Board of Education Climate Change Action Plan Committee February 18, 2026

001Welcome. Uh, the time is now 4:32. Good afternoon and welcome to the February 18th, 2026 climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting. I am Pamela Boozer Strut, committee chair and 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. Miss McMillan, please call the role. Miss Bloozer Strather >> present. >> Donald Bell >> present. >> Kate Wonderlick >> present. >> Joseph Jakuta. >> Christina Quac >> present. >>

002Timothy Meyer >> I'm sorry. Present. >> Dorothy Morrison. Present >> David Notto Beth Novik >> present. >> Raone Palmensia Calvo >> present. >> Antoine Thompson. James Robertson, James Duban Garcia, >> Maya Gdera, Olivia Thomas, >> present. Sophia Velar, >> Michael Witherspoon, >> present. >> There are 10 members present. >> Great. Thank you so much. We have a quorum. With a quorum present present, the climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting will come to order. Agenda item 1.3, adoption of the meeting agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the February 18th, 2026 meeting agenda. There being no objections, the February 18th, 2026 meeting agenda is adopted. Item 1.4, approval of the meeting minutes. If there are no corrections, the committee shall approve the December 10th, 2025 meeting minutes as distributed. There being

003no corrections, the December 10th, 2025 meeting minutes are approved. Agenda item 2.0, presentations. There are seven items for discussion this evening. After each item, we will limit each member's questions and feedbacks to 2.5 minutes per round. Unless a motion is taken for additional rounds, there will be two rounds per agenda item. Agenda item 2.1, the director of sustainability report. The chair recognizes Director Morrison for the sustainability report. Thank you, Director Morris. >> Thank you, board member Buzz Brothers. Good evening to everyone and those that are on the call. I am going to share my screen. Can everyone see it? Hopefully. >> Yes, I can see it. >> Okay. All right. So, first of all, I'd like to just congratulate the students. Let me see if I could do this. I'm using a different laptop because

004I'll just leave it this way. I was going to enlarge it. So, I wanted to congratulate our student leaders. Um, I heard they were nominated for the EcoAmerica Climate uh leaders award. So, congratulations um for that nomination. And um just a couple of announcements um with regards to the student environmental alliance summit, the sea summit. Um day one, as you all know, we we have two a two-day event for our students. Day one this year will be at Buouie State University. That will be on April the 10th and that will be from 8 to 4. And day two will be at the Bladensburg waterfront and that will be on April the 15th. So, you know, there's some space in between. Before we had we had them like one day after the other. It's a little

005bit different uh this year. And also, we will be having the uh I guess what we're calling the adult climate and sustainability leadership summit on May this year. We will be at the Puxen Wildlife Refuge. And it's um I guess it's a quarter day event from 9 to 2:00 p.m. So if everyone could mark their calendars, that would be great. Um and as always, you know, folks are welcome to um provide input as to what you would like to see um for that leadership uh summit. Typically we have uh students represented represented as well there but you're open to um provide input. We are in the very early stages of that planning process. So there's there's plenty of time for folks who want to provide input to do so. Moving on to priority item two,

006carbon footprint reduction. This is an update on what we're doing with regards to reducing our carbon footprint. And um as you all may or may not know, we had some glitches with regards to the contract um that was supposed to be gathering our data uh for the energy dashboard. However, we have been able to um get approval and we will have uh that contract up and ready to go so that we can have the consultant load up our bills and our data uh to portfolio manager which will then be able to calculate our greenhouse gas emissions which is one of the requirements um of the cap. Uh just so you know, we are always working hard with regards to grants um given the budget shortfall and we have two grants currently that we're working on

007the NEA electric vehicle supply equipment rebate program. So, there's a grant there for um EV charging infrastructure and we are applying for I believe it's 2021,000 um that would support chargers at the Smith Center. We are also applying for an NSBA. Hold on a second. My light just went off. Okay. Can you Can you all still see the screen? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay, good. My light just went off. I'm not sure what happened. Um Okay, so um there's an NSBA grant um in partnership with Go Green Initiative for up to 45,000 which we applying for to supplement and support implementation of our indoor air quality projects. So more to come on that. Um going on to the next slide. um with regards to renewable sources commitment looking for ways that to ramp up our

008renewable energy development and there's a pro there was a power purchase agreement uh with Alter Gas in partnership with the county to purchase renewable energy from solar at a given negotiated rate and that was approved by the board um this past January. So that's that's good. Um we are also working on developing a request for proposal to secure a master contract, a master solar contract which we will have about anywhere from 4 to eight vendors that will be prevetted and they will be available uh to us to pull from when we as we develop or we install solar on our various um buildings. And another good news is that we have been able to renew our subscription for um the energy dashboards at Fairmont uh high school in Glenn Arden Woods. So that would be

009coming online and um if you all recall these were the dashboards that we used in the classroom to help um I guess the students to help the students sort of follow the various um energy I guess um you know when the days were hot cold and just to kind of see how we use energy depart depending on the day. So, so yeah, so we're excited to report that we will be renewing those contracts again and and have that tool be available for classroom instruction. And um item number four in terms of lowcarbon um school transportation, uh we applied for I think I reported on this the last time we applied for about $1.6 six um million dollars uh from NEA for charging infrastructure and these would be for the infrastructures at Crossland and Green Belt.

010So um we have not heard yet about that. However, we are moving right right along with developing an RFP to get vendors that would then be able to install those um those charging units at both Green Belt and Crossland. So that's the update on that. go on to the next slide. So, this there's something we're working on something here that's kind of exciting. Um there's a link on here. I'm not going to show that on here, but you guys could feel free to click on the the hyperlink. Um there's an organization called Ecoheroes and we are working with them uh to deliver a live stream educational event for our elementary schools. So, this is an interesting way of sort of learning. It's um I I believe they use hip-hop. So So they they work with

011the young students uh to sort of use hiphop to learn to teach them about solid waste and composting. And so there are testimonials. If you click on that link, there will be testimonials from different um schools that show this tool to be very very effective. So the kids get all excited after um after the delivery. So, we will be because they're in California, we'll be doing it initially live streaming, but we're hoping that they'll be able to come into the classroom at some point um in the near future. uh on behalf of the director of uh Buddha nutrition, she reported that this month that they will be conducting um some additional I guess tasting test for the students that would include international cuisines and there they will be incorporated um I'm sorry they will incorporate

012minimally processed foods. So that's an update from um director Kirkland. Um our deep dive for tonight which I'm so I'm not going to go too much into details with this would be the climate resilient land management. And uh during the deep deep dive, we will talk about or you will learn about partnerships that we're looking at with department of um environment, the the county department of environment and other nonprofit organizations um to initiate sustainable land uses on our properties such as food for developing food forests, community gardens that would benefit both students and the community. So um that's to come. And for this one, you know, I'm trying to think here. I know there's supposed to be a president. I know Barbuza's brothers are smiling. Um, so, but then I don't know who's listening, but

