Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Arne Duncan is slated to visit Loch Raven High School on April 10.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is making a third trip to Baltimore County—this time to discuss gun control. "This is a topic he's been very passionate about," said Dallas Dance, superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools. Duncan will hold a town hall meeting at Loch Raven High School on April 10. A precise time has not yet been set. The secretary previously visited Perry Hall High School on Aug. 22, 2012 to discuss education reform as part of a school system professional development event. Less than a week later, Perry Hall High joined the national conversation on gun violence in schools when student Robert Gladden, 15, opened fire in the school's cafeteria, leaving a special needs schoolmate seriously injured. Gladden pleaded…
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Baltimore County Board of Education recently approved a recommendation from Superintendent Dallas Dance to merge three Dundalk schools.
Though they say no definitive plans are in the works, Baltimore County Public Schools officials aren't ruling out the possibility of additional school consolidations—similar to a recent Dundalk merger. "[Superintendent Dallas Dance] has been saying for a while that he's looking for ways to make things run more efficiently for the students," said Charles Herndon, a school system spokesman. The Board of Education approved a merger of Norwood Elementary, Holabird Middle and Eastwood Elementary schools in Dundalk against strong opposition from parents. The consolidation will result in the closure of Eastwood, starting in the 2013-2014 school year. Critics of the proposal accused the school system of caving to the whim of County Executive Kevin…
The House of Delegates will take up House Bill 1462, which would establish a task force on school start times, later this week.
Are early school start times preventing kids from getting enough sleep? That's the question on a lot minds as the Maryland House of Delegates prepares to take up House Bill 1462 later this week. The bill, which seeks to establish a task force to study whether or not school should start later in the day, will be up for a hearing at 1 p.m. Mar. 15 in Annapolis. Recently, a group that supports earlier school start times posted a blog on Patch asking for experts to testify before the legislature. Discuss school start times with your neighbors on the Owings Mills-Reisterstown Patch Facebook page. The Start School Later campaign in Maryland is part of a national initiative to move school start times—according to a petition posted on their …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The PARCC Assessment, part of the rigorous Common Core curriculum, is a series of computer-based tests for students in third grade through 11th grade.
Students will be tested for up to 10 hours under the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness in College and Careers exams, which locally replaces the Maryland School Assessment. In a layout of the PARCC Assessment released Wednesday, third-grade students would be tested for eight hours and 11th grade students for nearly 10 hours. Every grade level in between will also participate. The computerized tests are part of the rigorous national Common Core State Standards curriculum. The performance-based component would run over five sessions—two for mathematics and three for English language arts/literacy, and the end of the year portion that would require four sessions—two for mathematics and two for English language arts/literacy. The …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Nineteen Baltimore County Public Schools students secured slots as finalists for the national scholarship program.
County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Superintendent Dallas Dance recognized 17 out of 19 local National Merit Scholarships finalists at a Thursday afternoon ceremony. "Statistically, you all are going to live well," Kamenetz joked. "When each of you are doing well in your life, I want you to remember who funded your education." The county executive noted that about 1.5 million juniors from 22,000 high schools applied for the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2011 Preliminary SAT. Of that number, 16,000 semifinalists—representing less than 1 percent of the now high school seniors in the nation—were selected as semifinalists in September 2012. Baltimore County Public Schools had 23 semifinalists. Dance noted that the …
Special education and Title I programs would suffer under the federal budget cuts.
If sequestration goes into effect Friday, Baltimore County Public Schools will be feeling a major pinch through job losses and cuts to program spending over the next two years as the system works to reign in spending. Various media outlets have reported that federal education funds would be strongly impacted by the $1.2 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts—mandated by the 2011 deficit reduction law—over a 10-year span that will occur absent Congressional intervention. Barbara Burnopp, chief financial officer for the school system, said BCPS officials anticipate taking an approximate 7 to 10 percent hit to the system's budget for the 2013 fiscal year, which would be around $4.6 million. However, a more precise figure will be provided…
Friday, February 22, 2013
Retirement announcement follows promise to build a community reading lab at Battle grove Elementary School.
The six-time Pro Bowl Ravens center also used the occasion to announce his retirement.
The Baltimore County Police Homeland Security section is providing the school system with training on what to be aware of in case of a school shooting.
The Baltimore County Police Department is collaborating with the school system to provide staff with more training in dealing with potential school shooting situations. The heightened concern comes after an attack at Perry Hall High School and a gun incident at Stemmers Run Middle School earlier in the school year. "We are working on making sure that the leadership of the schools, principals, fully understand our protocols," said Dale Rauenzahn, executive director of school safety and security. "We have trained for many years on the active shooter scenario." Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said situational awareness that leads to a school shooting scenario and response training is now available to administrators by the …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Maryland State Department of Education rejected the school system's original proposal earlier in the year.
Though his original proposal was rejected, Superintendent Dallas Dance said Baltimore County Public Schools won't adopt the "generic" state teacher evaluation plan. "We'll go back to the drawing board with our folks," Dance said. Dance has until May to present the Maryland State Department of Education with an alternate proposal. The primary point of contention is that the state department wants the school system to count Maryland School Assessment results as 20 percent of the rating measuring student growth. Baltimore County's plan calls for 10 percent. "We believe we have a model that works best for us," he said. Baltimore County's acceptance of federal funds through the Race to the Top Grant awarded to the state mandates the county to …
kevin
3:51 am on Sunday, March 31, 2013
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