(Bel Air, MD) – - Harford County government officials and Harford County Public Schools have one major concern – snow covered sidewalks. Although the historic snowfall that covered Harford County was more than 10 days ago, hundreds of sidewalks in front of businesses and in residential neighborhoods have not yet been shoveled.
“Snow covered sidewalks, whether in front of businesses or in residential developments, is a safety concern for our school system and parents of school children,” stated Harford County Executive David R. Craig. “Sidewalks that have not been cleared of snow force children and others to walk in the street or on roadways, which is unwise and hazardous,” remarked the county executive.
Harford County Government and Harford County Public Schools are asking those responsible for maintaining sidewalks at businesses or private homes, to shovel their sidewalks immediately to help reduce the frequency ...Continue Reading
(Joppa, MD – February 2, 2010) On February 2, 2010 at approximately 12:45pm, Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call from Mountain Christian Church and School officials for a report of an armed stranger inside the building.
Information received from the caller indicated two younger students reported to their teacher seeing a lady in the building that they did not recognize, who possibly had a gun. Upon notification from the students, the school immediately implemented its emergency action plan triggering an automatic law enforcement response.
Within minutes of the call, Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies were on scene and assisted school officials in implementing the plan. The situation was mitigated by 1:45pm, after a search of the school and ground located no intruder.
Harford County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the matter determined that the children did observe a woman in the building, later ...Continue Reading
The year 2009 opened on a sad note in Harford County with residents still mourning the death of prominent, longtime school superintendent Jacqueline Haas. Before the year was over, Harford County would lose two other wellknown female leaders – former delegate Joanne Parrott and Harford County Councilwoman Veronica Chenowith.
It was also a year of contradiction. Even as President-Elect Barack Obama slowed his inaugural train ride through Edgewood in January to wave and thank a thousand or so supporters, there were a thousand or so more Harford County residents who fought tooth-and-nail in September to prevent President Obama’s live address to be shown to their children during the school day.
Bel Air High School was demolished and Fallston Library was spared from closure. Art Helton survived another political scandal in Aberdeen while Harford County’s delegation to the Maryland General Assembly played a furious and humiliating game of musical chairs in Annapolis.
The sun came out Sunday and Harford County started digging itself out of the historic snowfall, but lingering snow and ice have closed Harford County Public Schools on Monday and forced the county government to open late.
Harford County schools will be closed on Monday, December 21 with employees operating under a CODE BLUE.
Harford County Government will open at 10am Monday, December 21.
In light of a foreboding forecast, Harford County Government and Public Schools have announced the closure of school activities and other facilities in advance of what is expected to become a major winter storm this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook and Winter Storm Warning for much of Maryland, with snowfall totals Saturday predicted to accumulate up to nearly two feet in some areas.
As you can deduce from the photo (showing a fairly empty parking lot at The Festival in Bel Air at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday), the snow fell as expected and kept people indoors on what should be one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year.
Harford County Public Schools announced Friday that all weekend activities had been cancelled. All after school activities for Friday, December 18th WILL be held as scheduled.
However, ALL activities for Saturday, December 19th and Sunday, December ...Continue Reading
With sparks flying over the impact fee, it was easy to overlook a resolution passed unanimously by the Harford County Council in early November that could have big consequences for the way taxpayers fund public school facilities.
Resolution No. 19-09 calls for decision-makers in the capital school funding process to meet as a group, formally named the Bipartisan Commission on School Construction, and formulate a long term action plan to “resolve the capital funding needs of our public education system.” That means building new schools when necessary, but also maintaining and renovating the schools we already have. It also means taking a hard look at current revenue sources, alternative funding mechanisms, land use regulations and potential changes or additions to state law.
Given the complexity of the task and a 12-month timeline to report findings and recommendations, the goal is ambitious, but born of necessity. With a deep, national ...Continue Reading
It started as a trickle in mid-October, ebbed and flowed through November, and thanks to a final surge in early December, the H1N1 vaccine will have been offered to every student in Harford County Public Schools by Friday, December 18, 2009.
Nationally, production delays have resulted in a shortage of the H1N1 vaccine. In Maryland, inconsistencies in distribution have meant that some county health departments completed their school-based vaccination programs, while school-based programs in other counties were wanting, according to Bill Wiseman, spokesman for the Harford County Health Department. The have-nots expressed what Wiseman called “frustration” and in the past few days, he said an agreement was struck among county health officers to send available H1N1 vaccine to the counties in need. Harford County will be on the receiving end of that agreement.
And so, the Harford County Health Department has announced that the following public elementary schools will offer the ...Continue Reading
Local demand for the H1N1 vaccine still outstrips supply, but by week’s end the Harford County Health Department will have offered immunizations to students at more than half of the 53 public schools in Harford County.
Currently, there are no identified outbreaks of influenza-like illness in Harford County public schools, and nearly all of the schools with previous outbreaks are expected to have received the H1N1 vaccine by Friday, December 4, 2009.
The one exception is Havre de Grace Middle School, which first reported an outbreak on October 13th and was taken off of the outbreak list on October 30, but has yet to receive an allocation of the H1N1 vaccine from the Harford County Health Department. Department spokesman Bill Wiseman said Havre de Grace MS was not overlooked, but that past outbreaks are not a factor in determining which schools will receive the vaccine. He said that allocation decisions ...Continue Reading
An outbreak of the suspected H1N1 virus hit four more Harford County public schools late last week.
North Bend ES, Aberdeen High, Forest Lakes ES and Youth’s Benefit ES brought the total number of schools with identified outbreaks of “influenza-like illness” to twelve out of 53 public schools countywide.
At the remaining schools with identified outbreaks, absence rates were down from their peaks as of October 20, 2009.
Teri Kranefeld, Manager of Communications for HCPS said health officials may soon remove several schools, including Aberdeen MS, Halls Cross Roads ES, and Fallston HS from the list of schools with outbreaks, although absence rates are not the only factor considered.
Here’s the latest information on the affected schools provided by HCPS. The “Date of Letter” is the date parents were notified of an outbreak.
Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Tomback told the school board at a work session October 19th that middle school students who complete high school coursework should receive high school credit.
Approximately 40% of HCPS students take the advanced math class Algebra I in middle school, according to Tomback. He said it “doesn’t make sense” not to award credit to middle school students who demonstrate the same achievement as their high school counterparts. “I see moving forward with this proposal.” Tomback said, adding later that a task force should determine how to implement the plan.
Dr. Tomback’s comments came in response to a recommendation to the school board by the Citizens Advisory Committee on Gifted Education.
Several school board members also expressed support for the concept. A final decision would require a board vote at a future business meeting.
