When the new year begins, the Kent County Board of Education will officially seat its two recently elected members.

Laura McKenzie and John Queen took the oath of office Monday evening, Dec. 9 in advance of the official start of their first term on the board.

The pair were elected to the Board of Education in November to four-year terms.

McKenzie and Queen arrived at the Kent County Public Schools Administrative Building in Rock Hall Dec. 9 with Clerk of the Circuit Court for Kent County Sherise Kennard.

They individually took the oath of office with family members and friends present in the Board of Education meeting room.

Superintendent Dr. Mary Boswell-McComas and the current slate of board members were on hand for the ceremony as well.

McKenzie, a mother of four, is a case manager at the Benedictine School in Ridgely and a licensed mental health therapist practicing at Discovering Serenity Counseling in Chestertown.

For McKenzie, the swearing-in ceremony was a very emotional experience.

“I felt overwhelmed by the privilege of taking a solemn oath to serve our schools in faithfulness and to the best of my ability,” McKenzie said. “I very much appreciated the congratulations and welcome I received from our superintendent, current board members and central office staff.”

A father of two, Queen is a youth and community organizer and founder of the Bayside HOYAS (Helping Our Youth Achieve Success) program.

“For over a decade I’ve been on the front line, serving Kent County youth and their families while providing solution-based initiatives,” Queen said. “I’m excited to bring my skill set and community experience to the Board of Education and help provide Kent County Public Schools with leadership, accountability and a vision for the future.”

Learn more about the Kent County Board of Education at https://www.kent.k12.md.us/SchoolBoard.aspx.

Kent County High School’s culinary arts and music students are getting ready for the annual Seasonal Sensations dinner and concert.

This year’s program starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18 in the high school’s cafeteria, with appetizers, followed by dinner and musical performances.

Tickets are $35 for adults and $20 for children 12 and younger. They can be picked up at the door the evening of the event.

Culinary arts teacher John Keller and his students will again prepare the customary holiday dinner.

Musical performances will feature seasonal selections from the Kent County High School Concert Band, Jazz Band and Show Choir, all under the leadership of director Jodi Bortz.

The evening will also include a silent auction fundraiser.

To reserve tickets, email Malorie Martinez at [email protected].

Kent County High School is located at 25301 Lambs Meadow Road, Worton.

 

The seventh annual Sensory Holiday Celebration is being held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The holiday party will in the media center at Kent County Middle School for students and their siblings who receive special education or related services or have a 504.

Santa will be joining the holiday fun for photos. There will be games, crafts and food.

RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/msbkt33f. Registration closes Friday, Dec. 13.

The Sensory Holiday Celebration is presented by Kent County Public Schools’ Infants and Toddlers program, the Family Support Resource Center, the Kent County Judy Centers and the Office of Special Education.

Kent County Middle School is located at 402 E. Campus Ave., Chestertown.

This week, school systems throughout the country are highlighting the important opportunity apprenticeships provide those entering the workforce.

National Apprenticeship Week is Nov. 17-23. This year marks the 10th anniversary of National Apprenticeship week, celebrating a decade of “engagement, expansion and innovation.”

Kent County Public Schools partners with the state’s Apprenticeship Maryland program, pairing high schoolers here with local businesses.

Apprenticeship Maryland is one of the 11 CTE pathways offered to students at Kent County High School, along with other fields such as engineering, automotive technology, construction trades, heath occupations and more.

Tom Porter is Kent County Public Schools’ supervisor for accountability and Career and Technical Education (CTE).

“The growth of Kent County’s Apprenticeship Maryland program demonstrates our recognition of the instructional value of local businesses,” Porter said.

The Kent County Board of Education hosted a special ceremony last month for high schoolers who are signing on for an apprenticeship with a local business.

Porter and Kent County High School Career Counselor Brett King hosted the agreement signing ceremony at a board meeting Monday, Oct. 14.

“To enter the apprenticeship, students, employers, the school system and their parents must sign an apprenticeship agreement, which we are doing tonight,” Porter told board members at the meeting.

