From Del. Kathy Szeliga:
Transparency & Accountability
Do you think we need more transparency in Government? I do.
Right now, citizens are able to follow issues and their representatives in Annapolis with a few major exceptions. The only access to the Maryland House and Senate floor sessions are audio. With 141 members of the House and 47 senators, it’s virtually impossible for citizens to know who is talking without any video. Committee hearings are available in video and audio format, but voting sessions are not.
It’s time to make floor sessions and voting sessions transparent and accessible on the Internet.
I have introduced HB 316 General Assembly – Live and Archived Video Streaming of Meetings. (http://marylandreporter.com/2016/01/28/live-from-annapolis-its-the-maryland-general-assembly-maybe-some-day/)
When I am Maryland’s United States Senator, I will work to make the federal government open, accessible, and transparent. With today’s technology, there is no excuse to deny access to interested citizens.
Should Schools Start After Labor Day?
The agriculture community and the tourism industry support staring public school after Labor Day. 4H kids work all year to participate in the State Fair, yet they have difficulty making that happen with a mid-August start date. The economic benefits of extending summer vacation and summer jobs for our youth have been estimated at almost $80 million in growth and wages. A bi-partisan coalition is supporting this idea.
I will be introducing a House Joint Resolution strongly encouraging the 24 public school systems in Maryland to start school after Labor Day. I believe in local decision making by our school systems, and that is why I am not introducing a law to mandate this policy. However, parents, students, businesses, and farmers believe their desires are falling on deaf ears. We hear you!! We are sending a message to all our school boards and superintendents from Annapolis.
Please register your support here.
Kathy
Great idea – let’s start in September 2016
Never work in a county that takes off for every Jewish holiday, a week for Thanksgiving, a week for Easter… Kids will be in school until July. So many wasted days off during the school year it’s sad
But the staff development is soooooooo valuable….SMH
NOOOO….what a horrible idea! I agree with “Common sense”. I came from a state that started mid August (approx. a week before us) and finished at the end of May. Sometimes they went into the first week of June for make-up snow days. They also had an Fall break (one week in October) in addition to the week for Spring Break and 1.5-2 weeks for Christmas break. I HATE that the kids here don’t finish until late June. The best weather is usually in May/June. Many of the states are moving to this type of schedule…why is MD trying to go backwards? I always thought the East Coast would have been more progressive…but I am finding it is totally the opposite. I just read that some states are changing the number of days kids HAVE to go to school to minutes. Therefore, if there are days to make up, they can just add minutes to the school day to make up for that lost time. Maybe Szeliga should focus on something like that instead?
Has nothing to do with education or the kids. It’s about state fair attendance, cheap labor and vacations down de ocean hon. Transparency my ass.
I believe the real issue here is whether or not Maryland public schools provide each child with a quality education that gives them a head start on life.
The number of days or the starting date has nothing to do with how effectively the time in class is spent. The quality of classroom time is the real issue, not the quantity.
But don’t I remember reading somewhere that the school systems that are ahead of he US in math and science spend a lot more time in class?
If America’s workforce can’t compete in the world market, there won’t be any jobs for anyone anyway so it won’t matter how much vacation time our kiddies have.
How about some better snow removal equipment so that we aren’t wasting entire weeks out of school yet still paying the teachers? Colleges graduate in late May and Football practice starts at the beginning of August regardless of when school starts. It is hard to imagine if there are many families that truly benefit from a school year that goes through the 4th of Jully so as not to start before Labor Day.
Teachers are not paid for snow days wise guy. They get paid 22 paycheck a for 190 days. Those days will be made up and the pay will be the same as it would have been had there been no snow.
Now do yourself a favor and go troll somewhere in a place where everyone else is not smarter than you.
🙂
I hate school teachers.
That explains why I’m not very smart
Maryland public (county) school system is a mess and Harford County is the leader of the worst. Get used to it and the moronic decisions. I bolted years ago…