12501 Dalewood Drive in Silver Spring).

Festival highlights the educational, cultural and financial impact of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts And Mathematics (STEAM) in the county. Families can participate in hands-on activities, talks, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits and performances. A highlight video of last year’s STEAM Festival can be seen below.


Press release per the U.S. Department of Education:  “The Biden-Harris Administration marked a critical step forward in its efforts to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible through negotiated rulemaking under the Higher Education Act, even as extreme House Republicans threaten a government shutdown that would hurt families, communities, and our economy. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today released an issue paper laying out its initial set of policy considerations to create a path to debt relief for student loan borrowers in need. The paper identifies five questions about distinct categories of affected borrowers for which the Department is seeking feedback. This includes questions about borrowers whose balances are greater than what they originally borrowed, whose loans first entered repayment decades ago, who attended programs that did not provide sufficient financial value, who are eligible for relief under programs like income-driven repayment but have not applied, and borrowers who have experienced financial hardship and need support, but for whom the current student loan system does not adequately address.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has taken unprecedented action to fix the broken student loan system and deliver record amounts of student debt relief,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Now, we are diligently moving through the regulatory process to advance debt relief for even more borrowers. Today, after considering more than 26,000 public comments on how to tailor this relief, we are releasing this additional information about this effort. We’re committed to standing up for borrowers and making sure that student debt does not stop anyone from climbing the economic ladder and pursuing the American dream.”


Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is paying $9.7 million to settle the lawsuits against the Montgomery County Board of Education, former Damascus High School principal Casey Crouse, former football coaches Vincent Colbert and Eric Wallich, and former athletic director Joseph Doody, stemming from the sexual assault in the boy’s locker room at Damascus High School in October of 2019.

In a FOX 5 report, the victim’s attorneys shared that they believe this is the largest settlement of its kind in Maryland history. “The Board Of Education has agreed to pay these four young men who were sexually assaulted at Damascus High School a total of $9.7 million dollars, and that appears to be appears to a record settlement in the State of Maryland,” said attorney Timothy Maloney.” MCPS wrote in a statement to FOX 5, that they have “taken extensive measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. This is protocol rooted in an increase in monitoring and oversight of all locker rooms across our school district.


Below you’ll see the most recent updates or final scores of the 2023 week 5 MCPS football games. The scores will be updated as we receive them. If a score isn’t listed, it’s because we haven’t yet received a report from the game that we can confirm. An ‘F’ signifies the score is confirmed as being final.

Thursday Games


Urbana is 3-1. They played a very good Middletown team in Delaware and lost which wasn’t unexpected. They edged out a Middletown-MD team which is looking like the weakest Middletown team in years (admittedly the Knights have played admirably so far). They had a decent 28-0 win over TJ. Then last week they went into DC and outlasted Ballou in a 37-34 shootout. Based on their other results, Ballou looks like an average team in DC. It’s definitely been an interesting schedule for the Hawks, and one that’s tough to gauge based on final scores alone. We’ve been hunting for film but it’s been hard to come by; NFHS only has tape from the Middletown-DE and TJ games and we are much more interested in seeing how Urbana looked against the other two teams.

Urbana appears to be predominantly a rushing offense. The QB looks like a decent passer but can contribute to the ground game with his legs. This is good news for a Churchill defense coming off a pretty impressive performance against QO and Iverson Howard, which forced the Cougars to air it out more to score. Alas for Urbana, Keegan Johnson is gone. On the flip side, David Avit has not disappointed whatsoever in regards to his preseason hype, currently sitting at 4th on the state rushing yards leaderboard, tops in MoCo. Even against QO’s ferocious defense he clawed his way to 73 yards on the ground and made some big plays as a receiver too. Perhaps Middletown-DE has a comparable player or two, but it’s looking like he’ll be the best player the Hawks D will line up against at this point in the season. Overall, provided Churchill plays up to their potential, I see the ingredients shaking out for them to pull out a statement win. Prediction: Churchill by 21


A letter was sent home to the Rosa Parks Middle School community (19200 Olney Mill Rd. in Olney) on Wednesday, September 27th, informing them of a “live pistol round” that was found on a luggage bus upon arrival to the school’s outdoor education site. A weapon was not found and there were no students present or on the bus. The full letter to the community can be seen below:

Dear Rosa Parks Families,


Below is a statement by Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson on the investigation into Montgomery County Public Schools employee misconduct and promotion processes following the Thursday morning hearing involving the Montgomery County Council and Education & Culture Committee (the full hearing can be seen here):

This morning, the entire Montgomery County Council joined the Education & Culture Committee for a hearing to review the deeply alarming workplace harassment and employee misconduct allegations in MCPS and their processes for promoting principals and administrators.


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