Author: Chao Wu

Chao Wu Maryland State Delegate, D9 ( Howard and Montgomery Counties)

Colors of the Wind Holiday Gala of Greater Washington DC on 12/16/2017

Colors of the Wind Holiday Gala of Greater Washington DC on 12/16/2017

at River Hill High School

七彩，一个吉祥的传说

——2017/12/16七彩华府嘉年晚会剧透之二

撰稿：潘秋辰、李妙雪、李元君

很久以前，听过一个传说故事：一个少年为了替世人寻找无疫病无灾祸的幸福，踏遍千山万水，历尽艰难险阻，最后在死谷绝境的悬崖之巅，寻到了那朵人间罕有的七彩花朵，于是，当七种颜色的花瓣盛开时，一种冥冥之中的吉祥幸运自然就降临到了人世间。

关于“七彩”的神话传说有很多：女娲炼七彩石以补天，七彩神鹿救人于迷途末路，七彩霞光照亮未来之晨，七彩神仙鱼偶得一见，七色彩虹横卧于水天一线间等等……，而且七彩是自然光还原之后的本色谱，似乎代表着某种意味上的“齐全”；我们知道一星期为七天，我们居住的陆地环绕着七大洋，音乐的全音阶为七个，“七”还在基督徒的世界里是至上的吉数……。总之，以此寓意下一个自然年份2018的来临，没有什么比这种以“七彩”代表的最美好愿望，更能表达中西方文化共同的期许和寄寓了。

12月16日，由亚美文化发展与交流基金会和培英中文学校共同筹办的“七彩华府嘉年晚会”就在这样的情境中诞生了。它在西方传统感恩节之后，在圣诞狂欢节之前，在辞旧迎新翻篇之际，在中华古老节日春节姗姗而来之端，开华府热闹拜岁之先机，开华人新年大吉之先兆，开中西文化交融之先声。

我们的传统文化常常讲究抢得先机，凡事赶早不赶晚，赶在2018年第一波的吉祥福瑞涌来之时，首当其冲给来年一个美好的开始，怕是没有人愿意将这份美好拒之门外的，那么，不如一起加入传播这份福祉和祥瑞的头班车吧，不管是讨得什么彩头，总之，盈满七彩的祝福通过你我他传递出去，对我们任何一个人来说，都是善举。这就是创意这台“七彩华府嘉年晚会”的总导演张斌的构思，他说，“但凡美好的东西都是没有阻隔的，我希望通过这台晚会传达我们海外华人对生命，对未来，对家庭的一份真切祝福。”

这份缤纷绚丽的祝福，迫在眼前，喜乐迎门。

祝福离不开载歌载舞的热闹，此次东方意蕴的节庆文化与西方元素的火热气氛恰到好处地衔接，让著名的西班牙组合中女主角Diliandia，带着南美洲风情的热辣，带着异域服装的华美，带着南美舞蹈的妖娆，与中国流行歌手实力派唱将谢江竟然会有一道碰撞式的歌舞盛宴，激情燃烧的火树银花之下，是旧年的盛景不忘怀，是新年的美景又来临。

说起谢江，可能很多华府观众并不太了解。其实，曾在广东星星歌舞团及星海音乐学院受过专业舞蹈训练和音乐教育的他，早在1987年参加全国校园歌曲电视大奖赛，以一首自创歌曲《中国，龙的故乡》获优胜奖，并签约中国唱片公司艺术团任独唱演员，发布过演唱专辑，在音乐风光片《七星降人间》担任男主角。1993年，谢江参加纽约美东地区中文歌唱大赛获得冠军及“最佳台风”奖。音乐的魅力将谢江推到了台前及幕后，他创作的歌曲《爸妈我很好！》MTV在广东、上海、北京及天津电视台播出获得广泛好评，并在天津“音乐电视创作龙虎榜”获得“最佳原创音乐”奖。之后，谢江除了大量的音乐制作和表演外，同时投身于演唱会及晚会制作，先后参与或独立制作过“97大运时装界开幕式”、“北京世纪坛世界大学生运动会开幕式演唱会”、“中国十大金曲颁奖典礼”，还有崔健、孙楠、羽泉、毛宁等大陆歌手的演唱会，以及港台歌星包括张惠妹、李玟、青山、蔡琴、苏芮、童安格、罗文、甄妮、曹格、S.H.E.、齐秦、温岚等的演唱会。四川汶川地震后，谢江发表了自己创作并演唱的抗震救灾公益歌曲《真情》，感动了许多有爱心的人。2011年，谢江独担重任，在“北美亚洲小姐竞选总决赛”晚会中包揽了音乐创作、主题歌创作、舞美设计、灯光音乐设计、舞蹈设计，及晚会总导演等职，达成了谢江实践全方位艺人的愿望，同时也让他在艺术成长的道路上迈出了更成熟的一步。这次晚会，他将为华府观众带来他演绎的《贝加尔湖》，据说比原唱李健还要有岁月的沉淀感和空灵深邃的穿透力，那种揪人魂魄的唱功，可豪放可静敛，很值得歌友们期待！更值得期待的是，在南美漂泊多年的他，将把源自墨西哥的经典情歌Besama Mucha(吻我，深深地吻吧)以西班牙语原汁原味献给大家，并配以热辣的南美洲风情舞，肯定会令观众大饱耳福与眼福！那种炫目的激情和体验，不到现场亲眼目睹是难以描述的。

