The Maryland State Department of Education has announced the starting day for school in all 24 public school systems.
All systems start on Aug. 26, with the following exceptions:
- Some grades in Anne Arundel, Dorchester, and Kent counties start Aug. 27; most start Aug. 26
- Calvert County starts on Aug. 20
- Cecil County starts on Aug. 22, except for Pre-K–K, which starts on Aug. 27
- Frederick County starts on Aug. 19
- Queen Anne’s County starts on Aug. 26 for grades 1–9, Aug. 27 for 10–12
- St Mary’s and Washington counties start on Aug. 21
- Talbot County starts on Aug. 27
- In Wicomico County, some grades at some schools start on Aug. 26, others on Aug. 27
Local media seem to be paying lots of attention to opening day at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County, where a student was shot by another student on the first day of school last year.
WBAL-TV (NBC affiliate) reported on new security systems in place at all schools in Baltimore County. Visitors will have their driver’s licenses fed through a national database of criminals before they’re allowed in the building, the TV news station reported. The computerized system, which cost the district about $4 million to install at every school, will also allow school resource officers and other school officials to follow visitors around the school on iPads or other devices.
And the Baltimore Sun reported on a grant for counseling services received by the high school from the US Department of Education. The grant is intended to pay for counseling services for students and adults at schools where a shooting or other violence has occurred.
Last year, on the first day of school, Robert W Gladden Jr, then 15, shot Daniel Borowy, a special-needs student, in the school cafeteria. Daniel is physically healed and is expected to be back in school, the Sun reported, while Mr Gladden is behind bars, serving a 35-year prison sentence.
“We know the anxiety is going to go up,” the paper quoted Perry Hall’s principal, George A Roberts, as saying about the first day of school two weeks from now. “Students can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. A teacher can’t teach if they don’t feel safe,” he said.
I find it interesting that some company sold Baltimore County Public Schools a door buzzer and ID-printing software for $4 million in response to student-on-student violence. Now, it is very important that schools know who’s inside them, but the response seems like an ineffective way to deal with the original stimulus.