Of Baltimore County for Tuesday October 10th 2023 I invite you to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag to be led by Miss Kayla Drummond we will then have a moment of silence and recognition of those who have served education in Baltimore County I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you tonight’s Board of Education meeting is being broadcast through the BCPS online live meeting broadcast and on BCPS TV exfinity channel 73 and Verizon fos Channel 34 in
Order to efficiently conduct this meeting all voting items this evening will be done by roll call vote the first item on the agenda is the consideration of the October 10th agenda Dr Rogers are there any additions or changes to tonight’s agenda I am not aware of any changes or additions to
Tonight’s agenda hearing none the agenda stands as presented earlier this evening the board met in closed session pursuant to the open meetings act for the following reasons to discuss the appointment employment assignment promotion discipline demotion compensation removal resignation or performance evaluation of appointees employees or officials over
Whom it has jurisdiction or any other personel matter that affects one or more specific individuals and consult with councel to obtain legal advice the summary of the closed session and Open Session information summary can be found on board docs under this board meeting agenda date the next item on the agenda is Personnel
Matters and for that I call on Mr Mcall good evening good evening chair ler Vice chair Harvey superintendent Dr Rogers members of the board I like the board’s consent for the following Personnel matters terminations retirements resignations leaves certificate appointments and Southeast area education advisory Council appointment okay so do I have a motion
To approve the personal matters as presented in exhibit D1 so moved from pong thank you do I have a second second young thank you any discussion may I have a roll call vote Please Mr dominowski yes Mr Young yes mrki yes Miss frong yes Miss hen Miss Harvey yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr
Seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker dwire yes Miss Lor yes thank you thank you do I have a motion to approve the personal matters as presented in exhibits D2 through D6 so move stoski thank you do I have a second second from pong thank you any
Discussion may I have a roll call vote Please Mr am manowski yes Mr Young yes Miss delki yes Miss fral yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss pumfrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker dwire yes Miss lter yes thank you the next item on the agenda is
Unfinished business oh thank you Mr Mcall sorry the next item on the agenda is unfinished business proposed 2024 2025 school calendar and for that I call Miss Charlie green and miss bilsky good evening good evening good evening board chair Lor Vice chair Harvey uh Dr Rogers and
Members of the Board of Education I’m here this evening with staff relations manager Julie I I’m sorry Joelle bilsky to present for the board’s consideration two additional options for the proposed 2024 2025 school calendar at this time I will turn it over to miss bilsky to
Share um the options that we’ve come up with and at the close of that we are certainly available to answer any questions the board would have thank you good evening as a result of the motion put forth by the board of education on September 26th the department of Staff
Relations was Ted asked with minimizing the number of half days in the proposed calendar next thank you the proposed calendar encompasses 191 teacher days 181 Elementary student days and 182 middle and high school student days with an additional three days built into the calendar as in Clement weather days the
Calendar does not allow room for an added one full day closure as a mental health day because if BCPS were to close one full day the teach day total would drop to 190 days the current calendar exceeds the required number of student hours built into the school calendar should the
Board decide to reinstate half day mental health days however the student teacher days cannot be altered because we have just met the requirement to maintain compliance the calendar committee will research the use of half days for upcoming school year calendars this slide reflects attendance St data for the day before Thanksgiving
And the day before winter break for the last 2 years happy to entertain any questions questions or comments from board members Miss Booker DWI and so thank you for this um information and so could you just talk a little bit about the approach for to make half days as productive as possible
And maybe this is for Dr Rogers um so that it’s not just movies or um makeup assignments sure uh Miss Booker dwire Miss bilsky are you finished all the slides I am oh okay I have several slides all right um so absolutely happy to uh discuss that so part of the
Feedback that we received um for the board was about making sure that our half days uh were purposeful for all students and so in the uh past we have shared with our teachers that half days are an opportunity uh for students that need extra time for students that need
To complete the work um that that’s some of the work that we need done in addition to the three half days that are built in for grading and Reporting um some of the work that we are going to move forward is uh working directly with our advisory groups uh that uh contain
Principles uh feedback from assistant principles as well as teachers and school-based staff to um identify what are some robust activities that currently exist in some schools so we can provide a set of guidelines to all all of our schools in terms of what we expect to happen on those days um and so
It can look like anything from um make up our opportunities as well as uh if you know if there are things that normally happen that disrupt schedules whether we’re talking about career day whether we’re talking about you know a college fair um different opportunities
For uh students uh we do a lot of work uh with external Partners bringing them in on those days to make sure that those days are worthwhile for our students so whether it’s uh if it’s um not teaching bell-to-bell uh it’s teaching some of those meaningful lessons that we would
Normally incorporate on a full day so that we’re not disrupting those days to the extent possible and maximizing the use of the half days and just one more follow-up question because we get a lot of emails about the post Labor Day um calendar so could you just clarify um why a post
Labor Day calendar wasn’t shown to the board sure so we did discuss we discussed both both a pre and a post um the data that was shared with the calendar committee strongly spoke to the need for the the maximized amount of assessment days um a lot of the discussion was about kindergarten
Testing and needing in the deadline for that and needing that time to meet the deadline other questions question or comments okay public comment on the proposed 2024 2025 school calendar is the next agenda item under public comment comment may also be sent to board um to the board members at Boe
Bcps.org consideration of the calendar will take place at the board’s November 7th 2023 meeting thank you ladies thank you our next item is public comment and this is one of the opportunities the board has provides to hear the views and receive the advice of community members the members of the board appreciate
Hearing from interested citizens as appropriate we will refer your concerns to the superintendent for followup by her staff if not selected to address the board members of the public May submit their comments to the board members via email at Boe bcps.org the Baltimore County Police Department’s Homeland
Security unit and the office of school safety has recommended the following Safety and Security protocols participants should be seated seated in the room during meetings individuals who need to stand should go out into the hallway to do so participants should not approach the table unless called upon to
Speak and should not approach a DS materials brought to the table are limited to electronic devices presentation papers and posters no larger than 11 by4 in other items should be left in your seats documents to be given to the board are to be handed to the STA member who is seated in the
Front area of the meeting space information for other attendees is to be left on the designated table outside in the hall in the event of an emergency that requires an emergency response such as a lock down lock out or evacuation staff from the office of school safety will direct participants while we
Encourage public input on policy programs and practices within the purview of this board and the school system this is not the proper form to address specific student or employee matters or to Common on matters that do not not relate to public education in Baltimore County disparaging or derogatory remarks towards students and
Staff will not be tolerated in appropriate personnel remarks or other behavior that disrupts or interferes with the contuct of this meeting are out of order persons using language that is threatening or promotes violence against the BCPS employee are subject to Legal penalties persons who otherwise disrupt or disturb this meeting will not be
Allowed to continue their remarks and will be escorted from the meeting please observe the 3 minute clock which will let you know when your time is up the micr phone will be turned off at the end of the time and it could be turned off if a speaker addresses specific student
Or employee matters or as commenting on matters not related to the public education in Baltimore County it is the practice of the sport to allow elected officials to provide their comments to the board and our first to speak is delegate delegate Pastor nope first to speak is delegate pestor welcome delegate
Good evening good evening chair Lia Vice chair Harvey and superintendent Rogers members of the board tonight people are hurting all over the world I have been in deep contemplation and prayer for the last 24 hours wanting to do something that will make a difference but I rewind and I know I
Probably won’t because I am just one or maybe that’s an excuse so here I am upfront because I’m an elected official but in my reality knowing that tonight I have only the heart of a human being and the Heart of a person who loves children while in my contemplative state
I went over a book I read many years ago while getting my supervisory certification in education other people’s children I thought about how good people too often become afraid of others for reasons that sometimes lack rational thinking or kind Hearts they lose sight of injustices and inequities our fears have often been
Tied to race and religion culture ethnicity historical truths geography and yes gender affiliation and identities to you the board members I am sure that at this point in time the law of the land is clear about who falls under Title 9 now you may well challenge msde regarding the
Rights of those who are transgender but as the case in talber County proved to be so the courts will side with federal law and you will lose but not only will you lose that battle but we will all lose our Humanity there’s another book which was brought to mind the body keeps the
Score how we lash out at our children and victimize them manifest the dangers we do to them emotionally our children are our present and our future and our s Society depends on how we treat them talk about them and characterize them I want like I hope most of you if
Not all our children to feel good about themselves so their voices will ReSound loudly and clearly about the inclusive Society we claim this country to be and as a person who grew up in a segregated Society stoked by fear biases and lack of understanding my parents raised me to
Believe or pulling from the book or movie The Help what I want our children to be able to say with confidence I am kind I am smart I am important laws are made to protect so if we don’t like them we should work civil with those who make
Them always with the good of children in mind to build them up not to destroy so following the law let’s find civil and Humane ways to accommodate the need of all children use the law speak to those who make the laws not to those of you whose job is to protect the children
Under the law thank you thank you our next speaker is delegate Sheila Ruth so welcome Madam chair Madam evening Madame Vice chair Dr Rogers members of the board it’s a pleasure to see all of you and I I thank you for your service to the children of Baltimore County I’m
Here today because I’ve heard that a small but vocal minority is pushing for policies that that would be discriminatory bathroom policies I can’t believe that we actually even have to have this conversation I know that the Baltimore County Board of Education will do the right thing and not discriminate
Against children not enact policies that will discriminate but I’m here because I want you to know we have your back as you could probably tell from thege large group of people outside shouting protect trans kids most people in Baltimore County know that there’s no basis for discriminatory policies that Force
Children to use a bathroom um that um Force children to use a bathroom um for whose identity doesn’t match their biology and that such policies are harmful to those children I understand that you’ve heard from people who believe believe that their children are at risk of violence from transgender
People this is false transgender people are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators the safety of all children is important including the safety of trans children forcing them to use a bathroom that doesn’t match their gender identity puts their health and safety at risk a separate gender neutral
Bathroom is also not an acceptable alternative and is inh apparently discriminatory especially if it’s more distant from the other bathrooms and it can also out children who are trans or non-binary children and make them a target of stigma harassment or violence discriminatory bathroom policies are also impact a child’s mental health
Adolescence is a fraught emotional time anyway and having a body that doesn’t match your identity can make it even more stressful imagine being a girl and being forced to use the boy’s bathroom or being a boy and being forced to use the girls bathroom you can imagine how
Hurtful that would be and how difficult and how that would make you a Target as well the the Trevor Project had a a 2022 National survey on lgbtq youth mental health and found that 45% of lgbtq s lgbtq youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year including more than half of transgender
And non-binary youth more than half considered suicide um and 59% of black transgender and non-binary youth reported considering suicide with one in four attempting suicide in the past year so I I ask you to please ignore the the minority who are pushing for discriminatory bathroom policies and
And please do the right thing and allow children um to be their authentic selves thank you so much thank you are there any other elected officials that wish to speak okay I do see delegate forb so thank you for being here um tonight okay I will now call on our school
System Affiliated groups to speak and our first speaker is is Ry from the Baltimore County junior councils and the bottomer right the bottomer county Junior councils and did I say your name correctly it’s son son okay thank you okay thank you son good evening good evening hello everyone one I’m son Ry
I’m an eighth grader at DM Mar middle school and I’m the chair of BC JC the Baltimore County junior councils we are a student run organization that represents the middle schools in Baltimore County I would like to start this speech by emphasizing that bcjc strongly believes in promoting
Inclusivity and ensuring that the rights of every student are respected and protected we strive to create a safe and welcoming environment where all individuals regardless of their Identity or background feel safe supported and heard I’m here to update the board about what has been happening in bcjc so far
This year bcjc has had one executive board meeting which was in September these meetings are where our members collaborate on projects give reports plan events and learn even more leadership skills we have our October executive board meeting tomorrow which the bcjc officer team has been preparing
For these past couple of weeks bcjc and bcsc are also preparing for our Workshop presenting training which will be in conjunction with masc the Maryland Association of student councils students who students who attend this workshop procric training will become certified by masc and bcsc and we will be able to
Present at both of those organizations events most of our goals for this year involve expanding School participation bcjc is a fairly new organization so we want to ensure that all middle schoolers know about opportunities in bcjc and Beyond this year we have 14 members who represent nine different BPS middle
