October 23, 2025 Staff & Community Update: Highlights from the Superintendent’s October 2025 Press Conference
Watch the press conference
Dr. Myriam Rogers held a media availability today, October 23, to provide updates and information for Team BCPS.
Updates on System Events and Community Engagement
- Dr. Rogers has had several opportunities to connect with staff, students, families and stakeholders over the past several weeks. She held five Community Conversations across the county on the draft BCPS strategic plan, visited nearly four dozen schools to observe teaching and learning in action, and joined Board members and elected officials at groundbreaking ceremonies yesterday, October 22, at Scotts Branch Elementary School and today at Towson High School. The first two months of school have been exciting and busy for Team BCPS.
- BCPS is grateful for all the lawmakers, partners and community members that work tirelessly to ensure we can fulfill our commitment to providing world-class school facilities. The new replacement school for Scotts Branch is slated to open to students in August 2027 and will double the current school’s footprint and increase our capacity from 456 students to 574. For the Towson High School project, which is slated for completion in 2030, we will have an addition and renovation of the school’s historic portion, and the non-historic areas of the existing school will be replaced. Once completed, Towson High will have a capacity of 1,739 seats, compared with the current capacity of 1,260 seats.
- The Dulaney High School groundbreaking ceremony will take place in November, and we look forward to opening these projects and many more state-of-the-art facilities for our students and staff in the years to come.
First Marking Period
- The first marking period will end on October 31. While we are confident that we will continue to see positive trends with key academic data because our students and staff are committed and doing the needed work, it is important for us to remind and encourage our students to finish this marking period strong.
- For our students, that means continuing to attend school consistently, engaging in instruction and reaching out to teachers and staff for help when needed. For our parents and caregivers, that means checking student progress and current levels of performance by reviewing the weekly attendance and grade reports that we send via email every Friday, and connecting with your child’s teachers, staff and administrators when you need additional support.
- As a reminder, our “Here For It” initiative provide parents and educators with various tools and resources to promote and ensure good student attendance.
WIDA Results
- Earlier this month, the Maryland State Department released data on the percentage of English Language Learner students who are on track to achieve English language proficiency. BCPS had the highest one-year increase in English language proficiency among similarly sized school systems in Maryland.
- The BCPS rate of improvement (1.4 percent) in English language proficiency exceeds the state rate (0.8 percent).
- Of the nearly 13,000 students who took the ACCESS for ELLs test in 2023–2024 and 2024–2025, 71.6 percent increased their proficiency from the previous year. While most students increased their proficiency levels across all grade bands, elementary students reported increases at the highest rate, 83.7 percent.
- We are pleased with the progress students are making on this important assessment and remain committed to advancing academic progress for all Team BCPS students.
Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget
- For the FY 27 Operating Budget, student learning and achievement will remain BCPS’ top priority and will guide the system proposed investments.
- We encourage our community to be a part of this critical process. Opportunities to be actively involved in the process include:
- An operating Budget survey that was sent to Team BCPS last week and closes on Friday, October 31.
- Five “Community Conversations” on the operating budget. The first one will take place on Thursday, November 6 at Vincent Farm Elementary School.
- Board of Education public hearings
- Area Advisory Council meetings on the budget, and
- An updated “Budget 101” website that provides information provides an overview of what’s in the BCPS operating budget.
- This will be another difficult budget cycle for our system and other LEAs across the state with the continued expansion and implementation of the Blueprint and probable lower federal, state, and local revenue. For this reason, we will prioritize ensuring that our communities understand the differences between the operating and capital budget processes, know how our funding is spent and accounted for and understand how different roles across the school system directly impact the experiences of our students.
- As we did with the last two budget cycles, we will ensure that we give extra scrutiny to all budget submissions to help identify potential savings that can be redirected to offset potential shortfalls.