From Harford County Public Schools:
Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) has officially launched its new logo as part of an overall branding campaign. The Board of Education of Harford County voted on the design, at the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools Robert M. Tomback, during its scheduled business meeting Monday night. The new logo, designed by the Bel Air-based marketing and public relations firm A. Bright Idea, features an inclusive, unified circular structure representative of one system and one community working together. Three leaves symbolize the generations that have progressed through the system and also represent elementary, middle and high school. The implied motion in the circle, coupled with the growth represented in the leaves, demonstrates the progressive nature of the school system’s commitment to student achievement.
HCPS facilitated a collaborative, community-focused approached to the branding process. Several focus groups with various internal and external participants – including HCPS administrators, teachers, retired educators, support staff, students and parents and community business leaders – were conducted to gather research and develop initial concepts. In addition, the final logo concepts were posted on the school system’s website and announced on the HCPS Facebook and Twitter pages. The public was encouraged to offer feedback and cast their vote for one of two possible logos.
The new logo for HCPS is just one piece of the school system’s brand strategy, which was set in motion following a communications audit report commissioned by the Board of Education and conducted by the National Schools Public Relations Association (NSPRA) in 2007. As a result of the audit, NSPRA provided HCPS with 13 recommendations to achieve the goal of improving the school system’s overall communications efforts. Audit recommendation #13 was to “develop a comprehensive branding/marketing strategy” for the school system.
Ultimately, the strategic marketing and branding campaign is designed to assist in producing higher student performance. The campaign will be used to recruit and retain quality staff and increase parental involvement, volunteerism and community partnerships. In addition, a consistent branding campaign will increase communication efficiency and effectiveness at the school and system levels and increase pride, trust and support of HCPS.
“We are excited about starting this new chapter in HCPS history,” said Superintendent of Schools Robert M. Tomback. “Even more important than the new logo is the process that we worked through together – as a school system and community – for this rebranding effort. The collaboration invited meaningful discussion relative to our stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations of the Harford County Public Schools. We appreciate the efforts of so many who made significant contributions to this initiative.”
The HCPS Communications Office will use a phased-in approach to incorporating the new logo and brand identity on school system materials as supplies are depleted. This strategy allows the natural course of work to determine the rate at which the logo is integrated and ensures the branding is completely budget-neutral.
The previous book and ruler design had been used for more than 50 years. The logo was developed in 1958 by then HCPS Director of Human Resources Clark Jones. Originally, the logo was created as a marketing tool used to recruit new teachers and staff to the school system.
I notice that nowhere is it mentioned in this official HCPS press release how much money was paid to the PR firm for this. How does this impact learning? Is this going to increase the graduation rate or increase the pass rate on state mandated tests? Ridiculous.
$16,000
What an egregious waste of money. Branding? Our school system is a brand? What other brands is HCPS competing with that requires us to come up with a marketing campaign? I would really like to see the research that supports the outcome of higher student performance from this strategic marketing and branding campaign. Oh, if only these overpaid minds were held to the same sorts of standards as the teachers who have to conform to every new whim that is force upon them! Too bad the upper echelon doesn’t have any productive work to do.
So they went with design that looks like sperm. Seriously that never game up during the consideration process!!
So, this is why I pay taxes? Really? What a waste.
I want my county taxes back.
Honestly… It has been the same logo forever. Over 50 years! Quit crying over a logo change. Things evolve, change & grow. This logo proves and supports that.
A calosal fail at justification. What’s wrong with a 50 year old logo – even a 100 year old logo? To be honest ask anyone in marketing there are some real plusses to keeping a logo/brand/identity – it suggests continuation, long-term commitment, etc. You sure don’t see successful businesses with a brand logo change them. It’s a fluffy, silly waste of money.
Pepsi is a sucessful company that paid $1 million to have a marketing firm rotate their squiggle 45 degrees.