Schools including the virtual learning program this is almost doubled the amount of middle schools represented last year we are also working to expand School participation throughout General assemblies which are both inperson and virtual at these assemblies are bcsc bcjc certified presenters teach Secondary School student council members leadership skills such as speechwriting
Engaging an audience identifying implicit bias and more we would like to see representatives from every BCPS Middle School throughout the year and we are going to work on this by reaching out to school student councils we are also working on expanding boss the board of selected students boss meets monthly
On Google meets and has discussions about how to make our school system better for students if there are middle schools without boss Representatives we will reach out to them to see if they have any interested students it has been a productive school year thus far and we
Are eager to see what the rest of the school year will hold thank you for your time thank you our next speaker is Julia hemler also from the bottomer county Junior Council good evening uh hello everyone uh I’m Julia hemler and as you I’m also a member of the Baltimore County junior
Council school is supposed to be a safe place to learn but how can you learn when you don’t feel safe according to Glen the gay lesbian straight education Network on average an lgbtq student will hear 26 anti-lgb btq slurs every day onethird of which come from a school
Staff member derogatory terms like the that I can’t say here being normalized in everyday conversation many people don’t even know what these words mean or how detrial hearing this can be to an lgbtq person’s mental health homophobic or transphobic language isn’t okay and people should know this schools can help
By providing more awareness and consequences for using these words to students and staff School support like this will make a big difference to someone already struggling with coming out another issue for lgbtq youth in the school system is the gender specific bathrooms according to the 2015 US trans
Survey released by the national Center for transgender equality 59% of transgender people reported that they had avoided bathrooms in the past year because of um in for fear of Confrontation 8% reported getting a kidney or urinary tract infection because of avoiding public restrooms if people are getting hurt over this it’s a
Sign that things need to change adding General neutral bathrooms not um just as an option would greatly improve many transgender nonbinary youth’s learning environment after all if you can’t even go to the bathroom how are you going to be able to focus on your school workor
All of this comes down to school support one one of the most important things you can do when it comes to comfort and within the school environment is adding a safe place according to glsen in one study they found that 28% of lgbtq Youth dropped out of school due
To peer harassment if you let everyone know where to find a staff member or place that is a safe space where they can be respected then school will really be a place that everyone can feel comfortable learning in thank you thank you our next speaker is Roman Ramona basillo
From the PTA Council of Baltimore County good evening good evening everyone it’s a tough act to follow good evening um members of the board superintendent Rogers I greet you you on behalf of the PT Council PTA Council of Baltimore County and also members of students who are working throughout the
Baltimore County School System on kindness week kindness week is set up for next week Mind Over matters anti-bullying their themes are profound civility Equity Unity kindness respect and positivity a message that we hope that we all here in this room will remember I also greet you on behalf of
Our president of our PTA Council the PTA is over 125 years old it is the largest and the oldest volunteer child advocacy group in the nation it has survived through the Civil Rights Movement through Jim Crow through desegregation and has St stood side by side with allies throughout the country
In support of children and protecting children with one voice I come to you today with the weight of 111,000 children on your heads and in your heart and say to you that like the national PTA Council protect protect protect our gay lesbian transgender and bisexual youth I
Want to share with you that in much the same way that many of those students and members of the community are harassed are pointed out are humiliated are being confused today it wasn’t too long ago that a child a person like me couldn’t go to a bathroom in a place called
Hudler’s department store downtown and I am not that old and I wondered why it has occurred to me that their children today who are falling victim to that same thought why am I treated differently why did I won’t say his name a young boy who got harassed and bullied
At school and was called the fword went home told his dad his dad beat him again he dropped out of school in his in the 12th grade I wonder why a young woman and her mother had to be taken to the hospital and somebody help the hand of that mother when her
Daughter died and as her daughter died on the ground she was called a dyke that woman was my mother and that girl was my sister I say to you protect our children thank you thank you next are our unions and our first speaker is Helen Groves um from Tapco on behalf of Cindy
Seon good evening good evening good evening chair Lor superintendent Rogers and board members thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening on behalf of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County a small group recently has requested that the board reexamined guidance influencing policies affecting lgbtqia plus students and staff in my
Roles on the tabco board of directors and as an early childhood special educator I have the privilege of regularly conversing and interacting with families students and Educators in diverse schools I can assure you that while extremely vocal this group’s opinion are not representative of the majority of your stakeholders across the
County as a special educator I am charged with advocating for students and families while adhering to applicable federal and state laws and policies with that in mind here are a few guiding principles related to the rights of trans and nonbinary binary students on a federal level Title Nine protects students from discrimination
Based on sex including sexual orientation and gender identity despite the protections a 2023 study found that a majority of lgbtq students in high schools reported verbal harassment due to sexuality or gender msde published guidelines for inclusion and non-discrimination for Trans and non-binary students prioritizing a safe and supportive School environment that minimizes
Stigmatization protects all students and does not single out students by gender 7 years after this study only half of the students surveyed found their school to be gender affirming in 2023 56% of lgbtq students were unable to access appropriate mental health care as self-reported Maryland governor Wes Moore signed an executive order last
Spring recognizing the unique Health Care needs of trans individuals proclaiming to all lgbtqia plus marylanders you deserve to be your authentic selves to live safely openly and freely we know that data shows that all students feel a greater sense of safety and Community when they are welcomed in
Their environment in 2020 members of this board signed resolution 20221 affirming the board supports the decisions of students for gender expression including accommodations for the use of school facilities corresponding to the gender they consistently identify tabco supports Educators as we advocate for the protections and rights
Of all all students and staff members we recognize a sense of great urgency to continue advocating for those most susceptible to becoming victims of harm due to their gender or sexual identity you’ve heard the statistics already this evening board members in reviewing the guidance documents the data clearly
Shows a continued need to enrich our policies and practices to embrace diversity equity and inclusivity for all students and staff within BCPS thank you [Applause] next are our nonprofit Community groups and our first speaker is Clarissa Taylor Jackson from the nphc Metropolitan Baltimore good evening I’m just a little pregnant
So okay good evening Madam chair Madam Vice and Madam superintendent and the entire board um I appreciate the opportunity to come before you once again every once in a while I come before you on behalf of the national pan helenic Council Metropolitan Baltimore um for those of you who don’t know it’s
The divine nine the nine historically black uh Greek fraternities and sororities who are operating in your county but not only that we are in your schools teaching your students we are after school and you’re out of school time being with your children PRI providing support on the ptas um with to
Your students and just to the school in general to your lovely principles and admin and I’m here once again just to remind you of a few things that we do um specifically our fraternities spend a lot of time trying to actually all of our fraternities and sororities spend a
Lot of time trying to Mentor students going into the schools when invited obviously um mentoring your students also providing supplies for your teachers um what is more going back to the ptaa piece I’m glad that we’re hearing from the PTA um our we get requests all the time from schools um
Particularly ptas asking for little just extra support especially in the times that we live in right now um where all the guidance in the whole wide world is necessary especially for little black and brown kids um and so I am happy to report among the over a thousand members
Of the nphc who are living and working and serving in Baltimore County and who belong to the chapters that are operating in Baltimore County they literally are answering the call so we might dress up in our colors and we might step and stroll and be very loud
Um but nevertheless we stand for our children because once upon a time we were those same kids looking up to any adult who would give us the time of day and so we are trying to do more than that now and I just wanted to remind you
All that we are here we will eternally be here in support of this District this leadership and of course the kids thank you our next speaker is Danielle Smith from black women for positive change okay our next speaker is Zena Row from the FTC team metal pipe and did I
Pronounce your first name incorrectly um it’s zenida zenida good evening good evening um good evening to the chair Vice chair superintendent and members of the board my name is denida row and I’m here representing the FTC team number 2 23741 my friend Arya kaznia spoke here at the last board meeting about interdisciplinary
Stem I’m here tonight to talk about magnet programs I have been in magnet programs my entire career as a BCPS student I’m now a senior at kood High School in the international back laor at maget program however at Cromwell Elementary School is where I began in the STEM Magnet program
Attending this school and being educated in various stem subjects had a profound impact on me I would not be where I am today without them strewn Parts across a table a mess no a canvas the beginning of my journey a new window that I could see an
Infinite World ahead of me hours spent rehearsing our presentation regarding stem education I know that it may have been a naive view but that very program instilled within me the values of finding play in progress and furthermore finding Solutions in adversity I’m here with my friends tonight who I met through the stem
Program at Cromwell our shared interest in building the tech of the future has brought us together none of this would have been possible without the BCPS STEM Magnet program at cromo Valley Elementary Magnet programs provide a unique opportunity for students to study their interest and help them in their
Exploration of future careers however in this in this County we have neglected one area stem stem is the future of our economy and we must recognize that to prepare our students for the future we must give them ample resources to explore their interest and stem in the
Present I am ranked second in my class and I firmly believe this is because I was in a magnet program early on and also that it was a stem one and yet even now there is talk of removing that magnet program from CW Elementary School this cannot happen we
Already have a void to fill in terms of STEM Magnet programs with only two elementary schools five middle schools and 13 high schools with STEM Magnet programs currently now is the time now is not the time to neglect this matter Swift action needs to be taken to bring
More STEM Magnet programs to our students at all levels if stem is the future then our students will be sorely left in the past due to our neglect if we do not act now thank you our next speaker is Lynn laings from the Baltimore County chapter of Continental societies Inc good evening good
Evening good evening boy chair good evening board members good evening um Dr Rogers um my name is Lyn Lo and I am the President of Baltimore County uh chapter of Continental societies here along with my Continental sisters the mission of the Continental society and the Baltimore County chapter is to create
Environments within our communities that Empower children to have access to Quality and appropriate opportunities to reach their operable potential the Baltimore County program year starts 20 started September 2023 and we are excited about initiatives National africanamerican reading literacy development thanks to the late Dr Jerry Cobb Scott
Scott who was it was her brainchild idea to create the national African-American reading to become a part of Black History Month which is in February Dr Cobb’s Vision was for all of us to see ourselves in books this initiative has reached more than 6 million participants around the world the program encouraged
Students to read books written by African-American authors during the co pandemic the Baltimore County participated we created a virtual library project in African-American reading throughout the United States 49 chapters we have throughout the United States and we all dressed in the costumes of the stories and we videotaped all the chapters and we
Participated in a recording and then we set up a link to send to schools community centers dayc carees and the link ran from February 4th to March 3rd just to keep the initiative of reading with all our childr the Baltimore county is proud um to continue this National
Initiative in February with literacy and development at for the Baltimore County Schools our children our commitment Our concern and right now some of my members are at the Featherbed Elementary participating in a Hispanic half Heritage African I mean Heritage Health wellness and we have members there and
We have uh documents in Spanish and in English just to keep our initiatives going forward our children our commitment Our concern thank you thank you our next speaker is Gloria marrow from the Highlanders good evening good evening good evening again superintendent Dr Rogers and board members there are many challenges to our
Board of Education to the schools that they oversee in a climate of sociopolitical Discord changes and differences which all of us are experiencing or witnessing today many individuals in our sociopolitical environment are forcing the board to be able to navigate some arbitrary and abusive groups and individuals who will
And may be have come to voice negative opinions about such matters as school security a diversified and Equitable educational program in our different schools programs and curriculum about teacher recruit and retention Andor racial and gender diversities these are challenges that create multiple problems and situations for the operations of our schools and
For the board we hope outside influences along with the old line traditional and unresolved Prejudice can and will be made difficult to get into our schools we must keep in mind mind that there must be equity and a genuine acceptance and understanding of the racial social and human diversities
Which now exist in our schools in our school parameters in our classrooms and otherwise they certainly are alive in this General Society only in our School classrooms can acceptance and understanding of differences can be understood and known en by using appropriate teaching tools teaching with an open mind and moving toward the
Acceptance of differences to promote positive learning and interaction for and by the Learners times have changed the Arc of democracy is still bending forward our observers parents students and others must find acceptance and apply themselves to different and meaningful sociopolitical itical Arenas we cannot go back to the old ways thank you thank
You next our individual citizens and student groups and our first speaker is Eileen trong good evening good evening everybody good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is eileene and I have three children in Baltimore County I didn’t bring a written speech today but I’m going to begin with a quote that I
