Board of Education Climate Change Action Plan Committee Meeting May 6, 2026

001Good evening. The time is now 433 PM. And welcome to the May 6, 2026 Climate Change Action Plan ad hoc committee meeting. I am Pamela Boozer-Struther, committee chair in District 3 Board of Education member. It brings me great pleasure to welcome everyone to today's meeting. For those unable to observe now, the meeting is being recorded and can be accessed on the Pgcps YouTube channel for later viewing. The agenda and documents can be found on the Pgcps diligent page linked from the Board of Education homepage. I thank all of you for committing to this important oversight and partnership work. Agenda item 1.2 roll call. Ms. Mcmillan, please call the roll. Ms. Buser-struther? Donald Bell? Present. Kate Wonderly. Joseph Jacutek. Christina Quake. Timothy Meyer. He's on mute. Thank you. Timothy Meyer. Dorothy Morrison? David Noda. Present. Beth

002Novig. Ramon Palencia Calvo? Antoine Thompson. James Roberson? James DeJuan Garcia. Present. Maya Gudera. Olivia Thomas. Sophia Villar. and Michael Witherspoon. There are 10 members present. We have a quorum. So we will now move to 1.3 adoption of the meeting agenda, and just, um, I'll just pause for a moment. I think our attendees may actually be. Uh, panelists for the session, and we may need to move them over. I see Ms. Mariscal and, uh, Rojni. Um, from… writer bytes. If you could help with… help with that while we're moving forward with the agenda. So, uh, 1.3, adoption of the meeting agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the May 6, 2026 meeting agenda. There being no objections. The May 6, 2026 meeting agenda is adopted. Agenda item 1.4, approval of the meeting minutes.

003If there are no corrections, the committee shall approve the February 18th, 2026 meeting minutes as distributed. There being no corrections, the February 18, 2026 meeting minutes are approved. Agenda item 2.0 presentations. There are 6 items for discussion this evening. Each… for each item, we will limit each member's questions and feedback to 2.5 minutes per round. Unless a motion is taken for additional rounds. There will be two rounds per agenda item. Before we move to the Director of Sustainability report, I would like to welcome our special expert guests. Uh, each of them will be introduced under their presentation agenda items. And one other change this evening, we will be moving item… 2 points… 6, the 2026 Maryland General Assembly Legislative update review of past bills, um, as our first item. So I will recognize Mr. Timothy

004Meyer to provide the legislative updates. Thank you. Thank you very much, Chair Boozerstruther, and I was. I don't think I was able to say that I was present during the roll call, because. Uh, I was having some technical issues, so I am present. Uh, if it's possible for someone to share the… I put together a list in a document that could be sent to all committee members, but I'll… if it's possible to share that and scroll along as I give the updates, but otherwise I'll just read it from. Uh, safe passenger seat in my car right now. The first bill… there's 10 different bills that I was tracking that were either climate, transportation, or pedestrian safety related. This legislative session. And the 1st one is Hb 79. The Climate Solutions Affordability Act of 2026. That

005was a bill that PGCPS took no position on, but I'm going to note tonight that I wish that that was that's one that we had actively opposed. The bill has been introduced several times in the past and is always opposed by. the Maryland Department of the Environment, and many of the leading environmental organizations throughout the State, and the key phrase in the description of it is that climate solutions should be carried out to the extent economically practical, which is really coded language for. finding a fiscal reason to not. uh, implement climate action, climate action. So the bill was referred to the House Environment and Transportation Committee had a hearing, but didn't have a committee vote, didn't go anywhere. But going forward, if the bill comes back next year, that's one that I would advocate for

006PGCPS to take an official opposed position on. The next bill, which is the only one of these that actually passed, or one of the one of the only ones that actually passed is Hb. 429 Sb. 599. It's on farm organics and wasted food reduction and diversion grant programs. And, uh… the bill. The bill helps promote compost composting and other food reduction measures similar to what we have in our own Pgcps climate change action plan. Path the House is 126 to 7, past the Senate. 41 to nothing, and there were a few amendments, but this bill has already been sent to the governor and signed into law. Uh, PGCPS did not take a position on this bill. They were just listed as no position at all. Um, and this was, as I said, one of the…

007one of the big climate wins that we had this legislative session, so… Uh, it was a missed opportunity for us to have taken a position on a good climate action bill. Next is HB 614, Sb. 381, school building energy usage monthly report Pgcps. support position. Um, this would be a way of tracking data on energy uses, and then reporting that data to the interagency Commission on School Construction. Um, it was referred to two House committees, had hearings, but no vote. And then went to the Senate EEE Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, also had a hearing and no vote. And you'll note… you might note that that is a comment. There's going to be a common theme with a lot of… a lot of bills we're discussing today and a lot of education bills in

008general. is there were a lot of bills that either had either passed one chamber and then did nothing usually in the Senate, or just bills, good bills that had hearings, and there wasn't the will to move them forward one way or the other. Uh, the next bill, I'm actually wearing my Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day shirt, because today was National Walk Bike and Roll to School Day. Next bill is HB 486 SB 526. That is the PGCPS supported bill that would have established Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day statewide in Maryland for the second year in a row, we had a great House hearing unanimously passed that or not, sorry, not unanimously. We overwhelmingly passed the House of Delegates. Last year, overwhelmingly passed the House of Delegates. This year, both years, the bill died

009in the Senate triple E committee. And when I say it was not taken unanimously, there's actually been a social media campaign over the last, uh, both. During legislative session and over the last couple days that a couple delegates have decided to make this bill their target for social media posturing. But I already have a commitment from at least one member to bring this bill back next year, and I'm going to be working over the next couple months to continue building more support, so. Next year, we will… next year, we will be bringing back the Ruby British Walk to School Day bill for the third year in a row. Uh, and I know we have the support in the house, so the key is going to be getting it through the Senate. The next bill and

010other school pedestrian safety related bill HB 1491, FB 71 as the jurisdictional safe pathway. Pathways Commission establishment. The best way to describe this bill is it would be similar to a statewide version of the county Prince George's County had our school pedestrian safety work group that board member. And several other people from PGCPS served on this would it's not exactly the same, but it would the closest parallel is that this would be a of that looking at, um… Looking at different types of safe path pathway recommendations that could be made. both statewide and in communities throughout the state. Keeping with the theme, it was referred to the House Environment and Transportation Committee and the Senate Education, Energy. boat and uh this is one that I want to put because up and and PGCPS took no

011position on it. This is one that I, at least in my personal capacity, am going to make a priority to make sure we have good sponsors next year and bring that bill back, because. We know from the work that we've done in Prince George's County that even putting together a commission and group of people to study these issues can start start having a positive impact. Uh, next is HB 394, SB158. That's a construction of sidewalks and crosswalks, safe alternative routes to public schools. Uh, had several Prince George's County sponsors, including Mary Lehman and Denny Tavares. Um, continuing the theme, went to, uh, this one actually went to two different committees in the House. Had a hearing, no vote, and that same EEE committee in the Senate had a hearing, no vote. I will say the

012criticism of this bill has always been. That it has a high local fiscal cost, which varies, but it would shift costs onto local and county governments. So part of the argument against it is that it's an unfunded mandate. But of course, with a lot of the school pedestrian safety work that we have done, and the incidents we've seen. I know there were. Just recently, um, other examples of students being hit going to and from school. the the cost of not acting on these types of bills is… far far greater and far higher than the cost that would be incurred by just making sure we have basic infrastructure in place. Um, there is one… there is one bill to celebrate here. Hb 1504 highways, sidewalks, and bicycle pathways. It is also known as the Honorable Ann

