Turkey Donation for City Springs Food Drive

BCP received an anonymous donation of 40 turkeys for the City Springs Food Drive, which was organized by the AARP Experience Corps Team at City Springs Elementary/Middle School. Thank you to the anonymous donor, AARP Experience Corps and Child First Authority Community School Coordinator Simone Garrison for helping our families!

City Springs and Hampstead Hill Prevail in BUDL Tournament

Congratulations to the debate teams from City Springs Elementary/Middle School and Hampstead Hill Academy on their outstanding performance in the first Baltimore Urban Debate League Elementary/Middle School Tournament of the season! Here's how they did...

City Springs Elementary/Middle School
1st place Open - Dayonah Cabean and Darren Meredith
5th place Open - Breyana Wade and Sheaira Madden
7th place Open - Jordin Matthews and Kaye Marie Lumayog
2th place Elementary - Devin Bradford and Ronald Wingate
24th place Elementary - Anaya Purvis and August Baker
14th place Novice - Daijanae Stewart and Keyshawn DeBose

Hampstead Hill Academy
The HHA team placed 1st for the entire tournament. In the Elementary Division, Alden Edwards placed 19th in Individual Awards.

In the Novice Division, HHA had the following team awards:
12th Place: Angely Yupa and Michaela Kirk
10th Place: Jorge Castro and Shirley Garcia
6th Place: Austin Korycki and Gregory Rosario
5th Place: Ronnie Huggins and Alex Vasylyshyn
3rd Place: Sara Flores and Aaron Sutton and
1st Place: Brandon Castle and Anthony Sanchez.

In the Novice Division, HHA had the following Individual Awards:
17th Place: Jose Portillo
13th Place: Jorge Castro
11th Place: Alex Vasylyshyn
10th Place: Gregory Rosario
9th Place: Austin Korycki
8th Place: Sara Flores
7th Place: Brandon Castle
5th Place: Ronnie Huggins
2nd Place: Anthony Sanchez.

In the JV Division, HHA had the following Team Awards:
4th Place: Laura Brown and Ethan Franetovich.

In the JV Division, HHA had the following Individual Awards
7th Place: Laura Brown and
2nd Place: Ethan Franetovich.

New School Proposed in Canton

November, 2013

From: Matt Hornbeck, Principal

Voice Your Concern About a New School in Canton

---

There is reason for you to be concerned about last week’s recommendation to open a new 900 student prek-8 grade school in Canton. Our school community might be negatively impacted by a change to our attendance area and/or a change in our student enrollment. We don’t want to lose any of our families! Any reduction in enrollment could negatively impact our budget making it harder to provide a quality school for our students, and far less likely that we could expand our building as planned.

The recommendation was made to the City School Board of Commissioners by the Office of New Initiatives (ONI) at North Avenue one week ago today. Yesterday, two public comment meetings were announced. 

Our message to the City Schools Board of Commissioners is clear:

Do NOT vote for the recommendation for a new school in Canton without a detailed proposal and without more information. The Board can vote separately on whether or not to renew and/or relocate the Friendship Academy for Science and Technology (FAST). 

There are four opportunities for you to help:

1. Attend important community meetings in the next week to voice your concern as a community member. 
    a. Tomorrow, November 20th at 5:30 p.m. at the former Canton Middle at 801 S. Highland Avenue; and 
    b. Tuesday, November 26th at 7 p.m. at the Canton Community Association meeting at the corner of S. East Avenue and Dillon Street

2. Attend the City Schools Board Meeting Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 6 p.m. (If you want to speak, sign-up begins one hour earlier at 5 p.m.). Ask the Board not to vote on the new school without more information!

3. E-mail your elected representatives to voice your concern: 
    a. James Kraft, City Councilman for the 1st District james.kraft@baltimorecity.gov
    b. Bill Ferguson, State Senator, 46th District bill.ferguson@senate.state.md.us 
    c. Pete Hammen, Delegate, 46th District peter.hammen@house.state.md.us 
    d. Brian McHale, Delegate, 46th District brian.mchale@house.state.md.us 
    e. Luke Clippinger, Delegate, 46th District luke.clippinger@house.state.md.us 

4. Sign the attached letter and return it to school tomorrow. We will take the letters to the Board of Commissioners.  

Inspire City Springs Students to Attend School Every Day

Business Volunteer Maryland's INSPIRE team, in partnership with City Springs Elementary/Middle School, Child First Authority and the Baltimore Curriculum Project, has launched a new initiative to inspire City Springs students to attend school every day.

The initiative includes educating students on the importance of attendance and incentivizing them with rewards such as raffle items and field trips.To establish the motivation model effectively, we need your support. Generous donations from caring people like you and organizations such as yours are what will help us in our endeavor to encourage kids to come to school regularly and on time.

If you donate today through our GiveCorps campaign you will receive $20 off dinner at Harbor East's new By Degrees Cafe.

