TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)– Many schools open their doors 10 days from now for the start of a new year. Baltimore County’s new superintendent rallied the troops on Friday in Towson.

Kai Jackson reports.

Students across the state are getting ready to head back to school. Yet, teachers and administrators have already spent a great deal of time preparing for that day.

In Baltimore County, new superintendent Dr. Dallas Dance outlined his vision for the schools in a speech at Loch Raven High School.

“Our classes need to be rigorous, they need to be relevant and they need to be engaging,” he said. “And they need to be differentiated enough to meet the needs of every Baltimore County student.”

Dance says students today are coping with challenges not faced by previous generations.

He adds that a recent report states many students don’t feel connected to even one adult in their school.

“Kids don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care,” Dance said. “We know that students are more likely to feel connected to schools if the school is connected to them.”

Baltimore City schools held their Back-to-School rally this week.

Superintendent Dr. Andres Alonso says he has big expectations for students, teachers and administrators.

“How are we going to continue to do what we’ve done very successfully, which is to graduate kids and to reduce significantly the number of kids who drop out of school,” Alonso said.

Experts say two fundamental components of success are making sure students are in school learning and making sure adults remain engaged in helping students achieve.