另外，当上期介绍中出现魔幻大师大卫·科波菲尔和一位年轻”小生”的照片时，就引起了不少观众的注目。这位”小生”便是即将登临本场晚会的被誉为“逃逸大王”（the greatest escape artist)的Spencer Horsman先生。您可千万别小看了这位年轻人！这位霍斯曼先生，其实是著名的极限魔术师和娱乐大师，曾经闯入过《America’s Got Talent》第7季半决赛，在全世界多场魔术秀和娱乐秀现场的震撼表演，让观众叹为观止，被称为魔术界后浪追前浪的奇迹，简直要比肩科波菲尔大师！Spencer Horsman出生在娱乐世家。其父母Ken和Mary Horsman都是前林林兄弟，巴纳姆贝利马戏团的小丑表演家，扮演麦当劳叔叔广告及影视形象20年。Spencer 4岁时，跟随父亲开始接触魔术，随后跟着父亲一起登台表演。8岁开始学习腹语术，并在全国开始了巡回演出。15岁时，堪称神童的Spencer已经在各种著名的大秀中与著名大咖同台献演，比如在《The Late Show》中与David Letterman同台表演，在《The Jerry Springer Show》、《Talk Soup》、《The Statler Brothers Show》等大秀中精彩亮相，还在拉斯维加斯与David Copperfield和Lance Burton同台竞技。目前，Spencer在世界舞台上十分活跃，他凭着机智和引人入胜的舞台魔术表演深受世界各地观众的喜爱。他的加盟出演，是华府舞台难得一见的胜景，千万别错过这一次见证奇迹的机会！

除了这几个炫目的亮点，还有一系列精彩没抖包袱呢，相信观众朋友们还很期待其他舞蹈、唱歌、音乐演奏等节目吧！我们将在后续剧透中慢慢为您呈上精选！总之，这台风格火热、吉祥满满的嘉年晚会，由张斌任总指挥兼总导演，刘登峰任副总指挥，杨芳任执行导演，潘秋辰担纲宣传策划，特邀苗歌、谢江担任艺术顾问，并汇集华府强大的晚会执行团队，也将荟萃华府地区及美东地区中美精品文艺资源。团队合作的良好愿望即为大华府各界朋友们带来对现实生活的吉祥祝福，而不只是一个憧憬和传说，这场晚会也将是华府舞台年尾收官之前，不容错过的一场艺术和娱乐大餐！

组委会衷心感谢晚会的赞助商家！目前赞助商家包括东京海鲜楼（Tokyo Seafood Buffet）、全球厨柜批发 （Global Home Co）、泰腾汽车钣金维修中心（Titan Auto Body & Auto Repair）、丰盈国际貿易公司（ToYo International Trading INC）、美国阳恒鞋业有限公司（Star Bay Group Inc.）、爱维贷款（Ivy Mortgage）Zoe Su经理、富友餐馆(Hunan Manor)、吉米修车(Jimmies Auto)、卢全生医生等。如果您也想成为这台炫目激情、火热吉祥晚会的赞助人，请与程云楷703-395-1133、张斌410-294-637联系。

承蒙华府各界文艺爱好者的大力支持，晚会门票目前非常畅销，座位有限，欲购从速！

时间：2017年12月16日星期六晚上7:00

地点：River Hill 高中礼堂(12101 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD 21029)

票价：$15、$20、$50 (VIP)，团体票（10张以上可享受8折优惠）。

购票：王女士：605-261-6636；

           曾女士：443-668-2979；

任女士：410-300-3289；

陈女士：443-538-1396；

黄女士：410-227-5199；

玲女士：704-222-6168;

张女士：301-796-4165；

袁先生：667-216-5898。

 

My testimony on the School Redistricting

School Redistricting Issues facing our school system

By Chao Wu

Unfortunately I could not speak at the public forum due to a time conflict. Here is my written testimony.

