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Hello and welcome community. This is Nichole Banks, your blue hearted ceo. In Howard County there have been incidents where there are disruptions, violence, and damage being done by adolescents that are visiting places throughout the community, like the malls and other parts of the community that are accessible for social gatherings and events.

I wanna speak on this because in incidents like this, we can raise expectations, we can point fingers, we can sit, talk, hypothesize and try our best to understand. What I believe is most important is that we acknowledge the group that we're dealing with, Adolescents.

Adolescents are still growing, they're still learning. Literally there are brain cells that are still connecting and being formed. So when it comes to making decisions, they don't have everything that's needed to use their complete conscience, critical thinking, good decision making skills.

Some of our adolescents still have social anxieties, and are still highly impulsive.

I think these are things that we really need to keep into consideration when we're speaking about the things that are happening to, within and around this group. They have become an at-risk group, whether it is towards others and towards each other.

We as a community are responsible for these adolescents because they are still in need of great care, support, guidance and protection with those things that need to be provided. It needs to be very strategic, specialized and specific to the group that we're dealing with.

We cannot approach and handle a 15 year old boy or girl or a 12 year old boy or girl with the same way that we would approach, handle, and deal with an adult or a younger child or elderly or a government official.

We have to approach them, deal with them, and handle them for where they are as an adolescent, as a tween, as a teen, with great consideration of where they are as a general population, as far as their level of growth physically, emotionally, and intellectually, with keeping into consideration things that we may not know when dealing with them and handling them.

And that poses a risk when it comes to the general population that may be expected to approach and deal with these tweens and teens, these adolescents. With that being said, is it really the best thing for the good of this group to just automatically have people within the community, workers, cashiers, mall security, police officers to deal with them and handle them without proper insight and knowledge and experience?

Shouldn't we be more careful, strategic and intentional to have these groups to be supervised and approached by those who have a deeper understanding, a greater knowledge and experience in how to deal with them as a general population and for the things that could possibly be going on with them that we may not know about.

But this takes specialized training and that's why we have businesses like Teen Check Assistants, to deploy those individuals that can infiltrate their atmospheres without them becoming defensive, feeling threatened, or feeling like they're being “watched” so that they can still be able to have that independent experience that they all want so much and need.

Also, be in the presence of those who can provide care, assistance, support and safety as needed within their groups, and also to those that surround them.

We cannot expect a cashier to be up in arms when they think that an adolescent is becoming unruly.

We can't expect a security guard who may not have extensive knowledge as to how to deal with an adolescent not even knowing whether or not this adolescent is neurotypical or neurodiverse or have any mental health issues or is being abused.

These things need to be considered when we approach them, when we try to deal with them and handle them to diffuse situations that are going to come up because they're adolescents, they're tweens, they're teens, they're still developing, they're still very impulsive.

They may not be the young child, but their brain cells are still connecting as if they were. They don't have a full conscience like an adult. They don't have full self-awareness to self-management skills just yet. And it's safe to say this because of what we're seeing in the media with this group.

I just urge everyone that in this goal we collectively want to reach to make sure that adolescents aren't causing harm and destructiveness to themselves and to others in the community, that we approach this more intentionally and strategically.

With our greatest hopes and efforts,

Speak Freely Friday

Often, we here the question, “What is this world coming to?” When we hear about violence, attacks and killings of students, our youth, our future. We wonder, “What can be done in this world to keep them safer?” But is it the world we should inquire about? No, because it’s not the world ending young lives, it’s mentally unstable individuals who have chosen to cause harm. What we do know is, we must do something because our world will never fully be rid of these types of people.

So, maybe the question should be, “Will our students know what to do if, or when, they are faced with danger?” We send them to school to be educated, cared for and protected in our absence; and bless our teachers and educational staff members, but they cannot protect every student from harm. Even with our school systems safety protocols in place and periodic drills, it’s not enough to ensure that in the face of a threat our kids will remember the practice drill instructions. There is no guarantee every single student will hear a teachers or staff members voice while everyone is screaming and crying in fear.

Unfortunately, we cannot protect them every moment of everyday, but we can prepare them for whatever that day may bring in terms of increasing their chances of survival if they’re exposed to an attack. Our youth are being educated to know how to communicate, compute, analyze and create in the world to come by educators. Our youth are being exposed to how to define their identities, the chaos in our society, mature topics and the acceptance of addiction or exploitation of choice with their access to online information. So what’s left? As parents, grandparents, guardians, loved ones; we teach them how to be responsible, caring, independent, resourceful and mindful.

We also teach them how to be safe. “Remember to wash your hands”, “cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough” safety. “Look both ways when you are going to cross a street”, “don’t talk to strangers” safety. Lets’ keep in mind, as parents and loved ones, we tell these safety rules to our students well into the teen years. Why? Because we know exactly how long it takes to truly instill something into the growing mind of a child or adolescent. Not to minimize these essentials, these are safety rules according to them never being presented with a horrific threat.

