Superintendent’s Report: April 15, 2021 Board Meeting Dr. Michael J. Martirano, Superintendent ● Good afternoon, Board members. I will begin my remarks today with several celebrations. Celebrations ● I am pleased to introduce Tamisha Sampson, who is our new Coordinator for the English as a Second Language (ESOL) Program. ● Ms. Sampson has sixteen years of administrative experience in Montgomery County Public Schools during which time she led the ESOL Program as the ESOL Curriculum and Assessment supervisor for six years. In this position, she was responsible for educating hundreds of staff, students, and families on the best ways to produce equitable learning outcomes for 28,000 multilingual learners. ● Prior to this position, Ms. Sampson served as a school principal, counselor, teacher, and paraeducator in Montgomery and Talbot counties in Maryland and Monmouth Junction in New Jersey. ● Joining Ms. Sampson today are her husband, Leon Sampson, her son, Austin and daughter Ava. ● Yesterday I had the great pleasure of taking part in surprise visits to announce our new Howard County Principal of the Year and Teachers of the Year. ○ Denise Lancaster of Deep Run Elementary School is our 2021 Howard County Principal of the Year and a Washington Post Principal of the Year nominee. ○ Amy Woolf of Oakland Mills Middle School is our Howard County 2021 Maryland State Department of Education Teacher of the Year candidate ○ Niklas Berry of Oakland Mills High School is our Washington Post Teacher of the Year nominee. 1 ● Congratulations to each of these outstanding educators. Each is an exemplary representative for our school system and for all educators in Maryland and our nation. ● I recently had the pleasure of attending the It’s Academic championship event. The three finalist teams included our own Centennial and Howard High Schools and Pikesville High School in Baltimore County, which each earned their place in this final from among a field of over 81 school teams in our region. ● I am thrilled to announce that Howard High School took home the Baltimore Metro championship! The Howard High team will continue to intercity competition against the DC and Central Virginia winners. ● I congratulate team members Tyler Nguyen [“WIN”], Will Tom, Adam Hermann and Samara Rahman [“RAH-man”], their coach Dr. Boling, and Howard High principal Nick Novak on this impressive achievement. I wish you the best of luck as you continue to the next round of competition. ● I also congratulate the Centennial High team for reaching the finals, which is an honor in itself. ● Congratulations to Doug Lea, band teacher at Deep Run Elementary School and Bonnie Branch Middle School, who will be joining band directors from across the country on New Year's Day 2022 to participate in a “marching band of band directors” at the annual Tournament of Roses Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. Graduation ● I’m sure hundreds of families are tuned in for news about graduation, and I am pleased to announce this year’s commencement ceremony schedule which will also be posted on the school system’s website. All ceremonies are scheduled to take place at Merriweather Post Pavilion, with the exception of Cedar Lane School, which will be held at the school. ● The schedule of graduation ceremonies is as follows. ● Friday, May 28: ○ 10 a.m., Cedar Lane School 2 ○ 3 p.m., Wilde Lake High School ● Tuesday, June 1 ○ 11 a.m., Mt. Hebron High School ○ 3 p.m., Oakland MIlls High School ○ 7 p.m., Atholton High School ● Wednesday, June 2 ○ 11 a.m., Marriotts Ridge High School ○ 3 p.m., Centennial High School ○ 7 p.m., Howard High School ● Thursday, June 3 ○ 11 a.m., Reservoir High School ○ 3 p.m., Glenelg High School ○ 7 p.m., Long Reach High School ● Friday, June 4 ○ 11 a.m., Hammond High School ○ 3 p.m., River Hill High School ● As I mentioned at the previous Board meeting, we are implementing several measures so that we can hold graduations in-person while maintaining COVID-safe practices. I appreciate the collaboration and guidance provided by the County Executive’s office, the Health Department and Merriweather Post Pavilion as the health landscape continually evolves. ● At this point, and in consultation with the Health Department, each graduating senior’s family will initially be provided two guest tickets for lawn seating. As more vaccines are distributed and with the hope for declining county positivity rates, HCPSS will continue working with the health department to consider possibilities for issuing additional tickets and other seating arrangements. ● We are preparing provisions for including graduates who prefer to participate virtually. ● I also need to state the caveat that while we fully intend to hold these as in-person events, we will monitor local health metrics in the weeks and days leading up to graduation, in case changes become necessary due to safety precautions. ● Each school will notify its graduates and families of cap and gown distribution dates and procedures. 3 ● All graduation ceremonies may be viewed live on our website, and on-demand at any time following the ceremonies. Graduations will also be rebroadcast on our television channel which is channel 95 on Comcast and channel 42 on Verizon. The rebroadcast schedule will be shared once it is finalized. ● Friday, May 28 will be the last day for seniors followed by our first high school commencement ceremony that afternoon. ● On the graduation days, the high schools holding graduation at 11 a.m. will have an early dismissal at 10:15 a.m., and the schools with 3 p.m. graduations will dismiss at 2:15 p.m. ● We also continue our planning to provide the Class of 2021 with wonderful and memorable experiences to close out their final year. ● Traditional proms will not be able to be held in a manner that is safe and aligned to current health protocols. ● Instead, each high school will host a senior awards ceremony and celebration on the same afternoon or evening. The in-person Senior Awards Ceremony will be held outdoors, if at all possible, and will be held on school grounds with limited guests able to participate. ● An in-person celebration event for seniors only will also be hosted at each school. This event will be held on school grounds and could incorporate elements of other traditional senior year events such as those found at senior class nights. ● Health protocols will be in place at these events to help ensure safety, including masking and social distancing, not serving food, and limiting access only to seniors at that school. Additionally, a virtual component will be provided to allow seniors not attending in-person to participate. ● We are aware that some parents are choosing to personally sponsor other events for seniors. To clarify, we are not involved with, or endorsing, any activities sponsored by families or community members. This concludes my report. I will address additional topics at the start of our COVID-19 Update/2020-2021 School Year Status work session later on today’s agenda. 4.