Baltimore and Maryland teacher's unions should be front and center in organizing town halls on all these education policies. Common Core and Race to the Top need to be included in these teacher's union public forums!
Do any Maryland residents know that this important process is happening regarding education? Who will be the one's that comment?
CODE OF MARYLAND REGULATIONS
TITLE 13A
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
In accordance with State Government Article, §§10-130—10-139, Annotated Code of Maryland, the Maryland State Department of Education is currently reviewing and evaluating the follow chapters of COMAR Title 13A:
Subtitle 01 STATE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.01.01 State Board of Education 13A.01.02 State Superintendent of Schools 13A.01.03 State Department of Education 13A.01.04 Public School Standards 13A.01.05 Appeals to the State Board of Education
Subtitle 02 LOCAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.02.01 Local Boards of Education 13A.02.03 Local Administrative and Supervisory Staff 13A.02.04 Tobacco-Free School Environment 13A.02.05 Maintenance of Effort 13A.02.06 General Financial Aid to Local School Systems 13A.02.07 Annual Audits of Financial Statements and Federal Awards 13A.02.08 Recognition of Employee Organizations 13A.02.09 Closing of Schools
Subtitle 03 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.03.01 Standards for Kindergarten Programs 13A.03.02 Graduation Requirements for Public High Schools in Maryland 13A.03.04 Test Administration and Data-Reporting Policies and Procedures 13A.03.05 Administration of Home and Hospital Teaching for Students
Subtitle 04 SPECIFIC SUBJECTS 13A.04.01 Programs in Technology Education 13A.04.02 Secondary School Career and Technology Education 13A.04.03 Driver Education Programs 13A.04.04 Religious Education 13A.04.05 Education That is Multicultural 13A.04.08 Program in Social Studies 13A.04.09 Program in Science 13A.04.10 Program of Instruction in the World of Work Competencies 13A.04.12 Program in Mathematics 13A.04.13 Program in Physical Education 13A.04.14 Program in English Language Arts 13A.04.16 Programs in Fine Arts
13A.04.19
Program in Cosmetology 13A.04.20 Program for Barbers
Subtitle 05 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.05.01 Provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education 13A.05.02 Administration of Services for Students with Disabilities 13A.05.03 Programs of Adult Education 13A.05.04 Programs for Library Media Services 13A.05.05 Programs of Pupil Services 13A.05.06 Programs for Migrant Education 13A.05.07 Programs for Non-English and Limited-English Proficient Students 13A.05.08 Approved Paid Work-Based Learning Programs 13A.05.09 Programs for Homeless Children 13A.05.10 Automated External Defibrillator Program in High Schools
Subtitle 06 SUPPORTING PROGRAMS 13A.06.01 Programs for Food and Nutrition 13A.06.02 Prekindergarten Programs 13A.06.05 School Supplies and Equipment 13A.06.06 Safety Equipment 13A.06.07 Student Transportation
Pursuant to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Work Plan submitted to and approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review, MSDE will evaluate the need to retain, amend, or repeal any provisions of these regulations based on whether they:
• Continue to be necessary for the public interest?
• Continue to be supported by statutory authority and judicial opinion?
• Are obsolete or other appropriate for amendment or repeal?
• Are effective in accomplishing their intended purpose?
The Maryland State Department of Education would like to provide interested parties with an opportunity to participate in the review and evaluation process by submitting comments on these regulations. The comments may address any concerns about the regulations. If the comments include suggested changes to the regulations, please be as specific as possible and provide language for the suggested changes.
Comments should be directed to Anthony L. South, Executive Director, Office of the State Board of Education, 200 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201-2595, by fax to 410-333-6033, or by e-mail to StateBoard@msde.state.md.us. Comments must be received by January 31, 2014.
__________________
The only way this made national news was that a private individual at the meeting used her own video camera to film this incident and then released it to national press. All of the local media present would have and some still are silent and would never have released this much information.
WE MUST DEMAND FREE MEDIA AND OPEN PUBLIC FORUMS IN ORDER TO RETURN TO A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!
