Supporting City Schools Push for Progress
As part of the Fund’s work, we assist City Schools in securing resources for their highest priority needs. Recently, we collaborated with City Schools to secure – and now manage – an $8.2M, five-year grant from The Wallace Foundation to develop an equity-centered principal pipeline. This initiative builds on the district’s existing principal pipeline work enabling City Schools to focus efforts, through an equity lens, on principal recruitment, retention, development and support. This investment in principal leadership strengthens the district’s and the Fund’s commitment to ensuring all City Schools students have access to an equitable and high-quality educational experience. For more detail, read City Schools’ full press release, here.
Under Armour’s Student Athlete Leadership Council Back In-Person
The Under Armour Student Athlete Leadership Council – an initiative that convenes three student-athlete representatives from every City Schools high school on a monthly basis – met for the first time in person in over a year at the UA House for this school year’s first session on October 8th. The fifty students in attendance, with representatives from nearly every BCPSS high school, had the opportunity to meet with fellow City Schools student-athletes, share their voice, and enhance their leadership skills. The character development and leadership programming, led by the Travis Manion Foundation, delivers inspiring mentorship to student-athletes with advice from former professional and collegiate athletes, military veterans, and professionals in a variety of industries. This month’s meeting explored the theme of courage.
To learn more about the Under Armour Student Athlete Coalition, the multi-faceted program that includes this Leadership Council, click here.
Request a School Choice Workshop
In response to the confusion parents expressed about school choice during the listening campaign for our 2017 report, Calculated Choices, the Fund worked with an experienced school counselor and a parent to develop a workshop to help parents and students navigate the school choice process.
The Fund is now offering virtual school choice workshops to support students and families in navigating the process. These free workshops are available in either English or Spanish to groups of four or more City Schools parents or students at a date and time convenient for them. Topics covered, include:
- The middle school and high school choice process
- The current composite score formula
- Academic programs available to students (The Ingenuity Project, career & technical education, P-Tech, etc.)
- How to navigate Infinite Campus and submit the choice application virtually plus many other topics
Click here to request a workshop.
Recognizing Principals for National Principals Month
October is National Principals Month! We believe principals are incredible leaders making a real, positive impact in the lives of the students and families they engage. At the start of the school year, the Heart of the Schools – a Fund managed year-round, community-led initiative honoring Baltimore City Public School principals through grants, events and the annual awards – invited community members to send a message of encouragement, thanks, well wishes, or kind words to their favorite school leader as a means of recognizing their incredible work. The Baltimore community did not disappoint!
Take a look below at some principal praise we’ve received, and shared, from community members this school year:
Of Note:
Additional insights, updates and resources:
- Dr. Santelises discusses academic progress, remote-learning impact remedies, staff response to COVID vax mandate, bus shortage, and more on WYPR’s Midday with Tom Hall. Listen, here.
- Today! The Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners and the Baltimore Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly invite you to their joint Legislative Town Hall meeting at Forest Park High School tonight, 10/28 at 5PM. Watch the virtual livestream, here.
- Join Baltimore Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Tuesday, November 9th at 7 PM for their next virtual listening session. AROS is creating a peoples platform on education for MD’s next governor. What do you want our next governor to do? Register, here.
- Need help with completing the FAFSA? On Saturday, November 13th at the Y in Druid Hill from 10 am-2 pm, College Bound advisors will be available to guide City Schools students and families through the FAFSA application. Register, here.