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School systems are failing our kids with online learning
I am a senior citizen who is living the nightmare that is internet schooling. As my daughter is a nurse and is required to be at work, my wife and I have the responsibility for making sure her first-, fourth- and sixth-graders are at their computers and doing their work. It’s not working for our family, and I know that we are not alone. The unnecessary stress and frustration for the kids and us has been overwhelming and I have come to the conclusion it is harmful to the children. Not to mention the added stress for my daughter who comes home from work and spends hours trying to get the children up to par (
I applaud Baltimore County for coming up with a
Essential people are working through this pandemic: doctors and nurses, police and fire personnel, grocery clerks and delivery persons. What is more essential than the education of our children?
Those who profit from status quo naturally oppose change in mayor’s powers
Of course former mayors and the Greater Baltimore Committee don’t endorse changing the strong mayor system (
The members are made up of institutions that are thriving in Baltimore: big universities, banks, nonprofits, medical groups, sports teams and companies. Why would they want to change a system, where they grow rich with only one person to influence? But look around our city: While the members of the GBC have been thriving, our neighborhoods are stuck with the results of systematic racism, underinvestment and neglect.
If the wealthy “patrons” of Baltimore oppose this move, we should be throwing even more support behind Brandon Scott and changing the system once and for all.
Destruction of statue, holiday renaming: 1-2 punch thrown at Italian Americans
Sorry, Baltimore Sun, but you got it wrong this time (
Now, they add renaming the holiday just a few weeks after these acts. This is not how people treat members of the community. The city needs to be sensitive to all of its members: Native Americans, Italian Americans, Polish-Americans, Hatians, etc. We need to build bridges, not use cancel culture to denigrate communities. Yes, Native Americans were harmed by Columbus. And the right thing to do is to commemorate the people who have lost so much. In many ways we have, but not as a coherent message of respect.
We have place names all over the state that are Native American: Patapsco River, Wicomico County, etc. We should build on that to recognize the peoples who lived in this area for thousands of years before Columbus. But perhaps we might want to consider the timing of this. The city needs to do something to soften the sting of replacing a holiday recognizing someone so important to the Italian American community. Perhaps spend a few of the city’s limited dollars on a contest to replace the statue with some new art that will recognize Italian American’s contributions to this city.
Then, after this wrong has been corrected, the city should move forward renaming the holiday. Or, better yet, let the state do this.