Over 1,000 signatures in just one day! We need to continue advocating to restore ALL GT Teachers
Thank you for signing & sharing this petition! With incredible community support, we rallied to gather over 1,000 signatures in just one day, leading up to the Board of Education’s recent vote.
Our work is not over! Most elementary schools are still slated to have significant GT teacher and programming cuts in Howard County.
On Thursday, March 7, 2024, the HCPSS Board of Education (BOE) voted AGAINST reinstating all elementary GT teacher cuts and GT programming. Instead, they chose to restore GT teachers and services only to elementary schools with 40% or more students receiving free and reduced meals (FARM). This is a great start, but 11 GT teacher positions will still be cut and will affect the majority of elementary schools in Howard County which will lose GT recess seminars and science & social studies curriculum extension units under the current proposal.
Many accelerated learners including students who are part of the FARM program but attend schools with low FARM rates will be cut from these services. Some of these children being cut are part of the FARM program and travel further away from their neighborhood schools to help balance FARM rates in county schools.
The good news is that the budget process is not over yet. Now that the budget has been sent to the county executive, the budget will be reviewed at that level and sent with any modifications to the county council for approval. The budget will return to the Board of Education in May for final detailed changes.
What can you do to help?
1) Please share this petition with your family, neighbors, and community contacts and ask them to sign and share.
2) Please write to the Board of Education, Superintendent, County Council, and County Executive expressing your concerns about how these cuts will affect your student/family, your school, and our Howard County community as a whole. E-mail addresses are below. To help give you ideas, a guide to advocacy is available from the PTA Council of Howard County: https://www.ptachc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/How-to-Advocate-for-the-HCPSS-Budget.pdf
3) Please consider signing up to speak virtually or in person at upcoming county council meetings asking for the county to fund a higher level of service for the HCPSS operating budget in support of GT education for elementary students.
Public Email Addresses to send to County Officials and Elected Leaders:
boe@hcpss.org - HCPSS BOE
councilmail@howardcountymd.gov - Howard County Council
cball@howardcountymd.gov - Calvin Ball, County Executive
Bill_Barnes@hcpss.org - Bill Barnes, Acting Superintendent
jennifer_mallo@hcpss.org - Jennifer Mallo, BOE Chair
yun_lu@hcpss.org - Yun Lu, Ph.D., BOE Vice Chair
linfeng_chen@hcpss.org - Linfeng Chen, Ph.D., BOE Member
antonia_watts@hcpss.org - Antonia Watts, BOE Member
jolene_mosley@hcpss.org - Jolene Mosley, BOE Member
Jacquelin_McCoy@hcpss.org - Jacquelin "Jacky" McCoy, BOE Member
Robyn_Scates@hcpss.org - Robyn C. Scates, BOE Member