The boy actually had dangerously low blood sugar, she said, something that could have turned into a medical emergency. She got an alert on her phone about the boy’s low glucose levels, which allowed her to notify the Baltimore County school he attends. But Boninu said the school’s nurse should have been monitoring it instead and is urging the school district to do more for children like him.

“My son was scared to death,” Boninu said. “He didn’t know what to do.”

Her son has Type 1 diabetes, a condition that affects about 304,000 U.S. children and adolescents. Low blood sugar in individuals with diabetes can cause convulsions, seizures, loss of consciousness, coma, and rarely death, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Earlier this month, she requested that the school board require school nurses to use remote monitoring apps to reduceschools’ reliance on parents and teachers.

The school district, Boninu said, has denied her requests to get remote monitoring for her son since his diagnosis three years ago because they say it’s the teachers’ responsibility to listen for alarms from the continuous glucose monitor worn on her son’s arm. Boninu argues that’s not sufficient, as there are loud portions of a school day, and her son can’t always stand within earshot of a teacher.

“My son has had serious low blood sugar emergencies during fire drills, recess, lunch, orchestra, music class, on the bus, outside in the hallway during dismissal because no one could hear his alarms,” Boninu said, adding separately: “What if I had been working and unable to call the school?”

Continuous glucose monitors can be used by people with either type one or type two diabetes, said University of Maryland Golisano Children’s Hospital pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Paula Newton, instead of using a lancet to draw blood for blood sugar monitoring.

“The person with diabetes can wear this little device that is attached to them that can give a blood sugar reading every five minutes,” she said. The CGMs can also indicate trends in a patient’s blood sugar.

When a patient’s blood sugar level reaches a high or low level, the device raises an alarm. School nurses or other trained staff members could view a student’s blood sugar levels and determine whether intervention is required.

Some Baltimore County students, such as those with autism or those who are very young, have been granted remote monitoring by school nurses, Boninu said.

Baltimore County Public Schools’ nurses “are permitted to and do remotely monitor CGMs,” Gboyinde Onijala, executive director of communications and community outreach for the district, said via email Tuesday. Onijala did not answer other questions related to this issue.

Advocacy group FollowT1Ds says remote monitoring of continuous glucose monitors by schools can minimize potential medical complications, decrease classroom disruption by keeping kids out of nurses’ offices and help students focus.

Kerry Murphy, executive director of the group, said there have been multiple letters from the federal Department of Justice to school districts across the country saying families asking for this accommodation from schools need to receive it under the Americans With Disabilities Act. She estimated that, based on survey data that hasn’t been published yet, about half of school districts nationwide allow remote monitoring.

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General did not respond to questions by deadline Monday.

Remote monitoring would involve scheduled checks and responding to audible alarms for students with type one diabetes, Murphy said.

Going to school without the additional safety net, Boninu’s son feel anxious and unsafe at school, she said.

“He just wants to be a kid. He wants to fit in. He wants to feel safe and accepted at school. He doesn’t want to feel singled out due to his disability when the school is trying to have his teachers manage his medical care for him in class.”

Have a news tip? Contact Racquel Bazos at rbazos@baltsun.com, 443-813-0770 or on X as @rzbworks.

The report found that the contract between MCPS and Highland Electric Fleets was “arbitrary, unreasonable, and in violation” of the district’s own bidding procedures. The district terminated the agreement over the summer, even though Highland had delivered just 285 of the 326 electric buses it was contracted to provide.

Additional questions about the deal surfaced last year, when a public report cast doubt on the district’s claim that transitioning from diesel to electric buses would result in “zero net change” in transportation costs. Soon after, the Montgomery County inspector general raised further concerns, citing delivery delays and the district’s failure to recover $372,000 from Highland for buses that were not operational.

The state board’s 11-page report also referenced the criminal convictions of two former MCPS transportation officials, including an assistant director who stole more than $300,000 from the project. Their involvement, the board concluded, further “tainted” the procurement process.

Janis Zink Sartucci, with the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, a watchdog group, said the state’s findings are unprecedented.

“I have certainly never seen a decision by the Montgomery County Board of Education declared illegal,” Sartucci said.

In a statement to the I-Team, MCPS said it is still reviewing the state’s decision and has not yet analyzed the full implications for the district.