2017-11-07

My name is Chao Wu, a candidate running for the 2018 school board. Thanks for the board taking  extraordinary time and discussion on the very important issues we are facing now. I would like to share my thoughts:

1)     Allow walkers be walkers to keep communities together and to minimize the extra transportation time and resources. There are many guidelines in the Policy 6010 to keep contiguous community together.  Walkers are a key and stable part of the community. We hope the board and the superintendent will keep this principle in mind while we find ways to alleviate overcrowding.

 2)     Have a back-up plan and prepare for redistricting to alleviate the overcrowded schools if the superintendent’s JumpStart could not enroll enough students.

 3)     Accelerate the construction of high school #13 and new elementary schools that are much overdue. There is an immediate need for the new high schools and elementary schools. I hope the board can keep working with the county council, county executive, and state government and allow the construction to start as soon as possible.

 4)     Don’t forget the effort on pursuing a more scientific school start time that affects all the County’s children. There are much research indicating the advantages of starting school later.  Some of our high school children have to get up as early as 5:30 AM to board the school bus which is clearly not healthy for our school age children. Last year’s proposals were not able to correct the high school student school time problems without creating new problems. We hope the board and superintendent will not forget this important priority that affects all our children.

 I believe we are a student focused education system. We can do better. We need to find a common sense solution and seek common ground for the benefit of all our students.

First Baltimore Sun Report on my BOE Campaign

This is the first Baltimore Sun report on my BOE campaign. The reporter Andrew Michales emailed me questions and I answered them by email.

Extracted from the newspaper:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-board-candidates-20171109-story.html

———-

Wu, who currently has children in the school system, said his time on the Columbia Association’s Board of Directors has shown him how to incorporate diversity and equity into the decision-making process. Wu has represented the Columbia Village of River Hill on the association’s board and been a board member of the River Hill Village Association since 2015.

Giving children the motivation to achieve is crucial to his platform, Wu said.

“If our children are motivated to learn and excel, there will be no difficulties we could not overcome,” he said. “Each child has different potential and the teacher and school should help to find it and drive the student to achieve that with help from their families.”

The photo was taken from that report.

A New Maryland High School Ranking

6 Comments

The schooldigger ranked Prince George’s Academy of Health Sciences at PGCC the number one high school in Maryland in 2017. Since FARM rate was highly discussed in HCPSS school redistricting, I notice that their FARM student rate is 46.3%. This is a significant achievement for such a young school, just opened six years ago.

school digger high school ranking

AHS at PGCC info

Their website is http://www.pgcps.org/academyatpgcc/PB-academyatpgcc.aspx?Pageid=221171&id=183487

On the greatschools.org, it shows that its AP course participation rate is 0%, but SAT/ACT participation rate is 85%. A student need take an entrance exam to compete for a seat there. So it is a selective enrollment and by choice enrollment .

We Need to Improve Our System Modeling (The Villager 2017-11)

We Need to Improve Our System Modeling

This article is published in the River Hill “The Villager”, November 2017 Issue.

In this column, I will briefly present information about two system modeling problems that negatively impact the River Hill community from Columbia Association (CA) and Howard County Public School System (HCPSS).

Case I: Columbia Association Assessment Share Formula.

A CA work team has been analyzing the formula that determines the amount of money that is distributed to each village association from the assessments paid by Columbia property owners. This Assessment Share forms the foundation for each village’s income stream, with additional revenue generated by rental of the village-managed buildings, newsletter advertising, and various programs and services. As the River Hill Board of Directors was preparing a response to the CA work team on the revised formula, there was a debate on how to simplify the formula. CA board members hear complaints that the current formula is too complicated and a simpler model is needed.

The fallacy is that simplicity results in a better or more accurate model. During the River Hill Board’s discussion, one example of over simplicity identified was with the computation of the newsletter printing costs that was factored into the formula component . The proposed formula uses a flat rate:

formula 1

where x is the printing rate and N is the number of copies. So, if we print 2000 copies, the cost is 2000 * x dollars. If we print 10000 copies, the cost is 10000 * x dollars.  Based on this, the more copies a village needs (a.k., the larger population the village has), the more beneficial the assessment share formula will be. However, in reality, we know printing rates vary depending on the volume of the copies. A slightly better model will account for varying rates, for example:

formula 2

where we have two different printing rates, , for different printing volumes. Usually,  x1 is larger than x2.

