HCPS 411 Update

Harford County Public Schools reimburses employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) standard mileage rate for business use of personal vehicles. The IRS announced a change in the mileage reimbursement for 2023. Beginning January 1, 2023, the standard mileage rate for use of a personal vehicle will be 65.5 cents per mile for business miles driven. Employees who are approved for mileage reimbursement should download an updated Employee Expense Reimbursement Voucher for mileage incurred on or after January 1, 2023. (This form is posted to the Business Services’ Accounts Payable SharePoint page.) Please submit a separate form for July 2022 through December 2022. Additional details may be found in the Employee Memo Also, be sure to save the form to your own computer. The default folder is saving information to Share Point. Click here for detailed instructions.

W-2 forms will be placed in the courier on or before January 31, 2023, for calendar year 2022 wages.

Annually, the Finance Office provides an explanatory memo assisting employees to reconcile their final pay stubs for the year to the W-2 form and to answer frequently asked questions over the years. Click here to view the memo online or to print a hard copy of the memo if desired. Please print and share the memo with non-networked colleagues at your location.

W-2 forms will also be posted on Employee Self Service (ESS) on or before January 31, 2023. For detailed instructions on using ESS, please click here.

Any questions should be directed to Jay Staab, Director of Finance, at Jay.Staab@hcps.org or 410-588-5237.

Applications will open next week, on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, for the blended virtual learning programs at Swan Creek School for the 2023-2024 school year. If you are interested in applying for grades 2-12 e-learning or grades 6-12 for in-person, blended learning, please visit the Swan Creek School website for additional information about the school. Applications will be due February 15, 2023. Students will be informed of their enrollment status by March 31, 2023. If the number of eligible applicants exceeds the number of seats per classroom, a lottery system will be implemented. If after reviewing the program information on the website you have questions about the program or application process, please contact Swan Creek School at 410-273-5594.

Calling all nominations for the January Family Friendly School Award!

Nominations for the award are being accepted now through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. *ONLY nominations submitted during this window will be considered for this month's award.*

It takes just a few minutes to nominate a school...access the link to nominate here: https://www.hcps.org/parents/parentacademy/familyfriendlyschools.aspx.

Please spread the word! Help your school be celebrated for their efforts to communicate well, engage and welcome all families, and support student success.

Winning schools receive the positive coverage of the award, a custom banner to display in the school, and a complimentary staff luncheon from Chick-fil-A of Harford County.

Our Human Resources team recently worked with a local radio station to create and air a recruitment commercial. This 60-second commercial will be aired on WXCY 103.7 during the entire month of January. The commercial aims to spread the word across the listening area that HCPS is hiring for all positions. Click below to listen to the commercial, and we hope you get a chance to hear it live on the radio.

Thank you for helping us Share the Shine!

Join us as we continue to shine the light on how HCPS celebrates diversity all year long. Each month, we will highlight a cultural/organizational holiday. All you have to do is take a picture or two and share the wonderful things your school or office is doing to celebrate the contributions we all make to HCPS.

This month, we are celebrating:

National Braille Literacy Month

Please email your celebration pictures and a brief write up regarding the event to Sherron Foster-Moore, Diversity Retention & Recruitment Specialist, at Sherron.FosterMoore@hcps.org by Friday, January 27, 2023. This month’s celebrations will be shared in the February 2nd issue of the HCPS 411 Update.

Fallston High School

Joe Collins, Principal

On December 19, 75 members of Fallston High School's French Club gathered to create mini Bûches de Noël (log-shaped cakes) that are the traditional Christmas dessert in France. Students competed to create bûches in categories such as "Plus grand en hauteur" (Highest), "Plus français" (Most French), and "Plus réaliste" (Most realistic). Everyone enjoyed sharing a little bit of French culture and some tasty treats! Special thanks to Ms. Monica Finegan for sharing this wonderful event.