013I think it's okay for us to just say that um, the National School Board Association will be hosting its annual meeting in April. And, uh, congrats, kudos to us. Prince George's County did receive the 2026 Magna Awards, the grand prize winner in the category of large schools, which is enrollment of 20,000 and above. So, and this was uh for our initiatives on air quality and greenhouse gas um emissions reduction. So, we're very psyched and excited about that. And we will have board member Booza Brothers and maybe the superintendent, not quite sure yet, will be definitely be there to receive the award. So with that said, I will kick it back to or board member Busa, do you want me to continue on with party area 7 or do you want me to kick it on

014to you? >> Yeah, I think we'll just go move to discussion on your report and then I'll just remind everyone we have a series of exciting presentations. So we'll move through those, you know, and try to, you know, make sure we close our meeting out around six. Um, and right before that will be the legislative update. So, um, but if there's any questions right now on the on the director's report, we can pause and take take those. >> Sure. I'm trying to get my my light back on so I could get back on camera. I apologize that I'm not on camera. I'm trying to figure out my technology here. You could >> any questions? >> Oh, I see. Uh Timothy Meyer. Um I just had a quick question about on about uh area number seven

015specifically about trying to come up with uh food forest and community gardens for PGCPS and what can be done to make sure that that policy on paper actually translates down to the on the ground school level because we've occasionally run into situations in the past where we're told that we're not allowed to have a community garden on school grounds. Um, and I just want to make sure that the the policy gets to principles and teachers in the building. >> Sure. So, you know, I'm glad you brought that that question up and I I know um Christine is going to go into details with that, but essentially what we're working on right now is to sort of develop aou process so that whenever either a nonprofit or you know, whoever wants to partner with us to

016have this there's a process in place because right now you know you're hearing different things from different people because there isn't a formal process in place and that's what we're working on. um it entails a whole bunch of different departments uh risk management legal office. So once we have that, it's going to serve sort of as um I guess a a guidance or administrative procedure of sorts and that would sort of be um something that will be on our website so that you know the principles, teachers can see it there. And so we will outline you know there's obviously um it's very detailed in terms of um uh liability to the school cleaning up. There's just so many different pieces to it and we're learning that it's getting bigger and bigger. But the good thing

017is once we're done with the policy developing theou and the process by which to use theou it'll be available to everyone. So so hopefully we won't have that dubious you know nature. Some people say yes some say no and we'll have it as an administrative procedure. >> Uh thank you. And if I had can make one suggestion, it's just in in addition to outside organizations in making sure that PTO and PTA groups are included in that because that that's the experience that we've gone through is depending upon literally any given year or any given administration, we get sometimes get different answers and what we get a different what and what area would be the best for a garden and is it a true community garden and um I just want to make sure we have

018clarity across the board, but specifically including parent groups and and maybe even having a carveout for parent groups where it's a more streamlined process for them to try to navigate. >> So, I have made a note of that. >> Any excuse me, any other uh questions for Director Morrison? Okay, not seeing any hands, we can move forward for the uh items 2.2 2 to 2.6. These are the presentations on prior priority 7 commit to climate resilient land management. Begins with an overview of 2.2 and then director Morrison, I'll have you just move us through this section and we'll do questions at the end. So, thank thank you. Sure. So, we will start off with um Christina program manager Christina Garcia. she will sort of lead us uh through all the different presentations. But we do

019have um we have guests with us tonight. We have u Mary a with um the department of environment, the George County Department of Environment um doing a case study. We have um we have Eco City, we have guests, I think we have I think I saw someone from there already. So we do have um a case study from Eco City Farms. Um, and I don't know if board member Oliva has joined us, so I know that was >> I see her here. >> I I am here. I'm sorry. My son's do dentist appointment ran late, so I'm in the car, but I am here. >> No worries. Thank you for joining us. We definitely appreciate it. So So those are our two case studies. And um with that, I'm going to invite um Miss Christina

020Garcia um Stallin to to lead us with um the deep dive on party area 7. Christina, >> good afternoon everyone here, distinguished board members and guests. Um I'm going to share my screen or Mike, are you sharing the screen? >> Whatever you prefer. if you want to facilitate or if you want me to. >> Um, no problem. Can folks see that? >> Yes. >> Okay, perfect. So, if I'm sharing so for as um director Dorothy Morrison mentioned today we're going to again my name is Christina Garcia Stland. I am a program manager here at the department of sustainability and resilience. Today we will highlight some of our work um in achieving the goals of the CCAP um to priority seven commit to climate resilient land management with two case studies as mentioned that illustrate the

021multiple opportunities we have here to achieve these goals. So um let's get right to it. So just for some if you're new or are we're just going to go over what some of those objectives are in priority seven the and you'll hear more how we are working towards achieving them. So for commit to climate resilient land management we have conduct a systemwide landscape inventory and develop a plan for green infrastructure and sustainable landscape management assets at every school. Next one is establish a systemwide project database with tracking and monitoring for all green infrastructure and conservation and landscape assets. Then we follow if you see on the on the screen incorporate storm water management activities into school curriculums to enhance climate science literacy and support a culture of environmental stewardship. So how are we doing this?

022Uh we've completed the dashboard in 2023 which was modified to segment the data according to the priorities. The items tracked on the dashboard are really slow moving since they are mostly tied to capital programs and construction. But we're going to get um as you see here this is an image of the of our dashboard and you're welcome to join. I won't drop the links but I did have a list of the links. you can go to our website at DSR and you can it'll direct you to the these dashboards. So, as we continue um part of these objectives include plant more trees at each school and across the school system, plant native plant native plants and create conservation landscapes for storm water and multiple benefits. increase the number of school-based green infrastructure projects and we're

023and in this area we're actually um happy to announce we're going to have 60 more trees planted in April at Duvall High School. So, it's something that we are moving forward and partnering with different partners and identifying who can we work with. Uh priority seven as we continue with these objectives that we're tackling on. Um reduce paved surfaces and replace remaining impervious parking areas with pvious paving. Investigate building structures and retrofit green roofs where feasible. Preserve existing trees and woodland during site development process. And reuse already developed properties for school sites. These images here are some signage um at the Suland High School which um as you can see it's really promoting environmental stewardship um composting greenhouse rain barrels and we're just going to mention briefly this as we go into um the presentations right

024before the presentation. This is at Sutland High School. they have in the exterior learning terrace and outdoor commons. So, it's pretty exciting to see the greenhouse um just the infrastructure put in place again to support a culture of environmental stewardship. Um right now it's the high school is built um it's completed but we are still working on the bio retention pond and green space available at this site. I'm not going to the other aspects of the building. Um, just to stay focused on the storm water management aspect. Uh, let's see. Again, fascinating is is replacing an existing 344,000 square footage. Um, expanding it a bit more to 389,000. And these are just other common features about this school. What's interesting is that as we're just from some of the questions already mentioned um and things