013Healy Pedestrian Safety Act of 2026. The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously, so this is one pedestrian and bicycle… bicycle safety piece of legislation that did pass. Uh, it's gone to the governor, it's waiting for a signature. As of. As of yesterday, it had not been signed yet, so we'll be tracking to figure out, but this was a, of course, Delegate Ann Healy is retiring, and usually when delegates retire, they sometimes put their name on one last piece of legislation to commemorate their service. So. Uh, we are very happy that this was the bill that is Ann Healey's retirement retirement bill and an accomplishment, because it will have a good impact on pedestrian safety. So it's definitely better to have this bill than a couple of the other bills that. that could have passed

0142 school bus related bills, and then one last one. Hb. 110 is a school bus seatbelt bill introduced by Denny Tavares referred to committee, never really got any traction. and then there is one other bus bill Hb 1019 school bus transition, propane powered school buses, grant program fund and purchase. This was sponsored by Jason Buckle, who is the Republican leader in the House, and Seth Howard, who is another delegate. It was received unfavorable testimony from climate parents of Prince George's, which Joe Jacuda wrote that I believe wrote the testimony on that. League of Conservation Voters, Maryland Department of the Environment, and the Maryland Vera Club. Pgf actually took a support position on this, and I know that I know there are some reasons why we're dealing with our. we're dealing with issues with our bus

015fleet. And so we're we need to try to get buses anyway that we can. But in a perfect world, hopefully next year we could be making a push for electric school buses and not the propane buses. But the bill went to committee didn't have a hearing. Uh, perhaps what the committee had a hearing, but no vote. And the very last bill that I want to highlight, which is in some ways one of the more important bills of the session, HB 1329, Sb. 930. or education public school construction funding. And the short version of this bill is it would have taken the state's goal on school construction and a year, $550 million. And unfortunately, the bill went to the Appropriations Committee in the House, had a hearing. I testified in person on it, but it didn't

016have a vote. I submitted testimony to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. They also had a hearing to give the vote. So this was the best opportunity for a school construction funding bill. This legislative session that would have helped all public schools. There was one other one that passed that is very narrow and targeted. But this, this is was the best opportunity to tackle school construction, and. didn't go anywhere. And I'm noting school construction in the context of our climate change action group, because school construction and modernization is one of the best ways that we get more climate resilient schools. All of these schools that are being built are climate upgrades over the schools that they're replacing. And so even though there's an environmental cost to getting rid of old materials and construction themselves, we

017know from our own experience in Prince George's County that investing in school construction is one of the most important things we can do for climate action in the school system. So, there were many other bills, but these were the 10 that I chose to focus on, and that concludes my report on the legislative session, but I can answer any questions if anyone has any. Okay. All right, thank you, Tim, for that very comprehensive report. And I will now open it up to questions about any of these bills. Joseph? Well, not so much a question, board member, but there was one additional bill that we're going to tag team on that I want to make sure got brought to folks' attention. This was HB 1532. It was called the Utility Relief Act. Of course, as soon

018as I start talking, the kids come home. Let me go right upstairs. The utility relief act. It is was the omnibus Frankenstein of an energy bill about 200 pages long, and um… bury in there in the there's a program called the Strategic Energy Investment Fund. It's money that is provided by alternative payments for energy companies that don't want. They can't meet their solar requirements, and there's 4 particular. call outs in there that I think could be of interest to the schools. In state governments, 920B-05. 27? is states to provide funding for clean energy and efficiency programs for buildings, including low-income household energy efficiency and school electrification. Number 28 is to provide funding for transportation related emission reductions programs, including electric vehicle charging infrastructure and electric school bus deployment. 29 is to provide funding for electric

019system resiliency programs, including microgrid installation and resiliency hubs, and 15 is to provide loan and grants for building electrification, including electrified district energy systems and electrified thermal energy generation assets. Within a district energy system, and transportation electrification. So definitely 27 and 28 have specific call outs for schools. Um, and then 29 and 15 possibly have funding streams related to what we're doing. Thank you so much for providing that additional information on that bill and the and the sort of themes that are overlapping where we're headed. So that does sound very positive for Pgcps. Anyone else have questions on. On the legislative session. All right, I'm not seeing any hands in the moment, so we will, uh, now go back to the top of the agenda, 2.1, Director of Sustainability Report, uh, and the Chair recognizes

020Director Morrison. Thank you. Thank you, Board Member Brussel Struthers. Good evening, committee members and those watching virtually of our virtual participants. The sustainability report essentially is just a summary of updates. Since the last meeting, and we also do a deep dive or focus presentation, and tonight that presentation will be on priority area 5, which is food waste reduction and growing climate friendly food. But before we get to that. Uh, quick updates, um, as we do every year. Thanks to the Schmidt Center in collaboration with some other CTE programs and DSR was able to host the Student Environmental Summit successfully. It was a two-day event. The first day was at the Bowie State University, and, um, we had about 23 schools and 234 students in attendance. Day two was at the Bladensburg Waterfront, and we had

021about 21 schools participating with 179. Students in attendance. The second Climate Ambassador's training was also hosted on April 22nd and the 23rd. This is a partnership with Eco America. And in terms of upcoming events, we have the Sustainability and Climate Change Leadership Summit. On May the 27th. invitations went out, I believe, uh, last week, and maybe early this week as well. This year, this event will be at the Patuxon Wildlife Refuse, and if you have not gotten the invitation, let me know. I've also included a link here. Oh, I'm sorry, I just realized that. The presentation was Mike. I'm sorry. I just realized the presentation wasn't up. Are you able to do that? Thank you. There we go. I think we're on the second slide. There we go. Thank you. So there we have the

022registration link for those who are available and interested in attending. Please go ahead and register, because we do have a cut off number. So if you can register asap, that would be great. So you will be included. Okay, so the next priority area is party or 2, which is our carbon footprint reduction. And Pgcps is currently in the enrollment process with the energy cap building energy performance standards. I believe. Mr. Myers mentioned earlier that buildings with the square footage of 35,000 square feet are required to report. So that's a lot of our administrative buildings. And they're due on the June 1st, 2026 of this year. So next slide, please. we and we are still working on the solo master contract. It's taking a while. We, as you recall, we did the Rfi, and now we're

023working with some consultants so we can put that RFP out, and we'll have pre-vetted vendors that would be under contract so that we will deploy our solar projects in our various schools. Party of 4. I apologize. It was Sean Matlock. I guess he was saying it. I didn't know if he was on the call. Party 4 the low carbon school transportation. Happy to report that the the grant we applied for. In the amount of $1.6 million dollars, roughly, has been awarded to PTCPS in April. Last month it was awarded, and this funding would go towards infrastructure upgrades, specifically at our Greenbelt and Crestland bus slots. So that's, um, we're very excited about that, especially. Now, when funding is very short, so we're very happy to have these, um, to receive these awards. We have also

024released, um, an RFP, it's out on the street right now, and this is the RFP to get a contractor to, um, work with us to install our charging infrastructure, as well as operate and maintain them. And the RFP closes this Friday actually, May the 8th. We have also launched a new focus group on electric school bus and lot modernization which was established and is being chaired by board member Booza Struthers and co-chaired by Board Member Olivo. So, more on that. Next slide, please. Oh, there we go. What happened to it? So we've had just to kind of let everybody know, we've had two meetings of that focus group that was developed with the electric school buses. And we'll have the third one on the 13th, I believe of May. If you all are available, please,

025please, you know, join in and participate. Okay, so April was a very busy month for us, as we know, Earth Month. And these are just some of the events that occurred in the month of April. We had a partnership with Eco Hero, and they were able to deliver a live stream educational event for our elementary schools. And we had about 12,285 students participate, so that's a very huge number. We're very excited about that, that we had so many kids participate, and the focus was on recycling, composting, and reducing waste. Um, and this is just a… Innovative way to engage the kids with music and storytelling. Moving on to part area 7 climate resilient land management. The State of Maryland is kicking off what they're calling a schoolyard forest program. It's a tree planting event, and

