News

The Howard County Public School System is proud to announce its 2022 awardees for Principal and Teachers of the Year:

• Principal of the Year: Dr. Jeffrey Fink of Oakland Mills High School has been named the 2022 Howard County Principal of the Year and a Washington Post Principal of the Year nominee
• Teacher of the Year: Jorden Lim of Long Reach High School has been named Howard County’s 2022 Maryland State Department of Education Teacher of the Year candidate
• Teacher of the Year: Jessica Palad of Pointers Run Elementary School has been selected as a 2022 Washington Post Teacher of the Year nominee

HCPSS Superintendent Michael Martirano surprised each of the three recipients with the news during a visit to their respective schools on April 6. They also will be recognized this spring at a reception with, and at a meeting of the Howard County Board of Education.

Learn more about these outstanding staff online.

Terry Eberhardt has always loved music, from putting on concerts as a child to later singing in school chorus and learning to play various instruments. Eberhardt pursued a dual degree in vocal performance and music education at the prestigious Peabody Institute. After teaching in Montgomery County he went back to school and got a master’s degree in opera performance. 

Having enjoyed teaching so much, though, he wanted to continue working in education and in 2005, Eberhardt became the music teacher at Marriotts Ridge High School. There, he led a number of initiatives, including the school improvement team, family and community partnerships, and Alpha Achievers.

Now, as HCPSS’ Music Coordinator, Eberhardt oversees the music curriculum, events, staff, and budget—a role he loves for a variety of reasons.

Learn more about Terry Eberhardt in this HCPSS Staff News feature.

Employees are able to make applicable benefit changes during the plan year outside of the annual open enrollment due to a qualifying life event. A list of qualifying life events and instructions on how to complete an event are available online. 

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future requires the annual identification of schools with low performance. The Blueprint states, "Recognizing that quality educators are key to student success, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is implementing a new Blueprint for Maryland’s Future program to attract and retain National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) in the State’s low performing schools. Only five percent of Maryland’s National Board Certified Teachers are currently working in low performing schools."

At its meeting yesterday, the HCPSS Board of Education selected eight locally Low Performing Schools. MSDE provided the list of possible schools from the points earned in the 2018 and 2019 MD Report Card and the Board selected all of the eight possible schools for the designation.

The designation as a Low Performing School increases the salary of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) who work at those schools. Staff who are identified as eligible for the $10,000 increase in salary for being an NBCT will receive an additional $7,000 if they teach at a Low Performing School.

This information is being shared now, because we wanted to make sure NBCTs who may want to transfer to one of these schools have the opportunity to submit that request by the April 15th transfer deadline.  Please note, previously submitted voluntary transfer request forms cannot be edited. Contact Brianna Robinson, Position Control and Staffing Analyst, at brianna_robinson@hcpss.org if you wish to make changes to your request form (i.e. add or remove desired school locations) based upon this information.

NBCT Pay Increase Details:
The Blueprint increases the salary by $10,000 of National Board Certified educators who are actively teaching in Maryland public schools. For the purpose of identifying which National Board Certified Teachers will receive the $10,000 income supplement, Maryland House Bill 1300 (p. 122) defines “teacher” as “a certified public school employee who is primarily responsible and accountable for teaching students in the class.”

NBC Teachers staying or moving to a Low Performing School will receive an additional $7,000 added to their salary. As long as they stay at that school, a Nationally Board Certified Teacher will continue to earn the salary increase, even if the school shows improvement and is no longer identified as a low performing school. A new list of possible schools for designation will be provided each year by MSDE. The HCPSS Board of Education will then make decisions on which schools will be designated as low performing.

While HCPSS honors and supports the Blueprint distinction and incentives to recruit NBCTs to work in low performing schools, NBCT certification isn’t the only distinction that determines teacher mastery or responsiveness to students and community. For this purpose and aligned with provisions in the teacher contract and HCPSS policy, staff selection remains a school-based decision. NBCTs who express an interest in transferring to an identified school will be considered along with all other transfer candidates and will not receive special consideration due to their NBCT status.

The HCPSS schools designated as locally Low Performing Schools are:

• Cradlerock Elementary School
• Swansfield Elementary School
• Harper’s Choice Middle School
• Lake Elkhorn Middle School
• Oakland Mills Middle School
• Wilde Lake Middle School
• Oakland Mills High School
• Homewood Center

When creating learning materials, all staff are reminded to generate false student/staff information. Never use actual student or staff data, even if it is believed that the confidential information has been redacted. Staff should generate purely fictional student or staff information when needed for demonstration purposes.
 
Additionally, when it is necessary to share sensitive and/or confidential data electronically, staff should save the file in a secure location and provide access by granting permissions to only the necessary staff members. At no time should a staff member share confidential data with other people who do not already have access to the same data.
 
! Call to Action ! Staff can store files in their HCPSS G Suite account and provide access to the intended audience. This procedure allows staff to revoke access to the information when necessary. Review the G Suite Sharing Guide and Electronic Communications Best Practices to learn more. 
 
