Thursday, February 7, 2013
Tell us what you think.
It’s budget season in Montgomery County, and at least one local parent wants to know what county leadership is doing to protect students—protection that can’t come from armed guards and locked doors. Football season is recently concluded, hockey season is underway and sporting concussions continue to pose health risks to high school, college and pro athletes across the country. While state and county lawmakers have made strides in requiring concussion-training for high school coaches, local advocate and Patch blogger Tom Hearn says it’s not enough. Hearn, whose own son sustained a concussion playing JV football at Whitman High School in 2011, urges the county school board to include $500,000 in funding for high school athletic trainers in…
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Testimony will be considered as part of a report to Maryland's State Board of Education.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Testimony will be considered as part of a report to Maryland's State Board of Education.
Update, Nov. 1, 2012: The Maryland State Department of Education’s Traumatic Brain Injury/Sports Related Concussion Task Force's public hearing on traumatic brain injuries and concussions among interscholastic athletes in Maryland public schools has been rescheduled, the State Department of Education announced Wednesday. The hearing will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Nov. 5 in the state school board meeting room at 200 W. Baltimore St., in Baltimore. The rescheduling of the hearing, which was originally set for Monday, Oct. 29, is due to Hurricane Sandy. Original post, Oct. 17, 2012: As football season brings the dangers of head injuries into sharper focus, the Maryland State Department of Education announced plans Tuesday to hold a …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr announced Tuesday that Montgomery County Public Schools is considering a district-wide baseline testing program for student athletes.
With concussions on the rise among high school and collegiate athletes, Montgomery County Public Schools is investigating a program to try to do something about it. MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr announced Tuesday that MCPS is considering a district-wide baseline testing program to assist in identifying student athletes who suffer concussions and to help in determining when they can safely return to the playing field, according to a news release. Starr told the Montgomery County Board of Education that MCPS will request proposals from outside providers that can administer and maintain the baseline testing program, according to the release. MCPS also will form a work group to determine what information should be included in the request. “…
Monday, August 13, 2012
Following a personal tragedy, a Germantown mother is putting her efforts into raising awareness about the dangers of concussions.
A Germantown mother who lost her son is working to raise awareness about the seriousness of head injuries in contact sports like football. Kristen Sheely’s son Derek sustained a head injury during football practice at Frostburg State University in August 2011. Later, doctors determined he had received a previous undocumented head injury. He died one week later at age 22. “We’ve been working ever since to try and raise awareness of concussions,” Sheely said, referring to her and her husband’s nonprofit organization, the Derek Sheely Foundation. “We knew we had to do something to help others.” Maryland recently passed new regulations requiring that athletic coaches receive training to identify serious head injuries, but Sheely doesn’t …
Friday, August 3, 2012
Should the state pass stricter requirements when it comes to regulating and treating student athlete concussions?
Sports practices for public schools in Prince George's and Montgomery counties start up soon—but new state regulations may mean changes for athletes and coaches. The state school board passed new requirements last week that say athletic coaches in Maryland must be trained in identifying serious head injuries, The Baltimore Sun reports. Thomas Hearn, a Montgomery County parent, spoke to the state school board in May after his son sustained a concussion, and pushed for members to consider limiting the number of contact practices in a week, The Sun reported. Hearn also plans to continue pursuing even stricter requirements than those passed by the state from Montgomery County’s school board, according to The Sun. Earl Hawkins, the director …
Thursday, May 31, 2012
The Derek Sheely Lead the Way 4.0-Mile Race is Saturday at Northwest High School. The race honors the late Derek Sheely, a Germantown native and college football player who died last year.
Football cleats will be swapped for running shoes at Northwest High School’s 40-yard line this weekend in honor of a fallen Jaguar. A charity race — the Derek Sheely Lead the Way 4.0-Mile Race — is Saturday at Northwest. The event is a tribute to the late Derek Sheely, a college football player and Germantown native who died last year due to a head injury he suffered during practice. His family formed the Derek Sheely Foundation after his death in order to raise awareness about head injuries and keep Derek’s spirit alive. On Saturday, there will be plenty of traces of Derek. For starters, it’s a 4.0-mile race, not a 4-mile race — a nod to his jersey number, 40. The course begins and ends on the 40-yard line of the Jaguar gridiron. He was a…
Joe Thomas
11:26 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
If any county in the country stops football it will be Montgomery County. Count on it. more ›