026I'm happy to say that Prince George's County. was the first school that helped the state kick off this event, so we're very proud of that. Micah, do you want to… I don't know if, um, I think there was a press release. This link is going to take you to a press release. I'm not going to take too much time on showing you that, but there is a press release that DNR put out. It's on their web page, and it highlights. The event. So that was on April the 20th. And along the lines of resilient land management, we have been working, you know, diligently with, you know, all the different departments within. the school system to develop an SOP of sorts, a standard operating procedure, but it's actually an MOU, and that allows partners that want

027to partner with the school system to do things like tree planting, community garden, food forest, and so, um. Christine is leading that effort, and so we're happy to announce that it's in the final stages, it'll be signed by the General Counsel, and that will serve as a template or the SOP moving forward for future projects like that. Let's see, and then also wanted to announce that you may have heard that PGCPS received the National School Board Association grand prize for initiatives that focused on improving our indoor air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Now, this is only 1.5 minutes. I'm going to show the video that highlights that a little bit. Micah, do you want to click on that link? Oh, no sound. Oh, oh. Can folks hear that? I guess there's no sound. Can

028we put on the captions? Can we put on the captions? Huh? Um, Micah, is that something you're able to do? Let me see, give me one second… If not, I mean, like I said, it's in the presentation, so folks could look at it at their leisure. But. Captions are the little CC box all the way to the right. If you click on that, it'll give us. And the sound is here. We got the volume. On behalf of the Prince George's County Board of Education and PGCPS Administration, we thank the National School Boards Association for the honor of the 2026 Magna Award Grand Prize for the Go Green Initiative. In April 2021, the board set in policy the climate change action plan. Our work was centered on a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgency

029of healthy indoor air quality for student and staff safety. We merged this knowledge about the benefits of portable air cleaners and MERV 13 HVAC filters with a Clean Energy Schools construction plan. We are proud of the measurable results five years later. Here, sustainability is not an initiative. It's a long-term commitment to student success, operational excellence, and more resilient futures for our communities that we proudly serve. We know from studies that the indoor environment accounts for 50% of the impact on learning. Factors related to eco-friendly designs, such as the quality and quantity of natural light, thermal comfort in the classroom, and air ventilation, improve student focus, mood, and academic performance. With this in mind. Advanced HVAC systems are being installed district-wide so that we can enhance the air quality. We're making strategic investments that advance sustainability,

030strengthen resilience, and support healthy, high-performing learning environments. We're systemically reducing our carbon footprint while improving indoor air quality for our students and staff. Thank you, Micah. So I just wanted to add that. Well, first of all, give ourselves a round of applaud. I just wanted to add that the superintendent of the board's chair and board member Bruce Struthers were there to accept the award and special thanks also to Miss Sheila Stevens, who was there to give a presentation. About, um, the indirect Quality Program and Plan. So with that, before we get into our deeper dive, I'd like to open it up to questions. If anyone has any questions. I'll watch for hands. Anyone have questions on this portion of the the agenda? Joseph. And thank you, and congratulations on the award. That's really great news.

031I'm wondering about how many school buses the… both of the lots will be able to charge once that project's completed? Sure. So we have 8 in each location, and those are by, I guess that's the terminologies by ports, so that essentially would be 16 at cross and 16 at Greenbelt for a total of 32. and that should, because right now I think we have. We have 21 buses in hand, and we have another 8 that we are about to purchase. So that would take care of, like. A whole fleet. Is there a way to do, like, staggered charging, too, if you have more come on, or is it? Oh yeah, definitely. These are just, like, this is just starters, essentially, those two locations will obviously, as the funding becomes available, we will obviously build more

032charging, but we want to make sure we have the charging infrastructure. And I know Director Baldwin, I don't know if he's on the call, but I know he's, um. very adamant about us having the charging infrastructure to charge the buses, so yeah, that's a high priority. And we've actually communicated it to some of the state funders that while we appreciate all your funding, you know, if you could fund us to have the infrastructure in place. Um, and not just the buses, right? Because to date, it's just been the buses. Alright, great. Thank you both. Thank you, Director Morrison. Before we move to 2.2, I would like to acknowledge my colleague, student member of the board, Ariad. She is joining us today because she did make. Um, the portion of this work around the food and

033nutrition services and the tastings that, um, uh, James Duan Garcia also worked on as part of this group. a priority for her one-year term as student member of the board, and I thought it would be great to have her here in case she can be part of the discussion after Director Kirkland, so thank you so much, Ari, for joining us. I see you coming on camera now. So, uh, agenda item 2.2 presentation on Priority 5, reduce food waste and grow climate-friendly food. The chair recognizes Director of Food and Nutrition Services, uh, Mary Kirkland. Thank you. Hi, good evening, everyone. So as board member struggles mentioned, one of our goals for this year in terms of priority 5. We've been conducting taste tests with our with our student member of the board. Um, and outside of

034our student member of the board as well, too, we've conducted it with several schools. Um, but in terms of the climate-friendly food service, um, one thing that we have done, at least for our Innovation Zone schools, we were… we received a local school food grant. And with that, with those funds, we provided fresh produce in our Innovation Zone schools to our Innovation Zone schools from a local farmer, which is Moon Valley Farms. And so for the month of last month, actually, every week, um, those schools received a shipment of fresh strawberries to serve on the lines in those schools. Um, just due to the, um… it wasn't district-wide, just due to the amount in which the grant was, so we focused on those 33 schools, um, to work with our local, um. a local farmer

035through that grant. Um, but in addition to just our… developing our menu and things of that nature and doing taste tests, um, earlier this year, the first taste test we did to kick off the year was with, um, our student member of the board, um, and her, uh, I'm gonna say her cabinet. Um, where we, uh, partner with one of our vendors, um, JTM, and we focused on plant-based, um, plant-based options, and so we really focused around a pea protein, um, and we did that with taco meat, um, as well as a pasta dish. Um, and then we also just did, um… it is a, uh… Gluten-free, um, clean, um, all-beef, uh, meatball that we did, with different sauces that are also gluten-free. So really focusing on plant-based, but then also allergens. And, um, I

036don't know if, Ari, if you wanted to speak to your experience with that. And then I can share what we've done outside of that taste test as well, too. Yes, so thank you. Dr. Kirkland, and thank you so much board member and members of the committee for having me here today. So basically, from the food taste testing, it was really fun like it was a fun experience. From what I gathered from all the Swamp Advisory Council members. They enjoy tasting the food. They gave positive feedback, and of course I told them that, you know, be honest right now, because this, like, if you say that you really like this food, that we're tasting right now, this is what's going to be, you know, placed inside of, like, the school lunch cafeterias, and also, like, served

037pretty much every single day. So they gave their raw honest opinions. I enjoy the food that I ate that day. It was really nice. So to be part of the experience. And of course, I'm really glad that other schools were also able to, like, like the food and nutrition team is able to move it to other schools all across the district so that other schools can also have a taste of it as well. Thank you. Um, and so outside of that taste test as well, too, we really focused on using whole muscle meat for what we offer our students. And so, also, we did do a taste test, um, with some of our, uh, chicken tenders. Um, so that we can actually get a better product in, um, using whole muscle white meat chicken, so

038that it's a better product in general. Um, and so even with that, we are transitioning our menu to incorporate that, as well as, um, we also just did another taste test, um, I believe it was at Benjamin. Benjamin Tasker Middle School, um, where we were focused on our walking taco. Um, where we also had some of. another JTM product that we wanted to taste test, and even that product in itself, um, was… well received, and it's going to be on the menu for next year. But one way that we, um, have reached out to schools to continue some of our taste tests is to put out a memo to let schools sign up so that we can get more, uh, we can hear more from our students from district-wide across the district. And with that,

039we've had a great response. And so, throughout the month of May, we'll be doing several more taste tests as well, too, to include some gluten-free options for our students, as well as one thing we're talking with our, um… Just our vendors for next year is to ensure that, um, while yes, we have commodity dollars, we really want to focus on our US DoD funds that we get, ensuring that we get more fresh fruits and vegetables served on our lines for our students, um, just so that they have more options to choose from, and it's not necessarily things that are processed and things of that nature. And that goes from having carrot sticks to a variety of apples to even having a hard. of a month harvest of the month for next school year, so then