I was in marketing – maybe that explains the problems Pepsi is having then because rule of thumb is you don’t change a brand when you’re having success. Now if you’re losing market share and you want to suggest to people that somehow things are now different then you might make changes but that still has risks. Regardless this isn’t Pepsi – it’s a school system and a logo change just wasn’t necessary. It might explain why the schools are so messed up if the school administrators had issues with the image of a book.
HAWKSPRIDE,
Do you have any idea how much this logo change will cost to implement? Do you care? The $16,000 is minuscule compared to what it will cost to change it everywhere that the old one appears. Buildings, vehicles, letterhead, business cards, signs, forms, and on and on all over the system. The fact is you don’t know and the school system is never going to tell you.
Here is my challenge to you. See if you can get HCPS to tell you what it has budgeted for these changes and then later tell you how much they actually spent. After all, it is public information so it should not be a secret.
In fact, they are not going to track it separately because they know that the cost to implement is astronomical compared to the $16,000 already wasted to have someone come up with the new logo. And if the public ever gets hold of that number (the actual cost to implement) there will be demonstrations in the street. These guys at HCPS are not dumb. Devious, yes, very devious, but not dumb.
If only more would change with our school system. Wish our leader would concentrate on the changes that need to take place before this system goes further down the drain. We are a disappointing mess of a school system.
No, Mary, you are decidedly not a disappointing mess. Not yet. A good system very poorly led but not yet a mess.
If the BOE doesn’t do something soon to get quality leadership at HCPS then you will eventually be right. The present leadership has to go before it does anymore damage and new leadership must be put in place to start to reverse what has been done. The students deserve more. The quality teachers deserve more. The taxpayers deserve more.
We have some very talented students and art teachers in our school system. It’s too bad a contest was not held in which students created the new logo. It would have saved money, and probably resulted in a much better one.
This reminds me of our state legislatures wasting time debating same sex marriage! Instead of dealing with the real problems of the state they discussed sex. So like them, our mr tomcat, wants to spend limited resources on a new logo as if that’s going to make for a+ students. Give me a break! If you need ideas I can suggest coming with a “new” approach in dealing with the drug epidemic going on under your nose mr. tomcat!
I thought his name is Tomback.
If your sperm looks like that please see a doctor immediately! But I do agree, huge waste of cash and sad that if it was deemed necessary by the Power that is, it should have been a student design
Funny how Tomback states “the new logo is the process that we worked through together – as a school system and community”. From a system stand point, first time I heard of it was when there was a public vote on the new logo. Sadly people are correct in stating a student or art teacher could have done better and that to me would have been the “working together”. From what I read and saw it was a community who supposedly got a vote on the logo and community out cry of the money being wasted. And the reason to do this is for communication purposes. Communication would be better in the schools if the staff felt they were respected by the higher ups and the communication went both ways. Now it is just trickle down and do as you are told. A new logo may entice new teachers but after they work in the system for a few years they leave. Sadly I’ve seen so many of my colleagues who were good, caring teachers leave for other counties or retire. And when they retire it is never b/c of the kids, it is the outside BS put on them.
Fed UP,
Uh, that is the way Dr. Bobby brings people into the discussion… the decision is made, some allies are assembled to make it look like outside perspectives were involved, and the stakeholders are given two choices or so – all of which are already pre-approved. Funny how much this resembles the manner things are done in dictatorships!
And for the record – good teachers will not come to Harford County because of a flashy new logo… The moron educator who can be lured over such simplicity is the last person I want standing in front of my kids teaching. The good teachers are going to look at the list of stupid things that this superintendant and BOE do on a regular basis and keep looking elsewhere.
What baffles me beyond comprehension is how some of the people who are commenting on the wastefulness of this debacle are the same ones who SUPPORT it!
My case – this past spring the BOE was being shoved into a corner to uphold a contract they negotiated. Several people took the side of the BOE/Superintendant citing that teachers already had too much, etc… Well, I got news for you – we’re still behind our neighbors comparatively speaking. As Harford County continues to withhold earned step increases when others are providing them… As the pension system continues to be treated like the unwanted step-child… The good teachers will be flowing out of the county no matter what the logo looks like. And good ones won’t be coming here if they do their homework and discover that the Superintendant and BOE do the bidding of their masters (County Council/CE) all for the sake of higher office.