Robert Small, Maryland Parent, Arrested At School Meeting After Questioning Common Core (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | By Hunter Stuart Posted: 09/23/2013 2:39 pm EDT | Updated: 09/23/2013 3:09 pm EDT
A Maryland parent was thrown out of a school meeting and arrested after questioning a new state-led education standards initiative. He has been charged with assaulting a police officer and disrupting a school function and could go to jail for 10 years if convicted. Amateur video of the incident has gone viral online over the past few days.
"I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of Common Core standards isn't to prepare our children for full-fledged universities, it's to prepare them for community college," 46-year-old parent Robert Small shouted Thursday night during a school meeting between parents, teachers and administrators that was held by the Maryland State Department of Education in Towson, a suburb of Baltimore.
His interjection was greeted with applause.
Small, who has two kids in the area's public schools, went on to briefly explain his opposition to the Common Core, an education initiative incentivized by the federal government and designed to "establish a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade [students]," according to the initiative's official website.
An off-duty Baltimore police officer moonlighting as a security guard arrived to escort Small from the meeting. When Small didn't immediately follow the officer, the officer yanked him forcefully toward the aisle, prompting gasps from the audience.
"Parents, take control," Small says as he is led out of the room. As the officer pulls out handcuffs, Small can be heard saying, "I'm not an activist, I'm a parent. I have a right to speak."
The meeting, which was held in order to explain the Common Core to parents, according to The Baltimore Sun, was conducted in a format where school administrators selected pre-submitted questions from parents.
Small is charged with two misdemeanors: assaulting an officer and disrupting a school function, Baltimore County Police told The Huffington Post over the phone Monday.
Although Small does not appear to be touching the officer in the video, the police report says he "continued to yell and pushed the officer" once the pair was out of view of the camera, Baltimore police spokesperson Elise Armacost told HuffPost. "That is the basis for the assault charge."
Small faces up to 10 years in jail for the assault charge alone.
When contacted by The Huffington Post, the Maryland State Department of Education declined to comment, saying the incident fell under the local police department's jurisdiction. The Baltimore County Department of Education did not respond to our request for comment.
________________________________________________
Cortly Witherspoon and Sharon Black arrested at City Hall Activists sought meeting with Rawlings-Blake about police brutality
Brew Editors August 6, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, outside Central Booking, after arrest at Baltimore City Hall.
Baltimore police arrested two longtime political activists today and charged them with trespassing after they tried unsuccessfully to deliver a letter – about the closing of recreation centers and fire stations and alleged police abuses – to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the local chapter of the Southern Leadership Conference, and Sharon Black, an organizer with the Baltimore All Peoples Congress, had been leading an afternoon rally of about 75 people outside City Hall.
According to Baltimore photographer and videographer William Hughes, the two were arrested after they refused to leave City Hall:
“I was there for the whole rally, which began at 3 PM at the Shot Tower. Then, they marched to City Hall, past Police H/Q. I saw Sharon and CD, inside the City Hall. They were trying to get permission to go up the Mayor’s Office. They were allowed up to the office and met with a rep. I was back outside by then.”
Activist Sharon Black being escorted to Central Booking today after being arrested at City Hall for trespassing. (Photo by William Hughes)
The mayor declined to meet with them and they insisted, according to their phone messages to the crowd outside, on a personal meeting. When they refused to leave, they were arrested.
Organizers have been talking in recent weeks about the letter they planned to send to Rawlings-Blake demanding “an emergency meeting” to talk about police-involved shootings in Baltimore, among other issues.
Among the cases of alleged misconduct they cited today was that of David Yim, a disabled man shot by police in April, and Thomas Threatt, whose beating during an east Baltimore jobs protest was captured on video.
_____________________________________________
Maryland totally ignores Public meeting laws and as we see above want to eliminate even public comment at public forums.
