001Ms. Woodbridge, thank you for beginning the recording. The time is now 6:01 p.m. Ms. Woodbridge, please call the roll. >> Dr. Andefu Dr. Andefu >> Present. >> Ms. Boozer-Strother >> Present. >> Mr. Jackson Dr. Moss I see him here. Dr. Moss Let me see if I can check some real quick. Give me a moment. >> I am present. I couldn't get my >> Okay. >> So, I am present. >> Thank you. >> I was screaming in present. >> Okay. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> There are three present. >> Thank you. Um with a quorum present, the Board Audit Committee meeting will come to order. Um good evening, everyone, and welcome to the June 1st, 2026 Board Audit Committee meeting. My name is Dr. Tiffany Andefu, and I am honored to serve as not only the Board
002one Sorry, the District one um board member, but also the committee chair for this committee. I'm joined by um board member Pamela Boozer-Strother, who serves as vice chair for this committee, um as well as other committee members, and our um internal audit director, Ms. Dina Thorpes. >> [clears throat] >> Um for those unable to observe now, the meeting is being recorded and can be accessed on the PGCPS YouTube channel for later viewing. Um we will now proceed to the adoption of the agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the June 1st, 2026 meeting agenda. There being no objections to June 1st, 2026 meeting agenda is adopted. We will now approve the meeting minutes from May 4th. If there are no corrections to May 4th, 2026 committee meeting committee meeting minutes shall be
003approved as directed. There being no corrections, the committee meeting minutes will be approved. This evening we have one public comment, one registered public comment. Miss Miss Valencia Ali, individual special education safety and academic compliance. >> She has not joined. No. Unless you want to give her a few minutes and come back. But she hasn't joined. >> Okay, well should she join in the next few moments, we can potentially we'll figure out how best to allow her to offer her comment. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> So we will move on to presentations at this time. Um this evening we will we are joined actually by our director of people accounting, uh Mr. Roger Prince, and I'm sorry, director of people accounting and school boundaries, um and Miss Gail Huggins, supervisor of student enrollment services. Um and
004this evening um they are joining us to speak specifically about um on-site student records and privacy. Um this is a topic that was brought to us um last year via board member Booze-Struthers, um and I don't know, Ms. Booze-Struthers, would you like to provide any context on how this topic um came to the committee? >> Uh thank you so much, Chair Anderfol. So, uh specifically, this topic came to the committee after um the uh some concerns raised by parents about the keeping of student records in the old Hyattsville Elementary during this period right after school ended and right before demolition. And if they were appropriately stored and locked so that they could not be seen by by anyone besides, you know, the principal and authorized people. And so, the PGCPS did offer a a a
005response and explained how the records were were kept. Um but, we thought it would be good to have more details about the entire process of school-based private information record keeping. Thank you. >> Thank you, Board member Booze-Struthers. Um and so, with that, uh the topic came um to our committee and we wanted to ensure that um minimum, we were gathering information as much as we could um just given what was brought to what was brought to us last year. And so, um we are joined again by Mr. Roger Prince and Ms. Gail Huggins. Um thank you both for joining um this evening. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you all to provide your presentation. >> And thank you um board members uh for inviting us here. Um do I have ability
006to share my screen. >> We can see is this your screen being shared? >> Yes. There it is. Okay. I'm on multiple screens here. Um yes, I see the screen. Thank you so much. Um my again, my name is Roger Prince. I'm the uh director of student enrollment services. Um which that name was changed uh about a year ago. And uh under student enrollment services falls three offices. And those offices are pupil accounting, um school boundaries, and student records, archival services, and student transfers. And um I'm here tonight with the supervisor of student records and uh Ms. Gail Huggins, who uh is my uh partner in this work. And tonight we want to give you a uh just a brief overview of the work we do uh here in Prince George's County um as it
007relates to um you know, records, um the preparation of records, um the filing of records, the security of records within school buildings um across um our school system. Um and the key word here that you're going to see tonight um with our overview um is really dealing with two pillars um when it comes to compliance and training. Um you know, with over 200 schools within our portfolio, and it you know, and you're talking about millions of records that pass through uh the hands of uh our front office staff including the registrars, uh principals, um our offices, um you know, compliance and training is um a big part of the work that we do. And you're going to see that highlighted throughout this year. Huggins is going to talk about that work and how we we
008prepare our schools for that. Um any other aspect you're going to hear about is, as you know, we are in the process and continuing to prepare our school system for digitizing of records. And that comes with lots of security features. Of course, it's very efficient when you're transferring records from one school to another. But also it really helps our parents, you know, to be able to use the systems that we have in place to facilitate that. And that's a ongoing process. And so, you know, we'll talk a little bit about that as it's developing. And throughout the presentation, again, you're going to see the work that we do here in Prince George's County. And at the end of the presentation, we'll be open to answer questions specifically about the overall process for the office of
