FCPS Community Bulletin Board

January 23, 2025

Governor Wes Moore, Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, and FCPS Superintendent Dr. Cheryl L. Dyson visited Oakdale High School on the first day of the second semester to highlight investments being made in school construction.

They were joined by Maryland State Education Board President Dr. Joshua Michael, Interagency Commission on School Construction Executive Director Alex Donahue, local elected officials, and FCPS leadership.

Currently, 19 FCPS schools are over capacity, including Oakdale High and nearby Oakdale Elementary, which is at 160 percent capacity.

A gallery of Gov. Moore's visit is available online.

Frederick County Public Schools’ (FCPS) students and staff celebrated the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Tuesday, January 14.

The theme for the 35th annual celebration was “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” During the celebration, a student from each FCPS school was be recognized as their school’s King Award recipient.

Students were selected by their school based on their demonstration of positive leadership qualities characteristic of Dr. King: Responsibility, Caring, Fairness, Trustworthiness, Citizenship, and Respect.

Tuscarora High’s Mike O’Brien, a longtime unified sports coach who champions athletic opportunities for students regardless of their abilities, was named the 2023-24 National Allied Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

O’Brien is the lone Maryland coach to earn national honors from NFHS, which has annually recognized coaches through its award program for more than three decades. National coaches of the year are selected in 24 high school athletic pursuits.

“Coach O’Brien is so deserving of this national recognition,” said Kevin Kendro, FCPS Supervisor of Athletics and Extracurricular Activities. “He selflessly provides opportunities for students to succeed – not just at Tuscarora but throughout Frederick County.”

At Tuscarora High, O’Brien is a physical education teacher and unified sports coach. All 10 FCPS high schools offer unified sports – tennis in the fall, bocce in the winter, and track and field in the spring. Teams have students with and without disabilities competing alongside each other as teammates.

O’Brien led Tuscarora to back-to-back state championships in unified bocce and a state championship in unified track and field. At Tuscarora, O’Brien has also served as assistant athletic director, department chair, head baseball coach, and girls flag football coach.

In the community, O’Brien has served as a youth manager and coach for East Frederick Little League Baseball and the Frederick Youth Football League.

Last winter, O’Brien led a team of Tuscarora High student athletes to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the Special Olympics and allied sports. As part of that trip, they met with several elected officials.

In 2023, Tuscarora High earned national banner recognition as a Special Olympics Unified Champion School as a result of meeting national standards of excellence in the areas of inclusion, advocacy and respect. The success of the unified sports programs contributed to this national banner recognition.

In the fall, O’Brien was one of five FCPS coaches to be named a NFHS state Coach of the Year. He was joined by Urbana High’s CJ Ecalono (girls cross country and track and field) and Gavin Donohue (boys lacrosse), and Linganore High’s Amy Rumburg (cheerleading).

Congratulations to Ballenger Creek Elementary for earning the Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education designation from the Maryland State Department of Education. This award recognizes Maryland Public Schools, which have a gifted and talented program aligned with Maryland’s Criteria for Excellence: Gifted and Talented Program Guidelines.

Staff were surprised with the news during a January 17 meeting.

Schools that earn the EGATE Award focus on improving all levels of student achievement. EGATE schools submit comprehensive applications, providing documentation of 21 criteria.

Ballenger Creek Elementary is the second FCPS school to earn EGATE status, joining Urbana Elementary.

Catoctin High and Tuscarora High girls flag players took part in a skills challenge before the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens Wild Card playoff game on Saturday, January 11. This year, the Ravens continued to provide opportunities to spotlight girls flag football student athletes in Frederick County.

The Academy for the Fine Arts Theatre and Musical Theatre students submitted pieces for the Maryland Thespian Festivalthat will be held at Towson University January 24-25. Three of our students received individual Superior ratings: Dani Canas (Solo Acting), Ysabel Seltzer (Solo Musical Theatre), and Craig Martin(Solo Musical Theatre). Our Musical Theatre Focus also received a Superior rating for their Group Musical Theatre submission, making them the only group to receive this highest rating in the state of Maryland. These honorees will now perform at callbacks at the state festival with a chance to perform in the Thespy Award Winner's Showcase on Saturday evening.

