The school year has officially begun, and we're excited! We love having students and teachers back in class and know great things will happen this year.
Here are a few awesome things that happened this week:
- The first day of school was a joyful celebration as Dr. Santelises, elected officials, district staff, family and community members, and other groups showed up at schools across the city to encourage students. You can see highlights on City Schools TV.
- Our Re-Engagement Center was featured in The Sun. This team works tirelessly to get students back in class when they drop out. Read about it here.
- We started an attenDANCE challenge for City Schools, asking schools to show us their best dance moves at school. You can't dance if you're not in attendance! Watch the video from Dunbar or Cecil.
- All staff members at Katherine Johnson attended the Capturing Kids Hearts program. This professional development course is focused on Social Emotional Learning, and staff members expressed their excitement to bring these lessons on connection and community to their students and coworkers this school year.
- Staff members at William Paca participated in team-building activities through the Outward Bound program. You can see photos from their experience on Facebook.
- Over 250 people attended Harlem Park's Back-to-School Night. They had carnival food, professional pictures for each family, face painting, lawn games, a basketball scrimmage, a clothing and book bag giveaway, free school supplies and haircuts, cartoon characters, a Moon Bounce, an urban fishing expo, and vendors from the community and city government.
- The Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City (Baltimore's elected student government) applications are now open until September 18. Learn more and apply on our website.
- Principal Lipscomb at Wildwood kicked off the new school year by providing every teacher with a personal laptop cart for their classroom to better support student academic achievement.
- Armistead Gardens supplied every student returning to school with school supplies. Read about this in The Baltimore Sun
- Pre-K students at the Judy Center at Arundel had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Betty Robinson, the coordinator, during the first week of school to help them feel confident about going to school. They designed a bookmark, and every student chose a book to take home.
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See even more good news from City Schools in our video slideshow: