It appears Howard County students will continue virtual learning until after Easter, at the earliest.
The extension was not the original intent of the Board of Education. The district’s original plan was to remain online until February.
But the board is apparently playing it safe in light of rising coronavirus cases across Maryland.
The shift to virtual learning through mid-April, or through the third quarter, came after much debate among members of the Board of Education.
“I think the issue of community stability is very important. People want to know what they’re going to be doing after the first of the year,” Board President Mavis Ellis said.
The board directed the superintendent and his staff to carry out the new plan.
“I developed a model for our board that they just weren’t 100% comfortable with, so they rejected that model (and) voted to remain virtual through third quarter,” district Superintendent Michael Martirano said.
And all of the other rabbits will follow them down this rabbit hole.
This has nothing to do with the dangers of the virus; this is all about re-shaping education. My theory is, now that the taxpayers voted “Yes” to giving the Maryland Assembly the balance of power when creating the State budget, here is the plan. Since the budget question requires the Assembly to balance the budget and gives them authority over it : 1) Move school permanently to on-line 2) This will save $ building operations and on staff other than teachers, i.e. administration, security, nurses, counselors, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers 2) Use the savings to give the teachers the WHOPPING pay increases outlined in the Kirwan Commission findings. Commission leaders estimate a cost of $4 billion- you can bet it will be much more. The Kirwan plan outlines outrageous step increases for teachers salaries ($5,000-$7,000) based on their obtaining additional certification levels. It is not clear after reading it if teachers could obtain more than one of these increases per year if they obtain several new certifications in the same year but even without that, a $5,000-$7,000 raise per year plus COLA increases – not too shabby. The reasoning stated in the Kirwan report that we need to increase teacher’s salaries to attract better qualified individuals to the education field; that they should have a pay level commensurate with other, to use their own words, “highly trained professionals”. It then gives a list of occupation with higher salaries, like physical therapists. Sorry, but a teacher’s level of difficulty in attaining their degree is nowhere near that required to get a the required doctorate in Physical Therapy. To be blunt about it, physical therapy requires a higher IQ. (NO I am not a physical therapist) An added bonus for the teachers is that as part of the certification process, as a teacher moves through the steps, they spend less time teaching and more time training other teachers or tutoring low income students. Teachers who achieve the highest certification level, will only be required to spend 30% of their time teaching class. Does it make sense to take the most highly trained teachers out of teaching? The one thing Hogan has gotten right was vetoing this monstrosity of a bill that had passed the Maryland legislature by an overwhelming majority. He rightly stated that, especially with the way COVID has decimated the economy- WE CAN’T AFFORD IT. Now with the referendum passed, the assembly will surely re-introduce and pass this bill in 2021 3) Other ways to pay for this omnibus, I am guessing, will be to defund the police and definitely raise your property and/or state and local income taxes- an independent study evaluated the Kirwan Plan and estimated it would cost each Maryland family an additional $6,000 in taxes per year.
Finally, everyone will be pleased to hear, I am sure, that the goal of the Kirwan Education Commission is to achieve equity of outcome, not equity of opportunity. Guess that is why the highly trained teachers will be tutoring the low income students and other targeted “at risk” groups. These idiots make the mistake of thinking increased certifications equal enhanced ability. To me, all they will be ensuring, is that a bunch of petty bureaucratic dictators will be teaching the students who need the most help.