He said the moment, though, was about much more than signing an agreement.

“It’s about opening doors to new opportunities and experiences that will shape these young people’s futures,” Porter said.

The current class of apprentices from Kent County High School includes:

• Maxwell Scholfield, manufacturing apprentice at Dixon Valve
• Laila Johnson, hospitality and restaurant management apprentice at Modern Stone Age Kitchen
• Heather Bilbrough, hospitality and restaurant management apprentice at Modern Stone Age Kitchen
• Gavin Larrimore, landscape management apprentice at Greenscapes Land Care
• Benjamin Philips, geriatric nursing aide apprentice at Brickwood Assisted Living
• Trevor Fuchs, farming apprentice at Owings and Sons Inc.
• Ethan Clark, manufacturing shop apprenticeship at Chesapeake CNC Manufacturing Center.

“I just want to thank all our apprenticeship partners because this is profound for kids,” said Dr. Mary Boswell-McComas, superintendent of Kent County Public Schools, at the board meeting.

Porter addressed the students on hand, reminding them that they were not just committing to a program, but to their own personal and professional growth.

“Each of you, through these apprenticeships, will apply what you’ve learned in the classroom to real world situations. You will develop essential skills. You will build connections that will last throughout your career,” Porter told the students. “You may have challenges, but with your determination and resilience, you each will thrive.”

Learn more about the CTE program at Kent County High School at www.kent.k12.md.us/CTEProgram.aspx.

Lead photo: Bill and Christina Schindler, owners of Modern Stone Age Kitchen in Chestertown, sign an apprenticeship agreement with Kent County High School student Laila Johnson and her father Tyrell Johnson at an Oct. 14 Board of Education meeting.

Carol Hoxter, lead custodian at Kent County Middle School was honored with this month’s Golden Anchor award for her hard work and dedication.

Hoxter received her award from the Kent County Board of Education Monday night, Nov. 11.

The Golden Anchor Award is presented each month to staff members or groups of employees who exemplify the mission and core values of Kent County Public Schools.

“Kent County Public Schools is an anchor organization that creates an environment of academic excellence through a collaborative, equitable and rigorous learning community,” the mission statement reads.

Nominations may be submitted by Kent County Public Schools staff members, parents and students.

Director of Human Resources Dan Hushion presented Hoxter with the Golden Anchor at the Board of Education meeting.

Reading from a letter nominating Hoxter for the award, Hushion said she exemplifies all the characteristics of Kent County Public Schools each day that she walks into the middle school.

“She comes in every day ready for whatever task may be waiting for her,” Hushion read. “Ms. Carol does everything without complaining and has a positive attitude each day.”

Hoxter, it was noted, can be relied on to get the job done even on days when she has no help.

She also is known for coming back into the middle school on her own time to double check that it is ready for teachers and students the next day.

“We are so thankful for Ms. Carol,” Hushion said.

 

 Campaign signs for Calvert County Board of Education candidates Melissa Goshorn and Paul Harrison, two of the candidates around the state backed by Project 1776, are posted along Route 4 last month. Photo by William J. Ford.

A first-ever effort by the Maryland Democratic Party to spend tens of thousands of dollars targeting “extreme” school board candidates had mixed results, with voters choosing to elect more than half of them in this week’s election.

The party targeted many candidates in the supposedly nonpartisan school board races that it said were affiliated with Moms for Liberty, an organization with GOP ties also formed in 2021 to focus on local school board races, or endorsed by Project 1776 PAC, a group that pushes for conservative education policies and parental rights in schools.

Aiden Buzzetti, head of coalitions and candidate recruitment for Project 1776, confirmed in an interview Thursday that it spent at least $75,000 spent in the general election to support 19 candidates in nine counties. Buzzetti said his group was “still able to win more than half the races we got involved in,” even though he claimed the state’s Democratic Party and the state and local teachers’ unions had more funding and resources to invest in the races.