025that we're trying to incorporate in school, we've decided to in this priority to create a program called sustainable green spaces for community benefits. And the purpose of this program is to facilitate and streamline support to external partners interested in food forests, community gardens, and outdoor classrooms to ensure safety, operational needs, and protect the property of interests of PGCPS. So, as you see here, um, we've tried to align this this program to the goals already mentioned. Effectively prevent or mitigate undesirable outcomes. Waste reduction. Land stewardship. Create conservation landscape, increase the number of school-based infrastructure projects, enhance climate science and storm water management activities, and reflect a commitment to sustainable sustainability equity and just nurturing the whole student. So um and with that in mind using as many are familiar with the plan do act where here

026and try to embed sustainability across operations um and really conduct um have business be embedded responsibly into policies and management systems. So in terms of identifying and and assessing the adverse impacts in operation uh tracking communicating and providing for or cooperate in remediation but this is on and for some of you as we've mentioned our work to accomplish this goal these goals really have been to how do we streamline this. So, if if you see this um flowchart on a high level, we really would like we're trying to see, you know, for nonprofits or third parties or partners that have this these ideas of classroom um outdoor classroom, community gardens may initiate process with PGCP staff like a teacher, the board. I am missing the PTO or PTA on this diagram. So, I appreciate the

027uh who mentioned that that we'll definitely include that voice in here. But we really would like um for the Department of Sustainability to be included early on in the process so that we can provide the support and guidance to really bring these projects into fruition. But as you can see in terms of assessing the feasibility of the projects um not only are we consulting with building services, the risk department, legal um CTE and um before that can really go to the COO and for further signing of theou and just really trying to identify the different risk or liabilities in in terms of um the property use. So at this point um before I get into um Colen Pow Academy Storm Management, I am going to open it up to Mary Abe uh at the Department

028of the Environment and also to Miss Margaret and Kayla from Echo City Farms. Um to you can hear the some of these opportunities available and I'll come back and and give a focus update on Colen Powell. Okay. Um, Mary Abe, would you like to start? Um, just again, Mary Abe, um, is a se um, heads the natural resource protection and stewardship program, flood management and environmental resilience division at DOE. So, >> so um, thank you. Um, do are we going to present will somebody be driving the slides for us when we present or how would you like to do this? M is that possible? >> Sure. Is it this presentation that's on right now? >> Oh, I didn't know if you wanted us to begin. >> No, they were separate. I believe they were sent

029separately. Yeah. >> Give me one moment. >> I didn't know. Did you want us to do our presentations now or did you want to talk about >> Yeah, >> if you can uh Mary Abe, if you are able to project it, then feel free. You can, you know, advance your own slides. It's up to you. Okay. >> I if you could advance on your end, that would be better. I'm get a little clumsy with my technical. >> Go forward. >> Yes, I don't mind. Just let me know which presentation this is. >> Um, growing our own. And also today joining me is a colleague uh Dr. Julie Wolf uh is also joining us. She's a climate scientist and soil soil scientists at DOE on my team. So Julie Julie's here. So we'll do a two-part

030presentation. answer questions. >> Uh, and I noticed in the the upload our presentation was just right after. There it is. >> There we go. Okay. Right. Well, I'll get I'll get rolling. Um, so Mary Abe, I'm in the Department of the Environment, uh, deputy associate director under Don Hawkins Nixon. Uh, you can go to the the next slide. Um the nexus of this particular thing that we're talking about is within the uh Department of the Environment. Um we actually helped develop the county's climate action plan. Uh and the nexus of many of the things that we're going to talk about very much align with the Prince George's County uh public schools uh climate action. Well, I guess it's not your clim what is it called? Climate change plan. Uh climate action change plan. And so

031I think that it's important to note that when we start talking about this, it's not just about climate action, but it's about the so many different overlapping themes that both of our entities actually share uh towards uh carbon emission reductions, uh job creation, uh greening of the county, planting trees. every one of the things that you were mentioning as you were talking earlier um actually involve plant material and involve a lot of plant material. So for anything that you're going to do under your particular uh these particular uh climate actions that the school system is is trying to implement it will involve plants. And at the heart of that, what I hope that you gain from what we're talking about is we think we have a pretty cool idea that could be replicated uh and

032moved around or it could be at a central location working with the schools. But the way we like to think about it, we would rather come to our stakeholders rather than our stakeholders come to us. And so with that, what this is growing our own uh started off, we were trying to get a grant back in the day when there were many grants. Oh, pass that. Um, uh, with the USDA forestry grant and we partnered with the University of Maryland and several other entities with the thought that we would stand up a native plant nursery in Prince George's County to grow native trees. And these native trees would actually be sourced from the county's own specimen champion trees because uh, a bit bit of background on myself. I'm actually registered landscape architect by trade and

033uh deal a lot in the the plant trade post now and also in the past. Most of the plant material that we get is not from this area. And so not only is that a carbon sink because you're transporting all of these trees across our county across different regions, it's opportunity lost. Additionally, the plant material isn't even really superior because it's coming from another region. So, the the idea was is to engage students in our youth and harvesting the nuts and cutings from specimen trees in our county and then basically, you know, cracking them and beginning them from seedlings to eventually be grown up and used in the county's urban tree program. But it's even more diverse than that because there's so much more than trees. There's perennials and grasses that are native and then

034there's that thing called edible foods. So, um that's something that I think Julie will be able to speak to uh from a food resiliency standpoint. So, but the the whole nexus of this was not just to get these trees from the local uh county specimens and champion trees because we have some incredible champion trees in our county. either 200, 250 years old and they're not going to be around forever. And let's face it, development is taking its toll. So the thought would be is if you use these trees, you engage the community, you engage the students to harvest these nuts and then grow them, you also tell the story of what that tree has seen over the years. And that's I think an important aspect of this. It's kind of uh taking the whole life

035lesson or the whole life cycle of this tree and relating it to a student because that's the one thing we're finding with our tree plantings. It's sometimes hard to relate to people. I think if we can find a way to really start to connect the two together. Uh I think that this is a good way. So next slide uh slide please. So I kind of just already gone over this but the the reality is what this case study was. We started talking to the Prince George's County school system specifically. Uh we did present at the climate summit a while back talking about community gardens and how the school system has the land. Now DOE is a paper tiger. I like to call us a paper tiger because we really don't have a real centralized space.

036We do have the landfill operation and that is a huge operation. and it's part of us. But in terms of like our tree programs, our storm water, all of that, we are basically uh kind of operating, we don't have a place to operate out of. We don't have a place to grow. So, we rely on contractors, that sort of thing. So we're starting to say if we were to engage the public really in planting and growing things what is a good entity that's centrally located throughout the county engaging all the stakeholders there we want be it the parents or the children it's the public school system so that's how the whole nexus started to get into this so next slide. So when we were talking to if you could advance to the next slide. Yeah.

