AACPS Reopening Plans: Superintendent Will Give Update At Event

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — George Arlotto, superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, will outline the plans for fall classes at an Aug. 17 leadership breakfast. Residents can get tickets to the event at this link.

Patch recently partnered with several local organizations to bring you their latest news. This guest contribution comes from the Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce. Here's what President and CEO Mark Kleinschmidt wrote about the event:

"In about 5 weeks[,] 85,000 Anne Arundel County students will be heading back to [the] classroom. During the summer, the Anne Arundel County Public School system (AACPS) has been hard at work getting things ready for their return on September 8th. This year ... will not be a typical ... first day of school. Instead, there will be many new procedures and physical changes at most schools that were brought about because of COVID-19[.]

Last year, the school year was significantly impacted by the pandemic and AACPS faced a whole host of challenges ... and had to make many operational changes to maintain the safety of the staff and students while continuing to teach students from K to 12. Under the leadership of Superintendent George Arlotto, the Anne Arundel County Public Schools ... were able to implement virtual and in-person classes that provided ongoing instruction and classes for all students.

About Anne Arundel Public School System

If you are not aware, the AACPS system is a very big operation. If you were to think of the AACPS as a business, Dr. Arlotto would be the CEO of one of the [largest] companies in the County. With 85,000 students from K to 12, there are 6,300 teachers, about 1,500 support staff and an operating budget of $1.2 billion. To educate our children, the school system operates 128 buildings and offers hundreds of in-school and extracurricular programs. And if that is not enough of a management challenge, Dr. Arlotto works with an elected school board, interacts with various PTA groups, communicates with concerned parents and many government officials on a daily basis.

What’s Up for the 2021-22 School Year?

The pandemic caused us to realize just how valuable the school system is for our community particularly when we had to shift to remote learning and many parents had to also become “remote teachers”, which was quite an education for a lot of us! AACPS not only educates our children, they provide critical services to children and families while offering many sports and recreational activities that are an important part of every [student's life]. In addition, attending school in-person provides many interactive learning experiences for the students and provides many other opportunities to learn and grow.

The unique and critical role that AACPS plays in our community makes them a priority for opening and remaining open, enabling students to receive both academic instruction and support as well as critical services. But as we emerge from the pandemic[,] there are still many questions about how the schools will operate. School officials will be making decisions about school reopening based on available data including levels of community transmission and their capacity to implement appropriate mitigation measures in schools such as wearing a mask.

To help Chamber members and the entire community ... gain a better understanding about the start of the new school year, we are pleased to have Dr. George Arlotto as our speaker at the Leadership Breakfast on August 17, 2021. Dr. Arlotto will talk about how AACPS worked its way [through] the pandemic and outline the plans for the upcoming school year. This is a great opportunity for you to get the latest update about one of Anne Arundel County’s most important assets, our public school system. If you would like to attend the breakfast, click [here].

Mark Kleinschmidt is the President/CEO of the Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce, which is in Annapolis, MD."

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