“It is outrageous that our Board of Education and Superintendent have not addressed this issue that has been ongoing for years,” she said. “Instead, they’ve opted to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees on what the State Board of Education now calls a tainted bid award.”

Highland Electric Fleets declined to comment for this story, referring inquiries back to the district.

Despite terminating the contract, MCPS will continue doing business with Highland for years to come. The district does not own the buses or charging stations — it leases them, meaning taxpayers remain on the hook for an annual lease payment.

Have a news tip? Contact Scott Taylor at ScottTaylor@sbgtv.com or follow him on X at @ScottTaylorTV.

One option would have public schools starting after Labor Day, as usual, on Sept. 8, 2026. The second option has a start date of Aug. 31, before Labor Day, which is Sept 7.

Superintendent Cynthia McCabe came up with the two calendar options earlier this year and the school board allowed the Carroll County community the opportunity to weigh in on them. A final vote is scheduled at Wednesday’s meeting.

Also at this month’s school board meeting, officials will discuss immigration enforcement policy. Maryland law requires each local Board of Education to develop a policy for interacting with ICE at schools that’s consistent with the state Attorney General’s ICE policies.

“CCPS staff have worked with legal counsel to develop a policy consistent with the guidance which was made available this summer,” wrote Jon O’Neal, the CCPS assistant superintendent of operations.

The proposed immigration enforcement policy will be discussed at Wednesday’s board meeting before it’s published for a public feedback period. In December, the board will vote on the policy.

The Trump administration is allowing federal immigration enforcement activity to take place at previously restricted places, such as churches and schools. Carey Wright, the state’s public school superintendent, sent a memo on immigration enforcement to school district superintendents in January.

The memo said: “Federal and state laws protect education records and personal information,” and “these laws generally require written consent from parents/guardians before releasing information, unless it is for educational purposes, otherwise authorized by law, or in response to a court order or subpoena.” The guidelines from Wright say that schools should communicate with their superintendent and attorneys before they fulfill requests from federal immigration authorities.

This month’s Carroll Board of Education agenda also includes a presentation on the Maryland School Report Card evaluations, school attendance rates and average class sizes.

State data released last week showed that seven Carroll County public schools gained a star in the 2024-25 academic year, and every school in the county achieved at least three stars out of five. Carroll County elementary schools posted the state’s second-highest achievement scores, and middle schools ranked third.

A presentation Wednesday will break down this year’s performance, compare the results with past years’ data, and touch on the ways the school system can improve. The school board will also review overall attendance data. Attendance is linked to school success ratings, and student attendance at Carroll County’s public schools has consistently been better than state averages.

A report on average class sizes at every Carroll County public school, as well as general averages at elementary, middle and high schools, is also on the agenda for discussion.

The average class size at Carroll high schools shrank slightly from 22.9 last year to 21.8 this year. Middle school class sizes have stayed about the same, at 25.2 students per class. Elementary school class sizes dropped slightly, from 23.3 last year to 22.5 this year.

The school system also tracks how many classes in each division have over 30 students per class.

Elementary schools had no classes larger than 30. Middle schools had the most of the three divisions, with 182 classes having more than 30 students. At high schools, 93 classes had more than 30 students.

The Board of Education meeting’s public portion begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the conference room at 25 N. Court St. in Westminster.

School board meetings are open to the public and livestreamed on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel and viewable on the right side of the Board of Education’s website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-informationunder CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Channel 21. Anyone who wishes to participate must fill out an online sign-up form at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information or call the communications office at 410-751-3020 by 9 p.m. on the Tuesday before a meeting.

Have a news tip? Contact Gabriella Fine at gfine@baltsun.com or at 443-900-1296. 

Guilford Park is the county’s 13th high school and opened its doors to students in August 2023. The total construction costs were $129 million.

Howard Schools had contracted with Grounded Electrical Construction, LLC, to do electrical work on the Jessup school, after the company offered the lowest cost estimate, at $13.9 million. The company signed a “firm fixed-price contract” in April 2020, meaning the cost could not be adjusted as the project went on.

But Grounded Electrical claims the COVID-19 pandemic increased costs by nearly $5.5 million, and sued the school system last year for breach of contract. The company said it formally asked the board to change the price, which the board turned down. The company filed the lawsuit in February 2024, saying that the school board should have selected a contract that provided more flexibility in the event of special conditions, such as a pandemic, according to the complaint.

