Category: School Notebook

County Seeks Bids to Develop Long-Term School Construction Plan


Ten-Year Improvement Plan for All Schools
Baltimore County and Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) (PDF) for an independent consultant to assist in the development of a long-range plan for identifying and prioritizing capital improvements to Baltimore County’s school buildings. The plan will prioritize needs based on enrollment projections and capacity, educational equity and adequacy, and the conditions of facilities.

“Every student and educator deserves a safe, modern school where they can learn and grow. While Baltimore County has made significant progress, we still have a number of aging facilities and a growing student population which leads to unacceptable learning conditions for many of our students,” said County Executive Johnny Olszewski. “Providing a world-class education for our children is and will always be the number one priority of my administration. This long-term plan will outline a clear roadmap to ensure we can best serve all our children and communities.”

“Building on the substantial progress made during the past decade to modernize our schools, this plan will allow us to comfortably accommodate our growing enrollment into the next decade,” said Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams. “I deeply appreciate the support and partnership from state and County elected officials.”

Equitable and Effective Allocation of School Construction Funds
The RFP issued today anticipates identifying a consultant to develop a High School Master Plan by September 2020, followed by a plan for all remaining schools, centers and programs by May 2021. Baltimore County has significant school construction needs, including eight remaining projects under the Schools for Our Future program. In addition, the County is projected to have 1,700 more students than seats in its high schools over the next decade.

In response to these challenges, Olszewski has made support for public education his administration’s top priority. Recognizing the need for a long-term plan to ensure the County has a roadmap for equitable and effective allocation of school construction dollars, County Executive Olszewski included funds for the development of a 10-year capital plan in his Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

Olszewski also provided funds in the current budget for all remaining Schools for Our Future projects and has allocated $15 million for planning and design at Lansdowne High School. He also recently committed planning funds for both Towson and Dulaney High Schools.

Support for Public Education a Top Priority
All of these projects are unable to move forward without the State of Maryland’s remaining portion of funding. County Executive Olszewski has consistently called on the state to increase its commitment to help the County meet the needs of its growing student population. Earlier this year, Olszewski called on Governor Hogan to release $127 million in currently withheld school construction funding approved by the legislature in the 2019 legislative session.

Maryland House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne Jones has indicated that she intends to make school construction a top priority for the state in the upcoming legislative session and Olszewski has committed to advocating on behalf of Baltimore County students in Annapolis.

Deep Creek Middle Student’s Artwork to be Featured at First Lady’s Art Gallery


Artwork by Deep Creek Middle School 8th Grade student Karyn Kasule will be featured in the 2019 Fall Student Artwork Exhibition at the First Lady’s Art Gallery. The opening reception takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 6, from 4 – 6 p.m at The House of Delegates Gallery 6 Bladen St., Annapolis, 21401. Hafsah Bala of the Southwest Academy in Western Baltimore County will also have artwork on display at the event.

The First Lady of Maryland, Yumi Hogan, hosts a bi-annual juried exhibition of artwork by Maryland students. At the opening reception for the student artists and their families and teachers, the exhibition will be adjudicated, and three awards will be given for outstanding accomplishments.

The exhibition will include an untitled graphite drawing by Kasule and a mixed media piece titled Colorful Flight by Bala. Kasule’s visual arts teacher, Jasmine Silverman, is the BCPS Middle School Novice Art Teacher of the Year, and Bala’s visual arts teacher, Joyce Boyer, is the BCPS Middle School Career Art Teacher of the Year.

Former County Executive Roger Hayden Dies


Former Baltimore County Executive and Baltimore County Board of Education of Member Roger B. Hayden has passed away.

Hayden served as Baltimore County Executive from 1990 to 1994. He was the last and only second Republican to serve at the highest position in Baltimore County. He upset Democratic incumbent County Executive Dennis Rasmussen in 1990. Hayden would lose his-re-election bid to C.A. “Dutch” Rupperberger in 1994.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. released a statement about the passing of Hayden.

“We collectively mourn the passing of former Baltimore County Executive Roger Hayden. A dedicated public servant and tireless advocate for public education,” Olszewski said.

“County Executive Hayden exemplified what it means to give back to our communities. Baltimore County is stronger for his service and my sympathies and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Hayden served on the BCPS Board of Education of Baltimore County twice from 1974 – 1987 and from 2017 – 2019.

BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams said Hayden was a strong advocate for Baltimore County Public School

“Roger Hayden, in every conversation and with every vote, was focused on making the best decisions for the students and staff of Baltimore County Public Schools,” said BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams.

“I, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to work with him for long, but I know that his voice and his leadership will be missed on the Board of Education. We all benefited from the depth of his knowledge of Baltimore County government and schools. The nearly 15 years that he spent on the school board are only part of his substantial legacy in this community. We join his family in celebrating his life and achievements.”

Hayden was also known as a successful business man in the area. His business career spanned management positions in finance, operations, facilities management, and transportation at Eastern Stainless Steel, George Transfer, the Baltimore Orioles, and Towson University. His career began in the mailroom at Eastern Stainless Steel and ended as president of The Hayden Consulting Group, which specializes in business and organizational issues.

Three Eastside Teachers Named Novice Art Teachers of the Year


Three local Baltimore County Public Schools teachers and will be honored with district awards by the Maryland Art Education Association. In addition, four BCPS visual arts teachers have been nominated for state-level recognition.

“We are honored to recognize these amazing educators for their service and dedication to their students, schools, and field of art education,” said Sherri Fisher, BCPS coordinator of visual arts. “Each of them truly understands the power of art to shape human potential.”

The BCPS teachers to be honored with district recognition are:

Novice Art Teachers of the Year

Taylor Boren, Logan Elementary School

Jasmine Silverman, Deep Creek Middle School

Jenn Moss, Dundalk High School

The four teachers nominated for state awards will receive notification of final awards in November. The nominees are:

Elementary Teacher of the Year: Sara Murphy, Halethorpe Elementary School

Middle School Teacher of the Year: Camille Gibison, Golden Ring Middle School

Secondary School Teacher of the Year: Pam Ehrenreich, Chesapeake High School

Linda Popp Leadership Award: Vernon Fains, Pine Grove Elementary

The district-level and state-level awardees will be recognized at a reception and ceremony at the Walters Art Museum on Sunday, Dec. 15.

Martin Boulevard ES Book Reading Brings Together Students, Farmers, 4-H


Students at Martin Boulevard Elementary School will participate in a special reading of the book “Right This Very Minute.” on Monday, Oct. 21, from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

The guest reader will be a 4-H youth, and farmers from the Baltimore County Farm Bureau will be on hand to answer student’s questions. Each year, the American Farm Bureau selects a book to teach youth about where food comes from.

This year, the Baltimore County Farm Bureau has donated a copy of this book (“Right This Very Minute”) to each Baltimore County elementary school.

This initiative has a goal of connecting students to the food system through literature, and it was coordinated by the Baltimore County Public Schools Offices of Career and Technology Education and Library Media Programs and Digital Resources along with the Baltimore County Farm Bureau and University of Maryland Extension/4-H

BCPS Superintendent Discusses Bullying, Bus Drivers and Other Topics at Perry Hall Meeting


New Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) Superintendent Darryl L. Williams, Ed.D took questions from the public at a meeting at Perry Hall High School on Tuesday night. Some of the topics included preventing bullying and bus driver shortages.

One parent was critical of BCPS response time to bullying incidents. Williams responded that BCPS wants to take a proactive approach to bullying cases and BCPS is looking into bringing a systematic, disciplined approach. Williams added that sometimes the victim of bullying does not know where to go for help.

“We are teaching conscious discipline. We want to inform students [being bullied] where to go for [help], Williams said.
“We need to help the student that is receiving the action along with the student that is giving it.”

The BCPS Superintendent stated that society needs to go back to a “agree to disagree” mentality that does not result in a physical altercation and making rude comments to each other.

“We have to be able to teach our students that we live in a [civilized and respectful] society,” Williams added.

Baltimore County has a shortage of around 50 bus drivers. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier was at the meeting and she said she plans introduce legislation that will create incentives to help hire more bus drivers. Williams said adding bus drivers is a goal of BCPS.

“The recruitment is going to be key on how we hire and keep bus drivers,” Williams explained.

Other parents asked about having a more diverse staff similar to many of diverse student populations in Baltimore County schools.

According to Williams, BCPS would like to build a “pipeline” with black colleges such as Morgan, Coppin State and Howard and would like to recruit today’s BCPS students to become tomorrow’s BCPS educators. He would like to see more male role models too.

“There is also a gender issue. How do we get males to consider education? “Williams said. “The shortage of teachers is a national problem. We are looking into ways to improve our recruiting efforts.”

