The following press release was issued today by Harford County Public Schools:
HCPS announces top ten contenders for county teacher of the year; Expert educators vie for prestigious title
The top ten finalists for the 2010 Harford County Teacher of the Year award have been released and are listed below. The judging panel had a difficult and unenviable task again this year with many outstanding teachers nominated for the award. Just to have been deemed worthy by a student, parent, administrator or someone else to be Harford’s Teacher of the Year from among the 2,900 teachers in the system is noteworthy.
Rachel Coutts – Havre de Grace Middle School – Language Arts
Thomas Dennison – Havre de Grace Elementary School – Kindergarten
Brooke Fisher – C. Milton Wright High School – Social Studies
Brian Folus – Bel Air, Joppatowne Elementary School – Instrumental Music
Susan Havran- Dublin, Norrisville Elementary School – Art
Sandra McMichael – Fallston High ...Continue Reading
Harford County consists of 47 local PTA units with over 11,000 members. It is time to take action concerning the Harford County budget. Executive Craig is now formulating the 2011 budget to be given to the Harford County Council by April 1, 2010. Now is the time for PTA members to let the county executive know that we want our children’s education fully funded. The students in Harford County are our future and we must invest in the future today. Email Executive Craig and let him know that PTA is the voice of the children in Harford County. We need the Harford County Public Schools budget fully funded. You can email the executive at CountyExecutive@harfordcountymd.gov
It was exciting to see the new Bel Air High School from the inside, and this was an occasion to see and ‘listen up’ the new auditorium. Right off, the acoustics are fantastic, plenty of leg room and beautifully appointed.
The reason for my visit Sunday afternoon was prompted by a member of the band filling me in on the concert and the need to get away from the massive cleanup resulting from the winds and rains recently.
The Bel Air Community Band presented a benefit concert for “Band Together” an instrument donation program. The Band Together program is for school kids who can’t afford to rent or buy an musical instrument but want to learn.
Band Together accepts both used instruments and monetary donations for the furtherment of folks who enjoy creating music.
The band consists of approximately 80 musicians even though it looked much larger on the ...Continue Reading
Should teachers use Facebook to air their disagreements with parents? When does a teacher’s right to free speech cross the line? The growing use of social networking sites by teachers, parents and students raises some thorny questions.
A case in point is the slugfest going on in Havre de Grace over the controversial drama production known as Drama Therapy.
To review:
Drama Therapy was developed four years ago by teachers and guidance counselors at Havre de Grace High School as a series of short skits that are part drama, part therapy, and mainly written by students. The skits deal with serious issues facing some teens, such as suicide, incest and abortion, but they also include more light-hearted fare. The founders of Drama Therapy expected that some students would seek counseling as a result of seeing the skits. The idea was to help those students.
The skits comprising Drama Therapy changed each year, but somehow ...Continue Reading
MDJ states, “…ordinarily state legislators do not, and should not, take it upon themselves to delve into critiquing or censoring local high school theater, particularly in an official capacity.” [paragraph 3]
I heartily disagree. It is the duty of every legislator to investigate how state (and local, insofar as we represent counties) tax money is spent in any area, particularly when constituents have brought abuses to our attention. The parents who initiated the queries into what happened at HdG HS were stonewalled by the school and by the HCPS administration. No information was released until help was requested from the delegate. And the administration tried to stonewall him.
On page 2, paragraph 2, MDJ states, “I have received two ...Continue Reading
The Havre de Grace High School community will come together to implement an action plan developed to make necessary changes to the drama production entitled “Drama Therapy.” After a concerned group of parents and teachers brought forth several issues regarding the drama club production, the action plan was developed and shared with the community to begin implementation.
The annual “Drama Therapy” production, now in its fourth season, grew this year from an evening production to include an assembly-like presentation during the school day. Concerns were raised regarding the process that led to the school-wide viewing of the production. In addition, the appropriate nature of the content, the degree of counseling service or direction provided, and the nature of the “pre-” and “post-” instructional activities were cited as potentially problematic.