009student records and specifically about the Hyattsville situation that we had to address early on this particular year. So, with that said, we're going to go ahead and begin the presentation. I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Gail Huggins at this time. >> Good evening, everyone, and thank you so much for having us today. I'm excited to share some information about our work, about privacy and confidentiality, about my team, and uh where we like to see student records management um our journey to the future. So, the Office of Student Records Transfers and Archival Services, we we do support a school to community connection and we provide compliance training technical assistance and best practices for school-based central office staff. To protect student data privacy, our office implements policy-driven safeguards. Additionally, we expand access to educational opportunities
010by managing student transfers to comprehensive schools and programs. Our office employs a team of professionals. Crystal Cuttingham is an instructional specialist and certified counselor. She's a former uh guidance chair of um more than one high school. She provides targeted technical assistance and audits uh for student records at middle, high school, and alternative schools. She also manages certificate and uh diploma certificate issuance. We issue over 15,000 diplomas and certificates and duplicate diplomas and certificates for our alumni annually. Marsha my Marcia Williams is our records specialist. She's assigned to early learning centers, K-8 academies, elementary schools, and public charter schools. We have two records technicians, Mr. Christopher Johnson and Mr. Dondre Latson. They manage systemic archiving of our student records. We have student records that date from 1923 forward. And we maintain those records on and uh
011online a cloud-based um portal. Um they also manage record requests, and we also are responsible for when records are subpoenaed. We are the office that manages that process and monitors the subpoenas and for record subpoena record requests at the school level. Rounding out our team is Jacob Goldberg. He serves as our at-large records associate, and he manages departmental data and support and support services across all grade levels and schools. Um he supports our specialist, and he also audits uh records, and he um conducts in-depth analysis of our uh auditing data. There is also myself and my secretary Devin Matthews. So, Devin and I do a little bit of everything um as long and supporting our schools. So, for our professional development, that's one of the cornerstones of the work that we do. Our team provides
012comprehensive professional development for student records life cycle management from the creation of a record to permanent archival. We offer four mandatory trainings annually to help school secretaries manage the beginning-of-the-year task, prepare records for transitional grades, and we ex- and execute year-end records management task. We also offer a monthly um professional development for new secretaries. It's a overview to help them acclimate themselves to their their new responsibilities, roles and responsibilities at the school level. So, there three sessions and we um are supported by um a number of central office content administrators, um special education, transportation, um uh English language development uh pupil accounting. There is a lot of of offices that supports this training. So, through those three sessions, they receive a well-rounded overview of again their roles and responsibilities. We also offer refresher courses that
013are mandated for summer backup um secretary. So, if you have your an elementary schools, your principal secretaries, um in high schools, there may be another secretary when you know our registrars are taking vacation. Uh they're in middle schools and our all of our across the schools, those who have been identified as a backup secretary receive or what must attend a mandatory training to prepare them for the end of the year uh summer duties. We Again, we also provide a step-by-step guidance to assist school staff with preparing records for permanent archival. So, our specialists and our records associates conduct on-site technical visits to assess the condition of student records. We provide, you know, um we provide uh during these visits, we provide hands-on coaching. We perform workflow analysis and assist schools in developing annual action plans
014for their life cycle management. Each team member conducts audits again individually and collaboratively across content areas, which could include special education, English language development, assessments, you know, your testing, discipline. We also audit enrollment and residency documentation, just to name a few. The team oversees the transition of records to to new school locations due to changes, school closures, and relocation and of course due to relocation to newer temporary school assignments. As you know, we are moving very quickly, building schools, and those records have to follow them. So, there's a separate process in place to protect the security and confidentiality of records as we relocate them across schools and locations. Per our administrative procedure 5125, which is individual school-based student records, each school is mandated to convene a records management team. Over 90% of student records are
