Michael Bell
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Christy Handy and Jennifer Martin’s opinion piece suffers from ethical bias and reversible short-term dementia
Read more: Christy Handy and Jennifer Martin’s opinion piece suffers from ethical bias and reversible short-term dementiaIn a MoCo360 piece Opinion: Full funding for MCPS is key to county’s future prosperity, Christine Handy (president of both Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals and Montgomery County Business Operations Administrators) and Jennifer Martin (president of the teachers’ union) make a claim that “fully funding” the school district results in prosperity. Regarding ethical…
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One way the teachers’ union and MCPS manipulate teachers
Read more: One way the teachers’ union and MCPS manipulate teachersDuring the teachers’ union’s disruptive sit-in in May 2023, Rebecca Rothstein, educator and union representative, made the following argument as to why the public schools need to be “fully funded.” I’ve wanted to be a teacher my entire life…How dilapidated are our school buildings. How hard is it for teachers to pay their bills today.…
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The fallacy of MCPS’s top 100 salaries
Read more: The fallacy of MCPS’s top 100 salariesMoCo360 released a blockbuster list of the top 100 earners at MCPS. The most outrageous, elitist, and abominable aspect of this list is that I’m not on it. Outside of that, there really isn’t anything wrong. It really is OK that the school Superintendent Monifa McKnight made $342,400/year. Let’s do some critical analysis. Those top…
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Breaking Up MCPS
Read more: Breaking Up MCPSThere are some aspects of our life that are so ingrained in our consciousness that we don’t even question them. One of them is the boundary for “Montgomery County Public Schools.” The school district’s boundary coincides with the county’s boundary, so there is only one public school system for the entire county. Is that really…
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MoCo’s Socialism Is for the Rich: Part 1—The $10 COVID Tests
Read more: MoCo’s Socialism Is for the Rich: Part 1—The $10 COVID TestsAn astonishing fact has very recently come to my attention: a COVID test costs $10 at CVS. (That would be for one BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Test; sophisticated consumers, a skill set that continuously eludes me, can bulk purchase two such tests for $19.00.) Fully four years after the first signs of a worldwide pandemic…
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The Teachers’ Union’s Insurrection
Read more: The Teachers’ Union’s InsurrectionAlex, an industrious teenager, comes home after a week at his first job. He is frustrated to the point of tears. “Dad,” he says. “I’m not making enough money at the hamburger stand. I’ve worked extra hard, stayed overtime, and still the wage isn’t enough to pay for my car’s gas and insurance.” “Yes, Alex,…
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MCPS Budget: As Transparent as Glass
Read more: MCPS Budget: As Transparent as GlassIn an op-ed piece on MoCo 360, Council Member Evan Glass called for more transparency in how the school system uses the money we lavish upon it—voluntarily or otherwise. Unfortunately…the process for distributing $3 billion across the school system is not transparent. True, but not entirely true. We have some examples of some problematic school…
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“Electing” a Council President
Read more: “Electing” a Council PresidentThe county’s Charter Review Commission is taking up a proposal that changes the way the County Council’s president is determined. Currently, the council members themselves elect the council president. (Interestingly, in his three terms as a council member, County Executive Marc Elrich was never vested with this office by his counterparts. The council president’s term…