040we can really focus on that, and we can have nutrition education to go along with it, because we currently have a fresh fruit and vegetable program that operates in, um, select schools that are determined by the state. And so in using the list of produce that we would use for that program, we're going to also utilize that as the harvest of the month to have on the actual menu for next year and provide nutrition education to go along with it. So then. While certain schools are funded by the state, we're funding the other schools to introduce students to different fruits and vegetables on their menu in general. Um, but in addition to that, with our, um… just some of our, um, the things that we package our food in, um, we've been working with our,

041um. Vendor, uh, Acme, um, to get different, um… our clamshells right now that we put our salads in, we're looking to transition those, um, to a more climate-friendly, uh. uh, container, um, that's actually bigger as well, too, so then the salad can be more presented, uh, differently, so therefore we'll be transitioning to that for next school year as well, too. And hopefully, if everything works out, um, for us, we'll also be transitioning. naturalization, you will be adding smoothies and smoothie bowls to our menu for next year, um, pending, um, grant, you know, grants and, um, just getting things approved to fund those programs as well, too. So we really wanted to ensure that we listen to the students this year as, um, I met with. the students several, uh, at the beginning of the year,

042several times, just to hear some of the things that they wanted and incorporating student voice in our menu. Um, but then just making sure that it's not just focused on maybe one or two schools or a certain grade levels, but it's consistent across the district. to make sure that it's equitable across the board and that everyone receives the same thing. Any questions? Oh. Yes. Does that conclude your report? Okay, great. Thank you so much. Any questions from the committee? So I don't have any questions, but I really enjoyed working with you last year, Dr. Kirkland, and I am so happy that you continue your enthusiasm and just your care and consideration for students and what their thoughts and opinions are. And that you make it an act of learning experience. And Michael, you and I

043won't be here for this great stuff next year, but we're so happy that our peers and everybody else is. Thank you very much. I'm actually sitting here reading a cookbook called. Weekday vegetarian. Um, so I am. Yay on all of this. Thank you so much, Dr. Kirkland. Thank you for just I would say this, even though I know you won't be here, and Michael may not be here, just know that this is also the work that you all have put in to, um, help make this change and bring things to the forefront for us to really take action and make in in. bring it to life for the students. So thank you all as well, too. Absolutely, absolutely. James? Oh. Hello, Dr. Kirkland. I just have a follow up on the clamshells. Are you looking

044to transition those into a compostable product or a recyclable product? I'm just curious on that. Okay. Um, is… well, it's gonna be compostable, it's just that at first, our vendor didn't have one that was large enough, and it would have been recyclable, but we've really been working hard to get one that's compostable when we transition from our current clamshell to another one. Our current one. Um… I… I was notified that it's not necessarily, I don't want to spin and speak, but I believe it's not compostable right now, but I believe that it is, but I believe, well, it's not. And so in transition into that, we've really worked hard to work with our, um. vendor to find something that is compostable that also is bigger, so it presents better, and we can fit more vegetables

045inside the actual container. Got it. Thank you. The one we currently have is not recyclable either, so… appreciate the transition, um, that'll definitely helpful. Anyone else have a question? I'm not seeing any other hand, so I'll go ahead and ask my question. I know that Board Member Ajakai has been also very interested in in the scratch cooking aspect of the work. I was wondering if there's any. Updates that can be shared in that… in that aspect of the food and nutrition services. Absolutely. That's been a very big topic for us this year. And so with that, how we have approached the scratch cooking is we started with our infrastructure inside of our schools and seeing exactly, like, what equipment they have, and is scratch cooking possible. Right? And with that, um… have visited other school

046districts that actually do scratch cooking to see, like, how they, you know, what equipment they have, do they have a central production facility? How can we transition what they do into our kitchens? And so, we're still in the beginning stages of it and planning it out. But I will say that even for next school year, while you may not see raw proteins on our menu and things of that nature for next school year, because there's a training aspect that goes into that, um, as I talked about the smoothies, as I talked about, um. the fresh vegetables and things of that nature, while those are fresh speed scratch options that we're gonna start with, and then as we get more training for our staff and things of that nature, we'll transit… we'll… our hope is to

047transition to, um, actual hot items that are, um. That can be made from scratch. But right now, we're still in the beginning stages, in the planning stages, and really working on, um, like, what we can do and where we can start to get this into our schools. Yeah, thank you so much. Board member. Are you still able to come on camera and comment on this aspect of the work? Um, yes, I'm not able to come on camera because I'm currently in transportation to my swap advisory council meeting tonight, but yes, for the scratch cooking, I actually learned about it during one of our conferences throughout the year from another district across, you know, the United States of America. And they said that that is one of the things that have been going good for them

048because it allows students to like actually see the foods that well. Like, they know that the foods that they're eating inside of their schools are being created from scratch materials, materials that they can't even like see at home. And then… Oh, that's all right. We were so happy that you could fit in joining us for for a time. I know you're going to be leaving us by 5:30. Yeah, and again, I want to thank you for during your year student member of the board that you identified this aspect of our work together on the Climate Change Action Plan and a benefit to students to reboot the tasting committee that had been dormant for some years. And to move into the systems around this that would include bringing scratch cooking or or furthering scratch cooking within

049PGCPS. So on behalf of the committee, thank you so much. Just a comment, yeah, real quick. Director Kirkland, if you are looking for a pilot site to do the scratch cooking, uh, the Schmidt Center would certainly be interested in having that conversation. So, as that moves forward, uh. Uh, just consider us. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Alright, well, thank you so much, Director Kirkland. We will now move to our first case study, item 2.3, case study with Brighter Bites, PGCPS Community Schools Program. And I will have Director Morrison introduce our presenters. Thank you. And we have camera. Sure. So we have 2 case studies tonight. The first one being brighter bites, and the second one being a case study on blueprint for Maryland's future food security for Prince Georges County families. So we're going to

050start off with. Ms. Rajani? sued Laurent, I guess. And so, go ahead, take it away. Nice. Yes, thank you so much, everybody. Good evening. It is nice to see you. I see a lot of familiar faces. I do have a presentation, and I also have another team member, Miss Mariscal. I know you're here as well. If you want to just. give a shout out to everybody and say hi. Oh. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Miss Mariscal, Community School Coordinator at Cherokee Lane. Hi. Amazing. And so I I believe I have ability to share screen. So I'm going to go ahead and do that, and… Fingers crossed that nothing, uh, yeah, it looks good on my end. Is everybody able to see that? Okay. Excellent. Well, this conversation is a perfect segue into talking about brighter bites.

051I love hearing about the fresh fruits and vegetables, taste tests, scratch cooking. That is exactly what brighter bites is about. So just a little note myself. I'm the senior program manager for the brighter brights greater DC Metro team. We said hello to Miss Mariscal, community school coordinator. So today I'm just going to give an overview of what we do at brighter bites in partnership with Prince George County Public Schools. And then I'm going to let Miss Vanascale shine because the work that has been happening at Cherokee Lane. Um, for the past 5 years, in partnership with them, has been really phenomenal. Um, so what exactly is brighter bites? We're a nationwide nutrition education nonprofit. We got started in 2012 in Houston, and we have grown. Our mission is across the whole country, creating these communities

052of health through fresh food. We do that in three simple ways. We make sure that people have access. You can eat healthy if you don't have access. So throughout the school year, we are providing families at our partner schools with food, healthy food, fresh food. We also do nutrition education. We are behavior change. focused organization. We want to see people learn and choose to use those foods because they know why they're important for them. So nutrition education is critical to the work that we do. It's not just a stopgap. It really is investing in the future so that. our children and our families are growing strong and making those choices for themselves with that education they've learned. And we make everything fun. Um, and we do a lot of recipe demonstrations, taste testings. We play