The Academy for the Fine Arts dancers submitted a piece for adjudication into the National High School Dance Festival to be held at Point Park University in Pittsburgh at the end of February. Over 1,200 students from 100 schools will attend for a weekend of master classes, college scholarship auditions, and performances. The AFA dancers were the only school from the state of Maryland accepted to perform in one of the evening concerts.

The Earth and Space Science Lab staff are celebrating a sold out Winterfest this year! Thank you for your support.

Updated: January 2025

As shared by FCPS in October 2024, the Maryland State Board of Education updated graduation regulations that affect high school courses with required state assessments in science and social studies. Specifically, for students enrolled in American Government and Biology high school courses and/or their equivalents, a state-required End of Course (EOC) assessment will count for 20% of the final course grade and will be included in the final grade calculation on the student’s report card and transcript. Additional information from the Maryland State Department of Education can be found here.

In FCPS, the grade calculation that includes the EOC score will be applied in a manner that maximizes benefit for students. Additional details can be found below.

• Grade Calculation: Please refer to FCPS Regulation 416-01, Secondary Grading, Reporting,and Intervention (pages 8-9), for how the final course grade will be calculated, using the traditional “quality point” method and then a subsequent calculation factoring in the EOC score.

• Advanced Placement (AP) courses: The AP Government exam can be taken in lieu of the required state assessment and will not be factored into the course grade. For AP Biology, students will have to take the required state assessment in science, as it is a federal accountability requirement.

• Absence from Testing: EOC assessments are required for graduation. Students who do not take the assessment within the window will receive a grade of “Missing” and no credit will be awarded for the course until the assessment is taken. Students will be required to make up the assessment at the next available administration.

• Report Cards: Due to the timeline of receiving results from test administration, students enrolled in these courses will have a delayed final report card which will be distributed approximately two weeks after the FCPS advertised report card distribution date.

If you have any questions, please contact your child’s science or social studies teacher.

Frederick County Public Schools is excited to announce the March 2025 Elementary and Secondary Science and Engineering Fairs, and the Elementary Social Studies Fair. This year, the Elementary and Secondary fairs will be held on two different dates but at the same location: Tuscarora High School 5312 Ballenger Creek Pike Frederick, MD 21703.

• Middle and HIgh School Divisions: The Secondary Frederick County Science and Engineering Fair takes place Saturday, March 22, 2025 with judging from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and is open to visitors from 3:00-4:00 PM, with an awards ceremony beginning at 4:00 PM. Registration for the Secondary Science Fair closes March 2, 2025 11:59 PM, at this link: https://sites.google.com/fcps.org/fcsef/home
  
  

• The Elementary (PreK-5) Science and Social Studies Fair takes place Saturday, March 29, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Registration for the Elementary Science and Social Studies Fair closes March 21, 2025. A STEM Showcase is open for visitors with interactive, hands-on activities and demonstrations.

When inclement weather is forecasted, FCPS must make decisions about whether to close, delay opening, or dismiss early. The FCPS Public Affairs Department shares these communications in a number of ways:

• Via Social Media: Delays and closures are shared via our FCPS Maryland Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts. We also update our FCPS Informando Facebook page.
• Via FCPS.org: An alert is posted to FCPS.org at the top of the page, which links to the full inclement weather message.
• Via SchoolMessenger emails and text messages: The text messages are shared via the five-digit code 67587. If you would like to receive these alerts, you can follow the directions here to sign up.
• Via FCPS-TV: We post our full message to FCPS-TV, our TV channel, which is also available online.
• Via our local media partners: We share our inclement weather delays, closures and early dismissals with local radio and television stations.

While FCPS makes every effort to ensure timely delivery of weather delays, closures, and early dismissals, we can not guarantee that information being shared by outside organizations and sources is accurate.

We also appreciate the patience and understanding of our community as all communication platforms are not updated simultaneously.

If you have questions about the decision, we encourage you to check our communications platforms listed above.

More information about our inclement weather policies and procedures is available online.

The Blueprint Milestone Report for semester 3, is available for review and can be found on the FCPS website at the following location: https://www.fcps.org/blueprint/blueprint-milestone

Feedback can be shared at BlueprintComments@fcps.org

The Frederick County Academic Tournament is officially underway. This year’s matches take place at Frederick High School.

