Foose Presents $721 Million Budget

The budget is an increase of 2.5 percent over the fiscal year 2013 budget.

  Howard County Schools superintendent Renee Foose presented a $721 million operating budget to the Board of Education Thursday that includes cuts in transportation and supplies while adding funds to pay for new staff, higher enrollment and mandatory increases in employee benefits and retirement costs. The proposed fiscal year 2014 budget is a 2.5 percent, or $17.4 million, increase over the fiscal year 2013 operating budget. The $489.4 million requested from the county makes up about 68 percent of the budget, and is a 1.5 percent increase from fiscal year 2013, according to Foose. There are a total of $9.9 million in cuts from transportation funds, supplies and the elimination of 12 positions through attrition, when retirees' positions …

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County Schools Not Selected as Finalist for Race to the Top Grant

Howard County Schools are no longer in the running for a $20 to $30 million federal grant.

  Howard County Public Schools was not one of 61 school districts selected as finalists for a federal Race to the Top district grant that could have netted local schools up to $30 million in federal money. The nearby school districts of Baltimore County and Baltimore City were both selected among the finalists, which were announced last week. But Howard County wasn't able to obtain the approval of the teacher's union for the grant application, which was one of the requirements. "It is disappointing that we will not be able to accelerate our efforts to personalize learning for students in our highly impacted schools with the infusion of $30 million from the federal government," said Supt. Renee Foose. "I am delighted to hear that both …

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H.R. Pufnstuf

5:19 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012

Mark- Haha, very intelligent comment. Your teachers have clearly exceeded my expectations (at least in absolute value terms).   more ›

$30 Million Grant Application Fails to Receive Union Signature

School Board approves grant, but Howard County Education Association says it doesn’t have enough time to vote on it.

  A potential $30 million federal grant to Howard County Public Schools may be dead before the application is even submitted to Washington. The issue has pitted new Superintendent Renee Foose squarely against Paul Lemle, the president of the Howard County Education Association. Foose said Lemle has a "political motive" to promote candidates the organization supports before the upcoming election, while Lemle claims the school’s central office didn’t involve the teacher’s union in the grant writing process and that this Race to the Top grant will continue to tie teachers’ evaluations with standardized test scores. The grant, if awarded, would provide the county’s schools with $20 million to $30 million to help teachers use technology to …

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Report: Foose Asks Staff to Revisit Redistricting Plan

Foose said she wants to make sure impact of poverty is addressed in process.

  Howard County Schools Superintendent Renee Foose told a crowd of parents at a listen and learn session this week that she has asked her staff to re-examine redistricting plans, according to Explore Howard. At the forum Monday, one specific focus she addressed was the need to balance out the impact of poverty on schools being redistricted, wrote Explore Howard.  A committee is scheduled to present its redistricting plan to the Howard County Board of Education later this month. The redistricting proposal is being created as a new elementary school is set to open in the fall of 2013 on Ducketts Lane in Elkridge. The new elementary school is needed to accommodate current school overcrowding and with it, shifting students is necessary to …

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School Staff Now Allowed To Probe Social Media for Online Threats

The security coordinator for the Howard County Public School System said each school will have the capacity to look into Facebook, Twitter situations.

As school starts in Howard County, so does a new program to investigate online threats to students. Kevin Burnett, coordinator of security for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), said that a staff member at each school has been authorized to look into potential situations arising out of social media. Previously, all staff at HCPSS institutions were firewalled from using social media sites, said Burnett. “If there’s a rumor that something is on Facebook or Twitter, that security officer is going to have bypass access to pull that information up and conduct an investigation,” said Burnett in a phone interview with Patch. “That’s relatively new based on a meeting last year at Howard [High]," said Burnett. He was referencing an …

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See the New Superintendent's Entry Plan: HCPSS Newsletter

The new superintendent will present her "entry plan" Monday. Read about that and dig into the school's budget in the HCPSS Newsletter.

OPINION: The Art of Emphasis

What are you reading?

There is frequently a perception that news can be objective, that facts are facts and spin is the province of politicians and, perhaps, Fox News. To a certain extent, this is true; the base facts of a story are bedrock, beyond which further fracking has no yield. How those facts are presented, though, how they are ordered and emphasized, can effectively prime our perception of a given story. A recent Baltimore Sun story boasted an attention-grabbing headline: “Howard school board to give Foose up to $25,000 in relocation costs.” Below, the subhead (aka dek, in newspeak): “New superintendent is moving from bordering Frederick County.” Taken together, these phrases seem designed to provoke. A quick read, the skimming attention usually …

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bill bissenas

7:28 am on Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Dems portray HoCo as a shining example of what excessive property confiscation can do. But it is a fool's paradise. To the extent performance is above average can be attributed to the socio-economic conditions in the county and not attributable to the massive amount of money spent on education. As Peter Schiff has noted, we spend too much on education and too many people attend college who …   more ›

$250,000 Contract Approved for New Howard County Schools Superintendent

The four-year, $250,000 annual contract for Howard County's new superintendent Renee Foose was unanimously approved Thursday.

The Howard County Board of Education formally approved superintendent Renee Foose’s contract at a reception on Thursday in Ellicott City. Foose was selected as the new superintendent on March 27. On Thursday, she signed a four-year contract that will pay her $250,000 annually, according to the Howard County Times. In addition, Foose will receive a $700 monthly vehicle allowance and $25,000 for relocation costs, according to the article. (Foose must live in Howard County as part of the deal) Tell us in comments: How would you like to see Foose improve Howard County schools? Foose, 45, previously served a year as the deputy superintendent for Baltimore County schools. Foose was paid $214,000 in her old job. Before Baltimore, Foose served as…

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Mark

6:27 pm on Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The retirements are not a surprise. When a new sheriff comes to town, it happens. HCPSS was full of cronyism and hopefully Foose will get rid of it. Her job is the problem. Its all the assistant supers, etc getting high salaries for doing not much of anything. The system is way too top heavy.   more ›

Talk of New Superintendent Lights Up Internet

The congratulations were plentiful, but criticisms of the BOE's appointment of a new superintendent took center stage online.

The Howard County Board of Education (BOE) has chosen a new superintendent. According to a statement from the Howard County Public School System and BOE Chairperson Sandra French, Renee A. Foose will assume the superintendent position July 1. The announcement was sent at noon, about 12 hours after board members finished their deliberation, which included input from the community, according to board member Allen Dyer.  “I got home at about 12 a.m.,” he said. Howard County residents have taken to the Internet to discuss the appointment. Scores of "Congratulations" and "Look forward to working with you" tweets peppered Twitter, but elsewhere residents expressed concerns. One blogger questioned the announcement Monday of the other finalist, S…

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