037So uh again our growing own go uh goals uh better selection of native uh plant species reduce cost of plant materials because we're a county of a million in the department of the environment uh you know budgets are tight everybody knows that but the department of the environment should not be planting hundreds of trees a year we should be planting thousands of trees a year and so that's what we're heading towards is that goal but the prices that we're paying for these trees is is is it's over the top. We can't play uh plant as many trees and they're not even grown in our area. Additionally, here we are. We have this climate action plan. We're trying to implement it. And the amount of transportation emissions, which Julie can get into later on, is actually

038kind of you have we haven't even accounted for that when we do tree plantings. I mean, we're doing these tree plantings. Like right now I am literally planting 2,150 47 trees in District Heights, uh, Capitol Heights, and Gladensburg. And that's 21 tractor trailer loads of trees. That's a lot of trees. I believe that's about 90 tons. And that's coming from North Carolina, South Carolina, all those different sorts of things. And then there is the other thing which again Julie will get into is if you can grow a tree then you can learn how to grow food. And so the system that I'm talking about setting up is not just about growing native plants. It's something that is uh transferable and scalable that could be converted in a time of need and pushed out to grow

039food. So next slide please. So what is it? Um this is kind of like an example. it. What's the benefit? Uh there's a couple other benefits, but I'll get into a little bit more. But if you have invite DOE onto your site to potentially run a professional nursery, you're going to get the benefit of having professionals at the fingertips of the students. And so we take care of the facility and in return, we almost set up your lab for you to learn how to potentially grow plants, grow foods. And in return, we're running the space. It's kind of a a given ying and yang of it. And this picture is actually a pretty good demonstration of the size of the trees that we would want to grow to at this facility and then ship them

040out to our local farmers to continue growing them so that they get to the size that we need. Next slide, please. And so when we started to engage, I was looking specifically for a site and Gwyn Park actually came up as a as a potential site. And we're very interested to do it. The teachers, the principal was very interested. The problem with this site, it's it's a far end of the county, which is away from a lot of our urban stakeholders, but it is an agricultural school and we would love to work there. It's landlocked though. The piece of parcel that we would use is landlocked. And so that's a problem that we have uh that that we're trying to get around that, you know, we'd have to o have different openings for trucks because

041no matter what you do, we have to have a way to get the plant material out. But the school does have a greenhouse and that's the sort of co- benefits that we would do. We would work with the school system to renovate the greenhouse, grow plants there, use it for us, but also help with the teacher set up systems to grow plants and kind of integrate a professional environment where you're getting exposed to multiaceted green industry because it's not just about landscaping. Who's the county's next landscape architects? Who's the next production manager? How do you manage the irrigation? How do you select the plants? how you propagate the plants. It's it's just multiaceted and all of this could be integrated into project blueprint to achieve there's certain types of uh things that are like Julie

042is a is a doctorate in in soil science. I'm a registered landscape architect. I have a civil engineer on my team. I mean DOE is chalk full of professionals and it is our core mission to do stewardship and engagement. So it's kind of a nice happy marriage. At any rate, what this layout, you can go to the next slide, please. Kind of shows the scope of what we could do on two acres. What would it look like? Those green uh areas on the to the right when you look at the uh at kind of the legend. Those are nursery beds. That's after they've been the the seeds have been started. They've been in the greenhouse, there's a a bit of succession. Julie could talk to that a little bit more. Next slide. This is what

043a hoop house would look like. And again on that slide you look at kind of the the pinkish uh uh color. That's where they could be located. Again, this is a hypothetical layout that I tried to do to see how could it really work for us to get to a system that would be beneficial to the county. Uh and a thought would be is that that's very important here is the systems that the county has looked at do not involve digging in the ground. That's a key component. We're talking about inline air prune systems. So, it's portable and we're not digging into the ground. And the reason for that is is that we certainly don't have enough space to grow these plants, these perennials, and all these different sorts of things to the point where

044we could actually stall them. So they would actually be delivered or picked up from the local farmers who would contract grow with the county to grow them to full size because literally both the school system and the agencies we we spend millions of dollars in plant material uh doing our CIP projects uh doing outreach stewardship and most of it is not grown in Prince George's County and frankly most of it not even in Maryland. So that's just some no pun intended food for thought. Next slide please. Um and this is the kind of workspace that might be like you see a red area kind of strategically located. This type of layout is a professional layout. This is not a feel-good operation. There's almost like it's it's segregated between the professional operation and where the school

045system the the the greenhouse would be. And then when the kids want to come in, it would be kind of a limited area that would be a very uh how should I say it? It would be a an arranged event that we would work with and then have internships and all kinds of training. But it is definitely there has to be a firewall because not everybody, you know, the school system presents problems for the trade because not everybody that comes in is going to be able to get a security clearance. That's a fact. And so that's something that always gives us pause. And so whatever we do uh when we think about these systems, we're thinking about how could we firewall this? How would it work? And I think we could we we can find

046a way. I'm positive we could do it. Um next slide, please. And this just kind of shows very quickly the growth cycle. You know, the starter plants, one to two years on campus. um they learn how to germinate, participate in large-scale production, they see what it's like. We would want to The thing is that what DOE is dedicated to is innovation. We're not going to do it the way our daddy did it and the daddy did it before. We're looking to do things in a better way with an eye to reduce carbon emissions that both the school system and Prince George's County government can say, "Look, we work together and look at where basically our emission avoidance." Next slide please. And this is just kind of a sample. You know, you see the the size

047of the trees where they go to some other location so they can continue to grow. And a and a part of this would be u I just briefly have to say this is again can't be a complete feel-good operation. This has to be economically sustainable. And through county government's own supply and demand, we can find a way through budget vouchers that we grow these things that also support the programming to work with the kids. So it's a circular business system and also too it keeps the money in the local economy because if we're growing it's like let's say for instance the school system decides you know what I want to grow a thousand trees that I'm going to install in 2030 and the school kids and we're to do this well we we start to

048find out what CIP programs are going to need that the same with DOE we utilize the buying power of government to really drive this and then there is a little bit of missiondriven profit in there for the school system and DOE to run the programming to do the project blueprint. It's not about mission to to do something uh you know CIP. It's it's really about how do we wrap it back into the system to support the things that are really important. Next slide please. Just a quick diagram of what we're looking to grow to. Our program is my program is looking for the 10 to 12 foot that takes about five years. That's why we have to work with our partner, our farmer partners. Next slide, please. And uh just a quick overview. There's a

049like I said, I think Julie can speak to this even better. all the different uh professions that are looped in to running an operation that is related to growing plants whatever it is it's just multiaceted I just think there's so many opportunities there's also a lot of certifications that could be built in uh to achieve project blueprint next slide please uh and this is one of them uh next slide I just have to mention it I mean we are going to the AI world and again if we're going to do this thing we want to do it right we want to have exposure to things that how the trade is really starting to head towards if we were to have a central location that we started this off as a template let's say an agricultural

050school um you know we would test the technologies that are coming down the pike the AI I mean I'm not the biggest fan of it but it's here and it's not going away drone technology I the kids' be I'll do that. So, uh I can just see it. Next slide, please. Actually, too, the remote controlled mower. That's pretty cool. That's already happening, folks. Stay. You can see it. People are The remote controlled mowers are already happening. Um and I'm going to now turn it over to Julie and she'll talk a little bit about the uh the food resilience piece of this and the emissions. >> Thanks, Mary. Hi, everyone. Can you all can you hear me? thumbs up. Um so yeah, uh I want to talk why is this strategy growing our own a climate

