Congratulations to Dorchester County Public Schools’ two new apprentices and thank you to Mr. Leon Shockley of GKD Metal Fabrics for making it happen! Yesterday JB Bell and Dallas Bumgarner, two North Dorchester High School seniors and students in the Dorchester Career and Technology Center’s welding program, signed their apprenticeship papers and will start their 450 hours of paid employment with GKD next week. On hand to cheer on the students were Mr. Shockley from GKD, DCTC welding program instructor Mr. Chris Baker, DCTC principal Ms. Ashley Robinson, DCPS CTE supervisor Ms. Anna Howie, JB’s dad Mr. Jeff Bell, and Ms. Shay Lewis-Sisco, DCPS Career Coach and coordinator of DCPS’ Apprenticeship Maryland program. Do you know a DCPS student who might want to earn money while learning a marketable skill? Contact Ms. Lewis-Sisco at lewiss@dcpsmd.org to find out more! #DCPS23NoMore
Welcome to the new members of the Board of Education of Dorchester County, who were sworn in during this past Thursday evening’s regular monthly meeting!
District 3’s new member, Ms. Christine LaMonica, brings wide experience in law enforcement as well as real estate and finance to her new role on the Board. Ms. LaMonica holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology and is pursuing a master’s degree in social work at Salisbury University. She has seven children, four of whom are or have been students in DCPS, and one grandson. Passionate about endurance events, Ms. LaMonica has completed both Ironman Maryland Eagleman 70.3 and Ironman Maryland 140.6. She also volunteers with CASA of the Mid-Shore and One Mission Cambridge.
Dr. Brandy Cumberland now represents District 1 on the Board. A 2001 graduate of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, Dr. Cumberland holds nursing degrees from Chesapeake College, the University of Maryland, and Frontier Nursing University where she most recently earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice. Dr. Cumberland is a Nurse Practitioner in the field of mental health, and lives in South Dorchester with her husband and four children who will all be students in Dorchester County Public Schools when the youngest joins PreK-4 in September.
#DCPS23NoMore
What are our kiddos doing this summer? Those attending the Empowerment Center’s summer program are relaxing, recharging, and READING! Literacy activities – reading and/or listening to stories – are part of the schedule every day. #RelaxRechargeReadDCPS #DCPS23NoMore
At the Thursday, July 11, 2024, Special Meeting of the Board of Education of Dorchester County election of officers was held due to the resignation from the Board by the President and Vice President. Ms. Sheri Hubbard (District 4) was chosen by the Board as its President; and Ms. Talibah Chikwendu (District 2) was elected Vice President of the Board until December 2024 when the annual elections will be held.
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at the Central Office of the Board of Education, 700 Glasgow St., Cambridge, with the swearing in of the new members of the Board of Education at 5:00 pm. This will be open to the public. The Board will then go into closed session and reconvene in open session at 6:00 pm. The agenda and related documents will be found online via Board Docs on the Dorchester County Public Schools website at www.dcps.k12.md.us. Anyone who would like to submit public comments electronically, to be included in the minutes, should email them to comments@dcpsmd.org by 2:00 pm Wednesday, July 17, 2024. The open sessions of the meeting will be livestreamed at https://townhallstreams.com/towns/dorchesterboe.
You never know what surprise you might find in DCPS Summer Meal bags – this past week it was fresh, local corn on the cob! Thank you, Chelsea’s Produce! Bags containing five breakfasts and five lunches plus a half gallon of fresh, cold milk can be picked up for youngsters aged 18 and under at C-SD every Thursday morning from 10 to 11 a.m. up to and including August 22. Enter the parking lot via Maple Dam Road and swing around close to the cafeteria entrance to pick up bags from the Lunch Legends! #DCPS23NoMore
Attention, DCPS high school students who may be interested in a career in health care! Here is a terrific opportunity to learn more about a health care career: a trip to the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Unit in Baltimore on Tuesday, July 23. Highlights include Stop the Bleed training, an Anatomy Lab tour, a tour of the Shock Trauma unit, and a visit to the Dental Museum. Motivated early risers only, as the bus will leave from the C-SD flagpole at 6:45 am, returning at 5:00 pm. Lunch will be provided by the University of Maryland. This trip is sponsored by the Eastern Shore Area Health Education Center and C-SD Career and Community program and will be accompanied by C-SD Career Coach Ms. Sandy Shaw and School-Community Liaison Ms. Tina Morris. There are still a few seats available, but there is a strict limit of 20 students, although there will also be a waiting list. Sign up at https://tinyurl.com/csdshocktraumatrip. For more information, contact Ms. Shaw at shaws@dcpsmd.org. #DCPS23NoMore.
There’s a whole lot of learning going on at Hurlock Elementary as Warwick Huskies and Vienna Terrapins have joined the Mighty Eagles for Summer School! We love to see our kiddos racing ahead! #DCPS23NoMore
Want to earn money while learning a marketable skill? The Maryland Youth Apprenticeship Program allows students to gain exposure to their career interests, receive mentorship from industry leaders, all while getting paid. Interested? Complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/aCFz1ZANne. Questions? DCPS Career Coach Shay Lewis-Sisco can help. Reach her at lewiss@dcpsmd.org. #DCPS23NoMore
It’s Technology Tuesday, and C-SD's Tour of the Shore is off across the Choptank River Bridge to learn about careers involving technology! Today they are stopping at The Hub (formerly Choptank Transport) to learn about the role of technology in supply chain and logistics management. They will then continue to The Whelan Company, an international supplier of industrial air conditioning units.