Thus, when the teachers take to the sidewalks to demand fulfillment of contracts… work to rule to reflect how much is done gratis… and Dr. Bobby is invisible during it all… the BOE then punishes the teachers by cutting staff and increasing class sizes… Why are the teachers portrayed as the villains for fighting what these dolts at the top are doing and abusing?!?
I’ll end on this note – if you are upset with the phenomenal amount of wasted money on a project of this sort while money for library books was cut in HALF… as class sizes are increased because of staff cuts… as the quality of education will follow this trend (down)… please just remember – you wanted this.
Afterall, the people you supported in the spring are the ones doing these things, and they know you support them – not the people fighting them. So as you shoot little darts at them over small ticket items like logo changes, they know you have their backs on the expensive things like teachers. In other words, they know they can waste your nickels because you care more about the dollars.
Don’t be so quick to lump the BOE and Tomback together as a unified body. There is plenty of opposition to the way Tomback is running the school system to be found on the Board. Watch some of the meetings on the HCPS website and you’ll see who has the fortitude to stand against the Superintendent when he tries to dictate his way.
Which BOE members?
Not sure who you think I’ve supported in the spring. Union, BOE and Dr. Tomback are all the problem. There is more to come with evaluation/observations too that will be forced down our throats. People in this state seriously have to start asking why are we ranked #1. Maybe b/c we have dumbed it down so much that all we do is teach to tests. As long as they can respond in the manner the test wants that is fine but ask these kids to do lifestyle or simple tasks they have to look to their electronics to help them.
Sadly I have too many years in the system to move elsewhere but not enough to retire. I try to educate the kids in my subject area but it gets harder when those who evaluate have no clue about the subject matter. All they care about is did you assess.
Fed up – I’m sorry, the first two points were to you, the rest was generic… those comments were not directed at you personally and I should have made that distinction.
I’m reposting this from the other logo thread to bring up once again how the IMPORTANT issues are being buried under comments on a trivial subject like the new logo. THESE issues are what will keep good teachers away from Harford County.
Saw my proposed schedule and class enrollment… and ALL have larger than our normal classes. Why ?It’s to accommodate the new dept chair positions that were put in place even though there was no funding. So not only did every school have to ‘lose’ a teaching position last spring to ‘earn’ our 1% COLA, these new dept chairs only teach 2 out of 4 periods a day and the rest of us get to ‘absorb’ those extra bodies that would have been in the 3rd class period the dept chairs normally taught. Right now my total class load is over 200 students.
Unfortunately my subject area does not rely on ScanTron tests for grading-I have to handle and grade every single assignment individually and personally assess each one. Don’t think for a moment I’m not going to adjust the amount of graded work this year to keep my sanity. There’s going to be a lot more non-graded assignments or those that are checked for completion over accuracy because neither am I going to stay after school or take work home to grade anymore. No longer am I going to sit with my family in the living room alone on the loveseat because no one can sit next to me without crushing the pile of papers I’m trying to grade while I spend some ‘quality’ time with my family. Since watching the negative public opinion about the job I chose to do last spring, and the manipulative political games, it’s not so much work to rule for me as finally realizing it was time for a separation of work and family.
Ha! I could easily re-design the logo…a classroom scene where the teacher and students all have frownie faces drawn in or maybe a ship with ‘HCPS’ on the stern rowing in circles and getting nowhere. I’m at a loss to understand what has happened to the school system I was so happy with when I first was hired many years ago.
Several department chairs are teaching 5 classes and still having to do all the extra administrative stuff that comes along with the redone dept chair position. And I know of at least one dept chair who’s only teaching 3 classes because one of the high school departments has more teachers than they really need. According the central administration that school can justify having so many teachers with smaller class sizes than average and a dept chair teaching fewer classes than mandated, but at another school the classes in that subject area are bursting at the seams and the dept chair is teaching 5 classes (instead of 4 as mandated by the changes) isn’t justified in getting another teacher.
