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St. Mary’s County Branch NAACP
and Great Mills High School
are sponsoring a
Community
Awareness Night
Great Mills High
School (Cafeteria)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Topic: Gearing
Up for 2013: “What Does It Take to Graduate From
High School”?
PLEASE COME OUT AND JOIN US. -- HELP US HELP YOU
The St. Mary’s
County Branch of the NAACP is working with Great
Mills High School’s Principal, Jake Heibel, on
increasing graduation rates. They are “Gearing
Up for 2013 to help students and parents learn
more about graduation requirements, programs for
struggling students, dropout prevention,
extra-curricular activities, Fair Lead Academy,
After School Programs, Flow Mentoring, the
College Access Network Program, Evening High
School, Summer School, withdrawal policies,
counseling programs ….. and more!!!! The focus
of the meeting will be the Apex Learning
Program.
St. Mary’s
County Public Schools is one of four districts
who received funding for the Apex Learning
program. This is an on line program which
addresses student retention and dropout
prevention by implementing remediation programs
for struggling students and credit recovery for
students who have failed courses. It provides
additional instructional resources for teachers
in traditional classrooms; increases student
enrollment and exam scores for Advanced
Placement. It offers original credit for
students who are unsuccessful with traditional
instruction and helps transfer students, and
students who need flexible scheduling options.
America’s
Promise Alliance (the Alliance) is the nation’s
largest partnership organization dedicated to
improving the lives of children and youth. It
was founded in 1997 with General Colin Powell as
its founding chairman, and is chaired today by
Alma Powell. Apex Learning® is the leading
provider of digital curriculum for secondary
education and is a member of the Alliance’s
Business Leaders Council and Education
Innovators group. The partnership with these
districts will support America’s Promise
Alliance’s Grad Nation Campaign, which is a
10-year initiative to mobilize Americans to end
the high school dropout crisis and prepare young
people for the 21st century workforce. The goal
of the Grad Nation Campaign is to improve the
nation’s overall high school graduation rate to
90 percent by 2020. This program is now being
offered at Great Mills High School during the
regular school day and after school. It has also
been expanded to Leonardtown High School and
Chopticon High School as an after school
offering.
The community
awareness program will be held on April 26, 2011
at Great Mills High School in the cafeteria. For
additional information contact: Janice Walthour
at 301-862-2296 or Jake Heibel at 301-863-4001.
NOTE: There
will also be a brief presentation by Ms. Carol
Ann Hall of Southern Maryland Mission of Mercy
regarding the upcoming FREE Dental Fair that
will be held at Chopticon High School on June 22
and 23, 2012.
Misplace
Priorities: Sign Our Petition to Tell America’s
Governors to Focus on Education, not
Incarceration
America spends
more money incarcerating its citizens than
educating them.
That's not an
exaggeration. It's a fact.
The NAACP's new
report, Misplaced Priorities, shows how
much money states spend on their criminal
justice system compared to their education
system -- and what that means for our
communities.
The results are
astounding. Over the past 20 years, for example,
state spending on prisons grew at six times
the rate of spending on higher education.
Our country is home to just five percent of the
world's population, but we make up a staggering
twenty-five percent of the world's prisoners.
You can do
something about this crisis. That's why the
NAACP has launched a petition asking all 50
state governors to get their priorities straight
and fix this problem with a set of smart reforms
to keep our communities safe. Add your name now,
and make sure your voice is heard in your state
capital:

http://action.naacp.org/MisplacedPriorities
In 2009, as the
nation plummeted into the deepest recession in
30 years, funding for K-12 and higher education
declined. But for prisons, the reverse was true.
That year, 33 states spent more discretionary
dollars on prisons than in 2008.
As our children
fail to get the education they deserve, our
prisons are filling up at an alarming rate. And,
as usual, those most affected are communities of
color. We know drug treatment is a smart
alternative for non-violent offenders. It is
also significantly cheaper. Educational
opportunities are also cost-effective, and lead
to a marked reduction in neighborhood crime.
Relatively minor investments in treatment for
those suffering mental illness mean fewer people
in jail and more contributing members to
society.
There's no denying
the irrational increase in prison spending, and
its impact on state budgets and our nation's
children. But there is something you can do
about it.
Sign our petition
to tell America's governors to support the
NAACP's reforms that will focus on making sure
we invest in schools, not prisons.
http://action.naacp.org/MisplacedPriorities
Thank you for
taking the time to help us speak out to
America's governors, and show the strength of
our resolve to change our country's misplaced
priorities.
It's time we
stop over incarcerating and under educating.
Best,
Ben
Benjamin Todd
Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP
NEW
ADDITION TO ST. MARY'S NAACP WEBSITE
We've now added a
new link that contains local
Employment Opportunities
in the Southern Maryland area! If you're
looking for employment, keep an eye on this
page. If you're an employer with a job
opening, please contact us about posting your
employment opportunity.
Stop the Hate Petition
In an effort to
continue the momentum created during the NAACP’s
101st National Convention, we are asking all
members to sign the Stop the Hate Petition that
is currently on the NAACP’s website. The pledge
can be found here:
http://action.naacp.org/page/s/stophatepledge
St. Mary's
County NAACP
Establishes Claudia Pickeral Memorial
Scholarship

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