Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) offers free weekly COVID-19 preventative screenings for students and staff. To participate, parents and staff must complete a one-time registration with the state health department contractor, 20/20 GeneSystems. Click here to access the registration portal. The test used is an anterior nasal swab PCR test. Results are provided to parents and staff in the portal within 48 hours. Users can sign up for email notifications. Only positive results are shared confidentially with the CCPS Office of School Safety and Security for follow up to ensure sick students or staff are not coming to schools. Testing Read more…

Six Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) school librarians were recently recognized as part of a School Librarians of the Year cohort by the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL). Each year, MASL names one school librarian as its School Librarian of the Year for outstanding service and achievements in the field. This year, the association opted to recognize a group of school librarians. Out of 52 nominees from around Maryland, 38 were selected for special recognition. Six of the 38 are CCPS school librarians. Those honored include Margaret Donahue of Henry E. Lackey High School; Karen Ferruzza of Arthur Middleton Read more…

A coat drive benefiting Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) students is coming up. The Drive Away the Cold coat drive is being coordinated by the Charles County School Bus Contractors Association. Starting Oct. 1, community members can drop off new coats for children and teens at three Community Bank of the Chesapeake branches in the county. CCPS can only accept donations of new coats with tags attached due to COVID-19 guidelines. The donations will be collected from the drop-off sites on Oct. 23. From Oct. 1 to 22, drop off donations of new coats in children to adult sizes to: Read more…

Enrollment in both Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) virtual learning programs is now complete. This includes the kindergarten through Grade 8 virtual option, as well as the high school Virtual Academy program. Both opportunities were offered to CCPS families this school year. The kindergarten through Grade 8 virtual program included 450 spaces, with 50 spaces per grade level. Virtual Academy is for students in Grades 9-12. Eligible students for both programs met minimum criteria to apply. Applications for Virtual Academy and students on the waitlist for the kindergarten through Grade 8 virtual program are no longer being accepted.   Classes Read more…

Superintendent of Schools Maria V. Navarro, Ed.D. presented her middle school redistricting recommendation to the Board of Education at its Sept. 14 meeting, suggesting Proposal A with no modifications. The middle school redistricting process is comprehensive and focuses on expanding the attendance zone at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School. Stoddert is undergoing a complete renovation and expansion that will increase the state rated capacity for students from 711 to 975. In a presentation to the Board, Assistant Superintendent of Supporting Services Michael Heim said the recommendation moves a smaller number of current Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) students and better balances Read more…

Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is moving all in-county high school varsity football games scheduled for this Friday, Sept. 17, to 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 18. The schedule is below. La Plata High School vs. Patuxent High School (held at La Plata) Henry E. Lackey High School vs. Thomas Stone High School (held at Lackey) Maurice J. McDonough High School vs. Calvert High School (held at Stone/homecoming) North Point High School vs. Westlake High School (held at North Point) This change does not apply to the game scheduled between St. Charles High School and Leonardtown High School set for Sept. Read more…

Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) provides bus transportation to more than 24,000 students in Charles County. As the second week of in-person learning comes to a close today, CCPS is still working through bus issues as a result of driver shortages and later than usual student enrollments. Transportation staff is working through help desk tickets submitted by parents. Tickets continue to range from bus stop requests and stop changes, to complaints about delayed bus arrivals. Bus routes for the majority of students have been consistent this week, but delayed buses and late arrivals will continue for the foreseeable future. Daily, Read more…

As Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) enters the second week of school, additional families have been offered opportunities for their children to participate in virtual learning programs. Kindergarten through Grade 8 Virtual Learning Program As of Wednesday, Sept. 8, only 247 students were enrolled in the kindergarten through Grade 8 Virtual Learning Program. Live instruction for these students began on Tuesday with CCPS teachers. Proximity Learning teachers will take over live classes starting Monday, Sept. 20. Spaces for 365 students have been declined by families. CCPS continues to work through the waitlist of interested families with students who qualified for Read more…

Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) recently launched a new diagnostic program, i-Ready, for students. The program features adaptive assessments that build on student responses to provide teachers with data to best support their students. Initial assessments started at schools last week, and include both reading and mathematics. The high school i-Ready assessment window closes Sept. 24, and the middle and elementary school windows close next month. Data from the initial i-Ready assessments will help teachers determine areas of mastery, but also provide data on areas for growth and improvement. Additionally, teachers will use the program to monitor student progress throughout Read more…

Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is adjusting schedules for several upcoming planned indoor events. The changes affect school open houses, high school homecoming dances, middle school dances, volunteer support in schools and planned field trips. The changes will decrease the amount of people gathering inside of school buildings. Although students and staff are back in buildings for in-person learning, CCPS is limiting the number of outside visitors when possible to support safe learning environments. CCPS has also updated standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding COVID-19 testing at schools. Below are important updates for parents, students and staff. Virtual open houses, other Read more…