015created and managed by certificated and licensed professionals. Now, the recommended composition of these teams, and this is documented and codified in AP 5125, is a principal or assistant principal. They have to be an an administrator that are a decision-making administrator that oversees their rating officers. Principal secretary or primary records secretary, a grade manager, a special education coordinator, a school psychologist, and school nurse, a pupil personnel worker, a professional school counselor, a English language development coordinator, and other staff as needed. Again, a well-rounded team to develop workflows and to again protect the confidentiality and privacy of student records and to ensure that they are complete and compliant. Our school-based records management teams are responsible for conducting periodic audits, ensuring transitional records are complete and compliant prior to the transition to the next grade level from from
016pre-K to elementary, elementary to middle, and middle to high school. And we develop strategic we help schools develop strategic plans again for all of these processes. In 2015, our office began consolidating all of our outdated repositories. We had records that were on digital tape, microfilm, microfiche. I don't know how many of you are familiar with things that happened in the past. And so, what we did we converted all of these databases, legacy databases, repositories to a secure digitized cloud environment. And so, we have again our records from 1923 that we have archived for on in a digitized cloud environment. By automated automating these workflows, the office increased its records retrieval capacity tenfold compared to legacy storage systems. So, from July 1, I wanted to kind of give you a little bit of data around records
017requests. So, from from July 1 through last Friday, our constituents and alumni and third parties, it could be uh um colleges and university admissions officers are um employ employ potential employers verifying the graduation status of a student. It could be lawyers wanting to subpoena records. That's our alumni looking for new employment opportunities. We receive across the system electronically through a secure portal 33,573 record requests. Our office was responsible for 12,902 of those record requests and 20,671 were routed through an automated workflow to our schools. Um again, there's a lot of work that we that we manage uh in terms of our making sure that our records are protected and they are um and the confidential confidentiality of our students. So, securing student records and our PII, our personally identifiable information, we want to make sure
018that our records are absolutely confidential. That is our top priority for our team. We provide expert guidance aligned with all federal, state, and local mandates. So, as you can see, these are all the things that are considered protected um personally identifiable information and align with FERPA, you know, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. And um again, this is one of I understand that this is your your primary um purpose for uh convening this meeting today, and I would like, you know, we really do uh we really do everything that we can um humanly possible to make sure that our our um our everything has our uh security is the security of our records and our privacy of our students student data that we secure them. We instruct schools to develop procedures for securely storing
019and destroying our personally identifiable information and archiving our student records. We provide the teams with each team our our schools and our school staff with the guidelines. They are they develop annual action action plans in terms of how they support our confidentiality policies and they have to document each of these uh each of the guidance the guidance that we provide them. So again, at the end of this presentation you can ask questions and I'll go into more detail about what we do to support our schools in protecting our student data and student records. So the next step in our journey is to digitize our student records and we think that this will again help with the protection of our student data and transition our student records in a in a way that we are able
020to be more efficient and effective managers of our data. Our team is piloting a plan to transition from our physical records to digital records. So we're piloting a we have a the last two years we've piloted the digitalization of student records with our online campus. Our cumulative folders and our limited access folders, we've built a a infrastructure for those and we believe that and we know that by digitizing student records and eliminating physical files, the schools will reclaim valuable storage space. We will dramatically reduce the printing cost and it will allow staff to focus more time on instruction and student support. In collaboration with of the vendor that we're using at this time and we've used for some years, again, we have developed an infrastructure for a digital record keeping. Uh and as as I
021shared, the initiative was launched at our online campus and again, this is our first case study. We do plan to expand our pilot uh over the next 2 years to more schools at the kindergarten and first grade level. And we think that this will be a an the transition for kindergarten and first grade um will be seamless because most of their documents are already digitized. The next step is to develop a strategic plan for governing all of this information when uh while we digitize and but the plan will require a district district-wide alignment and commitment from executive leadership down to each individual school. And the last part of our transition into a digitized record keeping will be implementing implementing this plan will again will be expanding our pilot to transitional grades from pre-K to elementary,
022elementary to middle school, middle school to high school. We will need to engage uh subject matter experts. We would have to develop uh or um uh conduct a feasibility study. We would need to secure necessary resources and appropriations and establish a a project management team and a timeline. And with that being said, I'm going to turn over this presentation to Mr. Prince and allow him to provide closing remarks and open the floor for any questions that you may have for us. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you, Ms. Huggins, um for sharing this information. This is a high-level um overview and give giving you just um some insight on the work that uh Ms. Huggins does with a small army of um professionals that do an amazing job across the school district