051action implementation strategy instead of just a way for us to get trees? Um for several reasons. The first of which it does allow us to avoid emissions. What I'm showing you here in this table um producing trees is involved with uh greenhouse gas emissions. And on the left column, you can see what it takes in terms of fuel and fertilizer and energy, the the CO2 equivalents associated with that. That's negated by the carbon that's drawn down by a tree as it grows. And that's in the second column. And if you add those two together for two native trees in these two rows, you can see that the the the net emissions associated with growing a tree, they exist. They're kind of moderate. But then if say you look at transport from the middle of the

052country from a nursery in Tennessee that adds a big uh bolster of emissions associated with that transportation and it's even further when you consider or even larger when you consider that many of our trees are actually coming from Oregon or even locations in Canada. Uh compare that to the column on the right uh in green. If we grow them here, those transportation emissions drop down to almost nothing. uh which is a is a big bonus in my opinion. And uh next slide, please. Oh. Uh and so this is Mary's picture. Just an example of what it looks like to deliver these large trees. It It's not trivial. Next slide. Mary, you want to address this one? >> Sure. Um, and that slide you just saw, that was actually a pro DOE project in 2024 when

053we planted almost 2,000 trees in Forest Heights street trees which are desperately needed because there's a tree equity problem especially inside the beltway and our older communities. Um currently right now I mentioned that we are doing tree plantings in Capitol Heights, Bladensburg and uh District Heights. Uh 2000 Oh, I think our slide went down. Um did it go down? I think our slides the bottom line is those represent 21 tractor trailer loads of trees that we are going to receive just from this one planting because we can't get the trees locally. So that's how many in the next month DOE alone will be transporting in literally into our municipalities. That's just my program. That That's not the CIPs. That's not every That's not DP. That's just here. So, um it's just a that's two 2,000

054tons of trees. So, Julie, next slide, please. >> Give me one moment. It seems like my system is glitching. >> Okay, >> that's why I didn't want to drive one second. Well, while it's loading, I could just continue briefly in words. Um, so the emissions also relate, this also relates to food security and that this whole system in the event of a um a disruption. Oh, there we go. Uh, trucks. This is Mary's slide more. You can go to the next one, I think. Mary, >> I'm going uh Oh, go ahead again. Okay, I I'll jump to Julie's gonna make the connection. The school system has 200 locations throughout the county. And the one thing that we had the one I showed the example of a stationary mobile area really when we did our original

055grant we were hoping to do mobile stations that were basically one acre mobile areas that we would stay in one location for about a year and then keep moving on. And what that would do, it would provide us a way to engage schools rather than because a big what we found when we've worked with schools, there's always a big cost to transporting the kids to a location. And so in this particular concept, we actually have a mobile grow container, one acre in a parking lot where we grow, we have our production, and we get it to a certain point we can grow perennials, foods, and things like that for the community gardens, get things established, and then move the show on the road. And the thing is is we know what these things cost. We

056know them. And actually we even explored having uh the the school system as a project build these. And so this is not these are sea containers that are basically retrofitted with LED lights and different sorts of frankly the cannabis industry really revolutionized these type of containers. But they're used for growing food and for starting plants. So it's a really good system. So I won't belabor. Go back to you uh Julie. Ah, next slide when you get a chance. Oh yeah. So, so the point of this there's cycles obviously annual cycles when we produce trees and we one of the benefits of having LED lighting and controlled climate when we want to produce tree seedlings quick is that we can speed that up. But the other advantage is the whole thing can pivot or partially be

057used for growing food in what's one of those 20ft containers and there are larger ones available. We can start about 15,000 mediumsized tree seedlings. Uh a smaller number of the really large seated trees, but we could also start 55,000 broccoli seeds in these paper pots, which I'm showing you here. Um so this has kind of a dual usefulness. One is that in the case of a food emergency, we can quickly pivot to starting food plants to supply to local gardeners or any local resident who's interested. Uh, and next slide when you get a chance. But we can also support kind of the ongoing gardens that you might want to have at school. Um, including in the summer. And we have this transpler that goes with these paper pots that lets you put in some rows

058really quickly if you have a garden space or we can send those paper pots home with people who want to plant them at home. Uh, next slide. So, and again, when we're thinking about supporting gardens at school, whether they be community gardens or gardens for teaching, for classes, for students to work with, the problem always comes in that who's going to support that in the summer. And especially with climate change in Maryland, summer is a harder and harder time to garden in general, and it's really hard to start your seeds for the rest of the year when things get easier because things are so hot and dry. And so in the summer when our tree seedlings are going outside, we can convert these spaces to starting seedlings for example of all these species you see

059on the right um to support your gardens during the school year. So I think that could really help take away some of the burden of supporting these any gardens that you would want to start and again it gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of pivoting between food and native plant production. on the next slide please. Um and again to reiterate supporting gardens like this as well as nursery production of native trees really just would provide if we can if we're providing kind of the support for keeping things going. Then the teachers have a readymade outdoor lab. They can come out and have students scout for bugs with a hand lens or do any number of other things. they can get hands-on experience related to some of these industry recognized um sorry industry recognized

060courses credits I can't remember what the C stands for but there's some in particular that are really well supported by what we want to do uh in particular the Chesapeake Bay landscape professionals certification which is designed for young students um could get a lot of what they needed in terms of experience and hands-on through a program like this and then for students who are really hardcore about the plant sciences, they could do something like the BASF or work towards that. Um, next slide when you get a chance. Um, but a project like this could really support so many professions. Everything from data management to landscape like what Mary has specialized in. Um, all of the things listed. We really need a lot of I I don't want to say support, but a lot of creativity

061in terms of moving these trees around among county farmers. um making sure we have everything that we need, scouting for diseases, uh checking soil nutrients. There's just no limit to what can be uh learned and supported with hands-on growth. Next slide. Ah, Mary, this is yours, I think. >> Thank you. Keep going, Julie, to the end. >> So, this is just a diagram of what one of those 20 foot growainers would look like. Um it's a little small, but it's really very portable. And so it it's just such a nice thing. If we could park that there, it could support um innumerable plants. Next slide. I think this is the last slide. That's just what it would look like from the outside. I think this is a 40 foot one. So the ones we're looking

062at are a little shorter. But yeah, that's it for us. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um wonderful. Um, so, um, >> should we um, chairwoman um, do you want to take some questions? >> This was super exciting. So, yeah, why don't we pause for some discussion and questions because there was a lot and I know I'm super charged up about what we just heard. So, I see that uh, Regina Garrett Sproul has uh, raised her hand if you'd like to go. >> Yes, thank you. So I'm the instructional supervisor with career and technical education and so we have three environmental agricultural natural resource programs and they are at Grim Park High Point and Fairmont Heights. So some of the things you talk about are things that we're actually doing. The state is actually

063moving to flex models and so with that we're also looking at how we're doing certifications. The BASF is already on our list. There's another certification. Um, we're looking at hydroponics, aquaponics, right? We do have green houses on all of those sites. Some are older than others. Some we're working on plans to um do some renovations. And then we have hoop houses and outdoor classroom at FEMA Heights. Right. So, this is something that's very much happening in CTE as we speak, not at the level that you're talking about. And then there's very much some additional things that we're doing as it relates to just I heard internships, right? We want a student enterprise and we're looking at that across CTE, but we're certainly looking at opportunities for young people to be engaged in that for the

