Kent County Public Schools Strategic Planning Committee to Meet Thursday, Sept 14

September 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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Notice:      The Kent County Public Schools Strategic Planning Committee is holding a special meeting for the purpose of discussing the format and process for the community meetings.  The meeting will be held on Thursday, September 14, 2017, at 6:30 pm.  The meeting will be held at the H.H. Garnet Elementary School, 320 Calvert Street, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Agenda

Introduction 

Tour of H. H. Garnet Elementary School       

I. Background and Purpose of the Strategic Plan

II. Affirmation of Chair of the Committee 

III.      Proposed Planning Process and Schedule:

                     Strategic Planning Committee Meetings 

                     Community Meetings

IV.  Open Meeting Act Requirements    

V.  Discussion

VI.  Next Steps and Adjournment

Filed Under: Archives, Education, Homepage Notes, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Notes

Special Board of Education Meeting Sept. 11

September 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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The Kent County School Board of Education is postponing the regularly scheduled September Board meeting for the purpose of allowing time for more discussion on school transportation.   The meeting will be held on Monday, Sept. 11 , with a closed session beginning at 5 p.m and the open session beginning at 6:30 p.m.  The meeting will be held at the Kent County Board of Education Administration Building, 5608 Boundary Avenue, Rock Hall. Items in the agenda include personnel actions and discussion of transportation issues.

Filed Under: Archives, Education, Homepage Notes, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Notes

Special KCPS Board of Education Meeting Aug. 17

August 12, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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Notice: The Kent County Public Schools Strategic Planning Committee is holding a special meeting for the purpose of discussing long term facilities planning.  The meeting will be held on Thursday, August 17, 2017, at 4:30 PM.  The meeting will be held at the H.H. Garnet Elementary School, 320 Calvert Street, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Board of Education members are Trish McGee (President), A. Bryan Williams (Vice President), Jeff Reed, Dr. Wendy Costa, and Joseph Goetz.

Filed Under: Education, Homepage Notes, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Notes

Kent County Back to School Fair August 7

July 31, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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On Monday, August 7, from 2 to 5 p.m., Kent County Public Schools will hold a Back to School Fair at the Kent County Community Center 11041 Worton Rd, Worton. The fair is open to all students and their families at the county’s five public schools, and will help students prepare for the new school year.

Families will be able to meet and greet staff from each of the county’s schools. Staff will assist with registration for new students and provide information for signing up for support services, such as free and reduced lunches. Teachers will be on hand with information about the KCPS universal Pre-K program, technology resources, family support services, wellness programs, KCPS School Health services, extracurricular activities, the arts and more.  Representatives of each school’s PTA will also be on hand.

In addition to meeting school personnel, students and their families will be able to meet with partner organizations that provide support to the schools. Representatives of after school programs, Alphabest and Parks & Recreation, will be on hand to walk families through registering for before and after care. Representatives of Reliable Transportation will be participating as well. Families can board one of their school buses and meet some of the drivers set to transport children in the Fall. Other organizations appearing at some 40 tables include Support Our Schools, KidSPOT, Chestertown Police Department, Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Kent County Public Library, Kent County Health Department, Judy Center, Character Counts, Kent Family Center, Kent County Department of Social Services, Minority Outreach and Technical Assistance, Washington College, Boy Scouts, Shore Up!, Kent County Behavioral Health, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy Environmental Education and SEEC, Chestertown Elks, Recovery in Motion, along with Discovery Education.

KCHS-FM Radio will be providing music for the event. The event will be a fun, informative way for families to get ready for the school year.

Each county school will hold an open house August 31, when students will be able to meet their teachers and visit their new classrooms. More information will be sent  to students about that event.

For more information contact the Kent County Board of Education at 410-778-1595 or visit www.kcpssos.com/events.

Filed Under: Archives, Education, Homepage Highlights, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Highlights

Kent County Board of Ed to Hold Special Meeting Aug 3

July 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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The Kent County School Board of Education is holding a special meeting for the purpose of approving personnel and a QZAB bid.  The meeting will be held on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at 4:00 pm.  The meeting will be held at the Kent County Board of Education Administration Building, 5608 Boundary Avenue, Rock Hall, MD  21661.

