ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — In less than a week, Howard County Public School students will see summer vacation in the rear-view mirror.
The new academic year will come with changes and challenges, this includes navigating a return to normalcy after several school years with pandemic precautions in place, according to Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano.
“Our focus totally this year is opening in a normal approach as we continue through the pandemic to the endemic phase is on academic achievement,” Martirano said.
Despite returning to normal operations, the COVID-19 pandemic left behind a stubborn stain that may take time to fade.
“COVID has taken its toll on many facets of our country,” Martirano said. “Education had an incredible hit as far as the challenges associated with virtual learning, the shifts, the expectations, the demands placed on our teachers.”
Those factors led some teachers to retire or change careers completely. Shortages have crippled some school systems.
While lifelong educator Martirano said this level of peaks and valleys has never been seen before, Howard County is faring well.
As of Tuesday, HCPSS confirmed a total of 75 vacancies still needed to be filled. This includes 30 classroom teachers, 23 special educators, and 22 service providers.
Another 85 positions remain open to prospective bus driver candidates. The superintendent said there is a place in plan to avoid your student being left at their bus stop.
“Our plan to follow up is what we call double runs, so that bus driver will drop off the first run of children in terms of their schedule and go back around and pick up the second portion of their run,” Martirano said.
While getting your student to school safely is a priority, keeping it that way after children walk through their school door is another, according to Martirano.
“This year, we’ve done an audit on all our locking mechanisms on our doors to ensure every door is locked and a variety of other things that we put in place for the training of our staff to keep our school building safe,” he said.
With the summer vacation clock ticking down to the last few days, the school system leader said efforts of hiring and preparing to welcome back 58,000 students will continue.
“August 29th: the most wonderful time of year,” Martirano said. “Our happy new year is when our kiddos come back and bound off the buses with excitement and energy and just that rebirth and renewal of another year in front of them where all their goals and aspirations can be achieved. There is nothing more magical than that interaction.”