Look at the law that gives a few hundred dollars in fine and public shaming. These neo-liberals laugh at being outed at City Hall for illegal behavior so this is nothing. Do you know that in Baltimore if you are late in paying 3 parking tickets the police will tow your car and fees will add up to hundreds of dollars? Fines of over a thousand for standing up to shout out at a public meeting?
THIS IS BREAKING THE LAW......
Bill would toughen Maryland Open Meetings law enforcementMeasure would require fines, public shaming for improper meetings
April 13, 2013|By Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun
New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws.
State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences.
"It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement."
Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.
The bill came out of a series of hearings this summer, during which a committee of state lawmakers found that sometimes officials take a written advisory about violations from the Open Meetings Compliance Board and "just throw it away."
Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, said he is reviewing the bill.
The measure would increase fines for breaking the open-meetings law from $100 to $250. It would also require a public body to announce at its next meeting that the compliance board found it had broken the law. Each member of the group that violated the law would have to sign a statement acknowledging the misconduct.
Morhaim said he drafted the legislation before two Maryland institutions were separately accused last year of holding illegal meetings.
In one incident, the University System of Maryland's board signed off on the University of Maryland, College Park's move to the Big Ten Conference. In another, the Morgan State University Board of Regents voted to terminate the school president's contract — a decision it later reversed.
A Morgan spokesman has said school officials do not believe the vote violated the law. University System of Maryland officials acknowledged the breach but said that the group was "confused" and "overlooked" the law.
Those cases "drew a lot of attention to the fact that there are no teeth to our open-meetings laws," said Common Cause Maryland's executive director, Jennifer Bevan-Dangel.
Another bill passed by the legislature would require public officials to be trained on how to follow the open-meetings law.
That measure, introduced by Republican Del. Anthony O'Donnell, was praised by Common Cause and other watchdog groups.
"If citizens can't see the decisions that are made, they can't hold their elected officials accountable," Bevan-Dangel said. "And then voters can't make educated decisions at the polls if they don't know what their elected officials are doing."
Do any Maryland residents know that this important process is happening regarding education? Who will be the one's that comment?
CODE OF MARYLAND REGULATIONS
TITLE 13A
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
In accordance with State Government Article, §§10-130—10-139, Annotated Code of Maryland, the Maryland State Department of Education is currently reviewing and evaluating the follow chapters of COMAR Title 13A:
Subtitle 01 STATE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.01.01 State Board of Education 13A.01.02 State Superintendent of Schools 13A.01.03 State Department of Education 13A.01.04 Public School Standards 13A.01.05 Appeals to the State Board of Education
Subtitle 02 LOCAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13A.02.01 Local Boards of Education 13A.02.03 Local Administrative and Supervisory Staff 13A.02.04 Tobacco-Free School Environment 13A.02.05 Maintenance of Effort 13A.02.06 General Financial Aid to Local School Systems 13A.02.07 Annual Audits of Financial Statements and Federal Awards 13A.02.08 Recognition of Employee Organizations 13A.02.09 Closing of Schools
Subtitle 03 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.03.01 Standards for Kindergarten Programs 13A.03.02 Graduation Requirements for Public High Schools in Maryland 13A.03.04 Test Administration and Data-Reporting Policies and Procedures 13A.03.05 Administration of Home and Hospital Teaching for Students
Subtitle 04 SPECIFIC SUBJECTS 13A.04.01 Programs in Technology Education 13A.04.02 Secondary School Career and Technology Education 13A.04.03 Driver Education Programs 13A.04.04 Religious Education 13A.04.05 Education That is Multicultural 13A.04.08 Program in Social Studies 13A.04.09 Program in Science 13A.04.10 Program of Instruction in the World of Work Competencies 13A.04.12 Program in Mathematics 13A.04.13 Program in Physical Education 13A.04.14 Program in English Language Arts 13A.04.16 Programs in Fine Arts
13A.04.19
Program in Cosmetology 13A.04.20 Program for Barbers
Subtitle 05 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS 13A.05.01 Provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education 13A.05.02 Administration of Services for Students with Disabilities 13A.05.03 Programs of Adult Education 13A.05.04 Programs for Library Media Services 13A.05.05 Programs of Pupil Services 13A.05.06 Programs for Migrant Education 13A.05.07 Programs for Non-English and Limited-English Proficient Students 13A.05.08 Approved Paid Work-Based Learning Programs 13A.05.09 Programs for Homeless Children 13A.05.10 Automated External Defibrillator Program in High Schools
Subtitle 06 SUPPORTING PROGRAMS 13A.06.01 Programs for Food and Nutrition 13A.06.02 Prekindergarten Programs 13A.06.05 School Supplies and Equipment 13A.06.06 Safety Equipment 13A.06.07 Student Transportation
Pursuant to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Work Plan submitted to and approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review, MSDE will evaluate the need to retain, amend, or repeal any provisions of these regulations based on whether they:
• Continue to be necessary for the public interest?