To help us pay for field trips and other attendance incentives, donate online at:
https://givecorps.com/en/baltimore/projects/792-baltimore-curriculum-project-city-springs-attendance-incentive

To help us pay for attendance raffle prizes, donate online at:
https://givecorps.com/en/baltimore/projects/837-baltimore-curriculum-project-inspire-city-springs-students

On behalf of the students of City Springs Elementary/Middle School we thank you in advance for considering supporting our efforts to fight against truancy and chronic absenteeism. Let’s help keep our children in school!

Sincerely,

The City Springs Elementary/Middle School Community


About Business Volunteers' INSPIRE PRogram

Business Volunteers’ new INSPIRE  program partners with schools to  incentivize and educate students on the importance of attendance. The City Springs team of volunteers is led by Business Volunteers Maryland Manager of  Business Engagement Tom Caron.

Hampstead Hill and City Springs Take 1st and 2nd Place in Southeast Baseball League

Congratulations to Hampstead Hill Academy and City Springs Elementary/Middle School students on their outstanding performance in the 2013 Southeast Baseball League. Hampstead Hill Academy was the 2013 League Winner and City Springs Elementary/Middle School took second place.

In an effort to share his love for baseball with the community, Councilman Jim Kraft holds a Southeast Schools Baseball league for 4^th and 5^th grade students throughout the 1^st District. All the games are played in Patterson Park, and the league runs April – May.

We would like to thank Councilman Kraft for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students.

For more information visit: http://www.jimkraft.net/contact/get-involved/southeast-baseball-league/

Business Volunteers Maryland PENCIL Partnership Pairs M&T Bank with Hampstead Hill Academy

Last year Business Volunteers Maryland's PENCIL Affiliate Program matched Matthew Hornbeck, Principal of Hampstead Hill Academy, with Mohannad “Mo” Jishi, Commercial Banking Manager for Greater Baltimore at M&T Bank.

In the first year of their work together, Matthew and Mo focused on making sense of the school’s finances, and created a system that allowed Matthew and other members of the school’s leadership team to better manage the information they receive about revenues and expenses.
Specifically, Mo helped Matthew develop a “dashboard,” allowing Principal Hornbeck to assess the school’s financial health on a regular basis. This improved system laid the groundwork for the school to begin long-range planning activities.
Building on this first project area, Mo and Matthew are focusing their work during the 2012-13 academic year on creating a strategic planning process, through which the school, using financial and other information, can envision, consider and decide on opportunities that will increase student achievement.
- See more at: http://www.pencil.org/pencil-partnership-helps-baltimore-school-analyze-finances-to-support-long-range-planning/#sthash.rEwf2DtW.dpuf

Matthew and Mo focused on making sense of the school’s finances, and created a system that allowed Matthew and other members of the school’s leadership team to better manage the information they receive about revenues and expenses.

Specifically, Mo helped Matthew develop a “dashboard,” allowing Principal Hornbeck to assess the school’s financial health on a regular basis. This improved system laid the groundwork for the school to begin long-range planning activities.

We would like to thank Business Volunteers Maryland, Mr. Jishi, and M&T Bank for supporting Hampstead Hill Academy.

Read the full article at:
http://www.pencil.org/pencil-partnership-helps-baltimore-school-analyze-finances-to-support-long-range-planning/

In the first year of their work together, Matthew and Mo focused on making sense of the school’s finances, and created a system that allowed Matthew and other members of the school’s leadership team to better manage the information they receive about revenues and expenses.
Specifically, Mo helped Matthew develop a “dashboard,” allowing Principal Hornbeck to assess the school’s financial health on a regular basis. This improved system laid the groundwork for the school to begin long-range planning activities.
Building on this first project area, Mo and Matthew are focusing their work during the 2012-13 academic year on creating a strategic planning process, through which the school, using financial and other information, can envision, consider and decide on opportunities that will increase student achievement.
- See more at: http://www.pencil.org/pencil-partnership-helps-baltimore-school-analyze-finances-to-support-long-range-planning/#sthash.rEwf2DtW.dpuf

Business Volunteers Unlimited Maryland (BVU) manages a PENCIL Affiliate Program, BVU grasped this situation when they partnered Matthew Hornbeck, Principal of Hampstead Hill Academy, with Mohannad “Mo” Jishi, Commercial Banking Manager for Greater Baltimore at M&T Bank. - See more at: http://www.pencil.org/pencil-partnership-helps-baltimore-school-analyze-finances-to-support-long-range-planning/#sthash.rEwf2DtW.dpuf

BD Diagnostics Supports STEM at Wolfe Street Academy and other Baltimore Schools

Wolfe Street Academy's After-School STEM Class

We would like to thank BD Diagnostics for awarding Wolfe Street Academy a grant of $10,000 to support the school's participation in the new Baltimore Area STEM Collective. We would also like to thank Dr. Meredith Durmowicz, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Stevenson University, and Steve Kaiser, President of Kaiser Associates, for including Wolfe Street Academy in the program.

Stevenson University and BD Diagnostics are creating the Baltimore Area STEM Collective, a program focused on promoting excellence in STEM education at the elementary school level. They will combine high quality professional development for elementary school teachers and the development of a professional learning community to encourage the sharing of best practices in STEM education, fostering students’ natural curiosity and interest in STEM fields.