023with managing the millions of records. One of the things that I want to highlight [clears throat] for the topic of this meeting is, you know, with so many new schools within our school district >> [clears throat] >> um and when we hear about a new school that's going to be um uh constructed, Ms. Huggins and her team, we're at the the walls of those meeting at the gates of those meetings. And we immediately begin engaging the school-based management uh records team. Uh and that and that and that engagement, as Ms. Huggins, you know, alluded to, you know, involves the action plan. It involves having touch points where we're meeting with the principal, we're meeting with the uh the office team. Um um you know, we we we want to make sure that they have all
024the needed equipment, um they understand the process, the seriousness of this, and um we're on site. So, we send our specialists out to work with the team up to the day those records are put on the back of uh a truck and shipped to the school. And when the records were arrive at the school, there was a record specialist there to receive and make sure that those records uh report into a secure room. And so, Ms. Huggins' team is is critically involved in that process. And I know that, you know, uh the Hyattsville situation came out, and I had a chance to present some of this information earlier uh this year to the Hyattsville City um Council. And I shared with them how we secured those records. It was certainly an unfortunate event that took
025place. And it was at an opportunity where there were physical movers, where we were actually moving the records from rooms to a truck throughout a 3-to-4-day period. And I believe that is when a breach occurred. Um when the building was to be secured, and no parent, no um staff without credentials were supposed to be in that building. And so, I I want to put that out there publicly cuz that's what we had shared, and I want to be very consistent and clear that at the time of the breach, no parent was to be in that building. Um while the movers were physically moving records, rooms were open, walls were torn down. It was a construction site, a a hard hat construction site. And and so, um during that time, you know, our records, Ms. Huggins'
026team, did uh secure the records. They were wrapped, and they were sealed. Um there were other items that were slated for destruction that remained in open rooms because they were conducting asbestos cleaning, and they were conducting moving. And at that time, there were no parents, no members of the community were supposed to be in the building at that time, other than certified Prince George's County officials and um our workers who were responsible and trained to transition those records to the new school location or to a destruction site. And so, we wanted to provide this update for you, and at this time, we'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding our process to securing our records for thousands of families across our wonderful district. >> Thank you so much, Ms. Huggins and
027Mr. Prince, um for this um presentation. Um both uh speaking to some of the specific concerns we we called out, but also um giving us a little bit more insight into the work um that you all do throughout the year, and some of that appears to be planned. Um happy to open it up for questions. Um if any board members have any questions um this time. Board member Blutcher Shredder. >> Yeah, thank you so much. I want to thank you for this presentation. I've worked with both of you for many years and you've both been so responsive and a pleasure to work with and I thank you for every time you've had to help individual families with with with this data and documentation. I've really enjoyed seeing these details and I did want to ask
028um what a records issue of can you talk a little bit about how a student's folder moves from elementary to middle to high school? How that information, you know, as parents we we know that, you know, we get it through different experiences. You get a sense that your child has a folder in particular, you know, when you start in elementary school. What data ends at elementary that doesn't move on to middle? What moves? Does it move on paper electronically? Does it all start over? I'm curious about if if you're able to answer that. Thank you. >> Thank you. That's one of our primary responsibilities is given guidance to school staff on transitioning records from one grade level to the next. And so the first thing that we do is we asked we align our guidance
029around preparing records for transitional grades with the guidance from pupil accounting around updating their transitional residency. So the residency, the collection of updated residency information kind of kick starts the process. Around January, we ask our school staff to begin to identify where the students will be matriculating to. Know that a student record from its inception when it's created, whether it's in child find or if it is in pre-K to the time they are withdrawn and if they come back to the school system just one record. That record follows them until they graduate and or they would draw withdrawn permanently. So, the first thing again that happens is we provide them training in January. That's one their second mandatory training on preparing records for transitional grades. And so, what they do is they pull reports where
