Page 20 - April 2021 Issue.indd

Tributes to Local
Unsung Heroes

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by Chad Dean

I could not bring myself in good
conscience to choose one over the other,
so I decided to spotlight both Wilbur
Hoopengardner and Chad Elchin in
this month’s column. You’ll see why
Wilbur Hoopengardner Chad Elchin
below, and hopefully by the time you are
finished reading you will wonder why

• Integrating the county schools spect, they were ahead of their time and
you have not heard more about both
men from traditional news or history • Expanding special education necessary to move the school system as a
outlets. services whole forward. Caroline County Public
Schools and their community stakehold-
With all the recent social media • Starting a county-wide kinder- ers today largely have him to thank for
rhetoric surrounding turnover at the garten program what best practices are in place some

Board of Education, one name rises • Creating what is now called the forty years after his retirement in 1980.
above all others in terms of both Caroline Career and Technology It is hard to name another superinten-
accomplishments and longevity. That Center dent here or elsewhere with that type of
name, that unmistakable name, is impact or staying power.
• Renovating and modernizing
Wilbur Hoopengardner. He was an
eight diff erent schools Hoopengardner died on April 10, 2007.
icon in Caroline County, serving as
Superintendent of the local public • Updating and consolidating If public school intrigues are not your
schools system for 24 years. school district boundaries idea of a good time, maybe you are
instead an adrenaline junkie. Should
Though he was born, raised, and taught When Hoopengardner started in his that be the case, I present the story of

in western Maryland, Hoopengardner position in 1956, Caroline County was Chad Elchin.
left his primary mark as an educator largely a checkerboard of village school-
on the Eastern Shore. His legacy houses with little uniformity when it The town of Ridgely is currently featured

is still plainly visible. Among his came to policies, resources, or curricu- in the Guinness Book of World Records.
accomplishments were: lum. The Superintendent’s decisions No, not for its wide main street or its
were not universally popular at the onset strawberry crop. The airport on the
of their implementation, but in retro-

Queen Anne-Hillsboro Vol. Fire Co.
Station 80
1945-2020
3 Counties
2 Towns
1 Purpose

ci
ti
s
nt
pa
te
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Interested participants
In
p
ar
st
ed
contact:
Craig McNeal:
443-988--2008
Bobby Utz:t 443-786-2274
Justin Tyson: 240-419-8634
Visit www.qahvfc.com 75th
for celebration and parade
details. May 15, 2021 • Parade at Noon • Queen Anne, MD
20