064environmental studies program. Um summer opportunities, it is true in terms of teachers often come up to school um to water the plants or you know to take care of the vegetation. Uh Gwen Park actually has animal science. So at the moment they're also taking care of chickens. And so those are some of the things that we kind of navigate through. We used to have a pig, right? You'd be surprised the things that we've done. Um so yes, so it's very in line to some of the things we're already doing or some of the things that we're we're looking at doing between like now and SY28. >> That's >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> I mean that's really I mean there's ways that we can partner. I do want to emphasize that the sort of thing that

065we're talking about those mobile systems we would actually be more than one because that's about the food resiliency piece of it that um I think Julie can really speak to that Julia in terms of where most of our food comes from and if we had a food emergency it's real what Julie 95% of our food it isn't from our >> and that's part of why like well I just want to say why our movement is towards like urban farming right that its kind of the the situations that we have, the space that we have and looking at food deserts and things like that and then trying to expose our students to career opportunities in these fields and that so many more of them are beyond just the farming of it all. Right. So trying to

066change that image that that's what all those jobs are. >> For sure. >> 100%. Yeah. I we're we're speaking the same language. I'm so excited to hear what what you have going on and we don't want to steal anyone's thunder. we want to support, you know, and and bridge those gaps. >> Yeah. Thank Thank you so much for the CTE update. I see Christina Quac has a question and then Beth Novik. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Um gosh, I loved hearing your presentations. I'm so excited to hear this. It's like an excellent example of when we put our heads together in across sectors and think about how we can create solutions that have co- benefits for multiple sectors. So, this is a really excellent example of that. Um, I didn't catch if you all

067are from the Department of Environment for the county or for the state. um because I was curious kind of what the implications are not only locally here in PG County but also across the state of Maryland because I'm assuming that a lot of the sort of tree planting efforts the emissions um that you all calculated in terms of bringing in trees from outside the state, you know, we can look at this as a as a cross-state issue. And I'm also thinking about this especially because so many of the schools and I, you know, I'm speaking totally out of turn here. I don't know how many schools, but my sense is that there's a lot of space limitations for schools in the county, especially the urban urban schools. And so, you know, can we put our

068brain power to thinking about how how in addition to tree planting other challenges that the Department of Environment is facing in terms of, you know, the emissions reduction goals, the food resilience goals, climate resilience, adaptive capacity, you know, all these beyond the tree aspect to see, you know, it's a solutions that could really help benefit um urban schools as well. So, that was one question. And then the other question that I had was the implications for teachers because I like I'm super excited about it. I'm sure there are a handful and maybe more than a handful of teachers who would be excited, but for those teachers who might be like, I have no idea what to do. Cool. But I have no idea how to bring my cla my students out to the class out

069to the out to the green houses and the you know h how can we support teachers to um identify connections and you know build bridges to the content that they're that they're in charge of teaching um and really help support them uh in in drawing those learning connections. So yeah, thank you so much and great great work. I'm so excited about this. Thanks. >> So I'll I'll take a crack. We are the Prince George's County Department of the Environment. So your these are could be your tax dollars hard at work. Um so yay. Um Julie can speak better to this, but I was deeply involved with the county's climate action plan and um unfortunately um the back end of how we do greening is not really the carbon is not calculated and and the end

070emissions it isn't. And so that's from a a future that we are building for our children. It's time we start thinking about that because I can plant all the trees in the world, but if it's just like what Julie says, you know, what the emissions are because I and I literally they're not here. We literally had to get them from Tennessee and North Carolina and it and because it's just the way it is. And with all the tree plantings going on, the supply is being drawn down and it takes trees take time to grow. And if you do it a certain way, you can clone trees, but do we really want to be cloning trees and putting That's not a not a good idea. Um, for a lot of reasons. So, um, but in terms

071of the teachers, the one thing that I want to resonate is that if we have a professional system, and I do mean professional, I mean, there's deliverables that the county itself does at these facilities. The benefit that we bring is whatever we're touching, it's going to be well-run. And so it's like Julie said, if the teacher wants to bring it in, they can get involved as much as they want. It's a readymade lab. And the truth is, not everybody is up for putting their hands in the dirt. And that's okay. It's okay. You don't have to be. But you do need to know that this is how food is grown, too, because everybody eats. And so I think that's how we can make the link is making that really important link that this is a

072product that the county needs to do its environmental stewardship and so does the school system. Guess what? You've committed in your cap. You want to plant a thousand trees a year. Why in the world isn't wouldn't this program grow them for you? Why wouldn't they? What a great story. Um and grow more. Why a thousand? Why not 10,000? You know, come on now. We can do better. So, um I think that's the connection that we can make. And I think that and Julie touched on it really well. The multiaceted pieces of the green industry are not just about growing the plants. It's about the production. It's the plumbers. It's the electricians. It's the civil engineer that lays out the site. It's the irrigation. It's who builds the greenhouse. Is the greenhouse going to be uh

073solar powered? Is it going to use geothermal? I mean, these are all things that can be integrated in. Everybody plays a role and there's somebody that might be interested. And there's even you grow up to be an accountant. Why can't you be an accountant for a nonprofit that's planting trees? You may be doing accounting, but the mission of the organization that you work at, you want to make a difference or you want to do whatever. So, that's that's kind of my my spiel on that. But we are the department of the environment and uh we really are looking to to to to cross the b you know work together. >> I thank thank you. I'm gonna have Beth Novik uh uh ask her question now just for interest of time. >> Yeah. I'm actually not

074going to ask any questions. I'm just going to say I also I work with PTOAC Riverkeeper Network and it has been so deep in DC water and that mess that I am happy to hear some great environmental news and this is sounds like I am an educator and I think that a lot of kids and a lot of teachers are just waiting for this type of process that is easier for them. We, you know, Prince Georgia County Public Schools has done a fabulous job with school with uh green schools and with CTE and getting kids active learning, but I think I've worked with Eco City Farms. Um, we did composting. Kids are ready to get their hands dirty and ready for this. And I really, really appreciate your enthusiasm and um interest and getting students

075the benefits for our kids and our community. So, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Beth. And that's C s I think 32-year educator. Is that right? So, uh big endorsement. So, um Julie, did you want to respond before we go to Christina's question? >> Oh, I'm happy to. I don't want to take too much time. I know Eco City Farms still needs to talk. Um uh I think there was a bit about emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our climate footprint. you. Um, Prince George's County is kind of unique and so this really fits into both our unique ways of reducing our county's carbon footprint and emissions, uh, which will be very different from, you know, the Midwest or other places that are less built up. And it also helps a lot

