From the Harford County Board of Education:
The Board of Education of Harford County (Board) appointed Barbara P. Canavan to a four-year term as Superintendent of Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) today, February 24, 2014, during its regularly scheduled business meeting.
Mrs. Canavan has been serving as Interim Superintendent of Schools since July 1, 2013, when former Superintendent Robert Tomback’s contract expired. She will remain in this capacity until the start of her new term on July 1, 2014.
In November of 2013, the Board contracted with Ray and Associates, a firm that has been conducting executive education searches since 1975, to help facilitate the first phase of a Superintendent Search process. Phase one encompassed the development of ideal criteria for the next Superintendent of Schools and 10 focus group sessions with key stakeholder groups, including elected/government officials, business/community leaders, HCPS leadership team members, support staff, central office staff, principals, teachers, parents, students and employee association leadership.
Feedback gathered from the focus groups, as well as an online public survey, indicated resounding support for Mrs. Canavan, and the Board agreed there was no need to continue an expensive and time consuming search for outside candidates.
“Mrs. Canavan has proven her commitment to the students, staff and community of Harford County Public Schools,” said Board of Education President Nancy Reynolds. “She has dedicated more than 40 years of exemplary service to our school system and the Board and I are completely confident in her ability to move our school system forward. We look forward to continuing to work with her as our Superintendent of Schools.”
The Board and Mrs. Canavan will hold a press conference tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25, at 9:00 a.m. at the A. A. Roberty Building in Bel Air. All are invited to attend.
“I am deeply honored to be presented with the privilege of serving the students and the Harford County Public School community,” said Mrs. Canavan. “I will work diligently to foster a culture of mutual trust and respect among all constituents and community leaders. I vow never to lose sight of the fact that each and every decision, no matter how small, is integral to creating a legacy of opportunity for our children.”
Mrs. Canavan’s career in the field of education began in 1970 as an elementary school teacher at the Sacred Heart School in Brooklyn, New York. In 1973, she made the move to the Harford County Public School System, serving as a teacher at Aberdeen Middle School before accepting a position as assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School in 1978. She was promoted to assistant principal at Magnolia Middle School in 1983. After serving six years at Magnolia Middle, in 1989, Mrs. Canavan accepted an assistant principal position at Southampton Middle School where she became principal in 1991 and remained there for the next 19 years. As the principal of Southampton Middle School, Mrs. Canavan encouraged open-ended dialogue in order to assess the needs of the students, the staff and the community.
Her active leadership and good judgment in working with all stakeholders allowed her to develop positive relationships and conduct ongoing programs to support student achievement. Upon being named the executive director of middle school performance in 2010, Mrs. Canavan assumed the responsibility of the direction of curriculum development and instructional programming. While serving in this role, she gained a global perspective of school system management, which served the needs of students and staff throughout the county. She was named Interim Superintendent of Schools in May 2013.
Mrs. Canavan has served on and chaired many committees and task forces in Harford County that have been instrumental in determining policy and procedure as well as the vision and mission of HCPS. She has presented key education topics at the local, state and national levels.
Mrs. Canavan is a graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s College with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a minor in secondary education and French. She received her Master of Arts in Middle School Education from Columbia University Teachers College and a Master of Arts Equivalency in Administration and Supervision from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.
Congratulations to the Harford County Board of Education for reaching a very timely and sensible decision in their appointment of Mrs. Barbara Canavan to a full four year term as Superintendent of Schools. No more out of town experts need to apply!
Good news!!!! I hope she begins to clean house. Hope she starts with the principal at Church Creek.
Yes, I have had a few bad experiences with her, she is not real good with her words she chooses.
too bad we couldn’t get rid of some of the parents we have around here too.
Excellent decision Hcps!!! Maybe now we can make improvements in other areas and move onward and upward! Congratulations Superintendent Canavan!!
Mrs. Canavan has already begun spring cleaning by removing the principals of two elementary school. I do hope that the cleaning is not limited to the elementary schools. Please look very closely at Edgewood Middle. The morale is very poor, the facility is filthy, and the teachers do not feel supported. For the moment, let’s celebrate this appointment. As an educator, I am very hopeful.
Lovetoread, I didn’t hear about principals removed. Who? and when? I agree that I have heard good reports about BC and hope she will look closely at some of the administrators. I have never in all my years since such abuse of “power”. It’s a sad state of affairs and I’m not proud to be a part of HCPS. Clean house!
Don’t forget the central office where there is some dead wood for sure.
Let’s start by having her ban all the political signs on school designated polling places at election/voting time. Additionally, some guy was standing outside my school polling place as I walked in during the last election and that should not be allowed; people might feel intimidated by someone electioneering outside the polling place. The number of political signs on school property is a disgrace, and an embarrassment to the process.
Wow. You really do not know what you are talking about.
Election precincts are under the Board of Elections. The school system has nothing rondo with that.
And there is a distance from the door where electioneering is nt allowed. After that distance it is perfectly legal.
Jees
They should change the law then. Electioneering and campaign signs do not belong close to a polling place. I have a right to vote with out being accosted literally and figuratively at the polling place.
Maybe, but maybe you should also post about it in places that are appropriate. This is not one of those. kthxbye.
Why don’t you vote by absentee ballot if you do not want to walk past signs or candidates and their volunteers?
This is the role of the Superintendent of Schools how? On Election day the BOE turns the building over to the Board of Elections. The day after the school can remove the signs that are left behind.
You’re an idiot. The school board and superintendent have no control or say over election laws.
If there is inappropriate or illegal activity happening at polling places on election day then file a complaint with the board of elections. Otherwise, pull on your big boy pants and ignore them. I’ve never missed an election since I turned 18 and I have yet to be influenced (or harassed) by someone standing 50+ yards away from the front door of a polling place or by one of the hundreds of campaign signs staked all over the place.
The signs are a disgrace and I do intend on filing a complaint with the Board of Elections.
The principals at Roye Williams and Bakerfield have been replaced.
Why? What happened. They were both veteran principals.
As usual on this board it always turns out to be a bitching contest on something that does not have anything to do with the article.