By JESS DANINHIRSCH

WASHINGTON – Weston Slaughter, a Ph.D. student in the University of Maryland’s Department of Geology, always wanted to be a government scientist. But if the Trump administration were to cut federal funding for science programs, his aspirations may become bleaker and blurrier.

“I think my dream is still to be able to do science that is meaningful and useful for the public and the public good,” Slaughter said. “But, I don’t know, I’m certainly not counting any chickens.”

The United States has been the world leader in science for decades, but the Trump administration has made plans to cancel or freeze federal grants that fund scientific institutions and universities and shrink or abolish federal scientific agencies. Such actions would end the country’s decades of preeminence in science, researchers and experts warn.

About 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine signed a letter warning President Donald Trump of the dangers that funding cuts present.

“We all rely on science. Science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care,” the letter said.

“A climate of fear has descended on the research community,” the scientists said, referring to what the future would look like after funding cuts.

“What is happening in this administration is that they are engaged in a process of closing down scientific exchange, debate and multiple opinions, which represent important ways to advance knowledge and find solutions to national and global problems to make life better for our nation,” Dr. Ruth Enid Zambrana,  a distinguished university professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland in College Park, told Capital News Service. She was one of the academies’ letter’s signers.

Christopher Jarzynski, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland in College Park, echoed Zambrana’s sentiments but said that researchers and scientists must continue to do their work regardless of what may happen.

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By: ERIN SJOSTEDT

Maryland’s high school graduation rate climbed to 88% in 2024, reaching its highest point since 2017, according to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). The increase of nearly 2 percentage points over the previous year marks a significant recovery following pandemic-era declines.

The 2024 data from MSDE shows significant gains among student groups that have historically faced barriers to graduation. Hispanic students saw their graduation rate rise over seven percentage points from 2023-2024, while multilingual learners experienced a dramatic increase of over 10%.

“Last year was the largest year-over-year gain of any student group, and I think that’s a testimony to targeted, sustained supports that are making the difference,” said Theresa Timmons Parrott, an MSDE official focused on multilingual education. “It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not the finish line.”

Anne Arundel County Public Schools reported a graduation rate of 89%, two percentage points above the state average. North County High School in Glen Burnie, a Title I school, achieved a 7% increase in its graduation rate.

Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said “every student group is different, and so it’s providing students with what it is that they need on an individual basis to be successful.”

“A nearly full-point jump in overall graduation rate is a very significant accomplishment,” said Mosier. “We also had six schools that increased by two percentage points or more.”

Mosier credited the district’s progress in part to Project Graduation, a systemwide initiative launched two years ago to provide tailored support to students at risk of not finishing high school on time.

“It really is a laser-like focus on individual students and what those students need in order to graduate, graduate on time,” Mosier said about the project. “We put that in place two years ago, … and we’re starting to see that pay off now.”

In Baltimore City, the four-year graduation rate rose by one percentage point for the 2023 graduating class. MSDE said the district focused on ninth-grade intervention and reducing chronic absenteeism, two predictors of long-term academic success. According to MSDE’s public dataset, Baltimore also saw improved outcomes among English language learners and students experiencing homelessness.

Statewide, female students continued to graduate at higher rates than male students, and white and Asian students graduated at higher rates than their Black and Hispanic peers. Students with disabilities graduated at a rate of 69%, still well below the statewide average. Economically disadvantaged students’ graduation rate increased slightly from 2023, graduating at a rate of 82%.

The graduation rate report comes as Maryland begins to implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a landmark education reform law that aims to expand early childhood education, increase college and career readiness and close equity gaps. Several of the strategies outlined in the Blueprint — including community school models and increased funding for English language learners — align with areas of progress highlighted in the 2024 data.

“If you dig down into the Blueprint, it really lays the foundation for the strategies we’re seeing pay off,” Parrott said. She attributes a large portion of the progress made to broaden access to early childhood education, target funding for multilingual learners, and mandate college and career readiness pathways by tenth grade.

While the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has driven recent graduation gains, lawmakers enacted adjustments this year due to a projected $3 billion budget shortfall. The Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, passed in April 2025, includes a three-year delay in implementing teacher collaborative time and provisions to freeze increases in funding if state revenues significantly decline.

Still, regional disparities persist. While some districts reported graduation rates above 90%, others, particularly in rural counties on the Eastern Shore and in Western Maryland, sit at 80% and below. Education advocates say these gaps underscore the need for continued investment and monitoring.

“This is great news for Maryland,” State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright said in a press release from MSDE. “When we set high standards, deliver strong instruction, and invest in proven supports, our students show that they will exceed expectations.”

As the 2025 graduating class enters its final year, educators and policymakers are cautiously optimistic. The latest data suggests that Maryland’s post-pandemic recovery is underway, however state education officials say it will require long-term commitment to equity, funding and student support services to maintain.

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By SASHA ALLEN

ANNAPOLIS–Maryland lawmakers passed a bill this week revising the state’s expensive education reform plan, making marginal cuts instead of the more dramatic rollbacks proposed earlier this year.

The bill, initially introduced by Gov. Wes Moore in January, reforms the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Freezes to annual funding increases supporting students in poverty, special education students and English language learners were among the most controversial of Moore’s proposals.

But as the bill made its way through the General Assembly, members of the House and Senate pushed to fully implement and fund programs they deemed most necessary under the Blueprint.

And when it passed Monday, it had been watered down to include only a few program changes and less sweeping budgetary cuts.

“At a time when the federal government is trying to eliminate the Department of Education and gut funding for schools from Mount Maryland to the Eastern Shore,” Moore said Tuesday, “we’ve delivered the largest single investment in K-12 education in the history of our state.”

Federal cuts left the legislature searching for ways to cut funding – especially after news from the federal government that up to $418 million in state education spending would not be reimbursed as previously expected.

