A retrospective look at how years of poor school transportation planning and decades of shortsighted, unsustainable residential overdevelopment policies by the Howard County government have led to and exacerbated the current HCPSS school bus transportation crisis.
An examination of some key elements of the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) Contract with Zum Services, Inc. , which has left thousands of HCPSS families scrambling to deal with bus route cancellations and delays at the start of the 2023-24 school year.
A look at the history of the current Howard County school bus disaster with Zum Services, Inc. and how this situation is just the latest of many leadership issues that have plagued HCPSS in recent years under the tenure of Superintendent Michael Martirano.
Summarized in this post are the major improvements, new problems, and unaddressed concerns in the new draft HCPSS Policy 6010 (Redistricting). The Board of Education will consider adoption of this draft policy in November 2021.
Issue #1 of the HoCo Watchdogs newsletter. This newsletter provides a concise list of articles, videos & social media posts for readers to stay well informed about important Howard County, Maryland issues such as public school policies, land use & development, and county governance.
In November 2019, HCPSS special education teachers passionately & emotionally testified in front of the Board of Education to beg for more Special Education program supports after it had been woefully underfunded for years
Instead of applying all received emergency COVID-19 “ESSER II” funding to student supports & school re-opening measures, Superintendent Martirano has proposed to apply a half million dollars of this funding for an attorney to assist with fighting parents of special needs students who request or legally demand better supports for their children.
Back in early June 2017, within a month of becoming the new HCPSS Superintendent, Michael Martirano apparently attended (hosted?) a breakfast meeting with a few prominent local business leaders, particularly developers and their local support staff.
Summarized in this post are the major recommended changes to this policy that were sent to Superintendent Martirano by this committee in January 2021. Also included are the Meeting Summary Notes for the Policy 6010 committee meetings held on December 15, 22, and 29 (2020)…
At the beginning of the September 10, 2020 HCPSS meeting, the Board of Education strayed off the agenda and held a surprising vote on whether or not to remove School Resource Officers (SROs) from HCPSS schools.