053games, we activities. We want to change people's relationship with the foods that they're eating, and make it positive. So what exactly brought us to doing this work? I mean, our research shows that children across the Us. Just aren't eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and they're really having, you know, just too many sugar sweet beverages. Um, so we know that if we're bringing these foods to the schools, meeting families where they're at. making it as easy as possible, and it's free. When families participate in the program, they're not paying for these foods, and it is equal access. Every single family and student has equal opportunity to participate. And so we know when we do that, it's making it equitable, right? And that is so important to the work that we're doing, that this

054is just. How we live as a nation. Uh, we also know that, you know, schools are tasked with a lot of things, and Ms. Montescale, you can speak to this. There's… there aren't enough hours in the day. I'm sure everybody on this phone call knows that, to address all the things that are important to focus on. And so, honestly, our education really doesn't just happen in the school place. It happens outside. We want families to learn alongside their students and be able to practice what the students are learning during the school day with their teachers, engaging with the Brighter Brights team, with other staff at the school, that they're really able to practice eating healthy at home. We do offer workshops to engage parents. We get into classrooms, we work hand in hand with the

055students and the teachers. It's really bringing healthy and healthy eating and nutrition to the forefront and integrating it rather than having it live outside. of our existing curriculum, um, because we all know that you need to be well, and you need to take care of yourself and be strong in order to be productive, right? Yes. Yes. Um, so we also, as I mentioned, the fun part, uh, the demonstrations, the recipes. People can enjoy new foods, get over the hurdle of saying, like, Brussels sprouts look disgusting, I had no idea what a parsnip is, we get them past that point, right? We have recipes. Everything is available in English and Spanish, and like I said, we're always making it fun and always getting their feedback. I think a little bit later I talk about, yeah, actually,

056this is perfect. Mm-hmm, yep. Um, we are always interested. Are we doing what we committed to doing? We're collecting data yearlong. We do pre and post surveys, and there's a method to our madness. We… I said we're a long-term investment. 3 years at a minimum. That's what we're looking to do with each partner school. And any school that partners with us for 3 years or more years, we never say goodbye to them. We are doing our best with the resources we have to reach as many schools as possible. And in the case you'll hear with Miss Mariscal, we're not going anywhere. Nope! Right? It's gone well beyond. But our research shows that in just a couple of years of being a Brighter Bites family at our schools. Mm-hmm. Families are getting more servings. They're reporting

057that, yes, we're eating more fruits and veggies. Yes, we're doing more scratch cooking. My kids are helping in the kitchen. We're seeing the results that we're looking for. They do happen, but it does take time. And it's certainly, you know, it's a partnership, so you can see just we're doing it nibble by nibble. We're taking it across the country, um, and the program is really designed to be very easily scalable and replicable. We also do some work during the summer months as well, because we know the need does not go away in the summer. Um, this is information that you all know too well since we all live in this region, but, you know, why? Like, how do we make those decisions of where to go? And we're looking to address areas that. don't have,

058um, as easy access or as consistent access to healthy foods and to other resources, and so we want to make sure we're going to those areas so that they have these opportunities. Again, just tying nutrition to food as medicine. The cost of not taking care of ourselves with good nutrition are just too great, and so we're really focused. And I didn't mention, but we are specifically focused on elementary school because we want to start young, we want to start early. Okay. Um, and there are honestly too many partners. I by no means have listed all of our partners that we have that support the work we do and make it possible. But I see, you know, Dr. Ingrid is on the phone. Um, others with community schools, our suppliers. Um, there's too many people, honestly,

059that make this program possible, so thank you. Many of you have been very, um, you know, strong advocates of the work we've been doing. So we've been in the area since 2018. We get started with just two schools and since then we have served millions of pounds of fruits and vegetables to thousands and thousands of families and countless number of nutrition lessons. And that 28 number that's listed on the slide, it is much more than that. We're doing some new, um, a new model that we tried this year that we're going to continue with next year that actually allows us to reach a lot more schools in new ways. It also has allowed us to expand a little bit into middle school and high school. So it's. Yes. It's a lot. This current school year,

060we officially like full partnerships we have with 13 elementary schools in Prince George's. And as I mentioned, we're just always looking to adapt and be flexible. We've definitely evolved since we got started in 2018. S. I've been with the team since the beginning, so I've seen those evolutions getting through the pandemic. It's been great. It's been really great to see how much we've grown. And I can't say enough, again, about community schools. Your support has allowed. This to happen in so many ways. We are here and able to serve as many families and schools and have as many partnerships because of the work that we're doing with community schools specifically. Um, and so it's important for us that our programming aligns with your pillars, with what's important to you, that we're building those stronger connections,

061that we're integrating into what you're already offering at the school, and enhancing it, and ways that work for the schools. Um, we definitely have our model, but we do customize based on each school. We want to be responsive to each culture at each school community. And as I mentioned, we are data-driven. We know how important that is to the whole school district, and so we, you know, make sure that we have, um, you know, our own robust research and evaluation and data. mechanisms in place that we are equally able to share, um, and, you know, honestly, just celebrate the progress and the results that we have from working together. So yes, um, I want to turn it over. I will… yeah, I don't know if there's any immediate questions, but maybe it's easier just to

062have Miss Mariscal shine. Um, because she always does. I love working with all of our schools, but she happens to be at a school where we have been the longest. There's only one other school, Riverdale, but Cherokee Land and Riverdale. So here we are with Miss Mariscal, so take it away. Nope. I don't have much to say, but we'll have a lot to say brighter bites. Well, hello, everyone. Good evening. Brighter bites was, like, my first first partnership as a community school coordinator, and throughout the years we have grown. We have… Um, we have just grown tremendously and have made such an impact in our community and our and our families. Brighter Bites, honestly, it's like it's part of our Cherokee Lane family. Families are so involved. They're so engaged. As Rosney shared, just having

063the. different cooking demos, um, our distributions, having them go into classrooms, the fact that children are asking to eat healthy and wanting to eat broccoli and all these different vegetables and learning about the rainbow and how to match our foods, it's just been an amazing partnership. I believe Ms. Rodney, you had some, um, some more slides on. on the presentation to share, can I continue just kind of talking about those? Yeah, no, please. Yes, yes, that's why I hit them. Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, and then I know we got a little video that shot. I kind of wanted you guys to see the video. It's a really cute little video. Um, we had a partner, we had our… Office of Partnerships, community partnerships come out and they spotlighted us, so it was a cute little

064video. I'm not sure if we're able to share that. I know, and I'm seeing on my screen. It's, like. I'll talk about it. No. black box here. Maybe. Can you? Yeah. I can… excuse me, sorry to interrupt, I can share for you. Hold a moment. Can you do that? Yeah, sorry. Thank you. Yes. And then you guys can be able to kind of see it in action, because I think in this video, we're, um, we're spotlighting us in the distribution process, kind of engaging with our families, having a little fun as… I don't know if you guys can see, but me dressed up in my banana suit. I'm always. Always, like, making it fun for our students and families. Oh, there it is. And we have to play it. There it is. You can't hear

065it. You said you can't hear it? Okay, give me one moment. No. And in this video, you can see that our families and everyone is bagging with, uh, this year, since we are kind of working with the new model with Brighter Bites. Um, we now are not doing the bagging process. The fresh food and produce, it comes in boxes. When it comes time for distribution. So that's one big change from what we used to do. Okay, so because it's via Youtube, I'll have to just play it with closed captions. Um… Okay, that's fine. That way everybody can see it, at least. Okay. And then I guess I could just talk as we… That's our principle right there, Principal Galbraith. And like I said in this video right now we are bagging on our fresh food.

