001authorities and that post-secondary preparation. Just more guidance on college and career pathways and increased exposure into the real world and their skills and experiences. So how did all of that come together and translate into these priorities? Again, we did not do this in a vacuum. All of the things that were considered was what is the state asking us to do? The history and the context of PgCps from our current strategic plan and just all of the things we've learned in the past. I'm looking at our core priorities, our focus areas, and those strategic drivers, those big rocks, and then looking at metrics and targets and monitoring data and progress from the past, as well as that stakeholder input from the community. And we looked at common themes, which led us to these five priorities. Um…
002Sorry, I'm trying to move that over. These priorities include student success. focusing on staff and leaders and that workforce development component, expanding access to program remains a priority. Family partnerships and organizational culture. And on this slide we wanted to really show you all how this looks as we move from transformation 2026. into four by design acceleration 2029. For 2026, we were looking to transform in some areas, and then for our three-year strategic plan, we're really looking to accelerate. So you'll see here that we're shifting from educational excellence into student success. Moving from general excellence to more targeted instruction in math and literacy, as well as focusing on that pre-K, our early learners, special education, and our multilingual learners. We are still focused on excellence and equity, but within that. That for us means expanding access
003to programs, which also is a part and a requirement of Blueprint. So it's operationalized by expanding access to our IRC, which is our industry recognized credentials, our CTE programs, our wraparound supports, and several other areas that are not listed, but will be included in the plan. Instead of looking at just workforce and operational excellence, we really wanted to focus in on our staff and our leaders, focusing on our talent pipelines, how we attract new staff, onboarding our workforce capacity and our need for professional development. And then our mental health and wellness as a standalone goal is now embedded within our organizational culture. Um, our wellness is integrated into our holistic systemic focus on safety, belonging, and ensuring schools and offices are welcome welcoming, as well as focusing on the overall culture of our school system.
004And then lastly, you'll see that we have family partnerships. Family Partnerships was integrated into multiple areas across the plan, but we pulled it out, and we have it now as a standalone priority, because we know that through those family partnerships, that's where we're really able to elevate our community engagement. We're able to reduce absenteeism. We really want to focus on family engagement, and we want to focus on. family learning supports, really making sure that families understand if we're focusing on math and literacy, what does that mean for families? And so, as we work to do public comment, you'll see all of this will be fleshed out with the priorities, focus areas, and strategies. and at the end of this we will share a link for you all to give your input. And we welcome any
005questions. I'm sorry, my son came in and was like, we don't have any more rice. I'm sorry. Sorry, you all. Miss Perkins and Miss Smith. You all's hands are up. Miss Smith, your hand, Vice Chair Smith, your hand was up first. So I'm going to toss the ball to you this time. Thank you, Chair Melhouse. So I just, I have 4 items I wanted to touch on. But first I wanted to say, thank you for sending these materials as a read ahead, because I thought I found it to be very helpful to not. you know, sort of receive the information in the meeting and have to just ask questions. I could more so provide. what my role is here to advise. So on the 1st item is connected to priority one and four student success
006and family partnerships. Um, we have Clever as a platform, and I'm curious about the utilization rate of the apps within that platform, but at a broader level. I think it would be helpful if families received, like, a one-pager or some type of quick start guide at back to school night, so that we know what apps are in there and what are the credentials that are needed to access those apps. The second one is dealing with, and Chair Mailhouse touched on this at the earlier part of the meeting. It's dealing with priority for family partnerships, and now organizational culture, specifically for the legislative feedback. This school year, PCAC had been informed that the district was planning to have two legislative sessions. Only one occurred. Um, I think that it would be very helpful if we do
007have a minimum of two, and in, you know, allow the family's voice to feed into whatever the legislative priorities are going to be, because we already mentioned in this meeting. We can be a powerful advocate, but sometimes we need to know, you know, where's the district going with whatever these legislative priorities are? Number three is dealing with priority 5 organizational culture about the environment. You all know I speak from the space of students with disabilities. So I would like to advise that when we talk about. Making it a welcome environment that we explicitly adopt and even defined physical and sensory accessibility, especially with the number of students who are being identified on the autism spectrum. Number 4. This is related to priority number 3, expanding access to programs inclusivity with the CTE pathways. I think