076with space because we're relying on some of our county farmers who might have more space to take those bigger the trees for them to get bigger. It really lets the schools be as small as they need to be but still have a piece of the pie. But yeah, in terms of emissions, I think we really need to focus on reforesting where we can, preserving the trees where we can, and reducing our landfill emissions. Those are going to be the ways that we can have a big impact and and also our transportation emissions. And this really hits on all of them. And I'd be happy to talk about that more by email or however we can later. I think we're all on the same page. and I get so excited around students. Um, so thanks. >>

077Yeah. Great. Thank you. So, Christina, I'm going to hand it back to you if you're going to uh move us to the next presentation. >> Yes. Thank you so much and I appreciate uh we are going to be moving forward, those that are um interested as we identifying all the stakeholders for to move these projects forward. you know, we're we're happy to invite those that are interested in meeting again with um Mary Abe and the DOE and identifying how um you know, how we can make this possible. Uh whether it's director Regina Gretzel. Um so, we're going to um leave that there. I did um some of you did reference the city farms and we do have here um representing Echo City Farm which is a nonprofit in um in urban farming which is great

078because that they have that component of teaching and and learning and they're doing great work here in Prince George's County. So I don't want to take any more time and present Miss Margaret Morgan Hubard and Kayla Agony. Thank you. >> Hello. Good evening everyone. Margaret, you're on mute. You can unmute and then I'm gonna share my screen. I can facilitate our slides. Can you just do the the the big one? >> Hi. Yeah, good. >> Can you hear me? We can hear you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. So, I I want to say um that that was an excellent presentation and um that in the same way that trees aren't grown in in um Prince George's or Maryland to the extent that we need them. Food certainly isn't. And um you know, we consume tremendous

079amount more food um than we grow. And so it's really important and that's why we started Eco City Farms. Not only that, but in many many areas there um food, healthy food is not accessible. So our vision as Eco City Farms where um and we'll talk a little bit more about where we are and so on is a restored Chesapeake food shed that nourishes our bodies, our communities, and the earth. And then I just wanted to introduce myself real quick. My name is Kayla Agno. I'm deputy director of Eco City Farms. I recognize a lot of faces here in this room. So thank you for allowing us into this space and good to see all of our supporters. Um just want to mention I'm a graduate of the PG of PGCPS and um within the

080capacity of Eco been working with the schools for tours and school visits, summer programming um and working with our partners at the Schmidt Center. So next is um so we're talking about urban farming. We do have uh later on more of a case study of a project that we are actively pursuing around a community garden and uh outdoor learning space. So we'll get to that point, but first we're setting up our philosophies and how that ties into climate resilience. Um these are some of our foundational principles. Um just want to highlight valuing biodiversity. Um thinking globally, acting locally. Uh and definitely environmental and food justice for all. And um this is our um at at two of our farms we have um what we call compost outposts. We also repurpose um shipping containers. This these

081look very different from the ones you presented. We do these um for our composting and um we have a distributive system where we work around um with other groups to try to produce compost that is specifically um good for growing healthy food. So um we have um food scrap and organic waste composting at two of our sites. Um we have we have hands-on environmental education for youth and adults. These are just some of the things that we do. We do community building events and uh we have a culinary arts and community nutrition education program. We also have a summer youth program um where we employ students to work with us. We teach them farming and cooking from Bladensburg High School primarily. >> So I want to highlight beginning farmer training. I want to give a

082shout out to Mora Mcasted who was on here earlier. But speaking of beginning farmer training, tonight's one of our classes, so she couldn't stay on for the call, but want to acknowledge her as part of our leadership team um and and a former graduate of the beginning farmer program. Um so tying further tying resilience to agriculture. So we we're talking about this climate aspect, but there's a broader sense when we think about resiliency. Um so we're also talking about creating resilient communities um through activities uh connecting with folks um you know bringing people together to celebrate the beauty of growing food and sharing that experience. We um we practice resilient agriculture and by that we mean shifting from consuming to creating, renewing, revitalizing food, soil and soil. >> Resilient farming also includes acknowledging farming traditions

083and adapting that to our climates. One of the most important things we do is restore soil fertility. These are worms. We not only um have a composting operation, but a large vermma composting operation. We use the extract or um water that that we generate with the worms um castings to um to produce a kind of compost tea that we um spray our plants with on the regular. And it also not only helps their resilience, but it also um helps as a natural pesticide. restore cooking and healthy family food rituals. So drawing that connection between growing food and eating food in a more cultural sense, we restore nutrientrich locally grown food. This is a um an example of the kind and quality of food that we produce at each of our farms. We've spoken about this

084during this meeting as well. Um, we have a focus on restoring native plants and perennials. There are several uh pockets of native gardens on our farms as well as a food forest at our Bladensburg farm. >> And this was once uninhabitable fairly recently. Um we restore the land through permaculture and we are certified naturally grown. >> Um and resiliency is about restoring yourself, you know, connecting to your body and paying attention to your needs. It's also about staying connected to family and community, spending time with loved ones, and uh doing what supports community and the earth because it will also restore yourself. Um create resilient bodies mentally, physically, and spiritually through connecting with nature and one another. That's one of those other benefits of connecting with nature and gardening, right? that mental, physical, spiritual restoration

085um especially as mental health is a a growing topic. A farm is a mosaic of interrelated enterprises and we try to um do a number of different practices all of which support each other and support the farmers who we train. We're going to dive in a little bit more during this case study in terms of the blade the town of Bladensburg and the work that we're doing here. Uh our Bladensburg farm launched in 2013. It is a model of a residential farm for a low-income apartment complex. The space is 3 and 1/2 acres and it's adjacent, you can kind of see here from the background, um that it's right next to a 480 unit complex. This is very close to Port Towns Elementary, Rogers Heights, Templeton, Bladensburg High School, and then outside of PGCPS, there's

086Elizabeth Seaton around the block. Um, so that those groups of students have worked with us. Margaret mentioned our summer youth programming. This is a training ground for our beginning farmers. And one notable thing when we're talking about our compost outpost and verma compost, this is the farm that houses those operations. So the this is the plan for the community garden that we hope to grow to produce or create. Um this is land that we secured quite some time ago and we've been through a couple of rounds of this. This land is right next to um Porttown's Elementary School. What you see in front is the parking lot of of Porttown's Elementary School. And this is the schematic drawing of the um garden that we hope to grow there. There is a um triangle that's delineated

087and then there's another little triangle. The larger triangle is the land that we actually have secured quite some time ago. It is park and planning land and we have a 15-year um use agreement with park and planning for this land. However, that there is we found out as after we secured funding for this project that there is a little piece of land there that's in front of our land closer to the parking lot that is actually school. um part um it's actually school system land and in order to do what we had proposed to do we um we need to actually access a a little piece of that land as well and we also have to secure water from the school. So we got a grant which had a word that probably few grants have

088will have for quite a while. It's called the green space equity grant and um it's for the Bladensburg community. What we had planned was to do a community garden but also make it available to the school. Um the the area inside this the larger triangle the uh rectangle that has circles in it is an outdoor um learning space or outdoor classroom which we um have inside our um the space on the land that we have. But on the other side of that is the um youth garden or uh youth learning space. the the other squares are um for parents and other people in the community to grow food. As has been said, one of the challenges of community gardens is that the major time when they're most productive is during the summer when school is