030the student going, what their feeder schools. And then we provide them with written guidance. In the spring, again, additional references. We have a way of helping schools to self-audit each record through transitional grades. There is a form called the pre-K 12 transitional record review form. It list every almost almost every conceivable document that could be in a student's record. So, for those transitional grades, they audit every single document in the student's record. They notate it and that transitional form, a copy of it is placed in the front of the student's record. So, for each transitional grade, so if you went from pre-K to elementary, elementary to middle, and middle to high, you would have three forms. And then you're able to document what was in the record from one grade level one from elementary to
031middle from pre-K to to elementary elementary to middle middle to high, okay? So, in the summer we work with mail services to schedule record pickups. So, once the records are prepared for each feeder school, they're boxed, they are to be audited by the certificated and administrative staff and documented. We also have a record transmittal list. I know I'm kind of all down in the weeds, you know, but do you want it you know, wanted to know. Um and we document every single record for each feeder school and again inside each folder is what is been documented what's in that folder. We have a schedule that we publish and the schools know when their pickup date is. So, there's a separate route during the summer for these pickups. And then once they go to this what
032they're received by the school that they're transitioning to, before that happens, before the end of the school year and and I forgot a very important step. Before the end of the school year, each receiving school should schedule a compliance review. That's when this document is completed, transitional record review form. They should complete a compliance review with their feeder schools. If I have four feeder schools, I'm Bowie High School. I have two middle schools. Say I have Samuel Ogle and I have Benjamin Tasker. I sit with my the two guidance secretaries. I'm the registered high school registrar at Bowie High School. We go through every single record. We check off everything that's there. I sign, she signs. The records transmittal for every record that's in that box, the counselor signs, the special education coordinator signs, the
033school nurse signs the form, and the principal signs the form. What should happen is a lot of um checking, a lot of support, a lot of auditing, a lot of inventory, a lot of compliance reviews, a lot to make sure that the records are secure, intact, complete, accurate, and compliant. Now, it doesn't always happen um the way that we want it to, but we certainly have the training in place. And we have the processes in place. And so, that's how we and how we do sh- uh support our transitional records uh our transitioning records through our grade levels. >> And I think just to further highlight that point, this is why the push to electronic uh database. Uh we feel that will help us uh increase our level and enhance our level of security. Um
034because when you have so many hands um and so many eyes and so many systems in place, and this is what we have been doing. Um this is the old way. Uh we're currently in that middle ground where we're we want to transition to a digital file. And Synergy uh currently does not have that specific document management capabilities. But, it has a document archival. But, the challenge for us is it's not organized. And so, we have to work with Edupoint and the developers uh to see if they can build that. Of course, it comes with the cost. Um, and with the database being established, we have to work very closely, as Ms. Huggins said, with other departments, including operations. We have to work with, uh, the other office people in accounting. Uh, we have to
035work directly with the area offices in making sure that the training, um, uh, the constant, uh, repetitive, uh, tr- to make sure that we dot i's and cross t's. And so, uh, yes, it is a complicated process. So, I'd like to dispel this myth, board members. When the summer time comes, the children go to play. Teachers go on vacation. Pupil accounting and records, we are vigilant. We stand at the walls and at the gates, and we monitor and we manage those records. So, we it's a it's a 12-month year-round job that we do. And again, these individuals are very passionate about this work. And when there are areas or gaps that we we tr- we we've really targeted those areas to ensure that those mistakes are not repeated. >> Thank you both so much. Are
036there any other questions from board members? Yes, board member Jackson Sowers. >> Thank you, Chair Anderfall, and again, as well, thank you for the presentation um, from this department. If it's appropriate, may I ask about the transfer of records and that process when a student is relocating out of Prince George's County. That's all in the same basket, right? >> Oh. >> Okay. Okay. So, what what I've recently been communicated is that parents are struggling to get complete records sent to the school that their student will be attending. And this is specifically a special education student and it appears that not all of the records from the previous school are following the student. So I want to know first about the fee because I understand based on this parent's information that they were told they had
037to purchase the records and wait 25 business days in order to receive the record. And then when they do that and get the record, it is not a complete file. So they've spent the money, they've waited the time, and still, especially in this case as it relates to special education, they don't have a complete picture. And obviously, neither does the receiving school. >> Thank you so very much. I'd like to just spell a a couple of things that and and I can understand how frustrating that that could be for a parent. The first thing I'd like to say is that record request um must be submitted electronically through our secure portal. And there is if a student is currently enrolled, there is no cost to the parent. So the first thing that should happen on