The 2021 Teacher of the Year finalist team, collectively known as 5xStronger, is going back on tour to recognize and celebrate more amazing teachers in Harford County! Each month we will recognize one outstanding teacher in one of the following areas: Elementary, Middle, High, Special Areas, and Special Education. When nominating a teacher, be sure to indicate which area they SHINE in. Every teacher that is nominated will be highlighted in future HCPS 411 Updates. The winning teacher each month will receive a surprise visit from members of the 5xStronger team and a special gift from one of our community partners! Do you know an outstanding teacher that we should recognize? Tell us about some of the amazing things they do to engage, celebrate, and inspire the students in their classrooms, their fellow educators, and the greater community. They could be the next stop on our Teacher Tour!

Please use this link to nominate an outstanding teacher on or before January 15, 2023. They may be the next stop on our Teacher Tour!

For a printer-friendly version of this flyer, please click here.

The Maryland Retired School Personnel Association, through its MRSPA Fund, is offering three $2,000 scholarships to public school employees in Maryland who are enrolled in a program leading to teacher certification or certification as a school counselor, speech and language pathologist, physical or occupational therapist, school social worker, administrator or supervisor, media specialist or school psychologist. Applicants must hold a high school diploma or GED certificate.

The scholarship is also available to certificated teachers who are pursuing certification in another area or level of teaching or to become qualified as one of the above-listed education specialists. Applicants must be current employees of the Board of Education and must intend on working in a Maryland public school while working toward certification and upon completion of their requirements for certification.

Applicants apply online between January 3, 2023, and January 31, 2023, at www.mrspa.org. Winners will be notified by March 1, 2023. Additional information can be found at MRSPA Scholarship FAQ’s located on the www.mrspa.org homepage.

The first-ever HCPS Health for the Holidays wellness challenge has ended. The HCPS Wellness Committee would like to thank all challenge participants for their dedication to improving their personal health and wellness. 239 staff members participated from 52 school/office locations! There was a 14-way tie for first place, with each member collecting 84 inches of snow through tracking various wellness activities. Due to the tie for first place, the total activity logged was utilized to select this challenge's first, second, and third-place winners.

Congratulations to our first place winner, Kristen Bard of Central Office! Kristen has won a Nutri-Bullet blender! In second place, Cheryl Oricchio of Aberdeen High School has won a CareFirst folding chair, and in third place, Fred Hatfield of Fallston Middle has won a FitKit.

Thank you again to all challenge participants, and congratulations to our three grand prize winners. We look forward to bringing you more fun, exciting health and wellness programs, resources, and events throughout the school year.

CareFirst WellBeing – A Personalized Digital Connection to Your Healthiest Life

Health and wellness is intensely personal. It's a product of everything, large and small, that goes into making and living life. It's constantly evolving. And it's different for everyone. To help you find and maintain your own sense of well-being in an increasingly complicated world, CareFirst is building a better wellness resource.

Beginning on January 1, 2023, the current ShareCare wellness app available to all HCPS staff members will transition to CareFirst WellBeing. The new site will feature all the tools, resources, and support you rely on but in a more clear and cohesive platform. To download the app, visit CareFirst.com/WellBeing. To access CareFirst WellBeing, you can register with the new program using your current ShareCare credentials on or after January 1, 2023. After that, you can start using all the excellent resources available – there's no waiting period. All of your data will carry over, too. You can view the Introduction Flier here to learn more about the new CareFirst WellBeing app.

Presented by KEPRO Employee Assistance Program

If you’re feeling worn down by stress, try applying one or more of the following four A’s: Avoid, Alter, Accept, and Adapt. In this session, participations will learn how to help manage stress healthier and strategies to take control of their life. Click here to learn more.

Date: Available on demand now

Broadcast Length: 50 minutes
How to Access: Go to your EAP website: www.EAPHelpLink.com. Enter your code: HCPS and look for Online Seminars in the lower left-hand corner of this homepage, or you can search for them by title.