But lawmakers decided that funding increases under the Blueprint for special education students, English language learners and schools experiencing high rates of poverty were too crucial to pause.

The most major cuts targeted the Blueprint’s collaborative time initiative, requiring that teachers spend a portion of their workday planning. For the next three years, schools will not be required by the state to meet the priorly established teacher planning thresholds. Funding increases will also be paused for fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

The act also introduces a teacher recruitment and retention campaign and establishes a relocation incentive grant to bring teachers to Maryland.

“I think the bill that passed is fine, I mean, I think it makes some relatively modest changes,” said Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat representing Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties. “I don’t think it’s a big deal. I think it’s a little deal.”

While Rosapepe said lawmakers wanted to “make less changes for now,” he wished some of the proposals in Moore’s initial bill for teacher coaching and school leadership training programs had made it to the final cut.

But the bill received “no” votes from Republican lawmakers. While much of the discourse on the bill focused on the decision to raise taxes rather than pausing more Blueprint initiatives, Sen. Jack Bailey, a Republican representing Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties, said he voted against the bill because of the financial burden that it might place on counties.

Del. Matt Morgan, a Republican representing St. Mary’s County, said the delay in collaborative time is a “move in the right direction,” but that collaborative time should be delayed further.

Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican representing Carroll and Frederick Counties, echoed his sentiments during an April budget discussion.

“There’s no question that we’ve increased spending dramatically in education for the last 25 years, and our SAT scores are worse, our reading scores are worse, math is worse,” said Ready. “While we’re not suggesting you want to cut education from where you are now, we are saying we should slow down how fast we’re going and not raise taxes on working Marylanders for a little while longer.”

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By Marwa Barakat and Colin McNamara

A 10-year, $30 billion plan out of Annapolis, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future aims to dramatically improve the state’s public schools by boosting teacher salaries, expanding pre-kindergarten and rewriting the curriculum — and school board candidates say the state’s schools need that improvement.

“The Blueprint is Maryland’s surest path to creating beyond great schools,” said Phelton Moss, a school board candidate from Prince George’s County.

But to hear other Maryland school board candidates tell it, the Blueprint is a budget-buster.

“The Blueprint sounds great on paper; however, funding it is a great challenge for every county in Maryland,” St. Mary’s County school board candidate Elena Brewer said.

That debate echoes across Maryland as voters in 20 of the state’s 24 school districts prepare to go to the polls. With early voting set to begin on Thursday, Oct. 24, the Local News Network at the University of Maryland sent a questionnaire to all 109 candidates, asking them, among other things, to name the state’s top education issue.

Academics came out on top. Twenty-seven of the 74 candidates who responded cited issues such as poor test scores and pandemic-related learning loss as the top issue. And 55 candidates offered at least some measure of praise for the Blueprint as a way to make Maryland’s schools better.

But at the same time, 42 of the candidates who responded to the questionnaire expressed concerns about the costs and the mandates stemming from the Blueprint. In a school board election where there are no races in Baltimore City or County, a Prince George’s County candidate, Zakyia Goins-McCants, summed up the views of a number of candidates from suburban and rural districts.

“The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is transformative legislation that reflects our state's commitment to equitable education,” she said. “However, it was passed without a full funding plan, and the financial implications are significant.”

'A transformational investment'

Passed by the General Assembly in 2021 over the veto of then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, the Blueprint is built on five pillars. Under the Blueprint, school districts are mandated to:

• Combat the teacher shortage by increasing the minimum teacher salary to $60,000 by July 2026 and build new “career ladders” for educators.

• Expand pre-kindergarten so that it’s available free to low- and moderate-income families and available to all.

• Adjust the curriculum to ensure students are college- and career-ready by the end of 10th grade.

• Implement a “ninth-grade tracker” system to assess how the Blueprint is working for each student as part of a statewide accountability plan.

• Boost funding to match the state’s lofty new goals.

Hearing all of that, many of the state’s school board candidates said the Blueprint is a great but complex and pricey plan.

Tierney Davis, a board candidate from Cecil County, called the Blueprint “a transformational idea” but noted there are serious issues in implementing the plan. Veronica Lowe from Frederick County called it “a transformative investment in our education system” but expressed concerns about funding the effort.

Michael Shisler from Calvert County said the plan is a chance to “improve our common good.”

“If we continue to see education as a cost, rather than as an investment, then folks will just wait for this latest reform to fade away,” Shisler said. “The Blueprint is an opportunity to level the playing field for all kids in Maryland.”

Several candidates said that the playing field needs leveling.

“The most important issue facing Anne Arundel County Public Schools is the existence of persistent gaps in opportunity and achievement between different subgroups of students,” said Joanna Bache Tobin of Anne Arundel County.

Meanwhile, Julie Kaplan of Howard County said schools must improve to make sure every student leaves school prepared for college or a career.

“We must address the learning gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

A number of candidates cited stagnant or declining test scores in their school districts and beyond.

“Statewide, our student proficiency rates in math and English are suffering,” said Laura McKenzie of Kent County.

But schools will improve if the Blueprint is implemented properly, its supporters said.

“The Blueprint offers us an opportunity to invest in our schools and ensure an excellent education for every student," said Meg Ricks, a candidate for the school board in Howard County.

‘Unfunded’

Support for the Blueprint was by no means uniform among the state’s school board candidates, however. Many echoed the thoughts of Andre Gao, another Howard County school board candidate.

“The Blueprint for Maryland's Future sounds promising on paper with its goals, but the funding presents a significant problem,” Gao said. “Without adequate financial support, implementing the Blueprint will be challenging.”

The Blueprint lacks financial support at both the state and the district level.

The General Assembly approved the Blueprint without determining how it would be paid for, and as a result, the state is projected to run long-term deficits that largely track its increased education costs. A state Department of Legislative Services fiscal briefing released in January said that the deficit will appear in fiscal 2025 and hit nearly $2.93 billion in fiscal 2029 – a year when the Blueprint is set to cost the state $4 billion.