The action plan will facilitate improvement of the production review process and will allow the community ...Continue Reading
The following letter was sent from Del. Rick Impallaria to Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Tomback. A copy was provided to The Dagger:
Robert M. Tomback, Ph.D., Superintendent
Harford County Public Schools
102 South Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, Maryland 21014
Dear Dr. Tomback:
I have reviewed the Havre de Grace HS drama therapy tape, and I find very little positive to say about it. It is even difficult to talk about what occurred on stage without using language which is both offensive and improper in any setting, school or otherwise.
In addition to viewing what was on stage, I also paid attention to the reaction of the students both to the skits being acted and to explanations of what they were about to see.
I found nothing improper in the short restaurant scenes between the longer skits, and my comments do not refer to them.
In the following letter to Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick, a former educator requests an independent investigation into Drama Therapy, the controversial drama production shown to students at Havre de Grace High School at a school-wide assembly held in early December, 2009. The letter to Dr. Grasmick generated a response of sorts. More on that in a minute. First, here’s the letter from Churchville resident, Barbara Falukner-Davis.
Ms. Faulkner-Davis told The Dagger that she first heard about Drama Therapy from an upset friend who is a parent in the Havre de Grace district. Faulkner-Davis is not a parent herself; she says she got involved as a former educator, a taxpayer and a concerned citizen. She says she isn’t trying to get anyone fired, but Faulkner-Davis thinks Drama Therapy should not be shown during the school day and that program’s therapeutic efforts were inappropriate. After viewing a ...Continue Reading
Legislative Updates on the education bills under consideration in the Maryland General Assembly are coming fast and furious now. A second set of updates was presented to the Harford County Board of Education by the schools’ governmental liaison Kathy Carmello, at a business meeting held Monday, February 22 in Bel Air. This time around, Harford School Board Member John Smilko raised the possibility of intrigue among the sundry list of legislative initiatives for the 2010 session.
Background: After first asserting that legislative changes were not needed for Maryland to win a chunk of the $4 billion federal, Race to the Top money, Governor Martin O’Malley has now requested changes geared toward getting the loot in the proposed Education Reform Act of 2010. The legislation extends the probationary period from 2 to 3 years before new teachers can earn tenure; requires that student outcomes be a ...Continue Reading
The Harford County Education Association has dropped a grievance that was filed with Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Tomback over the Association’s use of the schools’ e-mail system. Responding to an inquiry from The Dagger, HCEA President Randy Cerveny said that his HCPS e-mail account was restored on Monday, February 22, 2010 and that the Association’s grievance had been withdrawn.
Cerveny’s e-mail account was disabled by Harford County Public Schools on January 12, after Cerveny sent e-mails to HCEA members urging them to attend school board budget hearings. In response to the e-mail shut-down, Cerveny wrote in a letter to members that HCPS claimed the e-mails were in violation of the Negotiated Agreement between the Association and the School Board. Cerveny disagreed, citing an opinion from the Maryland State Education Association’s legal department. Cerveny’s letter went on to say that a grievance had been filed on January 20, 2010.
From December 10th through December 20th, you can apply for Acquisition, Engineering and Technology positions 24/7 from wherever you are!Click the image for the full-sized flyer and more information.
Just a reminder that today is the Barnes & Noble Bookfair for the Harford County Public Library!Shop at Barnes & Noble and support your library at the same time! Our bookfair will be held on T. […]
Neil Gaiman is an author (his notable works include The Sandman graphic novel series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book) and listener who loves a good tale. Here he ponders the. […]
Shop at Barnes & Noble and support your library at the same time! Our bookfair will be held on Thursday, December 3, but you can print and use the voucher at the bottom of this post at any Barnes. […]
Cornelia Nixon, author of the new release Jarrettsville, drew a crowd of over a 100 to the Jarrettsville branch of Harford County Public Library on November 2. Ms. Nixon read from her new release, a t. […]
The 2009 Annual Report is available for viewing on the library website. You can view the report in an online, interactive format, or you can download it as a PDF.
