Officials greet students on first day of classes
SCHOOLS, From page 1 Applications and Research Laboratory.
At Howard High School they tested security measures — the group had to be buzzed in — a new measure at all high schools.
“Nobody is exempt from checking in,”
Martirano said. “Our schools have 58,000 students and our parents entrust us to protect them from when they leave home and until they return.”
Kittleman allocated $2.5 million to enhance security. The funding accelerated the high school’s entry system, provided exterior door lock systems and will fund replacing any school doors that are not up to the school system’s standard, according to Martirano.
The school system also hired three social workers for the current school year and plans to bring on an additional 12 social workers over the next four years.
“The moral purpose of education is to take care of students and all staff before education can occur,” Martirano said.
Kittleman said the focus on mental health is important to have a “great, safe and strong learning environment.”
Vaillancourt said she is excited both about the impact Martirano has already made and his commitment to addressing mental health. As an outgoing board member, she sees her major priority is to make sure the new board is set up for success working with Martirano.
The three visited a ninth-grade English Honors classroom during their Howard High visit, where they played Jenga with the students.
Kristen McManus, a ninth-grade English teacher, begins each of her new classes with community building activities, such as playing Jenga, where questions are written on the pieces that students have to answer. The questions range from “What is your favorite holiday?” to “What would you do if you won the lottery?”
“The purpose here is to have students get to know each other,” McManus said.
“In English, we have a lot of in-depth conversations, and I want students to be comfortable to express their views.”
Hearing on ways to ease crowding Howard County’s school year is also opening with a discussion of possible redistricting. The school board on Tuesday will host a 7 p.m. public hearing on options to relieve crowding in five high schools, including busing students to other schools miles away.
“We are going from crisis to crisis to crisis,” said school board member Christina Delmont-Small. “I think we need to have a deeper conversation on what we want this [relieving overcrowding] to look like.”
Eight options — from redrawing school attendance border lines to opening a separate academy for ninth-graders starting as soon as the fall of 2019 — are being considered by the school board and will be reviewed at a Sept. 11 public hearing.
The most crowded of Howard’s 12 high schools are Centennial, Hammond, Howard, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron, said Jennifer Bubenko, planning specialist for the school system.
Each of the five high schools has portable, or temporary, classrooms on its campus. In the past school year, Centennial had five portable classrooms, Hammond had four, Howard had 15, Long Reach had four and Mt. Hebron had four, according to school data.
For the 2018-19 school year, each of the five high schools is projected to have from 100 to 300 more students than they were designed to accommodate.
A so-called open-enrollment option would allow students from Centennial, Howard, Long Reach or Mt. Hebron high schools to be reassigned to an out-ofdistrict school with adequate space, including Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge and Oakland Mills high schools.
Another option would allow temporary reassignment of ninth-graders at Howard or Centennial high school for the 2019- 2020 academic year to attend Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high school for their freshman year, before transferring back to their home school.
A permanent reassignment option would have the 2019-2020 academic year freshman classes at either Howard or Centennial high schools spending their entire high school time at Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high schools.
A ninth-grade academy option would place Howard High School freshmen at Faulkner Ridge Center in Columbia for their first year, or expanded as a countywide program, said Dan Lubeley, manager of design and preconstruction services.
This plan would take effect for the 2020-21 school year while Faulkner Ridge is renovated.
The Parent Teacher Association Council of Howard County will review all of the options at its first general meeting between all PTA presidents and delegates, according to Brent Loveless, council president.
Class sizes have increased twice in the past five years. During the past budget cycle, the Howard County Council shifted $5.1 million to keep class sizes from increasing. jnocera@baltsun.com
At Howard High School they tested security measures — the group had to be buzzed in — a new measure at all high schools.
“Nobody is exempt from checking in,”
Martirano said. “Our schools have 58,000 students and our parents entrust us to protect them from when they leave home and until they return.”
Kittleman allocated $2.5 million to enhance security. The funding accelerated the high school’s entry system, provided exterior door lock systems and will fund replacing any school doors that are not up to the school system’s standard, according to Martirano.
The school system also hired three social workers for the current school year and plans to bring on an additional 12 social workers over the next four years.
“The moral purpose of education is to take care of students and all staff before education can occur,” Martirano said.
Kittleman said the focus on mental health is important to have a “great, safe and strong learning environment.”
Vaillancourt said she is excited both about the impact Martirano has already made and his commitment to addressing mental health. As an outgoing board member, she sees her major priority is to make sure the new board is set up for success working with Martirano.
The three visited a ninth-grade English Honors classroom during their Howard High visit, where they played Jenga with the students.
Kristen McManus, a ninth-grade English teacher, begins each of her new classes with community building activities, such as playing Jenga, where questions are written on the pieces that students have to answer. The questions range from “What is your favorite holiday?” to “What would you do if you won the lottery?”
“The purpose here is to have students get to know each other,” McManus said.
“In English, we have a lot of in-depth conversations, and I want students to be comfortable to express their views.”
Hearing on ways to ease crowding Howard County’s school year is also opening with a discussion of possible redistricting. The school board on Tuesday will host a 7 p.m. public hearing on options to relieve crowding in five high schools, including busing students to other schools miles away.
“We are going from crisis to crisis to crisis,” said school board member Christina Delmont-Small. “I think we need to have a deeper conversation on what we want this [relieving overcrowding] to look like.”
Eight options — from redrawing school attendance border lines to opening a separate academy for ninth-graders starting as soon as the fall of 2019 — are being considered by the school board and will be reviewed at a Sept. 11 public hearing.
The most crowded of Howard’s 12 high schools are Centennial, Hammond, Howard, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron, said Jennifer Bubenko, planning specialist for the school system.
Each of the five high schools has portable, or temporary, classrooms on its campus. In the past school year, Centennial had five portable classrooms, Hammond had four, Howard had 15, Long Reach had four and Mt. Hebron had four, according to school data.
For the 2018-19 school year, each of the five high schools is projected to have from 100 to 300 more students than they were designed to accommodate.
A so-called open-enrollment option would allow students from Centennial, Howard, Long Reach or Mt. Hebron high schools to be reassigned to an out-ofdistrict school with adequate space, including Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge and Oakland Mills high schools.
Another option would allow temporary reassignment of ninth-graders at Howard or Centennial high school for the 2019- 2020 academic year to attend Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high school for their freshman year, before transferring back to their home school.
A permanent reassignment option would have the 2019-2020 academic year freshman classes at either Howard or Centennial high schools spending their entire high school time at Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high schools.
A ninth-grade academy option would place Howard High School freshmen at Faulkner Ridge Center in Columbia for their first year, or expanded as a countywide program, said Dan Lubeley, manager of design and preconstruction services.
This plan would take effect for the 2020-21 school year while Faulkner Ridge is renovated.
The Parent Teacher Association Council of Howard County will review all of the options at its first general meeting between all PTA presidents and delegates, according to Brent Loveless, council president.
Class sizes have increased twice in the past five years. During the past budget cycle, the Howard County Council shifted $5.1 million to keep class sizes from increasing. jnocera@baltsun.com
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