As a result, the over-simplified model in Equation (1) gives unfair advantage to villages printing more newsletters. Villages with smaller populations, such as River Hill, are negatively impacted. Similarly, other over-simplified models were used to compute other cost components of the assessment share formula. As a result, the final recommended formula does not accurately reflect the true expenses of each village.

Case II: School Population Prediction.

When Renee Kamen, Manager of Office of School Planning of HCPSS, attended a recent redistricting forum sponsored by the River Hill Community Association, she stated the HCPSS student population prediction model is accurate within 1% error, which implied the predictions model is very accurate. However, based on research by River Hill residents, Pointers Run Elementary School (PRES) consistently receives around 10% more students than predicted by the HCPSS model in recent years. So, the overall accuracy of the model masks the populations in some schools. After examining the actual enrollment numbers at PRES during 2002-2012, analysis shows a continuous decline in student population. However, the student population bounces back very quickly after that. In the HCPSS student projection model, student population at PRES decreases continuously into 2018. Obviously, the HCPSS prediction model does not take into account the current enrollment trend at PRES.

In this case, for each individual school, no matter how accurate the overall prediction is, it does not matter. It only matters when the model predicts the right student number at the school. If not, the model fails. The school system needs to find a way to modify, improve and validate the current student population prediction model as it is being used to support school redistricting.

I hope this article gives you some idea of how an over-simplified or inaccurate model can impact our community and the importance of  getting the mathematical modeling correct.

 

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com  Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

CA Board Meeting Summary of 2017-10-26

Resident Speakout:

  1. Tim L., talked about CA’s effort to reduce carbon footprint, great development in Long Reach Village, signing the Paris Agreement, possibly creating a CA Climate Advisory Committee.
  2. Joel Hurwitz, talked about signing the Paris Agreement.
  3. Richard D., talked about signing the Paris Agreement. CA needs get words out on our on this.

Columbia China Sister City Update

CA board members Dick Boulton and Alan Klein, together with the China Sister City Delegate returned with signing a MOU with our potential sister city- Liyang, China.

Meeting Agenda:

Discussion From The Department of Sports and Fitness

  1. JumpStart program to attract or retain membership
  2. Fitness on Demand
  3. Next level conditioning
  4. Outdoor Yoga at Steven’s Forest Pool and Haven
  5. Older Adult Classes… Aqua Fitness, Aqua Arthritis, Body Vive, Restorative/Gentle Yoga, Build your bones, LaBlast and more
  6. Small Group Training… Parkinson’s Punch, Fit Boxing, TRX-boxing, Kettlebells and more
  7. Exploring GymGo model
  8. Fir 3- year olds, Tennis Whizz training program
  9. 2018 Spring Monthly Skate Park competition

The Paris Agreement

The Columbia Association (“CA”) Board of Directors (the “Board’) voted unanimously to authorize the President/CEO to sign the “Open letter to the international community and parties to the Paris Agreement from U.S. state, local and business leaders” (the “Letter”), which is attached to this Resolution. The Board finds that the content of the Letter is in keeping with the accomplishment of CA’s purposes to respect the land and promote the welfare of the people of Columbia and its environs and with CA’s ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. Having made these findings, the Board hereby authorizes the President/CEO to sign the Letter on behalf of CA.

FY19-20 Budget Discussion

The board discussed FY19 and FY 20 Draft Capital Requests and did not approved it.

Allocation Formula

The board approved the new allocation formula and 3 year phase-in plan.

Contingency Fund

The board approved abandoning the contingency fund. The board approved distributing the money to villages ( each village gets 5%, CA gets 50%).

Reserve Cap

No decision now.

Colors of the Wind Holiday Gala of Greater Washington DC on 12/16/2017

Colors of the Wind Holiday Gala of Greater Washington DC on 12/16/2017

at River Hill High School

相约12/16：七彩华府嘉年晚会开锣在即

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为弘扬中华文化并促进与美国多元文化的交流，亚美发展与交流基金会携手马里兰州培英中文学校，经过几个月的精心筹划，将于12月16日在马州哈维郡(Howard County, Maryland)隆重推出首屆”七彩华府”嘉年晚会。

