Students, staff launch into learning as Baltimore County schools
open smoothly for 2006-2007 school year

BCPS Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston (right) and Maryland Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick (in grey coat) speak with students at Windsor Mill Middle School about their first day activities.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the first day of school in Baltimore County was that in classroom after classroom, school after school, learning was already underway.

“I’m impressed,” noted Board of Education Vice President Rodger Janssen as he peeked into a classroom at the new Windsor Mill Middle School. “It’s the first day of school, and they’re already working on a lesson!”

The revelation came as no surprise to Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston, who led a large delegation of Board members, elected officials, and dignitaries through five schools across the county on the first day, August 28 – Windsor Mill, Chesapeake High School, Dulaney High School, Parkville Middle School, and Reisterstown Elementary School.

More than a week earlier at his annual administrative and supervisory meeting, he had encouraged principals and the system’s educators to lose no time in working to meet the future needs of students. “We cannot wait to strengthen instruction. We cannot wait to increase academic rigor. We cannot wait to challenge our students to dream bigger and reach higher,” Dr. Hairston told administrators on Aug. 18. “I believe that those who look ahead, who believe in possibilities, find a way to get the work done. And the work that must get done now is educating every child.”  

Across the county on opening day for students, his words resonated. The system opened its doors to an estimated 107,000 children with high expectations and few problems during the first few days of the new school year. The opening of the school year in Baltimore County included the debut of a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Academy (STEM) at Chesapeake High School, the opening of Windsor Mill as the first new middle school in Baltimore County in 22 years, and the inauguration of a new Chinese language instruction program at Dulaney High School.  

Evidence of the school system’s commitment to higher expectations for its students was everywhere on the first day. “Everything that is being done today is being done for you, the students,” remarked Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., speaking to a group of Chesapeake High students. They had assembled in the school’s lobby to hear the governor, Maryland Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick, and others praise Chesapeake’s new STEM Academy and Dr. Hairston’s leadership in making the program a reality. 

Gov. Ehrlich and Dr. Grasmick were just two of the many dignitaries who visited schools on opening day with Dr. Hairston. The governor’s wife, Kendel Ehrlich, stopped by Dulaney to discuss the new Chinese language program with students who will participate in it this year. U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin greeted students with Dr. Hairston at Reisterstown and Windsor Mill, and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith accompanied the Superintendent to all five schools.  

Many of the Board of Education members visited the schools along with Dr. Hairston as well, including Board President Don Arnold, Mr. Janssen, Ramona Johnson, Edward Parker, JoAnn Murphy, and Joy Shillman.

In every school, they saw students and teachers launching into lessons on the first day, scenes that underscored Dr. Hairston’s call for an efficient use of every day’s instructional time. Along the way, the Superintendent took time to greet students and staff, celebrate the excitement of opening day, and observe the system’s new educational initiatives.

At Dulaney High School, visitors heard about a new Chinese language program starting this year at the Timonium school. From right to left are Principal Lyle Patzkowsky, BCPS Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith, and Maryland’s First Lady, Kendel Ehrlich.

At Chesapeake, he held aloft a check for $1.3 million to help fund the first year of the STEM Academy. The program is designed as part of a larger initiative that teaches STEM concepts beginning in the elementary and middle schools that feed into Chesapeake.

Furthermore, students involved in the initiative will be able to earn high school credits while in middle school and college credits in high school. The program will draw on the resources of partnerships with the National Science Foundation through an existing grant with the University of Maryland Baltimore County, the University of Maryland College Park, Morgan State University, Northrop Grumman, Comcast, and NASA, to name a few.

At Dulaney, Dr. Grasmick and Mrs. Ehrlich joined with Dr. Hairston to learn from students in the Chinese language program why they were interested in learning how to communicate using Mandarin Chinese. Again and again, students discussed China’s rising prominence in the world’s economy and culture. Dulaney Principal Lyle Patzkowsky is among several BCPS educators who have journeyed to China in recent years to assist in setting up the program. The program, which represents the first time that Baltimore County students will be able to learn Chinese, is being made possible through a partnership between BCPS and Towson University.

And at Windsor Mill, visitors greeted students and toured the bright, spacious new $30.4 million school. Proud Principal Deborah Phelps showed her guests glimpses of the school’s state-of-the-art science labs, multiple computer labs, dance studio, art studios, choral and orchestral music rooms, and in-house television and radio studios.

At each stop, the story was the same. Teachers were back in the classroom. Students were learning. And school was back in session. 

Story and photos by Charles Herndon, BCPS communications specialist.