Rachel Hise, the executive director of the Blueprint’s Accountability and Implementation Board, said she is hopeful the Maryland General Assembly will fully fund the Blueprint and is willing to make changes if necessary.

When asked whether state taxes will be raised to support the Blueprint, Hise said, “That is a decision for the governor and General Assembly.”

Against that backdrop, Gov. Wes Moore – a longtime proponent of the Blueprint – has acknowledged that the plan may have to be altered.

“While I believe in making sure that we have a world class education system, we've got to be able to work together to create an actual plan to be able to implement it because right now there are real challenges in being able to get that done and get it done in a way that the locals, and the state and every other partner who's involved sees that taking place,” Moore told Fox45 News in Baltimore in July. “So, there have to be adjustments.”

Meanwhile, school district candidates said the Blueprint is already putting pressure on local school budgets, given that school costs in Maryland are shared by the state and its 24 districts.

“While the Blueprint was touted as significantly increasing education funding, the reality is that the funding is not distributed equitably, and rural counties have been left out, by and large,” said Cathy Allen, a school board candidate in St. Mary’s County. “We did not receive increased funding from the state to cover mandates within the Blueprint.”

Some candidates from larger Maryland counties expressed similar concerns.

“The Blueprint is unfunded and full of mandates that will strain local school systems and their taxpayers,” said Joseph Marchio of Calvert County, who noted that Hogan vetoed the plan. “The Blueprint, while well intended, is focused around the belief that if you just throw enough money at a problem, it will go away or improve.”

'So many requirements'

School board candidates said they worry not only about the Blueprint’s costs, but also about the expensive edicts the plan imposes on local school districts. In some cases, they said, those mandates are already leading to unintended consequences.

Jon M. Andes, a candidate in Worcester County on the Eastern Shore, said he fully supports the Blueprint’s five pillars.

“However, without additional state funding, we will not be able to implement the Blueprint plan without making significant budget cuts to reallocate funds,” Andes said. “As an example, to reach the $60,000 minimum (teacher) salary, we will need to significantly increase class size and reduce materials of instruction.”

Such things are already happening in Howard County, Gao said.

“In our school district, we have not received sufficient funding from the state and county to fully implement the Blueprint,” he said. “This has contributed to budget shortfalls, leading to staff cuts, program reductions and increased class sizes. Many teachers have already expressed concerns about the negative impact of staff shortages and increased class sizes.”

Such issues stem from the fact that the Blueprint mandates that funding be redirected in a number of ways. For one thing, by mandating higher teacher salaries and a host of other changes, some school districts may be forced to cut other popular programs.

“The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future mandates so many requirements that it's difficult for our local school system to continue programs it feels are successful,” said Kerry Gunshenan, a school board candidate in Talbot County.

In addition, the Blueprint mandates that districts direct more funding to schools with larger numbers of high-need students, such as those that are performing poorly or where students are learning to speak English.

Mike Lukas, a board member who is running for re-election in Charles County, praised that change.

“Your ZIP code or household income should not define the quality of your education,” he said.

But Jaime Brennan, a school board candidate in Frederick County, said shifting money toward low-performing schools won’t necessarily make them better.

“There is nothing in the Blueprint that will actually improve student performance, and it is designed to take money from districts and schools that are doing well and transfer it to schools that are not, when the issues at those schools cannot be solved by just spending more money on them,” Brennan said.

Meanwhile, Tom Woods, who is running for re-election to the board in Garrett County, neatly summed up the thoughts of many of the school board members across the state.

“The ideas and solutions presented by the Blueprint come with an awful lot of obstacles,” Woods said.

Local News Network director Jerry Zremski contributed to this report.

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By Emily R. Condon and Colin McNamara 

In Montgomery County, school board candidate Brenda M. Diaz worries that  “knife-wielding vandals” have easy access to schools because the district removed the police officers that are on hand in the rest of Maryland’s public school districts to try to keep the peace.

Across the state on the Eastern Shore, school board candidate Karla Wieland-Cherry of Talbot County told the Local News Network in a candidate survey that teachers feel threatened by some of their students.

And in Howard County, school board candidate Andrea Chamblee – whose husband, John McNamara, was shot to death in the 2018 mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis – said the threat of a school shooting is just one of the stressors looming over the county’s children.

“Bullying, mental health struggles, technology addiction, unreliable transportation, larger class sizes, fewer fine art enrichment opportunities, portable classrooms, overcrowding, poorly maintained buildings, food insecurity, poor indoor air quality, and bigotry are all eroding the well-being of our students and staff,” Chamblee said. “Students who aren’t well, can’t learn well.  To focus on academics, we must take on these safety challenges and provide students and staff with a stable learning environment.”

Concern about school safety in Maryland spans the state – which is why candidates in Maryland’s school district races are stressing the issue. Of the 74 candidates who replied to a Local News Network questionnaire, 48 said they were not entirely satisfied with school safety in their district. Many called for adding more law enforcement officers as well as mental health counselors to their local schools.

Diaz advocates returning school resource officers to Montgomery County schools – but statistics, and the comments of school board candidates statewide, make clear that school safety and student behavior aren’t easily controlled just by in-school cops.

School safety at a glance

The school safety problem is a national one. Violent incidents increased 49% in the nation’s schools in the 2023-2024 school year, according to the Educator’s School Safety Network.

Maryland has not yet released its 2023-2024 statistics, but in the 2022-2023 school year, the number of anonymously reported bullying or cyberbullying incidents rose over the prior year from 91 to 107 , according to the Maryland Center for School Safety. The number of assaults and threats to cause harm increased from 83 to 98. And the number of general school safety complaints shot up from 62 to 104.

The school safety center tracks also critical life-threatening incidents, which are defined as incidents that cause death or serious injury, or acts of mass violence under the law. These incidents for the past three school years totaled 17, 18, and 18.