这台晚会不仅仅是华人社区的活动，也是一个基于美国社区的交流活动。晚会主题“七彩华府”既反映了色彩全谱，也包含了五音七律，它恰恰蕴含着文化交流、族裔交融的意义，这也正是主办方搭建这一平台的用意所在。作为晚会主办方之一的亚美发展与交流基金会，是去年九月在美国马里兰州正式注册成立的一个非赢利、非政治、非宗教民间组织，其宗旨在于提升美国亚太社区的发展与交流及促进国际合作，其所致力的活动除了弘扬中华传统文化、鼓励和助推青少年参与社会活动、支持新移民融入当地社会、助学育人之外，也通过大力开展各种文化交流活动，推广各个领域和地区的经济交往，并通过搭建各种高端国际文化交流、高峰论坛、智库研究等平台来凝聚社会各方面力量。晚会的另一主办方培英中文学校就坐落于风景秀丽的马里兰州哈维郡优秀的RIVER HILL高中，这也是这场晚会的演出场地。成立于2011年的培英中文学校也是一个马里兰注册的非赢利教育机构。作为海外中文教育的一支新军，培英一贯坚持因材施教，小班精英教育理念，把中文教育与服务社区结合起来，在哈维郡首次推出了许多中文以外的课程，教育讲座和社区活动，为社区华裔和其它族裔学生提供紧跟时代的实践和教育，成为了哈维郡堪比私立教育品质的翘楚。

Capture+_2017-10-26-00-13-35
领衔本场晚会担任总指挥并兼任总导演的张斌先生是华府侨界和艺术界熟知的人物，他不仅服务侨社多年并曾担任大华府地区多个社团主要负责人，也与华府地区许多艺术家合作,全身心打造过华府地区多场综艺晚会和音乐会。担任晚会执行导演的是多年来活跃于巴尔的摩和华府地区、组织过多场社区晚会的杨芳女士。她有丰富的晚会组织和舞台表演经验，将精心协助落实晚会细节。晚会组委会团队还囊括了程云楷、伍超等知名侨领，以及以董事长刘登峰、校长黄茹为核心的培英中文学校团队，加上众多艺术家的加盟与合作(本晚会特邀雅歌合唱团指挥苗歌老师和知名旅美音乐制作人谢江先生担任艺术顾问)，目前整个晚会节目的征集和麟选已近完成，节目在形式多样性和多族裔参与、艺术、通俗等各方面都会包容，以达到交流的效果及满足观众的需求，为华府地区的族群交融拓展新的路径。晚会将特邀数位专业演员加盟，有纽约来的著名华人音乐人、实力歌手，西裔著名拉丁舞表演艺术家，著名二胡演奏家，以及进入美国达人秀（America‘s Got Talent）准决赛的著名魔术和娱乐大师，还有华府地区的优秀华人表演团体等等，这将是一场荟集华府地区及美东地区中美精品文艺资源的高水平艺术盛会，非常值得期待！

接下来几周，组委会将会陆续给大家作精选剧透，敬请关注。
晚会筹备巳得到一些商家的大力支持，目前赞助商家包括东京海鲜楼（
Tokyo Seafood Buffet）、全球厨柜批发 （Global Home Co）、泰腾汽车钣金维修中心（Titan Auto Body & Auto Repair）、丰盈国际貿易公司（ToYo International Trading INC）、美国阳恒鞋业有限公司（Star Bay Group Inc.）、爱维贷款（Ivy Mortgage）Zoe Su经理、富友餐馆(Hunan Manor)、吉米修车(Jimmies Auto)等。组委会衷心感谢我们的赞助商并希望得到更多商家和个人给与赞助支持! 赞助商家可在节目单中登载广告并获赠演出票，组委会还将登报鸣谢。有意支持的商家敬请与程云楷 (703- 395-1133) 或张斌 (410-294-8637) 接冾。
七彩华府嘉年晚会
Colors of the Wind Holiday Gala of Greater Washington DC

时间:  2017年12月16日 (周六)  晚上7时
地点:  River Hill 高中礼堂 (12101 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD 21029)
票价:     $15、$20、$50 (VIP)  ； 团体票（10张以上可得8折优惠）。

购票联系: 王女士: 605-261-6636；曾女士: 443-668-2979；任女士: 410-300-3289；陈女士: 443-538-1396；黄女士: 410-227-5199；玲女士: 202-868-9126；张女士: 301-796-4165；袁先生: 667-216-5898
 

Draft APFO Amendments for Howard County

These amendments will be voted soon at the Howard County Council. Certain provisions will have a long term effect on how our county will develop in the future and how the school over-crowding issue will be solved.  So you can send your comments to the county council asap at councilmail@howardcountymd.gov to reach all council members.

2017 Draft APFO amendments

2017 Draft APFO amendments 2

The full document is shared from Stu Kohn at HCCA mailing list. The full document is attached here: 2017 Draft APFO Amendments

I am not sure how each amendment will be voted. It is very interesting or strange that Council District 5 Councilman Greg Fox did not provide any amendment at all.

