Private schools closed until October 1
Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles issued a press release July 31 prohibiting all private schools in the area from re-opening for in-person instruction until October 1.
Education
MoCo businesses receive approximately $2.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds
17,323 MoCo businesses received loans from the Small Business Association’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Congress passed the PPP in early April to boost small business damaged by the pandemic.
This past Monday, June 29, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to expedite the process of renaming Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School. A decision will be made by November 10, 2020.
In addition, Board members proposed three options for possible namesakes:
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Three alumni of Springbrook High School (Khadijah Adamu, Sumaiya DeLane, and Samiza Palmer) have created an Anti-Racism Education Initiative. In this initiative, there are descriptions of specific actions that they would like to see the MCPS Board of Education commit to as well as a section for community members to sign their name as a show of support.
According to the document, the initiative includes 4 main requests:
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MCPS has released an updated grading and reporting table for high school courses, which now includes the final grade outcomes of earning an Incomplete for MP4. Previous versions of this table had only included semester grade outcomes for students who earned a Pass for MP4.
This briefing was sent out to community members this morning and also contains information about final grade calculation for middle school courses, updates about summer learning and enrichment opportunities, and the course of action that students will take to choose their final grade for the semester.
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MCPS has announced today that they will televise a Universal Graduation Celebration to honor the class of 2020 for all of its schools. Chef and humanitarian José Andrés has been selected as the commencement speaker.
This broadcast will take place on Sunday, June 7 at 6 PM and can be seen on NBC4 channels in addition to the MCPS website and YouTube channel.
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The Montgomery County Board of Education has approved an LGBTQ History course that is being referred to as the first of its kind in the United States.
Michael Doggett, an English teacher at Hallie Wells Middle School, received a Twilight Award (sponsored by Box Tops for Education and General Mills) last night on Instagram Live from Chance the Rapper. With that award came a $30,000 prize that will be split between the teacher and the school he works at.
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London Navarro is a student at Stone Mill elementary in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She’s a 2x Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Youth Pan-American World Champion (recently winning her 2nd title on Feb 8, 2020) and a two-time International Youth Champion.
MCPS announced today that it will move to a Pass/Incomplete or Credit/No Credit grading system for the remainder of the year for secondary students.
In middle and high schools, a traditional letter grade system will not be used for the 4th Marking Period. MCPS is developing a grading and reporting framework for secondary schools that is commonly known as “Pass/Incomplete” or “Credit/No Credit” for the remainder of the year. We believe that this grading approach will ensure fairness and equity for all students, while also engaging students in the curriculum, providing meaningful feedback, and tracking their progress. We are currently working with stakeholders (teachers, parents, students and union leaders) to ensure a smooth transition to this system and ensure that teachers and students understand the criteria for success. We understand that there will be many questions about implications of this grading approach, and those questions will be answered. But we believe that traditional grading practices will not best serve all students and a more universal approach is needed. More information about implementation of this system, including how the final semester grade will be reported on transcripts, will be provided in the coming weeks.
“After extensive consultation with the State Board of Education and leading public health experts in the state, I am extending the closure of schools through MAY 15TH.”
-Karen Salmon (Maryland State Superintendent of Schools)