066You can see our apples, our pears, or those pears, strawberries, potatoes, onions, and there goes Miss Rajdi right there. And then our families would come through the back, pick up their food, also have a little bit of, you know, chat with us, learn, um, a few things while they're coming to pick up. That's also our garden, which we have through our community partner, Nema's Garden. And then here are a few of our teachers kind of giving some feedback, too, about our program. And then we also have samples out there. So when families and students come, they're able to sample some of the items, and there you see me with one of my students. Oh. And then just the partnership and the collaboration with our families, because we also have families that volunteer to help out

067with distributing bags, um, uh, even staff members will come back and help us, and, you know, put the bags in, um, our family's car. So it's a, it's a big impact in our community. In full, just impacting our students, our families, our staff. just everyone, and we really, really love having brighter bites at our school. And then there's another print that was sharing some information to how now their family eats healthy based off all the things that she was she was able to learn. Oh, there's the banana soup! Okay. I think that gives the gist of. kind of… how brighter parts runs when we're at school. Every year I want to make sure I have the Bright Rights Partnership. Right? We're not going anywhere. Yep, yep, yep. So, I just kind of wanted to share

068before, like, like Miss Rajner, many students were limited to the access of fresh fruit and vegetables at home, and now with having brighter bites, um, they're able to regularly receive produce, nutrition education, hands-on activities. And we really have encouraged them to have healthier habits at home and at school. And again, like I said, when you see students coming to you and saying they want to eat vegetables and broccoli and they're trying new things, it really makes a difference and puts a smile on our face, because they're really taking in all this information and then learning, and they're doing, and they're teaching their parents, and then their parents are wanting to eat healthy, so it's a whole… cycle of learning and growing together. And here we have a short story impact. Like I said, like I

069have said, a family has shared that before it was difficult for them to kind of receive these fresh vegetables at home, but once that partnership with Barter Bites came into place. They were able to receive boxes or bags every two weeks, bi-weekly. They were able to receive education, recipes, and then take that and use it at home and create healthier eating habits for them. And again, helping with their confidence. Students come in smiling, happy, excited to try new things, and then just having that time at home with their kids. Definitely makes a change. Um, and here is a quote from one of our families that they also share. You know, Bright Advice has made a real difference, uh, for our family. My child is more excited to try new fruits and vegetables, and we've learned

070healthier eating habits together. And I can just say, you see those little red shirts? When students see us coming in the building with our red shirts, they get excited, they're ready, they're like Brighter Bites is here today. So, every time Rodney walks in the door, and I'm sure she can share too, we always have a big welcome, everyone's always smiling, because we really have become family through our partnership, and it's just. I just… yeah, that's why I said brighter place is not going nowhere, because it's truly made a difference in our community. Um, and as you can see here, over time, I remember my first year as a community school coordinator, I didn't know which way to turn, what I was gonna do, how I was gonna, you know, help these families, but that first

071year, creating that partnership with Brighter Bites, um. Having our distribution, and then year two, kind of, and increasing families being more aware. Again, your three more monthly distribution. We're, you know, building that partnership, um, having, um, Rosney come in, doing cooking demos, even participating in our community events. Um, and just being able to table, or share, or just anything, just always being involved. Um, and again, year four, students are more aware of the healthy, um, eating habits. It's really integrating into our whole school wellness efforts. And today, when I tell you Brighter Bikes is a self. or running machine. It's a self-owned running machine. I know when Sophia's coming in, hey, Sophia, she knows where to go, she knows where to do. Um, it's just, it's a self-running program. It's beautiful. And as being a

072community school coordinator getting to this point. With this partnership is amazing. So it's been easy now, because now the work is just… it's all running, the families know what to do, they know where to go, and it's amazing. Um, and then there's some numbers there, some big numbers right there, Rodney, so we really… we really… we've really done a lot of good work. Well, I'd like to see… to see the numbers like that, it's like, wow. So, within the past, what, I think, going on our sixth year together? 5, 6 years? Yeah, and that sounds how long has been a community school coordinator. So. This one is our fifth year, so going into next year would be fixed, yeah. Oh. And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, this, I mean, so yeah, so I know we're we

073may be getting to the end of our like allotted time for the presentation. Always welcome conversations and questions afterwards and joining us. Anybody who wants to come join us at any of our partner schools. We love it. But, you know, because this was focused on your strategic priority five within the climate change action plan, there are things that brighter bites has been doing, and maybe even before the plan, you know, was fully established and passed. And adopted by the school board and the school district, um, but we are, like, the food we get is donated from the local food bank, so we are helping to redirect food so that it's not getting wasted. Um, we are, you know, sharing different ways to help enjoy it and use it. Again, contributing to not just. Mm-hmm. you

074know, all potatoes again, let's just toss them, I don't need them. Moving past that and finding new ways to enjoy some of the same foods, um, sharing with our networks, if there is surplus, we have an, like, a sort of approved in-network list that we can reach out to so that it's even further helping with that. You know, we've talked a lot about engaging with the community, having the parents and students and even community members come and actually package the food at the schools that happens is is a game changer. Honestly, you have teams built, you have people sharing, you have people networking, you have people offering to. Mm-hmm. Do other things, support in other ways. So, so many things start to happen just from having that regular touchpoint. I think that's one of the

075strong points about Brighter Bites, is, like, there is a structure and a repetition to it that is sustained over time, and so it allows. Mm-hmm. For these more in-depth, um, you know, partnerships to happen, um, uh, and I don't know, I don't need to read everything, I guess, on this slide, but just there's a lot of things that I think relate to supporting Priority 5 in the overall school district. Mm-hmm, that's true. Um, you know, and Mary, you know, when I hear you talking about the taste tests and the innovation schools, I know some of those innovation schools are schools that we're also working at, um, and we've got plenty of recipes and tip sheets and our… and, you know, nutrition education. We're definitely plant forward. We're trying to get more fruits and veggies into

076everybody's diets. And truly, we would hope that if they're enjoying the experience with Brighter Bites, that will translate into what's happening in the school meals, and what kids are choosing to eat, and what they're interested in. eating, um, and just always making it culturally relevant, which I know has also been important to the school district. Um, and then just, yeah, it really is scalable. So I'm hoping that this leads to more opportunities. We've had different conversations, um, but just really, you know, piecing these different parts of, like, the the eating experience from the growing. Mm-hmm. To the sourcing, to the experiencing, to the serving, to the, you know, consuming, um, having it all come together. Yeah. Oh, wonderful. Thank you both for such a great presentation and all the energy that you put into this.

077I thought we could pause for if there's any immediate questions. Our next presentation is on community school, so they could all… we could all. discussed together at the end of that. But if anyone wanted to jump in right away, I wanted to give that opportunity. Alright, I'm not seeing any immediate hands, so let's… we'll move to this next presentation, then we'll discuss both case studies. Oh, Donald has. I'll call on Donald. Thank you so much. I just had a quick question and wonderful presentation. Thank you for that. I heard that you're starting to push into middle and high schools. How does the program look different? Uh, it may be middle and high school versus your elementary program. Yeah, so this was the first year we started doing that. The the focus with the middle school

078high schools is really making sure that they have access to food boxes. Um, we have two options. They are produce only, or they are what we call the full plate, and so it's really for schools that are looking to have food boxes available for the families at their schools, and the boxes that we offer are all. healthy lines, like we're making sure that everything that's offered is, you know, in accordance with food guidelines, and we're making sure that those options are healthy. So that we haven't been able to do that in the past, because we were working under a traditional model of having donated produce. Um, brought to the schools and since we tried something different, we have some new suppliers that we are able to work with who are equally mission-driven in trying to

079make sure that the food that's being served in the community is not just. It's not just calories, but it really is of, like, high nutritional quality and standards, and also the variety. We are now going into next year, just… this was our pilot this year, but, you know, we've heard from from schools that need to have maybe more like. Hispanic-inspired boxes. So some of the fruits and vegetables or other items that are being offered are going to be more customized based on what the school who the school is working with. So, um, we also have ready-made meals. Um, we've got a partner, actually, who's been doing some school meal. Work in other school districts, so everything they make is scratch cooked. They're amazing meals, and so again, just giving schools more of those options. We