Howard County Public Schools said in a statement that it can’t comment on pending litigation, but that “it is common practice among school systems to use a firm fixed-price contract, and HCPSS uses them for all school construction.”

This appears to be the only breach-of-contract case Howard County’s Board of Education has been involved in post-pandemic. But it’s not the first time Grounded Electrical took a local school system to court.

In 2022, the company filed a complaint against the Anne Arundel County Board of Education after it denied the company’s bid to do work on Hillsmere Elementary School.

Attorneys for Grounded Electrical did not respond to requests for comment.

A judge was set to issue a ruling in the case in early November, but has delayed it. A letter was sent to the judge Oct. 10 about a settlement conference and Grounded Electrical’s failure to appear in court, according to online court records.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or at 443-900-1353.

Homes for America, an Annapolis-based nonprofit, and Questar Properties, a Baltimore-based company, will work with the Department of Transportation, the Maryland Transit Administration and Anne Arundel County to develop the 10-acre parking lot on the west side of the Odenton MARC Station into homes, retail and public space centered on accessible transportation.

Anne Arundel elected officials and state employees gathered on the train platform to reveal renderings of the project and the developers.

“We are working to transform areas around transit stations into dense, vibrant, connected communities,” said Acting Maryland Transportation Secretary Samantha J. Biddle, who traveled by MARC train to the station for the announcement.

The development will include 585 multifamily units, including 130 affordable, 20 workforce and 435 market-rate homes. It will also feature more than 30,000 square feet of retail, more than 180,000 square feet of public amenity space and integrated pedestrian and bicycle pathways meant to improve access to the MARC Station and surrounding community.

Odenton is the first phase of the state’s 2024 MARC Penn Line transit-oriented development strategy, Maryland’s effort to promote mixed-use, transit-centered communities between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Questar Properties is a nearly 100-year-old family-owned construction company. The firm has worked extensively in the county, estimating that about 1 in 14 housing units it has built were in Anne Arundel County, most recently a luxury midrise apartment in Hanover.

Homes for America is a nonprofit founded in 1994. Since its founding, the organization has built more than 6,700 homes across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware, according to its website.

“At Homes for America, our mission is to expand access to high-quality affordable housing and create opportunities for residents to thrive,” said Dana Johnson, president and CEO of Homes for America Inc. “We are especially pleased to continue our long-standing commitment to Anne Arundel County, where we have been headquartered for 30 years, and to partner with the state of Maryland and Questar to bring this vision to life.”

The preliminary estimate for the multiuse project is expected to exceed $200 million, including both public and private investment, according to state transportation officials.

Additionally, the county is funding a new 1,100-space commuter parking garage adjacent to the site, offsetting the space lost to the development. The approximately $56 million project received $4 million in federal funding and $750,000 in the first round of awards from the state Department of Transportation’s Capital Grant program. Groundbreaking is expected in 2026.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said he visited the station with Gov. Wes Moore when Moore was still a candidate.

“We discussed smart growth, transit-oriented development and the prospect of housing for our essential workers. His team has moved forward more rapidly than I imagined, and I am thrilled that Anne Arundel-based Homes for America and Questar have been selected to get this done,” Pittman said.

Information on the timeline and public engagement opportunities will be announced in the coming weeks, according to the announcement.

Have a news tip? Contact Bridget Byrne at bbyrne@baltsun.com or 443-690-7205.

The Higher Learning Commission informed the academy, located north of Colorado Springs, in mid-October that it would conduct a review of its academic programs after an alumnus filed a complaint. The commission said it would give the school 30 days to respond to the complaint, according to a copy of the Oct. 14 letter shared with The Denver Post.

“Upon initial review of your complaint, HLC determined that the matter regarding United States Air Force Academy raises potential concerns regarding the institution’s compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation,” associate general counsel Robert Rucker wrote.

Retired Lt. Col. Kent Murphy, who filed the complaint, and other concerned alumni and former faculty told The Denver Post they believe the academy is losing too many civilian Ph.D.-level instructors without the ability to fully replace them with military members who hold doctoral degrees and have the same teaching experience.

That means larger class sizes with professors and instructors taking higher class loads each semester, they said. And they fear the reductions could eventually lead the academy to reduce the number of courses it offers and eventually eliminate some academic majors.