Something that someone should probably look into…not average class sizes across an entire school, but average class sizes across individual departments and see how out of whack it is. What ultimately will happen is that some schools will be very limited on what electives they can offer because there are barely enough teachers to cover the core classes in a subject area while other schools will be able to offer just about any elective imaginable and still have small class sizes.
I don’t get this – if the teachers had a contract for raises, a contract should be legally binding. I know teachers can’t strike, but can their union bring suit against the BOE? It seems to me the union is pretty powerless, yet takes in the dues. If the council restricts the money for the bloated BOE budget and the union negotiates and can enforce a contract for their employees, wouldn’t the board be forced to cut spending on their own bureaucracy?
Unfortunately, the answer to most of your questions is “no”. The problem with the whole situation is this:
1) The Union negotiates on behalf of all teachers (whether they are members of the union or not) with the Board of Education for salaries.
2) The Board then goes to the County Council asking for its budget (which includes the expected amount necessary to pay the teachers what they just negotiated with the Union) to be fully funded.
3) The County Council tells the Board that they do not have the revenue to fully fund their budget request (despite magically finding excess revenue more than once in the past few fiscal years) and tells the Board that they have to make cuts to their budget. The Council, even though they provide the funding for the operating budget for the school system, does not have the legal authority to tell the Board what to spend their money on.
4) The Board goes back to the Union and tells them that since their budget request did not get fully funded, their negotiations were meaningless and their contract is worthless. The Board then goes to their budget and cuts teacher salaries and positions while increasing administrative salaries and positions, and spends more on facilities than is necessary because they can and no one can stop them.
5) The Union, having no other recourse, files a claim of foul against the Board with the State Labor Relations Board, which agrees with the Union. The Board of Education, believing that they have no one to answer to, thumbs their nose at the Union and the SLRB and refuses to follow the SLRB decree to either fulfill the terms of the agreement or renegotiate the agreement. Under significant legal pressure from the State, the Board finally renegotiates the agreement, but the salary increase is offset by the loss of over 70 teaching positions (and perhaps 1 or 2 administrative positions, but I don’t think any central office positions). The Union claims victory because they “got” their members a salary increase which hadn’t happened for four years, the Board claims victory because they didn’t have to cut any of their own staff or pet projects or bloated infrastructure to pay for it, and 70+ veteran teachers are without jobs.
I’m glad I am no longer an HCPS teacher, and now that my children are no longer school age I hope every one of my friends who are teachers leaves HCPS and finds employment with some other school system that treats their employees with the respect they deserve.
You make some valid points but your statement that “70+ veteran teachers are without jobs” is simply not true. No teacher lost their job. Some positions vacated by retirements or resignations were not filled and Harford Co. still managed to hire new teachers this year even with the reduction in teaching positions.
Katelyn,
You got the answer to your question before in another post, or at least someone named Katelyn did. But I will give it to you again.
The contract did NOT, repeat did NOT, give the teachers GUARANTEED raises. The contract outlined raises that were agreed between the HCEA and the BOE if, and ONLY IF, the raises were funded. They were not funded.
That is why the HCEA would ultimately not previal in court. And they knew it so the jumped on the 1% with both feet. And the union members likewise jumped on it for whatever reason, including the fact that it was recommended by HCEA. And Randy Cerveny decided to leave while he had some semblance of a ‘victory’ and could save face.
I won’t take issue with your characterization of the HCEA and the budget being “bloated” and someone needing to take an ax to the bureaucracy.
I understand that you are upset but you have a job and you got 1% some poeple got layoff so be happy.
Why should they be happy? Their raise came at the expense of other teachers’ jobs instead of the Board reigning in their own non-essential spending or the Council funding the original budget request instead of magically finding a revenue surplus six months later.