Saw one of our board member posted on her page and it goes like this silence is a foundations of complacency use your voice so imagine a group of 11 or 12y old girls complain to their athletic director principal that is unfair for them to have to run or swim against a
Male athlete who say he feels like a girl they also concerned about the lacks of female privacy when having to use the locker room with this male student the school or the principal or the athletic director May sympathize with the girl’s valid concern and reasoning but they have to follow the
Boore policy so now the girls come to you looking for a logical explanation what are you going to tell them are you going to tell them that this policy is non-negotiable and that their basic human rights the rights to sex equality the right to fairness in sport the right
To have safe female space at school are no longer in existence and that their feeling and concern are now seconds to a male who say he feel like a girl now by parents suggesting that there are safety risk associated with with this policy we are not saying that
Trans students are dangerous as a matter of facts these risks are written on and acknowledged by the policy itself now if if we ask that all students to have the opportunity to participate in sport but have to be on the team aligned with their biological sex does not depry the students from
Identify any genders he or she want it and if you may not know there are more than two genders genders are now fluid endless there students that identify a gender sis uh or nonbinary so where do they belong now if you continue with this policy I mean this policy does not reflect inclusive
Equality or anything it actually does the opposite and and um most importantly is Rob our females their most basic human rights so what are you going to do if you continue with this you are showing the message to the community that the school is no longer a place to educate
Teach critical thinking fact science common sense but rather acts as a vehicle that push an agenda and ideology that only benefit self-interest I thank you for my time our next speaker is BOS Fon good evening good evening to all special thanks to delegate truth and delegate pastor and all others who have
Spoken for equ equality Equity diversity the agenda meetings are becoming shorter so I really wonder whether you the Board of Education are abdicating your duties to deleg to um debate and discuss um I I don’t understand why they are short one teacher PTA member tabco member calendar Committee Member
Basically uh advertised for stand for Israel now everybody has the freedom of choice I have it everybody have it but My worry is what are the school teachers teaching our students so I want to remind you it took me and my friend Muhammad Jam 25 years from Dr Berger time to convince the
Board of education for equal holidays and it took the Board of Education five extra years to codify that principle in a policy why is that because there is a buildin discrimination in the system the system the way I see it from my advantage is about blacks and whites it’s about Jews and
Christians but Baltimore County has dozens of religions and have I don’t know a 100 ethnicities all immigrants national origin why just focus on one religion two one color or two all right that is my take we stand to that flag all right which means all of us it
Should not really be that a Jewish superintendent like Dr Burger comes in and Advocate only for the Jewish holidays as he did some 30 plus years ago it shouldn’t be that a black superintendent Advocate only for blacks it shouldn’t be somebody who is Hindu advocating for Indian matters it should
Be all about us all the colors behind me all the religions behind me and no teacher in the school system needs to teach students false history about Israel and Arabs none should be complete disqualification your focus should be on education Ford makes many cars make only one product graduating
Students educated who are ready to meet the whole world thank you not to be discriminatory not to send our thank you Miss Dr fron thank you for your comments our next speaker is fergo malele oh I’m sorry oh we’ll just switch it okay he’s coming up good evening good evening Madam chair
Vice chair board members my name is Ferg malali I’m a parent of two children in Baltimore County Public Schools I regret that I must further distract you from more pressing and important business in the education of our students to discuss the protest outside the delegates Pastor delegate root and a number of other
People have spoken on these facts uh much more effectively and eloquently than I could so I want to restrict myself to just one personal perspective the self-described group of concerned parents outside do not speak for this parent they don’t speak for my children in fact they don’t speak for my
My family or any of the families that I’ve talked about this they’re outside shouting about protecting all children and Lord knows my children need protection from an awful lot of things the list is endless but transgender kids are not on that list not in the classroom not in the bathroom not on the
Sports field board policy places inclusion and Equity among the foundational educational goals and I thank you all for your continued efforts to make sure that every child feels welcome in our schools thank you very much thank you our next speaker is Roa Hassan our former student board member okay our
Next she’s virtual yeah okay is sorry missan M missan I think you might be muted can I go to the next one and then we’ll they can all hear her the people online can hear each other but they right we can’t hear them to un one we’re all muted
Do you want me do you are you m thank you everyone for your patience much putting our new superintendent to the test as she tries to navigate this over here see a politician in the back Mrs is she calling in uh okay you’re calling in okay yes we’re getting
Thumbs up and gestures so that’s why we’re we it’s not it’s not working o I think she just got on okay we can oh go ahead Can you hear okay they can’t hear her of students I cannot stress the importance of mental health and prioritizing that especially in our commity in the past year alone 45 e thank you the next speaker is Lloyd Allen so I he’s also virtual okay so we’re going to give
Him a minute to leave and come back Ro if you still hear me can you hang up thank you all right we can’t the virtual envir so what Mr Alan you can speak oh okay excellent not up St e s Lang I wonder statement remains I wonder
Whether we can offer ASL ourselves we now have a course number it’s true that implementing a new program from bull cloth would require creativity I would charge CCBC with examining the requirements for the ASL sequence and if acup Placer is in fact required for some students then it is essential that ecap
Publish and advertise procedures for accessing reasonable accommodations both for that assessment and for the classes thank you so much have a good evening thank you next is public comment on the proposed 20124 2025 school calendar and our first speaker is is Jeffrey fredman good evening everybody good
Evening my name is Jeffrey Friedman and I’m a veteran BCPS educator I’m here tonight kindly asking you to adopt a post Labor Day calendar for the 24 to 25 school year and for every year moving forward I’m disappointed that any inquiries related to starting after Labor Day next year were quickly
Dismissed and not brought up again if you don’t consider a post Labor Day calendar you are ignoring the majority who have asked for one year after year have you considered the members of the calendar committee who have been pushing year after year to start post Labor Day
Whose opinions continue not to be heard if you ask our bargaining units what their members feel they should do they will tell you that all or most want to start before Labor day but have you truly considered if this was the case or just believed what you heard because the
Most recent survey data States the opposite for all stakeholder groups and this survey data was shared during the November 9th 2022 board meeting and a 2019 survey opened to the entire community of over 91,000 people 64 .2% voted for a post Labor Day start in 2022 5,000 BCPS employees voted and 58.8%
Voted for a post Labor Day start by bargaining unit 81.9% of fcme members 63.7% of case members 69.1% of espbc members 70.2% of op members 52.9% of TCO members and 71% of unrepresented members all voted that they wanted to post Labor Day start our bargaining units will also
Tell you that we should do what is best for students if we are doing that we will also begin after Labor Day allowing for a full summer and eliminating the constant interruptions weekly to instruction starting one week earlier and then breaking for a long weekend has no educational benefit there are too
Many non-instructional closings PD days half days and other random closings these lengthen the year and make it more difficult for our students to learn and retain content if we want to increase instructional time during the middle of the school year eliminate the number of closure days speaking of lengthening the
Year it’s important to note that you would likely lose a large number of faculty and staff members should you choose to change to year round school so as board members you’re expected to listen to your constituents and vote for what they want based on the data already present they are
Overwhelmingly asking you to start school after Labor Day please listen and vote accordingly this year thank you thank you since there are speaker spaces available I’m going to now go to the wait list by category and we had a space open for nonprofit community group and the first
Sign up is Brenda Pier from the decoding dyslexia of Baltimore County oh there you are thank you good evening good evening my name is Brenda Piper and I’m speaking tonight on behalf of the Baltimore County chapter of decoding dyslexia Maryland or ddmd ddmd is a parent Le movement driven
By families concerned about reading instruction and interventions for all students including those with dyslexia in Maryland Public Schools our local Baltimore County chapter has had almost a decade of History working with BCPS boards and staff to create positive change in the area of reading instruction for all kids we advocated
For and supported BCPS is initiatives for Bowman’s OG plus 60-hour course open court letters Wilson Reading system certified teachers and hegerty as far as curriculum on the Statewide level our group was the main driver behind Marilyn’s readyto read screening law at the most recent meeting for our chapter
Attended by parents from all over the county significant concerns were shared the most pressing and the one I want to address tonight is Orton Gillingham training for history’s sake when BCPS was initially looking at OG teacher training ddmd Baltimore County was adamant that we would only support a
Contract with a minimum 60-hour training in fact we wanted more to include a practicum most recently in August of 2022 BCPS signed a new 5-year contract for 60-hour OG training this is the only contract we can find for OG training in the BCPS contracts table and we are
Unaware of any training cohorts under this contract since the last one ended in March 2023 while staff assured the board two meetings ago that OG training was on going they failed to inform the board and the public that the training has changed to a different vendor whose OG
Training course cuts the training hours in half from 60 hours to only 30 at a time in our system when reading scores have never been more concerning we find this completely unacceptable we are being contacted by stakeholders with concerns about this change to the long-standing OG initiative IEP chairs
Are reporting to ddmd Baltimore County that BCPS compliance department is saying that OG is overused and that we need to cut back why aren’t needs driving Services they should be we are also concerned by recent disclosures of a lack of any tier three reading intervention at dozens of secondary
Schools staff reported two meetings ago that we have only 32 trained OG teachers to meet the great need at 55 secondary schools this should be of great concern to this board in closing at a time when teachers are looking out into their classrooms into a sea of non-readers why
Has the system changed one of the most widely supported literacy endeavors implemented in the last 10 years we are requesting a response to these concerns and we hope to work collaboratively with you to improve literacy instruction for all students in BCPS thank you and happy dyslexia awareness month thank
You the next speaker for the school calendar from the wait list is Lan lamry and I’m not sure I have your last name right okay the next speaker on the wait list for calendar is Stephanie Barber um I think the next person signed up twice Clarissa Tor
Jackson um and BOS Fon for the calendar did you want to speak on the calendar or did you speak on the calendar you you had signed up on the wait list for the calendar did you yes okay you can I really don’t have any prepared
Remarks so if I make a mistake you know you hopefully forgive me so I have been a member since Dr burger and one point all the calendar committee meetings from Burger all the way to now the calendar committee always managed always managed take this take that here and
There so My worry is I think there are too many days preparation before the school starts again I talk to you about artificial intelligence I talked to you about automation I don’t really figure out why students have to wait extra 5 days for the teachers to prepare
Classrooms well the point is that was quoted in the calendar committee it takes time you know there’s always some reason I think the school calendar has too many days and times off I think our honorable board member scratched the surface on it last board meeting when she asked about the half
Days so my thought to you as a taxpayer about the effectiveness of teaching all right everybody agrees that the more hours and days that the students spend in the school system the more they learn but if you look at the calendar it has too many days of too many professional
Days in the first meeting no Muslim holidays were put in and I really don’t mind talking about it I hated it all right and somebody told me in the committee that we have too many professional days but in the same and next meeting tabco added Professional Day extra and everybody accepted it
Without even a question not even one single question so what am I saying to you your product is only graduating students that can meet the world you cannot do it with too many days off and give him perk for Tapco and perk for this group and that
Political group you got to get rid of all that noise and focus on the students focus on the kids thank you thank you the next item on the agenda is the superintendent’s report and for that I call on Dr Rogers thank you good evening chair Lor Vice chair Harvey members of the board I am pleased to share with you my superintendent report before we begin I want to thank all of our students who came out this evening and I want to affirm on behalf of Baltimore more
County Public Schools our commitment to creating welcoming safe and inclusive environments and cultures in all of our schools for all students and staff members in BCPS next slide please thank you want to share some of the work that we have been doing in uh reference to academic achievement across team
BCPS um highlights of our recent professional learning as we have had the opportunity to uh engage in research of national and international school systems that have made great progress with student achievement we are aware of a through line that exists in all of those school systems curriculum professional learning and
Plc’s we have affirmed our commitment to all three areas uh as a result of uh contracts that you have approved we are now in in a space where we have high quality curriculum aligned to standards we just began the roll out of hmh into reading for elementary literacy our
Curriculum in the areas of mathematics and literacy are evidence-based and part of our work this year is to ensure Fidelity of implementation as we move forward we need to make sure that all of our teachers par professionals leaders and central office staff members have access to high quality professional
Learning recently we’ve had the first central Office Professional uh leadership development for our central office professionals we’ve also had our principal leadership development where they focused on curriculum specifically Esau literacy mathematics and special education Karen chenowith author and researcher from districts and schools that succeed also met with our uh
Principles and uh central office professionals to talk about those rapid cycles of school Improvement uh what is needed to move schools and school systems forward uh really focusing on Improvement prioritizing teaching and learning and making sure that we are dedicating time and resources uh to meet the needs of our students and lastly
Professional learning communities are necessary in schools and offices to ensure that we have ongoing collaborative cyle of inquiry and action to meet the needs of our students on a regular basis next slide we are excited to announce today uh the debut of budget 101 on our school