038a student I'm I'm a mom, okay? I'm my child it will be enrolling in Paint Branch High School in Montgomery. And the first thing that should happen is I I'll go to the school and I said, I am going to be withdrawing my child. The child should receive I mean the mother should receive not through our portal, but again we ask parents to request this in person. They should receive a copy of the student's birth certificate, their shot records, their assessments, um testing assessments, um a um another document that kind of um their last report card, and if they have a IEP or a 504, or if they have um if they have some English language development services that have been provided, a copy of that. So, that's the withdrawal packet. That's what they use
039to enroll in the next school. So, that should happen right away. Then we require other school systems to create a user profile for record requests. The reason for that is since so we can monitor what's requested and what is being sent to the school. And the schools are trained to provide to scan and upload to a secure portal their entire record. So, the receiving school would create a a user profile just like your name and your password. Our vendor will then um verify that you're actually a school official. You have this username and this password. Now, it only takes 24 hours to get this, and then they will electronically document the what records that they want. Now, the school receives every morning an email that indicates the record requests that they received. And that's part
040of those that 33,000 record requests. they receive an email that entails, "This is what the school who's requesting the record, this is who's requesting the record, and what part of the record they want. Do I want all the records? Do I just want the IEP? Do I Do I need the shot records? What do I need?" And they're supposed to They really are supposed to upload all the records, or if it's specific information data, then they give them that. Um with there is also an audit trail. We can see when the registrar opens up the email, the link. We can see when they upload the data, exactly what they sent. We see the images that are scanned. There's a timestamp, and on the other end, we can see when that person received those scanned documents
041and opened them up. So again, with 20,000 record requests from July 1 of last year to May 22nd of this year, and we have a small office. I I have to say that we're not able to monitor across the school system to the extent what we would like to. But if it's brought to our attention, we can, at a drop of a dime, open up that All we need In each of the record request has an identifying order number. If we have that order number, or some other very unique identifying information, we can look, and we can see exactly what was ordered, what was given, or what was not. We also send out an outstanding record request for all schools on a monthly basis. We send it to the area office, and we'll say, "Here
042are all the schools, and here are all the record requests that were sent and not fulfilled." So that's how we have been managing it through a automated work process automated process to manage record requests. So again, we train the the secretaries. We We've given them the tools, you know, we put the tools in the toolbox for them to use. Um we know that a lot of our secretaries get really busy um and they don't always get to it, but we also um are monitoring and we also provide that data to the area office to send to the schools. I hope I answered your question. If there is something that you need more clarification, I'd be more than happy to to clarify. I know it was that was a lot of information. I like my job.
043I get excited about it. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, Ms. Huggins. >> Thank you. >> All right. Are there any other board members with questions before we go into a round two and then also want to ensure, Ms. Thorpe's, if you have questions, um that you are able to answer I'm sorry, ask as well. Okay. Ms. Thorpe's, you have a question, you said? Okay. Board member Booth-Strother, do you mind if I um have Ms. Thorpe's >> Oh, please go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate the time and thank you as well, Ms. Huggins and Mr. Prince for your time and your presentation today. Um I wanted to kind of just get some insight in terms of the digitization process. And so, as we all are aware, like
044cyber attacks are like really a prominent thing in today's society. And so, I know like you guys are working with the vendor to kind of like develop the needs that we want with Synergy, but like what are they doing to make sure that the students' records, especially considering the information that's included in there, is properly secured and protected? >> And thank you so much for answering the question. So, there was a process that um the vendor had to demonstrate that they were certified and um for um um securing student data. So, our internal audits and department and our IT department verify that they have the capability to secure the records. So, the the vendor that we use is a vendor that we've been using since 2015, which is separate and apart for for our student
045records management um is a different vendor than Synergy and Edupoint. It's the same vendor that we use to secure all of our student data from uh 1923 for um our request for our student records um and um how we transition records um from uh internally to external requesters. We have never, since 2015, had any breaches, not one, since 2015 in our uh document management system. >> And just to add to um that thank you uh Ms. Huggins and Ms. Thorpe for the question. Um just to add to that um you know, uh we work very closely with our IT department. Um you know, and Ms. Huggins mentioned a a critical nugget in this is that every vendor that we use, the the vendor that we use, it has to be verified through IT And ensure
