The Bay Net Photo by Ahmar Mustikhan

The FBI reports that juvenile crime rate triples between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., said Madiba Dennie,15, in support of after-school programs.  

“I beseech you to hear the voice of St. Mary’s County Public School students and fully fund after school programs,” the 11th Grader urged at St. Mary’s County budget hearing Thursday at the Leonardtown High School.

It seemed like the entire community, young and old, black and white, rich and poor from a judge’s wife to a special needs child, were all solidly united behind School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano and against the St. Mary’s Board of Commissioner’s decision to cut his budget request by $2.5 million.

Even those who fought bitter battles with the school board in the past, like Wanda Twigg, former president of Educational Association of St. Mary’s County, rallied behind Martirano’s budget request.

County Finance Director Elaine Kramer, a former finance director of the school system, said the capital improvement for the school system was adequately funded but to her chagrin nearly five dozens citizens spoke, many of them against the $2.5 million cut in the superintendent’s budget request.

Commissioner President Jack Russell (D. St. George Island), Dan Raley (D. Great Mills), Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach), Tom Mattingly (D. Leonardtown) and Kenny Dement (R. Piney Point) listened with rapt attention.

Madiba Dennie, who is president of St. Mary’s Association of Student Councils and president-elect of the Maryland Association of Student Councils, does not have to leave home to learn what ails the system; she is daughter of Deborah Dennie, assistant principal of one of the most troubled schools in the state of Maryland, Spring Ridge Middle School.

By the time Martirano got to speak, many people had already left for their homes.  Martirano said, “Our drop out rate is higher than we would like it to be… Three of our schools have been targeted by the state for needing improvement due to lower academic performance, and our performance in 8th grade math has slowly declined.”

He said the school system was being brutally honest about the situation on the ground and roared, “The data does not lie and we are truthfully telling our story.”

 
The Bay Net photo by Ahmar Mustikhan

Dennie, who spoke in support of Martirano, brought to the commissioners’ attention research of the Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) that youth who attend after school programs do better in school and are safer outside of it.

She said after school programs help eliminate the achievement gap, improve school attendance, and reduce drop out rate“an issue that St. Mary’s Local Management Board considers one of the five most important issues facing our youth.”

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