Maybe teachers aren’t happy but they had other options. Union leadership accepted the offer and union membership voted overwhelmingly to approve it. Union leadership and membership could have continued to press on with SLRB complaint, which was leaning in their direction, but was not a sure thing as the case was sure to wind up in court. Union membership was well aware that accepting the deal was going to cost teaching positions. Membership could have rejected the offer and sent their leadership back to the table or the courtroom. Some could argue that the union does not represent everyone because there are many teachers that do not belong and they (non-union teachers) didn’t agree to increased class sizes and increased workload. Those teachers have no leg to stand on because they chose to exclude themselves from having the power to influence the final decision. If you want to influence union actions, including who fills union leadership positions, then you must be in position to participate. The council nor the county executive were never going to fund the original budget request. This is always a dance played out between the county executive, council and school board. The problem is that school boards are essentially a volunteer position. Most school board members have other jobs and no experience operating within school a system which means they must rely on the superintendent and his staff. This lack of experience and restraints on their time makes it very easy for a superintendent to guide the board into making decisions the way the superintendent wants and that includes the school system budget. If you want a school board that has real influence over the school system budget and the actions of the superintendent then make it an elected full-time paid position with taxing authority like it is in most of the rest of the country. That way if the union and citizens don’t like the school system budget is formulated or the way the school system is being run they can work to get rid of the superintendent and the board through the ballot box.
Finally they have gotten rid of the NO Books logo. I know more than a few families in new jersey that chose to commute because they thought that this was a hick county against reading. This is a fresh new look that will help us compete with some of the better less whining Maryland counties. Kudos to members who voted for this.
If a decision was made on whether to have children attend Harford County schools based on the school system logo that says more about them than our school system. You are free to go back to NJ.
Go back to the Jersey Shore. You won’t be missed.
He has a point…. this is a hick county.
While your delivery was a bit over the top and rude, you have a good point. I have a few friends from Baltimore county who have joked about how we are against reading books.
It would seem that Harford County is merely following a trend…article on CNN reports that America is cutting back on education at a time when other countries are out-educating us.
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/18/white-house-report-urges-investment-after-300000-education-jobs-lost/?hpt=hp_t2
Comparing the education systems in the US against the world is silly. The amount of time spent by a teacher trying to get a student to sit down and listen is crazy. And that can be in a class of 25-30. I sat in on classes overseas with one teacher in front of 50-75 students and you could hear your heart beat. Teachers were respected by society, students came prepared to learn, and the focus could be on learning.
My favorite students are my international ones… the respect they give is easily off the charts compared with our domestic students. These other countries are not out-learning us because of books, wealth, buildings or logos… they simply care about learning.
Americans by and large place little or no value on education. Ask yourself these questions, “Will you spend more money this year on tutoring rather than cable TV/sports/entertainment? Will you spend more time in front of the TV/at the movies/entertainment than sitting with your student’s teachers or going over their work?” If the educational aspects of these questions lose – you have your answer.
The day we wake up and realize that our attitude is focused on being happy instead of working hard to learn and excel we will catch up. Given the reality that most people spend so much on entertainment and we can even be in the same breath in comparison is nothing short of amazing.
Depending on whose numbers we use, the education system in this country is beyond broke, it is fiscally, morally and spiritually bankrupt. HCPS is simply on of the very small cogs in a monstrous machine operated from a bunker in Washington, DC. As long as we rate 28th out 50, in the “developed” countries, we will continue to turn out a flawed product in our graduates. This is not a problem created by teachers at any level. It is also not created nor exacerbated by any of the in school administration in this or any other jurisdiction. It is a problem that is created and exacerbated by people in non-classroom management position. Dr. Tomback is only one of thousands of these useless parasites who continue to drag the system down by using it as a social experiment. Does anyone at any level, including Herr Doktor Tomback, want to fix this? Sure they do! The problem then is that they are, mostly clueless and are trying to tweak the little insignificant things while failing to notice that the primary mission of teaching our kids to compete in math, science, business, finance in an international community. There are lessons to be be learned from all 27 of the countries who are far superior to us, but we are arrogant, inflated, and unfortunately too poorly educated to go there.
Finally, this thread is about the new logo. It is a perfectly clear example of the government think of; “if it ain’t broke, keep fixing it until it is.”
