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March 5, 2021

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Education Ed Homepage Education Ed Portal Lead

Breaking Away: Radcliffe Creek School Seeks New Provider for Little Creek Preschool

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The Spy was not entirely surprised the other day when Radcliffe Creek School’s board of trustees announced that it would be seeking a new provider for its auxiliary preschool program known as Little Creek School.

Little Creek came into being as a way for Radcliffe Creek teachers to enroll their children in a pre-K program and quickly grew into a popular school option for other working parents in the region that wanted their youngsters to experience unique learning opportunities before their kids entered primary school.

And over the years, Little Creek has done just that. Since it was founded, hundreds of Kent County toddlers and their parents have reaped the benefits of smaller class sizes and individualized learning to meet its students’ specific needs.

But as the Radcliffe Creek School board began to work on its five-year strategic plan, members came to the difficult conclusion that its priority must be with the core mission of its primary school. While the school’s administrators have gracefully provided oversight for Little Creek, it has been clear for some time that these two schools required independent management to successfully continue the high-quality standards both have achieved over the years.

For those compelling reasons, Radcliffe announced last week that it planned to close Little Creek in August 2021. It also launched a new initiative to attract a reputable childcare provider to take over Little Creek’s mission before that terminal date.

The Spy spoke with Head of School Meg Bamford and Board President Rob Ditmars to understand more about this important transition in Kent County education.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Radcliffe Creek School and Little Creek School please go here.

 

Choptank Health Leading on the Mid-Shore with School-based Health Care

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Many of a certain age might recall the limited health services that were available in schools back in the day and that all other health-related issues were in the hands of family physicians or local health centers outside the classroom environment.

But like the health field in general, there have been significant changes in how healthcare is provided nowadays to kids. In fact, there is a new partnership that has developed between the school nurse model and in-school health centers that would not be that dissimilar to what you might find in neighborhood urgent care clinics.

A leader on the mid- shore providing this change is Choptank Health with school programs in all five counties. From Kent to Dorchester, Choptank is working with every school district to provide a range of health services to students right at their school or in their communities, which for many kids might be the only way they receive medical or dental care in any given year.

The Spy sat down with Sara Rich, CEO of Choptank Health, and her colleague, Chrissy Bartz, who runs its community-based programs, last week on how essential healthcare is now more successfully reaching some of our community’s most needy children and their well-being.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Choptank Health please go here.

Baltimore Magazine: The Mid-Shore the Subject of Racial Reckoning Article

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One of our many spies in the community was kind enough to share with Spy HQ a superb long-form article in the Baltimore Magazine on the Eastern Shore’s challenges with Black history and race relations from Kent County to Dorchester.

Beautifully written by the Mid-Shore’s own Lydia Woolever, accompanied by brilliant photography by Greg Kahn, it will make compelling reading for our Spy readers.

Read the full story here

Talbot County Report with Chuck Callahan and Clay Stamp

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The Talbot Spy was pleased that incoming Talbot County Council president, Chuck Callahan, and newly appointed County Manager Clay Stamp have agreed to continue our quarterly check-in sessions about essential issues in our community.

Former president Corey Pack started this tradition to reach out to the Talbot County community in a decidedly apolitical way to inform and educate our readers on some of the more pressing issues of the day.

In our first of these, Chuck and Clay not surprisingly talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Talbot County. They also outline some of the issues related to vaccine delays and the need to reach out and encourage all residents, regardless of computer access, to educate themselves and the need to protect themselves and their loved ones from this deadly coronavirus.

This video is approximately nineteen minutes in length. For more information about COVID-19 in Talbot County please go here.

At the Academy: AAM Instructors Have Their Day

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While the old adage is “that those who can’t, teach,” nothing could be further from the truth with the Academy Art Museum’s remarkable instructors. While they might be extremely talented with their teaching abilities, their art is perhaps the best indicator of that unique skill.

And, to the delight of the Mid-Shore, the Academy demonstrates their gratitude, and those of their students, by highlighting this talent with an exhibition that brings their work to the forefront.

The Spy sat down with AAM curator Mehves Lelic last week to talk about this unique assembly of artists and their work as the Museum’s second floor displays some of this extraordinary talent.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. Cover art, “Bridge Collapse” is by Sheryl Southwick. For more information about the Academy Art Museum, please go here.

Mid-Shore Arts: Chesapeake Music Begins New Rising Stars Program

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While several arts organizations have needed to delay or even cancel programs as the country will soon enter its second year of the pandemic, Chesapeake Music surprised us the other day by announcing that they would start a new program.

