Howard schools, county health department to host COVID vaccine clinic for older students | EDUCATION NOTEBOOK

Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun
·4 min read

The Howard County Health Department and the county’s public school system are partnering this week to get older students vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Some Howard County students ages 16 and older will be vaccinated at a clinic at Howard Community College on Wednesday.

The clinic, in partnership with Alpha Pharmacy, is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Howard County Public School System emailed parents of eligible students to sign up for the vaccine.

Hundreds of appointments for the clinic, which is also open to the general public, are still available on the health department’s website.

Vaccinating 16- and 17-year-olds is a challenge for some counties, like Howard, that are mostly receiving the Moderna vaccine, which hasn’t yet been approved for use in people younger than 18. However, the clinic Wednesday, as well as the new mass vaccination site at The Mall in Columbia (in the former Lord & Taylor space), are offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in 16- and 17-year-olds.

As of Tuesday, 72% of Howard residents ages 16 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 51% are fully vaccinated, Howard County Health Officer Dr. Maura Rossman wrote in a public letter Monday. Among Howard’s entire population, 56.7% has received at least one shot, while 40.8% is fully vaccinated, according to the state health department.

To sign up for a vaccine clinic, go to vaccine.howardcountymd.gov.

School system educators, students win awards

Several Howard County school system educators and students were recognized with accolades last week.

Marriotts Ridge High School media specialist Lynn Rashid won the senior-level Maryland History Day Teacher of the Year award from Maryland Humanities. She has also been nominated for the national Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award, which will be announced June 19. Rashid was recognized for engaging and teaching students in research and active learning strategies.

“This recognition demonstrates how each of our library media specialists serves our students not only as a resource but as a teacher,” Howard schools Superintendent Michael Martirano said during the Board of Education meeting April 29.

Another award-winner last week was Jon Wray, the district’s coordinator of secondary mathematics. Wray, who graduated from Oakland Mills High School and has worked for the system for 29 years, was named the 2020 Ross Taylor/Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award winner by the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. The recognition is the highest national honor for math education leadership.

Three high school students also won writing awards last week from the State of Maryland Literary Association’s 2021 contest. Wilde Lake senior Shoshanah Hornum, Long Reach freshman Jolani Santos and River Hill sophomore Claire Fagan all won awards. Hornum and Santos won in the poetry category, while Fagan was a short story winner.

Board of Education approves AAPI heritage month

During its meeting April 29, the school board approved a proclamation that includes a commitment to continued education of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community “so all students see themselves in the curriculum and activities and value the rich diversity of this county.”

The proclamation to classify May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month has happened in Howard County since 2003, but the mention of curriculum, as well as an advisory board and additional events, are new.

Over the past few months, Asian American leaders in Howard County have been working together to ask the school system to take steps toward including more Asian American and Pacific Islander history in education. About 23% of the system’s 57,000 students are Asian.

The proclamation also comes amid increased harassment and crimes against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic

“Anti-Asian harassment and violence had a long history in the U.S. and spiked in the year 2020 due to xenophobic sentiment connected to COVID-19,” the proclamation reads. “[The Howard County Public School System] condemns racist comments and actions targeting our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and commits to building belonging by valuing our shared humanity with all our students.”

Also during the meeting:

  • Martirano said he hopes the system will be able to provide additional tickets for family members to attend graduations ceremonies. In mid-April, the school system released the schedule for its in-person high school commencement ceremonies between May 28 and June 4 at Merriweather Post Pavilion with two tickets per graduate.

  • Martirano also said the school system will continue to provide free meals through the end of the 2021-22 academic year, thanks to pandemic waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The waivers are for free breakfast and lunch for all students.

  • The district’s plans to have a Digital Education Center — a virtual learning option irrespective of the pandemic — this fall was submitted to the Maryland State Department of Education last week, Martirano said. The implementation of the center, which is projected to cost $6.2 million in fiscal 2022, is still subject to budgetary approval by the County Council.