The Board of Education of Charles County is looking for applications from county residents interested in serving on the Charles County Board of Education Ethics Panel. The Board will be appointing new members in July to the all-volunteer, five-member panel, which interprets ethics regulations and provides advisory opinions to Board Members and employees subject to the regulations. The panel also reviews complaints concerning any alleged ethics violation and receives and maintains all forms required to be filed under the ethics regulation. Ethics panel members meet at least once annually to review disclosure forms and as necessary to respond to inquiries. Read more…

Charles County Public Schools is seeking feedback about the school system and its 35 schools from the parent community. A confidential survey was launched last week to gather parent about their child’s school. The survey is available at the following web address: http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/b14ag55a9d. A direct link to the survey is also posted on the home page of the Charles County Public Schools website, www.ccboe.com, under the What’s New section at the bottom of the page. Parents with more than one child enrolled in a Charles County public school can complete the survey for each school their child attends. Reponses are Read more…

North Point High School junior Caitie O’Donnell and sophomore Robert Carmona recently earned circuitwide recognition and awards for their performance in the Mock Trial program. Hundreds of students from Prince George’s, St. Mary’s and Charles counties compete to earn the awards. O’Donnell earned the Best Defense Attorney award in the circuit. Carmona was named as an All-Star Witness for the circuit. North Point was the only Charles County high school to earn all-star awards. The Mock Trial program allows students to experience a courtroom through hands-on opportunities, and to learn about the law, legal system court procedures, and the roles Read more…

The Fully Charged a cappella group from Henry E. Lackey High School recently competed in Singstrong D.C., a weekend long a cappella music festival. The festival featured a cappella groups performing various styles of singing. All profits from the competition support the Alzheimer’s Association and local music programs. The Lackey group earned first place overall in the competition, held Feb. 22 in Reston, Va. Members of the group also earned special awards. Senior Destiny Jones earned the best female soloist award. Brian Kuhn, a choral teacher at Lackey and director of Fully Charged, earned the best original arrangement award. Additionally, Read more…

Nine Charles County Public Schools teams placed in the elementary Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) competition held March 26 at North Point High School. Student teams competed in competitions that test their abilities in mathematics, engineering and science. Dr. James Craik Elementary School was chosen as the overall elementary school winner. Awards were given for first-, second-, and third-place teams and one overall elementary school winner was chosen. The school that earns the most points throughout the competition is chosen as the overall winner and advances to the state competition. Craik will participate in the state event scheduled for Read more…

Eleven Charles County Public Schools teams placed in the secondary Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) competition held March 27 at North Point High School. Student teams competed in competitions that test their abilities in mathematics, engineering and science. Piccowaxen Middle School was chosen as the overall middle school winner and Henry E. Lackey High School was chosen as the overall high school winner. MESA teams from Piccowaxen and Lackey advance to the state competition scheduled for May 1 at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Additionally, a team from John Hanson Middle School advances to the state event as Read more…

The Charles County Commissioners are hosting a joint meeting with the Charles County Board of Education on Tuesday, April 1, at 10 a.m. in the Commissioner’s meeting room of the county government building. Topics for discussion include: Joint Allocations Cycle Common Core Regional English Language Learners (ELL) program Technology upgrades Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) program Fiscal year 2014 budget adjustments The meeting is open to the public. The county government building is located at 200 Baltimore Street, La Plata, Md., 20646. Call 301-645-0550 for more information. Charles County Public Schools provides 26,400 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with Read more…

The Board of Education’s next monthly meeting is Tuesday, April 1, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting begins at 1 p.m. and student and staff recognition starts at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system website at www.ccboe.com. Select CCPS TV and then choose the Live Broadcast tab. The following is a tentative meeting agenda and is subject to change. Executive Read more…

The Unplugged a cappella group from La Plata High School is heading to the International Championship of High School a Cappella (ICHSA) finals next month as one of 10 nationwide event finalists. More than 100 high school a cappella groups from across the United States competed in one of 10 regional events. First-place regional winners advance to the final event scheduled for April 25 in New York City. The La Plata group earned first place in the ICHSA Northeast regional event, held March 1 in Plymouth, Mass., with a score of 407 points. The group also earned an award for Read more…