Murphy, a 1980 academy graduate who served 25 years as an Air Force surgeon and a volunteer adviser to cadets studying pre-med, filed the complaint in October after hearing reports of civilian faculty members being let go or voluntarily leaving because of a constant threat of losing their jobs. Murphy said he fears the quality of education, particularly in the STEM fields, is suffering due to the departures.

Murphy said he hopes the Higher Learning Commission’s inquiry will get the attention of Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, the academy’s superintendent.

“They’re serious about this. They’re concerned. We are concerned,” Murphy said of the commission’s inquiry. “The superintendent thinks he can operate with impunity because of the current situation in the United States.”

Losing accreditation would not force the Air Force Academy to close, but it would deliver a serious blow to an institution that is widely regarded as one of the best universities in the United States. The academy already competes with the other military academies as well as Ivy League schools for the nation’s brightest students.

Bauernfeind declined The Post’s request for an interview, and Capt. Megan Morrissey, an academy spokeswoman, said officials were not able to answer a list of questions submitted by the newspaper, citing the government shutdown.

Morrissey acknowledged the Air Force Academy had received communication from the commission and intended to respond. The academy is complying with the commission’s “assumed practices for higher education,” she wrote in an email. “We welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with HLC, addressing any concerns and demonstrating our commitment to excellence in education.”

It is unclear how many faculty members have left since President Donald Trump returned to office in January and how many have been replaced.

However, in a news release published in August, the academy reported that, as part of the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce reduction, it would defund 140 positions, and 104 of them were already vacant or set to be vacated through the federal Deferred Resignation Program, which offered buyouts to federal employees. The news release did not explain whether the 140 positions marked for elimination would come from the faculty, administrative roles or both. Eleven of the 36 remaining people whose positions were to be cut were reassigned to new jobs on campus.

In addition, 25 faculty members left the academy before the school year began, and 19 military faculty members were added, the news release said. It did not clarify whether the 25 faculty who left were civilian or military, or whether they were part of the 140 positions eliminated through federal cuts.

“I can confidently attest we are maintaining the academic rigor, accreditation and high standards expected at the U.S. Air Force Academy,” Bauernfeind said in the news release. “Our faculty and staff are providing a world-class education to our cadets, and our institution will continue to produce officers ready to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving security environment.”

Bauernfeind, who was appointed in 2024 under President Joe Biden’s administration, ruffled some feathers when he arrived on campus, according to faculty, former faculty and alumni with close ties to the school who were interviewed by The Post. But civilian faculty began leaving in the Spring 2025 semester after Trump appointed Hegseth, a former Fox News television host, to serve as secretary of defense.

Hegseth quickly moved to ban affirmative action in admissions at the three service academies that fall under the Department of Defense and ordered them to pull books focusing on diversity from their shelves. He also vowed to eliminate so-called “woke ideology” and any programs that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion on the campuses.

Critics of the civilian cuts at the Air Force Academy say this political ideology has seeped into the campus culture, and leaders are mistakenly driving away civilian faculty by implying they are weakening military education.

“To think of them as left-wing, tree-hugging hippie freaks is not the way to think of them,” said Thomas Bewley, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of California San Diego, who served as distinguished visiting professor at the academy during the 2024-2025 academic year. “They provide a lot of context to what engineering is in the military.”

One professor who left

For one engineering professor, the decision to leave the Air Force Academy became clear after he repeatedly was told he could lose his job any day.

Brian Johns left his professorship at Cornell College in Iowa in 2023 to teach systems engineering at the academy. Johns holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in industrial engineering. He specializes in melding complex mechanical and electrical systems so that they work together, and his latest research involves integrating artificial intelligence with software systems.

“It was a great new adventure and a new challenge to take on,” Johns said of giving up his tenured faculty position for an assistant professor position at the Air Force Academy. “It was my way of using the skills I have in the classroom to improve our national security, improve our nation.”

But in late February — in the spring semester of his second year on campus — Johns, who never served in the military, was pulled into an office by a supervisor and told that he would be fired the next day because of the federal government’s job cuts. Johns did not understand why he would be among the first to lose his job, as he was no longer on probation as a new hire and his performance reviews had been excellent.

A federal judge intervened and the government firings, including Johns’, were put on hold.

Still, talk of layoffs and firings continued.

“We had meetings where the superintendent told us a lot of departments were going to look like Swiss cheese when it was over,” Johns said. “It was not very reassuring, to be honest.

