BCP Schools Take Top Honors in Baltimore Urban Debate League

City Springs Debaters tngaged in
a mock debate at the Baltimore Education
Coalition's 2014 Gubernatorial Forum on
Education in Baltimore City

Once again City Springs Elementary/Middle School and Hampstead Hill Academy have taken top honors in the Baltimore Urban Debate League (BUDL)!

The BUDL Championship Trophy has moved from City Springs EMS, which took first place in the overall 2012-2013 season, to Hampstead Hill Academy, which took first place this past season.

City Springs Principal Rhonda Richetta remarked that she was sad to see the trophy go, but glad it was moving to another BCP school.

As no small consolation the Coach of the Year of the Trophy, which was awarded to Megan Miskowski in May, now resides at City Springs. Megan and Gerald Loiacono coach the City Springs Debate Team.

In March City Springs Debaters were featured in the Baltimore Education Coalition's 2014 Gubernatorial Forum on Education in Baltimore City. Devin Bradford, Mashae Green, and Ronald Wingate engaged in a mock debate on education issues.

View a video of the mock debate at: http://bitly.com/csdebate2014

Congratulations to all of the students on their outstanding achievement. Thank you to BUDL for supporting our students!

The complete BUDL results for City Springs and HHA are below:

CITY SPRINGS ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE SCHOOL RESULTSCoach of the Year - Megan Miskowski, City Springs EMS

2014 Championship


Elementary Speaker
2nd - Ronald Wingate


Elementary Team
2nd - Ronald Wingate and Devin Bradford (undefeated)


Middle School Speaker
1st - Kaye Marie Lumayog
10th - Chelsea Gilmer


Middle School Team 
3rd - Darren Meredith and Kaye Marie Lumayog
5th - Chelsea Gilmer and Mashae Green


Overall 2013-2014 Season Awards Elementary Speaker
7th - Devin Bradford
9th - Ronald Wingate

Elementary Team
7th - Devin Bradford and Ronald Wingate


Middle School Novice Division Speaker
6th - Keyshawn Debose

Middle School Novice Division Team
3rd - Chelsea Gilmer and Mashae Green
5th - Daijaine Stewart and Keyshawn Debose

Middle School Varsity Division Speaker
1st - Mashae Green7th - Chelsea Gilmer9th - Kaye Marie Lumayog10th - Jordin Matthews

Middle School Varsity Division Team
6th - Kaye Marie Lumayog and Jordin Matthews

2013-2014 Season School Results
1st - Hampstead Hill Academy 2nd - Green School of Baltimore3rd - Francis Scott Key EMS4th - City Springs EMS5th - AFYA Public Charter School

HAMPSTEAD HILL ACADEMY RESULTSOverall 2013-14 Season
1st Place
Elementary Teams
3rd: Madiba Burks Magara and Tuleh Jennings5th: Bianca Storto and Alden EdwardsElementary Individuals4th: Madiba Burks Magara10th: Bianca StortoMiddle School Teams
2nd: Aaron Sutton and Sara Florez
6th: Cindy Ibarra and Anthony Sanchez
Middle School Individuals
5th: Aaron Sutton
8th: Sara Florez
9th: Cindy Ibarra
About BUDLThe Baltimore Urban Debate League is dedicated to improving educational and life outcomes for disadvantaged students in Baltimore’s under resourced public schools. By creating learning opportunities through competitive debate and professional development with teachers to bring the benefits of debate inside the city’s classrooms, we support and inform the educational reform and revitalization efforts now underway in our district. Through the motivation and thrill of competitive debate we improve self esteem, increase academic achievement, improve graduation rates and access to higher education. For young people of promise, for their schools and their communities, we provide a new vision, hope and opportunity.In May BUDL was recognized as the 2014 National Urban Debate League of the Year.

For more information visit: http://budl.org/

Vicky Jennings Presents Workshop on Restorative Practices at City Springs

Vicky Jennings, an Academic Coach at City Springs Elementary/Middle School, presented a workshop today on Restorative Practices at City Springs at The Family League of Baltimore City. This workshop was part of the Family League's 2014 Summer Training Institute for Community School Coordinators.

Two BCP Schools, City Springs and Hampstead Hill Academy, are recognized as model Restorative Practices schools by Baltimore City Public Schools.

In 2006 BCP implemented Restorative Practices at City Springs, Collington Square School and Hampstead Hill Academy with the support of a $42,000 grant from the Open Society Institute - Baltimore and two $20,000 grants from The Goldsmith Family Foundation .

The International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) provided training for all teachers and administrators. That same year BCP brought on OSI Fellow Tonya Featherston to oversee the Restorative Practices implementation.

There are currently eleven Baltimore City Schools implementing Restorative Practices, with more on the way.

Read more about Restorative Practices at: www.safersanerschools.org

BCP Partner NBS is Now Summit Business Technologies

 Longtime BCP partner and IT provider NBS has joined together with Light Industries and Network to form a new company, Summit Business Technologies, offering an expanded lineup of technologies and IT expertise to help small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) operate with better efficiency and simplicity. NBS has provided outstanding IT support for BCP for several years and has sponsored Are You Smarter than a BCP 5th Grader? since its inception.

The new company was developed for the expansion of business technology services, IT consulting and implementation for SMBs across the mid-Atlantic region. It offers clients the strategic convenience and simplicity of having related technology solutions from one reliable resource in the areas of managed IT services, network services and consulting, unified communications, web services, analytics, mobile applications and software development. The new leadership team composed of executives from each of the joining companies will be led by partners Mike Cohn and Gary Grabowski, who have an energizing vision for the newly launched company.

Summit Business Technologies is a Maryland-based full-service IT consulting firm that helps companies leverage a wide spectrum of technologies to improve business operations. Their solutions provide organizations with a full range of network and cloud capabilities, data security, website services, analytics, mobile and application development, hosted and on premise VoIP phone solutions, video conferencing, technology upgrades and training. Bringing together over 37 years of experience, Summit Business

Technologies’ foundation is built upon accomplished technology companies in the Greater 

Baltimore region. For more information, please visit www.summitbiztech.com or call (410) 987-

5914.