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CAROLINE COUNTY — In addition to officially choosing land behind North Caroline High School for the site of the new Lockerman Middle School, the Caroline County Board of Education made several other big decisions at their Aug. 5 meeting.
Donation to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program
Superintendent Dr. Derek Simmons explained that as part of CCPS’s retirement package, the Board donates $50 per retiree each year to the Caroline County Public Library’s Imagination Library fund. The Imagination Library is an initiative spearheaded by Dolly Parton to provide a free book to the homes of children ranging from birth to age five. This year, CCPS had 29 retirees, and so a check for a total of $1,450 was presented to Mina Pincus for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program in Caroline.
Administrative Appointment of Dr. William Gray
By the recommendation of Dr. Simmons, the Board unanimously voted to appoint Dr. William Gray the Supervisor of Instruction for Physical Education, Health, and Science for the 2025-2026 school year. “Will comes highly recommended for this position. He was interviewed by a panel here in Caroline County and did a fantastic job with the interview team. He was the top choice,” Dr. Simmons said, “he has been doing very similar work, actually this work plus a few other responsibilities in another county on an Eastern Shore, so he’s not unfamiliar with the workload.”
Produce Bid Chosen
Three total bids were received to provide produce to schools in Caroline, Cecil, Wicomico, and Worcester counties. CCPS Director of Operations Bill Mengel said that grouping with other counties gives the schools “buying power” that they would not necessarily have otherwise. The companies that submitted bids were Teddy Bear Fresh Produce, Keany Produce and Gourmet, and Seashore Fruit & Produce Co.. Teddy Bear Fresh was chosen as the primary vendor with a total bid of just over $2.8 million. Mengel said they were chosen because they are an Eastern Shore-based business, have greater access to locally sourced produce, are a minority-owned business, have the highest rating of customer service out of the three businesses, and could be flexible with delivery. Despite Seashore submitting a substantially lower bid ($2.9 million vs. $2.6 million), Keany Produce was chosen as the secondary supplier as they are also based in Maryland, rank much higher in customer service, and stock locally grown produce.
The contract is for five years, with a guaranteed rate for the first year. Board member Chrissy Bartz asked Mengel to clarify that the expense will be divided among the four school districts, to which he responded, “Yes… so we’re at roughly $700,000 per county.” Board member Mark Jones said he’s happy to pay a little bit more to “buy local and support our local economy.”
Strategic Plan Update
The Board has worked to update its strategic plan, which is a philosophical outline for the next five years of growth and guidance for CCPS. The plan is now available to view on the CCPS website and involves the following goals, along with more fine-tuned methods on how the Board plans to achieve them: Goal 1: Academic Excellence, Goal 2: Wellness, Goal 3: Equity, and Goal 4: Communication.
As the meeting wrapped up, Jones told everyone to “enjoy the last little bit of summer.” The Board of Education’s next meeting will be held on September 2, which also happens to be the first day of school for Caroline County.
