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Innovative Pathways Evening Program

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Spring 2023 semester original credit course enrollment requests is now closed. Enrollment requests are now being reviewed and students will be placed in the course of their selection or placed on a waitlist and notified by email by January 13.

As course placement is completed, you may check the status of the enrollment request in Synergy. Check with program staff if you have additional questions.

Program Description

The Innovative Pathways Evening Program provides educational services through Evening School for current grade 9-12 students:

  • Seeking to recover credit for missed/failed courses.
  • Interested in taking additional classes to advance their studies.
  • Who are on long-term suspension or who have been expelled from school but are under 18 years of age.

Evening program courses are taught using an in-person or virtual instructional model with an HCPSS teacher one to three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) with additional online coursework completed outside of class time. The IP Evening Program schedule, which includes two periods per night and semester, allows students to access more than one course per academic school year.

Courses will only run where there is sufficient enrollment. Students and parents/guardians will be notified as soon as possible for any course(s) where this does not occur.

Evening Program Course Listing
Evening Program Course Matrix
Evening Program Student/Parent Handbook (Enrolled Students Only)

Enrollment Requests

Online enrollment request dates

  • August 15 – September 23 – Fall semester and year-long courses
  • November 28 – January 6 – Spring semester courses
Credit recovery course requests may only be submitted by a school counselor. Credit recovery courses are NOT VISIBLE in Synergy to request by a parent/guardian.

Enrollment lottery process

Enrollment requests do not guarantee placement in a course.

    Enrollment priority will be given to students by their current grade level. Remaining students will be randomly selected and enrolled in their selected course (or alternate course) until that course has been filled.

Review enrollment requests

Parents/guardians will be notified via email of enrollment status (enrolled or waitlisted) within two weeks after the close of each registration. As course placement is completed, you may check the status of the enrollment request. The instructions for reviewing requests are included in the Register for Evening School Program document.

All enrollment requests are PENDING until HCPSS has completed program placement and full tuition is paid. Enrollment requests DO NOT guarantee placement in a course.

Payment and Financial Assistance

Payments

Parents/guardians will be notified by email when a student has been enrolled in a course. Parents/guardians must then remit full tuition in order to enroll in and earn credit for courses.

Once enrolled, you will receive an invoice from MySchoolBucks outlining the course fees for each student; however, you DO NOT HAVE to make payment through MySchoolBucks. Payments will be accepted in the following manner:

Online: Payments may be made through MySchoolBucks by debit or credit card (there is a 4% non-refundable service fee)

Mail: Download the Registration Payment Form and return the completed form with a check or money order payable to Howard County Public Schools to:

HCPSS
Attn: Innovative Pathways
10910 Clarksville Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21042

Returned Checks

Checks returned by the bank due to insufficient funds will be assessed a charge. If payment is not received in full, the unpaid amount will become a debt and will be entered as an outstanding obligation at your child’s school. All obligations must be satisfied prior to graduation. The HCPSS Finance Office has contracted with Envision Payment Solutions, Inc. for the electronic collection of check payments. If the check is returned unpaid, Envision Payment Solutions, Inc. will assess a $35 fee allowed by Maryland state law and charged as an electronic fund transfer.

If you have any questions, or if an alternate form of payment is needed, please contact the Innovative Pathways Bookkeeper (IPEvening@hcpss.org) to review payment options. HCPSS cannot take in-person payment without an appointment.

Financial Assistance

Financial Assistance is available for current HCPSS students. In addition to meals, students participating in the FARMs program qualify for a wide range of resources and discounts, including testing fees, tuition, internet and more. You can find details and registration information on the HCPSS website. Students who currently receive Free and Reduced Price Meal services (FARMs) will have a 50 percent tuition reduction applied automatically upon verification.

Parents/guardians who do not qualify for FARMs but are experiencing a documented financial hardship, or who are unable to afford tuition after the automatic FARMs status-based discounts, may complete a Financial Assistance Application. Financial hardships include unemployment of a parent or guardian, pending foreclosure or eviction and medical hardship. The Financial Assistance Committee will review the completed applications and notify parents/guardians if additional tuition reduction will be applied.

