Commissioner Misleads On Education Successes
Editor:
Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino in his commentary last month asked the question, “What will Kirwan mean for Worcester?” The answer is that the Kirwan Commission recommendations will result in an increase of some 30% or more Worcester students being college and career ready when they graduate from high school.
Mr. Bertino asserts that “From the time the children of Worcester County first walk through the doors of … elementary schools we as a community have the responsibility to ensure that by the time they walk out the doors of … high schools, they are prepared and equipped to successfully embrace the opportunities of college or career.”
That admirably describes the responsibility of Worcester County and the state of Maryland. The problem, however, is that Worcester County and the state are not currently meeting that responsibility.
The facts are as follows. College and career readiness in Maryland is defined as being able to pass a 10th grade English exam and an algebra I exam. In the case of English, only 57.6% of Worcester students succeed. In math, only 46.9% or Worcester students succeed. Those results are for all Worcester students. African American and Hispanic students are even more ill-served. While 67.8% of white students are college and career ready, only 29.4% of African Amerian students and 52.6% of Hispanic students meet that relatively low standard. In the case of math, 57.8% of white students pass algebra I while only 19% of African Americans and 40.5% of Hispanic students meet the standard.
It should be noted that Worcester County students perform better than the state average (which is below 40%). It is also true that Worcester has been relatively generous in school funding, having chosen over the years to put more into school funding than state law requires. But any county in which only half of their high school graduates are college and career ready, should be asking the question, “What should we do differently to meet the needs of our children?” That is precisely the question Kirwan has answered based on evidence from the best performing countries and states in the world.
Many correctly observe that money by itself will not make the difference. And that is true. That also distinguishes the Kirwan recommendations from the past. The Kirwan Commission identified education practices for which there is evidence of success with all students (a highly professional teaching force meeting higher standards with pay based in part on merit, 3- and 4-year-old prekindergarten, increased mental health supports, higher graduation standards and career-technical education, help from Kindergarten through grade three for struggling students to ensure all can read by the 3rd grade, extra support for low-income students, especially those attending school where most of their fellow students are also low-income). Many of the proven practices will be required but the point of the new funding is that they will not be unfunded mandates. It is clear, based on student outcomes, that accountability for the faithful implementation of proven practices and for student outcomes must be much more specific than has been the case.
Mr. Bertino correctly identified our responsibilities. Unfortunately, he misstated our success with our children. Now we have the opportunity to get it right.
Debra Fisher
Ocean Pines
(The writer is a retired teacher.)
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Recent Research Flawed
Editor:
Maryland’s family farmers raising chickens have played a key role in achieving the state’s well-documented progress in reducing nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay and improving water quality. Maryland has met its water-quality goals for reduced phosphorus seven years ahead of the 2025 deadline, in part because of reduced phosphorus loads from agriculture and despite rising phosphorus loads from cities and suburbs. Farmers in the watershed have reduced their nitrogen contribution to the Bay by 24 percent since the 1980s, even while nitrogen runoff from developed areas has risen.
Recent research supported by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and performed by North Carolina State University modeled ammonia emissions from a hypothetical chicken industry that bears little resemblance to Maryland’s actual community of chicken farmers. The research assumes farmers uses no litter amendments — particles spread on chicken house litter that soak up ammonia from the air. In reality, the use of litter amendments is widespread on U.S. chicken farms because they reduce ammonia, producing a better environment for chickens and farmers. The research also assumes that every Maryland chicken house contains birds 365 days a year, without pause. In reality, all chicken farmers have “layout” periods between flocks several times a year, when the houses are empty so farmers can perform maintenance and upgrades. The model also doesn’t account for any forested land on Delmarva, assuming all of Maryland’s Eastern Shore is farmland. In reality, forests absorb ammonia, as do vegetative buffers on chicken farms.
As the researchers acknowledged in a published paper, these assumptions were “not a realistic approach” and caused their model to overestimate ammonia levels. The researchers did not approach DPI or our members to get data about the use of litter amendments or the frequency of layouts before publishing conclusions based on their incomplete model. We look forward to working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to correct those flawed assumptions in the model.
Even with these flawed assumptions in place, the model’s predicted ammonia levels on Delmarva fell far short of concentrations noticeable by people, or concentrations with any effect on human health. When the researchers performed limited air monitoring on Delmarva, they recorded the highest levels of ammonia in a city and at a waterfront point close to southern Maryland – not in rural, farmed areas. That’s no surprise to Delmarva family farmers raising chicken who live and work on their farms, right alongside their flocks – after all, they care deeply about air quality, since they breathe the same air their neighbors do.
Holly Porter
(The writer is the executive director of the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.)
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A Look Ahead To 2020
Editor:
I would take a quick moment to identify what we will have to talk about in 2020. With no sign of a recession yet, it looks to be an exciting year.
We should take a moment to discuss the three wannabe mayors currently sitting on the Ocean City Council: John Gehrig, Matt James, and Mark Paddack.
The job of mayor is time-consuming and John has a young family and a business. He may not be able to free up the considerable time it will take to get a complete understanding of the issues so he is not over-reliant on his staff. Matt is in a similar position with time, however he doesn’t have a family yet. Matt is very calculated about his decision making, while John reacts more from the heart, but both are time-restricted.
On the other hand, Mark Paddack is retired and has demonstrated that he will take all the hours in his life to work for the town. The problem is Mark’s background, like Dennis Dare’s, is all in government. When the only tool in your kit is the hammer of legal action, everything begins to look like a nail. Maybe the future mayor should be a successful businessman this time. Sorry, Mayor Meehan.
The fact is, barring a sudden health issue, there is no indication that Rick won’t run again and none of these candidate wannabes appear likely to beat Rick. I will give you a sleeper for the future as mayor: Emily Nock, who most certainly will run for Council this year.
There are many other things we will discuss that are exciting about 2020, and here are just a few:
Under our current government, committees have flourished, but are they a sign of progress? Mancur Olson, the smartest academic economist ever at the University of Maryland, and his best student Jonathan Rauch both say “no” and that the formation of committees by local governments takes away some duties from the council and is a symptom of governmental decline. Why? Our local government has populated Ocean City with endless unproductive committees that have no clear accountability. Rauch further says society will not realize this mistake until decades in the future.
At a time when the economy is flourishing, why is the rich-poor gap growing nationally and on the Eastern Shore?
How may the upcoming elections (November of 2020) bring on a significant change in Ocean City politics? Why might a change be needed?
Particularly, why have the local rich guys gotten so much richer while everyone else is treading water or sinking. How have the barriers to entry in Ocean City created many similarities to a feudal state? What can be done to change it?
There are many more things to talk about, but right now our concert for children, Brian’s Christmas Songbook is this week at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 13 at the convention center. We have spared no expense for these kids, even including music by the Mid-Atlantic Orchestra out of Baltimore. We are preparing to give them an uplifting memory for life. We have given their teachers study guides entitled, “What is freedom?” It calls for exercises like “Draw a picture of freedom? What are choices? What are consequences?” Each child will get a Certificate of Attendance delivered to them by George Washington. Brian’s Christmas Songbook will have a public concert at 7 p.m. on Friday for all you children at heart, too.
Although the town gave us the venue, and we very much appreciate it, businesses are funding the concert rather than the town. Most of the money to pay for the children’s concert came from outside of town. Why? We have plenty of multimillionaires right here in Ocean City. We will talk about that, too. Yes, 2020 promises to be a very interesting year.
Tony Christ