by Zach Geller ’25 Closed bathrooms are no strange sight to Sherwood students, but rounding the corner at the start of the 2024-2025 year, a team of student software developers is making an app to counteract issues like this, enabling students to report school-wide issues across MCPS. Ripple is an app for students to report problems in their individual schools. … Read More
by Deepika Shrestha ‘27 A new MCPS grading policy for high school has gotten rid of the so-called “50-percent rule” in which students received an automatic minimum 50 percent on assignments even if they did not work. Beginning this year, students get a zero if they do not attempt the assignment, do not turn it in by the final deadline … Read More
by Evelyn San Miguel ’26 MCPS has reduced the budget for the 2024-25 school year, cutting programs like the Virtual Academy, increasing class sizes, and delaying the expansion of the pre-kindergarten program. The cuts come as a result of losses in pandemic relief funds and also a $30 million shortfall of the Board of Education’s funding request. As the 2024-25 … Read More
by Laurika Pich ‘27 As the 2024-2025 school year commences, MCPS school leaders are exploring new security measures and policies in response to increasing safety concerns. Incidents have occurred in recent years, including bomb threats, student arrests for bringing guns to school, and altercations at football games. The recent high school shooting in Georgia, which resulted in the death of … Read More
by Cliff Vacin ‘25 A noose was discovered draped over a fence near the school’s tennis courts soon after 9:00 am on Monday, September 9., which was promptly reported to the MCPS Office of Systemwide Safety and the Montgomery County Police Department. That same day, Principal Timothy Britton sent a letter out to students, family, and staff concerning the incident … Read More
by Lilly Mains 25’ Maryland is poised to join more than 25 states that require third graders to demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing skills to advance to the fourth grade. Third graders who are not deemed as on track for reading at a fourth-grade level will be held back one year. This is a part of Maryland’s aggressive new … Read More
Taylor Adams ‘27 and Isabella Landaverde ‘27 MCPS hired a new Security Chief, Marcus Jones, on June 25. Jones comes to MCPS from the Montgomery County Police Department where he served as Chief for the last five years. He brings 40 years of law enforcement experience to his new role at MCPS. Jones has stated in MCPS press releases that … Read More
by Katie Ng ’25 The English Department has implemented a new phone policy for the 2024-25 school year. Students are now expected to put their phones, earbuds, and other electronic devices in their bags, and put their bags in designated areas at the start of class after the teacher outlines what materials they need for the period. No other department … Read More
by Ziv Golan ‘26 This past January MCPS announced that it would no longer be funding the online monitoring software Go Guardian for the 2024-25 school year as part of a slew of budget cuts. This prompted discontent from teachers who believed that without Go Guardian monitoring student behavior on Chromebooks would become a much more difficult task to manage. … Read More
In February of 2021, Maryland’s General Assembly passed the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, overriding a veto from Governor Larry Hogan. The law, a set of sweeping education reforms which, among other goals, attempts to institute a universal preschool program in all counties, increases state funding for education by $3.8 billion each year, and it requires individual counties to contribute $700 … Read More