The People’s Voice President Lisa Markovitz wrote an article on this: http://www.peoplesvoicellc.org/single-post/2017/10/21/Choosing-Insanity

CAPA Civic Engagement Seminar Series (1)

CAPA Civic Engagement Seminar Series (1)

Introduction of Howard County Citizens Association and The People’s Voice

Guest Speakers: Stu Kohn and Lisa Markovitz

Howard Community College, DH100 (Duncan Hall)

Sunday, October 29 2017, 12 – 2 pm

Our speakers for the inaugural CAPA Civic Engagement Seminar are Howard County Citizens Association (HCCA) President Stu Kohn, and the President of The People’s Voice (TPA), HCCA Vice President Lisa Markovitz.  Both HCCA (http://howardcountyhcca.org/us/citizens-in-action/) and TPA (http://www.peoplesvoicellc.org/board-members) are well recognized and well respected community organizations that have made positive impact on lives of Howard county residents, by bringing residents together to express views, take joint actions, and encourage participations in County affairs.

Stu and Lisa will introduce the HCCA and TPV respectively. They will show and discuss an HCCA Film “Columbia at 50 – A Bridge to the Future” (Note:  this is about All of Howard County).  They will also specifically talk about the ongoing school redistricting (now in the Board of Education) process as well as Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (APFO) in the County Council, followed by open questions and concerns from the audiences.

This is a great opportunity for you to learn local issues which closely affect your lives and your children’s education. It also will help you to know how and when to participate in our community affairs.

In Chinese

大家有没有最近为学区重划而烦恼和忧虑？大家有没有考虑我们郡，怎么发展到今天以及将来怎么发展？CAPA请来了我们郡两位非常资深人士跟大家一起探讨：Howard County Citizens Association（HCCA）的主席，Stu Kohn，和HCCA的副主席兼人民之声 (The People’s Voice)的主席Lisa Markovitz。我们希望通过他们的讲座，帮助大家了解怎么参与我们郡公共事务的讨论，怎么能够为我们郡的发展出谋划策，或者如果你觉得哪个发展不对的时候，该怎么抗争。

Stu 跟 Lisa 首先会播放一部三十分钟的纪录片“Columbia at 50 – A Bridge to the Future”。这个纪录片讨论了我们郡，特别是哥伦比亚市近五十年的发展历史和今天面临的难题。接着他们会讨论正在进行中的BOE的学区重划，County Council的APFO立法等等大家关心的议题。

欢迎参加。周日 10/29/2017， 12：00-14：00 Howard Community College, DH100 (Duncan Hall)

Some update on JumpStart program

Since the superintendent proposed to use JumpStart to alleviate the high School overcrowding problem in his 2018 HCPSS School Redistricting proposal (https://chaowu.org/2017/10/03/hcpss-superintendent-redistricting-proposal/), more details were discussed. The following is shared from somebody who attended Thursday night’s BOE meeting.

———————————————————————————————-

Many details about the JumpStart Program has been shared by the HCPSS staff at the BOE work session yesterday. Here is my quick summary FYI:

1. Tuition will be about 50% off the regular Howard County Community College (HCC) tuition rate at about $100 per credit on average. Cheaper if courses are offered at HCPSS and more expensive if on HCC campus.

2. 60 credits will cost a student/family $6,000 and 30 credits $3,000. 60 credits is sufficient for a 2-year HCC Associate degree.

3. FARMs students can take early college credit courses in the JumpStart Program for free. This is paid for by HCPSS.

4. Total JumpStart Program cost for HCPSS is about $1 million per year. About 1/3 of that go to tuition waiver for FARMs students in the program and 2/3 go to transportation and other small items.

5. Admission process will ensure equal opportunity to high achievers, middle of the pack and low achievers.

6. The Program focuses on providing career paths to high school students with many career paths to choose from.

7. Students can start the program at the beginning of the 9th grade or later.

8. No impact on students who choose not to enroll in JumpStart and no impact on school staffing other than what HCPSS already does every year for staff rotation based on enrollment changes among HS.

9. HCPSS has been briefing the five schools involved and the parents and school staff, and has received much positive feedback. BOE asked for a survey to gauge how much capacity relief the Program can bring to HHS, LRHS and CHS. There is more than 350 combined receiving capacity at RHHS and OMHS, if there are more than 350 interested students in this rosy scenario.