Among those incidents are the following:

• On Oct. 27, 2023, at a Baltimore City high school, a student worked in tandem with both of his parents to assault and shoot three other students.
• In April 2024, Montgomery County Police arrested a high school senior who had written a 129-page manifesto on his plans for a school shooting.
• In January 2024, a high school student was arrested after threatening mass violence and arson at the school, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said. The student had previously been caught with a gun at school, according to a county press release.

School board candidate Matthew Warren Lankford, whose son was in the school at the time of that last incident, said that the student is now back in school. “This student needs special attention and should never be allowed back in the school as a normal student again,” Lankford said.

School resource officers 

School resource officers, the official name for trained officers in schools under Maryland’s 2019 Safe to Learn Act, are posted in some schools in every Maryland jurisdiction except Montgomery County. And many school board candidates expressed support for hiring more school resource officers.

“I am satisfied with the safety for the big, catastrophic-type events,” said Jaime Brennan, a Frederick County school board candidate. “But I am not satisfied with the daily acts of violence…that occur. I think that expanding the school resource officer program so that we have a designated SRO in each middle and high school would help.”

The Maryland Center for School Safety is responsible for training school resource officers in the state and reports each year on their coverage in schools. The overall number of schools with a full-time officer on hand increased from 273 in 2021-2022 to 288 in the 2022-2023 school year.

In Calvert County, another candidate who is running for reelection, Antoine White, said he meets regularly with his board’s safety liaison and local sheriff's department. White voted to increase the number of school resource officers in his district.

But another candidate in Calvert County, Paul Harrison, said he is not content with the lack of armed officers in six schools and pledged to try to fill those gaps.

In contrast, Montgomery County ended its school resource officer program in 2021 amid concerns that students of color were being disproportionately disciplined. The district now has a community engagement officer program, in which officers patrol near schools and enter schools as needed.

A PTA president running for the school board in the county, Rita Montoya, said the officers allowed in schools must be properly vetted.

“Providing opportunities for healthy and positive engagement between students and officers is another necessary step,” Montoya said.

More school districts opt for a constant, visible law enforcement presence. Worcester County Board of Education member Jon M. Andes touted his district as the first in the state to have school resource officers.

“We need to continue to work with our law enforcement partners, enhance our summer safe schools retreat, and strengthen our proactive approach to preventing problems,” said Andes, who is running for reelection.

Conversely, Gerry LaFemina worries about the use of officers in schools in Allegany County, where he is running for the school board.

”I loathe the idea of making our schools seem like they're under attack because that provides an atmosphere ripe for distraction,” he said. “I also worry about the use of police in the schools, which can often lead to escalation of problems rather than mediated solutions.”

Other than LaFemina, none of the 74 candidates who replied to a Local News Network survey questioned or opposed assigning police officers to schools.

More counselors?

Many candidates made clear, though, that school resource officers can’t solve the school safety problem alone. Twenty-five candidates mentioned increased mental health or counseling intervention as an important step in their survey response.

"Schools should prioritize not only physical safety but also students' social and emotional well-being," said Tiffini Andorful, a Prince George's County school board candidate. "This could include increasing the number of support staff and providing access to resources and training to effectively handle conflicts. I also think there should be a greater emphasis on emergency preparedness and increased advocacy for gun control at higher levels."

Many also emphasized the importance of building a healthy school atmosphere beginning when students are young.

“We really need to focus on social-emotional learning and fostering a culture of acceptance of others from the youngest grades and up,” said Erica McFarland, an Anne Arundel County candidate.

McFarland said she feels that this type of focus can help to prevent bullying, a common reason for students to feel unsafe at school.

Meg Ricks, a candidate in Howard County, said increased counseling services would likely stem other problems, too.

“We must start while students are young to give them tools for dealing with conflict and seeking help when needed,” she said in her survey response. “I would like to see more counselors in our schools so that we can provide students with productive solutions to the challenges they are facing.”

At the same time, 13 candidates statewide said that the secret to solving the school safety puzzle lies not just in school resource officers and mental health services, but in old-fashioned school discipline.

“We need to re-address school discipline measures and take improved steps to reduce the threats and in some cases, violence,” Wieland-Cherry of Talbot County said. “Teaching and learning cannot take place in an environment (where) one feels unsafe.”

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By Sasha Allen and Audrey Keefe

“FOCUS NOW! PHONES LATER,” blares the newest school cellphone policy out of Washington County.

This “clear message” debuted on the county’s website in August, kicking off the 2024 school year with stricter limitations on personal electronic devices.

That message is one that resonates with Maryland’s school board candidates. Of the 74 candidates who responded to the Local News Network’s campaign questionnaire, 64 favored strict restrictions on cellphones in schools, and only 10 expressed reservations about limiting cellphone use or touted their positive aspects.

Board candidates cited a number of reasons – ranging from disciplinary issues to cyberbullying to phone addiction – for ordering students to put their phones out of sight.

Some candidates offered nuanced proposals for limiting cellphone use – but support for greater restrictions spans the state, from large counties to small.

Rita Montoya, a lawyer who is running for an at-large school board seat from Montgomery County, said the district’s cellphone policy should be “away all day” – which is the name of a pilot program in the district this year.

“As a parent, I understand the need for some students to have a cellphone with them at school, but it should not be used at school so as to limit distractions and negative peer interactions including violence,” she said.

Washington County already requires all devices to be off and out of sight during instructional hours in its schools. Robin Merchant Spickler, a former kindergarten teacher and current school board candidate in the western Maryland county, fully supports the new policy.

“This has been a long time coming. It is in the best interest of the students’ well-being and their academic progress,” she said. “It will help the students learn in a positive and productive environment.”

