2008-09 Annual Report - Harford County Public Schools

2008-09
Looking back on the 2008-09
Under the leadership of Mary Murray and Jim Pritchard,
student-groups involved with the local Maryland
Summer Center investigated a number of invasive
plants, animals, and man-made changes at the Harford
Glen Environmental Center during a two-week study in
July 2008. Students involved included, from left, top,
Reagan Harper, Thomas Ogden, William Corey, Dan
Gorski, Adam Lanphear, Andrey Privado, and Morgan
Gardner; center, Drew Vinyard, Colleen Patton, Ben
Hendricks, Cole Merryman, Jillianne Carter, Bridget
Newell, and Natalie Brosh; and, bottom, Ben Barsam,
Bram Swarr, Brett Boileau, and Joe Nichols.
Harford’s Hickory Elementary School was selected as a
2008 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department
of Education for students achieving at very high levels. The
announcement made by Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings, cited only six Maryland schools and 320 schools
nationally to receive the distinguished honor. Each year,
the U.S. Department of Education conducts a nationwide
search for ‘Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence.’ In order
to facilitate that process, they first look to the state
level where State Departments of Education nominate
schools whose students demonstrated excellence in ‘No
Child Left Behind’ (NCLB) sanctioned standardized tests.
Additionally, the school must fall in the top 10 percent of
all schools in the state on test scores in both reading and
math for the past three years.
The 2009 General Assembly student pages were, from
left front, David John “D.J.” Sigworth, Nick Temple, Viona
Miller, Gerard Neely, Greg Waterworth (alternate), and
William Richardson. Elected officials in attendance
were, from left, Senators Andrew Harris and Barry
Glassman, Delegation Chair Susan McComas, Delegates
Daniel Riley, Mary-Dulany James and Donna Stifler. The
student pages spent two weeks in Annapolis – those
weeks are non-consecutive to allow them to experience
the beginning of the process, to see things all the
way through by following certain issues that interest
them, and returning later in the session to witness the
conclusion.
16 BOE | DECEMBER 2009