Website all stakeholders uh may go and find a tab that will take them to budget 101 as one of our means of engaging with all stakeholders across team BCPS in budget number uh 101 you will learn all about our budget how our budget is developed what drives the budget our
Different funding sources and much more so we encourage all stakeholders to take a look and share with us uh feedback we will continue to add uh but it is a robust site that really um intends to make sure that all stakeholders across team BCPS understand our budget the purpose
And how we work together with all of our partners to meet the needs of our students and staff next slide please additionally we have shared with all members of team BCPS an opportunity to provide direct feedback on our budget we encourage all stakeholders to participate as the budget does not close
Until um the 13th I believe and we also invite community members out for Community conversations starting this Thursday at Sparrows Point High School where we will be talking about the priorities for fiscal year 2025 and really giving stakeholders an opportunity to learn about the process and share with us their feedback on
Priorities for team BCPS lastly ask that you please join me and thanking and celebrating all of our principles as October is National principles month we appreciate them and all of the hard work um that they uh lead in our buildings and school communities on behalf of over 111,000
Students each and every day it is a hard job and they do it very well in service to students and so we want to celebrate celebrate our principles lastly want to thank all members of team BCPS for continuing to engage with us we Empower you to share
Uh your actual feedback with us about how we’re doing in ways that we can continue to improve so we can move forward on behalf of our students thank you thank you Dr Rogers um next on the agenda is chair’s report um I’d like to start my report by wishing a very happy
National principle appreciation month to all of our wonderful and dedicated BCPS principles I was fortunate to have had many positions in BCPS and while each of these roles gave me an opportunity to positively impact students and families the role of school principal will always be my favorite position um even more
Than board member being able to lead a school to ensure that we are maximizing the potential of our staff and our students was the ultimate privilege parents and Guardians put their most prized possession under my watch each day they put their children on the bus
Drove them in a car or walk them to the front door they said goodbye and then they trusted to me and my staff to make certain that their children were safe secure and learning from welcoming students each morning to interacting with students in their classrooms to assisting teachers and perfecting their
Craft to picking up trash in the cafeteria to countless lunch bunches I loved being a principal and I know I speak for so many including our superintendent once a principal always a principal I also had the privilege of supporting principles in their role as building leaders I know that the words I
Am sharing about the Java principle is felt by our BCPS principles they relish the role and are committed to their school communities I also know just how hard they work and how consuming the position is as a principal you think about the work 24/7 whether you’re in
The car in the shower are waking up in the middle of the night or on your vacation um you are thinking about your school and the work that needs to be done your goal is your Educators and your students success nothing is more important but the work is hard it’s very
Hard it’s very consuming and at times it’s very lonely yet day after day our principles do the work they pour over data they consult with colleagues they put ideas into practice all for the betterment of their students and for this we the Board of Education are grateful we thank you we appreciate you
Value you and we celebrate you this month and every day of the school year or the whole year not just school year next I’d like to touch on recent discussions and public comments about guidelines policies and supports for the lgbtqia a plus students in an effort to
Level set and ensure we all have a clear understanding of what policies are and what the process looks like in BCPS it’s important for me to clarify that a policy is a statement of the vision goals principles or position of the Board of Ed to guide and direct the
Superintendent and the staff a rule which is issued by the superintendent of schools is to implement the policies of the Board of Education and to establish the matter in which board policies are to be executed the board of education has a policy and Review Committee currently chaired by Miss Pumphrey that
Works on the creation and review of policies for for those of you who regularly watch or attend Board of Ed meetings and we appreciate you you see the process of policies being presented input being provided changes being made and approval being given once approved by the full board the superintendent
Then directs appropriate staff to work on creating the aligned rules which focus on the operations and the implementation of that policy into everyday practice all of our BCPS board policies and rules can be found on board docks the very first policy included is policy 0100 our Equity policy this policy was
Most recently reviewed by the board on September 14th 2021 and while it was approved by a previous board its importance and its relevancy are extremely as important as we collectively navigate difficult and complex issues and conversations I strongly encourage members of the BCPS community to review this policy it is a
Very thorough and detailed policy that outlines the philosophy of the Board of Ed and core vals for our system the beginning of the policy reads the Board of Ed of Baltimore County believe that every student in the school system should receive an education that maximizes his or her potential to become
A globally competitive graduate the board is committed to fostering the success of every student in every school by creating and maintaining environments that are safe diverse and inclusive for success to occur for each student in lifelong learning and the world of work the school system prioritize educational Equity by recognizing and removing
Institutional barriers and ensuring that social identifiers are not obstacles raising achievement for all students and closing achievement gaps among our students are the top priorities of the board achieving Equity means implicit biases and students identities will neither predict nor predetermine their success in school disparities on the basis of race special education status
Gender authenticity sexual orientation gender identity including gender expression English language status immigration status or socioeconomic status are unacceptable and are directly at odds with the belief that all students can achieve while complex societal and historical factors contribute to the inequity our students faiths rather than perpetuating disparities the school system must
Address and overcome inequity by providing all students with the opportunity to succeed the words each and every are used repeatedly in this policy because we are committed to all BCPS students we are committed to creating conditions that Foster inclusivity and welcoming learning environments for all I commend the previous board who had the
Courage to create and approve policy 0100 100 and implore our current board and Community to keep the beliefs in the policy in the Forefront of decision making thank you and next on our agenda is our student members report and for that I call Miss Drummond first and for first and
Foremost I wanted to speak regarding the lgbtqia plus comments circulating circulating by saying we should continue to speak about these individuals as the equals they are is there a microphone on it’s green just bring it closer and louder talk louder okay first and foremost I wanted to speak regarding the lgbtqia plus
Comments circulating by saying they should we should all continue to speak about these individuals as the equals they are and not by discounting their needs and wants and experiences just because it may not be something that everyone agrees with we all should keep the treat others how you would want to
Be treated saying in the back of our minds no matter that thoughts you have on the subject in an inclusivity resolution everyone every one of our students deserves to be treated with the basic human decency and respect with Baltimore County being one of the largest and most diverse districts in
The state you must keep in mind that not everyone will be satisfied with each decision made by the board thank you to the students who came prepared with this with a speech you are who we vote you are who we vote for so even if they don’t want to listen make everyone hear
Your voice moving forward those hoping for a reduction of half and off days should keep in mind not only the education of our students but the mental health of them mental health of them and understanding that they are young minds still figuring out the world and not and
How to efficent efficiently navigate it believing that the more schools students have the more they learn or the more more proficient they are is not true for many students 5-day School weeks are just before the breaking point we want students to be well-rounded correct correct getting rid of the half and off
Days would add more weight to students in five in 5day a week Sports once a week clubs Etc having full or half or half off days gives students a very hard very hard-earned break having days being used mostly As makeup days are extraordinarily useful for students
Giving them time to catch up on work improving their grades furthermore half and off days should not be reduced because more because more school means more learning because more school means more learning when more learning means nothing if students aren’t mentally present on a lighter note I plan to
Begin School visits in order to connect with students and more to connect with students more so and have information based on a collective student perspective also in the near future we’ll be holding Town smob Town Hall meetings to share and receive information thank you thank you the next item on the agenda is
Unfinished business consideration of board policies this is the second reader for this policy and for that I call Miss Christina Pumphrey chair of the policy Review Committee thank you members of the board the policy Review Committee asks that the board accept the committee’s recommendation to amend the following board policies board policy 1100
Community relations Communications with the public board policy 4100 personnel conduct employee conduct and responsibilities and board policy 5200 students promotion and retention these policies are presented to you on tonight’s agenda as exhibit J may I have a motion to accept the recommendation of the board’s policy Review Committee for
Board policies 1 1100 4100 and 5200 so moved from pong thank you no second is needed since a recommendation comes from the committee is there any discussion may I have a roll call vote please miss dominowski yes Mr Young yes Miss frong yes Miss stoski yes Miss
Hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker dwire yes Miss Lor yes thank you thank you the next item on the agenda is action taken in Clos session and for that I call on Mr Burns good evening good
Evening Madam chair Dr Rogers members of the board uh at this time it’ be appropriate for the board to affirm the Personnel action approved in closed session in accordance with policy 2310 may I have a motion to approve the action taken in Clos session on September 26 2023 regarding a Personnel
Matter related to policy 2310 so move stusy thank you is there a second second sooy thank you any discussion may I have a roll call vote please miss dominowski yes Mr Young yes Miss frong yes Miss stoski yes Miss hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond
Yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker DWI yes Miss lter yes thank you thank you also this time it’ be appropriate for the board to affirm the actions taken during closed session following oral arguments in hearing examiner cases H 23-36 and H
23-17 May I have a motion to affirm the actions taken during closed session following oral arguments on hearing examiner cases he 2326 2336 and he 23-17 and authorized missg to sign for those board members not physically present so move stoski thank you is there a second second from Pa thank you any
Discussion may I have a roll call vote please M dominowski yes Mr Young yes Miss frong yes Miss stoski yes Miss hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker dwire yes Miss Lor yes thank you thank you thank you Bo
Thank you the next item on the agenda is contract Awards and for that I call Miss Harvey chair of the building contracts committee thank you madam chair members of the board the board’s building and contracts committee met on Monday October 9th 202 3 items L1 through l19
Are being forwarded to the full board for approval do I have a motion to approve items L1 through l19 so thank you no second is needed since the recommendation comes from the committee any discussion yes Miss dominasi yes could we pull um L1 for discussion and vote on the yes the rest of
Them so do I have a motion to approve items L2 through l19 so moved Pumphrey thank you is um no is there a second second stus thank you any discussion on L2 through l19 May I have a roll call vote please miss dominowski yes Mr Young yes Miss frong yes mrki yes Miss
Hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker twire yes Miss Lor yes thank you do I have a motion to approve item L1 so no second is needed any discussion Mr dominowski would you like to start since
You yes I don’t know if um if St if staff wants to come forward or talk you want to ask the question and then we’ll yeah go ahead and ask the question Dr danado M you can come forward I know we went through this already a lot during
Curriculum committee um but there’s some concerns our presentation wasn’t uploaded to us prior to the the meeting and then it was given to us during the meeting we weren’t told how much you guys were asking for additionally and I’m concerned that the the original spending Authority was 10 million and
We’re only a few months into this contract and you’re asking for five million more for and I’m I’m just quoting what you guys have said for um cards and books like uh reading book manuals and I’m sure it’s more than that but that wasn’t detailed in your requ
Your request so could you speak to more of why it’s an additional basically 50% more of the contract Miss dominowski as the team comes forward I will just call attention to uh page three of the um exhibit for L1 um specifically where you can uh see the justification for
Increase that speaks to um providing access to grade level content for students in our public separate day schools um uh that we um support our Integrated Service delivery model so that’s special education uh for our younger Learners uh variability in enrollment multi-grade level programs um as just uh some of the justification for
The increased uh request for uh spending at this time I’ll turn it over to the team to provide additional uh details uh to respond to miss dominowski question sure so one of the things that we explained during curriculum Comm committee is the difference between the actual spending from the operating
Budget and spending Authority and that there a lot of variables that go into spending so that the spending Authority allows lots of different groups within the school system to make purchases so if the office of title one wants to purchase supplemental materials they’re able to do that but their purchase goes
Against the contract which then takes away the ability for the curricular office to reorder materials or to get those supplemental materials or to um make adjustments when and Dr uh Rogers spoke to uh our special education Regional program so some of those classes are multi-grade Lev LEL classes
A curriculum teachers guide is ordered for the predominant grade level as enrollment in those programs fluctuates throughout the course of a school year students move or transition we want to have students actually using the curriculum content and the teacher having the book that it’s associated with the grade level that they’re
Teaching all the materials are you available online to teachers they can see the other grade level books however most teachers want a teachers guide they can write in it they put Post-it notes in it they you know jot down things that they need to follow up and ask um so we
Believe that material is important for teachers to have and just to add yes thank you for that and just to add to that um it’s also about professional learning so the original contract of the 10 million included professional learning for the first two years and so you’ll see
Itemized on page three of the exhibit this is also to make sure that we have funding in the spending Authority again to Dr D Den’s point doesn’t mean that we’ll necessarily spend the five million over the next five years but we’re trying to create The Authority so that