“From then on, it was, ‘Is this the Friday? Is next Friday going to be the day?’ It was creating a lot of anxiety,” he said. “The not knowing was worse than the firing. What am I going to do to my family?”

In late spring, Johns found an opening in the engineering department at Colorado State University. He applied and accepted a job as a teaching professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he started this fall.

As far as Johns knows, he is the only civilian faculty member to leave the academy’s mechanical engineering department, but he also knows that he was not replaced, which means the current faculty had to pick up his 300- and 400-level courses, teaching juniors and seniors how to design complex warfighting systems.

Those courses need to be taught by someone with a doctorate degree, he said.

“It’s just messy,” Johns said. “Everybody’s trying to do their best there, but a lot of these decisions are made outside of their control, whether it’s coming from the secretary of defense — or the secretary of war, as we are calling him now — or the superintendent. We don’t know who’s making these decisions.”

Johns said people on the faculty now live in fear of retaliation and are afraid to speak out. Academic freedom is gone, he said. And the instructors who are not in the military are not getting paid because of the government shutdown.

“I’m thanking my lucky stars I got out of there,” he said.

The importance of accreditation

The Higher Learning Commission’s accreditation is important because it assures students and prospective students that they will receive a quality education.

The commission does not comment on inquiries into any academic programs, spokeswoman Laura Janota said. If the commission were to take any action against the academy, it would be posted online.

The commission has accredited the Air Force Academy since 1959, and the accreditation was reaffirmed during the 2018-2019 school year, according to the commission’s website. The academy is due for its next formal review during the 2028-2029 academic year.

The academy needs accreditation to attract top-notch students, said Anthony Aretz, who graduated from there in 1980 and later served as president at two universities. The Air Force often sends its officers to law school, medical school or to earn master’s and doctoral degrees, but their credits from the academy would no longer transfer to another university if it lost accreditation, he said.

“If the cadet is a graduate but the academy is not accredited, the other college wouldn’t accept their degree,” he said. “The academies hold a unique position in our country. They’re valued for their quality and how they prepare leaders for our Department of Defense and the rest of our country. You don’t want to lose that prestige that attracts those types of students.”

Accreditation organizations like the Higher Learning Commission operate independently of the federal government, so its investigators should be immune to political influence, Aretz said.

The departure of civilian faculty and a shortage of military replacements have led to larger class sizes, Aretz said. And instructors are teaching more courses than usual. If the cuts continue, the academy could be forced to drop some courses from its curriculum, and eventually, some majors, he said.

The academy’s August news release said all majors remained intact for the 2025-2026 school year, and that it had added four new classes to a list of 750 offered, plus three new minors.

The Air Force Academy’s website said the student-to-faculty ratio is eight to one for the more than 4,100 cadets on campus. The Higher Learning Commission’s latest data, which is from 2023, shows 234 faculty members.

Janota said the commission does not have a specific formula for the number of Ph.D.-holding instructors a campus needs in order to provide an adequate education to its students.

Accreditation inquiries typically are tight-lipped, and if the commission determines the academy has a sufficient number of faculty members, the review never will become public, Aretz said.

The first step is what the commission is doing now, which is asking the academy’s leadership to respond to the complaint. The commission could follow up with more questions and could eventually send a team of inspectors to the campus to question the administration, faculty and students, Aretz said.

“They’re there to help institutions maintain their academic quality,” he said.

The role of civilian instructors

At the Air Force Academy, the majority of the faculty are in the Air Force.

Their experiences at bases around the world and in warfighting are valued in the classroom. To teach there, they must hold at least a master’s degree and a rank of captain or higher. Most rotate in for a three-year assignment before they return to the fighting force. Some go on to earn doctorate degrees and return to teach at the academy throughout their careers.

The academy also hires non-military faculty, who bring expertise from years of classroom experience, scholarship and research. Those faculty often are the glue that holds a department together, helping new uniformed instructors learn how to run a classroom and keep the course curriculum on track, Bewley said.

“The civilian professors there really anchor the programs,” Bewley said. “They are really the backbone.”

Many of those civilian faculty members served in the Air Force and then, after retiring, brought their doctorate degrees back to teach the military branch’s future officers.