Financial Assistance Applications will be accepted in the following manner (please only submit ONE version):

Withdrawal and Refund Requests

Withdrawal Requests

Prior to enrollment, a parent/guardian or school counselor may submit a registration withdrawal request online through HCPSS Connect. See details on how to Request Withdrawal from Evening School Courses.

Any student who withdraws from a course after the withdrawal deadline (16 school days for a semester-long course and 24 school days for a year-long course) will receive a W (withdrawal) on the report card and official transcript.

Refund Requests

Spring semester: refund requests received by the close of business on January 27, 2023 will receive a full refund. Students withdrawing between January 28 and February 10, 2023 will receive a partial refund (the amount of payment less the greater of a 20% administrative fee or $50.00). Refunds will not be issued after February 10, 2023.

Tuition paid by cash, check, or money order will be refunded in the form of a check mailed to the issuer once the refund request is processed. Refunds by check may take 4–6 weeks to process. Tuition paid by credit card will be refunded to the credit card in accordance with the credit card company’s refund procedure less the service charge.

Evening Program Summary Information

Grades

HCPSS students currently enrolled in Grades 9-12

Dates/Times

Dates are subject to change. When HCPSS schools are closed or evening activities are canceled, there is no Evening Program.

Original Credit Courses (Fall 2022 Semester):

  • 1.0 or 2.0 credit Semester 1: October 11, 2022 – January 19, 2023
  • 0.5 credit Health or Lifetime Fitness
    • Session 1: October 11 – November 17, 2022
    • Session 2: November 29, 2022 – January 19, 2023

No scheduled Fall 2022 semester classes on 11/2, 11/8, 11/22-24, 12/14, 12/27-29, 1/18, 1/19

Original Credit Courses (Spring 2023 Semester):

  • 1.0 or 2.0 credit Semester 2: January 24 – May 25, 2023
  • 0.5 credit Health or Lifetime Fitness
    • Session 1: January 24 – March 2, 2023
    • Session 2: March 28 – May 11, 2023

No scheduled Spring 2023 semester classes on 3/15, 3/22, 4/4-6

Credit Recovery Courses (Year-long):

  • Semester 1: October 11, 2022 – January 19, 2023
  • Semester 2: January 24 – May 24, 2023

In-person and virtual courses meet three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)

  • Period 8: 5:00 p.m. – 6:20 p.m.
  • Period 9: 6:30 p.m. – 7:50 p.m.

Mandatory orientation for all courses on the first class date.

Locations

Locations are subject to change.
In-Person courses: Homewood Center (HWC) 10914 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21042
Virtual courses: Google Meet codes will be listed within each student’s Canvas course.

Cost

Financial Assistance is available for original credit courses. Please visit https://www.hcpss.org/food-services/farms/ to submit a FARMs application.

Original Credit:

  • $325 (0.5 credit) – Health or Lifetime Fitness
  • $550 (1.0 credit)
  • $800 (2.0 credits) – (CRD II + Site-Based Work Experience)

Credit Recovery:

  • No cost

Transportation

Transportation is available for all in-person courses from the following cluster stop locations to the Homewood Center and the Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL). The following stops may be selected during the registration request process:

  • Hammond High School
  • Long Reach High School
  • Oakland Mills High School
  • The Columbia Mall

Transportation for students not requesting HCPSS bus service will be the responsibility of the student and their parent(s)/guardian(s). Students must be dropped off and picked up on time. Alternate transportation may be found through Howard County Transit at transitrta.com.

Transportation confirmation will be emailed to parent(s)/guardian(s) of enrolled students prior to the first class date.

Contact

For more information about the Evening Program:

NOTE: Email messages will receive a faster response than calling the program phone numbers. Phone messages will be returned after reviewing voicemail messages within 24 hours during the school week.

FAQs

Evening Program FAQs for students and families as well as staff are available online.