You and anotherhcpsteacher demonstrate a clear understanding to the issues facing education in America today. Virtually all classroom teachers and school based administrators understand this. It is the education bureaucrats that sit in the ivory towers at the local, state and federal level (and politicians that use public education for as a means to keep themselves in the spotlight and win votes) that has brought us to this poor state of affairs. From what I see and hear there are many that share your assessment of the HCPS leadership.
Arturro, You should be the superintendent.
Thank you for your kind words. I am not nor never have been a teacher in any public or private school. I have been an instructor, in several subjects, in the Defense Department. Maybe we ought to turn education over to the Pentagon!
I’ll bet you don’t have any problems with discipline in your classes. Get down and give me twenty! I love the sound of that.
I am very thankful that the board of education contracted this out to a Bel Air firm. I am APPALLED at the fact that you people are critical of our own. This money is going back into the economy of harford county. The artists who helped create this in BEL AIR are probably depressed reading your dribble. Thank all of you hardiots for making this county seem unbusiness friendly and hick-like.
I feel bad for the workers who helped get rid of the NO BOOKS logo. They have to deal with the IDIOTS in this county while they are working overtime. A Bright Idea… you should move out of this UNCREATIVE UNBUSINESS friendly county… Baltimore or Howard… We love you.
Shame on all of the rest of you…
The product presented by A Bright Idea looks like something you could find on a clip art website and is of amateur quality. The school system could have saved the money and had a student or teacher design a better logo. That money, and what is yet to be spent in the change over, could have bought several write boards for classroom that would actually be used to help students learn something or paid for an inclusion helper to assist a special needs student. You are the one that writes dribble and doesn’t have a clue.
Wow. You are so uninformed. They created not just the logo, but the style guide and marketing materials. At the price HCPS paid it was a bargain. You people are ridiculous for criticizing this local company. My god, please look at the corruption and waste that exists at the COUNTY government (no-bid secret IT contracts, firing the CIO for contracting out to INDIA) first.
Getting rid of the anti-reading logo should be far down on your issues list with the corruption that has existed in the County. Morons.
Why should I think anything else they are doing is any better than the logo design they came up with? I agree that with so many other issues of real significance facing the school system not only should changing the logo been far down the list but but was not an issue in need of addressing at all. Any corruption in county government is a different issue and is not at all relevant to the logo discussion. If you have a bitch with county government take that up with the county executive or county council.
It does not matter what they paid for the image, or who designed it. It is lifeless and barren. And waste is like a snowball – rolling downhill and slowly getting more massive as it gains speed and momentum. So much so, that it accumulates so much the snowball is too massive to stop. Nobody knows what do with it. It has needlessly designed logos on it, issued credit accounts, drive home cars, loans to friends, spending stipends, iPads, etc. This logo is small component of that snowball, but is sure is an bland one.
Just because this job was contracted out to a Harford County business does not mean it is quality work. If the folks at A Bright Idea worked this design out FOR HCPS, well, then they should be embarrassed. If you want to be a competitive, high profile design firm then you’d best produce high quality work…and since that didn’t happen, negative criticism is to be expected. And your comment about ‘hicks’ who are dissatisfied with the logo…it’s not unreasonable to expect quality work. I am an educator in the middle class bracket armed with several degrees and a very good sense of design, There is no one that would ever categorize me as a “hick” and my opinion is definitely negative.
Now if the design was based on specific requirements FROM HCPS and merely met the client’s request, then HCPS shouldn’t presume to be graphic artists. Since there’s nothing about the new graphic that portrays “education” as it’s product, they could have saved time, money and energy and merely moved the offending “no books” ruler so it wasn’t diagonal or removed it completely and returned to the business of education without this public outcry and giving the residents one more reason to shake their heads and wonder if HCPS have any clue at all.
The logo is lifeless and barren. The font is dull, and the imagery is not incorporated into the text at all. I cannot get my mind around the concept of the design. What does it symbolize? Someone made the “clip art” comment, I agree.
