Montgomery Update: “The Boss” Defines Patriotism, Rec Department Presents Reasonably priced Summer Enjoyable, MCPS Budget Reductions, and Connecting Flash BRT to Howard County

Dear Friends,

This week, I acquired to expertise two occasions that made me really feel lucky to be an American. First, on Monday, I walked within the annual Rockville Memorial Day parade. Despite some rain, there was a big turnout to recollect and honor all those that served and sacrificed in protection of our nation and our freedoms.

And then on Wednesday night, I attended Bruce Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour” cease at Nationals Park. Bruce has at all times understood one thing necessary about this nation: patriotism is just not blind loyalty to a politician, political social gathering, or authorities official. Patriotism is loving this nation sufficient to need it to dwell as much as its beliefs.

The women and men we honored on Memorial Day didn’t sacrifice for corruption, cruelty, racism, censorship, or the abuse of energy. They served in protection of democracy, freedom, equality, and the rule of regulation. Those values require fixed safety and participation from each era. They will not be assured just because they’re written down on paper.

At a time when many Americans are pissed off, divided, and anxious in regards to the route of our nation, Memorial Day serves as a reminder that democracy has at all times required braveness, not solely from those that served in uniform but additionally from abnormal folks prepared to talk up, keep engaged, and defend the rights and dignity of others. That accountability belongs to all of us.

Department of Recreation Summer Activities Heat Up

With the top of the college 12 months coming, our Department of Recreation might be at its busiest, operating camps and actions for youths throughout Montgomery County.

As you may think about, Rec employment swells in the course of the summer time with greater than 1,300 seasonal staff, together with youngsters and younger adults. They coordinate actions for youngsters and youths along with what Rec recurrently offers for residents year-round at our 22 regional rec facilities. The solely summer time days when our Rec packages will take a break are Friday, June 19, for Juneteenth, and Friday and Saturday, July 3 and 4, for Independence Day.

The mission of the division is to supply high-quality, various, and accessible packages, providers, and amenities to residents. They try this at a decrease value to our residents than many various summer time actions, like specialty sports activities camps.

Pools are significantly fashionable, with greater than 100,000 visits to one in all our indoor or outside swimming pools final summer time. Beginning the final week of June, outside swimming pools might be open seven days per week.

I’ve been taking note of the rising position of personal fairness in youth sports activities packages, which is driving skyrocketing costs for families who want their children to participate. Essentially, Wall Street is as soon as once more fleecing households by means of dear camps and sports activities leagues, which is why it’s vital that native governments proceed investing in and providing reasonably priced summer time actions.

Summer program registration has been open since mid-May, and there are nonetheless some actions you may join. There are additionally job openings for lifeguards and different seasonal staff, resembling camp counselors, which have but to be crammed. Share our hiring hyperlink with anybody you assume could also be .

There are separate guides out now for our camps, summer time courses, and actions for the 55+ crowd. You can register on-line through Active Montgomery or name 240-777-6840 with any questions.

 The director of Montgomery County Recreation, Gabe Albornoz, joined my media briefing this week to debate among the particular occasions occurring this summer time. They embody:

14th Annual White Oak Day
Saturday, June 6
11 a.m. to three p.m.
White Oak Community Recreation Center

Silver Spring Summer Block Party
Sunday, June 21
2 to five p.m.
Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center

Dive-In Movie: Madagascar 3
Saturday, June 27
8:30 to 11 p.m.
Germantown Outdoor Pool

Montgomery County 250th: Shine Together (Fireworks)
Friday, July 3
7 to 10 p.m.
Newport Mill Park (subsequent to Einstein High School), Kensington

Germantown Glory Fireworks Show
Saturday, July 4
7 to 10 p.m.
South Germantown Recreation Park, Boyds

Teens Night Out – Under the Stars
Friday, July 17
6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Martin Luther King Jr. Outdoor Pool, Silver Spring

World Cup Viewing Party – Final Game
Sunday, July 19
Time TBD
Wheaton Regional Park

Recreation is central to neighborhood well-being. I’m glad we’ve got the management in place to assist the division play an important position in making Montgomery County a spot the place folks like to dwell. Visit them on-line at mocorec.com.

