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Innovative Pathways Evening Program

Jump to: Overview | Enrollment | Payment | Withdrawal | Transportation | Summary | Contact | FAQs |

Spring 2024 semester enrollment requests are open now through Monday, January 15 at 6:00 p.m. Please view the Enrollment section for directions on how to submit a request.

Carefully review the program description, dates, times and location below before submitting an enrollment request. Credit recovery enrollment requests may only be submitted by a school counselor.

Overview and Courses

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 in-person, blended (combination of in-person and virtual) and virtual instructional models with an HCPSS teacher. Students will work on courses Monday – Friday.

  • Monday and Friday – online coursework assigned.
  • Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – classes meet during Period 8 (5:00 – 6:15 p.m.) or Period 9 (6:30 – 7:45 p.m.).

The Evening Program schedule, which includes two periods each semester, allows students to access up to four courses during the school year.

Course Listing

Evening Program Course Listing
Evening Program Course Matrix

For questions, email IPEvening@hcpss.org or call 410-313-6627 (Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.). Email messages will receive a faster response.

Enrollment Requests

Online enrollment requests can be made by a parent, guardian, school counselor or achievement liaison, with the exception of credit recovery.

Download PDF: Register for Evening Program

Please carefully review the program description, dates and times before submitting an enrollment request. Parents/guardians will be notified via email of enrollment status (enrolled or waitlisted) within two weeks after the close of the fall and spring semester deadlines.

  • Read all of the text on the registration page.
  • Select the preferred course(s) for the student. The instructional method will be listed with each course. Not all courses have an in-person, blended or virtual option.
  • If applicable, indicate if you require transportation or select a community bus stop from the list. Parents/guardians will be emailed bus pick-up and drop-off times before the program start date.
  • If a student is waitlisted for a course, you may choose to be removed from the waitlist to submit or select a request for a different course.
  • If a program or course is not available in the registration menu, it may be filled or not open to register at that time. Review the Course Matrix to check course availability.

Online enrollment request dates

  • November 15 – January 15 – Spring 2024 semester
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 priority

Enrollment requests do not guarantee placement in a course.

  • Enrollment priority will be given to students by their current grade level and availability. Remaining students will be randomly selected and enrolled in their selected course (or alternate course) until that course has been filled.
  • Parents/guardians will receive an email when a student is enrolled in a course or added to the applicable course waitlist.

Review enrollment requests

Parents/guardians will be notified via email of enrollment status (enrolled or waitlisted) within two weeks after the close of the fall and spring semester deadlines. 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 Program document.

All counselor approved enrollment requests are pending until Innovative Pathways has completed course placement and full tuition is paid.

Payment and Financial Assistance

Payments

Payments will only be accepted for students who have been enrolled in a course (not on a waitlist). Once enrolled, the parent/guardian will be emailed an invoice from MySchoolBucks outlining the course fee(s). Parents/guardians who do not receive an invoice should search do-not-reply@myschoolbucks.com in their spam/junk email folder.

Download PDF: Evening Program Payment Instructions

Payments may be made online through MySchoolBucks or by mail. After 10 days past due, the enrollment may be removed. Full payment is due prior to the program start date. 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.

Online: Payments may be made through MySchoolBucks by debit, credit card, or eCheck (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

If an alternate form of payment is needed, please contact the program directly to review payment options. HCPSS cannot take in-person payment (check or money order) without an appointment.

Returned Checks

Checks returned by the bank due to insufficient funds will be assessed a charge. 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.

Financial Assistance

Financial Assistance is available for current HCPSS students. Please visit www.hcpss.org/farms to submit a Free and Reduced Price Meal services (FARMs) application.

Students receiving FARMs automatically receive a 50% tuition reduction 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. Instructions for requesting withdrawal are included in the Register for Evening Program document.

Any student who withdraws from a course after the withdrawal deadline (16 school days after the course start date) will receive a W (withdrawal) on the report card and official transcript.

Refund Requests

Refund requests will only be processed after a withdrawal request has been submitted online through HCPSS Connect prior to the refund deadline. See details on how to Request Withdrawal from Evening School Courses.

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.

Transportation

The Evening Program offers transportation for students via community bus stops; door-to-door service is not provided. A community bus stop is a location where students in a geographic location will meet and a school bus will pick-up and transport them to the Homewood Center or the Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL). Community bus stops may be selected when submitting an enrollment request.

Transportation for students not requesting HCPSS bus service will be the responsibility of the student and their parents/guardians. Students must be dropped off and picked up on time. Alternate transportation may be found through the Regional Transportation Agency at transitrta.com.

Parents/guardians will be emailed bus pick-up and drop-off times before the program start date.

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, HCPSS evening activities are canceled or when high schools are scheduled for early dismissal there is no Evening Program.

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

  • Period 8: 5:00 – 6:15 p.m.
  • Period 9: 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.

Spring 2024 Semester (Original Credit and Credit Recovery): January 30 – May 23, 2024

  • No scheduled Spring 2024 semester classes on 3/13, 3/20, 3/25-3/28, 4/10, 4/23, 5/14

Mandatory student orientation for all courses on the first class date: January 30

Locations

Homewood Center – 10914 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City MD 21042

For students enrolled in a virtual section, Google Meet codes will be listed within the 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 courses) – Health 1, Health 2 or Lifetime Fitness 9
  • $550 (1.0 credit courses)
  • $800 (2.0 credit courses) – CRD 2 + Site-Based Work Experience

Credit Recovery:

  • No cost

Transportation

Community bus stops may be selected when submitting an enrollment request.

Transportation for students not requesting HCPSS bus service will be the responsibility of the student and their parents/guardians. Students must be dropped off and picked up on time. Alternate transportation may be found through the Regional Transportation Agency at transitrta.com.

Parents/guardians will be emailed bus pick-up and drop-off times before the program start date.

Contact

For more information about the Evening Program:

Email messages will receive a faster response than calling the program phone number. 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.