Dear Reader:

Welcome to the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

This is the start of the 10th year of my administration, now the second longest in the modern-day history of Baltimore County Public Schools.

The length of this tenure has enabled our school system to build on its strengths, fully develop and integrate new initiatives and strategies, and systematically identify and share best practices. As a result, our school system – which has the most schools and the most diversity in its history – is also performing at the highest level ever. For the past several years, we have made steady progress in improving student academic performance, increasing academic rigor, and expanding learning opportunities for both students and staff.

This past spring, the Panasonic Foundation (an independent foundation founded by the major technology corporation of the same name) featured Baltimore County Public Schools as a “best-practices” school system in its prestigious Strategies magazine. Among its many other achievements, our school system continues to be recognized for its success in:

• Secondary Education
  • Almost 40 percent of BCPS high schools named among nation’s best by Newsweek  
  • Fifth highest graduation rate in the nation, among large school districts, according to Education Week
  • Highest graduation rate, among large school districts, for African American males, as determined by the Schott Foundation
  • More than 99 percent of 2008-2009 seniors otherwise eligible for graduation met the new High School Assessment requirement
• Arts Education
  • Two schools honored as among the top five in the nation by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts were named National Schools of Distinction in Arts Education for 2009.
  • One of the nation’s 100 best communities for music education, according to a national survey by the NAMM Foundation (a nonprofit organization representing the international music products industry)
  • George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology recognized by the College Board as the world’s best studio art program for a high school of its size
  • Seven BCPS students and recent graduates ranked in top 140 in the nation in the youngARTS program
• Technology
  • Only school district to ever win two outstanding leadership awards from the International Society for Technology in Education
  • Highlighted in Education Week and on a Pearson webinar for new virtual learning environment at Chesapeake High School

As proud as I am of what we have accomplished, I am even more excited about what lies ahead. Ensuring that our students leave us college-ready, workforce-ready, and military ready drives us to pursue continual improvement.

We know that our true legacy will not be revealed until the students in our classrooms today take their places in the world as the next generation of innovators, thinkers, and leaders. Just before this school year began I reminded our leadership staff that our students take us with them. They take with them the lessons we taught, the role models we served as, and the ideas we introduced to them. Our legacy will not be fully revealed until they fulfill the potential we have nurtured in them. That is a powerful responsibility and opportunity, and it is one that we take pride in fulfilling.

Best wishes to all for a successful school year.

Sincerely,

Joe A. Hairston
Superintendent

“We can whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need in order to do this. Whatever we do, it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

Dr. Ron Edmonds, co-founder of Effective Schools Movement

Dr. Joe A. Hairston
Superintendent, Baltimore County Public Schools

Dr. Joe A. Hairston has served since 2000 as Superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, one of the nation’s 25 largest school systems. His results-based leadership has yielded rising student academic achievement throughout his tenure.

Many of the strategies Dr. Hairston employs in Baltimore County – including development of a “blueprint” for school system progress, effective use of technology to support student achievement, and key partnerships with the College Board and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) to promote college attendance – evolved over the course of his noteworthy career.

In 2007, the Horace Mann League of the USA elected Dr. Hairston to its 12-member Board of Directors. The League is comprised of 1,000 renowned educators who share the belief that public schools are the cornerstone of democracy.

Recognized by presidents and the national media, Dr. Hairston has been honored with dozens of honors, including The Washington Post’s Distinguished Educational Leadership Award, the Maryland State Department of Education Vanguard Award, and the 2006 Virginia Tech Graduate Alumni Achievement Award. In 2005, Dr. Hairston received local, national, and international honors for his leadership in educational technology, including an Outstanding Leadership Award from the International Society for Technology in Education. Dr. Hairston has been recognized as Superintendent of the Year by The Fullwood Foundation and has been profiled in District Administration, Christian Science Monitor, and Scholastic Administr@tor magazines.

Dr. Hairston earned a doctorate in education administration from Virginia Tech, a master's degree from American University, and bachelor's degree from Maryland State University. Click here for more information