From Harford County Public Schools:
Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) Superintendent Sean W. Bulson invites you to join him at one of nine locations throughout the county as he collects insights that will be used to determine the future of HCPS. The tour is your opportunity to meet Dr. Bulson and share your feedback at this pivotal moment for HCPS.
Dr. Bulson has met with community leaders outside of the school system as well as with each of his Leadership Team members and will finish meeting with the principals of all the county’s 54 public schools prior to the start of the school year.
The September Listen and Learn Tour is an opportunity for anyone, with or without a direct connection to HCPS, to discuss the future of the school system and what it will mean for Harford County.
“I want to hear how you see HCPS now and your hopes for the future of our schools. Your participation during this phase of my entry plan is vital to creating a full picture and plan for the future,” said Dr. Bulson.
Listen and Learn Tour dates are open to the public. All meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held as follows:
September 11, 2018 at Bel Air Middle School
September 20, 2018 at Edgewood Middle School
September 26, 2018 at Aberdeen Middle School
September 27, 2018 at North Harford Middle School
October 1, 2018 at Magnolia Middle School
October 9, 2018 at Fallston Middle School
October 11, 2018 at Patterson Mill Middle School
October 17, 2018 at Havre de Grace Middle School
October 18, 2018 at Southampton Middle School
Please register for the Listen and Learn Tour location you plan to attend at https://tinyurl.com/ycuc8jxq or search, “Listen and Learn Tour” on www.eventbrite.com. Child care will be provided. Email Communications@hcps.org with your name, your child’s name and age, and the date/location you plan to attend, to reserve a space for your child(ren).
Following the Listen and Learn Tour, the second phase of the entry plan utilizes information Dr. Bulson gathers to identify priorities and determine the appropriate strategies to address them.
This information and Dr. Bulson’s entry plan in full can be found on the HCPS website at http://www.hcps.org/boe/superintendentsearch/.
Save the date! On October 29, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. at Harford Technical High School, Dr. Bulson will present his findings to the community. Additional information about this event will be forthcoming.
Save the date, and ask him if he thinks about charging students of HCPS a fee to participate in after school activities. Has he considered that when the students can’t or won’t afford this unnecessary tax, the students may decide that running the streets, breaking into houses and using recreational drugs and alcohol may be a better alternative
He worked in Montgomery County where their students pay a fee to help support these programs.
In Montgomery county they pay much more too!
How does A = B? How is it an unnecessary tax? Who pays for these after school activities? A nominal fee to give students some skin in the game seems reasonable from this taxpayers perspective.
You can pay $40 more in propert tax? Sounds like a campaign slogan
My question is, “where does all the money in the Harford County Board of Education go?”
It doesn’t go to teachers in the form of honoring their contracts. It doesn’t go to maintaining school grounds appropriately. It doesn’t go to buying supplies for the school (parents now have to supply copy paper for their kids). Apparently, it shouldn’t go towards funding after school activities.
Where do all the millions and millions of dollars go? My suspicion is it is being shelled out for administrative positions at 102 S Hickory Ave, Bel Air, MD 21014.
It mainly goes to the inefficiencies in the system. There is no benefit for those running the system to do a better job, Forget about copy paper they build 50 million dollar schools we do not need.
Even with all the money they spend they produce mediocre results, which is why the homeschool business is growing like mad. If I had children I wouldnt send them to these schools. Very different than when I came thru public school system.
Yeah! The school system should have to publicly produce a document that shows where every single dollar is spent!!!
Oh wait…they already do.
Your naivete is refreshing
Why is it naive? Their budget is a public document that outlines every dollar they spend. It’s both internally and externally audited on a regular basis.
I’m sick of reading baseless claims about “where does all the money go?” It’s right in front of you. But the typical dagger commenter wound rather complain, or repeat previous complaints, than do some actual work
I’m guessing you never heard the story of how the government was spending $600 for toilet seats. Isn’t that precious.