AGENDA

ACTION A.  Approval of Agenda

ACTION B.  Move to Closed Session in accordance with SGA 10-

      508(a)(1)(ii) to discuss personnel matters

                    C.  Report on Closed Session

ACTION        D.  Personnel Actions

ACTION E.  QZAB Bids

ACTION F.  Adjourn

Filed Under: Archives, Education, Homepage Notes, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Notes

Support Our Schools (SOS) “Random Acts of Kindness” Campaign a Big Success

June 13, 2017 by
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Support Our Schools, a grassroots organization started by a group of local parents, recently completed its first “Random Acts of Kindness” campaign for Kent County Public Schools. The group set an ambitious goal of $5,000 and thanks to the generosity of the community, surpassed that goal by almost $1,000 for a total of $5,921.58. This amount was divided among the seven local public schools to offset unexpected year-end expenses. Each school received a check for $845.94 at the June 12 Board of Education meeting.

Donations ranged from $2 to $1,000 and were received from individuals as well as local businesses. Business sponsors are being promoted through the SOS website and Facebook page, which currently has a membership of more than 700 people. Those businesses can be identified by the SOS decal in their window. Friendship Montessori School, Johnson’s Concrete, both in Worton, and Welcome Home in Chestertown all became top-level “Golden Apple” sponsors.

The first Random Acts of Kindness campaign kicked-off on May 1, 2017, and ran for 31 days. It was a direct response to help funding needs expressed by KCPS principals to meet the needs of their students. This annual campaign will return on February 17, 2018, also known as “Random Acts of Kindness Day.”

The Support Our Schools (SOS) Initiative is a grassroots advocacy effort devoted to increasing awareness of and support for the needs, challenges, and untapped potential of our public school system—both for the sake of the current student population and for its opportunity to serve as a catalyst for economic development. For more information on the Support Our Schools initiative please visit our website.

Filed Under: Education, Homepage Highlights, Kent County Public Schools

KCMS STEM Science Olympiad Team Earns a Fourth Place Finish

April 11, 2017 by
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Photo: 1st row L-R: Molly Grafton, Madilyn Conner, Andrew Smith, Christopher Hinton, Sella Conner; 2nd row L-R: Logan Carroll, Brandon Myers, Thomas Martinez, Emma Walters, Jamera Christy; 3rd row L-R: Matthew Rickloff, Kate Ervin, Marlee Berghaus, Katie Stecklair, Ashlyn Orr, Christine Clark; 4th row L-R: Zane Carter, Melissa MacLeod, KT Pagano, Leah Maier, Olivia Jones, Ian Walters, Jay Reid; Back row L-R: Robert Bourne, Jack Cullum, Ronald Parker, Karen Carty.

Kent County Middle School teachers, Christine Clark, Melissa MacLeod, Katie Hughes, and Karen Carty, along with volunteer Zane Carter, led the KCMS STEM Science Olympiad team to a fourth place win at the state tournament on Saturday, April 9th.

The team had earned a place in the state tournament by earning 5th place in the regional tournament on Saturday, February 10, 2017.

According to the national Science Olympiad Organization, “The Science Olympiad Tournament is the pinnacle of achievement for the state’s best Science Olympiad teams. Each year a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology.” Source: https://www.soinc.org/

This year KCMS students participated in a wide range of events, from designing their own experiments to creating a working hovercraft. These events required students to work cooperatively on rigorous hands-on learning challenges. Countless hours went into preparing students for their events. Each day they worked during their Extended Learning Time at KCMS, in addition to expanding their knowledge and refining their project-based building creations at home.

State Results:
4th Place in the State
Experimental Design- 2nd Place: Ashlyn Orr, Katie Stecklair, and Logan Hall
Crime Busters- 5th Place: Madilyn Conner and Thomas Martinez
Dynamic Planet- 1st Place: Molly Grafton and Marlee Berghaus
Invasive Species- 3rd Place: Brandon Myers And Leah Maier
Road Scholar- 2nd Place: Thomas Martinez and Robert Bourne
Food Science- 5th Place: Ashlyn Orr and Katie Stecklair
Rocks and Minerals- 6th Place: Jamera Christy and Leah Maier
Wind Power- 6th Place: Andrew Smith and Robert Bourne
Fast Facts- 5th Place: Andrew Smith and Thomas Martinez
Meteorology- 3rd Place: Madilyn Conner and Marlee Berghaus
Optics- 4th Place: Robert Bourne and Logan Hall
Towers- 5th Place: Robert Bourne and Logan Hall
Hovercraft- 3rd Place: Jamera Christy and Leah Maier
Mission Possible- 2nd Place: Brandon Myers and Thomas Martinez
Bottle Rocket- 1st Place: Andrew Smith and Matthew Rickloff