008we really need to. key in on, you know, what type of accommodations, or perhaps what barriers may exist in how we overcome this for students with disabilities who may have an IEP or 504 plan, but they want to pursue. Um, the CTE pathway at high school. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Thank you, that was good, Miss Smith. That's exactly what we want, because you're getting into the how, which is the next phase. So I love the specificity. So thank you, thank you. We've got all those notes as we build into the how, we won't let that get lost. Thank you so much. And thank goodness this is recorded. So they can go back, because you said a mouthful that was very helpful, you know, really helpful, and I just want to make sure before I
009give it to Miss Perkins, that, right, this. plan is really more so just an overview of what will be happening. You're not into the weeds yet, the metrics and the baseline. And so… This is the building out the framework. Yes. Correct. Okay, so if anybody has any questions that's dealing with the details and the metrics and where are we right now, and, you know, that is not what was presented. Correct. So, you know, you can hold your questions because my brain went into, I need numbers and data and I need to be able to measure where we were from the last plan. Mm-hmm. And then to where we are building on this plan. So Miss Perkins, if your question. It's asking about metrics. I want you to take your hand down. Well, I will… I
010will skip that question, and I will just ask that we talk a lot about the back to school prep and the feed of information, right? Well, what do we do over the summer to truly prepare our families to roll into the school year? I think that this is the perfect one-pager, like Miss Smith mentioned. We need to get this to parents over the summer so that they can digest what is coming to them in the next school year. Because I'm gonna be honest, if I am, um. a parent of a freshman in in high school. I am learning how to navigate what high school means to my family, what exactly what I need to do to hold that scholar accountable, yada, yadda, yadda, yadda yada, right? So, if we talk about preparing families, let's do
011it before the school year begins. So that you know how we talk about the summer learning gap for our scholars? We don't have that for parents when it comes to resource information, because they can still navigate through the website where most of this stuff is already baked. And they can play with it, because they have a little bit more time to digest it, so that when we're rolling into the school year, they're coming to school prepared as parents as well. Love it. It's a great idea. And then that that enables them to acts more engaging questions because they're prepared versus being everything shoved down to them at one time. I yield Chair Mayhouse. I'm done. No more analyst questions. I'm done. I don't… I don't believe you, Miss Perkins, so I'm just going to take
012that off the floor, just in case you need to come back. We will have one more round. No, thank you all. This was really helpful. And I want to just… segue into… We did a Jumpstart engagement document a couple of years ago, which we presented in our report. That was, you know, I guess it's still sitting on the shelf somewhere, Dr. Collins. Maybe you can pull it off the shelf if you want to talk to us before we leave because this will be the last moment to get that free advice. But it really will guide the parents on how to not only. begin their engagement with the school system, but how to keep them connected. And so, I am glad to see that there is a focus area on there for, um, the family partnerships
013being spelled out. And I know that the training that Dr. Jackson and her team used to do with Comer some years ago, um. Is it coming back, right? I, you know, because we can talk about partnership in theory. You know, here I am, I'm about to get on this soapbox, but it is very, very different when you actually have to put it in play, and when you are building the family's capacity to be a partner in education, to be a co-creator, you're also making sure that they understand. their role and responsibility in this educational space. Um, and it is not done where the school system or the board is giving them talk points and saying, hey, do it this way or go. and provide, you know, testimony, and here is what you need to say.
014It is being in a position to engage with the community as equal partners, and knowing they have a knowledge, skill, and ability to provide insight, to provide understanding, but also. come in a position of, I need to learn. Right? I always come to the school system. Knowing that I chose the school system to be a part of my children's board of directors. And so I have a skill set at that table that I need to help guide me in the role of a partner with you all. And so if the school system. One of the other things that we discussed, really look at how we are engaging family partnership. I mean, not engaging, but defining family partnership, right? How are we looking at the family, um, you know, in this space? And sometimes I believe
015that the school system looks at a parent, you know, with the lens of a deficit, right? And if you would just change the lens a little bit to see that those individuals have so much knowledge that they're bringing forward to the table to support the learning. And we just need to know, right? Just tell me what to do. And so again, I'm always excited to see. family partnership on the table. Um, I hope it's more than just a priority focus that's on paper, but that it is a continuous improvement activity. And Dr. Jackson, you can look at me in my eyes, and I wish your team was up here on the panel, that means that you all are going to be out there doing those family institute trainings, um, you know, and really building the
