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Debate on how best to teach children to read has continued for decades, as each new batch of education experts feel they must offer a “new and improved” reading curricula. After the new methods fail, and years of children graduate from school unable to read, the education establishment returns again to phonics.

Fortunately, brain science has progressed dramatically over the past two decades and is now able to provide evidence that supports phonics-based instruction—now referred to as “science-based.” Although no law or statewide policy that requires the use of phonics-based reading instruction in Maryland, some counties have been implementing it on their own.

Thus far, Howard is one of the counties that has begun the transition, and the recent selection of Carey Wright as interim State Superintendent of Education bodes well for the future of reading in Maryland. (see story below)

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“Wright is known in the education world as the Mississippi superintendent who raised student reading and math performance in a state that for decades had abysmal results... She retired from the post in June 2022 and now lives in Baltimore County.

“She later was hired as the associate superintendent for the Office of Special Education and Student Services for Montgomery County Public Schools, but she then left the Maryland school district to work as the chief academic officer and deputy chief for the D.C. Public Schools’ Office of Teaching and Learning. In 2013, she was named as Mississippi’s state superintendent of education.”

WASHINGTON POST, October 4, 2023,

“Carey Wright will lead Maryland schools after superintendent’s departure”

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. . . in Maryland there is a law stating that a minor who is 12 years old or older "has the same capacity as an adult to consent to consultation, diagnosis, and treatment of a mental or emotional disorder."

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In Maryland, a BILL stating: "minors who are at least 14 years old have the same capacity as an adult to consent to vaccination" was introduced in the last Legislative Session by Senator Cheryl Kagan.

It is likely to be reintroduced in the upcoming Session, in January 2024 -- and it is likely to pass.

We will keep you updated.

Meetings of the school board are generally quite formal, unvaried, tedious, and bland. However, at the meeting on October 12, something unusual happened. CONFLICT.

The Howard County Education Association (HCEA—the teachers union) was quite upset about a memo from the Superintendent, dropping them as the provider of choice for training school administration, teachers, and students in Restorative Justice, something HCEA has done for the last six years in 10% of the system’s schools. And they took quite some time excoriating—and threatening—the Board and the administration.

Perhaps the most heated moment came at the end of the HCEA testimony when they said, “To be clear, HCEA does not agree that HCPSS can interfere in union activities. HCPSS has already lost one arbitration to HCEA when they interfered with other lawful union activities."

Conflict is not necessarily a goal, but it does offer the public a deeper understanding of what’s going on. As Board Member Jacky McCoy said about HCEAs disgruntled testimony, “I believe it’s healthy to be transparent. When we try to hide and pretend that we’re wonderful when we‘re not; that we’re doing things with excellence when we’re not, that is not helpful to the people we serve.”

Look for more on this topic as time and talks progress.