A growing trend

Schools across the state have already begun implementing stricter cellphone policies in public schools. According to a survey conducted by the Capital News Service this fall, at least a third of Maryland school districts have tightened their cellphone regulations this school year alone.

However, these policies vary. Some schools prohibit students from using their devices throughout the entire school day, while others, such as Anne Arundel County, allow high school students to use them during lunch only.

Some counties have begun forcing students to lock away their phones. In Baltimore County, 16 middle and high schools have issued clear pouches in which students must insert their phones to make them harder to access during class time.

Annette Anderson, the deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, said there are good reasons for mimimizing cellphone use among youngsters.

“What we know is that it’s shifting the way that the brains of the developing child is growing,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of concern in terms of the mental health of our young people.”

Between 2008 and 2015, hospitals in the U.S. reported suicidal ideation or attempts among children and adolescents ages 14 to 18 almost doubled, according to a 2020 study. Published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the study delved into the relationship between youth cellphone and social media use and mental health.

The study found that internet addiction is “particularly associated” with self-harm and suicidal behavior.

Anderson said cellphone use also hinders students’ ability to develop interpersonal connections vital to job performance later in life.

“What’s happening actually is that students are so focused on this phone that’s in front of their faces that they’re not actually having interpersonal dialogue,” Anderson said. “They’re not having the kinds of conversations at the lunchroom, at the lunch table in their classrooms.”

Teachers nationwide are worried about cellphone use, too, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center from June. The survey found that 72 percent of high school teachers alone cite cellphone distractions in the classroom as a “major problem.”

Many school board candidates also said cellphones have become a distraction.

In Calvert County, cellphones are banned in classrooms, and school board candidate and former educator Michael Shisler backs that ban.

“This problem did not happen overnight, and it will not be solved overnight,” said Shisler, who spent nearly 30 years as an elementary school principal. “Cellphones have moved beyond a distraction to being an addiction – an addiction that brings increased social pressures and the need for constant social validation.”

Allegany County school board candidate and Frostburg State University professor Gerry LaFemina agreed. He said the impact cellphones and social media have on students is the most jarring problem in county schools that he hopes to address.

“Besides being a distraction, the dopamine hit of responding to notifications can have an addictive effect on our students. This can lead to educational and disciplinary issues,” LaFemina said.

LaFemina did not specify what policies he would implement if elected, but the county has light limitations on use in the classroom, often leaving it up to teacher discretion.

St. Mary’s County candidate Mary Washington, who has served on the board for the past 27 years, said she is pleased with the county’s new plan to restrict phone use during instructional time.

“This change will focus on increasing learning and achievement, promoting a safe and orderly school, diminishing discipline referrals, and nourishing more face-to-face contact with each other,” Washington said.

Different perspectives

While most school board candidates throughout the state provided a variety of concerns surrounding cellphone use in schools, many had different perspectives on what a ban should look like in their county.

Out of Prince George’s County, lawyer, substitute teacher and school board candidate Angela R. Jones said she supports tighter regulation but not a full ban.

“I propose a balanced cellphone policy that allows limited use during non-instructional times, such as lunch and between classes while prohibiting use during lessons,” said Jones, the legislative director for the Maryland State Senate. “This approach respects students’ need for connectivity and emergency contact while minimizing distractions during instructional time.”

In addition to the social connectivity phones can provide students, some candidates cited the educational use of devices in schools, saying they can be used in the classroom in moderation.

Letonya Smalls is also running for the school board in Charles County. She has a doctorate in education leadership and said she has seen students benefit directly from phone usage in the classroom.

“I remember one of my students pulling out his cellphone to take a picture years ago. I asked what he was doing, and he said, ‘I am taking a picture of the homework, Ms. Smalls,’” Smalls said. “He smiled, and I honestly didn’t make a big deal out of it because I knew it worked for him. Each student is different, and each student learns differently.”

Smalls proposed a strict policy enforced by teachers during instructional time but not a complete ban. However, like some other candidates, Smalls said she believes that students and parents should be involved in developing any new policy. She proposed a contract for cellphone use for both parents and students to review and sign.

In Frederick County, school board candidate Veronica Lowe took a similar stance.

“I don’t believe in creating a policy without fully understanding the issues and concerns that led to its development,” said Lowe, former director of transportation for Frederick County Schools. “We need to gather a collaborative group that includes parents, students, teachers, support staff, administrators, bus drivers and community members to ensure diverse perspectives are considered.”

Lowe also brought up the intersection of school safety and cellphone policy and said she believes that in light of recent school shootings, students need to have a way to communicate in emergencies.

And one candidate – Maisie T. Howard of Anne Arundel County – voiced concerns that a ban would do more harm than good, especially for special needs students, those from rural areas and those who thrive in virtual environments.

“The cellphone is not the enemy,” she said. “For many of us, it is our only computer.”

In contrast, some candidates, like Ann O’Connor from Talbot County, believe in a full ban in elementary and middle schools, along with emergency access only in high schools. O’Connor, a former high school Spanish teacher and mother of six, said she believes a tougher phone policy could decrease mental health issues, bullying and distraction in schools.

“If Talbot County wants to lead the way on protecting our kids from short attention spans and gaps in core knowledge, this is the No. 1 thing that needs to happen,” O’Connor said.

And O’Connor said those most in the know about the county’s schools agree with her.

“I have talked to a number of teachers about cellphone use in school, and they unanimously tell me the same thing,” O’Connor said. “Ban them.”

The post Should Maryland schools ban cellphones? Here’s what school board candidates say appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

By Adam Hudacek and Tolu Talabi

Colt Black is many things: a mortician, an emergency medical technician, a firefighter, a father, a husband, and a candidate for the Frederick County Public School Board. He’s also a self-professed First Amendment absolutist.

So, when Black was asked about what material should be available to Frederick County students in their school libraries, his response followed suit.

“I don’t support book bans,” he said.

