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August 20, 2024 Staff and Community Update: Highlights from Superintendent’s Back-to-School Press Conference

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August 20, 2024 Staff and Community Update: Highlights from Superintendent’s Back-to-School Press Conference

Watch the Press Conference

Watch the Press Conference

Dr. Myriam Rogers held a media availability today, August 20, to discuss the school system’s readiness for the opening of schools. BCPS will welcome more than 111,000 students on August 26, 2024, the first day of the 2024-2025 school year.

Recruitment and Retention

  • We are pleased to share that BCPS is 99% percent staffed, with just 102.6 vacancies remaining as of August 19. More than 100 of our schools have no vacancies and 90% of the schools with vacancies have 2 or fewer openings. Over the summer, we held five hiring events with nearly 500 attendees. We also launched new TV and radio commercials for recruitment.
  • Human Resources will continue to move applicants through the process, working diligently to fill the remaining vacancies. We will also continue to work with Kelly Education, our partner agency, to place qualified long-term substitutes.
  • We know that key recruitment and retention strategies include providing competitive pay, opportunities for growth and promotion and a supportive and inspiring climate and culture. We’ve made significant progress in this work, including—
  • Implementing a new compressed salary scale which increased teacher starting salary and placed BCPS among the top in the state and increases career earnings.
  • Launching, in collaboration with the Baltimore County government, the Diverse Teacher recruitment scholarship. The $1 million grant program supports system efforts in recruiting, training, and retention of diverse teachers and women in STEM fields.
  • Implementing systemwide Professional Learning Communities across schools and offices to strengthen collaboration and foster continuous improvement, which will ultimately ensure that our staff achieve better results for the students and families we serve.

Curriculum and Instruction

  •  Student learning is our core purpose. We are holding ourselves accountable to getting results and making certain that we meet the needs of all students and eliminate disparities in achievement. We are doing this work in a number of ways, including the continued implementation of our evidence-based English Language Arts and Illustrative Math curriculum, and a new curriculum for multilingual learners.
  • This summer, our new summer programs for elementary and middle school students were aligned to literacy and math curricula and more than 12,000 BCPS students participated in those programs.
  • Our staff engaged in curriculum writing over the summer. We are also initiating a review of our grading and reporting processes and are pleased to provide critical updates to staff this week and information to families as part of our Back to BCPS campaign.
  • We have a robust professional learning plan for the 2024-2025 school year and provided more than 30 days of systemwide professional development and training in content and pedagogy this summer. We are so excited that 5,497 teachers and paraprofessionals were trained in June in content and pedagogy. That’s 7.5 out of every 10 teachers who share common knowledge around clarity, high expectations and routines. The remaining teachers are receiving part 1 of their training today.
  • We must stress how important daily attendance is for student success. BCPS has developed the “Here For It” initiative to provide parents and educators with tools and resources to ensure strong student attendance. Also new this year is Xello, the new BCPS college and career exploration online platform which will be available to all high school students.

Capital Planning

  •  Thanks to funding from our state and county partners and with the support of the Board of Education, BCPS is investing in capital projects that improve learning environments for children and working environments for staff. We are excited that the replacement Bedford Elementary School and the new Nottingham Middle School will open for students this coming week. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the renovation/addition project at Pine Grove Middle School will also be completed during the 2024-2025 school year.
  • While the completion of these projects represents the culmination of years of planning, design, and construction, BCPS has also been working on over 60 capital projects this summer that include replacement HVAC systems, fire alarm systems, roofs, boilers, chillers, lockers, intercom systems, painting, playgrounds, scoreboards, new secure vestibules, electrical upgrades, mechanical upgrades, and pre-K expansion construction. Both replacement and new capital projects improve BCPS’ infrastructure.
  • This work is in addition to 20 grant funded special projects and summer cleaning and refresh projects to open all of our buildings ready for our students on August 26. We are grateful for the hard work of our facilities, logistics, grounds, maintenance and operation team members.

Safety and Social-Emotional/Mental Health Resources

  •  We know that a big part of creating the most optimal learning environment for students includes ensuring their physical safety and social-emotional well-being. BCPS remains committed to providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. This year, our efforts include providing students with access to expanded mental health resources via a new partnership with Talkspace that is available to BCPS students ages 13 and older. Additionally, students at select BCPS middle schools can access the Cigna School Support Line. This is a no-cost, confidential service for students, families, and staff. The Cigna Support Line provides support when individuals need help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
  • We are pleased to share that with a $7.87 million grant from the state, BCPS will expand access to comprehensive behavioral services for students through a new partnership with the Maryland Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports. Eight community mental health providers will work with the system to provide a range of services to students across all grade levels in more than 100 BCPS schools. These services will include therapy, workshops, family education, prevention services, mentoring, family support groups, character education, and more.
  • We are also very grateful for the strong partnership we have with the Baltimore County Police Department and the work of our School Resource officers to keep our students safe. We have safety assistants in place in all secondary schools and have an elementary support model in place. This year we are adding zone safety assistant leaders to monitor and support efforts in schools and floaters to serve as substitutes and extra support when needed.
  • We will continue to leverage Omnilert, the firearms detection system that utilizes existing internal and external cameras to spot firearms. We successfully implemented the Open Gate detection system that automatically screens individuals and their belongings at high school athletic events and in two of our alternative schools.
  • Our partners in the PTA Council of Baltimore County are working with us to build awareness and educate families on the potential dangers of cell phones and social media for children. Smart phones and school time don’t mix! New this year, 16 BCPS middle and high schools have volunteered to pilot a new program utilizing pouches to restrict cell phone use as a way to reduce distractions and disruptions in the classroom.

BCPS is excited for the school year and we look forward to engaging with students, staff and families throughout the year! We have spent all summer preparing for students and are we ready to kick off what we know will be an incredible year of learning and growth for all Team BCPS students in our 176 schools, programs and centers!

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