In this year's election for the 2011-2012 Student Member of the Board, the competition has been narrowed down to two contestants: incumbent Alan Xie and newcomer Hal Zeitlin, both juniors. We asked them about their positions on key issues for the upcoming year and a little about their qualifications. Stay tuned for the "Meet The Candidates" TV show, which will air on the MCPS cable channel beginning March 21.
By the end of the summer, Ride-On, Montgomery County's bus transit system, will have instituted the fully operational Smart Traveler system, which will allow commuters to check locations and arrival times for buses due to arrive at specific stops, according to Montgomery County Public Information Officer Esther Bowring.
Blair Network Communications (BNC), Blair's media production organization, has made a number of changes since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, including the introduction of a new online aspect and the addition of "That's All, Folks," a radio show hosted by sophomore Adam Maisto. "The Internet is the main thing I changed," said BNC's faculty advisor Paris Bustillos. "I really thought it should be a bigger part of BNC."
"How does the chicken's leg get from the chicken to my plate?" "Do fish like being killed?" "How do you make steak?" That is what I asked my mother one evening at the dinner table when I was four years old. She gave me honest answers. I never ate meat again.
Schools in Montgomery County are now required to post calorie information for all menu items in accordance with a new County Council legislation effected on July 1 of this year.
The 2010-2011 school year has seen a marked increase in enrollment in MCPS from the previous year, coming to about 2,200 new students within the school system. This arrival of new students brings the total number enrolled in MCPS to 144,000 students.
The Maryland State Board of Education approved a funding waiver on May 25, which will clear MCPS of its Maintenance of Effort (MoE) penalty. This will allow the county to fund education about $138 million lower than the Maintenance of Effort level for fiscal year (FY) 2011. The penalty, according Board of Education staff assistant Laura Steinberg, would have amounted to approximately $51.3 million.
Social studies teacher George Vlasits is a part of a county-wide anti-tracking organization that is attempting to halt the separation of students into ability-based classes. Academic tracking has been a fixture in the Montgomery County and state education systems for decades, but new evidence suggests that it may not necessarily benefit students.
The Maryland State Board of Education proposed regulations in April which would require that student performance account for 50 percent of teacher evaluations for all counties in the state of Maryland according to Maryland State Board of Education spokesperson William Reinhard.
The entire Maryland universities system will raise tuition three percent for the 2010-2011 school year, ending a four-year freeze supported by the state budget, according to Monica West, director of budget for the University of Maryland.
Walking into a room and inhaling the buttery scent of baking pastries and cakes that emanates from the oven inspires an acute pang of hunger, a deep gnawing in the pit of the belly that will remain until the craving has been sated. For a select few, the aroma of a cake in the oven inspires a different type of hunger entirely - a hunger for business.
When the whole family is around, freshman Beemnet Kebede, her parents and her brother all sit down around a communal tray and eat dinner together. This nightly ritual has always been a way to express love and to communicate. After all, not much has changed about her family dinners in all the years her family has been eating together, except their location.
LOCs, DTIs, CPAs, college funds, checkbooks, taxes…it's enough to make your head spin. Finance is one of those eternally elusive things, like a bar of soap that's fallen to the bottom of the sink. Unless you've already got a good grasp on it, it can be really hard to pick up. And during tough economic times, it is now even more vital that students know how to manage their own funds.
As Blair alumni of all heights, races and ages wander through the mazes of tables in the gym, it's impossible not to wonder how people so different could all have gone to this school. In 75 years, Blair and its three generations of Blazers have passed through a variety of times and trends. The decades display in Blair's gymnasium guided Blazers, past and present alike, though two wars, the rise and fall of the hippie movement and an influx of school spirit. Here's a rundown of fashionable fads through the years:
Recycling ideas is easy. It's coming up with new ones that can be tricky. Unfortunately, it appears that Blair's recycling program is neither new nor recycled; it's just in need of improvement.
At the beginning of this year, Blair Sports Academy (BSA) eliminated certain programs due to budget cuts faced by the Montgomery County Recreation Department (MCRD).