080know that schools have already been doing this, that they've already been getting boxes. They've been, you know, they work with vendors to bring in food. And so we're just. adding that extra service to what Brighter Rights does, um, so that we can be more inclusive, because we have never not wanted to work with middle schools and high schools. Thankfully, a lot of them have siblings in elementary schools, I will say, so there is that continuity. But this is opened the door for us to start building those partnerships, and I wouldn't put it past brighter bites to think, you know, keep thinking about how can we bring in the nutrition education to the older grades as well. All right, great. Thank you so much. So we'll now go to our second case study. The… oh, let

081me get to my script here. The Blueprint for Maryland's Future Pillar 4 food security for PGCPS families, and then, of course, I hope brighter bites, Ms. Mariskov, the team can, uh. stick around and answer questions before we close this evening. So good afternoon, everyone. Chairperson Bruce. Thank you for having me here. I feel kind of like I'm part of the family already, because we had Director Kirkland, and we had Brighter Bites, which are the two entities that we do ensure that we're not working in silos. We're trying to always break down silos when it comes to food insecurity with our students and families. So I'm excited because you've already heard from my colleagues, and I'm just going to be like the end of the meal. You've had the… the appetizer, you had the entree, now

082I'm going to be the dessert. So, that's… so I'm gonna share my screen. Can you all see my screen? I can't see you right yet. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so, um, again, good evening, everyone. I'm here to talk about addressing food insecurity in our community schools. The first question that we always work with whomever we interact with, we're always talking about branding community schools and PGCPS. And so we want to talk about what are community schools. And when we talk about community schools, I'm not going to read this to you, but it's very important to us that everyone understands that a community school is the hub of the neighborhood. Um, we unite families, educators, and ensure that students get a top-quality academic life while they're here in PGCBS. They have enrichment opportunities. We make sure that

083no barriers are between them for health and social services. And we want to make sure, most of all, that everyone in the household and the family is succeeding. um, what we currently have now for community schools and PGCPS is 147 of our schools are community schools. Next year, we'll be at 148. We only have one new school coming on board. This is the first time we've only had one school. Normally, we range between 15 and 20 schools every year. So how does the school become a community school is another question that we're always receiving. A community school is a formula base that we get from Department of Education, from Maryland's Department of Education, and it's based on a four-year average of schools. um, living in poverty, excluding the years of 2020 and 2021. Currently, it's

084any student that falls in a concentration of poverty rate of 55% or higher allows their school to be a community school. Oh, sorry. Sorry if I'm going back. Let me go back. Okay. When we talk about community schools, we want to make sure that we're addressing, um, the 14 wraparound services. That's very important because the legislation says that our funds are tied to these wraparound services. We had 13 wraparound services that we were addressing, but now we've added evidence-based tutoring to the wraparound services, so that's going to be new for our community schools. for the upcoming year. This is a breakdown of community schools in PGCPS. We have 17 high schools, 20 middle schools, 6 K-8. 102 elementary schools, 2 special education centers, which makes up the 147 schools. What we have here on the

085right are our pillars. There are 6 pillars that could hold up the foundation of community schools in Prince George's County Public Schools. They are expanded and culturally relevant curriculum. When we look at curriculum for our students, we want to make sure that they see themselves in everything, or as most… with most things, we try, we work very hard to make it everything, but whatever they're encountering in the curriculum that they see themselves in it. effective teaching practices. We want to make sure that our teachers are getting or receiving professional development, that they're gaining experience and have opportunities to grow and learn. Inclusive leadership. When we think about inclusive leadership, who's sitting at the table? Are we inviting our students, our families, as well as our community partners to the table, especially being a part of

086the steering committee? Every community school has a steering committee. And we want to hear the voice of all the stakeholders in order to make decisions within the school. Multi-tiered systems of support. If we have families in our community, we want to make sure that we're breaking down barriers, and how do we break down barriers? Well, are we using, like, um, PBIS? Are we using, um. Department of Social Services, which also intertwines with family and community supports, are we looking for ways to find and develop or prevent, um, how we look at our students and our families, and how are we supporting them in different ways? Community Support Services. The idea about community schools is, how will you operate without funding? So, are you utilizing the community? How are you using your faith-based organizations? How are

087you using your civic associations? How are you using, um, the local, um, gas station? So, how are we using our pillars within our communities? to uplift the community school's strategy to break down barriers for our students and our families. As we think about breaking down the barrier of food insecurity, one of the things in the Office of Community Schools that we've done is we participated in a giant Nourishing Our Youth Roundup program. So what does that mean? Normally in the summertime… well, let me back up. I completed an application for Prince George's County Public Schools and in completing that application, it means that when you go shop at Giant, you have the opportunity to round up your bill. When you round up your bill around like August or September. myself and Director Kirkland, we get

088notified about how much money Prince George's County Public Schools will receive from this, um, Nourishing Our Youth Roundup program. Um, last year, we received 11,266.85 from the program. So what we decided to do as a district steering committee, we wanted to ensure that our students and our families had an opportunity to create a cooking class together. So, we looked at some of our new schools that came on board, and we looked at the theater pattern of some of those schools. And we join with 21st century Expo, Bui Produce, and Kaiser Permanente to develop a free cooking class for our parents. We had 83 families, and those 83 families got free — well, let me back, but we hired a chef. And the chef created a menu. We got the menu translated in French and Spanish.

089We also got gifts for the people or the families that participated from Kaiser Permanente, 21st Century Expo set up the whole television video experience, and the families logged on together, and we cooked together. So it was interesting to hear the students and their families share with one another, like, for example, using applesauce instead of sugar. So to hear the conversations about what kind of tools they should be using. So instead of using the knife, the plastic knife for the little people, and so those type of conversations were beautiful. It was beautiful to hear from the families. How are they going to have this experience the next year with their school? And it was also great to hear the students tell their principals that they wanted to have it not just at the school, but have

090the opportunity to do it at home again. So, Cherokee Lane and Brighter Bikes took my thunder. I'm sorry, by having the same video. So you've already seen the video because there are shining stars as far as working with brighter bites, Marisol. Um, as well as, um, Raji, you all are wonderful, they're amazing, and they've been with us the longest. So, we wanted to highlight them for reducing food insecurity. They're so good that I've been to the school one day, and they got me to eat some cauliflower, which is not my favorite at all. So and the kids made me eat too, so I was guilty. When we talk about food insecurity, it's important for our students and our families to have a wide variety of vendors to provide those opportunities. Of course, you heard from

091Brighter Bikes today. But we also have Capital Area Food Bank. We also have Hungry Harvest, Bowie Produce, Linda Bend Foundation, and the People's Market. They are the approved vendors that we've been working with to give the students and the families an array of… experiences, um, at no cost. We want to make sure that the cost of food is not a barrier for our families. Also, we've discovered that we've had to help our families understand we don't want any personal information, especially going through the immigration. things that they're going through in their lives. We don't want that type of information from them. So with the family markets, for example, with Capital Area Food Bank, we have about I think I'm going ahead myself. Let me not go ahead myself. Um, let me go back to also

092with the, um, food insecurity and vendors and partners. I will tell you that, um, we also have with Director Kirkland and the Food and Nutrition Services, we've been able to have 132 schools that are part of the CEP program. And part of the CEP program means that USDA has provided or makes sure that we provide free breakfast as well as lunch to students in the schools that have the highest poverty in a district or in a school. So they don't have to pay for any breakfast or lunch in 132 of those schools, and 132 of those schools are community schools. Majority of them. So, students don't have to worry about breakfast or lunch when they come to the schools, and they can also have opportunity to have free produce. other schools as well. Capital Area