• Continue to be supported by statutory authority and judicial opinion?
• Are obsolete or other appropriate for amendment or repeal?
• Are effective in accomplishing their intended purpose?
The Maryland State Department of Education would like to provide interested parties with an opportunity to participate in the review and evaluation process by submitting comments on these regulations. The comments may address any concerns about the regulations. If the comments include suggested changes to the regulations, please be as specific as possible and provide language for the suggested changes.
Comments should be directed to Anthony L. South, Executive Director, Office of the State Board of Education, 200 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201-2595, by fax to 410-333-6033, or by e-mail to StateBoard@msde.state.md.us. Comments must be received by January 31, 2014.
__________________
The only way this made national news was that a private individual at the meeting used her own video camera to film this incident and then released it to national press. All of the local media present would have and some still are silent and would never have released this much information.
WE MUST DEMAND FREE MEDIA AND OPEN PUBLIC FORUMS IN ORDER TO RETURN TO A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!
Robert Small, Maryland Parent, Arrested At School Meeting After Questioning Common Core (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | By Hunter Stuart Posted: 09/23/2013 2:39 pm EDT | Updated: 09/23/2013 3:09 pm EDT
A Maryland parent was thrown out of a school meeting and arrested after questioning a new state-led education standards initiative. He has been charged with assaulting a police officer and disrupting a school function and could go to jail for 10 years if convicted. Amateur video of the incident has gone viral online over the past few days.
"I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of Common Core standards isn't to prepare our children for full-fledged universities, it's to prepare them for community college," 46-year-old parent Robert Small shouted Thursday night during a school meeting between parents, teachers and administrators that was held by the Maryland State Department of Education in Towson, a suburb of Baltimore.
His interjection was greeted with applause.
Small, who has two kids in the area's public schools, went on to briefly explain his opposition to the Common Core, an education initiative incentivized by the federal government and designed to "establish a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade [students]," according to the initiative's official website.
An off-duty Baltimore police officer moonlighting as a security guard arrived to escort Small from the meeting. When Small didn't immediately follow the officer, the officer yanked him forcefully toward the aisle, prompting gasps from the audience.
"Parents, take control," Small says as he is led out of the room. As the officer pulls out handcuffs, Small can be heard saying, "I'm not an activist, I'm a parent. I have a right to speak."
The meeting, which was held in order to explain the Common Core to parents, according to The Baltimore Sun, was conducted in a format where school administrators selected pre-submitted questions from parents.
Small is charged with two misdemeanors: assaulting an officer and disrupting a school function, Baltimore County Police told The Huffington Post over the phone Monday.
Although Small does not appear to be touching the officer in the video, the police report says he "continued to yell and pushed the officer" once the pair was out of view of the camera, Baltimore police spokesperson Elise Armacost told HuffPost. "That is the basis for the assault charge."
Small faces up to 10 years in jail for the assault charge alone.
When contacted by The Huffington Post, the Maryland State Department of Education declined to comment, saying the incident fell under the local police department's jurisdiction. The Baltimore County Department of Education did not respond to our request for comment.
________________________________________________
Cortly Witherspoon and Sharon Black arrested at City Hall Activists sought meeting with Rawlings-Blake about police brutality
Brew Editors August 6, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, outside Central Booking, after arrest at Baltimore City Hall.
