Anne Arundel County Public Schools is the public
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...
serving all of
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, Mar ...
. With over 85,000 students and 126 schools,
the AACPS school system is the 4th largest in Maryland and the
39th largest in the United States. The district has over 5,000 teachers
[ supporting a comprehensive curriculum from Pre-K through 12th grade.
]
Schools
AACPS primarily consists of 79 elementary schools
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
(Pre-K
Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
or K, through grade 5
Fifth grade (also 5th Grade or Grade 5) is the fifth or sixth year of formal or compulsory education. In the United States, this is mostly the last grade of primary school, but for some states, it could be the first year of middle school. Primary ...
), 20 middle schools
Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school.
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...
(grades 6–8), and 15 high schools
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
(grades 9–12). AACPS maintains 2 centers of applied technology, 3 charter schools
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
, 3 special education centers, 1 alternative high school, 1 middle school learning center, and 1 center for emotionally impaired students known as the Phoenix Center.
Many AACPS schools have garnered recognition for their academic programs, with appointment as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence and Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence. These schools are marked below with symbols representing their National-level () and Maryland-level () awards.
List of high schools
There are currently 15 high schools:
List of middle schools
Partial list of elementary schools
AACPS elementary schools serve students from Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
to 5th grade. Some schools also offer a Pre-Kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
program for younger students who are "economically disadvantaged or homeless". Among AACPS's elementary schools are:
Public charter and contract schools
Chesapeake Science Point (CSP) is a magnet school
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...
for math and science. The school was founded in 2003 by the volunteer non-profit Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation (CLF), after the ''Charter School Law'' (Bill 75) was put into effect in July 2003, authorizing the establishment of charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s in the state of Maryland. Admission to CSP is via an application and lottery basis.
Monarch Academy Glen Burnie (MAGB) is another charter school in Anne Arundel County. Monarch Academy serves students in Kindergarten through eighth grade. It employs Expeditionary Learning, a project based learning model, and is located in Glen Burnie.
Monarch Global Academy (MGA) is a contract school in Anne Arundel County. Monarch Global Academy serves students in Kindergarten through eighth grades. It employs the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program in K–6 and a project based learning model in grades 6–8. It is located in Laurel, Maryland.
Other schools of note
*Center of Applied Technology North, Severn
The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...
* Center of Applied Technology South, Edgewater
* Mary E. Moss Academy, Crownsville
*Ruth Parker Eason School, Millersville – full-day special education
Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...
*Central Special School, Edgewater – full-day special education
Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...
*Phoenix Academy, Annapolis
Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
Leadership
AACPS headquarters are in the Parole
Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
, near Annapolis
Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
. The Carol S. Parham Building houses the board of education, school support departments, professional support facilities, and meeting spaces.
The school system is governed by an eight-member board of education. Seven members of the board (representing each of the county's council districts) are elected to four-year terms (before 2018, these positions were appointed by the state governor), and one student member is voted to a one-year term by students in Magnet Programs or The AVID Program.
The board appoints a superintendent of schools to administer the school system. The current superintendent is Dr. Mark Bedell, who has served in this capacity since 2022. Previous superintendents include:
* Dr. George Arlotto (2014–2022)
* Mamie J. Perkins, interim superintendent (2013–2014)
* Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell, 11th superintendent (2006–2013)
* Nancy Mann, interim superintendent (2005–2006)
* Eric Smith (2002–2005)
* Ken Lawson, interim superintendent (2001–2002)
* Dr. Carol S. Parham (1993–2001)
* C. Berry Carter II (1992–1993)
* Larry L. Lorton (1988–1992)
* Robert Rice (1986–1988)
* Edward J. Anderson (1968–1986)
* David Jenkins (1946–1968)
* George Fox (1916–1946)
Controversies
Pop-Tart controversy
Anne Arundel County Public Schools made headlines in March 2013 when school officials suspended 7-year-old Josh Welch for chewing a Pop-Tart
Pop-Tarts (stylized as pop•tarts) is an American brand of toaster pastry, toaster pastries (not Tart, tarts) produced and distributed by Kellanova (formerly Kellogg's) since 1964. The pastry consists of a sweet filling sealed inside two laye ...
pastry into a shape they thought resembled a gun and pretending to shoot his classmates. This was not the first time AACPS had dealt with this situation in that way, as 2 years earlier, a similarly aged student by the name of Sean House was suspended for the same reason. The Welch family, represented by attorney Robin Ficker, subsequently appealed to the district to have the two-day suspension removed from Josh's record, but the appeal was denied. The Welch family appealed the decision to the county school board,which upheld the suspension after a 2014 hearing. The Maryland State Board of Education also ruled to uphold the suspension. The suspension was again upheld in county circuit court in 2016, with an 11-page ruling that cited "the student’s past history of escalating behavioral issues" and confirmed that "a suspension was appropriately used as a corrective tool". Shortly after this ruling, the parents' suit was closed by mediation in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals with an "undisclosed settlement". Officials at the school and the county maintained that "the case was never about a pastry or a gun, but rather an ongoing behavioral problem. They said that the boy disrupted the classroom repeatedly and that the suspension was a last resort."
Sex Education Curriculum
Sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...
in AACPS had made headlines significant controversy, particularly regarding the inclusion of lessons on LGBTQ+ issues, gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
, and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...
. In response for LGBTQ+ rights, AACPS has made efforts to include more inclusive content in its sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...
curriculum. However, this shift has faced resistance from some parents and community groups who argue that discussions on topics such as gender identity and same-sex relationships are inappropriate for children, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. These parents contend that such lessons conflict with their personal or religious beliefs about sexuality.
See also
*Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, wh ...
*List of school districts in Maryland
This is a list of school districts in Maryland.
Each of the following parallel the boundary of one of the counties of Maryland, and all of them are dependent on county and independent city governments. Maryland does not have independent school ...
Notes
External links
*
ED/IES/NCES Report: Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2002–03
{{Authority control
School districts in Maryland
Education in Anne Arundel County, Maryland