046that PII they're able to perform and able to protect those digitized records that we currently have on file. Um the security system that we are building now and what we aim to build in the future is is is is linked to the Prince George's County teachers email. And so if you are not vetted through HR, if you are not vetted through the Board of Education, then you cannot get access into our school system. Uh but beyond that, the other layer is that you now must be a trained staff members to see certain data points within the system. Um and so there's another firewall. And so our secretary teams, our office teams, our principals, our administrators, specialists, and central office official, uh even um many of those individuals have certain levels of access points. Uh ensuring
047that when information is requested, um you know, you might have to go through several layers including getting a request into the help desk for certain access. And so there are multiple levels of security when it comes to that. Um and again, we work closely with our IT team whenever we approach a situation where there is a conflict or a potential breach, uh we work to ensure [clears throat] that those families information is is secured and uh and private only to the eyes that need to see it. >> Thank you. I got one more little close out question. Am I able to ask it? >> Go Go ahead, Ms. Thorpe. >> Okay, sorry. Thank you. Um okay, so just to confirm, you said that you know, it has to be linked to the teachers' email. So,
048are you like saying that they have to be linked to the network like VPN or just their email? >> It is through a VPN process. Yeah, um you know, if you're in the protected firewall, getting into something data like if you're with if you're in within one of our schools and you have prior access. If you're in our schools, that access is granted. But the moment you step out of that firewall, you have to access it through a VPN. >> Thank you. All right. We'll now go into a round two um with board member Boozer Strother. >> Thank you. Um Ms. Thorpe addressed the cybersecurity issue that I was going to bring up. Um the other issue I want to bring up is the opportunity to weigh in on risk management and I'm not going
049to ask you to to say what those risk risks are um in this meeting, but the one thing that that I would say as a board member that I wish I knew and had more forceful um messaging from the staff is around the risk management of outdated software and processes. The Oracle should have been replaced much sooner and I I feel like there can be a tiptoeing around these central office costs and the cost of central office employees. And sometimes they are necessary and I did hear you say that your division could possibly have less risk if you had appropriate staffing. So, I would like this is, you know, messaging as a you know, the the what I wish I knew uh earlier as a board member before I depart. Um I wish that we
050were uh really pushed harder on the risk of Oracle. Um it really really caught up to us in very negative ways that have been costly. And the board needs to hear it when there's a central office cost that reduces risk. Um you know, your divi- your division is critical. I mean, we are learning we are learn I'm learning more today than I ever knew. So, I just encourage you to make sure your your voices are heard through the risk management process that that uh Ms. Thorpe's um you know, will be working on. Thank you. >> And And thank you very much for that. And I just want [clears throat] to assure you that the document management system that we use is uh not governed by Oracle. It is a separate software uh product. And again,
051we've never had a breach since 2015. >> Yeah, and I appreciate that it's separate from Oracle. I'm, you know, using Oracle as an example, but 2015 sounds a long time ago to me in the world of software, as you could imagine. So, um yeah. So, just uh those lessons lessons learned and um you know, as we as central office I think you've given the the board and the public um insights into that central office may may may not you know, these costs are essential that that that there's this concept somehow that every central office dollar somehow is not essential to the student and clearly in this case it very much is accurate and protected student records are about the student experience. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions? If not, I have
052two hopefully rather quick ones. Um so one um as a parent or you know, well I am a parent, but if a parent were to want to access their child's records where would they be able to find um instructions for how to do that? I know you mentioned that it would be of no cost to a parent. Um I know board member Jackson Saunders brought up you know, a scenario. How would they know how would they go about getting the records? Is that my first question? Um and actually I'll just I'll stop there. Let you answer that question first. >> So the first thing access to a student's record is governed by FERPA the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Every parent has the right legal guardian to access a parent's record. There's also administrative
053procedure 5134 which covers FERPA Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and a administrative procedure 5125 individual school-based student records. First thing, go to the school, say that you know, send it in writing. The first thing I would say, in writing. Send an email to the school send a letter, say I want to request to review my student's my student's record. They should give you a time and a secure area to review. Somebody should be in near the room watching, making sure that there was nothing taken out of the file, but giving you the privacy that you need. Giving you some space, but securing that. So, in a timely manner, they should give you that right now. The only time that a student that a parent is normally charged is if the file is really huge.
