Good News Highlights From Wicomico County Public Schools

Good News Highlights from Wicomico County Public Schools ("A Round of Applause," March 2009 edition)
Pemberton Elementary's Nicolas Selser, the school's Geography Bee winner, qualified for the state Geography Bee competition (April 3). The fourth-grader will be the school's first ever Maryland State Geography Bee participant.

Cub Scout Douglas Buck, a student at Glen Avenue Elementary who last year responded quickly when a teacher fainted in class, was recognized in early March with an invitation to a Boy Scout event at the White House, where he met President Obama.

TAD teacher Susan Bounds was recognized by the Maryland State Advisory Council on Gifted Education as an Outstanding Educator in Gifted and Talented Education. Mrs. Bounds has worked for 26 years to provide outstanding gifted and talented education in the county. She is a TAD (Thinking and Doing Program for gifted and talented elementary students) teacher in Wicomico County, director of the Maryland Summer Centers for the Lower Eastern Shore, and coordinator of Destination ImagiNation.

Two Wicomico students who earned first-place recognition in the Eastern Shore Reading Council Young Authors Contest have also won awards in the SoMIRAC (State of Maryland International Reading Association Council) Young Authors Contest. Alison Sahler, a third-grader at North Salisbury Elementary, and Alexis Cooper, a ninth-grader at Mardela Middle and High, both earned second-place awards have been invited to SoMIRAC’s Young Authors Reception in April.

James M. Bennett High's It's Academic team won its second-round match in February and will compete with the state's eight other top teams in semifinal and final matches May 9. The second-round show will air on WJZ TV April 25. The team also finished first in the inaugural Stephen Decatur Academic Invitational Challenge, held March 13 at Wor-Wic Community College.

The Maryland State Department of Education spotlighted four Wicomico County elementary schools and two high schools with 2008 Maryland School Performance Recognition Awards based on improvement from 2007 to 2008 on Maryland's assessments. Westside Primary was recognized for overall improvement in its scores by from 2007 to 2008. Three Title I elementary schools, Charles H. Chipman, Pinehurst and Northwestern, were recognized for subgroup improvement and will receive a $5,533.93 award for the school to use to continue improving. Parkside High and James M. Bennett High have received state recognition for subgroup improvements.

Bennett Middle's band director, Gary Hammer, received the prestigious Outstanding Music Educator Award in the State of Maryland for 2009 at a special reception during the Maryland Music Educator's Conference on Feb. 27 in Baltimore.

Nearly $70,000 has been raised to fight heart disease through Jump Rope for Heart (American Heart Association) in county school: $17,363 from Delmar Elementary, $11,891 from Westside Intermediate, Fruitland Primary $7,500, Charles H. Chipman Elementary $2,179, Pinehurst Elementary $3,500, North Salisbury Elementary $6,074, Beaver Run Elementary $5,000, West Salisbury Elementary $1,415, Westside Primary $4,558, Pittsville Elementary and Middle $3,180, Salisbury Middle $1,165, and Willards Elementary $2,736. Northwestern Elementary raised $2,900, a 260 percent increase over the previous year. Pemberton and Prince Street will do their Jump Rope for Heart on March 27).

Fruitland Primary, in its first year as a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Schools, received 100 percent on its PBIS evaluation.

Wicomico County's seven newly Nationally Certified teachers are featured throughout March on "Working Together for Children," the school system's cable TV program on PAC 14. Also shown: Bennett Middle's author visit for the One Maryland, One Book campaign; music education assemblies around the school system by the a cappella group Almost Recess; Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot's visit to James M. Bennett High.

Parkside High won the quarterly recycling contest (sponsored by the school system and the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce) and the $1,000 award from Walmart Supercenter in Salisbury for recycling 7.64 pounds of paper per student (Parkside's second win).

Westside Primary welcomed 359 grandparents and visitors for its annual Grandparents & Friends Day and received cards and letters from grandparents all over the United States and one from India. Grandparents and friends were excited about the opportunity to donate money to purchase a book for the school library to honor their “special child," donating $3245 to purchase books.