Yet like many Maryland school board candidates, Black’s detailed views on the book issue are nuanced. In his vision for Frederick County Public Schools, any book, whether it be instructional or recreational, would be reviewed in committee and public hearings before making its way onto school shelves.

“Books which contain extreme violence or are sexually explicit, which glorify these things with no academic value, should be removed,” Black said in response to a University of Maryland Local News Network questionnaire sent to all 109 school board candidates in the state. “All books, both instructional and library resources, should be reviewed by a committee and public comment accepted before allowing them or disallowing them in the educational setting.”

Black’s support for such a process isn’t unique in his county, or Maryland at large. Asked in a Local News Network survey if they favored book bans, 38 of the 74 candidates who responded to the LNN questionnaire said they favor a policy in which professionals are involved in making sure books are age-appropriate. Another 19 strongly opposed book bans without citing policies for reviewing books.

“I will vote against book bans and the editing of curriculum based on personal beliefs,” said Sarah J. McDermott, who is running for the school board in Anne Arundel County’s District 4. “No topic should be banned from curriculum or libraries, provided that they are age-appropriate, and I really trust our librarians and educators to determine that for their students.”

However, 17 candidates were open to banning books that parents find objectionable.

“I am running for the Board of Education because I would like to review our curriculum and establish age-appropriate educational materials for K-12 and eliminate any materials that sexualize children and are not appropriate for minors,” said Elena Brewer, a school board candidate from St. Mary’s County. Brewer is one of 19 candidates in the state that won an endorsement from the 1776 Project PAC,  a conservative group whose founder, Ryan James Girdusky, says on the group website that he created the PAC after objecting to books on race issues that a teacher read to his godson’s class.

A patchwork of policies

Amid parents, activists, and school boards challenging books across the state, Gov. Wes Moore signed the Freedom to Read Act into law earlier this year in an attempt to put an end to book bans in Maryland public schools.

The law prohibits public schools from excluding or removing materials from their school libraries because of the origin, background, or views of the author. It also states that material cannot be removed because of partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval. School systems must adopt book review policies where challenged books remain on the shelves until the review process concludes.

However, the legislation fails to affect the majority of books banned throughout the state. According to Steve Wernick, the director of curriculum and instruction for Carroll County Public Schools, the bill only mandates that counties have adequate processes in place for the removal of library content – and because Carroll County already had a committee in place that had banned books, its decisions stand.

A unanimous school board vote removed over 60 books in Carroll County – 21 permanently. The banned titles include:

• “And They Lived,” a gay-themed young adult novel by Steven Salvatore.

• “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins, is a novel about a young woman sexually abused by her father.

• “Kingdom of Ash,” “House of Earth and Blood,” and “A Court of Frost and Starlight” – popular fantasy novels by Sarah J. Maas.

Meanwhile, Wicomico County banned “All Boys Are Blue,” George M. Johnson’s  coming-of-age novel about a young queer boy. Frederick County banned Hopkins’ “Triangles,” which publisher Simon & Schuster described as a “surprisingly erotic” novel that includes adultery about three women’s intersecting friendships

Queen Anne’s County banned “Harbor Me,” Jacqueline Woodson’s novel about multicultural kids navigating their way through a multitude of problems, which was a New York Times Book Review’s “Kids Notables” selection for 2018.

With November’s school board elections approaching, the issue of book bans will once again appear on the ballot in the form of races between conservative candidates and their opponents. Candidates endorsed by the conservative 1776 Project PAC are running in nine Maryland counties.

The Carroll County precedent

In Maryland’s largely liberal central corridor, Carroll County has always been an outlier. Jutting southward from the Mason-Dixon line, it’s surrounded by liberal enclaves and Frederick County, a former Republican stronghold that flipped blue in the 2020 presidential election for the first time since 1964.

As demographics shift and the Democratic party strengthens its regional claim, Carroll County remains stubbornly independent. While it isn’t uncommon to have a couple of books challenged over a year, Carroll County’s 21 permanent removals drew headlines earlier this year.

One of the county’s board of education candidates, Amanda Jozkowski, said she opposes such actions.

“While there may be rare instances where a book is deemed unsuitable for the school library, these decisions should be based on clear, consistent criteria focused on educational value, not on censorship or ideological preferences,” she said in responding to the candidate questionnaire.

Jozkowski said Carroll County is a proving ground for conservative policies – especially within schools. She noted that the county has a large and active Moms for Liberty chapter that is helping chapters in other counties. Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that stresses parents’ rights, burst onto the scene in 2021 and has led the fight for book bans in many school districts.

To offer a different future for Carroll County educators and students, Jozkowski is collaborating with fellow board candidate Muri Lynn Dueppen on the Slate for Student Success, a joint candidacy that highlights the pair’s shared values and encourages voters to mark their names at the top of November’s ballot. On its website, opposition to book banning is listed as one of the pair’s core values.

Jozkowski hopes that voters see her as an alternative to the conservative candidates she opposes. She said she believes that many Carroll County residents are tired of the “politically motivated orientation” of the current school board.

But, in a county that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 60 years, her success is far from guaranteed. Among her challengers is Kristen Zihmer, a 38-year-old small business owner who called herself a “conservative lifelong resident” of Carroll County and who, according to the Baltimore Sun, has been endorsed by Moms for Liberty.

Zihmer listed Ronald Reagan as the political figure she admired most and said: “My goal is to uphold the family and community values that make our county exceptional.” Asked about book bans, she said: “When materials are open to question, I default to parental consent…I would state unequivocally that I do not condone materials that are sexually gratuitous in nature or feature extreme sexual content.”

A debate in Howard County

In March, the Howard County chapter of Moms For Liberty laid out plans for its latest initiative: the elimination of 46 books from Howard County Public Schools’ shelves, following in Carroll County’s footsteps.

