06-09-2024 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 28
Best of Anne Arundel
PERSONALITIES
Principal
COLLEEN MCFARLAND, GLEN BURNIE PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
500 Marlboro Road, Glen
Burnie, 410-766-9220,
aacps.org/Page/4388
Colleen McFarland, principal of
Glen Burnie Park Elementary
School, gets a high five from
second grader Seven Adamson
as he arrives to school. PHOTO
BY JERRY JACKSON
28
The note, scrawled by a third-grader, is dear to the
heart of Colleen McFarland, principal of Glen Burnie
Park Elementary School.
“You always believe in us,” it reads.
In seven years, McFarland has pumped life into
a school with a disparate mix of students who
speak 12 different languages and who live mostly
(77%) in poverty. They embrace their diversity with
multicultural activities, choose from 14 after-school
clubs, hold an annual Kindness Dance and espouse
the school slogan, “Be The Difference.”
| CAPITAL STYLE | Summer 2024
“We want to build the whole child, not just the
academic side,” said McFarland, 50, who has a
bachelor’s degree from Frostburg State and a master’s
from Loyola. As principal, she has been known to
cover classes for teachers who need time to mentor
individual students. And she encourages her staff to
phone busy parents each morning, to make sure their
children catch their bus.
“We have high expectations, yet we meet the
students where they are,” she said of the learning
process. “This [school] is a happy place to be.”