The Employee Assistance Program is available to employees and their families anytime, any day, and is a free, confidential program to help you balance your work, family, and personal life.

Employees and their family members can call KEPRO 24 hours per day, seven days per week, toll-free at (866) 795-5701 to visit their website online at www.EAPhelplink.com.

Have b! help you with your wellness goal(s). Where do you plan to grow? Is it your physical or mental health? How about building meaningful connections with friends and family that fill your cup? Or maybe you want to grow your career or pay off your debt. Let's do this together! Click here to choose your b! in the Let's Grow Together community.

Check out b! 's Mindset, Gratitude, and Intention Setting Playlist. Check out the final playlist from the Holiday Thrive Guide: Mindset, Gratitude, and Intention Setting. These classes are all about helping you approach a positive mindset, reduce stress, and boost gratitude during the holiday season. Click here to view the playlist.

Are you looking for class ideas? Here are a few suggestions for top classes to start in January:

• Yoga Flow (25 minutes) with Maria Finnegan -- Level 1
• Meditation Basics (20 minutes) with Ryan Redman -- Level 1
• Making Healthy Habits Stick (3 minutes) with Jessica Beard -- Level 1
• Power Breakfast Cookies (7 minutes) with Kate Watkins, RDN -- Level 1
• Beginner Core Stabilization Floor Workout (14 minutes) with Tina Fritsch -- Level 1
• Standing Abs (15 minutes) with Monte Sanders -- Level 3

Did you know BurnAlong is free for you and your friends? You have access to four (4) free family subaccounts, so you can start sharing today! It takes just a minute to send one, and they'll get free, unlimited access to BurnAlong all year long. Help someone start their 2023 off on the right foot. Click here to invite a subaccount.

Take BurnAlong with You! Join thousands of others on their health and wellness journey by downloading the Mobile App. Available in iOS and Android, take BurnAlong with you by downloading the app today!

What is BurnAlong? As a reminder, BurnAlong is our Health and wellness partner who provides you and your family with more than 23,000 live and on-demand online classes from 5,000+ credentialed instructors at no cost to you.

To activate your complimentary account, get started by visiting https://fit.burnalong.com/hcps. If you have any trouble accessing your account, contact customercare@burnalong.com. Find out more about BurnAlong in this brief video.

Practicing mindfulness and self-compassion can allow you to directly address the circumstances and goals you would like to achieve. At the start of the New Year, we may find ourselves inspired to set a new goal and overcome challenges. We may also find that it is time for new beginnings, but we know that our reality does not change with the turn of the year.

Join CareFirst and the Wellness Committee on Thursday, January 19, 2023, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. to learn more about how you can focus on goal setting and tools for self-reflection in the New Year for empowerment and inspiration. The topics covered will be:

• Setting Goals in the New Year
• Mindfulness and How to Practice
• The Power of Self-Compassion
• Strategies for Goal Accomplishment

To join the session on January 19, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. click here to access the live session; using the Meeting ID: 848 6016 3991 and Passcode: 302571.

This January, prioritize achieving and maintaining your health goals in 2023.

A new year is a perfect opportunity for employees to refresh their daily routines and improve or implement new healthy habits that will last a lifetime. Think about it: the health decisions we make each day positively or negatively influence our current and future health status. These decisions also affect the way we show up for ourselves and others. By creating healthy and sustainable habits, we can reduce our risk for the most common, costly, and preventable health problems. To learn more, click here to view CareFirst’s January Wellness Newsletter.

January WellBeing Challenge – Step Into a New Year, New You Challenge

Make 2023 the Year of You! CareFirst WellBeing provides innovative tools and resources to help you meet your unique wellness goals. Remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing when making healthy lifestyle changes. Here are a few quick tips to start this year off on the right track:

• Define attainable health goals that will fit in with your lifestyle.
• Take it one step at a time.
• Exercise with friends and family to stay motivated.
• Track your food and water intake.
• Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a workout or overeat.

