On Friday, April 12, 2019, at approximately 10:00 a.m., a school resource officer assigned to Thomas Stone High School was advised of an altercation between two students inside a classroom. When the officer entered the room, he observed a male student being restrained by a teacher and several students, while another male student was...
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On April 11, 2019, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a social media post relating to a possible school shooting that was going to happen on the next day on April 12. Officers identified the person who initiated the post as a student at La Plata High School. Contact was made...
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On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, at approximately 10:40 a.m., it was brought to a La Plata High School administrator’s attention that a student had revealed he had a bullet in his possession. The administrator brought the student to the office and found him to be in possession of a handgun and bullets. A school...
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In April 1865, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the Quartermaster Corps sent the barge Black Diamond to the lower Potomac to stand on picket duty off St. Clement’s Island. Her main job was to keep John Wilkes Booth from crossing the Potomac River. During the same time, the steamer Massachusetts headed for...
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Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland will be transformed into a magical place of merriment on Sunday, April 14 from 11:00am-4:00 pm for the 9th annual Fairy & Gnome Home Festival. Families are invited to enjoy a day full of natural play and imaginative fun, with games, appearances by special characters,...
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Superintendent Daniel Curry said he first learned of Calvert County’s statistics on the use of restraint and seclusion approximately one month ago. “Well, my initial thought is that, that’s not good. And we’ve obviously got some work to do.”
Curry added, “We have a wide range of responsibility here and we take it...
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UPDATE 4/3/2019: There was an error in the spreadsheet data that was utilized to create the seclusion graphs in the article below. The article indicated that Talbot County was #1 in seclusions. There was a data entry error that lead to that finding. Talbot actually had zero reported seclusions (lowering them on the graph...
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“Seclusion and restraint.” It probably isn’t a term with which most people are familiar. If the unfamiliar person were to wager a guess at just what exactly does “seclusion and restraint” mean, images of maximum security prisons or the interrogation of terrorism suspects might come to mind. Cooper Stephens is all too familiar with...
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After receiving multiple calls and emails from parents, SMNEWSNET was able to obtain the following email that was sent to parents of students at Esperanza Middle School. Good evening Esperanza Middle School Community – We have been receiving inquiries in regards to rumors referencing a potential shooting at EMS. Once we were made aware...
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UPDATE: The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office conducted a joint investigation with St. Mary’s County Public Schools, regarding threats circulating via text messages and on social media. After an extensive investigation, no sustained or credible threats were identified. The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and St. Mary’s County Public Schools will continue to fully...
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Congressman Steny H. Hoyer released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County: “I join with the Great Mills High School community in remembering Jaelynn Willey, whose life was tragically and senselessly cut short one year ago. My prayers and deepest sympathies are...
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Area Public School Jazz Band Clinic at CSM. 9 a.m., April 4-5. College of Southern Maryland, La Plata Campus, Fine Arts Center (FA), 8730 Mitchell Road, La Plata. Beginning at 9 a.m. and throughout the day, award-winning trumpeter Dr. James Moore will rehearse and critique jazz band students from area public schools as part...
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UPDATE: The following is a transcript of court documents: The student, a 15-year-old female, reported that a building service worker, Scott David Valentine, inappropriately touched her. She stated that she was waiting with two friends for basketball practice to start. Her and her two friends were watching the boys practice through the hallway glass. Scott...
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A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Two to four inches of snow expected to overspread the area early Wednesday morning and mix and change to freezing rain and sleet during the late morning hours on Wednesday. Precipitation will change to plain rain...
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A Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled this week that La Plata High School and its administrators did not violate a student’s First Amendment rights during a world history class that included lessons about Islam. In the fall of 2014, the family of Caleigh Wood, then a junior at La Plata, sued the...
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On Thursday, February 7, a faculty, staff, and student team representing the Heirloom Garden Project, a new partnership between the environmental studies program at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary’s City, received a grant award from the Maryland Agricultural Council during the Annual Taste of Maryland Agriculture gala in Glen Burnie,...
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UPDATE: The Prince George’s County Police Detectives are investigating the death of a man found inside of his car near Indian Head Highway just before midnight Thursday. Officers responded to a 911 call for a single vehicle that had run off Route 210 and had come to rest in the 17000 block of Beech...
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On Saturday, January 12, 2019, Cpl. C. Beyer of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Korner Karryout on Three Notch Road in Mechanicsville, after a witness reported what looked like a woman smoking crack in the parking lot. When police arrived, they found the driver of a Silver Hyundai Sonata slumped...
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On Monday, January 21, 2019 at approximately 8:10 a.m., police fire and rescue personnel responded to First Colony Boulevard and FDR Boulevard in California, for the motor vehicle accident reported serious. Crews arrived on scene to find two vehicles involved in a t-bone style collision with one vehicle in the roadway, and one vehicle...
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Senator Jack Bailey released the following statement today after the Governor’s inclusion of $11,953,000 in Maryland’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget to complete the design and begin construction of the University of Maryland Academic and Research Center at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center, also known as the ‘Third Building’ at the Regional Higher Education...
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The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) will recognize 541 candidates for 547 degrees and 250 certificates during its 20th Winter Commencement January 17 at the La Plata Campus. The graduates range in age from 18 to 64, with 37 percent from Charles County, 33 percent from St. Mary’s County, 23 percent from Calvert County...
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St. Mary’s County: St. Mary’s County Public Schools: All St. Mary’s County Public Schools, including FULL day Head Start, will have a delayed opening of two hours on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. AM Pre-Kindergarten and AM Head Start students will not have school. However, there will be classes for PM Pre-Kindergarten and PM Head Start...
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St. Mary’s County: St. Mary’s County Public Schools: All St Mary’s County Public Schools are closed for Monday, January 14, 2019, with Code 2 for employees. We will continue to watch the weather this evening and and may reevaluate the employee status code by 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Thank you and be safe. St. Mary’s...
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Calvert County Public Schools will be closed on Monday January 14, 2019. All emergency personnel report as usual. All other personnel do not report to work. Child care is closed. Afternoon and Evening activities are canceled.
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Due to inclement weather, all Charles County public schools are closed Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. There is a Code 2 for employees who follow the code system. Employees should check later tonight or tomorrow morning for a possible change in the Code status.
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