Tomorrow the Career Bus's first stop is at the Robbins Family YMCA in Cambridge for a tour and overview of careers available and continuing to the Dorchester County Visitor Center and the Dorchester Historical Society to learn about careers in those fields – after a free lunch at Cambridge’s new Chipotle! Thursday promises to be a new Ag-xperience, with students enjoying a career exploration in agriculture at the Thendara 4-H Center in Hurlock, and an afternoon at Purdue, finding out about the poultry industry and the careers on offer.
There are still a few seats available for rising 10th, 11th, and 12th grade C-SD students for tomorrow and Thursday’s trips, July 10 and 11. The bus leaves the school at 9 am and will return by 4 pm. If interested, email organizers Ms. Sandy Shaw, C-SD Career Coach at shaws@dcpsmd.org or Ms. Tina Morris, School-Community Liaison at morrist@dcpsmd.org today! #DCPS23NoMore
Our ambitious students hit the ground running today, the first day of Summer School! Here are a few scenes from Sandy Hill Elementary School this morning, with kiddos getting down to the serious fun of learning! #DCPS23NoMore
There will be a Special Meeting of the Board of Education to be held on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at the Board of Education building, 700 Glasgow St., in Cambridge. The Open Session will begin at 5:45 pm. The agenda can be found online via Board Docs on the Dorchester County Public Schools website at www.dcps.k12.md.us. The Open Session will be livestreamed at https://townhallstreams.com/towns/dorchesterboe.
School offices and the Central Office of Dorchester County Public Schools are closed on Thursday, July 4, 2024, in celebration of Independence Day. Happy birthday, America!
Summer is a good time to RElax, REcharge, and READ! Be like our friend Amyri, a soon-to-be 2nd grader at Maple Elementary School, who is taking advantage of the FREE books at the Book Nook. The Book Nook is the Dorchester Retired School Personnel Association’s effort to encourage reading by all ages, and is housed at Vintage Venue, 415 Race St., in Cambridge Both big and little people can pick up something to read and keep, all at no charge. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 6, Sunday 12 to 6, closed on Mondays. #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS #RelaxRechargeReadDCPS
Dorchester County Public Schools’ Summer Bag program began with a bang last week, with all the to-go bags being claimed shortly before the distribution hour was up! Note an important change for this coming week, when bag distribution will be on Wednesday, July 3 from 10 to 11 am rather than the usual Thursday, due to the Independence Day holiday. Enter the C-SD parking lot via Maple Dam Road, and swing around close to the cafeteria entrance to pick up a to-go bag with five breakfasts and five lunches plus a half-gallon of milk for each youngster aged 18 and under. #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
Dorchester County Public Schools announces two administrative changes, effective Monday, July 1: Mr. Brian Morley, previously a teacher at Maple Elementary School, has been appointed Assistant Principal at Choptank Elementary School and Ms. Kesha Cook, previously Assistant Principal at Choptank Elementary School, has been transferred to Assistant Principal at Maple Elementary School. #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
Ms. Joyce and Ms. Pam with their Big White Van brought MidShore Meals til Monday’s summer bag program to Hurlock and South Dorchester last week and will continue through August 15. This coming week there is an important change: bags will be available on Monday, July 1 ONLY due to the July 4th holiday. North Dorchester peeps can pick up a bag for each youngster aged 18 and under from 12 noon until 12:30-ish at the Prospect Heights Apartment Complex on Gold Rush Lane. Bags for South Dorchester folks will be available at South Dorchester School from 1:30 to 2 pm. Remember, Monday-only pickups for the week of July 1, with normal Monday and Thursday pickups resuming the week of July 8. Thank you, Meals til Monday! #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
Breaking news: Congratulations to Vernon Price and Dylan Ruppert, currently in Atlanta at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, who this evening won 2nd place in the national Robotics and Automation Technology competition! Vernon and Dylan are both 2024 graduates of North Dorchester High School and completers in the PLTW Engineering course at Dorchester Career and Technology Center taught by Mr. Phil Albert. The photo of the two students on the big screen was taken by Chef Charlene Zinnel, advisor to the DCTC chapter of SkillsUSA, while they were on stage to accept their silver medals. Way to rep DCTC, Dorchester County, and the state of Maryland! #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
Three cheers for our Dorchester County Public Schools Administrators of the Month, pictured here with Superintendent Dr. Jymil Thompson! May Administrator of the Month is Ms. Debbie Gibson, principal of Sandy Hill Elementary School, and North Dorchester High School Principal Mr. Dave Stofa is Administrator of the Month for June. Congratulations to you both - our principals rock! #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
Just a reminder that the DCPS Summer Bag program begins TODAY, Thursday, June 27, 2024! To-go bags will be available between 10 and 11 am this morning at the C-SD cafeteria entrance containing five breakfasts and five lunches and are for youngsters aged 18 and under. #AllHandsOnDeckDCPS