Click here to learn more about the CareFirst WellBeing challenge and how to join.

Join Blue365 and Start Saving Today!

With the Blue365 wellness discount, great deals are yours for every aspect of your life – like 20% off at Reebok.com, discounted nutrition products, or a gym membership for only $29 a month. To take advantage of Blue365, register now at carefirst.com/wellnessdiscounts and have your CareFirst member ID card handy. You will be registered and ready to shop in a couple of minutes. CareFirst will send a special deal to your inbox every week.

Employees who have received the primary vaccine series and at least one (1) booster can submit verification of their vaccination status through an online employee survey to be eligible for COVID Breakthrough Leave for the 2022-2023 school year. Individuals who already submitted both their primary vaccine series and booster information during the 2021-2022 school year will not need to complete this survey again. Information collected from the COVID Breakthrough Leave survey will be utilized for the 2022-2023 school year to determine COVID Breakthrough Leave eligibility. The survey can be accessed by clicking here.

The complete MOU specific to your bargaining unit can be found on the Staff Relations SharePoint page. Questions about COVID Breakthrough Leave can be directed to Staff and Labor Relations Office at (410) 588-5311.

Employees who wish to provide feedback related to their experience(s) obtaining medications through CVS retail pharmacies are advised to complete the CVS/Caremark Service Reporting Tool, available on SharePoint. This report is monitored bi-weekly by a member of the Benefits Office for further assistance and tracking of member service feedback. To access this form, visit the Harford County Public Schools – SharePoint Home Page.

As always, if there is an immediate need or concern when obtaining medication, please email benefits@hcps.org so that a member of the Benefits Office can assist you more quickly.

The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and the Community College of Baltimore College will provide State Pension members the opportunity to participate in pre-retirement webinars and seminars. These sessions provide vital retirement information to pension system members, including the Maryland State Pension, Legal Issues, Social Securit Benefits, and Financial Planning. The seminar/webinars will run from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Webinars:

• January 26 (CRN 37247)
• February 7 and 8 (CRN 37248)*Two Evenings
• February 23 (CRN 37250)
• March 8 and 9 (CRN 37277)*Two Evenings
• March 28 (CRN 37274)
• April 19 (CRN 37255)
• May 24 (CRN 37264)
• June 28 (CRN 37262)

Seminars:

• March 3 – Harford Community College (CRN 37279)

To register, please visit https://www.ccbcmd.edu/ceed-preretirement-county. For those participating in the online events, you will receive a separate link to join the date-specific event. For those participating in-person, you will receive an email with site-specific information.

Please Note: These sessions are not affiliated with HCPS and will not include HCPS-specific information, such as retiree healthcare. HCPS will be hosting a condensed pre-retirement seminar in February. More information about this seminar will be announced in future HCPS 411 Update newsletters.

"The HCPS Teacher Academy of Maryland magnet program would like to thank Mr. Lane, Ms. Bennett, Ms. Cosentini, Ms. Peacher, Ms. Rising, Ms. Roper and Ms. Ziegfeld at Deerfield Elementary School for partnering with our Teacher Academy Interns for the 2022-2023 school year. The experiences and opportunities our 12th grade TAM Interns are receiving in your classrooms each week are priceless!"

-Alissa C. Thomas, Program Coordinator, HCPS Teacher Academy of Maryland

"Shout out to Beth Shank, North Bend Elementary School Nurse, for showing so much kindness after a student got sick on my bus."

-Jennifer Johnson, Bus Driver of Bus #214 for North Bend Elementary School

Editor: Lindsay Bilodeau, Innovation Specialist

To submit an HCPS Shout Out or recognize a colleague in the Spotlight on Customer Service, please email the information and photo (if available) to HCPS.411@hcps.org.

Email: HCPS.411@hcps.org
Website: www.hcps.org
Location: 102 South Hickory Avenue, Bel Air, MD, USA
Phone: 410-588-5213