While the chapter’s measures have failed thus far, one of its founders is now running for a spot on the county’s board of education. Trent Kittleman, a former state delegate who lost re-election in 2022, requested to be taken off the Moms for Liberty rolls when she began her school board campaign, Baltimore Fishbowl reported in March.

But her views on the issue remain staunchly conservative. She decried a 2021 ban on six Dr. Seuss books with harmful stereotypes, but she remains concerned about other kinds of books..

“The misnomer ‘book banning’ being criticized these days is an effort by many parents to have certain books removed from school libraries due to what they consider explicitly sexual content,” Kittleman said in response to a Local News Network questionnaire. “It is not unreasonable to have explicitly sexual content ‘that serves no redeeming social purpose,’ removed from the schools.”

Kittleman offers the Democratic stronghold a new vision for its public schools, one in line with the Republican values she touted during her eight years in the Maryland House of Delegates. One of her opponents, incumbent Jen Mallo, offers the opposite.

“A diverse and inclusive set of library books are critical to have in our schools,” said Mallo, who chairs the Howard County Board of Education. “We need to actively work to include these materials despite extremist fear-mongering and demands for removal.”

The issue goes to court

Montgomery County’s battle between conservative parents and school board members looks a little different than those in the rest of the state. In September, a group of parents filed a petition asking that the Supreme Court review the school board’s refusal to allow parents to opt their elementary children out of classes using LGBTQ+ books, citing a violation of their First Amendment rights.

The books are part of the district’s effort to be more inclusive by adding titles with LGBTQ+ characters in their kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum.

Brenda M. Diaz, one of the county’s school board candidates, is siding with those parents.

Diaz, a social studies teacher at Fusion Global Academy with more than 20 years of education experience, said that since Maryland state law allows parents to request exemptions for their children from certain portions of the sex education curriculum, she would extend these same rights to parents for books their children can access.

“Each school should be able to determine with their body of parents which books should be removed,” she said in her response to the LNN candidate questionnaire.

Yet Lynne Harris, a board member running for re-election in Montgomery County, believes public opinion shouldn’t be a factor when determining which books students can access

Harris, currently the vice president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, strongly supports the county’s LGBTQ+ curriculum.

“If families want to restrict the books their students read, they have many avenues to do that,” Harris told the Local News Network in August, “but imposing these choices and personal judgments on thousands of others is not appropriate.”

The post Support for book bans varies in Maryland school board races appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

By Ela Jalil and Devin Etta

The culture war erupting around the nation about transgender rights is being fought in Maryland’s school districts, too.

School boards that set policy for those districts face a dilemma: Do they prioritize a student’s autonomy over their identity or the parents’ right to know who that child really is?

In previous years, some school districts enacted policies that allowed transgender or gender-nonconforming students to choose their pronouns, while also not informing the parents of their decisions.

Yet in deep blue Maryland, 32 of 74 school board candidates who responded to a Local News Network survey indicated that these policies go a step too far. Nineteen of those candidates are running for board seats in the 10 Maryland counties that have chapters of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that stresses parents’ rights.

“Parents should be fully informed about everything happening at school involving their child. There should NEVER be a situation where information is withheld from parents,” wrote Carroll County school board candidate Kristen Zihmer, who has been endorsed by Moms for Liberty.

A slightly smaller number of candidates – 29 – prioritize creating a “safe and inclusive” environment for students, even if that requires withholding information from parents.

Anne Arundel County school board member Joanna Bache Tobin, who is seeking re-election, said students succeed in school when they have a sense of belonging.

“Enabling students to determine for themselves how they wish to be addressed and referred to is critical to that safe and inclusive environment, and therefore to student achievement,” said Tobin, a consultant and parent in the Anne Arundel County public school system.

Yet the issue remains sensitive. As if to prove it, 13 candidates either refused to answer the LNN survey question about pronouns or did so in a way that did not take a stand on the issue.

Pronouns: A history

Although discourse and vitriol around pronouns have become increasingly common in the past few years, the usage of “they” as a gender-neutral personal pronoun can be dated back to the 14th century in a French poem, according to a video guide from LBGTQ@MIT.

Centuries later, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary added “they” as a singular nonbinary pronoun in 2019, citing its prevalence in discourse and rebutting the common argument that opponents have used: that they/them pronouns are grammatically incorrect because it’s applying singular use to a plural word.

The Biden administration recently made headlines when it rewrote regulations under Title IX – the federal ban on sex discrimination – to cover bias against gender identity or sexual orientation. This federal civil rights law prevents sex-based discrimination in any school that receives federal funding.

This rewrite would require that schools refer to students by the pronouns they use. However, federal lawsuits have blocked the change at least temporarily in 26 Republican-led states.

In contrast, many counties in Maryland have embraced a progressive policy on pronouns. For the 2020-2021 school year, Montgomery County Public Schools drafted a guideline for student gender identity that encourages employees to make support plans for transgender and gender nonconforming students. This approach allows students to decide on their identity at school, whether it be their preferred name or pronouns.

“Prior to contacting a student’s parent/guardian, the principal or identified staff member should speak with the student to ascertain the level of support the student either receives or anticipates receiving from home,” the guideline reads.

That policy also prompted a federal lawsuit. Conservative parent groups argued the guidelines violate the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of due process under the law by restricting the parents’ ability to direct care and control education for their minor children. A group of three parents took their argument to court with the support of the conservative National Legal Foundation.

A federal court dismissed the case in 2022, and a federal appeals court did the same the following year. The courts ruled that the parents didn’t have legal standing to have their case heard. The parents appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, and the court dismissed the case again in May.

However, the parent group noted in its petition that similar lawsuits have been filed across the nation. And Frederick County candidate Jaime Brennan, the former chairwoman of the county’s Moms for Liberty chapter, argues that such policies remain in legal jeopardy.

“We are seeing districts across the country be sued for policies like this,” Brennan said. “I think it is only a matter of time before they are subject to huge judgments, not to mention the defense costs for these bad policies.”

