Howard County Councilmember David Yungmann posted the following statement on November 17th:
This was a truly disheartening night in my beloved Howard County. While I was on a County Council hearing listening to why we should become a sanctuary county, our elected Board of Education was voting to abandon the metrics it approved just two weeks ago eliminating any consideration of a February return to school for our county’s children. BOE members will tell us to follow the science until that science might not support their position. The very purpose of the metrics it approved was to let the science and data drive decisions instead of emotions and politics. But some members couldn’t give up that control over your families’ lives. After watching the impact of what now seems like a short 8 weeks separated from friends and school on one of mine back in the spring, I can barely imagine what K-12 kids and their parents are enduring right now.
And salt in that wound is that a high school senior that contributes ZERO to the $1 billion-plus HCPSS budget, does not have children and was not elected by county voters had a pivotal vote on whether to return the 58,000 kids of Howard County taxpayers back to school. My kids are 19 and 22 so I celebrate our young adults having input on issues that impact them, but this is unconscionable. I urge the new BOE and our State Delegation to address this problem immediately.
I also urge the new BOE that will be sworn in 3 weeks from now to revisit this vote and return to the approved metrics. The residents and taxpayers of our county sent a strong message on election day. Allowing a departing BOE to make such an important decision on its way out the door is unacceptable.
I wish I had more power over this situation and ache for the kids and parents caught up in this. Please know that you have lots of support and help is coming to the BOE in a couple weeks. We will continue pushing for options so you can decide what’s best for your family.
This statement followed the actions of the Howard County Board of Education related to the learning environment for students in the Howard county Public School System in the 3rd quarter of the 2020-2021 school year “Howard County Board of Education votes for HCPSS to remain virtual for quarter three of 2020-2021 school year”
The three new members (and two members already part of the Board) will be sworn on to the Board of Education on December 7th…and they have a first big hurdle to clear right after swear in to their office. After that it will be interesting to see if they take up any action on this topic. The December 7th meeting could be an interesting one.
I will be tuned in.
I will keep an eye out for additional statements from other Howard County Councilmembers to keep my readers up to date (as best I can). If you see something you think I should know…always free free to reach out.
Scott E