016family's capacity to be a part of this, um. engaging ecosystem to support the child. But my last little question is more so… What happened to the… where we are from the last strategic plan? Will there be somewhat of a bridge that you're showing what the accomplishments were, what areas of focus that are now going into this new strategic plan? Um… Because if not, that creates a gap. Because people need to see what was working, or what we were able to accomplish from the previous strategic plan, and how that helped move the school district forward, and then now why these, um, goals and priorities are now in place. Um… And I'll say it from the perspective that when an individual doesn't understand the how, what, and why you're just giving them information, and they don't know
017how they feed into supporting this right? And so this is really about going out. in building the stakeholders' capacity to be a part of the process, because this is not a plan that the school system is working in a silo. What I heard you all say is that this is our plan. Right? The community plan, the PGCPS families plan, so I need to know what we did, where we ended from the last strategic plan. I know we got a month or so, a couple of months left, but… There should be some metrics in place. And then you are then presenting, you know, what we are doing with this new strategic plan to close the gaps. And I know you mentioned the blueprint, but I'm hoping that it will also align with, you know, the requirements
018from MSDE, any requirements from the federal, you know. I mean, I guess it's still in place, but, right, we know that we're still federal requirements that we had to align with, so that way families understand that you all are just not making this up, but there are some governing, um, requirements that are saying why we have to do what we're doing. Because the family partnership aligns with Title I. And I always say, why just do that family partnership pack with Title I schools? Do it across the board. Right? Because it it makes sense and it's an easy plan to just flip. So that's it for me. Are there any other questions, comments? But great job. I'm not… I don't have favorites, but um… I think this department is probably one of my favorites. It's my
019favorite. Any other question? I mean, not Dr. Jackson. I'm sorry, Dr. Jackson, you know. And I say thank you, Miss Milhouse. Can I say thank you, Miss Milhouse? But you're part of the team. So, you know, part of the team, sorry. Can I just close by saying, thank you for this opportunity. And as a parent in the school system, as a someone who oversaw title one programs and worked at the State. I'm I'm glad you raised that alignment, because. with something we need to do, continue to do, and educate to show that you're talking about that alignment that we've been talking about internally. So, I love what you have elevated, because while you're not in the weeds of the work like us, I think I've been beating a dead horse about that. Um, I appreciate
020all the comment and feedback. We all do. I'm not trying to rush you, but we've written everything down. We've got it. You know where to find us. And this was a great example, I hope, of how we want you all to help advise us. So. I hope Miss Milhouse bringing this back was aligned with the role of this group here. So thank you. Absolutely. And Dr. Collins, I would say, as the group continues to move on, it is very important. Yeah, I may not work in the school system, but unfortunately, I am in the weeds more than I would like to be, and, you know, I… You can only imagine how much information is sitting right here on this screen in the level of knowledge, again, skill and ability that people can bring to the
021discussion, especially when we're not having to be in the weeds day in and day out. We can see things that you all may not see, right? And again, you know, my work that pays me is policy work. So in finance, so I can pick up a policy very easily and see things, right? Because my eye is trained to do that. I can pick up a budget and see things, because my eye is trained to do that. So, you have an amazing group of. Parent Interviews Advisory council members that are here and, you know, with the added expertise of the superintendent designees. So I am just hoping that you all continue to utilize this group like this month in and month out. Um, to share the information, and Ms. Weatherington, thank you for providing it prior
022to, because people are going to dig in, and they're going to ask questions, and it makes for a more robust conversation. Um, and so… That's all I have. Thank you. We appreciate you all. Thank you. Anything else? Oh, I'm so proud of you all. We're on item 8, adjournment. So. Follow-up, we'll be hearing back, and if you all want to come back in June, the only group that we were thinking about bringing back was Miss, um, Vice Chair Smith mentioned the bullying is a bullying group? bullying advisory Council. and transportation. Yes. Bullying Advisory Council, and of course, transportation. Because we definitely want to, as we go into the, you know, summer, we always know that a week prior to the school starting, that's when the transportation stuff comes out, but I think that we need
023to provide transportation another opportunity, because people need to understand why it's happening that way. They don't understand that the union also drives how the selection process may go with the driver's, you know, selecting their routes, and not until they do the routes, can you then communicate to the public. you know what your bus assignment is, right? And so we need to afford the transportation department who doesn't get a lot of love to. provide some explanation as we are getting ready to go into summer break. So, I thank you all. It is 8:25. Miss Weathington, I took 10 more minutes of your time away from you and your family, but we are going to go ahead and move towards adjournment. We don't mind. Can I get a motion from the floor? So moved. Thank you. And
024at this time, hearing no discussion, no one says no. We are going to adjourn at 825. Be blessed, people. Have a great evening. You too. God blessByeMm-hmm.