But Hegseth has vowed to oust anyone with “woke ideology” and has mistakenly determined that civilian faculty are a problem, Bewley said. Engineers do not weave diversity, equity and inclusion into lesson plans about aircraft mechanics, missile designs and satellite technology, he said.

“The fish is rotting from the head down,” said retired Brig. Gen. Martin France, a 1981 academy graduate who previously served as chairman of the school’s astronautical engineering program. “Obviously, none of the changes that would revert the academy back to a higher-quality academic program are going to be allowed or endorsed, given who we have as the secretary of defense and the president. A lot of this is part of the anti-woke agenda. Unfortunately, I don’t have any great hope of anything changing under this administration.”

France, who rotated in and out of the academy’s faculty during his 37-year career, said he agrees with the idea of having more Air Force officers with doctoral degrees on faculty. But the method used by Bauernfeind and the Trump administration has cut people with little planning or strategy, he said.

“Replacing established civilian professors with active duty, in my mind, is that’s not in itself a bad thing to do,” France said. “But it takes many years to produce qualified people within the active duty force. You can’t turn a faucet on and have enough Ph.D. professors.”

Air Force officers specialize in highly technical areas ranging from flying fighter jets to operating satellites to designing rockets.

For example, the Space Force needs astrophysicists who know how to interfere with a foreign government’s satellites, just like the academy needs experts who teach cadets how to do that. But it is not easy to call up the chain of command and request a lieutenant colonel with a Ph.D. in astrophysics to leave Space Command for a teaching job, said Murphy, the academy graduate and adviser who filed the complaint.

“What we found out is there is no pool of military educators out there buzzing around waiting for a phone call. They don’t exist,” Murphy said. “You’re not going to get 35 fighter pilots to get a pass to go teach at the military academy.”

France added that the shortage of people qualified and available to teach at the academy does not stop in the technical fields. The entire service does not have enough Chinese, Russian or Arabic speakers, and those instructors are needed, too.

One current instructor, who agreed to speak to The Post on the condition of anonymity because he fears retaliation, said his department is losing multiple people because of government cuts, the shutdown and the general feeling of uncertainty on campus.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to teach the upper-level courses because of the lack of instructors with doctorate degrees, he said.

“You don’t have the right players for the team,” he said. “You don’t switch half your team and still have the same flow.”

Bauernfeind started making the cuts within the non-military faculty with no real plan for how to replace them from within the military ranks, the instructor said. It’s impossible to replace a professor with 20 years of experience with a younger captain with a master’s degree, he said. Even someone fresh from a doctoral program needs time to gain experience in the classroom.

“It’s a terrible shame to see this institution we’ve built over the last 60 years just be deconstructed without any real plan,” the instructor said.

Multiple people interviewed by The Post said Bauernfeind removed the word “educate” from the academy’s mission statement, and they believe that move reflects his disdain for the intellectual class on campus.

“We are degrading the value of education and it really is a step toward an anti-intellectual bias in our military that we can’t afford,” France said.

‘A distraction’

The departure of civilian faculty came up during the August meeting of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, a body of political appointees charged with monitoring and advising the institution’s operations, including its curriculum, instruction and academic methods.

During that meeting, board members and members of the general public raised questions about the faculty departures as well as changes to the curriculum, according to minutes from the meeting and accounts from two people in attendance.

Four people, including Bewley and Murphy, asked the superintendent to pause cuts to the faculty until academy leaders created a plan to replace those who had left.

Another four people expressed concerns about world history no longer being a mandatory class for cadets.

“Lt. Gen. Bauernfeind expressed that they are still in the planning process for this potential change to make sure that USAFA understands the value of American history in establishing a common ground with all cadets,” the meeting minutes stated.

Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA who was shot to death in September while speaking on a Utah college campus, was on the Board of Visitors at the time.

During the August meeting, Kirk questioned the superintendent on how he was making sure the faculty complied with Trump’s directives to eliminate critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion from the classrooms. He asked, “How the Academy is ensuring compliance with the faculty to ensure USAFA doesn’t push the worldview of oppression, oppressor/oppressed dynamics, anti-western, anti-American and gender ideology,” according to meeting minutes.

That injection of political ideology is part of the problem at the academy, Bewley said. Instead of focusing on the actual problem at the Board of Visitors meeting, the conversation turned into “a political sham,” he said.