‘Age-inappropriate’

Elena Brewer, a school board candidate from St. Mary’s County, said she believes that allowing the usage of pronouns diminishes the rights of other students because it is “age-inappropriate” language. Her campaign issues consist of parental rights, education not indoctrination and age-appropriate curricula.

“Schools are for education, not sexualization,” said Brewer, one of 19 Maryland candidates endorsed this year by the 1776 Project PAC, a conservative group that emphasizes parental rights and criticizes “woke” ideology.

For others, policies of nondisclosure undermine the relationship between parents and children.

“If we are not informing parents of students’ decisions about their preferred pronouns and maybe questions about their identity, what other aspects of their school life are we not informing parents?” said Ann O’Connor, a school board candidate from Talbot County, who also received a 1776 Project PAC endorsement.

This belief in parental rights stands at the center of a conservative movement that says it is trying to save public school students from liberal indoctrination.

Howard County school board candidate Trent Kittleman said that like other conservative candidates, she strongly opposes policies that allow schools to withhold information from parents when a child chooses alternate pronouns..  Kittleman is a former state delegate who lost re-election in 2022 and asked to be taken off the Moms for Liberty rolls when she began her school board campaign, Baltimore Fishbowl reported in March.

“It is imperative to recognize that parents hold the ultimate responsibility for raising their children; attempts to undermine this fundamental role are both misguided and potentially harmful,” Kittleman said in response to the LNN candidate questionnaire.

Kittleman’s website says that she fought against progressive legislation for eight years in the Maryland legislature and that she believes in a system that prioritizes parental involvement.

‘Safe and supported’

The use of gender-neutral pronouns is increasingly common, with recent studies showing that 56% of Generation Z respondents know someone who uses gender neutral pronouns, a National Institutes of Health article said. Advocates of the approach say using an individual’s correct pronouns can act as a sign of respect.

Allegany County school board candidate Max Green said it’s not the role of teachers to tell parents what pronouns students are using in school.

“Every student deserves to feel safe and supported in school, regardless of their identity,” Green said. “Using preferred pronouns fosters an inclusive environment and allows students to feel accepted. Importantly, this practice causes no harm to others — it simply reflects respect for the individual.”

Multiple candidates cited the importance of respecting pronouns for the safety and health of transgender or gender non-conforming students.

Montgomery County incumbent candidate Lynne Harris emphasized the vulnerability of LGBTQ+ youth to bullying or rejection from family.

“I am proud that Montgomery County Public Schools policy is to provide a welcoming and supportive space for students, to support them in expressing their gender identity, and to partner with families in supporting LGBTQ+ students EXCEPT when the student tells us they will not be safe if family are informed,” Harris said.

The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youths, found in a 2020 national survey that transgender and nonbinary individuals who had their pronouns respected by all or most people in their lives attempted suicide at half the rate of those that didn’t have their pronouns respected.

“If we can save lives by using preferred pronouns and names, then it is incumbent on us to do so,” said Jen Mallo, a Howard County Board of Education member who is running for re-election. “It is not only a good thing to do, but also the right thing to do.”

Several candidates also said it is OK for schools to not disclose a student’s preferred pronouns to parents. They said doing so makes school a safe space for students.

“Unfortunately, there are still situations where a child faces being kicked out of their home or ostracized for coming out to their family. Our duty as a school system is to support the child,” said Erica McFarland, a school board candidate from Anne Arundel County.

Despite the debate over pronouns, none of these candidates surveyed chose gender identity and pronouns as the most significant issue affecting schools today. In Carroll County – where conservative school board members have voted to remove 21 books from library shelves – candidate Muri Lynn Dueppen said it’s time for the board to focus on something else.

“The focus of the board needs to return to academics instead of the deeply divisive culture wars,” Dueppen said.

The post On gender identity in schools, Maryland school board candidates are divided appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.

By MADISON KORMAN

Classrooms across Maryland are a bit more quiet this fall, with students under new rules to keep their phones off and out of sight.

At least a third of Maryland public schools have tightened up the rules this fall, according to a Capital News Service survey conducted this month.

Meanwhile, public schools in and around Baltimore are cracking down on phones during instruction – and, in some cases, even on the bus.

In Caroline County, on the eastern shore of Maryland, public schools have a new pilot program in two middle schools. It requires students to place their phones in locked pouches. The pouches stay with the students but remain locked until the end of the school day.

“Today’s youth battle constant distraction caused by cell phone alerts and messaging that interrupt their ability to focus,” Supt. Derek L. Simmons said in a recent notice to students and parents. He said this “creates a negative impact on school culture and learning.”

Elsewhere, administrators are getting creative about persuading students to go along with the plan.

In St. Mary’s County, Supt. Scott Smith recently released a video describing the district’s new plan to limit the distractions caused by cell phones.

In the video, he comically stops midway through his presentation of the new rules to take out his phone and text, showing students how difficult it can be to have a conversation when they are disengaged and on their phones.

“Hold on, just wait a second, I’m just going to text him real fast,” Smith said in the video, pretending to send a message.

“That’s really rude isn’t it?” he then pointed out. “We’re supposed to be having a conversation, and I’m interrupting myself and I’m getting on my phone and I’m texting.”

“I’m not really here right?” Smith said. “I’m kind of distracted.”

Since the start of the school year, in St. Mary’s County, they have confiscated around 30 cell phones per day, Smith told the school board in a recent meeting. That’s out of 10,000 students, he said at the meeting.

“We have had many conversations about the joy of being in a classroom without the distraction of cell phones,” Smith said, adding that he and his staff “continue to work with our secondary students about the joy and some of the challenges of cellular devices and how we can maximize our joy and fun in life.”

The post Phones Off, Focus On: How Maryland schools are cracking down on cell phones this fall appeared first on MarylandReporter.com.