Baltimore police arrested two longtime political activists today and charged them with trespassing after they tried unsuccessfully to deliver a letter – about the closing of recreation centers and fire stations and alleged police abuses – to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the local chapter of the Southern Leadership Conference, and Sharon Black, an organizer with the Baltimore All Peoples Congress, had been leading an afternoon rally of about 75 people outside City Hall.
According to Baltimore photographer and videographer William Hughes, the two were arrested after they refused to leave City Hall:
“I was there for the whole rally, which began at 3 PM at the Shot Tower. Then, they marched to City Hall, past Police H/Q. I saw Sharon and CD, inside the City Hall. They were trying to get permission to go up the Mayor’s Office. They were allowed up to the office and met with a rep. I was back outside by then.”
Activist Sharon Black being escorted to Central Booking today after being arrested at City Hall for trespassing. (Photo by William Hughes)
The mayor declined to meet with them and they insisted, according to their phone messages to the crowd outside, on a personal meeting. When they refused to leave, they were arrested.
Organizers have been talking in recent weeks about the letter they planned to send to Rawlings-Blake demanding “an emergency meeting” to talk about police-involved shootings in Baltimore, among other issues.
Among the cases of alleged misconduct they cited today was that of David Yim, a disabled man shot by police in April, and Thomas Threatt, whose beating during an east Baltimore jobs protest was captured on video.
_____________________________________________
Maryland totally ignores Public meeting laws and as we see above want to eliminate even public comment at public forums.
Look at the law that gives a few hundred dollars in fine and public shaming. These neo-liberals laugh at being outed at City Hall for illegal behavior so this is nothing. Do you know that in Baltimore if you are late in paying 3 parking tickets the police will tow your car and fees will add up to hundreds of dollars? Fines of over a thousand for standing up to shout out at a public meeting?
THIS IS BREAKING THE LAW......
Bill would toughen Maryland Open Meetings law enforcementMeasure would require fines, public shaming for improper meetings
April 13, 2013|By Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun
New laws passed by the Maryland General Assembly late last week would put stricter penalties and an element of public shaming behind the state's open-meetings laws.
State lawmakers said public officials have been able to flout the rules without significant consequences.
"It has no enforcement whatsoever," said Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the bill to toughen open-meetings laws. "This is the first bill that actually creates some enforcement."
Maryland's public officials are barred from conducting public business behind closed doors, but the penalties for doing so in the past have been a rarely levied fine and a written notice that Morhaim said was often ignored.
The bill came out of a series of hearings this summer, during which a committee of state lawmakers found that sometimes officials take a written advisory about violations from the Open Meetings Compliance Board and "just throw it away."
Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, said he is reviewing the bill.
The measure would increase fines for breaking the open-meetings law from $100 to $250. It would also require a public body to announce at its next meeting that the compliance board found it had broken the law. Each member of the group that violated the law would have to sign a statement acknowledging the misconduct.
Morhaim said he drafted the legislation before two Maryland institutions were separately accused last year of holding illegal meetings.
In one incident, the University System of Maryland's board signed off on the University of Maryland, College Park's move to the Big Ten Conference. In another, the Morgan State University Board of Regents voted to terminate the school president's contract — a decision it later reversed.
A Morgan spokesman has said school officials do not believe the vote violated the law. University System of Maryland officials acknowledged the breach but said that the group was "confused" and "overlooked" the law.
Those cases "drew a lot of attention to the fact that there are no teeth to our open-meetings laws," said Common Cause Maryland's executive director, Jennifer Bevan-Dangel.
Another bill passed by the legislature would require public officials to be trained on how to follow the open-meetings law.
That measure, introduced by Republican Del. Anthony O'Donnell, was praised by Common Cause and other watchdog groups.
"If citizens can't see the decisions that are made, they can't hold their elected officials accountable," Bevan-Dangel said. "And then voters can't make educated decisions at the polls if they don't know what their elected officials are doing."
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