Kirk talked about DEI and critical race theory and “some MAGA drumming points to rouse up the base, but there was nothing really relevant to the challenges of how we are going to train our officers to develop the weapons systems to win the next war,” Bewley said. “It was a distraction.”

Concerns over cuts to the Air Force Academy faculty and the Higher Learning Commission have gotten the attention of politicians.

Spokespeople for Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs, both of whom sit on the Board of Visitors, said they were aware of the commission’s inquiry. Both said they want to work with the Trump administration to make sure the academy offers a world-class education, although neither offered specifics about how to respond to the commission’s review or how to prevent more faculty from leaving.

The alumni and former instructors who are speaking out said they want the superintendent to pause staffing cuts and for the Defense Department to fund the positions that still exist, Murphy said.

They also want the secretary of the Air Force to form a “blue ribbon panel” of stakeholders with an interest in the academy’s success, including the superintendent, faculty, distinguished alumni, leaders within the Air Force and Space Force, and politicians, he said.

Murphy said he did not relish his complaint to the Higher Learning Commission, but he wanted to get leadership’s attention. Speaking at meetings and writing letters has not been working.

“I love the academy,” Murphy said. “I want the reputation to be pristine.”

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Police arrived at the school at about 5 p.m. Friday and searched it after receiving the flag from Omnilert, a weapons detection system used by Baltimore County Public Schools.

“Out of an abundance of caution, a Baltimore County police supervisor requested a police search of the property. Students were immediately relocated to a safe area where they were supervised,” wrote Parkville Principal Maureen Astarita in a message to families Friday night.

After the search, “[a]ll students, staff and visitors were allowed back into the building and evening extracurricular activities resumed,” she wrote.

In October, a Kenwood High School football player eating chips after practice triggered the Omnilert system at that school, eventually leading to a police response. Police surrounded Taki Allen with their weapons drawn. The incident led some local politicians to call for more oversight on the technology.

Have a news tip? Contact Racquel Bazos at rbazos@baltsun.com, 443-813-0770 or on X as @rzbworks.

The meeting drew 42 speakers, seizing their last opportunity to weigh in on the five scenarios under review alongside the superintendent’s proposed plan.

“We sincerely beg you not to make the mistake of moving Centennial Lane to Columbia,” said Centennial Lane PTA Secretary Victoria Ahn. “You will split up communities and you will rip apart long-standing programs for our children.”

Many speakers said they felt unprepared for the hearing after the county introduced three additional redistricting plans during an Oct. 24 work session — a move that some parents described as a surprise.

While communities included in the original redistricting concepts had four months to research and prepare testimony and multiple opportunities to speak to the board, others had less than a month, with only one public hearing remaining.

“It is absurd to think that community input for this process would be balanced and that the voices of all who are impacted have been considered equitably and weighed justly,” said speaker George Keagle, a Clemens Crossing parent.

Several individuals called for the board to delay the final vote to give families more time to review the late changes and provide feedback.

Many endorsed Concept IV as the best plan available, successfully relieving Bryant Woods and maintaining as much neighborhood continuity as possible. The plan would move about 122 students, adjusting the boundary between Bryant Woods and Swansfield with minimal disruption and improved demographics.

The redistricting review began in February, working to relieve overcrowding at Bryant Woods Elementary School — projected to reach 151.9% capacity by 2036 — and Centennial Lane Elementary School — expected to reach 117.9% capacity.

The board voted late October to consider five proposed scenarios and the superintendent’s plan — impacting between 81 to more than 700 students.

Other schools included in the boundary review are Running Brook, Swansfield, Longfellow and Clemens Crossing elementary schools, along with Wilde Lake, Harper’s Choice and Burleigh Manor middle schools and Wilde Lake and Centennial high schools to account for student feeds.

The proposals attempted to balance capacity concerns with maintaining demographic diversity, financial responsibility, minimal transportation and keeping communities together, according to October’s Concept Analysis.

Families from across the county argued Thursday that the current data and process fall short of those goals.

Speakers also challenged the accuracy of enrollment and capacity data driving the decisions between the options. The utilization rates are calculated based on K-12 enrollment data, failing to take into account other programs such as pre-K or Academic Life Skills programs, which take up a substantial amount of space.

“Look, bad data make bad facts. Bad facts make bad policies. So, why would we choose from this subset of concepts that are sub-optimal?” said speaker Kevin Skolnik.

