Staff Focus: Barbara Baker, Facilitator of Extended School Year Services

October 15th, 2025

Helping people use their strengths to overcome obstacles and unlock their potential is Barbara Baker’s passion.

It’s what led her to pursue an undergraduate dual degree in elementary and special education, and later a master’s in school leadership and administration.

It’s what led her to start Howard County’s Special Olympics Dance and Cheer team 16 years ago—and what keeps her excited about running the program today.

It’s what inspires her to participate in events like Over the Edge, a fundraiser for Howard County’s chapter of the Special Olympics that required her to put aside her fears and rappel down 12 stories of Howard County’s highest building.

It’s what led her to apply for and enroll in the Maryland State Department of Education’s Director and Aspiring Leaders Academy.

That same passion to help people problem-solve and achieve has driven Baker’s near 20-year career with Howard County Public School System (HCPSS).

A Harford County native, Baker first came to HCPSS as a college intern.

“Early on in my time at HCPSS, I was struck by the strong sense of belonging that exists here. It was obvious that people welcomed and valued diversity, and that really resonated with me,” she recalls.

After finishing college, Baker joined the HCPSS staff as a teacher in the district’s Extended School Year (ESY) regional Academic Life Skills (ALS) program. She later served as a special education teacher, general education teacher, and special education instructional team lead (ITL) at several elementary schools in the county. In 2020, she transitioned to Howard High School (HoHS), where she taught in the ALS program, led the HoHS ALS team, and ultimately became the school’s special education ITL.

Baker loved working directly with students, but when the opportunity arose in 2023 for her to lead HCPSS’ ESY Program—a program designed to support students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in maintaining critical life skills over the summer—she jumped at it.

“I love problem-solving. Being the ESY facilitator gave me the chance to do that in a new way, with a focus on supporting our special education staff,” Baker explains.

Baker provides that support in a number of ways. In the fall, when planning for ESY is in its earliest and least intense phase, Baker travels across the district, lending a helping hand wherever it is needed in special education.

“I do whatever it takes to help ensure our staff and our students are as successful as possible,” she says. “In some cases, that means I help write IEPs; in other cases, it means I help train new special education employees; in still other cases, it means I work directly with students.”

As the school year goes on, Baker’s focus shifts to preparing for ESY. That includes attending meetings with HCPSS’ Joint Summer School Committee, which brings together representatives from a number of system offices to make operational plans and decisions related to summer school programs. In addition, she collaborates with staff overseeing HCPSS’ Academic Intervention program on trainings and meets with assistant principals, who hire for and support summer programs.

Throughout the school year, Baker also meets with school special education teams, including IEP teams, to build understanding of the ESY program.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about ESY and who it serves,” Baker says. “People mistakenly think that students attend ESY because they are below grade level, because they have a specific disability, or because they need to learn a new skill. In fact, the purpose of ESY is to help students maintain critical life skills identified within their IEP and be as independent as possible across all environments.”

“For example, let’s say that as part of their IEP, a student has been working on increasing their participation in conversations using their assistive technology. They’ve been working on this skill for a few years and in recent weeks, we’ve seen them start to engage independently with others. We would not want them to lose that skill over the summer because it is helping them become more independent. ESY would help this student to maintain that skill, so that they would be able to start the new school year ready to keep making progress, rather than having to recover or relearn it,” Baker explains.

In addition to her work to support special education staff, bolster community understanding of ESY, and organize ESY programming, Baker participates in HCPSS’ workgroup focused on supporting staff who work with students with significant cognitive disabilities. In that capacity, she helps develop curricula, resources, and professional development opportunities to enable staff to support students working towards a certification of completion instead of a high school diploma.

As in other realms of her life, Baker approaches this work with a drive to help others overcome challenges and succeed.

“I find joy in helping students and adults surprise themselves with what they can accomplish,” Baker says. “In my current role, what I love the most is that I support staff that are supporting students in all of our buildings around the county achieve what might have been said to be impossible.”

Additional information on HCPSS’ Extended School Year program can be found online.