The Maryland State Board of Education voted 12-2 today to rescind its statewide mask mandate for public schools, effective March 1. This will allow local school districts to decide their own masking policies.
The Montgomery County Board of Education is set to take up the school system’s mask policy at a meeting on February 24.
Stonegate Elementary School students are now attending school at North Lake Center on Bauer Drive in Aspen Hill, approximately 7.2 miles away from the elementary school. Construction began over winter break and the old building was recently demolished.
For years, planners and school district officials have been at odds over the design of new schools due to parking lots and bus loops at the front of the building, “separating the building from the community”, according to a report by Caitlynn Peetz.
Beginning today, masks are no longer required to be worn inside of gyms, restaurants, stores, and other areas. Below is a list of places that, for the time being, will still require masks.
Public Schools: The Maryland State Board of Education has a statewide indoor mask requirement for public schools and is meeting today (February 22nd) to discuss future plans for the mask requirement.
Last week the Montgomery County Council, acting as the Board of Health, announced it will not be introducing a new Board of Health regulation to extend the indoor mask requirement. This allows the current Board of Health regulation to terminate tonight (Monday, February 21st) at 11:59pm.
What does this mean?
The CBS sitcom ‘Ghosts’ debuted in October of last year and was recently renewed for a second season. Coincidentally, it stars two actors who graduated from Wootton High School in Rockville. The show is about a married couple in New York, Samantha and Jay, who believe that their dreams have come true when they inherit a beautiful country home. They soon find that it is falling apart and inhabited by ghosts who died on the mansion’s grounds and are now bound to the area until they can reach the afterlife. Jay cannot see or hear the ghosts, but Samantha, after having a near-death experience, can.
Jay, the male lead, is portrayed by Utkarsh Ambudkar. Ambudkar was born in nearby Baltimore, but was raised in Rockville while his parents worked at NIH in Bethesda. The 38 year old actor graduated from Wootton High School and is well known for his roles as a VJ for MTV Desi, Donald in Pitch Perfect, Rishi in the Mindy Project, Skatch in Mulan, and more. Below you’ll see Ambudkar’s rap from the 2020 Oscars.
Montgomery County Public School Athletics have announced that effective February 22, there will be no restrictions on spectator capacity related to COVID-19.
We are excited to welcome spectators back to our events at full capacity. Tickets will still be only available through GoFan.
Isaac Applebaum has made it to the Jeopardy! College finals. He is a junior at Stanford University, majoring in Computational Biology. Applebaum is from Bethesda and graduated from Richard Montgomery High School in 2019, where he also played on the baseball team and ran cross country. Applebaum is also a musician, a jazz pianist, which he says is a big part of his identity.
In the first quarterfinals matchup of the two-week Jeopardy College Championship, Applebaum pulled off a comeback win to defeat Gus Guszkowski of Dartmouth and Catherine Zhang of Cornell. He won by correctly identifying Charles Torrey as the abolitionist thought to have given the Underground Railroad its name during final Jeopardy.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington (ADW) sent a letter to Catholic school parents earlier today, stating that face coverings will no longer be required indoors in our Maryland school facilities for students, staff, or visitors beginning on Monday, February 21st.
The letter states that depending on the needs of each school’s leaders to prepare, schools will transition between February 21 and February 28. “We appreciate and will fully support whatever decisions that parents make for their own children regarding whether to wear a face covering in school or not.”
MCPS has sent out a community message with seven things to know for today, Thursday, Feb. 17.
They include updates on the recommended FY 2023 operating budget, information about COVID-19 rapid test kits, inclement weather make-up plans, safety and social-emotional supports and more.
Baba Cisse, a Junior at Albert Einstein High School, and Arvin Kim, a junior at Walt Whitman High School were elected as finalists for Student Member of the Board. The election The general election, which allows for all 80,000 + secondary students in MCPS to vote, will take place on April 20th.
Congratulations to @Baba4Smoba and @arvinforsmob for being elected as the 2 finalists for the @MCPS student member of the @mocoboe. pic.twitter.com/1TzeTVRExT
The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Fair will be held virtually from 6-8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18. Co-sponsored by MCPS and the Montgomery County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, this event provides an opportunity for students in Grades 8-12 and their parents/guardians to meet with representatives from more than 60 HBCUs and participate in workshops.
Qualified seniors will be able to receive on-the-spot admissions during the event. Seniors must pre-register and complete their applications through Naviance.