There were questions about seven period days vs. the four-period day, hiring more counselors and trying to get more stakeholders involved with BCPS.

“We have had some discussion on how we can get the community involved to support our schools,” Williams said.

BCPS Superintendent to Hold Tuesday Night Meeting in Perry Hall


New Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) Superintendent Darryl L. Williams, Ed.D. has been hosting community conservations around Baltimore County and he is attending Perry Hall High School on Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 6 to 7 p.m. This is the sixth of 10 scheduled meetings throughout the county.

BCPS did not release the details of the “Community Conservations” but it expected to be a format where the public can ask Williams questions about the local schools.

Williams will hold his 10th and final meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Chesapeake High School in Essex from 6 to 7 p.m.

Child care will be available for toilet-trained children ages 4 and up, courtesy of Open Door Before and After Care.

BCPS Has Three Options for 2020-21 Calendar


The BCPS Board of Education is considering three proposed 2020-2021 school calendar options. The three options for the BCPS calendar can be found here.

Option A calls for the start of the school year on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020 before Labor Day. The school year would end on June 11, 2021 if there are no weather-related closures and it would end on June 18 if there are five weather-related closures. Spring break would take place from March 29 to April 5, 2021 and schools would reopen April 6, 2021.

Option B has schools opening on the Tuesday after Labor Day on Sept. 8. The school year would end on June 15, 2021 if there are no weather-related closures and it would end on June 22 if there are five-weather related closures. Spring break would be shorter under this model from April 1 to April 5, 2021 and schools would reopen April 6, 2021.

Option C has a model where students and teachers would start after Labor Day on Sept. 8 and would have the full spring break from March 29 to April 5, 2021, but the school year would end on June 21 if there are no weather related closures and it would end on June 28 if there are five weather-related closures.

All three options would meet the requirement of 1176.5 hours for elementary schools and 1183 hours for middle and high schools. The public may provide feedback to the Board of Education at the public input hearing on Tuesday, October 22 at 6:30 pm at Greenwood. The Board will vote on the calendar options on Tuesday, November 5.

Pine Grove Elementary Celebrates 50 Years


Pine Grove Elementary opened its doors in 1969. The Parkville school held their 50th celebration at the school on Friday night. Since the school opened in the last year of the 1960s, their theme was “Pine Groovy”, which resembled that time period.

“It was an amazing night with current PGE Pandas, past PGE Pines (tonight we learned pine trees were the former mascot), and community members coming together to celebrate,” said the Pine Grove Elementary Twitter page.

The event brought back old Pine Grove staffers and students from the past 50 years. There were activities such as face painting and a photo booth for students and Chuck Montgomery provided the music for Pine Grove.

“[I was] honored to Dj the Pine Grove Elementary School 50th Reunion,” Montgomery said on social media.

The event was attended by special guests, including Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski, Jr.

“It was an honor and a privilege to celebrate Pine Grove Elementary’s 50th anniversary with the community. For 50 years, Pine Grove Elementary School has created an environment for learning that allows our children the opportunity to grow and achieve academic success while becoming good stewards in our communities,” Olszewski said.

“Thank you to Principal Diane Richmond and all of the faculty and staff for your dedication to Pine Grove students.”

Eastern Tech to Receive Temporary AC Units From County


With several Baltimore County schools closed on Oct. 2 due to excessive heat, County Executive Johnny Olszewski announced that he has identified up to $16 million in matching funds for air conditioning and heating units in county schools that do not have air conditioning.

These funds will be matched by $13.4 million in state funding awarded by the Maryland Interagency Commission on School Construction’s Healthy School Facility Fund.

Projects funded with the Healthy School Facility Fund and the county’s matching funds are estimated to be complete by spring of 2021. Six schools that will receive air conditioning units and that includes Eastern Technical High School in Essex.

BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams and Board of Education Chair Kathleen Causey issued statements following County Executive John Olszewski’s announcement.

We are appreciative to state and county elected leaders for their partnership in providing funding for temporary cooling solutions at six of our buildings without central air conditioning. During the last decade, we have made significant progress adding air conditioning in schools throughout the county through renovation and new building projects. This is another positive step that will provide more comfortable spaces for BCPS students to learn.” said BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams.

“Our first priority as a Board is ensuring our children are equipped with the tools they need to learn in environments conducive to their success. I am very grateful for County Executive Olszewski’s support to move forward much-needed temporary air conditioning projects in our district.” said BCPS Board Chair Kathleen Causey.