If there was any meaningful audits facility management would have been dissolved before the audit was completed.
Wow! When did Harford County Public Schools spend $600 one one toilet seat? Or was it $600 for $100 toilet seats? Maybe I am naive because I never heard or read that. Please support your allegation with with proof because I sell toilet seats for a living and I want in on this.
Externally and interally audited on a regular basis, huh? Lol.
The money is not enough to fund the many needs. School funding has not kept pace with inflation. There is zero fund balance. The first AC to go down isn’t getting replaced. You want more we all got to pay more. About $40 more in property taxes will help currently. We are one of the lowest funded districts in MD.
Never once have I had to buy copy paper for my two kids. And last I knew more positions were cut from 102 S Hickory. Enough with this ridiculous crap.
Virtually no positions were cut from central office, and those that were are lower paying positions. Central office remains top heavy. Hopefully the new superintendent will cut some of the top paying positions there in the next budget.
Part of the problem in Harford County, is the budget problems are solved by eating their own within. People start looking at each other and determine who needs to go. Years ago, classes in the 30’s and sometimes 40 were not unusual. There are more teachers in classes with less students and that doesn’t even include special education teachers. We used to have many special area offerings for students, but those positions are gone.
If teachers were getting big fat raises, they wouldn’t care who was in central office. By the way, Harford County is not as top heavy as one would believe when compared to other counties in Maryland.
But HCPS is top heavy compared to several other counties.
Which one?
What school is requiring you to provide copy paper?
And how is central office top heavy
Any positions that are not directly contributing to learning in the classroom should be minimized. That just about handles the entire bureaucracy in that building; paper pushers that don’t impact education.
I work in schools. We have enough supplies. Yes, we do buy some things for our classroom. However, no one has had to ask students to bring in copy paper. Teachers have received several steps back as well as a raise in the past 3 years, so please stop spreading fake news.
Per 100 k value , 10 dollar increase in taxes. That increase would not only fully fund the schools but also improve the infrastructure,start the way for better ems/fire,and cover all law enforcement expenditures. That amount is all that would be needed to bring Harford in line with Howard, Montgomery,and Baltimore county.
But that means, a siting politician would have to raise a tax. If Harford was a business it’s be closed, can’t keep trimming and expect same results. At some point you’ve trimmed all you can before you start to negatively impact production. For most of the county/schools that’s where we are.
Look around and you can see, ask your kids. Items are not replaced, they get “fixed” to extend them out. You wouldn’t keep maintaining a 20 year old car when it makes more sense to buy a new one,but that’s exactly what we are doing with countless county owned properties/roads/etc.
That tax increase is coming……Right after the election. The deals that have been done to get the vote by Gahler and company will have a bill attached. Mark my words.
The overhead costs and the good idea fairy costs in these organizations is what is keeping tax dollars from addressing the real issues. If they would actually manage their budgets and stop adding things they would have more than enough to fund the programs that need funding.
Time these executives got back to the basics and answered to the shareholders (aka., the taxpayer).
Of course thy are coming, Pre election they give raises to all county employees, Sheriff hands out cash like it isn’t his, and the county council gave themselves a hefty raise after the election. Along with giving all sorts of special interest groups, (friends) tax breaks. Spending like a drunken sailor for votes is the Republican way. Who remembers when trump said everyone will get an extra $4000 a year and it will cost him money when in fact the average person got 7 bucks a month and he raked in millions from the tax cut. Republican politicians are smart and those that vote republican are sheep.
The first thing he needs to do is instill discipline and respect back into the curriculum. That will start with forcing the administrations to acknowledge that these students are out of control and stop covering it up. The public should be made aware of all of the nonsense that goes on in HCPS. Start with banning the cell phones and ear buds, then maybe they will pay attention. There is no educational reason to have either in school, other than the standard response from HCPS, “its not worth the battle” to ban them. Insist on discipline, not excuses and see how quickly things improve.
Are you a dumbass?