Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Carroll County Student Government Association is seeking applicants for student representative-elect on the Board of Education.
The Carroll County Student Government Association (CCSGA) is accepting applications from current ninth and tenth grade students who are interested in serving as the student representative-elect on the Board of Education of Carroll County for the 2013-14 school year. O’Reilly Miani, a member of the Class of 2013 at Francis Scott Key High School, is the current student representative on the Board of Education. The student representative is elected by the CCSGA for a two-year term. During the first year, the student representative-elect will shadow the current student representative to learn the responsibilities of the position. The student representative attends all Board of Education meetings and represents an informed student viewpoint on …
Monday, December 10, 2012
Guthrie said the school system may again be facing drastic cuts budget in FY 2014.
Carroll County School Superintendent Stephen Guthrie recently sent a message to parents with an update on next year's budget and "possible consequences to our school system." The Board of Education held its annual budget work session on Dec. 5. At that meeting Guthrie expressed concern about next year's possible revenue and presented some options to address likely budget shortfalls. In his message to parents, Guthrie wrote "there is a strong possibility that we will again have to reduce spending by millions of dollars". Guthrie said that county Maintenance of Effort funding (the minimum funding required by the state) and reduced state funding coupled with increasing costs to run the school system could mean $9 million in funding cuts to…
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Incumbent Jennifer Seidel ended with 34,684 votes.
Incumbent Jennifer Seidel and former public schools employee Jim Doolan have won the Carroll County Board of Education race. Four candidates were vying for two seats on the Board of Education. With all 35 precincts reporting just after 11 p.m., the Maryland Board of Elections reports that Seidel got 29.5 percent of votes and Doolan ended up with 27.1 percent of the votes. Ginger DiMaggio and incumbent Cynthia Foley were within three percentage points of eachother, DiMaggio with 22.9 percent and Foley with 20 percent of the votes.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The Carroll County Board of Education plans to hire a consultant to complete parts of the study.
The Carroll County Board of Education decided to move forward with a comprehensive facilities study, a project that was put on hold earlier this month when Superintendent Steve Guthrie said his staff was not qualified to conduct parts of the study. During the county budget cycle last spring, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners requested that the school system conduct a comprehensive facilities study to "assess the need for and proper utilization of the school facilities across the county over the next 10 years." More recently, that conversation focused on closing schools with County Commissioner Richard Rothschild suggesting that would be necessary to cut costs. At a board of education meeting earlier this month, Guthrie was expected…
Friday, October 19, 2012
School Superintendent Steve Guthrie recently recommended that third party firm be hired to take over the study started by the school system in April.
At least one board of education member has suggested that the school system not hire a third party to conduct a school system facilities study if the goal is to close schools, since she doesn't believe any board of education members want to close schools. During the county budget cycle last spring, the board of commissioners requested that the school system conduct a comprehensive facilities study to "assess the need for and proper utilization of the school facilities across the county over the next 10 years." More recently that conversation focused on closing schools, with Commissioner Richard Rothschild coming out in favor of closing schools in an effort to cut overhead costs. At last week's board of education meeting, where School …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
When it came time to announce options for schools to be closed, Superintendent Steve Guthrie said "I am not going to name any schools tonight."
Based on Superintendent Steve Guthrie's assertion that CCPS personnel do not have the expertise to study closing facilities, the Board of Education stopped the school system’s comprehensive facilities study in its tracks and called for a "repurposing" meeting with the board of Carroll County commissioners. After a cumbersome presentation outlining facility use and options at Wednesday evening's board of education meeting, Guthrie announced that his staff has expertise in educating students, not closing facilities. "I put a rush on this, I wanted to get it done, but when I look at the end product, I’m not comfortable with the selection criteria to make sure we did it the right way," Guthrie said. "There was a better way to go about this …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
What do you think, should the Board of Education close facilities in Carroll County to save money?
As Superintendent Stephen Guthrie prepares to offer cost-saving facility options to the Board of Education, Carroll County commissioners reiterate that there will be budget implications if schools aren't closed as a way to reduce overhead costs. "We've done more than just encourage them to initiate the [facilities study] process, we've tied the outcome of the process to potential decisions we'll make here," Commissioner Doug Howard said in an open-session commissioners meeting last week. "We have said that if the decision is to not close schools then there will be budget implications for that." Should Carroll County schools be closed as a cost-saving meaure? Tell us in comments. School Superintendent Stephen Guthrie told Patch that he will…
Find out what's happening in Carroll County Public Schools.
Important Dates Cancer Fundraisers – Francis Scott Key High School The Francis Scott Key High School Field Hockey and Soccer Teams are hosting “Stick It To Cancer” and “Kick It To Cancer” fundraisers through the month of October. The events will take place at their home games on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 18, at 5 p.m. All donations go to the National Foundation for Cancer Research. Board Meeting The Board of Education of Carroll County will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 5 p.m. in the Charles I. Ecker Boardroom at the Board of Education offices, located at 125 North Court Street in Westminster. The Board will hear options related to the Comprehensive Facilities Utilization Study. There will be time …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Carroll County residents can attend and can submit questions in advance.
The League of Women Voters will host the 2012 Board of Education Candidates Election Forum on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Community Media Center. Residents are invited to attend and may submit questions for the candidates which pertain to local school board issues. The League will use as many submitted questions as possible. Questions may be emailed to elections@carrollmediacenter.org in advance. The Community Media Center will broadcast this event live on cable channel 9, Carroll Public Access, and on Channel 23, Town and Community TV. It will be rebroadcast on both channels until the elections. The candidates vying for a seat on the Board of Education are: Incumbent Cynthia Foley Incumbent Jennifer Seidel Ginger DiMaggio Jim Doolan
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The change would eliminate one of two required physical education courses for high school students.
Carroll County Public School officials are looking into the impact of requiring high school students to take only one half-credit gym class as opposed to the current standard of two half-credit gym classes. At a recent school board meeting, vice president Barbara Shreeve said that reducing the gym class requirement would allow students more flexibility for academics in their schedules. According to Shreeve, students have said the second half-credit of gym interferes with advanced placement courses and other full-credit classes when scheduling their junior and senior years. Students would still have the option to take a second gym class, but it wouldn't be a graduation requirement. The state of Maryland requires high school students to …
Sue Keller
3:48 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Special education has already been cut to the bone, so stop looking there to suck blood out of that department. Nice short-term thinking, CCPS. Kids who really need help are not getting what they need now to be independent and able to work in the future. But that won't be your problem....that's a long-term issue. No, you all can rest easy when these kids turn 18 or 21, CCPS. You might care as a … more ›