! Warning! Staff are reminded to verify intended recipients' email addresses prior to sending emails or sharing files. Staff email addresses can be verified by searching and finding a person in Workday (Workday Basics - Search in Workday). Once you have reviewed the staff member’s job title, location and/or picture, click on the email icon under their picture to see their HCPSS email address.

If you have any questions about how to use the sharing permissions in G Suite or using Workday to verify a staff member’s email address, contact Technology Support at techsupport@hcpss.org or (410) 313-7004 option 4.

Background:

In 2021, the Maryland State Legislature passed the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, legislation that codified the recommendations of the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission). The Blueprint raises the status of the teaching profession and encourages professional development through a performance-based Career Ladder with salaries comparable to those in other professional fields with similar education requirements. Teacher salary progression and classroom performance will be linked to teacher achievement of National Board Certification (NBC).

NBCT Pay Increase Details:
The Blueprint law increases the salary by $10,000 of National Board Certified educators who are actively teaching in Maryland public schools. For the purpose of identifying which National Board Certified Teachers will receive the $10,000 income supplement, Maryland House Bill 1300 (p. 122) defines “teacher” as “a certified public school employee who is primarily responsible and accountable for teaching students in the class.” 

For HCPSS purposes, this definition of teacher applies only and specifically to Article 20.5 of the HCPSS-HCEA negotiated agreement. All other instances of the word “teacher” in the agreement remain defined as in Article 1.B, unless otherwise specified. 

The tentative 2022-2023 HCEA negotiated agreement states,”In accordance with the Blueprint law, teachers successfully completing the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards certification program (NBPTS), also known as National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), who are primarily responsible and accountable for teaching students in the classroom, shall receive an annual supplement of $10,000 each year their NBPTS certificate remains in good standing.”

In partnership, HCPSS and HCEA have determined this includes all staff who have the following workflows in the Frontline Employee Management and Evaluation System:  

• Non-tenured teacher
• Tenured teacher
• Elementary library media specialist
• Infant and toddlers teacher. 

This includes all staff that have Student Learning Objectives.  

It does not include staff who have the following workflows: 

• Alternative education teacher
• Central office leader
• Instructional specialist
• Pupil personnel worker
• Related service provider
• School counselor
• Secondary library media specialist
• Social Worker/Mental Health Therapist
• Support teacher

While the above staff is not included in the $10,000 annual supplement, teachers successfully completing the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards certification program (NBPTS), also known as National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), who are in this second list shall receive an annual supplement of $2,000 each year their NBPTS certificate remains in good standing. 

All interested staff are highly encouraged to register for and attend an HCPSS information session prior to applying for SY22-23 NBC scholarship. Staff should not register with NBPTS until directed to do so by HCPSS.

Six years ago, Oakland Mills Middle School Library Media Specialist Jennifer Hamilton decided to try something new. Instead of purchasing books for the OMMS library, she’d have her students manage it and learn about HCPSS’ book-buying standards and rigorous approval process along the way. Since then, the “book buy project” has evolved into a multi-week activity, spanning multiple content areas and allowing students to earn service-learning hours.

Read more about Jennifer's idea and how it's being implemented at OMMS.

You can find this, and other feature articles on the HCPSS News site.

! WARNING ! To trick people into responding to phishing emails, scammers sometimes use publicly available information to send emails to employees using a fraudulent external email account, such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com, using their supervisor’s name. 

To help staff identify all emails from external sources, messages sent from non-HCPSS accounts will have:

• Subject lines beginning with [External]
• A “! CAUTION” message highlighted in yellow at the top of the email. 

Staff should not respond to emails suspected to be fraudulent, and instead reach out to people using a verified email address or another verified communication method.  

Learn more about phishing attacks on the Technology Support Canvas community. 

If you suspect an email to be fraudulent, do not proceed with the directions provided in the email. Employees are encouraged to forward any suspected phishing emails to abuse@hcpss.org, and then delete the email. If assistance is still needed, contact the Technology Support at TechSupport@hcpss.org.

Originally gravitating toward college students, Diane Moe "fell in love working at the elementary school level" and has since been a school counselor at Jeffers Hill Elementary School for more than 20 years.

"I discovered the incredible opportunity it presented to impact students at a young age and equip them with skills that they could carry with them for a lifetime,” Moe said.

Moe also serves as the chair of JHES’ PBIS Committee, and as a trained intervenor supporting students who exhibit suicidal ideation and consults with colleagues ensuring that families are connected with appropriate resources. 

Learn more about Diane Moe, including hearing directly from Jeffers Hill families on the impact she has had on them in the latest HCPSS Staff News.

Feb. 7-11 is National School Counseling Week, a wonderful occasion to recognize and celebrate our school counselors! From elementary through high school, HCPSS counselors work with students individually and in groups to provide academic, career, personal and social support. Learn more about the unique role they play in promoting and enhancing student learning.