MCPS Budget Cuts Looming

Something remains to be bothering me in regards to the lately handed fiscal 12 months (FY) 27 funds and its affect on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). County Council President Natali Fani-González mentioned the Council did not assist elevating property taxes. That is just not true. All householders, together with rental homeowners, obtain a $692 tax credit score on their annual invoice. A majority of the Council, led by the president, voted to take away that credit score, which means it won’t seem in your tax invoice on July 1. Your property taxes will due to this fact go up by $692 in FY27 — that could be a tax improve. 

Developers will contribute no further taxes to our income; the total weight of this so-called non-tax improve falls on residents. My proposed funds, in contrast, was balanced and wouldn’t have created a $150 million income discount going into the following fiscal 12 months.

As I mentioned final week, MCPS is going through a big shortfall — cash they’d requested and really a lot wanted, which is why I proposed a funds that absolutely funded their whole request. Unfortunately, they’re now trying to save $36 million. 

Among the reductions presently into account by the Board of Education are cuts that would eliminate hundreds of employees, together with greater than 40 social employees, 18 faculty psychologists, 17 therapeutic counselors for college students studying English, and $1.6 million in psychological well being contracts — a mixed discount in pupil assist staffing not like something our district has seen in current reminiscence.

At the identical time, we’ve got watched our faculties navigate a genuinely tough interval. This previous faculty 12 months, MCPS responded to bomb threats, weapons on campus, and assaults on workers (out-of-school suspensions rose by 26%). The district up to date its code of conduct initially of the college 12 months to carry college students extra accountable — and rightly so. But accountability with out assist is just not a method; it’s a hole.

The professionals we threat shedding will not be ancillary. They are sometimes the primary to note when a pupil is struggling, the primary to intervene earlier than a state of affairs escalates, and the final line of assist for households who’ve nowhere else to show. If these positions disappear, the burden doesn’t— it shifts onto lecturers, directors, households, and in the end our kids.

I perceive the fiscal realities our faculty system faces, and tough tradeoffs are unavoidable. But our neighborhood deserves a full and trustworthy dialog about what these particular reductions would imply in follow — in lecture rooms, in hallways, and in houses throughout this County.

A rising physique of nationwide knowledge exhibits that pupil achievement has been slipping for greater than a decade, with explicit issues about early literacy and the destructive affect of know-how on studying. 

When most of us went to high school, an task was learn and analyzed, and every pupil shared a solution (hopefully proper). Now, college students can enter a query into AI, obtain a solution, and paste it instantly into an task. The query will get answered, however nothing is realized — the pondering course of has been short-circuited. That decline coincides with the introduction of smartphones into the lives of teenagers and preteens. As detailed in this PBS story, passing scores in math are nicely beneath 2013’s high-water mark, and Eighth-grade studying ranges are at their lowest since 1990.

There can also be a necessity for stronger accountability at each degree of the schooling system. Evidence exhibits that the best-performing states pair evidence-based instruction with sustained, in-school assist for lecturers and a renewed deal with measurable outcomes. Rising absenteeism and diminished studying exterior of college underscore the necessity for focused investments and clear expectations as we plan for the 12 months forward.

I’m calling on MCPS management and the Board of Education to fastidiously weigh the downstream prices of decreasing pupil psychological well being and behavioral assist at this second. And I’m asking parents, educators, neighbors, and residents to continue sharing their concerns with decision makers. Public remark alternatives can be found at Board of Education conferences. 

I encourage you to attend, write, and communicate. Your persistence is as necessary as your voice. Your faculty system is listening, and so am I.

Breaking Ground Celebration for Howard County Bus Rapid Transit Connection

Last Thursday, I used to be proud to join Howard County Executive Calvin Ball to break ground on four Flash Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stops in Howard County. For so long as I’ve been concerned in East County points, the site visitors on US 29 has been a giant one; the massive variety of drivers from Howard County makes its presence felt within the congestion there. That’s why I approached Howard County greater than a decade in the past, asking them to contemplate supporting the extension of BRT to Columbia. Now that day has arrived.

