Harford County public school students were welcomed back Tuesday by teachers, principals and the superintendent of schools, Sean Bulson.
“Today marks the start of a new school year, and I’m excited to see our students, families and staff come together,” Bulson said. “Let’s take this opportunity to support one another and make the most of the year ahead. Here’s to a great start and a successful year for everyone.”
The school system’s manager of communications, Jillian Lader, said there were no student transportation issues and that the start to the school year went well.
The school year started with no teacher vacancies, 36 vacancies for paraeducators, 25 custodian vacancies, 17 bus driver vacancies and 12 bus attendant vacancies.
There were no cuts in the number of teaching positions this school year, according to the executive director for secondary schools, Mike O’Brien, and the executive director of elementary schools, Dyann Mack.
However, schools did see shifts in student enrollment and programming, which caused reallocation of teaching positions.
“This helped balance class sizes around secondary schools,” O’Brien said.
Mack noted that the school system will continue to review class sizes and enrollment shifts during the first weeks of the school year.
“At this time, we do not have any concerns with the impact of class size on academic performance,” Mack said.
Due to high student populations, Church Creek, Riverside, Magnolia and Emmorton elementary schools will receive portable classrooms this year. However, the school system has not yet received use and occupancy permits for those classrooms.
Numerous capital improvement projects were completed ahead of the new school year, including a new turf field at C. Milton Wright High School, a new track at Aberdeen High School and a professional foods lab at Fallston High School.
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