David Anderson

Harford County Public Schools officials are eagerly awaiting new COVID-19 related guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they prepare for summer learning activities, as well as the start of the 2021-22 school year.

A statue honoring Ernest Burke, who played in the Negro professional baseball leagues in the 1940s, is set to be unveiled in Havre de Grace on Saturday, on what would’ve been his 97th birthday.

Col. Timothy Druell, who spent a significant portion of his two-year tenure at Aberdeen Proving Ground ensuring that soldiers and civilians assigned to the Harford County Army post remained safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced on his last day as garrison commander that the installation’s health protection condition level would drop from “bravo” to “alpha” as of noon Wednesday.

Pleas from community members to build new schools or expand existing buildings — rather than redistricting students to other schools every 10 years — are being heeded by Harford County Public Schools officials, although they stress that balancing enrollment must come first.

An At Home décor superstore is slated to open in late July at the Boulevard at Box Hill shopping center in Abingdon, in a building previously occupied by J.C. Penney before it closed in October.

The 2020-21 school year, which concluded last week, was the inaugural year for P-TECH, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School, in Harford County.

The 34th annual Harford County Farm Fair, scheduled for the last week of July, was initially planned to be fully virtual because of COVID-19 safety concerns, but organizers now are planning to open 4-H events — including the annual livestock auction — for in-person attendance.

Harford County resident Marlon Shird has served as a foster father for more than 40 boys over the past 24 years, and while they are not his biological children, he stresses that the boys should introduce him as their father.

Ron Wooden wiped away tears as he sat in his office Monday, the last day of the 2020-21 school year, listening to messages from students and teachers over the intercom, wishing him well as he wrapped his final year as principal of Havre de Grace Elementary School.

Bel Air’s traditional Independence Day activities, including family activities in Shamrock Park, the downtown parade and fireworks show, are coming back this summer after being canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emmorton Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Tina Purtell started the 2020-21 school year in September with all of her students on a computer screen, interacting with them from a room in her house. She ended the year Monday getting hugs, balloons, cards, even flowers from her students as they interacted face-to-face in her classroom.

Harford County Public Schools is making progress in restoring staff positions, after having to cut more than 130 slots in administrative and instructional sections two years ago, but “we’re not quite there yet,” according to Superintendent Sean Bulson.

Havre de Grace residents can give their input on the city’s $35.8 million proposed budget for fiscal 2022 during a public hearing next week, following the introduction of the budget at a City Council meeting Monday.

Officials expect to have a series of recommendations on how Harford County Public Schools can balance enrollment throughout its 54 schools ready to present to Superintendent Sean Bulson, either by the end of this month or early July.

A new Park and Ride lot with 265 spaces opened this week off of Route 924, between Route 24 and Woodsdale Road in Abingdon, giving people a place to connect with local and regional bus transit systems.