… in Philadelphia under suspicious circumstances
A recent article, “Baltimore foster care youths get diploma in a day in Philadelphia,” Nov. 23) describing the referral of youths in foster care to a high school diploma program in Pennsylvania, highlights one of the glaring deficiencies in Maryland’s educational programs — the lack of educational options for students in high school. While Maryland may have the “highest ranking school system” in the nation, its one-size-fits all approach to educating high school students leaves many of our most at-risk students without reasonable options for securing a high school diploma.
In the case of older teens living in foster care, many of them have attended many different schools in multiple school systems. Because they lack a consistent education, they fail to earn credit in courses they are otherwise capable of passing. At 18 years of age, many of them still need 2-3 years of schooling to meet Maryland graduation requirements. Many other teens placed at risk because of poverty, unmet mental health needs or educational disabilities, face similar challenges.
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OPINION
In PGCPS District, there are still problems involving homeless youth and the issues are not always addressed properly. Read more >>> PGCPS Mess
If you want a more effective, and less corrupt, School Board, citizen needs to get involved in our political system.
We need great candidates to run in 2014. We need to financially invest in them and make a change. We need to knock on doors for them. We need to wake the sleeping electorate and help them understand that without their informed vote, partnership with schools, and protection of their significant taxpayer investment in the public schools, it hurts all of us. An underperforming school system run under corruption and lack of transparency consistently hurts the image of the county and Maryland as a State. It limits our ability to attract good economic development and it is a drain in our purses. Poor education of our youth leads to limited professional opportunities and increased crime. We are all hurt by those outcomes. As many of you know, many children do not attend the public schools because of fear of crime. Many parents in Maryland and in Prince George’s County in particular are still waiting for the schools to get better, and at this point prefer a faith-based private schools for their children. However, we strongly believe in the value of high-quality public schools, and know we cannot move forward as a county and State without making sure that we have this problem solved first. That is a challenge we must all own and collectively tackle together, and until we do that, there’s not going to be significant achievement on any other front. Corruption as a way of life here in Maryland must be eliminated.
Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence.
Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, though is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government.
The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, some political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning “rule by thieves”.
Some forms of corruption – now called “institutional corruption” – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. Campaign contributions are the prime example. Even when they are legal, and do not constitute a quid pro quo, they have a tendency to bias the process in favor of special interests and undermine public confidence in the political institution. They corrupt the institution without individual members being corrupt themselves. A similar problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution.
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Call your elected officials now and the media. Demand investigations and initiation of changes… There is no smoke without fire!!
In our opinion, We aver and therefore believe Maryland State Board of Education President Dr. Charlene Dukes shown here has demonstrated a culture of corrupt leadership style and continues “an integrated pattern of pay to play” and manipulation during her tenure. Both leaders need to resign to create room for new leadership.
Dr. Lillian Lowery Embattled State Superintendent is currently presiding over deep-seated corruption in Maryland school system. She has demonstrated a culture of discrimination and racism while on the job.
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Help Change The World. The Future Of The County Is Now. 