Other public speakers worried that new housing developments are not accounted for, warning the county will have to redistrict again once more families move into their communities: “We dramatically underestimated development in 2019,” said Michael Trivino, a Centennial Lane parent. “We’re doing the same thing today.”

Although the school system says Centennial Lane has more students attending than it can handle, some families say they haven’t noticed any issues.

“Our children are comfortable and they are thriving, so when we are told that the school is overcrowded, it feels disconnected from the truth we experience every day,” said Karen Patel, whose child will soon attend Centennial High School. “Numbers may say one thing, but the lived experience of people inside the building tell a very different story.”

By moving their students, they said, the county would place an unnecessary burden on Columbia schools that continue to face overcrowding issues.

Several students stepped up to speak to the board, explaining the importance of maintaining a sense of community.

“There’s something really special about being part of a community where all the schools feel connected,” said Centennial High School student Emily Hu. “When you separate these schools, when you split up this community, you break traditions. You take away the continuity that gives students a sense of belonging.”

Others cited budgetary concerns, questioning whether moving students who currently walk to schools makes financial sense, citing the district’s recent cuts to staff and student programs.

“The district has cut music programs such as third grade strings, which my brother would have participated in next year,” said Centennial High School sophomore Sarasa Nauen. “Making people who walk to school become bus riders represents needless additional financial stretching for the district.”

The school board will hold a straw vote on the redistricting plans Nov. 13. This is an unofficial ballot conducted as a test of opinion. The board’s final vote is set for Nov. 20.

Have a news tip? Contact Marissa Yelenik at myelenik@baltsun.com.

In an email sent out just before 5 p.m., Perry Hall Principal Justin Benjamin wrote that the school had been evacuated and that the fire department investigated the odor and “cleared the building of any imminent threat or hazard.”

He also said that the school will be open on Saturday morning, between 9 and 11 a.m., for students and their parents to gather any belongings they may have left behind during the evacuation.

No immediate danger

An earlier message from Benjamin, also sent to the school community, stated that administrators were notified of an “unusual odor” in the building at 1:30 p.m. The school, located in the 4300 block of Ebenezer Road, implemented its evacuation procedures as a precaution and called the Baltimore County Fire Department to investigate.

“All students and staff are safe and continuing to follow proper evacuation protocol. However, because BCFD investigators have yet to allow re-entry into the building, students are currently still being held at a safe distance,” Benjamin said. “At this time, we are asking families NOT to come to the school to pick up their child.”

Fire department officials echoed that in their own message, later posting on X shortly before 2:30 p.m. Friday that children were not in “immediate danger” and continuing to follow evacuation protocol. Although fire officials were still investigating as of 3:25 p.m., the department said in a subsequent update that dismissal had started and was in progress.

No injuries were reported. Children who reported symptoms were evaluated and cleared by medics, the department wrote.

#Baltcofire. 4300 BLK Ebenezer Rd. Units on scene investigating an odor in the school. No immediate danger to the children. Parents are ask not to come to school at this time. Working with school admin. LJS 1424 pic.twitter.com/0epMiBcmgf

— Baltimore County Fire Department (@BaltCoFire) November 7, 2025

Have a news tip? Contact Racquel Bazos at rbazos@baltsun.com, 443-813-0770 or on X as @rzbworks.

The board will accept public comment only in written form. All comments must be submitted to the board by Wednesday at 4 p.m.

On Tuesday, MSDE overturned the decision made by the Harford school board this summer to remove the book from all school libraries.

The state board recommended that the Harford board revise its book evaluation procedures to “ensure transparency, provide notice and opportunity for community participation and future reconsideration matters.”

The Harford school system had approved “Flamer” for middle school and high school libraries, but the school board voted “behind closed doors” on June 26 to remove it from all school libraries.

Representatives from the Harford chapter of Together We Will filed an appeal to the state school board in July asking it to overturn Harford’s decision. In addition to a lack of transparency, the organization believes the Harford board also violated the Maryland Freedom to Read Act.

If the local school board votes to appeal the state’s decision, the case will then be pushed to circuit court.

“Flamer” is a 2020 semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Mike Curato about a teen boy who struggles with his sexuality. The novel has been the target of nationwide debates about what is appropriate in school libraries.

Have a news tip? Contact Shaela Foster at sfoster@baltsun.com or 443-826-5894.