From Harford County Public Schools:
In a statement emailed to all Harford County Public Schools employees this morning, Barbara Canavan announced that her four-year term as superintendent of schools will expire on June 30, 2018, at which time she will retire.
Mrs. Canavan was appointed to serve in the interim position on July 1, 2013, before being named superintendent of schools by the Board of Education of Harford County on July 1, 2014. Mrs. Canavan replaced Dr. Robert Tomback, who left the school system in 2013 at the end of his four-year term to pursue other opportunities.
Superintendent Canavan emailed the following statement to all HCPS employees today:
“It has been my honor to serve the students, staff and community of Harford County as your Superintendent of Schools. Harford County Public Schools is truly an exemplary school system; however, after forty-eight years of public service, forty-five of which have been in Harford County, I have decided to retire effective July 1, 2018.
While I look forward to the opportunities retirement will offer, it still saddens me to be leaving the organization. Harford County Public Schools has blessed me with the privilege of working with an exceptional staff and a caring and supportive community. Collectively we have provided an exceptional experience for the students in our care. I will forever cherish our accomplishments.
In closing, although I look forward to spending precious time with my family, I remain committed to serving faithfully through the duration of my contract and working with the Board of Education and the leadership of Harford County Public Schools to ensure a seamless transition for the future Superintendent.”
“On behalf of the Board of Education of Harford County, I would like to wish Mrs. Canavan all the best as she moves on to enjoy a well-deserved retirement,” said Board President Joseph Voskuhl. “We thank her for her five years of service to the students and staff of Harford County as superintendent, but more importantly for the 45 years she devoted to Harford County Public Schools. She will be greatly missed.”
The Board of Education will now establish a timeline and action plan for hiring a new superintendent. More information regarding the superintendent search will be forthcoming when the process is finalized.
Can we please get someone in there that is not like a horse with blinders on? And I mean that from a fairness prospective regarding the treatment of staff that were scapegoated by Caravan and the top lieutenants to transfer blame to the lowest common denominator…… teachers…. instead how about saying the buck stops here where the errors are made in the administration and we will not cover up mistakes by administrators. There isn’t a one of the people under her that are deserving on this possible promotion. They have all disrespected the profession and disqualified themselves for the “pool”.
As a teacher who was royally screwed by administration and the board, I agree. And thank you for pointing out how corrupt the system has become. It is the reason why I’ve questioned the profession; actual teaching is great but the politics behind it makes it miserable.
Screwed in what way? I’m just interested in hearing what she did to wrong you.
Multiple teachers at my school were targeted by administration – and not for good reasons. Instead of dealing with admin and getting rid of a few bad apples, a large group (about 15-20%) of teachers were let go/transfered/retired because of bad admin.
Sounds like someone needs a nap
#metoo
To look for a replacement outside of the system would be of much greater benefit to the staff, teachers and students of Harford County.
Yes just like Baltimore County.
Good luck to her – 48 years of public service is a great accomplishment and she deserves the time now for R&R.
Not likely…there is already a front runner from HCPS that wants the job!! Same old crap will continue!!
And who is the front runner?
she ran a very efficient ,huge,middle school efficiently.. and as superintendant..was fair ,astute, and even keeled..
Thanks, Nancy!
There’s some not so subtle irony about fat (bob) chance writing efficiently efficient. One of the Superintendent’s top advisers no doubt.
There is indeed a God! It would be great if she took the rest of her incompetent, uncompassionate staff with her. Then maybe HCPS can be restored to the system it once was. Let’s hope she doesn’t do too much damage before June 30!
I also look forward to new leadership at HCPS, but let’s wish her well and not tear her apart.
Thank you Ms. Canavan for the years you have dedicated to education.
Hopefully they will get some leadership that is willing to take an honest, hard look at the staffing at the Board of Ed. There is absolutely no reason to have that much highly paid staff sitting and doing work that does not impact the classroom or benefit the students. A complete waste of taxpayer money.
About time she retired.
I bet it’s going to be the same shit, different day … regardless of who’s driving the boat.
The best thing you can do is find another career. I know several people who got out of teaching, they only wished they had done it sooner and not wasted time thinking about it.
Forest for the Trees, I have every confidence our GOP government will find a suitable replacement.
O man! Barbara, Nancy, & Dick all go away in the same year. Makes me want to break out in song;
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun!
Just thinkin’ about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
‘Til there’s none!
When I’m stuck a day
That’s gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!
The sun’ll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
‘Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You’re always
A day
A way!
It’s too bad the board of education members don’t all retire as well. They have all carried out the budgets that were proposed by the superintendent and the staff with little or no change.
This board did not stand up to Canavan as they or the Aegis would like everyone to believe. All the board members voted for the budgets. The last budget ended this year in cuts to teacher positions and larger class sizes. All voted for the final budget so they are all responsible and should be held accountable. They can’t go around pretending to be angels.
And pumped the resulting savings back into teacher salaries. You can’t have it both ways.
Yes, because the only way to fund the whopping pay increases the teachers receive is by taking it from other teachers.
The superintendent and the board of education didn’t make cuts in the right areas to fund teacher salaries. They could have cut instructional facilitators and the central office. They could have cut other areas without hurting children. But the board did not cut instructional facilitators and the central office or other areas. The board in the end unanimously approved the superintendent’s budget in 2017 with the teacher position cuts and increased class sizes. The buck stops with the board. They have to take responsibility for their actions.
It’s always the way it is to hope that a new Superintendent from somewhere will come in and change things to make all people happy. There are also people who want that person to change things that some don’t like. That will make some people happy. However, some changes are needed that are not popular and I am sure people will be back here looking for someone else.
ding dong the wicked witch is dead!
“let’s get an outside candidate!” bs!…let’s not forget tombek(out of county) was brought in and shat on us…nothing’ll change until an outside auditor is brought in to see how/where the money is spent…1st class airline tickets, hotel suites for “conventions” paid tabs at ruth’s chris steak house
wanna bitch that teachers “whine” about salary?….how about the fact that they’re just now getting a 2% wage increase (about a pack of smokes) years after every county around us…poor, simpleton teachers don’t have the balls to strike…and that’s what’s needed to happen
goodbye and f you canavan…and for those complaining about teachers whining, hope you and yours get fucked in the end…
“meet the new boss
same as the old boss”
Preach! Most of these fools commenting have no idea what goes on inside the county schools! They put their kids on the bus and go to work, devaluatng the teacher’s role in their kid’s lode. They see nothing but greed on our part when all we ask is a livable wage. The county’s budget favors the superintendent and her lieutenants, they need to open the books before the next budget is approved!
Ben doesn’t need a nap, he’s woke!
Teachers want to strike, I have no problem
Need a competent financial officer. Enough adding and subtracting student-centered personnel that takes away the needs of children.
Thorough audits need to be done and oversight needs to be implemented. This administration is handing out construction contracts without being competitively bid, artificially inflating prices, and not properly overseeing the performance of the work. They should be spending OUR money responsibly. They work for US, not their contractors.
Canavan is at the top of a broken system, and depending on the situation, she refers to policies that don’t exist, and ignores policies that do. And when questioned about that, she denies, defends, and diverts, just like others in her administration.
Too bad she is retiring so soon. She won’t get to experience Hogan’s proposed “investigator general”.
Hey lets put Burbey in! LOL! What a joke of a man