News

Reminder! Effective April 1, all employee expense report payments will only be issued as direct deposits.

Why is this change happening? The decision to move completely to direct deposits was made to streamline our process, ensure faster and more secure payments, and reduce the environmental impact and administrative costs associated with paper checks. Direct deposit provides several benefits, including:

• Faster access to funds - Your reimbursement will be automatically deposited into your account on the date paid.
• Increased security - Direct deposit minimizes the risk of lost or stolen checks.
• Convenience - No need to visit the bank or use your app to deposit a physical check.

Next steps for employees:

• Ensure your direct deposit information is up to date. If you have not yet enrolled in direct deposit for expense reimbursements or need to update your banking details, please do so no later than March 31. If this is not updated by this date, you will receive an error when creating future expense reports that will prevent you from submitting the task.
• Instructions are available in the Workday Canvas Community under “Add A Payment Election for Expense Reimbursements.”

Additional information about expense reimbursement reports can be found in Canvas under Expense Report FAQs.

Reminder - Applications are due March 31!

The Bright Minds Foundation is pleased to offer classroom grants for HCPSS teachers and school-based staff interested in delivering educational projects focused on improving student achievement, engagement, and well-being during the 2025-2026 school year. Classroom grants will fund innovative instructional projects that serve to support student success, enrich teaching practices, strengthen school communities, and pilot important classroom projects. 

All school-based staff are eligible to apply for up to $2,000 in grant funds. Proposals should offer a new and/or creative approach to an identified student, classroom, or school need that will support student achievement, engagement, and well-being goals. Access additional information about this grant opportunity here, including the application packet and a list of required steps to complete the application process by the deadline of Monday, March 31 at 11:59 p.m.

The Howard County Board of Education adopted its Operating and Capital Budget Requests for the 2025-2026 school year (Fiscal Year 2026) during its meeting on March 4, 2025.

The Requested Operating Budget totals $1.257 billion, a 9.77% increase over the FY 2025 Operating Budget, and adds 250.3 new full-time employees. The Board also adopted the FY 2026 Capital Budget, totaling $100.64 million for costs associated with renovations/additions and a number of ongoing projects. 

The Board’s requested budgets now go to the County Executive for consideration. 

Full details are available online.

Teachers can now review their own tenure information within Workday. Details on how to view that information are available online and attached.

Additional information regarding educator tenure and tenure eligibility can be found in the Employee Credentialing, Certification and Licensure Canvas Community under Tenure Information.

Questions may be emailed to the Division of Human Resources’ Employee Credentialing Team at employeecredentialing@hcpss.org.

All staff should be aware that there has been a recent increase in websites asking users to perform unknowingly malicious actions on their computers, such as using the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V). This tactic is known as pastejacking, where malicious code is copied to your clipboard without your knowledge when you copy text from a website. 

Example:

! Call to Action:

• Should a website display an unexpected prompt to use the shortcut keys for copy and paste, do not follow the directions and contact Technology Support.
• Alert Technology staff (TechSupport@hcpss.org or 410.313.7004) should your computer or files suddenly behave abnormally, such as:
  • A website asking you to perform specific actions that are suspicious.
  • Unexpected notes appearing on your desktop or within folders.
  • Files once accessible become unreadable, icons change or display unfamiliar file extensions (typical example extensions include: .pdf, .png., .gif, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.).
• If you suspect an email in your account to be a phishing attempt, forward it to abuse@hcpss.org and not interact with the email by clicking on links or downloading files. Once reported, delete any suspicious emails.
• Learn how you can help support HCPSS’s cybersecurity efforts by accessing training resources and reading communications related to IT security efforts.
  • To access resources navigate to the Staff Hub and then clicking on the Services menu > KnowBe4 > Training

If you have any questions or need assistance, contact the Technology Support at TechSupport@hcpss.org or 410.313.7004.

Effective April 1, 2025, all employee expense report payments will only be issued as Direct Deposits. This means that the option to receive physical checks will no longer be available. If you have received a check payment for an employee expense report in the past, please continue to read for action steps below.

Why is this change happening? The decision was made to streamline our process, ensure faster and more secure payments, and reduce the environmental impact and administrative costs associated with paper checks.

Direct Deposit provides several benefits, including:

• Faster access to funds: Your reimbursement will be automatically deposited into your account on the date paid.
• Increased security: Direct Deposit minimizes the risk of lost or stolen checks.
• Convenience: No need to visit the bank or use your app to deposit a physical check.

Next steps for employees:

• Ensure your direct deposit information is up to date. If you have not yet enrolled in Direct Deposit for expense reimbursements or need to update your banking details, please do so no later than March 31, 2025. If this is not updated by this date, you will receive an error when creating future expense reports that will prevent you from submitting the task.
• Resources. Please use the instructions located in Workday Community under “Add A Payment Election for Expense Reimbursements”.

Additional information about expense reimbursement reports can be found in Workday Community under Expense Report FAQs.

If you are receiving unsolicited emails to your HCPSS email account, there are few ways you can
manage the messages.

• If the email is from a legitimate sender, there is often a link to unsubscribe at the bottom of the message.
• If there is no unsubscribe link and/or you are unsure if the sender is legitimate (spam), you can follow these instructions to manage junk and spam email, which include blocking the sender or marking the emails as junk.
• If you believe the unsolicited email may be malicious in nature, do not comply with the request, forward the email to abuse@hcpss.org and delete the email.

If you have any questions or need assistance, contact the Technology Support at TechSupport@hcpss.org or 410-313-7004.

HCPSS staff members who fall into one of the following categories, and who are parents or legal guardians of graduating seniors, may choose to present the diploma to their child(ren) at the student's commencement ceremony. 

• Current Permanent Staff
• Elementary Lunch/Recess Monitors who have been a Lunch/Recess Monitor since September 30, 2024
• Substitutes who have consistently supported HCPSS by substituting 100+* days since the start of the 2023/2024 school year (*8/28/2023-2/26/2025)

Parents/guardians who wish to present diplomas must notify your child's graduation coordinator by April 11.

The Technology Department will be upgrading all staff and students Windows-based (Dell) computers’ operating systems to Windows 11 this spring. This upgrade will enhance performance, strengthen security, and provide a modern, user-friendly experience to support our daily operations. Keeping our systems up to date ensures they remain secure, efficient, and in line with industry best practices.

While Windows 11 shares similarities with Windows 10, it introduces several new features that can enhance user experience. To learn more, visit Meet Windows 11: Features, Look, Benefits & More 

This communication provides some initial information about the upgrade project. Additional details, including the upgrade timelines, support resources, and other key information, will be provided soon. 

If you need help with your technology or have questions, please reach out to Technology Training and Support via email (TechSupport@hcpss.org) or phone (410.313.7004). 

The Office of Teacher and Paraprofessional Development has updated the Graduate and Continuing Education Canvas Community with information related to continuing education, and specifically tuition details. In the Canvas community, staff can find definitions of key terms, links to information about tuition reimbursement, and information about programs/institutions with direct billing and/or reduced tuition for HCPSS employees. 

Staff are encouraged to join the community to receive announcements about new programs and information sessions.