Dowell J. Howard Center

High school English teacher, Mrs. Friend collaborated with Auto Tech Instructor, Mr. Miller to provide an opportunity for ALPS students to learn how to change a tire. The lesson combined reading comprehension, team work, and hands on learning. Students were tasked with reading the owner's manual to determine the parts necessary before collectively changing the tire together.

Join us on Monday, August 26 from 5:30-7 p.m. for our first stop on the 2024-25 Community Conversations with the Superintendent tour. This event will be held at the Public Safety Building at 1080 Coverstone Drive, Wi******er, VA 22602. Community Conversations provide an opportunity for you to share thoughts and feedback directly with Dr. Hummer. We hope to see you there!

Students who would like to drive to Dowell J Howard Center should complete the Parking Pass Request Form. There is no fee to obtain a parking pass, however, all students must have a valid DJH parking pass in order to park on DJH Property.

Driving Regulations
1. Any student parked at DJH with no visual permit may be subject to towing at the vehicle owner's expense.
2. Any student parked in visitor parking may be subject to towing at the vehicle owner's expense.
3. Frederick County Public School property policies must be followed. (Example: No to***co, vapes, drugs, alcohol, or weapons on property.)
4. Failure to follow any of the regulations set forth, may result in the revocation of driving privileges.
5. You must present a valid Driver's License to obtain your parking permit.

Career Tech & ISAEP Students......
If you are enrolled in a Career Tech or the ISAEP Program, please see the class fee list below. Please make payments via MySchool Bucks or in person. Please reach out to your teacher with any questions.

At Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS), our top priority is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all students, staff and visitors. As part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing security measures, FCPS has introduced a new initiative to strengthen safety protocols across our schools.
Next week, we will continue to implement a pilot program for the use of CEIA USA Weapons Detection Systems. These walk-through systems will be placed at school entrances and are designed to provide an additional layer of security by identifying and alerting personnel to the presence of unauthorized weapons at Frederick County Public Schools locations. It's important to know that we are introducing this additional security layer not in response to any incident on our campuses, but as a proactive measure to ensure safety. Our goal is to continue to enhance our standard of safety at FCPS, demonstrating our commitment to the welfare of our community. The piloting phase will continue at Dowell J. Howard Center during the initial three weeks of the 2024-25 school year. Based on the results of the evaluation, these systems will be gradually introduced to each of the remaining three high schools, one at a time. Our goal is to make the process of entering the building quick and easy for students. This system is designed to be faster than traditional metal detectors, ensuring minimal disruption to students’ daily routine. It’s important to know, however, that some items may set off the detectors. For more information about the particular weapons detection systems we are piloting, please visit the CEIA USA website.

What will this look like for students?
Prior to the school entrance, students will remove their chromebook from bookbags and place it on the table to the side or hand it to an assisting staff member. With bookbags and other belongings, they will walk, one at a time through the metal detector right after the student in front of them. Students that do not set off the metal detector will collect their chromebook and continue on to class. Students that set off the metal detector will await further instructions from administration. Please reach out with any questions.

We’ve received some inquiries about tonight’s high school open houses due to the rain in the forecast. While there’s a chance of rain, no severe weather is expected. We want to confirm that as of now, all open houses are still scheduled to take place this evening.

We look forward to seeing you there!

FCPS new division and school websites launch Friday, August 2 in the afternoon! The new websites will feature a modern and engaging design with improved navigation to make finding information easier than ever. Once they are live, we ask you to please be patient as we continue to develop content and functionality. There will be an opportunity for you to share feedback with us and we look forward to hearing from you!

Dowell J. Howard Center would like introduce our new staff members for the 2024-2025 school year! Welcome to the team!!

FCPS is launching a new division website and all new school websites before the start of the school year! Our new websites will feature a modern and engaging design with improved navigation to make finding information easier than ever. More information will be coming soon and we look forward to your feedback!

Congratulations to Louise Dixon, instructional assistant at Dowell J. Howard Center for being selected as Frederick County's Macintosh Award Winner!
The Macintosh Award recognizes top instructional assistants, teaching assistants, behavior assistants and bus aides.
Congratulations Mrs. Dixon!

Congratulations to Dowell J Howard's very own 2024-2025 First Class Teacher of the Year - Kenny Snow, Carpentry Instructor!! We are so grateful for your dedication, support, the educational opportunities you provide and all the work you do with the students and community members of Frederick County Public Schools!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Thanks to Dep. Schraff and his recently retired partner, K9 Raff from the Wi******er City Sheriff’s Office for taking time on their day off to come see some of our Criminal Justice Program students. K9 Raff put on a show for the students while they took turns acting as his handler!

Our community partners are so valuable to our students - thank you WCSO!

The teachers and staff at Dowell J Howard invite our 8th graders and their loved ones to celebrate moving on to the next stage of their education. The recognition will begin at 1:00.

Happy National School Communicators Day!

Today, we're sending a huge shout out to the unsung heroes behind our schools' social media channels! From crafting engaging posts to keeping our community informed, you all do an incredible job of spreading positivity and engaging with our community. Thank you for your dedication, creativity, and hard work!

Ty Holmes, along with other artists from FCPS were honored last night at the Frederick County School Board. He received a medal for his artistic achievement. Ty’s artwork will remain in the district office hallway for one year. Congratulations Ty!!

Recently, Frederick County Public Schools submitted the DJH Pharmacy Technician Program to the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) for consideration to be highlighted as a "Showcase of Success''. The Pharmacy Tech Program was selected to be highlighted in the VSBA's Special Edition Newsletter. A link is included below to view the newsletter.

A special congratulations goes to Ms. Hicks for her dedication to ensuring our Pharm Tech program is highly successful.
https://www.vsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-VSBA-Showcases-for-Success-Newsletter.pdf

Dowell J Howard students recently competed at the Skills USA State Competition. These students worked hard, studied, and prepped tirelessly to show their knowledge and skills in the automotive, auto body and criminal justice fields.

Frederick County Public Schools will be on Spring Break from March 29-April 5. Students return to class on April 8. Administrative offices and school offices will be closed to the public.