Partnership with Howard County Chinese School to Enhance Cultural Experiences

November 1st, 2013

The Howard County Public School System will sign a new partnership with the Howard County Chinese School (HCCS), which will offer opportunities to develop mutual understanding and greater collaboration between the two. The partnership will be formalized with an official signing Sunday, Nov. 3 at 12:30 p.m. at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia.

Under the terms of the partnership agreement, the HCCS will collaborate with HCPSS to enhance the Chinese Language curriculum with cultural experiences and will assist in building a cadre of Chinese language teachers. HCCS also will share HCPSS event and activity information with Chinese speaking students and families and will assist with translating documents.

HCPSS will attend events at HCCS to share information about parent and community education programs, certification requirements for becoming a public school teacher and professional development ideas for effective language instruction.

Howard County Board of Education member Ellen Flynn Giles, HCPSS Deputy Superintendent Linda Wise and Chief of Staff Susan Mascaro will join and Howard County Chinese School Board Chairman Guoyi Fu, Principal Guowei Zhang and Community Partnership Liaison Diane Li to sign the formal partnership agreement at the November 3 event.

The Howard County Chinese School (www.hccs-md.org), established in December 1998 and located in Columbia, Md., is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious Chinese school. Its mission is to promote the Chinese ethnic and linguistic culture by educating the young generation to learn Chinese.

The Howard County Public School System’s Partnerships Office (www.hcpss.org/aboutus/partnership) unites businesses and community organizations with schools to enhance the educational experience. Partnerships benefit schools, businesses, and the entire community by leveraging the resources of all participants. Partners may commit human or financial resources or other support.