054And what they are taking into account is the time away from the secretary's desk, the amount of paper that it took to to uh duplicate a really large file. But, if the file isn't large, there should be no cost. And if you request a record electronically through our um our portal, and it's on our website, the Office of Student Records Transfers and Archival Services, you can request the entire record for currently enrolled student, the the uh school should upload that file and send it to you again at no cost. So, you can access that that portal 24/7. >> Okay. Thank you. And so, just to clarify, is this actually documented somewhere? I hear you I mean, I hear you saying, you know, it shouldn't cost if it's small, it might cost if it's large, and
055reach out, put it in writing. Like, is this documented somewhere? The actual process. >> On our website. >> Okay. >> Office of Student Records Transfers and Archival Services, there is um um you know, the link to our the portal for access, how to request a record. If you just in our search engine, if you just typed in how to request a student record. It should direct you to our website and then the information on how to request a record should be there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And if there's anything that you find that wasn't clear to you or needs more clarity, please let me know and we will make sure that that information is added to our website. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and then my other um quick question. So, I know that
056you said that you all provide training to staff on, you know, how to really manage this um on site. Um I'm just wondering, you know, despite the trainings, are there specific um things that you're seeing um where perhaps, you know, there are challenges that you're seeing despite the training? Um are there any that are, you know, that are recurring that you're still working to try to address to ensure consistency across all schools sites? >> And thank thank you for asking uh that. Um One of the things that uh Ms. Huggins' office did and and and in partnering with people accounting is that we went from a virtual training to an in-person training. That has been a huge success. You know, um to really help engage our registrars because often times when they're working behind the
057screen, the phone is ringing. A parent is coming in, a child with a bloody nose, and often times the registrar sometimes has to act as the nurse. And sometimes has to act as security. And so it's really difficult to really engage them. And so this year we we really wanted to engage them um in person. We also have a a chat line that opens every day Monday through Friday and it is active for every registrar in the school district and they ask questions anything with records. And the powerful thing about it is that we're not the only ones that are providing answers, registrars are providing answers. So, I wanted to put that out in front. But, to answer your question and with with not belaboring it, with 200 schools within our portfolio, one of the
058biggest challenges that we have is that we work with staff members who often times are on the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to pay. And so, when there's opportunities, these individuals go for those opportunities. So, there's a lot of transition and a lot of attrition. And so, each year Ms. Huggins is getting new secretaries, uh new registrars at all three levels. We now have to readjust and start over again. And so, the challenge a lot of times for us is that our secretaries, the ones we trained this year, have moved on. And we have to start all over again. And that does create a delay. A level of comfort. Um and so, that's why we try to create not only the in-person, but from 8:30 to 4:30 each day, there's someone there's
059an ear, there's a voice, there's someone there that can walk a new registrar or someone that's not too comfortable with the situation. But, that is one thing I have seen as a director, and it's it's it's to see a a registrar that's that's considered senior and have been doing this for a while, that's rare. It's rare. So, that's one of the challenges that we're seeing. A lot of attrition within that role because it is one of the lowest paid jobs within the school system, but these individuals manage our students coming in, they connect our students to our school, they get them schedules, they help to settle that family, they put a smile on the face of thousands of families, 15 to 18,000 families a year register into Prince George's County. And these ladies and men
060who work across our school district are also looking have families themselves and they're looking for opportunities to upgrade themselves. And so we're always training new individuals each and every year. >> And if I could add, we have a new tool in our toolbox. We use SurveyMonkey when we're auditing. So we audit in different content areas, um special education, um 504, shared housing, different registrations, different parts of a student's records just to determine uh the is the record accurate, compliant, and complete. We provide the findings to the principal and the records management team and recommendations. Our specialists are to follow up with the team, make sure those recommendations are part of the annual action plan they are to complete. So again, we have um tried to look at every aspect of records management and providing the
061support for um school teams that they need and also the feedback and recommendations and coaching that they need on site. >> Thank you so much. Um thank you for for your responses to those questions and and and Mr. Prince also just um stating stating what we know, just the importance of the roles um that our secretaries and registrars um play um but also obviously speaking to some of the challenges. So thank you so much. Um are there any other questions um at this time. Okay. Well, hearing no other questions, um, at this time, I want to take the opportunity again to thank you all so much, Ms. Huggins and Mr. Prince, um, for joining us this evening and shedding light on a topic that, um, sounds like a few of us, um, including myself, were
062not as, um, aware of. Um, and so, just increasing our knowledge, um, and also, um, just speaking to, um, some of what's to come, um, as well. So, thank you all so much, um, for joining us this evening. Um, at this time, like to inform the public that the next virtual Board Audit Committee meeting will be on September 1st, 2026. Um, so, this board This This Board Audit Committee meeting serves as our last meeting of this, um, school year. Please continue to check the Prince George's County Board of Education website for meeting information, um, and updates. Um, thank you all so much again, all those who joined, um, for the great discussions and for your attendance. Um, to our viewers, thank you for watching. Um, there being no further business, the time is now 7:07
063p.m. The June 1st, 2026 Board Audit Committee meeting is now adjourned. Thank you and have a good evening. >> Thank you for having us. Thank you. >> Thank you.