Establishing an in depth BRT community has been one of many signature initiatives of my administration, making this enlargement a serious new milestone. By extending the US 29 Flash line from Silver Spring to Downtown Columbia, we’re making a seamless connection that displays how many individuals in our two counties dwell and work. Our riders should not should really feel the road the place one County ends, and one other begins; as an alternative, we’re constructing a steady neighborhood on a extremely traveled hall. US 29 Flash presently carries 2,600 passengers each weekday. The extension will provide Flash BRT service to Howard County each quarter-hour throughout weekday rush hours beginning this fall.

This undertaking opens doorways to jobs and housing for extra folks. This hall will present quicker, extra handy journey to main employers such because the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and the upcoming Viva White Oak improvement, whereas linking riders to Metro, MARC train, and the longer term Purple Line.

I’m additionally excited that this service might be powered by 4 brand-new, zero-emission electrical buses, bought with $3.35 million in federal grant funding and Howard County’s contribution. These buses are a part of our dedication to sustainable options that defend our air high quality, and so they even function a brand new design with clear home windows so you may benefit from the view when you trip.

When we put money into transit, we’re investing in our economic system and our surroundings. This partnership exhibits what regional cooperation can do to enhance the standard of life for residents in each counties, and I look ahead to seeing the Flash community proceed to develop throughout our area.

Give and Ride Food Drive Goes Through the Weekend

Our Department of Transportation’s (MCDOT) annual Give and Ride Food Drive runs by means of Sunday, May 31. It comes at a time when we face a rising disaster in our area. More than 34% of our residents—almost 280,000 of our neighbors—are liable to going through meals insecurity and unreliable entry to nutritious meals, in keeping with our Office of Food Systems Resilience. This is a problem on all our plates attributable to cuts to federal help packages, layoffs, and rising meals prices.

If you’re able, think about donating among the gadgets Manna Food Center wants to assist fill the hole for households in want. We are particularly in search of nutritious gadgets resembling canned tuna, oatmeal, brown rice, entire grain pasta, and shelf-stable milk. A full record of essentially the most wanted meals gadgets could be discovered on the MCDOT web site. Last 12 months, Manna distributed greater than three million kilos of meals. This effort helped greater than 56,000 members throughout Montgomery County final 12 months.

For 33 years, we’ve got partnered with Manna to assist put meals on the desk for households in want, so they do not go hungry. They assist educate our neighborhood about constructing wholesome meals and supply details about assist packages resembling SNAP, Sun Bucks, MC Groceries, and free and diminished meals in our faculties. Manna additionally performs a significant position in advocacy so that every one lawmakers perceive the affect they’ll make by means of funding meals help packages.

Helping throughout this meals drive is simpler than ever. You can drop off non-perishable meals gadgets on any County bus, together with Ride On, extRa, Flex, and Flash. Donations are additionally accepted at taking part Montgomery County Public Libraries and County workplace buildings in Rockville and Wheaton throughout regular working hours. 

I need to thank everybody who donates meals or their time to meals help organizations, serving to make sure that wholesome meals is out there to everybody. There are greater than 60 teams throughout Montgomery County serving to to feed households. Every donation helps a neighbor in want. Montgomery County is a neighborhood that cares for each other. I thanks on your unbelievable generosity and for stepping up to make sure that nobody in our County goes hungry.

Muslims Mark Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha is a serious Islamic vacation noticed this week. Montgomery County continues to be strengthened by the unbelievable range of our residents—throughout cultures, races, ethnicities, faiths, and life experiences. Our Muslim neighborhood performs a significant position in enriching the material of our County, contributing to each neighborhood and each sector with generosity, management, and repair.

Let’s all honor the traditions of compassion, sacrifice, and unity that this vacation represents. We are grateful for the numerous methods our Muslim neighbors assist and uplift our broader neighborhood all year long.

May this Eid deliver peace, pleasure, and prosperity to all our Muslim residents and to their households and family members. Eid al-Adha Mubarak.