The designers no doubt worked to the client’s vision, which, with certainty falls flat on it’s face. To validate my criticism, I am an art educator from Howard County with 20 years experience, board certified, and highly regarded in my field. I have graphic design experience, I am a product of Harford County Public Schools, and I have two children in the school system.
This is merely a “logo,” not a brand image. It looks dated, and says nothing about Harford County. It is far too “clinical.” I know my comments are critical, but I feel they area accurate. What a shame, Harford County Public Schools could do much better. That logo looks like a homemade logo for a “green paper company.”
Seriously? This is priceless. On the one hand, you have a school administration that is so out of touch with the real world that they think the pursuit of a new logo was worthy of their time and our money. On the other hand, we still have obtuse members of the citizenry debating the merits of one design over the other.
Folks, the Titanic is sinking! Stop arguing over the placement of the deck chairs!
HCPS facilitated a collaborative, community-focused approached to the branding process. This is part of the statement released by HCPS with a straight face. Afterward, the spokesperson probably had to be sedated to ease the effects of endless hysterical laughter. This is what your public servants think of you.
I think Alex is on to something. We should demand answers:
1. What measurable improvements in learning will result from the new logo?
2. What drove the urgent need to pursue the logo redesign prior to tackling other lesser matters such as, you know, education or school construction?
3. How much will it cost US for THEM to print new business cards (yeah, all the coolest bureaucrats have them), letterhead and envelopes?
4. How much will it cost US for THEM to incorporate the new logo into the HCPS web site, vehicles, welcome mats (yep, can’t have a cool new HQ without them), and the countless other tchotchkes?
5. How much will it cost US for THEM to pay the producers of The Odd Life of Timothy Green for borrowing from their theme?
6. When will the citizens in this County get fed up enough to remove these educrats and restore some Common Sense?
If you had watched the Board meeting you would know that it costs nothing. The logo is phased in slowly through print and web.
It will produce no measurable results in learning. However, it will help us compete with other counties. We are LOSING students and population because our county is viewed as uneducated. Baltimore County has the best schools in the nation. We are competing with them, we want people to move to Harford county.
We need to look modern and not have a logo that says NO BOOKS (a book with a slash over it). I’m not sure why this is so controversial.
Wait I understand why it is so controversial. The very obtuse and uneducated dribble that makes it way to these comments here continues to lessen the potential and external view of our county. Until there is a comprehension of this we will still be far inferior.
-Damien Sandow
@DamienSandow
You state: “However, it will help us compete with other counties. We are LOSING students and population because our county is viewed as uneducated. Baltimore County has the best schools in the nation. We are competing with them, we want people to move to Harford county.”
How many students have we lost to other jurisdictions with cool-looking logos? If that is how you decide where to send your children to school, perhaps it is best that we “lose” them to another jurisdiction.
I think Harford County teachers would take exception to your statement regarding Baltimore County. Besides, does the BCPS logo make them the best as you claim they are?
When you state, “We need to look modern and not have a logo that says NO BOOKS (a book with a slash over it). I’m not sure why this is so controversial,” I can only say Thank You for making my point.
Thank you for your educated response to Daniensandow’s ludicrous post. Any objective assessment of school districts in MD would surely demonstrate that Balt. Co. public schools are no where near the best in our state. In fact MD schools are not really the best in the country as some like to claim. Using criteria other than the how much money a state spends on education and the inflated importance of AP class registrations MD would rank somewhere between seventh and tenth overall.
Any claim that the new logo design will cost nothing is also incorrect. We will never know the real cost to HCPS because as someone else posted this information will be spread throughout the budget and not be specifically discernible.
Having reviewed the Board meeting it would appear that Damiensandow is the one that has issues with comprehension. The question was raised during the discussion about whether the school system (in this case the administration) gets it. Meaning that in the scope of all the other more important issues facing the school system was the logo even something that should be up for discussion? Certainly there was significant debate and at least four Board members appeared to get it from a big picture and public relations perspective.
We will have to wait and see if the superintendent gets it when his contract is up for renewal, but I would hazard a guess that some Board members will finally get it when they are displaced at the next election.