Regional Results:

5th Place in the Region
Bottle Rocket- 1st place- Andrew Smith and Ian Walters
Mission Possible- 2nd place- Thomas Martinez and Brandon Myers
Experimental Design- 3rd place- Katie Stecklair and Ashlyn Orr
Towers- 3rd place- Ian Walters and Robert Bourne
Food Science-3rd place- Katie Stecklair and Ashlyn Orr
Crime Busters- 3rd place- Thomas Martinez and Nathan Walls
Write-it, Do-it- 3rd place- Matt Rickloff and Brandon Bowman
Wind Power- 4th place- Robert Bourne and Andrew Smith
Scrambler- 4th place- Sella Conner and Emma Walters
Crime Busters- 4th place- Lydia Davis and Madilyn Conner
Anatomy and Physiology- 5th place- Robert Bourne and Andrew Smith
Towers- 5th place- Logan Carrol and Tennant Allen
Fast Facts-6th place- Andrew Smith and Thomas Martinez
Dynamic Planet- 6th place- Molly Grafton and Marlee Berghaus
Hovercraft- 6th place- Jamera Christy, Leah Maier, Kate Ervin, and KT Pagano

Filed Under: Homepage Highlights, Kent County Public Schools, Portal Highlights

Kent County Announces 2017-2018 Pre-Kindergarten & Kindergarten Registration

March 26, 2017 by
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To register for Pre-K or Kindergarten for the 2017-2018 school year, your child must meet the following criteria:

• Be four (4) years old by September 1, 2017 for Pre-Kindergarten
• Be five (5) years old by September 1, 2017 for Kindergarten
• Be a resident of Kent County
• Meet current required immunizations

Schools will be holding registration during the times indicated below. Interpreters will be available from 9-11 at each school. Please contact the school’s main office to schedule an appointment.

May 17th – Galena Elementary School – 410-810-2510
May 18th – Rock Hall Elementary School – 410-810-2622
May 23rd – Garnet Elementary School – 410-778-6890

Entering your “911” address in the search function at the top corner of the link below will identify your child’s home school.

Consolidation Plan Boundary map –
http://kcps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=825e2400951545568672cde120df988c

Filed Under: Homepage Notes, Portal Notes

Kent County Fifth Graders Learn About Art and Science

March 23, 2017 by
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On March 11 and March 18, Kent County Public Schools’ art teacher, Aimee Boumiea and three elementary students visited David and Patti Hegland in their glassmaking studio in downtown Chestertown. The students were chosen through an essay contest, and the winners were those with the best response to why they wanted to learn about making glass.

The students had an opportunity to learn about the science behind art glass while they created artistic pieces of their own. One of the concepts they studied was “Equilibrium thickness” which is the thickness to which glass will naturally settle after being melted, about 1/4 inch. The students got to observe how large pieces will expand or flatten out to that thickness, and thinner pieces of glass retract to that size when they are cooled. They also learned about reactive colors. Glass is colored with different elements and when those elements come in contact with each other in the melting process, it produces a halo of a new reactive color.

Patti and David Hegland of Hegland Glass work with students from area elementary schools to create glass art

The program is part of the Arts in Motion program through Kent County Public Schools and was sponsored through a grant from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust. The idea for the program came from Tom McHugh, KCPS Facilitator for Fine Arts, and was championed by Fine Arts Supervisor Gina Jachimowicz as a great way for students to see art and science in action. McHugh reached out to Patti and David Hegland who were eager to participate. The Heglands are nationally recognized fine artisans, having won the Niche award for glass in 2013 as well as being finalists for the award in 2014 and 2015. They began a second career as glass artists in Chestertown after leaving successful careers in engineering and finance.

When asked about their participation, David Hegland stated that they are supporters of public education and had a great time with the students. He stated, “It’s amazing how quickly the kids learned and were able to put together their own pieces of glass art. They gained an understanding of the physics of glass and had fun composing their own works of art.” Each student left the program with one or two pieces of glass art that they created as well as a better understanding of how scientific concepts are applied in the real world.

Filed Under: Homepage Highlights, Portal Notes
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