🍦Bedell named MD’s top superintendent

Good morning, Annapolis. I take full responsibility for Navy’s loss this weekend. As so many of you helpfully pointed out, we somehow printed “GO ARMY, BEAT NOTRE DAME” instead of “GO NAVY” in Friday’s Scoop. So if you’re looking for someone to blame, it’s not Brian Newberry, Jackson Gutierrez, or even the officiating crew. It’s Naptown Scoop’s sleep-deprived publisher who just enrolled in a proofreading refresher course.

In today’s Naptown Scoop:

Let’s get to it.

— Ryan Sneddon

We love seeing Anne Arundel County on the big stage. So we’re stoked that the best super in the state works right here!

The award doesn’t actually come from the state. It comes from the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland, and every superintendent in Maryland gets to vote. Bedell accepted the award last Thursday at the group’s fall banquet in Ocean City.

And it wasn’t for his mad basketball skills. Here are some numbers from his first four years:

More students are taking AP exams (55.7% more to be exact), and dual enrollment, where high schoolers earn college credit, has nearly tripled. He also steered the county through two rounds of redistricting (and the legal challenges that come with it). If you went to any of those meetings, you know that’s no small thing.

Dr. Bedell will now compete for the 2027 National Superintendent of the Year award, which will be announced in February.

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Thanksgiving is three and a half weeks away. That’s plenty of time to sign up for a 5K and still not train for it.

Like all good Turkey Trots, all three of these run Thanksgiving morning (November 26). I will not see you there. I will be watching the parade like a normal person.

👟 Annapolis Turkey Trot – Fleet Feet’s 20th annual fun run starts and finishes at its original shop on Sixth Street in Eastport (now MRE Mercantile) and loops through downtown. It isn’t timed, but there are prizes for the best turkey costumes. Strollers and dogs are welcome. Entries benefit Girls on the Run Greater Chesapeake.

👟 Y Turkey Trot – A 5K run or walk that starts at the Greater Annapolis Y and loops around Anne Arundel Community College. It raises money for food and financial help for local families. Grab your packet before race day because the lines get long the morning of.

👟 Camp Letts Turkey Chase – The only one on this list with a 10K if you’re really an overachiever. Up to 1,000 runners show up, and the money pays for camper scholarships and upkeep on the camp’s 20-plus buildings. No turkeys will actually be chased btw.

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🎈 = family-friendly events

🕰️ Tick-Tock Clock Tour – Hammond-Harwood House walks you past nine historic clocks and how timekeeping went from sundials to pendulums.

🪕 Folk Garden Ramble – Danny Stewart, Justin Heath, and members of The Folk Villains play live folk while you wander London Town’s late-season gardens. It’s 21+.

🏃 Forward Run Club – A free group run from Forward Brewing in Eastport through downtown. All paces are welcome, and there are drinks after.

☘️ Gaelic Storm – The Celtic band from the steerage party scene in Titanic plays Rams Head on Stage Wednesday and Thursday.

🍵 Tavern Talks: London Town and the Maryland Constitution – A history talk on Maryland’s first constitution, with tea and hot chocolate in the William Brown House.

🎺 Birth of the Cool: A Miles Davis Tribute – The Naval Academy Band’s Superintendent’s Combo plays a free Miles Davis tribute at Eastport United Methodist Church.

🎷 Annapolis Jazz & Roots Festival – Weekend one honors Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Randy Weston, with Afro-Peruvian band Perkutao at the Peerless Rens Club on Saturday. It runs through Sunday at venues around town.

🎻 Forces of Nature – The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra plays Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and an ocean-themed violin concerto with Francesca Anderegg. Friday and Saturday at Maryland Hall.

👻 The Maiden of Sleepy Hollow – Historic London Town’s take on the Sleepy Hollow legend runs Friday through Sunday.

🏖️ A Night at the Beaches – Dinner and dancing at Beacon Restaurant to honor Blacks of the Chesapeake founder Vince Leggett. It supports the foundation’s youth education programs.

🎈🪢 Eastport vs. Annapolis Tug of War – The two sides settle it again with a rope across Spa Creek. Except, because of City Dock construction, it’s a rope up and down Second Street instead. This year’s heats include Eastport Fire vs. the Annapolis Police Foundation and the Fourth Street bars vs. the Annapolis bars.

🏈 Navy vs. Temple – The Mids are back at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium after giving Notre Dame an early scare.

🌉 Bay Bridge Run – A 10K run or walk across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, with a free concert after. Fun fact: the race medal has a Chesapeake Bay Retriever on it.

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🗳️ Polls Position – Tomorrow’s Election Day. Polls are open 7 AM to 8 PM, and you can still register at your polling place. AACPS schools are closed, and so are county offices, the landfill, and the recycling centers. So you’ve got no excuse not to vote. Curbside trash and recycling pickup stays on schedule. At the top of the county ballot, it’s Allison Pickard (D) vs. Dave Crawford (R) for county executive. Everything you need to vote is here.

💧 Flood Money – City Dock is getting $5.7 million from the state to help keep your feet dry. Specifically the Maryland Department of the Environment. The money is for the flood protection part of the project, which includes an elevated park with flood walls, barriers that go up when the water does, and pumps that can move 10,000 gallons of stormwater a minute – 100 times what the current pumps do.

📚 Checking Out – The county library’s administrative offices are leaving Annapolis. About 85 employees from finance, HR, marketing, and the executive team will move to Aviation Business Park near BWI in early 2027. Don’t worry though, your favorite branch isn’t going anywhere. Just the people who call you about the late fees (JK, AACPL doesn’t have those!). Library leadership says the staff just outgrew the building they’ve worked in for decades.

🏛️ Liberty, At Last – The State House has a new monument, and it honors the Black Marylanders who fought in the Revolutionary War. Gov. Wes Moore unveiled “The Pursuit of Transcendent Liberty” yesterday, on Maryland Emancipation Day. It’s the first big addition to the State House grounds in more than a century. The sculptor, Branly Cadet, also made the Jackie Robinson statue outside Dodger Stadium.

🏈 Irish Scare – Navy gave No. 5 Notre Dame all it could handle for the first half Saturday in Foxborough. The Mids led 13–7 late in the second quarter and ran for 212 yards, more than anyone has run on the Irish this season. But Notre Dame scored 28 straight and won 35–13. (Again, my fault. See above.) Navy (2–6) is back home against Temple Saturday.

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63 🌡️ 49 | ⛅ | 2% ☔ | 💨 S 7 mph (6 knots)

67 🌡️ 55 | ☀️ | 0% ☔ | 💨 S 8 mph (7 knots)

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 63ºF
Temperature readings taken from the mouth of the Severn River the night before publication

Residential Rug Care is a local family-run business with over 100 years of rug cleaning history. They clean Oriental, Persian, antique, and other area rugs, remove stains and pet odors, and offer new padding & fringe. Rugs are cleaned at their 20,000-square-foot facility, with free pickup and delivery throughout Anne Arundel County.

49 West | Backroom Sessions w/ Skribe & Early Worm | 7:30–10 PM
The Admiral’s Cup | TBA

49 West | Unified Jazz Ensemble | 7–9:30 PM
The Admiral’s Cup | TBA
Brian Boru | PJ & Neal’s First Tuesday Hootenanny | 6–9 PM
Captain’s Daughter | TBA | 5–7 PM
The Point | Kavoossi | 5–8 PM

Thanks for reading Naptown Scoop today. If you found something useful, please share it with someone who is going to wear their “I Voted” sticker all day and put the clothes in the laundry basket without realizing it’s there and not rediscover it until it’s a million crumpled wet pieces of paper hiding throughout the entire load.