093Food Bank. In working with Capital Area Food Bank. We have 28 schools that that have food pantries. Oh, what happened to my screen? Sorry, you all. everything disappeared. Technology. Thank you. I don't know what happened to my screen. I can present for you. Michael. I apologize, and it's… spinning. I think, Micah, can you share your screen? Yeah. Yes, that's fine, thank you. I can't even stop sharing, Micah, you have to… It won't stop. Thank you. Thank you, Micah. So currently with Capital Area Food Bank, we have 28 food pantries located in our schools. We have 35 family markets, and we're going to add an additional 4 schools, which will be Greenbelt Middle School, Paint Branch, Elementary School, Eisenhower Middle School. And hopefully we can get William Wirt added to those schools as well. So, we

094make sure that those are other opportunities, and just because it's in those schools does not mean that families have to have children in those schools. If anyone in the community that comes to the school and they need. who they're not denied access to food. Next slide. So according to the community schools blueprint for Maryland Schools, we must conduct a needs assessment. Every 3 years for existing community schools and the first year of community schools, um, enter or become a part of our strategy. Um, for the 25-26 school year, the three… top three needs of our students and families were mental or physical health, as well as supports and the barriers we're seeing a therapist or a counselor. And number two is food insecurities. So we make sure that we focus on how to ensure that

095we provide our students and our families with food anyway, any means necessary. We do have community school coordinators just like Marisol that even work on the weekends. Or they take the food to the families because of the ICE situation, so they work out going into the apartment complexes, or meeting them at their homes, whatever we need to do to make sure that they get the things that they need, or the food they need. Our community school coordinators work with us. We also work with Department of Social Services. We have school and community engagement advocates that help us with that as well. This is a list of who's in our, um, office. I'm the director, I have a coordinator supervisor, 6 specialists, and 2 financial analysts and administrative assistant, and one coordinating super… I mean, one,

096um, program coordinator. Next slide. And I'm open to any questions that you all have about how do we reduce food insecurity? Thank you. All right. Thank you so much, Dr. Williams Horton. And now we can open the floor to questions for both presentations from from the community schools. I see Christina's hand up. Yes, um, thank you all, um, wonderful presentations. I appreciate all of you, Director Kirkland, Ms. Rajny, Mariscow, and Dr. Williams Horton for really being able of this presentation. Um, Dr. Williams Horn, you mentioned you had the full team, he has the appetizer, the entree, the dessert. I'm wondering how we could be the imperative, maybe, in this, you know? So, um, you know, especially the importance of not working in silos, and as… program manager for the Department of Sustainability with priority five,

097reduce food waste, grow climate-friendly Food. um, commit to sustainable materials and land, um, climate resilient land management. Um, how do you see, um, the opportunity of these community schools, as you said, being a hub, um, becoming more resilient? Um, schools, or how… what do you think… how… could bridge that, um, component in terms of being more resilient to emergency preparedness and. Um, and that aspect of it. And is there an opportunity there? Well, for our community schools, um, that we have in PTCPS, I think bridging the gap and having more opportunity to talk about sustainability and resilience. I think the first step would be is to get you in your office in front of our community school coordinators. Um, just like Marisol, we have… we bring all 147 of them together, and then we break

098them down according to networks. And the key is to get them to understand the importance of how is this going to work according to the pillars? How was it going to work according to the wraparound services? But more importantly, how does the line… how does this align with their needs assessment? How does this align with what the students, the families, and the community say they need? Make it valuable to them, and make it work from a… from a standpoint of how can I sustain this without funding? So what can we do and make it, um, how can we do this together and not do it apart? For example, if there's a theater pattern, an elementary, middle, and a high school, maybe, that's working together, bring them together so it won't be just me working in

099isolation. So, we have a program coordinator here in my office. We also have a coordinating supervisor that works with, and specialists that work with the community schools to help with that. I think that idea of how… how can we be innovative and how we bring this work together. and make it work so we can do… we can get you with the coordinator supervisor, the program coordinator, as well as the community schools coordinators as well. Any other questions? Director Morrison. You're on mute. I'm sorry, I was just saying, it's not a question, it's really more a comment. This is really, really so exciting to see, like, the synergy that exists, like, all the internal departments working together, as well as, um, our external partners. And I know I didn't really… I wasn't only until recently, I

100wasn't even aware of what the community schools folks did. I had heard of it, but then when I learned, I think it was maybe two weeks ago we had a meeting with. with Dr. William Horton, and it was so excited, I was like, wow, this is really great, there's a lot of synergy and work to be done together, so I'm just excited and elated to… To see what's next, to be quite honest. So yeah. That's it. Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you testimony. David Noto? Mostly, I just wanted to say, Hi, Rajny. I thought that your presentation was horrific. Also, your comment about nibble by nibble rather than bit by bit really cracked me up. Um, and then, uh… Also, I really hope that maybe y'all could do a similar presentation to the County Council,

101because I feel like it would be great if they learned about some of this, too. So. Yeah. We would be happy to. Some of them have joined us. We always try to people's calendar. Literally, if there's anybody like we it's the community. We want everybody to be like, we want to make connections. So absolutely. Any other questions? Just briefly, I just want to say I worked with Keisha Manning over at Kenmore Middle School Community Schools. Yep. person, and boy, that energy of the community schools, folks, we love that. You did a beautiful job of really like that matters that you have that kind of connection and energy with the folks in your community. And I know it takes a lot out of you guys to keep that up, so thank you so much for the

102work you're doing. Thank you, Ms. Novak. We don't call it hard work, we call it heart work. Oh, that's… Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I do want to recognize that, you know, when when we meet again in June, one of the members of our committee will be a new alumni of Pgcps, Michael Witherspoon. And I did not want to miss the chance to ask Michael if you wanted to comment on this presentation or say anything about this meeting or the work before May 15th, when you cross that stage for the Academy of Health Sciences at PGCC. Thank you so much for extending that opportunity to me. As a student currently. As a student, I just want to say, like, this is so amazing to see. And I kind of similarly to Director Morrison, I didn't,

103like, have an idea of, like, the scale of. this, and it's super exciting to see it and see it growing. Um, I definitely think that there's a need in the community, and I'm super happy that it's being addressed. And I love the fact that there's, like, student. Y'all are… y'all are really meeting the students and helping them, not just, like, inside, but also outside the classroom. So, um, thank you all so much for your work, and I just… I'm just so excited. I'm happy for the future. I'm excited. My brother goes to Greenbelt, so that's… Green, but I was happy when I heard Greenboats on the list. Um, but I'm I'm really excited for everything. Thank you, Michael. Any response from the presenters? I like to say thank you all for giving the Office of

104Community Schools an opportunity to share what I shared with you is just a nibble. I'm gonna use Rajani's word, a nibble of the work we do every day, in and out for our students and families. So, at any point in time that you want to. see it and experience it, just let us know, because it's nothing like being exposed to it. Words can explain a PowerPoint can't explain it either until your boots on the ground and living it for yourselves. So at any point in time, please join us and. We thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, and thank you so much to the presenters. And again, congratulations to Michael as you get ready for graduation day. I did want to. Thank our board member, Amy Olivo, who has been with us for part of the

105meeting, for joining, and thank all of you for the. Great discussion on our main agenda items. I have one, uh, business item to cover before we adjourn, and that is our meetings for the 2026 meeting calendar and our final meeting. We are coming to a close. So we'll talk about this more in June, what we'll do, the content of each of those meetings, but I did, for your calendars, we will continue to meet on Wednesdays from 4.30 to 6. We'll meet August 19th. October 28th and December 2nd. And not only will that be our our last meeting of the work group, but it will be my very final act as a board member before I retire on December 7th. So I, uh, means a lot to me that I'll be spending that moment with this,

106this group. Um, so I will now move to our adjournment, and um… The… here we go. The chair informs the public that the next virtual climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting will be held on June 24th, 2026 at 4:30 PM. Please continue to check the PGCPS Board webpage for more information and updates. There being no further business, the time is now 6.10pm, and the May 6th, 2026 Climate Change Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee meeting is adjourned. Thank you all so much, and have a great evening. Have a good evening, everyone. Take care. ThankTake careThankThank you