All these things have their place to inform our young ones, good and bad. But who is giving our students the opportunity to be taught emergency safety? Safety protocol that gives them the skill of self-protection in the face of danger, if they can’t hear instruction from a teacher or staff member during chaos, and when their classmates are frozen in fear.

Consistent and thorough safety training as in, “this is what you do, how you do it, step by step, when a shooter is in your school”. I’ll tell you who will give our students the opportunity to learn this essential; us, parents, grandparents, Godparents, aunties, uncles, foster parents, caregivers.

 Not long after school started this Fall, teachers, school staff, students and parents came to share and exchange important school information and procedures at “Back to school night” for Patapsco Middle School in Howard County. The halls were lined with teachers outside their doors greeting students and their parents with smiles. Organizations that support our youth, families and our community as whole had warm welcomes and arranged marketing materials with their information readily available.

Students are scrambling the halls and pulling the hands of their parents as if roles had switched. You can see the urgency and focus on each of these middle schoolers faces as they took their parents to each of their period classes. There was no time nor opportunity for slowing down. Though, can we agree it is a proud moment to see a child so committed to helping their parent get to class on time? That evening, it was us parents who were loss and certainly appreciated the children’s guidance.

Us parents required help, but we did earn a break to mingle among the administrators and the organizations present that evening. During this time, I came across the table and representatives for the Charles Miller Branch Library, they had a flyer that immediately caught my attention. It said, “Speed Date the Board of Education Candidates”, hosted by the League of Women Voters; I thought to myself, this is a great opportunity to speak with the candidates directly to get their ideas on where they felt could be the greatest opportunity to improve the dynamic of the Howard County school system if they made it on the board. As a Howard County resident and parent, gaining this type of opportunity is of the most importance; I decided once our evening ended at Patapsco Middle, I would register immediately.

As I scan the QR code of the flyer to complete my registration, I focus in on the words, “Speed Date.” Suddenly I feel a knot in my tummy and think to myself, “I’ve never been to a speed dating event!” My mind quickly referenced once when I saw a tv show where people were speed dating and how the timer whistled so quickly, they barely could finish answering one question. At that moment, I knew I would have to be prepared ahead of time with my questions; I wanted to make the most of every second I had with each candidate. I wanted answers.

I knew there were four (4) candidates, but I did not know how many people other than myself would be at the speed dating event along with me. So, I kept my questions quite simple and had them written down. I wondered what the thoughts of each candidate would be on topics of class size, school safety, special education, and budget strategies, so I decided to ask about those topics. A few days had passed, and the evening was upon me. For a moment, I honestly felt a bit nervous as if I were to really be speed dating. I thought to myself, “Well this will be practice.” I chuckled a bit.

When I arrived to Howard County Library System Miller Branch, I felt differently, I felt excited to be able to be apart of the event and ask the questions that many parents would want to ask and I also felt secure in knowing I would be representing my Howard County students and be able to engage with the candidates where I could ask questions of streaming topics and even offer insight from my perspective, and it just may make a difference for our students when the two (2) winning candidates make it onto the board.

Feeling excited and secure I make it to the room where we are to meet and I see our four (4) board of education candidates, “Tudy Adler”, “Linfeng Chen”, “Jacky McCoy”, and “Dan Newberger”. I smiled at each of them as I entered knowing it was going to be a wonderful experience, I greeted the host and found myself a seat in the very first row. It was important to me to be close enough to gauge the expressions and body languages of the candidates as the each gave the opening statements. As a parent, I have learned all forms of communication is important to receive and anything involving our students is of the most importance.

As they approached the podium one by one, I was so pleased to hear each of their backgrounds, values, and experiences they felt would be most vital to the Howard County school system if elected to the board. I found so much authenticity in each of them as they spoke of working within the school systems in different aspects, or being apart of the Howard county communities, having and excelling through developmental delays and some even understanding how the school systems budget works and how to disperse the funds so it gets to where they feel is most important. The opening statements were the perfect launch to our speed dating event.

Then it began, each candidate went to a table and each table had approximately five (5) chairs and we did a round robin style format of speed dating. I decided to go in the order in which they had presented their opening statements. As other attendees and I approached each of the candidates with questions, they all were very friendly, patient, and concise on their ideas as it pertained to the concerns stated at the event. It was very encouraging to see all of them very brave and confident in answering each of our questions.

It was quite enjoyable and enlightening to speak with each of them on their thoughts, plans and ideas for educational initiatives. With these four (4) candidates pursuing a seat on the board, I have no doubt the Howard County School System can look forward to even greater support and direction. I must say, I am impressed with all four (4) candidates.

Two (2) seats are up for general election for the Howard County Board of Education on November 8, 2022.

 HCLS Contact: Ms. Katie DiSalvo-Thronson

Community Engagement and Partnership Manager

Howard County Library System

Resource: Howard County Public Schools, Maryland, elections (2022) - Ballotpedia