We are poised to continue our investment in professional learning in years three through five of the implementation um and then so so some of what we talked about in curriculum committee were just some of the specific materials that schools are requesting to purchase right now so that’s where we
Detailed things like the vocabulary cards supporting our multilingual Learners and some of the supplemental resources like the writer’s notebook and that um read and respond journal the know it show it but long term over the next 5 years um specifically what Dr not referenced um teachers that move grade
Levels while overall enrollment shifts May um happen in the system when you support uh Learners in those Integrated Service delivery models again you may purchase multiple grade levels for the same classroom to make sure that students that are serviced in a multi-age group have access to their
Grade level content we also found that when we did the initial purchase we purchased a set of printed materials for resource staff so reading specialist special educators staff development teachers many schools as part of their service um in trying to provide differentiated support in some of our
CSI schools and some of our Title One schools want to provide um multiple sets to multiple teams so that they can work with multiple grade levels concurrently so yes it’s additional supplemental materials like those we talked about in curriculum committee but the potential spending Authority is also to give us
The opportunity for ongoing professional learning increased um teacher grade level materials as well as those supplemental materials that might be purchased with Grant funds like Dr danado described okay we kind of T touched on this in the committee too as far as so where’s the accountability with these purchases how many of these
Are um onetime purchases how many things are these going to be you know we need to refill restock buy again and how are we um weighing what works and what doesn’t so that we’re not making the same mistakes over and over again and buying curriculums that aren’t working
So I can speak to the purchasing process for Title One schools as well as um Community Schools those all have go through a multi-level approval process so it’s not only the school principal approving them the office of Title One approves and reviews those um so there’s a multi- level and there’s documentation
Required for those so if they’re using it as a material that will be given to parents at a parent engagement event so let’s say they’re ordering extra vocabulary cards all of that has to be documented in their resources that they submit to title one for the justification of per of the purchase so
They know how many families attended an event how many sets of cards might have been given out um so they they require a sufficient amount extensive amount of documentation for um our Title One schools and Community Schools who purchase those materials as far as the you know
Understanding what works when you buy a program that has lots of parts and pieces lots of different things are going to influence a students ability and making progress with something so overall we can talk about you know do we think it was the vocabulary cards that made the absolute difference with the
Students learning in the end it’s going to be the teacher practices and pedagogy and the way that they’re working with students that’s going to make the ultimate difference those resources might make it easier for the teacher to do that may make it easier for the student to acquire something because
They might have something tangible in their hands versus like looking at something online so the exact one thing that will make the difference I think in the end what we’ll see over time is our students overall test score and reading achievement change and so that that upside down triangle that we showed you
Several weeks ago will will no longer look like that that will be the ultimate measure and as far as say I I believe you’re right as far as teachers um teaching the curriculum correctly how are we ensuring that they’re getting that I know we’re investing in that
We’re giving them the time but in the end like how do we really make that accountability for all of our teachers to understand that it’s we work together like this curriculum we need you guys to understand how to teach it so that our kids can learn too right I I was just
Going to piggy back on um because you’re right and thank you for framing it that way because we know the teacher is the deciding factor um we’re trying to also transition from training versus professional learning so we started with training training is how does all this work what are all the different parts
Learning all the materials ongoing professional learning has to be in classrooms we have to be we are going with um principles on leadership walks training principles to be able to give feedback so that they can um both the superintend in the chair talked about principal month and what a critical role
They play investing in our leaders so that they can give uh feedback to teachers about that teacher practice is a critical part of our work that we’re doing every month in our principal leadership development partnering with the Department of schools and the executive directors we also are training
Our reading Specialists and our staff development teachers and part of the professional with hmh which is unique to this contract is we actually are bringing Consultants into schools doing model lessons and creating plc’s with clusters of schools working together um so that the expectation is the curriculum is that floor that’s the
Baseline in materials But the teacher practice and what are those strong models of instruction the professional learning communities that help support teachers with planning and then how are we training our leaders to be able to provide that actionable feedback for the Integrity of implementation um it’s with that close partnership between cni and
Department of schools and investing in leaders to be able to give that realtime feedback that we believe we can change that practice thank you very much you’re welcome other questions or comments L1 okay may I have a roll call vote please miss dominowski yes Mr Young yes Miss
Frong yes Miss deleski yes Miss hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker dwire yes Miss lter yes thank you thank you thank you okay let me just scroll through all these contracts there was quite a number of Them um while I’m scrolling Dr Jones and Dr Grim can make their way to the table okay so the next item on the agenda is new business special project request and for that we have Dr Jones and Dr Grim good evening good evening good evening board chair Lor Vice chair Harvey and Dr
Rogers superintendent I am Rock hell Jones um and I’m here with my colleague Dr Jess Grim we come before you asking for consideration of a privately funded Capital project for maen Choice um school maen choice was identified as having a significant need for where students who attend the school could
Focus on functional learning activities the addition of a chick kitchen and laundry area in the newly developed Vocational Center at the school will provide students with significant special needs ample opportunities to attain new skills in these areas the student benefit is immeasurable and we believe that having the kitchen and the
Laundry room on site will significantly impact students lives both individually and in the workplace this initiative provides an authentic experience that will provide our students with continuous learning to enhance their independence when they exit BCPS um on another note we believe that being able to consistently practice learn and develop newly attained skills
Allows us to equitably prepare our students at Maiden Choice for the world outside of BCPS so at this time we’d like to recommend that the Board of Education review and approv project 7330 the addition of a kitchen and laundry area to the vocation center located at Maiden Choice School may I
Have a motion to approve the privately funded Capital project for a kitchen and laundry skills area at Maiden maid schoolov um thank you Miss Harvey is there a second second Pumphrey thank you any discussion Mr McMillian oh sorry good evening good evening obviously this is important why aren’t we funding this through the
Capital project budget and using this money I’m not sure of the group that’s earned this money and is donating it to us but if we built that in within our budget and then we use that money in another way for that school why aren’t we doing that so it’s a good question Mr
McMillian and actually this 7330 this is the first of two that you’ll receive on this project this uh particular donation is strictly for Cabinetry and appliances being donated by Ikea so the school has been working through the Education Foundation and with Ikea to provide students with these opportunities um and
Learning these skills um Ikea and White Marsh wanted to do something uh special and specific for the for the kids so they want to donate this equipment our staff will then be assessing what it takes to install it and what it takes to properly turn the room over and then
There will be an additional donation that’ll come in the form of 7330 to install both the Cabinetry and the appliances once we receive the goods so ik is responsible they’re going to donate the all the materials they are donating they are donating the Cabinetry they are donating the appliances and
They are donating the labor to install a a num both of those things but any other work um we’ll be working through facilities to identify any other needs for the specific classroom so I can admit my question was very dumb so no it wasn’t it this is this is an unusual
Project in that it’s being split normally we bring the full project to you um but the way that uh Ikea has wanted to handle this particular donation and their timetable we needed to split it into two so we needed that we’re actually going to accept these goods and services before we’ve been
Able to do a full sight survey of the rest of the project so it was actually a very timely question thank you very much for explaining that you’re welcome Miss Harvey yes thank you madam chair I really just wanted to make a comment I’ve been to ma in Choice U maen choice
Is a school that’s in the district that I represent and the work that principal Wes and her team are doing there is extraordinary we’ve had a lot of conversation tonight about equity and inclusion uh and Maiden Choice uh has uh is is a School for Children who are
Differently abled and who have learning challenges and differences and so this project is exemplary of our commitment as a district as a school district to make sure that all of our students are getting a quality and Equitable education and I urge all of my colleagues to wholeheartedly support it
Thank you thank you Miss Harvey Miss Booker dwire and so I think this is a a great idea I wish more companies would step up and and do this type of donation um my question is more around the um sustainability of this so Ikea furniture um is it going to last with the
Population of student knowing how you know students they when I think about Ikea cabin tree um this would will it will it last that’s that’s my first question and do we have the the staff that can um upkeep it so um I I don’t know that it’s under our
Purview to assess the quality of the Cabinetry that that they’re donating what I can tell you is that uh as part of the 7330 process our engineers and Architects um assess the equipment that they want to donate make sure that it is educationally sufficient and so uh as as
Part of the process once we accept the donation as BCPS we typically accept some level of responsibility in terms of maintenance and upkeep at that point and the same thing will happen in terms of the appliances that are installed at the facility okay and then is there going to
Be Ikea branding so if you think about you know the scoreboard that was purchased by Coca-Cola and then there’s Coca-Cola everywhere so is this when we go into the maen choice kitchen is it going to be Ikea everywhere is it going to be like this brand promotion that was
Not a I haven’t seen any documentation that would suggest that from them and in fact they’ve been extremely lowkey in in this donation and this process to date okay yep that’s all my questions thank you any further questions or discussion yes Miss teski um but just in
Light of their very generous donation it might be really nice to have some kind of little plaque or um you know something in the in the new kitchen area just thanking them and honoring them for their generous donation thank you thank you for that recommendation and we also
Want to recognize the work of the Education Foundation that actually brought this partnership together um it was through their work that that this happened in the first place so I we agree with you yes any other questions or comments may we have a roll call vote
Miss go Mr Young yes Miss frong yes Miss tuski yes Miss hen yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Drummond yes Miss Pumphrey yes Dr seavoy yes Mr McMillian yes Miss Booker DWI yes Miss lter yes thank you don’t go anywhere you too okay um so that motion passes the next
Item on the agenda is the report on infrastructure boundary process update and and for that we have Dr grim and Dr Jones and Dr Rogers will begin good evening again board the purpose of the presentation this evening is to provide everyone with an update regarding our two boundary studies that
Began uh last month next slide please most recently members of the Board of Education provided feedback to our team on implementation of our boundary study proc process um some of the feedback spoke directly to making sure that we’re engaging our full community and representing the voice and
Viewpoints of all communities as we move forward with changing boundaries additionally we also receive feedback um from a variety of stakeholders ERS uh including uh absolutely our Board of Education and families about Baltimore County taking a uh forward look at all of our uh school buildings looking at
Capacity and uh perhaps uh taking a more comprehensive approach to address overcrowding uh issues in our schools uh as everyone is familiar with when we have uh overcrowding in schools uh two of our long range options are redistricting in capital projects meaning additions new buildings uh Renovations and things of those of that
Sort uh based on the feedback that we received we convened a team of BCPS staff members including the department of communication family engagement schools Equity facilities and strategic planning to name a few to thoroughly address all of the concerns that were brought forward um as uh the uh both our
Chief operating officer and chief of schools will share um primary to uh superintendent rule 1280 uh our considerations when we were moving forward with a boundary study that we are focusing uh not only on overcrowding but also focusing on diversity in alignment with um our Equity beliefs and uh rule I’m sorry in
Policy 0100 so at this time uh Dr grim and Dr Jones will take us through uh the upgrade to the process and at the end we will open it up to the board members for any questions that you might have thank you next slide please as a reminder boundary changes
Are covered in Board of Education policy and superintendence Rule 1280 it is important to note that this policy and Rule are part of the 1,000 series community relations and are in fact part of the community involvement subheading they are not for example in the 7,000 series of policies and rules facil and
Construction thus the boundary study process is rooted in community Through policy 1280 quote the board recognizes the importance importance of community involvement in its deliberations and decisions related to School attendance areas end quote and the board shall determine with the recommendation of the superintendent the geographical attendance area for each Baltimore
County public school as Dr Rogers said to implement policy 1280 rule 1280 states that the boundaries study is coordinated by the office of strategic planning and primary considerations are the efficent efficient use of capacity and diversity with secondary considerations including continuity of neighborhoods Transportation minimizing School moves for students long-term
Enrollment capacity Trends and capital plans feeder School continuity and boundaries and phasing changes by grade levels in high schools next slide please a boundary study is initiated by the superintendent the process of the boundary study is coordinated by the office of strategic planning the process is facilitated by an independent
Consultant and is driven by committee participation throughout the process there are several opportunities for Community engagement meetings are publicly advertised the public is welcom to attend boundary study committee meetings as an observer boundary study committee meetings are live streamed and are recorded and all information provided to the boundary study committee
Is posted on the BCPS website following each meeting further prior to the boundary study committee’s final recommendation they will present options in a public information session and the public is invited to participate in a survey regarding options presented at the public information session in terms of Board of Education
