Village Green/Town²

Two upcoming concerts you should definitely put on your calendar: Columbia Bands Spring Concert Our next concert is this Sunday at 5:00,and will feature not only the concert band, but the debut performance of the new Columbia Big Band! Come out and hear the amazing music we've prepared! Sunday, May 15, 5:00pm River Hill High School And-- A Joyful Noise! A Gala Concert showcasing our Adult and Children's Choirs, Jazz/Pop Vocal Ensemble, Jazz Sextet and Soloists. Celebrating UUCC's glorious new building and our Music Ministry's 25th anniversary! Sunday, May 22, 5:00 pm UUCC , Owen Brown What, besides music, do these two events have in common? They should both totally be publicized on Totally HoCo , Howard County's newest (and dare I say, coolest) calendar of HoCo Happenings. Created by Jessie Newburn, who founded HoCoBlogs with Robin Abello, Totally HoCo is a free and easy to use way to publicize local events. They also accept sponsorships from local businesses to su...

Do you know about Christine McComas? She is the mother who will not give up. Her daughter Grace, a highschool freshman at Glenelg High School, committed suicide after a drug-assisted rape and subsequent online bullying. Instead of reaching out to her with compassion, the school system's response has been one of silence, denial, disrespect, noncompliance. Because of Christine McComas, Maryland has a law called " Grace's Law ." You can learn more about the story of Grace, and the establishment of Grace's Law, on the Grace K. McComas Memorial Webpage on Facebook . Here it is: Prohibiting a person from using an interactive computer service to maliciously engage in a specified course of conduct that inflicts serious emotional distress on a minor or places a minor in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury under specified circumstances; and defining terms. Grace's Law is supposed to be taught in all Howard County Schools. It should be the beginning of a t...

Yesterday, as I was preparing to go to work in Montgomery County, police there were engaged in a full-out manhunt for an active shooter. I felt a growing sense of paralysis. Word was that public schools were in lockdown as well as some large well-known workplace locations. When I was younger I don't think it would have phased me. I would have said to myself, "Oh, it isn't anywhere near where I am going" or "What is the likelihood that it's really dangerous to me?" And I would have hopped in the car and headed off with the carefree attitude of the immortal. But not yesterday. I texted my boss to see if we still had work. I went to Walgreen's to buy Play Doh in case I really was going to work and we needed something fun to do on a rainy afternoon. I texted my daughter. I texted my husband. I couldn't wrap my mind around getting in my car and driving towards an active shooting situation. I wanted permission from someone, anyone, that I didn't h...

A festival, a festival! We have one every year, in conjunction with the Columbia Festival of the Arts. This year we'll be having a change of scene. Yesterday CFA announced the Weekend in the Woods Festival: June 18th-19th. It looks like this event replaces what was called Lakefest in years past. I love that this event is being presented in cooperation with Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods. Let's get people into Downtown Columbia to enjoy this community space more than once a year for Wine in the Woods. Work on the Chrysalis continues, but that isn't keeping CFA and IAT from inviting people in to take a look around and enjoy. While you are there, you'll be able to enjoy music, crafts, food, vendors, and a variety of activities. What you won't be able to do is shake your head at the terrible loss of trees and destruction of a lovely natural setting, because it hasn't happened. It hasn't happened, isn't happening. Ain't gonna happen, folks. Merriwea...

First up this morning, this strikingly to-the-point piece by Valerie Strauss about Teacher Appreciation Week, "It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. Why some teachers don’t exactly appreciate it." It brought to mind this piece I wrote last year during this week, "Heroes? Maybe. Super? Let's Talk". I think it's worth revisiting today. In particular: None of this is a criticism of parents who give of their time, resources, and talents to celebrate teachers. They are awesome! But underneath all of this is the fact that if parents and teachers truly united to seek improvement and change on shared goals, they would be unstoppable. The powers that be know this. That is why we read so many statements that attempt to chip away the faith of parents in their children's teachers, and in the teaching profession. And that is why the schools approve of appreciating teachers one week a year and having the parents do it. Truly, it makes both groups into servant classes and ...

Yesterday the school system pushed out its infamous "Cut or Keep " survey, and it was every bit as problematic as community members had suspected that it would be. An immediate concern was how much personal information respondents were required to enter. (What ever happened to guaranteeing anonymity?) Local blogger Jason Booms, whose professional field of expertise includes surveys/opinion research, wrote this piece expressing his concerns. In short, from the outset the survey appears both misleading and, frankly, mediocre. As anticipated, the school system included choosing cuts to teachers' salaries as a possibility, when these agreements have already been negotiated and cannot by law be tampered with. In addition, the area of teachers' salaries has been fully funded by the County Executive. Neither of these facts is conveyed by the survey, leading HCEA leadership to suggest that respondents use the "report abuse" button to report illegal activity: unfai...

Ah...Teacher Appreciation Week. This year we're observing it in Howard County by honoring the essence of the art of teaching by scheduling PARCC testing, AP testing, and, just for good measure, the SAT on Saturday. I'm sure they'll feel truly appreciated. Yesterday the Superintendent, or someone in her army of public relations professionals, posted the following on Twitter: As I pondered the irony of this, a rather unusual thing happened. This response popped up: @SuperHCPSS how about by not threatening furloughs if budget isn't approved? Well, that's to the point, I thought. And then, another response: @SuperHCPSS thank a teacher: take a paycut & they can have better healthcare. Wow. These were from two separate individuals. And then, for the next half hour, the tweets kept coming, from three different, distinct accounts. @SuperHCPSS #thankateacher - perhaps give up that fancy car and use that money so they don't have to buy school...