School Operations at Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School in Baltimore, Maryland
Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership School is a Title I, PK-8 school operated by Johns Hopkins University School of Education with 609 students and 70 faculty and staff.
As Assistant Principal from 2018 to 2022, J.D. led Henderson-Hopkins to be the most improved K-8 school in Baltimore City as well as through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strategic Direction:
Helped develop a revised mission, vision, goals, and framework for rapid improvement in the areas of teacher professional development, standards-aligned rigorous instruction, and whole student and whole family support.
Improving Academic Achievement by Improving School Operations:
Created a new master schedule to align to school goals, enabling weekly grade-level and content team meetings, helping to achieve 7.4% schoolwide student growth in one year, the most improvement among K-8’s in Baltimore City Public Schools in that year.
Enrollment and Marketing:
Revamped the system for enrolling students through the school’s five priority lottery, helping increase enrollment from 512 students to 609 students.
Developed vision for informational video to promote Henderson Hopkins in partnership with Hartlove-Goodyear.
Community Engagement:
Improved the school's relationship with the community by implementing a grocery distribution program that served more than 1,000,000 pounds of food to more than 20,000 residents, making shared spaces more accessible to the public, and improving school communication online and in the community.
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COVID-19 Response:
Developed and implemented COVID-19 pandemic strategy that resulted in 92% daily student engagement in online learning, the distribution of 500 laptops, the distribution of more than 250,000 lbs of groceries to the public, and coordinated six public COVID-19 clinics in partnership with Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Development:
Developed and implemented a Giving Tuesday strategy that led to $35,889 raised from 341 donors in one day.
Workgroup Facilitation:
Facilitated a reopening workgroup consisting of faculty, staff, parents, and community members that identified best practices in academics, health and safety, and operations during COVID-19 that led the school to be the only public school in Baltimore City open on the first day of school with in-person learning in September 2020.
Contract Renewal:
Henderson-Hopkins received a three-year contract renewal, the maximum available at the time, during the 2021-2022 school year.
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Physical Plant
Represented the school on all building construction projects, managed relationships with architect, contractor, and partners on $2 million classroom renovations during summer 2020 and $1.5 million track and field construction during summer 2021.
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