Actions they receive the committee’s recommendation at a regular scheduled board meeting and conduct a public hearing to solicit feedback on the committee’s recommendation as well as a evaluating the committee’s recommendation and feedback received from the community and then they approve deny or revise the committee’s recommendation at a regular regularly
Scheduled scheduled board meeting next slide please this shows this slide shows the two boundary studies that we began last month in September and the actions that we’ve taken to date I’m not going to read through all the dates that are on there but we’ve had several meetings
To date and we have several planned the purpose of the Northwest Elementary boundary School study number one is to expand the attendance area for Bedford Elementary School replacement anticipated to open in Fall 2024 expand attendance area for Summit Park Elementary School replacement anticipated to open in Fall 2024 provide capacity relief to participating
Northwest Elementary schools and facilitate the move of students currently attending Campfield ELC to attend their home school or other nearby programs the central area elementary school capacity relief boundary study has a purpose to relieve schools projected to be overcrowded and to maximize use of available space at elementary schools in the region next
Slide please thank you Dr Grim at this time we’d like to share our renewed Focus as it relates to community engagement and enhancements with our boundary study um we’ve kind of categorized them into three broad areas the boundary study committee community community notifications and Community feedback as
A part of this process BCPS is committed to enhancing the boundary change process as a result of feedback and reflection the following enhancements are planned or are already underway as part of the current planning stage boundary studies as I stated boundary study committee it’s ensuring diversity of community
Members engaging in an exercise to evaluate boundary study considerations capacity building through the department of equity and cultural proficiency and establishing parameter parameters for taking options to public information sessions in regards to community notifications our purpose is to engage stakeholders at school information meetings to assist schools with Communications and our goal is
Leveraging bcpss Partnerships with Baltimore County government to connect with communities and constituents in terms of community feedback we’re leveraging schoolly aison Esau equity and family community engagement staff to engage community members our goal is to leverage Partnerships with Community groups HOA Recreation councils and the association of educate the aeac the advi the
Association of Education advisory councils to engage communities providing updates to key stakeholder groups providing transportation to public information Cent senss for school sites to create accessibility and opportunity improving our online survey and encouraging participation in the public information sessions we want you all to keep in mind that we believe that
Schools are very instrumental Eng in engaging their community in this boundary study process next slide please this slide Des depicts our array of opportunities where there is a renewed focus on just Community engagement but multiple ways in which our community can stay involved and participate in the process each boundary
Studies website includes the functionality to provide online comments which are reviewed and posted on a weekly basis as you can see in the slide although it’s kind of small there’s a there’s a QR code that the community can access and provide us with their ongoing feedback a communication toolkit has
Been provided to principles who have scheduled timely messages to parents regarding the process meetings and the public information s sessions information flyers for each boundary study clearly list the dates of the meetings and reminders are sent in terms of the action and the dates Comm committee meetings have been live
Streamed and after the meetings they are are posted to YouTube with the availability of closed caption in multiple languages Communications have been posting boundary study information via Facebook X and Instagram as well as to parent University Communications has also sent messages to all of the impacted School communities directly via
School messenger strategic planning has been an amazing partner and has included interactive maps and other information that is provided to or requested by the commun committee on its website for the public to review next slide please uh thank you for allowing us to present updates on our R new Focus
Regarding the boundary study process at this time we’ll take any questions that you may have board member questions Miss pum free just have a comment um first thank you for this renewed focus it seems like we’re doing as much as we can to reach communities
That um we may may not often reach or we may not have as much participation as we would like I would like to see that as we are progressing that we are looking at where we may have holes where we are not reaching communities um as we as we
Progress instead of waiting for that those numbers at the end because those numbers always concern me and I want to be sure that we’re reaching every community and as much as possible it sounds like we are doing as much as we can but I’d like to see an update of
Those numbers or feedback from each Community um as we move along so that we can intentionally reach some of the communities that maybe we aren’t reaching if we notice that along the way yes and we appreciate that feedback one of the things that Dr grim and I are
Committed to is making making sure that um staff from our divisions are represented at the meetings and then we debrief those meetings to get a sense of um who attended what were some of the topics so you’re right that it becomes an ongoing process and thank you for
Sharing your concerns about you know just representation I to piggyback what she said what identifying information goes on when someone um submits a comment online what do you know what community what school they’re from or is it completely Anonymous so there there’s I believe there’s some identifying information in the in the background
That’s not posted however um we it says right on the website do not include names as part of the post and other information so I I do think we we have a sense of where they’re coming from but I will double check that to make sure okay
So even if it just had a school or something so that we would know which communities are we not and we’re also taking and sorry I didn’t mean to cut you off chair here um we’re also taking emails and and comments that we’re receiving from the public um they are uh
Being included as as needed we’re encouraging folks to to list those comments on the website um we’ve also broadened our scope to ensure that as Community Partners HOAs have reached out to the school system with concerns we’re having various um staff from our offices and from the office of equity office of
Communications reach reach out to those stakeholders as well as a followup do principes kind of get a package of like or reminders of how to keep their um School Community inform that there’s an upcoming meeting or or just this ongoing reminders about how they can I know
We’re getting messages from a lot of people don’t re who think the recommendation has already been made or that we rece you know they don’t understand the process so do principes get updates on how to inform their Community as the process goes on yes that’s correct and they they’ve actually
Received a toolkit with various Communications that are pre-made that they can send out via messenger but also our our department of communications has done an amazing job of making sure that all the reminders are going out CommunityWide they’re actually leveraging not only um those social media pieces that Dr Jones noted but
They’re sending out messages to each School Community via School messenger so in fact I think we’re getting some saturation in some ways soon they’ll tell us stop stop that’s correct that’s okay we’ll we’ll take the the you know too much information too many reminders we want to make sure we’re we’re really
Getting the word out as much as possible okay thank you Miss Boer dwire I I love this um approach and my only question is just around like that multi-directional communication and so are you all I know it’s almost impossible to respond to every single you know message but are
You creating some type of handout or summary of you know this is what we heard and now this is what we did and even if you didn’t do anything if you just heard it and said okay we didn’t act on this because is there something like that that’s going out so that you
Could take everything that you’ve heard from the community and they know that you’ve listened and that you’ve responded in some way I was gonna say you take that one yeah so so I I think there’s there’s a couple parts to that question so one of the things that that
We’ve really been trying to do is to uh improve the the web page that includes not only the interactive maps but the QR code with the comments online and try to drive um folks that that email us or call us to the web page for each of the
Boundary studies where they can publicly comment and some people are are comfortable doing that others are not but if they publicly comment there it is it becomes a part of the record um as part of this process it’s really important to understand that the office of strategic planning coordinates this
Process so their role isn’t to to to hear one Community or one group over another as as the coordinator they want to make sure that the facilitator our our outside consultant is able to see that and to be able to respond to it so to answer your question um what we’re
Doing is we’re making sure that we’re collecting and driving those folks to the website and making sure that the public comments are there and on the back end strategic planning the department of schools our other offices whether it’s Transportation facilities uh curriculum and instruction are preparing materials
From meeting to meeting to to respond to questions that come up through the committee so for example if um an additional map or rendering is needed or a suggestion is made at one of the studies as Dr Jones said we’re trying to regroup after and say this piece of
Information would be helpful for them to make another decision or just to have more information that’s helpful and then is there any um I know that you know there’s certain meeting dates scheduled but are there any sometimes you know when you have these things at schools
People don’t come so is there a plan to kind of Hit the street sometime or to you know set up in front of a grocery store to go to a church or something like that where you’re announcing like what’s happening to the community where they organically go to um because
Sometimes to to have it at a school you don’t you won’t get the people who are not used to going to the school or who may work shift work work or you know those kind of things but if you even just put a table out in front of the
Wegman’s or the Food Lion or whatever is in their Community um just to spread the word because they’re going to go there or you know at at their church or wherever um just to get the word out that just may be something to consider Miss Booker dwire if I could respond to
That one um thank you currently uh in Earnest there are no uh set out plans to uh go out into the community but I think it’s something that we can take back and work with our community engagement about what are some of those um you know different opportunities that may exist
Um you know for us to just make sure that the information is out in one form or another so I’m not sure with these two studies that are currently occurring uh that you know staff will be able to do that um however it’s something that
We can plan for in the future one way or another to leverage some of our external Partnerships in that way Miss Harvey thank you madam chair I have um I to appreciate the expanded Outreach I am and you’ll probably hear me say this 20 times a believer in making the thing you
Want people to do the easiest thing to do and so I’ve heard you say website website website but I am finding it difficult to find the information on the website on the BCPS website so I’m wondering if you can consider a link on the homepage that will that when parents go
To the website they can see that link you know boundary study click it and it’ll take them through directly there rather than having to go through the steps to get to strategic planning to get to here to get to to there so that’s just one uh recommendation because
You’re doing the work and we want people to not get discouraged around I’m looking for it but I can’t find it we want it to be a breadcrumb right there for them so I I appreciate that and also are any of the schools uh Community Schools and have we
Considered how we might use the community school facilitator whose job it is to do Outreach to perform some of those roles in terms of getting out into the community uh and talking to people where they are so again I I would say and um reiterate what Dr Rogers has shared and
That’s what I was going to say even to miss Booker DWI um we appreciate the the suggestions and the recommendations about how we can expand our Outreach and we’re definitely taking that down as something for consideration um so that we don’t have to say we think that’s
Happening but we can offer that as a recommendation that we know is happening within our schools so thank you for the recommendation thank you we appreciate your work Miss dominasi I just have one question I’m not sure if this is something you guys can answer but when
Will the um committees be updated with the September 30th enrollments so that they have the updated student enrollments for the schools or will they be working off those from this year so the the final September 30th enrollments won’t be available until November um by
The way that the by the way the um by the way that they’re verified we are continually updating them and we’ll continually provide them with updated numbers and figures but the official uh September 30th enrollment does not become validated until November but don’t you have to I mean you have to
Submit September 30th deadlines to the state like they have to have that number correct that’s correct but that’s not submitted actually until the end of October so the September 30th enrollment for this year yeah doesn’t actually go to the state until the end of October okay I’m just concerned that we’re using
Outdated information when we have updated information sure and and I think that that providing the providing those updates um is very reasonable and is a suggestion that we already have in the works um but in terms of the official MSD data we we don’t provide that for
Another month okay but I mean I’m it’s the data that you are working for might be verified for last year but it’s also not verified for this year so what would be the difference of using the Miss dominowski I certainly hear the uh concern that you’re raising um once we
Uh submit the data to the state of Maryland and once we release it to Baltimore County Public Schools uh this committee will also receive that information um it’s not likely that there’s going to be huge uh percentage of variances uh especially since they have access to the uh student counts
Handbook with what the enrollment projections are for the next 10 years as well as actuals for the uh few years proceeding and so so um I I think you know them receiving that information within we’re talking about a I don’t know probably six weeks from now they
Have enough time in the process to make the adjustments as uh necessary and we’re probably talking about a few percentage uh few percentage points in the uh specific schools that are involved in this boundary study no and I do respect that it just said a few percentage points make a big difference
In some of these schools so that’s why I would I was working would like to get as much you know close to the numbers as we can so definitely hear that and you have our commitment that we will create space for those committees to adjust whatever their recommendation is based on the actual
Numbers thank you very much other questions Miss doeski thank you and thank you for the thorough presentation um one thought that I had with the luxury that the study is for elementary schools and since elementary school students have a take-home folder to reach families that might not be Tech logically inclined
What about a a flyer one for the central boundary study for those communities and one for the Northwest and that way it’s just another means of making sure that everybody is reached thank you so thanks for that recommendation we we actually on the slide it’s very difficult to see
There is a flyer that we do have and was provided as part of the toolkit however we can follow up to to make sure that that that has been provided okay home I got one that’s been Prov wonderful you did I said she metant another question you
