Anne Arundel County Public School students will begin returning to classes on Monday as the 2023-24 school year kicks off.
While the school system’s more than 4,000 teachers returned to work on Aug. 18, the district will stagger the return of its over 83,000 students across 128 schools during the first week. School will be in session for a week before having off on Sept. 4 for Labor Day.
A lot has happened since school was last in session. The Board of Education was busy, approving the expansion of Triple E, a project-based learning program, finalizing an agreement with the county school teacher’s union to increase starting teacher salaries by $8,000 and voting down a controversial flag ban proposal.
A Maryland accountability board approved the school system’s first implementation plan for Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a 10-year education reform initiative. Superintendent Mark Bedell proposed a two-phase redistricting plan that would keep every north county school from surpassing its state-rated capacity.
Here are some other issues to know about as the school year begins.
No price hikes for school meals
The board voted in May to not increase school meal prices for the ninth consecutive year.
Lunch for elementary students is $2.75 while lunch for those in middle and high schools is $3.00. Breakfast for all grade levels is $1.50.
School spokesperson Bob Mosier said the district is “very proud of that ninth year in a row” as it has worked to build relationships with vendors to keep prices low.
New bus notification system
Families will now be able to receive email and text notifications about their student’s bus route delays and cancellations, Bedell announced Friday.
To use the system, users will provide their bus number and school information for the notifications they want to receive. The notifications will be sent at 7:30 p.m. the night before regarding delays or cancellations for the following day. Announcements will also be sent throughout each day.
“This new system is a win not just for our families but for our larger community,” Bedell said in a news release. “Last year, notifications were sent only to families of students in our schools, but this platform allows people such as day-care providers to be apprised of interruptions to bus schedules that will impact their lives as well.”
AACPS labor shortage persists
While the labor shortage that’s plagued the school system since 2021 is beginning to decline, the district is still experiencing a shortage of teachers, bus drivers and school support staff.
As of Wednesday, the district is still short 168 teachers, 41 crossing guards, 98 food service workers, and 23 custodians.
However, for the first time since 2021, the district is expected to start the school year with a fully operational bus system after reaching the minimum 600 drivers needed to fully operate each bus route at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
The district may still face challenges with buses, however, because there aren’t currently any backup drivers who can fill in if a driver calls in sick, Mosier said.
As of Wednesday, 63 drivers are in training, and zero additional drivers are needed.
“We are in a far better position at the start of this school year than we were a year ago, but there are, unfortunately, still going to be interruptions,” Bedell said in a statement on Friday. “We will do everything we can to minimize those and to inform families and the community when they occur, but we will all need to exercise patience throughout the year.”
Last year, Maryland’s Department of Education reported over 2,000 teacher vacancies statewide as of September 2021, with around 385 of them stemming from Anne Arundel, The Baltimore Sun reported. Additionally, students missed more than 3,100 instruction days in the first month of the 2022-23 school year due to bus disruptions.
More redistricting and new schools coming
Three new replacement schools for Quarterfield, Hillsmere and Rippling Woods elementaries will open this fall. The district is building several new schools including a replacement for Old Mill High School.
In July, Bedell recommended a plan that would redraw boundaries at 48 of the 58 schools in the northern section of the county. The school board voted on Wednesday to move Bedell’s redistricting recommendation to the public hearing phase.
The proposed plan would make a few changes the northern feeder systems and alter geographically assigned schools for about 6,400 students. Sixteen of the redrawn boundaries include changes in middle-to-high school patterns.
Rising COVID-19 cases may be a concern, but not yet
As the U.S. is seeing a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is keeping track of a new variant, the number of positive cases and hospitalizations in Maryland remain low but are rising.
On Tuesday, the state health department reported a seven-day positive case rate of 3.53 per 100,000 people statewide and 2.59 per 100,000 people within the county.
“Parents should not be concerned about sending their kids back to school,” Megan Pringle, the county health department spokesperson said. “We do know we will experience ebbs and flows with COVID-19 and other seasonal respiratory illnesses, which is why we recommend that families take precautions.”
In addition to having at-home test kits, the health department recommends that families get up to date on the COVID-19 vaccinations and getting a flu vaccine. Additionally, they recommend that those who are sick stay home and mask once they’re able to leave quarantine.
Standardized testing scores increased
Last year saw an increase in scores standardized testing scores in seven of eight testing areas, with the county seeing a 10.1% increase in Algebra I scores, a news release states.
The district saw proficiency rates for English Language Arts rise by 3.2% in middle and high school and 0.8% in elementary. Math scores for elementary and middle schoolers are up 2.4% and 2.2%.
However, eighth-grade science scores fell 10.1%.
“Our curriculum audit and strategic plan, both now underway, will address these areas with a laser-like focus so that we can be in a position to move up and move up each and every year,” Bedell said in a news release.
