Prince George's County Public Schools

Prince George's County Public Schools

The Prince George's County Public Schools System (PGCPS) is a large school district administered by the government of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States and is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school system is headquartered in Upper Marlboro and the district serves Prince George's County.

With approximately 125,000 students enrolled for the 2012-13 school year, the Prince George's County Public Schools system is the second largest school district in the state of Maryland; the third largest school district in both the Washington Metropolitan Area and Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, after Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland; and it's one of the top 25 largest school districts in the nation. PGCPS operates 204 schools and special centers which include: 122 elementary schools (PreK-5), 24 middle schools (6-8), 23 high schools (9-12), and 12 academies (PreK-8). The school system also operates 9 special centers, 2 vocational centers, 5 alternative schools, 7 public charter schools, and the Howard B. Owens Science Center, serving students from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. PGCPS currently operates the two largest high schools in the state of Maryland — (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School and Northwestern High School), respectively. The school system currently transports over 90,536 students, daily, by its fleet of 1,335 GPS-equipped school buses, on 5,616 bus routes. PGCPS employs approximately 18,000 staff members which includes an estimated 9,000 teachers. The approved operating budget for FY2012–13 is approximately US$1.6 billion with a per pupil expenditure of US$11,753. Average teacher salary ranges from US$55,689 for teachers with a Bachelor's Degree to US$80,009 for teachers with a Doctorate's Degree.

The district is currently headed by Alvin Crawley, who is serving as Interim Superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools, for the 2012-13 school year. Alvin Crawley was previously a senior-level administrator in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), and he replaced William R. Hite, Jr., Ed. D., who left the school district in September 2012 to head the School District of Philadelphia.

In terms of racial demographics, African-Americans make up the majority of the systems students at 67.4%, followed by 22.6% Hispanic, 4.6% Caucasian, 2.9% Asian, and remaining 2.4% comprising various other races.

In June 2009, the PGCPS became one of the first school systems in America, to name one of their schools after current President Barack Obama. The new 792-student, Barack Obama Elementary School, in Upper Marlboro, opened in August 2010.

Read more about Prince George's County Public Schools:  Transportation, Secondary School Reform, Magnet Programs and Centers, See Also, External Links

Famous quotes containing the words prince, george, county, public and/or schools:

    The prince exults whomever he selects as his consort, but the queen, rather than elevating the subject of her choice, humiliates him as a man. By all that is right, a man is not intended to be the husband of his wife, but a woman is to be her husband’s wife.
    Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)

    Five hundred men, ordinary men, chosen accidentally from among the unemployed.
    —David Lloyd George (1863–1945)

    Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.
    Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)

    That the public can grow accustomed to any face is proved by the increasing prevalence of Keith’s ruined physiognomy on TV documentaries and chat shows, as familiar and homely a horror as Grandpa in The Munsters.
    Philip Norman, British author, journalist. The Life and Good Times of the Rolling Stones, introduction (1989)

    You are a shameless, husband-hunting by-product of six of the most expensive finishing schools in the Western Hemisphere.
    Tom Waldman (d. 1985)