Prioritizing Mental Health Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and our Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has been emphasizing the significance of psychological well being. Caring on your psychological well-being is necessary all 12 months spherical, and it deserves simply as a lot consideration as your bodily well being.

Seeing a therapist doesn’t essentially imply there’s something fallacious — they may help in quite a lot of methods — from relieving stress and nervousness to coping with the uncomfortable side effects of trauma.

Here are some psychological well being assets and providers that the County affords:  

• Our DHHS clinics provide one-on-one counseling at no cost.
• Our Mobile Health Clinic brings medical, dental, behavioral well being, and human providers to underserved and weak residents and communities. Because clinic hours and websites fluctuate, go to their web site to see the schedule or name 240-777-1017 for extra info.
• The County’s Crisis Center is out there 24 hours a day/ 12 months a 12 months. You can name 240-777-4000 or go to in particular person at 1301 Piccard Drive in Rockville with no appointment wanted.
• Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams additionally present emergency disaster evaluations for people who’re experiencing a psychological well being disaster.
• If you might be in a psychological well being disaster or considering suicide, assist is out there by calling or texting 988 or by chat at chat.988lifeline.org.

Happy Pride Throughout June

Pride Month 2026 begins subsequent week. We raised the primary Pride flag on the Executive Office Building in Rockville in 2019, and it stays a second that symbolizes resilience within the ongoing civil rights wrestle for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. A whole lot of that historical past was mentioned in my 2023 video with Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno.

Montgomery County celebrates the journey from silence to celebration. Pride Month is a time to mirror on progress and deal with the work forward. It’s about making certain that everybody deserves to really feel secure residing their lives as they really are.

This 12 months’s flag elevating is ready for 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 4, at Veterans Memorial Plaza on the Executive Office Building. There can also be a flag-raising ceremony at Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring tonight, Friday, May 29, at 6:30 p.m.

Montgomery County led the way in which in passing an anti-discrimination regulation in 1984—earlier than the State adopted swimsuit in 2001.

Before present protections, same-sex companions have been usually denied entry to their family members in hospitals throughout their most tough moments. I noticed that first-hand in Takoma Park. When I used to be a councilmember there, we handed a regulation to offer similar intercourse {couples} the identical entry to family members within the hospital that everybody else expects.

Montgomery County’s LGBTQ Bill of Rights was passed in 2020. That ensures LGBTQ+ residents, significantly seniors and people residing with HIV, can obtain well being care with out worry of bigotry.

Despite this progress, the “national temperature” has modified, making this work tougher. Leaders have expressed concern over makes an attempt to “erase history” and “fuel hate” when, in reality, they’re utilizing worry to disclaim the LGBTQ+ neighborhood their primary rights. Recent Supreme Court rulings, resembling Mahmoud v. Taylor, which permits dad and mom to decide kids out of LGBTQ-inclusive classes, spotlight a shift towards exclusion that many worry will ostracize queer youth.

Pride means exhibiting up as an ally day by day, not simply in June. Here is how one can take motion:

• Attend occasions like Pride within the Plaza at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring on Sunday, June 28, to have fun authenticity and visibility.
• Look for the “Ride With Pride” bus on County routes all through June, which serves as a shifting image of inclusion and social justice.
• Support or go to the MoCo Pride Center in Bethesda, a “one-stop shop” for social, cultural, and well being assets.

The motion nonetheless wants advocacy. Participate within the Montgomery County LGBTQ Advisory Group or be part of assist teams just like the Hope and Support Circle to foster neighborhood pleasure and resilience. Many different concepts can be found at liveinyourtruth.org.

If you witness or expertise discrimination in housing, employment, or public areas, report it. You can name 311 or contact the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights to file a grievance.

Standing with the LGBTQ+ neighborhood makes us a stronger, higher neighborhood general. That’s why we must always assist using inclusive books and supplies in faculties that assist each pupil really feel seen and secure. As we glance towards the longer term, let’s make sure that the “links” in our neighborhood band stay robust and that we by no means go backward.

As at all times, my appreciation for all of you, 

Marc Elrich
County Executive