“The candidates that we support care about turning our schools around, and they’re willing to engage with parents and teachers, other community stakeholders, and that resonates with them,” Buzzetti said. “We get involved because these candidates deserve to have a voice and not be drowned out by teacher’s union.”

But Maryland State Education Association Executive Director Sean Johnson noted that most of the union’s members are parents as well as educators.

“We take the partnership with parents very seriously. Groups like the 1776 Project are not the voice of Maryland parents. They don’t speak for them. They’re funded by out-of-state, far-right interests,” Johnson said Thursday. “Our efforts are more reflective of the interests and values of parents in Maryland, than a group like the 1776 Project.”

Maryland Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman said the party achieved its goal of informing voters about certain candidates in the nonpartisan contests who promote book bans, target marginalized students and support anti-inclusive policies. He noted that the founder of Project 1776, Ryan Girdusky, was kicked off CNN last month for a derogatory comment made live on air.

Girdusky told another guest on “CNN Newsnight with Abby Phillip,” a Muslim journalist, that “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” an apparent reference to pagers rigged with explosives that the Israeli military used against the militant group Hezbollah, which various news reports said killed dozens of people and injured thousands. Gidursky apologized for what he said was meant as a joke, but was banned from the network as a result.

Ulman said that if candidates with “extreme views” run for future school board seats in Maryland, the party would get involved again.

“In places where we were successful, we’re really pleased. In places we were not successful, we’re still really pleased that we entered the discussion and entered the fray and able to point out the differences between the candidates,” Ulman said.

“Whenever there are candidates that espouse hate, ban books and the things that are anathema to the Democratic Party’s values, we’ll stand up and make the case for candidates that share our values,” he said.

Winning candidates

The party also had mixed success with the candidates it targeted because it said they were affiliated with local chapters of Moms for Liberty. Out of the two dozen “extreme” candidates the party focused on, voters from seven counties elected 15 to represent them on their school boards.

Two voters cast ballots at Ward Farm Voter Center in Calvert County on Oct. 31, the last day of early voting in Maryland. Photo by William J. Ford.

According to unofficial results posted Friday morning by the state Board of Elections, some of the targeted candidates who won included:

Dawn Pulliam in Anne Arundel County’s District 7;Greg Malveaux and Kristen E. Zihmer were the top two vote-getters in Carroll County;Jaime Brennan and Colt Morningstar Black were two of the top three vote-getters in Frederick County. Brennan stepped down as chair of the county chapter of Moms for Liberty to run for school board seat;and Charles Burkett, Ashley McCusker, Victoria Beachley and April Zentmeyer were the top four vote-getters in Washington County.

Winning candidates supported by Project 1776 are Melissa Goshorn, Paul Harrison and Joseph Marchio (top vote-getters in three districts on the five-member Calvert County board); Anna O’Connor and Karla Wieland-Cherry (in two of three districts in Talbot County); and Crystal Bender (top vote-getter for one of two seats in Allegany County).

The political action committee noted victories for five other candidates: Mary Beth Bozman and Matthew Lankford (in Somerset County); Carrie Sutherland (Queen Anne’s County); Matthew Trezise (Garrett County); and Stephanie Johnson (Caroline County).

Trezise was one of two candidates who ran unopposed in Garrett County, while Johnson and Sutherland were also unopposed in their counties, according to the board of elections.

Eight other candidates endorsed by Project 1776 lost their school board races in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Howard, Montgomery, St. Mary’s and Talbot counties.

Wieland-Cherry, who was ahead by 330 votes, said in an interview Thursday she was not aware the Democratic Party had targeted her and other candidates.

The registered nurse and associate real estate broker said two of her top priorities are improving student discipline and “the need to get back to basics” to teach children how to read, write and do math. In terms of attracting more teachers to the school system, Wieland-Cherry said the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan isn’t working.

“It’s not very effective. Counties aren’t able to fund it,” she said. “It’s vaguely written. We need to get the Blueprint straightened out.”

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by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
November 8, 2024

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