CA Board Work Session Meeting Summary 2017-10-12

Resident Speakout:

  1. Bill Santos, Wilde Lake, CA Aquatics Advisory Committee, talked about 2012 aquatic study, recommended a new pool.
  2. Tim Lattimer., Long Reach, urged the board to sign Paris Climate pledge, to create a CA climate advisory committee.
  3. Cliff Wright, Hickory Ridge, talked about the Paris Climate Accord.
  4. Richard Duitschmann, Owen Brown, urged to sign “We are still in” declaration.
  5. Dalia Shlash, River Hill, requested funding for tot lot upgrade starting from 2019.
  6. Larry Liebesman urged to sign “We are still in” declaration.
  7. Earl Sneeringer urged to build or use a Pickle ball facility with 6 or 8 courts, converting Owen Brown Bubble, or build one CA Sports Park.
  8. Joel Hurewitz, urged to sign the Paris Accord.
  9. Catherine Heilveil, graduate from River Hill, urged to sign “We are still in” the Paris Agreement.
  10. Pat Hedrsdy, Steven Forest, talked about “We are still in” pledge.

Agenda:

Energy Management Program Overview,

  1. launched 2012, to reduce energy usage, energy costs and environmental impact.  1 degree room temperature increase will need 2-3% extra energy cost. Right now Columbia Gym is set at 68 degrees (Recommend 68-72 degrees by industry standard).
  2. Energy cost snapshot: Supreme (15321 MMBtu) 23%, Swim Center (10155 MMBtu) 15%, Athletic Club (7787 MMBtu)11%, Columbia Gym (7241 MMBtu) 11%, Ice Rink (5045 MMBtu) 7%, all others 33%.
  3. Renewable Energy.
    1. Nixon Solar Farm generates 2500 MWh of electricity or 25% of our power
    2. Wind RECs purchased for remaining 75% of power
    3. Existing on-site generation at River Hill and Amherst House.
  4. Installing Electric Charge Station, 15K per installation , began to charge users at 0.20 per kW. Used to be free to users. BGE helped to reduce the overall program cost.
  5. 10-12 KW generated  by the solar array at the River Hill Swimming Pool. The energy can power one average household .

2019-2020 Budget Discussion (over 1 million dollar projects):

Category 1:

Columbia Swim Center Phase III renovation: 1.2 million dollars

Category II:

Athletic Club Renovation:  It was estimated that we need 24 million dollars to replace Athletic Club, without considering parking lots. We spent 2 million dollars, plan to spent another 5 million dollars for renovation in 2018-2019.  I was thinking that 50-year old building should be scraped from the ground and rebuilt.  There is a time we should cut loss and build something new.

Supreme Sports Club Renovation: 4.7 million dollars.

Haven on the Lake: 1.0 million dollars

Lake Kittamaqundi Planning and Dredging: 1.09 million dollars

Columbia Wide Pathway Renovation: 1 million dollars

Headquarter Building -Reserve for Deposit: 1.1 million dollars

The board was not able to finish discussing all the budget tonight, will continue the discussion next Thursday.

The board discussed the Dashboard metric briefly.

 

 

 

 

 

HCPSS redistricting timeline

This table helps you to understand 2018 HCPSS redistricting timeline. You can send your email to boe@hcpss.org or testify publicly at several public hearings listed before. You need register to speak.

New and Later Columbia Gym Close Time

Columbia Gym New and Later Close Time:

  1. Monday to Thursday 11:00PM;
  2. Friday 9:00PM,
  3. Saturday 7:00PM and
  4. Sunday 9:00PM.
  5. Starting from 2017-10-16.

Hope this new time works better. Thanks for those who followed my article and wrote email to CA staff asking for a later closure time.

Thanks for CA staff working hard to meet residents’ needs.

2018 HCPSS Superintendent Redistricting Proposal

5 Comments

2018 HCPSS Final School redistricting result came out on 11/16/2017. It is here https://chaowu.org/2017/11/16/final-2018-hcpss-school-redistricting/

This is the latest, most updated 2018 HCPSS redistricting plan. This is the framework for future discussion. The superintendent Dr. Martirano dramatically scaled back the school redistricting from both the feasibility study version and AAC version. Here are three graphs (high school, middle school and elementary school) from his proposal. Note the public can now send their opinions to BOE at boe@hcpss.org.

Here is the link to find your polygon number: http://hcpss-gis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=78bbfc96270e4e16bcec96478fe1f24e

Superintendent proposal for high schoolSuperintendent proposal for middle schoolSuperintendent proposal for elementary school

The documents are here for your reference: http://www.hcpss.org/school-planning/

10 03 2017 Attendance Area Adjustment BR

2017-superintendent-attendance-overview

HCPSS CCP Redistricting Plan

This is a community plan presented tonight by community volunteers, independent of HCPSS Area Attendance Committee.  This plan was not affiliated with the school system at all although they worked with the school to get data and other information.

