Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is accepting nominations for its 2018 Principal of the Year award. The annual award honors exemplary principals and recognizes those who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their position to create an exceptional educational environment. The selected principal also serves as Charles County’s finalist in The Washington Post Principal of the Year awards program.

The Post’s Principal of the Year program is formerly known as the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award program. One finalist in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area will be selected as The Washington Post Principal of the Year.

Teachers, students, former students, parents, administrators or community members may submit nominations. Nominees must have a minimum of five year’s experience as a principal and three of those years must have been with Charles County Public Schools. Principals may not nominate themselves.

Nomination materials must include a minimum of four statements of support, one of which must be submitted by a professional educator; a career summary (list of positions held, date and location of each, and degrees and certificates earned); a 200-word biography written to highlight the specific award for which the awardee was nominated; and a description of contributions in each of the nomination criteria categories.

The nomination criteria categories are:

  • manage effectively;
  • demonstrate and encourage creativity and innovation;
  • foster cooperation between the school and the community;
  • maintain a continuing dialogue with students and parents as well as faculty and staff;
  • keep abreast of developments in the field of education;
  • encourage team spirit;
  • demonstrate leadership and exemplify commitment;
  • continue to play an active role in the classroom; and
  • maintain their position as principal throughout the 2018-19 school year.

Nomination materials must be included in a presentation binder that does not exceed 100 single pages. Included in the binder should be one laser print of a color vertical headshot photograph of the nominee as well as a disc including the electronic photo as a 3-by-5-inch jpeg file with minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi).

Nominations are due by Thursday, Dec. 21. Binders should be sent to the Office of Human Resources, Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, Md., 20646. Binders must include a completed cover page. The cover page, as well as additional nomination materials, is posted at http://bit.ly/2k7kr1P.

Charles County’s 2018 Principal of the Year will be one of 19 finalists for The Post’s Principal of the Year award. The winner will be selected by a screening committee and kept confidential until The Washington Post runs its advertisement to announce the recipient. Contact Tonia Miles-Carvana in human resources at 301-934-7255 with questions.