Superintendent and board highlight Meade High School renovation and early-year gains as schools reopen

Board President Silkworth and Superintendent Dr. Bedell reported on school openings and highlighted a ribbon-cutting at Meade High School, which board materials said was a $124,000,000 renovation largely funded by a Department of Defense grant for schools on military bases.

“Earlier in the day on August 21, I was joined by most of my fellow board members … at the ribbon cutting to celebrate the renovations at Meade High School. This $124,000,000 project was largely funded by a grant from the Department of Defense,” President Silkworth said, and he and Dr. Bedell described positive impressions from the opening visits.

Dr. Bedell said the district has seen strong engagement during the first days of the school year and noted curricular implementation across elementary and middle grades: “Most of the visits were to elementary schools, and it was great to see the continued implementation of our Reveal math and CKLA language arts curriculum.” He highlighted food and nutrition services and encouraged recruitment for open positions.

Dr. Bedell also cited recent student-achievement and discipline indicators at Meade High School: chronic absenteeism has declined “in more than 26 percent over the last 3 years,” while attendance is up “nearly 5% to more than 91 percent.” He said referrals, out-of-school suspensions, fights and incidents of disrespect and disruption had all fallen by roughly 40–45 percent over a three-year period. Bedell added that Meade “led our county with a 13 increase in the number of students with scores of 4 or higher on their IB exams,” and he tied some gains to redistricting changes and cluster-level work.

Board members welcomed state and local leaders who visited Meade High School; President Silkworth thanked school leaders and volunteers and noted the district also participated in a Stuff the Bus school-supply drive that collected monetary donations and supplies (Silkworth said the drive collected about $21,000). The presentation was informational; no formal board action was recorded on these items.