I attended their meeting tonight and around 160 people were there fully occupying the St John Baptist Church at Tamar Drive. They are looking for your feedback. Also they want this can help to shape the final redistricting. Instead of comprehensive redistricting, they prefer limiting the scope of the redistricting.

Their proposal and analysis are located at https://unitedforhocoschools.org/ccp

The feedback link is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfHTdq0yirxU4cYjQTtn-CXojiS6xQHSxh8B9r1ykrcNycFGg/viewform

The superintendent Dr. Martirano will unveil his final redistricting plan tomorrow night ( Oct 3, 2017) at Wilde Lake High School. Please attend it if you can.

A Bridge to the Future (The Villager 2017-10)

A Bridge to the Future

This article was published in The Villager of River Hill Community Association, October 2017 Issue.

After the first village, Wilde Lake, was built 50 years ago, Columbia has become a very large city with more than 100,000 people, 2000 business and a very vibrant community. The Howard County Citizens Association (HCCA) made a documentary film about the last 50 years and challenged the community to think about how Columbia can continue to be built for a bright future.

To ensure a bright future of Columbia for the next 50 years, we need a planned and visionary development in both education and housing aspects.

First, our educational system must adapt to the changes we anticipate. With fast advancement in automation and artificial intelligence, future life and work will be quite different from today’s. Manual labor and tedious work will be replaced by the computer and robotics. Computer literacy will be a must for many future workers. So, our education system will need to adapt to educate the workforce of the future. We need to ensure our school system is guided by student-focused principles:

  1. motivate all students to achieve their full and diverse potential
  2. expanding learning opportunities to all students by utilizing all available resources

Second, all housing and commercial developments should provide the infrastructure needed to support the uses, especially the need for schools. This can partially be regulated by tightening the Adequate Public Ordinance (APFO) which is currently being debated by the County Council. I testified on behalf of myself at the County Council and made the following points:

Three loopholes should be removed:

  1. Include the high schools in the capacity test. I am not sure why high schools were not included in the test more than 10 years ago.
  2. Remove the waiting time for development. Now, when a development does not pass a capacity test, it will automatically pass after waiting for four years (in reality, three years) without a second test
    . This practice should be abolished.
  3. Include the Medium and Low Income Housing (MLIH) units in the development unit cap. For each new development, it is required that 15% of the units be MLIH. However, this 15% (i.e., around 300 units) is not presently counted in the annual cap of 2000 new residential units.

Two Numbers should be revised:

  1. The school capacity limit should be set at 100%, not 115%.
  2. The developer fee should be raised substantially. For comparable housing units, the developers in Howard County are paying less than 10% of the development fee in Montgomery County. Housing prices in Howard County are not cheaper than those in Montgomery County to justify this huge fee difference.

I support development since only continuous economic, housing and social development and improvement will solve many problems we face today. However, the development should be planned with a long -term vision. Unregulated development will lead to chaos. Tightening APFO now will give our legislators a rare opportunity to address the problems created over the last 15 years.

Some neighborhood news:

County Executive Allan Kittleman proposed a new site for the High School 13 on Landing Road in Elkridge and asked the Howard County Public School System to delay high school redistricting until this high school is built in 2022. Previously the proposed location for High School 13 was on Mission Road in Jessup.

The school redistricting process has created many heated debates, anxiety, and expectations in the county. I encourage everyone to be civil and respect others’ opinions during this difficult time. The superintendent, Dr. Martirano, will provide his final redistricting recommendation to the Board of Education on Oct. 3.

Columbia Association (CA) is developing the FY19 and FY 20 budgets. The CA Board has heard from residents and villages about their funding needs. We will continue work on our budget until early next year.

CA Board Members also looked at the Lakefront Core Design Guidelines during the September board work session and will provide feedback to the Department of Zoning and Planning on the development.

The River Hill Village Board is working with CA and residents to upgrade two existing tot lots to meet residents’ needs. The Village Board will solicit resident feedback on upgrades.

Thanks for reading. I am looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.

River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors

Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org

Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

The picture was taken on 10/1/2017 morning at the Centennial Lake while I joined the Centennial Runner Group for Breast Cancer Awareness fund raising event.

 

Tightening APFO, helping schools

After this school redistricting cycle, many people may come to the same conclusion: if any politicians who do not support or vote for tightening APFO, do not vote for them. Just so simple!

Here is what are my talk points on September 11, 2017. Three loopholes, two numbers: https://chaowu.org/2017/09/12/my-county-council-testimony-on-tightening-apfo-now/

Here is a picture: ChaoWu APFO Sept 11 speech

Here is what I spoke at 1:57:25. After it was done, it was around 11:30 PM that night.