It's Been an Outstanding Year

We’re winding down the year here in Calvert County.  ‘Tis the season for end-of-year concerts and recognition assemblies.  At yesterday’s meeting of the Board of Education, we recognized our school volunteers, our employees of the month and a new local club for kids - Creative and Striving Hard to Succeed (C.A.S.H.) National Society of Black Engineers. 

Today I managed to stop in on a couple of elementary field days (one where I personally removed a snake from the field), a middle school summit for 8^th grade girls and a planning retreat for our Department of Instruction.  Lots of good stuff.

Our seniors are all gone and we’ll celebrate them through four graduation ceremonies on June 7 and 8.

As I reflect back on School Year 16-17, I can think of so many things to celebrate.  First, we celebrate the accomplishments of our students.

• Calvert County PARCC scores in 10^th and 11^th grade English Language Arts were the best in the state of MD.  The best as in “WE ARE NUMBER 1!”
• We have a graduation rate of 95%.
• SAT scores went up.
• Numerous individuals and student academic, fine arts and athletic teams won 1^st in Maryland.

Of course, we give our outstanding staff credit for the above as well, but the Calvert County employees shined in other ways.

• Teacher of the Year Donna Miller was a state finalist.
• Sunderland Elementary was named a Blue Ribbon School.
• We successfully negotiated 4-year contracts with our teachers’ union and support staff union. 
• We successfully negotiated a 2-year contract with our administrators’ union.
• Our Supervisor of Equity initiated a new priority.
• We negotiated a new funding formula with our Board of County Commissioners that will assure increasing revenues for the next 4 years.

And then there are some things that are attributable to our district staff and the Board of Education and the even the weather.

• We had just one snow day and we made it up in February.
• We broke ground for the new Northern High School.

• We initiated an outside review of special education and transportation and we anticipate reports that will help us be more effective and efficient in those areas.
• We initiated a strategic planning process which, when complete this summer, will set the stage for all future planning.
• We have approved a budget that will give all of our employees a step increase and assures another step for most. 

And, thanks to all, our maintenance department announced that we have reduced its overall consumption of electricity by 17.14% since 2008 by installing energy-efficient equipment and encouraging people to change behaviors to conserve energy.

Yes, it’s been a good year.  I feel very lucky to be a part of such a good district.