Every FCPS high school is represented in this year’s tournament. Teams will compete weekly against two or three other high schools. Each week’s matches will feature a theme, starting with Fun with Flags in Week 1. Some of the other topics include Culinary in Week 2, Women in Science in Week 4, and Pixar in Week 7.

The tournament finals will be held Friday, February 21. The public can view the full tournament lineup and the weekly recaps of the competitions on the FCPS website.

This marks the 43rd year of the Frederick County Academic Tournament. Since 1982, Linganore High teams have won the tournament ten times, Walkersville teams have won seven, Frederick High teams have won six, teams from Gov. Thomas Johnson and Middletown have each won five, Urbana and Brunswick four, and teams from Catoctin and Tuscarora have each won once.

Walkersville High won the tournament championship last year. Gov. Thomas Johnson High won the regular season title.

Greetings students, parents, teachers, and staff of South Asian ancestry,

The Maryland Governor's Commission on South Asian American Affairs is committed to supporting the educational success and growth of our community. We would love to hear about your experiences and perspectives on education. Your valuable input will help us develop initiatives and strategies to better support students, families, and educators in the South Asian American community across Maryland and ensure that no one is left behind. After inputting your responses, please remember to click "Submit" to have your responses submitted anonymously.

Please click here to complete the survey.
Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/vCLGkeweWM

Click here for more information on the Commission.
Website address: https://goci.maryland.gov/governors-commission-on-south-asian-american-affairs/

Thank you for helping us work together to create a brighter educational future for all in the State of Maryland.

Maryland Governor’s Commission on South Asian Affairs
Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives (GOCI)
100 Community Pl, Crownsville, MD 21032

Frederick County Public Schools uses SchoolMessenger for email, text messages and automated phone calls. Community members can sign up to receive SchoolMessenger updates. This step-by-step guide will show you how to quickly sign up to get messages!

Who can sign up

Anyone interested in receiving FCPS and/or school updates. This can include family members not already signed up for messages and community members.

Who Does Not Need to Sign Up

All FCPS employees automatically receive messages to their work email address and contact information they have entered in via PeopleSoft. All FCPS family members who are listed as a primary contact in our Student Information System do not need to sign up.

Do you know an FCPS support employee who goes beyond the call of duty? Have you observed a support staff member excelling in their day-to-day activities? Have they done something particularly noteworthy? There are so many reasons to nominate someone for the FCPS Support Employee of the Year Award! The Support Employee of the Year Award categories have been updated to make them more balanced. The new categories are listed on the Support Employee of the Year Award page found at the link below, as well as in the nomination packet. Complete eligibility, nomination criteria, process and selection guidelines are located online at www.fcps.org/awards.

• Administrative Support
• Food Service Support
• Operations Support
• School Support
• Special Education Support
• Systemic Support
• Technical Support
• Transportation Support

The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 31. (No nominations will be accepted after this date.) It is important to follow the directions for submissions. Please contact Dorian.Munoz@fcps.org or 240-586-7102 with any questions.

The Washington Post is looking for exceptional principals who go above and beyond to create inspiring and supportive educational environments for both their staff and students. This prestigious award celebrates leadership that drives excellence and fosters positive change in schools.

Nominate a principal who makes a difference!

To submit your nomination, follow these instructions:
https://www.fcps.org/public-affairs/wapo-principal

Let’s honor those who lead with passion and dedication!

The 5-Star Service Award is for community use in recognizing FCPS employees who show excellence in one of the 5 FCPS goals. Community members are welcome to nominate any worthy FCPS employee.

This award is designed to provide recognition by community members to employees for excellence in one of the 5 FCPS goals.

Community members are encouraged to nominate any worthy FCPS employee.

Nominations will be reviewed on the 15th and 30th of each month by staff in the Offices of the Chief of Staff, Human Resources, and Public Affairs.

More information on the selection timeline and next steps can be found on the 5-Star Service Award nomination form.

So far this year, FCPS has used two inclement weather days:

Monday, January 6

Tuesday, January 7

Five inclement days are built into the 2024-25 calendar.