Mean you got a flyer you got a flyer okay wonderful I got three that’s okay that’s that inundation right um Miss Fong did you have a question or a comment so we are currently still using the same contractor that we used for the previous boundary study for the new
Northeast Middle correct for this process we are using Cropper GIS yes so I really appreciate all of the work that you guys are doing to increase the community outreach um and the committee itself always it’s it’s hard work um looking at all these numbers and trying
To figure out what’s best um my concern from last time came because of the response to the survey and so H are there going to be any parameters that are changed as far as looking at the number of responses that are coming in before finally making a recommendation
So that we see that there’s more even distribution among all of the schools and communities that are affected so thank you thank you for that comment so the first thing that I’d like to say is we’ve um staff have have actually met with Cropper prior to these two studies
Beginning in September and we’ve changed some of the parameters and how we’ve asked them to facilitate the process for these two uh give the feedback from the board so we’ve already started to make some of those changes um in terms of looking at the survey we we’ve actually
Um we’re we’re pushing another more community and public survey around what those responses are and I think um your point about us interrogating those data as we receive them before we make a recommendation is on point any other um questions I I participate in a lot of boundary studies
And I think having that extra staff there is huge sometimes there’s nuances and discussions that are lost when it was um just kind of one office so I think you know having those meetings afterwards and really listening because that’s the feedback we got from the last
One is that this suggestion was made but somehow not heard and not followed through on so I think the more staff that you have there that can really listen um will also lend voice to those that may not you know be the loudest voices in the room so thank you for
Adding that component thank you right thank you for that um presentation you two still stay there because I think you’re up next nope yes oh no okay Dr Roger says you can go back all right I gotta get my script back up here okay let me see so next isn’t it
The okay they added some for okay so next on the agenda well okay never mind the next item on the agenda is a report on academic achievement and highly effective staff blueprint pillar one um and this is going to be focused on early childhood education and for
That I think my names aren’t quite accurate we have Dr wiad Dr dado and I think um Dr Rogers are you beginning this one yes okay thank you again uh this evening we are pleased to share a report on pillar one early childhood education this is the first installation
In a series of reports regarding the blueprint legislation and specifically uh the impact in Baltimore County public schools uh our progress and our next steps next slides please pillar one is focused on increased a increasing access and opportunity for our students uh specifically ensuring that our students have access to highquality full day
Preschool programs National and international educational researchers and economists continue to affirm the impact and value of high quality preschool education to student students specifically 50% of the achievement Gap in high school is attributed to Early Learning differences in schools preschool attendance almost always results in additional learning anywhere
From four months to one additional year of learning the impact of preschool is felt as far away as High School College and Career attainment and higher adult earnings for all students so at this time I’m going to turn it over to Dr dado and Dr wiad uh for them to dig into
Pillar one specifically what it’s about each tenant of pillar one and the current state of Baltimore County public schools and our next steps to expand thank you next slide please oh okay there it is uh so pillar one specifically in that legislation that Dr Rogers was talking about it was passed
In 2021 pillar one specifically talks about ensuring that we have initi Ives to um have all families access full day pre kindergarten at no cost or reduced cost um and that would be with public and private providers so that there’s Partnerships and also expanding the wraparound services for our students and
Families it talks about expanding the publicly funded full day prek for all four-year-olds and then lowincome three-year-old students again in that public/private um um system it’s also looking to increase the number of highquality Early Childhood service providers including Educators and the par educator or teaching assistant that’s in the classroom it expands
Supports for young children and their families and the goal is to improve the Readiness um for students in kindergarten part of that also talks about looking at our current halfday sessions and expanding them to full day sessions while also bringing on more full day session question s next slide
Please this one talks about the tear that we have and so when we have families register there’s an new requirement that we um collect income information from them to understand if they’re tier one tier two or tier three so our tier one three and four yearolds
Are supposed to be offered a full day program if they have an income less than or equal to 300% of the federal poverty level which right now is just just under $80,000 a year and other automatic qualifiers are students receiving special education services students uh qualifying as potential English Learners
Students experiencing homelessness and are in the foster care system um that’s supposed to be implemented currently as we speak and tier 2 is focused on four yearolds again the family income level changes slightly where it’s between 300 and not more than 600% of the federal poverty level um again families have
That choice to enroll or not uh in July of 2024 we have to discuss and decide what our sliding scale eligibility will be because we do have the option to charge families that are within the tier two and then finally tier three is again four-year-old programs for an family
Income that is more than 600% of the federal poverty level and um it is always the family’s option whether or not they want to enroll their child next slide so here we’re talking about how we’ve done this in BCPS uh you may recall I mentioned how we have to look
At our halfday slots and convert them to full day as well as bring on more full day slots to be able to have the option to serve all of our families uh currently what we’ve done is we have a crossed divisional and office group where we are looking at our halfday sessions our
Schools that have space we work with transportation we work with the office of budgeting we work with the office of Staffing where we look at if there’s a school for instance that has two half day sessions we don’t want to reduce the number of opportunities we have that’s
Typically 40 students that we’re serving so then we’re looking for two locations right two classrooms where those two half day sessions used to be in one classroom now they have to be in two classrooms so that’s the pattern we’ve been using to try to expand and you see
That in um FY 23 we expanded to six different schools we added 15 sections we grew this year even more and um we currently have full day sessions at the following schools our buus birkshire Chesapeake Terrace Chase Church Lane Franklin Glenmar Hallstead Harford Hills Hawthorne japav view Landsdown Maiden
Choice Martin Boulevard McCormick Middle sex Oliver Beach Perry Hall pattan Riverview rosville Sandalwood Sandy Plains Sena Shady Spring Victory Villa White Oak and Windfield and we have a goal to add even more sections for the FY 25 year here we’re showing 40 plus additional sections we’re really hoping
That number is going to be larger but again we’re in those final stages of meeting with the team to understand what can be done with Staffing Transportation space you know all of those layers um also what we do is when uh families enroll you know we’re serving more than
Just tier one students currently so when families enroll uh we request that schools hold uh a waiting list so if you are not a tier one student or family you’re on a waiting list until August 25th but they still hold four additional spots in each session for families that
May be automatic qualifiers and then we wait until September 15th in which case then we contact the rest of the families on the waiting list so right now we are serving more than just our tier one families next slide so part of pillar one also talks about um transforming some of our
Services for students with disabilities so we’re also looking at this opportunity to really provide more inclusive special education services so as we are opening these full day programs they’re being staffed with a different type of Staffing formula so they have a full-time teacher a full-time par educator an additional
Adult assistant as well as a 0. five special educator that’s really focusing on the Early Childhood learning opportunities for students what we want to do is while we are working towards providing full day uh preschool and pre kindergarten for our students we’re also looking to bring more students back to
Their home schools and provide appropriate inclusive Supportive Services for them whenever possible one of the things that we’ve done in currently in our service model is we um schools that don’t have prek we will identify a different school with prek for them schools that don’t have uh intensive special education services for
Our early Learners we will identify a different school to send so with the idea of really bringing students back to their Community Schools where they can access before school after school activities be with their peers ride a neighborhood bus walk to school or drive to school um we are really optimizing
This opportunity to need to support all of our students within their schools um in order to do that we’re providing additional professional development that’s being done in collaboration between the offices of special education and the offices of birth the five really looking at those inclusive practices with Universal Design um evidence-based
Practices as well as um utilization of our new prek curriculum which was uh implemented uh purchased last year implemented this year um connect for learning next slide uh Dr wiad spoke about the idea of a public private uh Partnerships with pre kindergarten the idea is that public
Schools may not have the ability to have seats for all students who are eligible for prek services so private prek providers are able to apply and get approved by msde as approved prek providers if that’s the case and a family decides to um come sub County
School it might be one of our schools that only has a halfday program currently we are poised to try to connect them with if possible a local provider who is approved by msde who can offer a full day pre- program again working in Partnership that it is a
Collective goal for the county to provide um full day prek and prechool services what you can see on the graphic is that um last school year 2223 um in Baltimore County there were four MS s De sponsored um private providers they had a total of 150 seats
That means how many seats their whole Child Care Centers had available so that could be then with students from Baltimore County public or possible Baltimore County public school students it could also be a student from inundo County those are just the one the providers that are within the Baltimore
County boundary for the current school year there are six MSD providers which then increase the number of seats within their programs to 217 part of pillar 1.1 really also talks about the ability of Baltimore County public schools to support priv provided providers to create continuity for
Students the idea is that you might go to a preschool in a private provider you might go to prek but eventually you might come to us for kindergarten and we want to create that cohesive pathway so we will provide uh training and professional development in tandem with
The private providers we through a Judy Center Grant will provide curriculum so the students are getting the same curriculum at those private providers as we’re offering in Baltimore County Public Schools we do conscious discipline training for their staff and we really do try to create a partnership with them next
Slide part of the uh pillar one also talks about our kind Kinder kindergarten Readiness assessment what we really want to see is that all this work that we’re doing with our three and four year-olds is going to pay dividends when we look at our kindergarten readiness assessment
For our students so the KRA is administered in the fall of every school year any student enrolled in kindergarten on September 1st is administered the assessment um this is a teacher-driven assessment so they do a lot of individualized assessment uh components with students as well as some group observational uh data collection it’s
Entered into a system um to MSD we usually don’t get our results back until December or beginning of January anuary however when we do receive them although we do have other measures along the way to see how our students are doing we use that as almost a okay they
Were here at the beginning of the year what are our other measures tell us about where they are now we do administer the map assessment in kindergarten in the winter for our students so sometimes it’s a really great thing for teachers to see because
When we do get the K data back they can see where the students were at the start of the school year and see where they are at the middle of the school year so you can start seeing the progress that students are making um The Early Childhood office as well as um in
Partnership with our department of research accountability assessment provides training for the teachers on how to administer the assessment um and there’s constant monitoring about the implementation of the assessment the completion of the assessment um to make sure that we are administering all parts to all of our students so that we have
Those that full picture of our students at when we receive those scores back next slide pillar 1.3 so hopefully you’re seeing a theme with um pillar one it’s really wraparound services for the whole young learner from um as early as birth to five to kindergarten age so we talked a
Lot about services for three and four year olds um our expanded family supports are really looking at some of those supports and services for our youngest children from birth to age three or till they start in a school setting so we have something called Judy centers Baltimore County currently has
Four of them at uh Campfield Bedford Hawthorne uh Bedford located at Campfield sorry Hawthorne Elementary featherbed and Sandalwood Judy Learning Center Judy centers uh strive to provide positive Early Learning experiences for students with their families so the idea is that students first teachers are their parents their caregivers and their
Families so Judy centers provide those wraparound supports and services to families to support their Young Learners at home they do things like collaborative play groups um parenting workshops uh connect family with resources connect families with resources within the community so if a parent or caregiver has a a need
For um dental assistance or mental health um Services even for their youngest children the duty centers serve as a conduit to help provide them access and make connections with those programs the other Early Childhood uh early early support offered is for our is through our infants and toddlers program so this
Is um students who parents caregivers who have uh concerns about maybe the developmental Milestones of their students can contact our office and make a referral for their student to be assessed by infants and toddlers infants and toddlers provide services to families in the most natural setting so
It could be in their home it could be in their daycare it could be at a library it could be at a local church um we do have some infants todler groups that meet in some of our schools so that they can have group settings of the kids together again this is another
Opportunity to provide Direct Services to students and at the same time the idea with infants and tods is really that family support and that family and parent training so that we’re supporting students working on those developmental milestones and at the same time providing families with those resources tools and strategies to provide those
Extra supports for them next slide we will take any questions that you may have questions Mr McMillian Dr you said the federal poverty level did you say $80,000 it’s it’s just under that so if I did my math right less than or equal to 300% of
That, no no the the up to 300% poverty level is a family income of just under $80,000 so 300% of the federal poverty level is just under 80 $880,000 and then a couple presentations previously you talked about there’ be private providers that might not have you’re going to need them but there
Might be some that didn’t have the funding to put into becoming certified msbe certif certified so you there was there was discussion about making funding available whether loans or whatever to those so did that ever ever progress so what it’s through msde so the private provider must apply for a
Grant through the Maryland State Department of Education and if they meet all the credentialing and follow all the same requirements that publicly we’re required to follow they receive the funding the per pupil allocation for the full day student as we do as a public institution but they have
To follow all of the same rules quote unquote that we follow in order to receive the funding and you were concerned at one point that there might not be enough seats especially if they didn’t pursue the private providers didn’t pursue those grants there would be some communities and and some of my
Communities might be there correct so um Dr Dado talked about how many we have right now I think that number was we have six different providers only providing us with 200 17 seat yeah yep St so part of the goal is that Outreach from the school system our early
Childhood office to provide support for those other local providers who might not yet have taken the leap to apply for um their MSD credentials so when we enroll students in school as kindergarteners um we identify something called prior care so we know what preschools dayc carees Child Care
Students went to as four-year-olds so looking at that information looking at you know if um thoughts of families in a certain Community might go to ABC Child Care Center is there an opportunity for us to support ABC Child Care Center in becoming an MSD approved private provider so reaching out to them
Providing that would you like to come to conscious discipline training what are the uh concerns that you have with accreditation what are those things that we can try to do to help because and again the goal is that it’s a mixed delivery model um and we need all not
Just the public schools but all private providers to help ensure that we have enough seats for all the students other questions from board members Miss Pumphrey I just have a question about um the KRA slide um you mentioned other two questions actually you me mentioned other measures can you
Describe what some of those other meas measures are and secondly once you have that data regarding the KRA and the um measures that you have prior what do you do with that data so um in addition to K we administer the map assessment which is the same assessment we use um
Throughout Elementary School um for both reading and math um we do it for kindergarteners in the winter and then again in the spring so essentially over time we’ll have the K which would be our start of the school year data our map Reading and math data for the middle of
The year and then again at the end of the year um we also for our younger students do something called The Early Learning assessment which we do with pre kindergarteners as well as kindergarteners which is again a monitoring of some of those foundational skills so we look at it all together so
When map dat is available because depending on the map window because it’s a long window knowing that schools have to test kindergarten all the way through fifth graders um if they administered early to their kindergarteners um they might have that data available before they even receive their KR data so again
Um school teams will work together to look at that we provide professional development to um School administrators stuff development teachers um and our resource teachers within our school building on how to disaggregate that to really look at okay what are the skills where students are showing strengths
Where are the areas of need how does that again coincide with what we see going on in classrooms every day so what is the quality of instruction that’s going on in a room how do we see them grouping students how are teachers following up with students based on the data um and so
The K although while it’s lagging data it does provide some information thank you other questions Miss Booker DWI I just had a question regarding the mixed delivery system for prek and the the resource sharing that’s associated with it so I know that they get the per pupil
Funding from msde so if they’re using so are they purchasing the curriculum that we’re using or are we allowing them access to to our curriculum um or we inviting them to the professional development and they’re paying for to go like could you talk a little bit about
How that who’s paying for them um that I guess that’s what I’m really asking it is not coming from BCPS operating budget it is coming from MSD grants that we may apply for that is to really build that Community Partnership so Baltimore county is at the lead of it helping
Provide those resources and those training so yes the private providers would be invited to professional learning so at the start of the school year we had a week-long professional learning for our prek teachers private providers were invited to participate in those um so we do try to and there’s
Some providers who say we have our own program we don’t want what you’re doing um but again it’s the offer of the collaboration and the partnership and really trying to support and looking at maybe smaller providers who don’t have all of those resources in place this could be very instrumental in supporting
Them to becoming MSD accredited and so there’s no real accountability for them to so they they become MSD accredited but then there’s no real accountability for BCPS we have no authority over them I guess what I’m say is what I’m saying for them to implement the sound
Curriculum for them to engage in the professional development so we still can’t be 100% sure that the private providers are providing an educational experience that’s comparable to BCPS correct but one yeah I mean they they do have to go through the same accreditation process which they’re monitored by the Maryland State Department of
Education okay do they right and then um when it comes to things like the enrollment you know so like the students who are enrolled will they have access to you know enroll their students do we know I get after the fact when they come into BCPS we know which ones they the prek
That they went to um but while they’re in prek is there any type of monitoring or um enrollment that we’re doing with them on the BCPS side so that we know or is all that data just coming afterwards so you’re very forward thinking right now it is um not very sophisticated
Right we’re using Excel spreadsheets but we are working with our department of informational technology to have a centralized system so that we can account for the students in this way when they come to us we know that you know where they’ve been before we already have that information um so
We’re working on that thanks is there a way to go back to the slide that had the numbers of seats it was like towards the beginning if you solve it up so that slide just want to make sure I understand you’ve got like the past on there and you got up to like
Next year correct yes okay so do we have a do we have any idea how many seats we think that we’re going to need I mean I know the private providers we just went to a state conference and that it’s not a county issue the providers across the
State are just not there um I think msda had thought we’d have this you know huge influx and it’s not happening so do we have any idea how many seats we’re going to need and how many we short um and especially if we yes says Dr Rogers in
My ear yes we know okay so we have um worked with strategic planning and they worked with um an outside provider Sage to come up with a number for our up to 300% 3 and fouryear olds that number is 8,000 approximately um if we want to serve everyone you can assume we have
Approximately 8,000 students per grade level so if we want to serve everyone that would be 16,000 for threey olds and four year olds and so how many for fiscal year 25 you had on that slide correct 1,700 we’re hoping we have 1 1700 more or we had 17700 total that
Would be total okay that’s where I was confused so 1,700 total but eventually full day but eventually we may need 8,000 for up to 300% poverty we still have the half day programs also so it’s not that it’s just this full day and these are the only students serve we do
Have other schools that have half day programs but maybe we don’t have the space to open two classrooms and we don’t want to lose 20 seats so we keep the two half day program so this isn’t a totality of this is the totality of full day okay and I should know but the
Pillar says full day correct correct okay so we’re still short lots of seats okay but it’s volunt right right okay so the 8,000 would be the most if everybody that we think is out there decided we’re going to come to schools yes okay correct all right thank you any other
Questions comments clarification Miss frang so um I you had mentioned on the um one slide about where the Judy schools are the Judy centers I apologize so I guess I was thinking as far as like the services that they do and I understand we’re trying to expand but
Especially when we talk about those things like the wraparound Services I guess has there been any thought given to partnering or putting more of those Judy centers in our community oh in the community schools um Duty centers are located in our Title One schools which oftentimes are also
Our community schools um to expand those programs because they do require Staffing a certain amount of resources we do rely on an MSD Grant to do that um so there’s a little bit of pacing along with what’s available from MSD for us to do that it is absolutely a plan of ours
To continue to expand it the um MSD grant information for next school year will come out in um between April and May we will be applying for that what we can say is that the whole concept with Community Schools which is also a you know out birth of of blueprint is really
To provide those Services resources connections within that whole community so while a Judy Center has a more concentrated focus on our earliest youngest students who live within a community our community school coordinators and facilitators are doing community outreach to an entire community so it’s not just the students
Who attend that school it’s to Future students who might attend that school and families and a couple more questions Okay so the one slide where you were talking about special education and I believe there were three adults and you mentioned full-time full-time full-time I think you said 0. five special
Educator so what does that mean like what does that actually look like in a classroom so a 0. five special educator schools can use it in a very various ways so if you chose to use it uh two full days and a half day is the equivalent or okay five half days it
Doesn’t mean that’s the their only special education allocation this was just an additional what above um what is the Staffing ratio for special education so if a school was supposed to you know their Staffing ratio for inclusion teachers might be 2.5 we are adding an additional 0.5 so that they
Have three full-time special Educators to provide in some cases we’re really trying to provide that early intervention services for students but it allows us the flexibility to provide additional Services as students may need them okay and then for the um inant and toddlers program for example if a parent
Has concerns so you kind of answer this I guess with Community School facilitators getting the word out but how otherwise does the word get out that there’s resources available for these early childhood and and infant issues so infants toddlers um a lot of communication comes out from the Baltimore County Health Department um
Sometimes uh children’s um pediatricians May recommend or refer them or complete the referral um students who are children who are born prematurely are more likely automatically um recommended for infants and toddler services at least for the parents to explore that um so uh last school year um there were uh
2,700 referrals to infants and toddlers um and over the course of the school year they ended up serving um 3,215 students children um ages birth to three so infants and toddlers does provide you know a variety of services and there’s various provide uh ways that we support families and accessing those
Thank you and then last piece related specifically to blueprint um and the full-time daycare so the private providers can get trained by us but is there so two questions in I guess do they have any requirement than to serve BCPS students because right in the facility it could be other areas but
If BCPS is paying for that training or applying for the grant I guess so that um they can get the training is there type any type of commitment then that we reserve the the provider will reserve a certain amount of seats for BCPS students and then how many actually
Participate in the programs when you put it out there to them so there is no requirement that they um hold seats for us to to answer that part of the question um and then as far as the numbers of our students again we just have Excel spreadsheets we don’t have a
Really sophisticated system um to find that out so you know we we just have the numbers that we provided to you that there were that the 200 seats for this year and it was aund and I forget what last year okay so how is that the number
Of providers that’s the number of seats we had four providers last year and six providers this year so if it’s a child care center that has um you know five preschool classrooms and five pre classrooms it would be the total number of children they could enroll in that
Child care center so and as far as your question as far as the you know enrolling a Baltimore County student so if they enroll a Baltimore County student that meets the um tier one eligibility they get the equivalent of the per pupil allocation funding for that student so there is a fiscal
Motivation for them to support Baltimore County students especially if they’re um meeting that eligibility criteria for tier one okay got it and then just to be clear on the response so what you’re providing is the number of of seats that the provider has but my question was how
Many providers so we’re not sure providers it was four providers last year and six providers this year thank you okay got it thank you it’s a low number yeah it’s a very low number yes any other questions or comments about pillar one presentation so how much our tax is
Going to go up to pay for all no I’m just cannot answer that one yes um just laughing because we went to a a state conference and the poor presenters were getting kind of beat up with because it all adds up and this is just pillar one we haven’t talked about we
Have some more to go right it’s a whole series right so thank you for providing all that information for answering ing all of our questions we um truly appreciate it right um thank you okay you’re welcome and the next item on the agenda is board member comments and
Agenda setting so um again feel free to pass if you don’t have anything um Mr manowski can I start you’re good okay good Mr Young okay Miss frang I’m good thank you okay meski I really like that somebody mentioned next week is kindness week oh that’s always good to remember um Miss Booker
DWI I have I just want to say thank you to all the principals and assistant principles um during this month thank you Mr McMillian no thank you okay Dr seavoy nothing thank you okay Miss Pumphrey yes I’m gonna go there sorry go ahead go there um first I would like to
Acknowledge The Bravery of our student speakers this evening I am grateful that they came to speak this evening because the voices of our students are so important I encourage encourage us as a board to prohibit political noise from drowning out the voices of our most vulnerable students who may not have the
Opportunity or ability to speak up for themselves I would also like to encourage us to prohibit political noise from distracting us from our focus on student student achievement putting our students first in our decision-making and looking to data when making decisions to support each and every student thank you thank you Mr German
Miss Harvey thank you madam chair I just want to uh let everyone know that the building and contracts committee is meeting next month November 6th Monday at 5:00 p.m. and we encourage uh the community to please attend thank you um and I just we had a very long waiting list tonight um
For the first time for public speakers so those speakers if you’re still listening um can send us their comments we do get all of the comments that you send to the Boe at BCPS .org so we encourage you and we thank you for coming out um and trying to speak
Tonight and the last thing are announcements Miss hen Miss I’m Sorry Miss hen I’m sorry do you have any comments or agenda items no I’ll just say good night and pass just wanted to say that thank you okay thank you the last item on the agenda is announcements the board’s next
Meeting will be held on Tuesday October 24th 2023 at 6:30 p.m. thank you for joining us tonight and the meeting is adjourned
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