Monday, May 6, 2013
Students, parents and school organizations all have something to say about proposed changes to the HCPSS wellness policy.
Football fans aren’t likely to buy celery sticks in the stands, and the Girls Scouts wouldn’t be the Girl Scouts without cookies. But that's where some parents are saying Howard County Public Schools are headed with the Superintendent’s proposed changes to the school system’s wellness guidelines (policy 9090, Wellness Through Nutrition and Physical Activity). At issue for some parents is the addition of the requirement that foods available to students conform to HCPSS Nutritional Guidelines; guidelines which have not yet been spelled out. “Until guidelines are clearly defined,” PTA Council of Howard County President Christina Delmont-Small said at the April 11 Board of Education Public Hearing, “it is impossible for our organization or …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Lauren Shen's doodle is a state finalist in the national Doodle 4 Google contest.
You never know what you’ll find if you point your browser to Google’s home page. On May 23rd it might be a doodle from a Howard County seventh grader. Burleigh Manor’s Lauren Shen is the Maryland finalist in the Web giant’s Doodle 4 Google contest, which gives young artists from around the country a chance to showcase their artistic skills on the Google home page. Google asked entrants to re-work the company's recognizable logo to depict it as their “best day ever.” Shen's drawing depicted Travel to Taiwan. “The day I arrived in Taiwan was my best day ever,” Shen wrote. More than 130,000 students, from kindergarten through 12th grade submitted a Doodle of their best day. Shen was chosen as one of 50 state finalists. Five national …
Sunday, April 21, 2013
The end of the 2012-2013 school year was recently announced by Howard County school officials.
Howard County public school students will be getting out of school this year a little earlier than expected. Earlier this spring, Howard County school officials said the last day, subject to change, would be June 18, 2013. Then, there was an unexpected snow day in March (remember ‘Snowquester?) and, as of April 8, school officials said the last day of school would be one day later, June 19. One Friday afternoon, Howard County released a new date for the last day: June 14, 2013, a day set earlier because the school system received a waiver from the Maryland Department of Education for three inclement weather days taken during Hurricane Sandy and at other points in the school year. And that date is still subject to “additional modifications…
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The America’s Most Challenging High School rankings is published by the Washington Post.
All 12 of Howard County’s public high schools made the list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools, published annually by the Washington Post. A total of 123 Maryland high schools were on the national list, which had a total of 1,933 high schools ranked Rankings were based on index scores that were calculated based on the number of college-level tests given at the school in 2012 divided by the number of graduates that year, the Post said. Do you agree with the rankings? Tell us in the comments below. The publication also took into account the percentage of students who qualified for lunch subsidies and how many graduates passed at least one college-level test during high school, according to the Post. School Name/Location/National/DC-…
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Matthew Winner is applying his interest in video games to pioneer new ways to teach students math.
In the middle of the library at Longfellow Elementary, a second grade student held a black Nintendo Wii controller and was swinging it methodically at a virtual ping-pong ball as it bounced back and forth on a projector screen. "Now that you've reached 20 points, you only have 30 more seconds to get as high of a score as possible," said Matthew Winner, the librarian, to the student. There were about 15 other students in the room, cheering on the young boy as the volley continued. "That's it! You're done!" said Winner, "Now note the score yellow team, 57." Nearby, the two other second graders that made up the yellow team wrote the 57 along with their other scores of 12 and 6 on pieces of paper. Then they added the scores together, for a …
Friday, April 12, 2013
Patch photographed some of the best examples of student artwork on display at the Columbia Mall.
The spring art exhibition featuring local student artists opened at the Mall in Columbia Wednesday night. Following a tradition began last year, Patch went out and photographed some of the more eye-popping student artwork for the gallery above. The exhibit features work from all the Howard County Schools spread over two levels inside the mall. This is the 41st year the mall has hosted the student art exhibit. From The Mall in Columbia: Each year, teachers chose approximately 30-40 students from their school to represent a cross-section of the arts curriculum, as well as all levels of artistic ability. The event features over 3,000 works of art from 72 Howard County Public Schools; mediums consist of drawing, painting, printmaking, …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Students can now buy breakfast upon arrival at Howard County schools.
The Howard County Public Schools System’s Board of Education announced they will now offer breakfast for students in the mornings upon arrival to school. Options for breakfast will include staples such as bagels and yogurt, as well as other foods that will be peanut free to reduce to risk of allergic reactions. The price for each breakfast will be $1.75. For those in the reduced lunch program, each breakfast will cost 30 cents. Children enrolled in the free lunch program will also be eligible for free breakfast. Some of the schools will offer breakfast to students in each classroom while others will utilize a grab-and-go model. The grab-and-go model will allow students to pay for their breakfast in the cafeteria before walking to …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Howard County, Maryland educators not so sure.
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Thursday, April 4
By Yagana Shah and Jeremy Barr, Capital News Service WASHINGTON -- Arming teachers and other personnel is the best approach to combat gun violence in schools, the National Rifle Association reiterated Tuesday. “We want the debate focused on school safety,” said former Arkansas Congressman Asa Hutchinson at the National Press Club. “Teachers should teach, but if there is a personnel that has good experience, has interest in it and is willing to go through the training...then that is an appropriate resource a school should be able to utilize.” Howard County schools won't be utilizing any such training anytime soon. "The HCPSS does not have plans in place to arm teachers or other education professionals," was the reply from school …
Monday, April 1, 2013
Find out when students are expected to be back in class this month.
Need more proof that spring is actually here? Howard County public school students are on spring break, which explains why morning rush hour may not be as crowded as usual. What fun ways have you figured out to pass the time with your kids on spring break? Tell us your ideas in comments. Spring break for Howard County public school students starts Monday April 1 and lasts until Friday April 5, according to the 2012-2013 Howard County school calendar. Students return to class April 8 and the last day of school is scheduled for June 19, though that is subject to change, school officials said. Howard Community College is also closed this week due to spring break, according to its campus calendar. See related links: Authorities to Educate …
Monday, March 18, 2013
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman was joined by local leaders at an event on Monday to release the final report of the joint task force on school safety.
County Executive Ken Ulman said Monday that $2 million would be spent to update security measures at Howard County schools, an initiative taken following the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. In addition, a task force recommended emergency response training and measures to create a safe climate for students and help identify children who may be suffering from issues. “All of what we’re doing is trying to put together the best possible group of policies to diminish the chances that we have a tragedy in Howard County,” said Ulman. The recommendations were released Monday at an event at Thunder Hill Elementary in Columbia and was prepared by a joint task force on school safety. By the end of this year, the county plans on installing …
Jack
12:46 am on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Mr. Schneider, formally employed by Howard County, now is the Chief Program Officer at The Horizon Foundation, sent this email out earlier today. What do you think?From: Glenn SchneiderSent: Wednesday, May 08, 2013 4:19 PMTo: Katrina Burton ; andrealewinter@cs.com ; Anne Johnson Hahn ; cdrothfield@aol.com ;chall@healthyhowardmd.org ; Ellen M. Mackey etc. etc.Subject: RE: Policy 9090 - Wellness … more ›