While this new venture will be virtual rather than live performances, Chesapeake’s board and director, Don Buxton, were eager to find a platform for the rising stars of the classical music world to introduce them to their Eastern Shore’s large and devoted fans, which has been the foundation of the organization’s remarkable success over thirty years.

In our interview with Buxton, the Spy learned more about this new initiative and the great assembly of talent set to perform on February 13. Violinist Randall Goosby will take center stage, who is now considered to be on the same level of exceptional talent as the now-famous Joshua Bell possessed when he broke out as one of America’s favorite musical artists. He will be followed by exceptionally gifted performers as Zhu Want and Anna Petrova on piano and the stunning violist Molly Carr.

The February 13 concert will be streamed live, the full program will be available for one week for “view of demand” patrons.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information aboutFor more information, please see www.chesapeakemusic.org.

Mid-Shore Pro Bono: COVID Impact on Evictions and Legal Support

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While the Spy and other media outlets have tried hard to keep our communities as an update to date on the pandemic over the last year through the lens of physical and mental health, there remain countless other impacts of COVID that receive far less attention but can be just as devastating for our region.

The coronavirus has not only thrown thousands into unemployment, but in many cases, this has cascaded down to losing homes, apartment evictions, custody agreements, and employment-related issues. COVID has also impacted those who have lost family members to the disease who left no will or pre-arranged documentation of their estates.

In our interview with Meredith Lathbury Girard, Mid-Shore Pro Bono’s managing attorney, we learn how the Mid-Shore’s largest legal services organization is coping with a client base that has tripled since March, as well the agency’s efforts to educate the region on end-of-life planning.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Mid-Shore Pro Bono please go here.

Mid-Shore Commerce: The Cambridge Waterfront’s Recent History of a Community Asset

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According to Frank Narr, the former executive director of Sailwind Park, Inc., and someone who has been directly involved in a twenty-five-year effort to transform Cambridge’s waterfront into a world-class community asset, the fate of the long-delayed transformation changed dramatically in 2018.

That was the year when UM Shore Regional Health, the largest landowner on the waterfront, made the somewhat radical decision to move out of its historic base at Dorchester General Hospital and move its health services along Route 50. According to Narr, that future transition was a game-changer for the project and Cambridge since it will allow site control of the 35 acres without the constraints of planning around an active hospital, including  the need for FAA-approved flight paths for medical helicopters.

For Narr and dozens of other stakeholders, that decision opened up a world of possibilities that were impossible to imagine when the project was first envisioned twenty-five years ago. And for Frank, the former Arthur Andersen senior executive who had moved to Cambridge in the early 1990s with his wife, a local physician, it could not have come a day too soon.

While these stakeholders, named the Committee of 100, had experienced remarkable success during this time with the successful launch of the skipjack Nathan, the Choptank Lighthouse, and eventually the major investment of a Hyatt Resort Hotel, the holy grail then, as it is now, was huge opportunity to use smart development of the underdeveloped and sometimes blighted along the town’s historic waterfront.

In the first of a two-part series to help prepare the greater Cambridge community for a year of intense conversations about the use of the land and its impact on the city, the Spy asks Frank to provide an overview of the unique twists and turns related to the waterfront project.
This video is approximately minutes in length. The Spy’s partner, WHCP Community Radio, will hosting a community Conversation about the Waterfront Project this Wednesday (February 10th) on air at at 101.5 FM, on Facebook here or YouTube here.

Spy Flashback: Congressman Andy Harris on Peaceful Transition of Power

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It is sometimes surprising, even to its editors, that the Spy over the last ten years has a robust news archive, particularly on our YouTube channel, on what 1st District Congressman Andy Harris has said over the years on several subjects.

In today’s case, we thought we would share the Spy’s Dave Wheelan’s question in late September to Representative Harris regarding President Trump’s willingness to accept the 2020 presidential election results.

Given the recent events in Washington today, we thought it relevant with our readers tonight.

This video is approximately one minute in length.

The Lowest of the Low: Qlarant Frosty Stolen Sunday

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The Talbot Spy is very sad to report that someone has kidnapped the Qlarant Frosty over the weekend.

At 2:36 am on Sunday, a dark colored Chevy crew cab truck approached on Marlboro Ave coming from the BJ’s side. Two people got out, started dismantling Frosty, and the truck continued on towards Dick’s Sporting Goods. A few minutes later the truck returned and picked up the two people along with Frosty.

Qlarant has reported the incident to Easton police department. They also are offering a $500 reward for its safe return.