089not in session. So, we wanted to do something that integrated a community garden at the school with growing spaces for parents and adults in the community. Um we we have um we wanted to produce particularly uh give an example of producing healthy food in in this community which is a very food insecure community. Um we we want to connect with diverse communities with one another. There's quite a mix of peoples in this community. We want to demonstrate climate smart growing, provide the outdoor learning space for children, connect to the STEM curriculum, um and um connect the school to diverse community of growers and com and community- based organizations and of course celebrate food, health, community, and education. We can come back to that slide if there's questions around that. But just to to finish up

090our presentation at the top here, this mural is in front of our Edmonston farm. This is the image of the new farmer of today. These are real beginning farmers um and challenging the imagery of what you think about when you think about who a farmer is. Um, so a lot of these folks are are beginning former graduates. Just to mention, we, you know, we were highlighting on Bladensburg, but we have other locations that we manage. There's the Edmonston farm, which is about 5 minutes away from Bladensburg area. That's our first farm that was launched in 2010. And then we also manage the urban farm incubator in Watkins Park. That was launched around in 2022. And that is a space for 10 other farm businesses to work cooperatively and um grow their businesses and markets and

091refine their practices. >> And we wanted to give you a way to reach us um not just about this project but any other um that's myself. I'm the CEO and founder of Eco City Farms and I can be reached at [email protected]. This is Kayla. Kayla is our deputy director and she can be reached at kayla ecoityfarmms.org. And this is um she calls herself M Farmer Mac and she's um our director of strategic programs um and she can be reached at mac ecoityfarmms.org. Our slogan is we grow great food farms and farmers and we work at each of those um very hard for the last 15 years um and we will keep doing it. So I um I I don't know whether you want to go back to the slide about our proposed community garden. One

092of the challenges we have it's it's 10,000 square feet. It's not a huge garden. It gives an example of what can be done on land next to schools. Um it is not strictly speaking a school garden because it is not largely on school ground. Um and we are tr but we want to give an example of this be an experiment be a be a leader in this and show how it can be done. Um and uh this this land is basically right right next to the school. So it it has the advantages of both being part of the school and not being part of the school. And so that some of the things that may be challenges in the future may not be um a challenge for this particular garden. But but as we said

093um the only source of water um is that that little blue dot in the corner there and um that water would have to come from um the poor town's elementary school. Um I want to say that we started this project um a version of this project so long ago that um and we had worked with um super the superintendent of schools and the day before our agreement was signed um he left the school system um and so we are starting all over again now with a new grant. Well, th thank you so much for the presentation. I'm sure there are questions. Um I I wanted to invite my colleague, board member Amy Olivo to um make some remarks or or updates as as well um before we move to to uh questions. So, if anyone

094wants to raise their hand, go ahead. But we'll have board member Lebo speak to this this project that's in her district. >> Thank you so much um board member Boozer Strer and also thanks to everyone for inviting um this project to um to be part of today's meeting. I think we have some some really exciting presentations today. Um I'll just share a little bit more. Um we have met with um with numerous stakeholders including the principal, the community engagement associates and um actually the several science teachers as well um from Porttown's elementary who could not be more excited about this project. Um in fact um Beth, you'll you'll appreciate this. the the science teacher um the lead science teacher said she this year is actually her retirement year, but if this really goes on, she's

095going to have to stay another year or two because she wants to be part of this um community garden and being able to take her kids um out to out to do all of the things that that Mary was talking about in the earlier presentation as far as looking at bugs and having an outdoor classroom and growing their own food and, you know, all of that. So, um, that's what I love to hear, right? To have a veteran teacher so excited about a project like this that they think I might just delay retirement by a year or two to be part of it. Um, so we we are not um we are not uh blind to the fact that there are some some logist logistical logistical challenges um especially the water access. Um I you

096know everybody on here knows water is water is crucial. Um but I think based on um you know the benefits not only to this really amazing example of sustainable land management but for the possibility that in addition to the very large community garden plots that you saw there's an opportunity for school garden plots for school outdoor classroom for school um gathering places. Um, I think this is a really exciting project and I feel very confident that we can we can figure out the logistical details that need to be figured out. Um, so just want to thank um, Eco City Farms who um, like um, board member Boozer Strer I've known about and supported and been grateful to for a really long time. Um, so I'm really thrilled about the possibility of this project moving forward.

097Thank you so much. It's great to have you with us today and um to uh show the you know the many board members who are invested in the climate change action plan and hands-on with projects in our school in our districts. Um it's really fun and exciting for board members too um as well as as the school staff. So um so Director Morrison, did you want to jump in or uh should Beth go first? obviously let Beth go first and then I'll I'll do it after she goes. Go ahead, Beth. >> I'm just going to speak real quickly. Kayla, when we sat in my office on the floor with all that dirt and those kids are all in environmental science programs at either or UNMBC. So, >> when you get kids active learning, it works.

098And I just wanted to second something Amy said. Uh, water source is a big deal. So, Department of Environment folks, anytime I that is I'd had gardens at KMO for 13 years and getting water to plants was always a challenge and a creative process. But thank you, Eco City Farms. You guys contributed big time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Novik. Um, Director Morrison. >> Yeah. Well, actually, before I ask my question, it's really more of a clarification, but I was just wondering you all, you know, this mention about water access. I wonder if we can get WSSC to, you know, to do it like, you know, just give us like a contribution towards this effort to supply water for free. But hey, it doesn't hurt to ask. I was just kind of

099curious. I think I heard um that so the land is owned by Maryland Parks and Planning, correct? And if Okay. So, was there do you have an MOU? What kind of agreement do you have? I'd be interested because that's we're in that process of doing that right now. >> And also just kind of what kind of hoops you had to go through? Probably not as much as if it was on school properties because we're dealing with the kids. We have risk management and all that stuff. So, yeah. So, that was my question. It was really more clarification. Well, we have >> Yes, we do have a 15-year use agreement, but yeah, sure, Margaret, I'll let you speak about the history of what it took since, you know, that was a part of the founding, what

100it took to get this agreement with park and planning. >> Well, I have to say that I'm a very persistent person >> and I went both from I went I I tackled it from the top and the bottom. So I had supporters >> um throughout all the agencies and then I also um went directly to the director and spoke to them. There were they were unconvinced and so we did a conference first. We did a regional conference on food and health and um and community um and urban gardening and what it looked like. And so we were trying to educate all the people that we were trying to involve at the same time. and have them see that there was actually already a constituency and people who have done this that they weren't taking insane

101risks. It's really important to show them that it it happens elsewhere, right? But what finally happened is they said this woman's never going to go away and they find and um they gave me a a piece of land. We do not own any of the far farms any of the land on any of the farms. We now have um an incredible relationship. But the other thing is we delivered I mean park and planning had given land to other people before >> but nobody had done what we did and did it in short periods of time and with the kind of community engagement. I mean we've you know we've we got to know people we involved them. We talked to them. We didn't we left no stone unturned. And I think that's also important. Um, and

102even for for years we've been teaching both at the um, Porttowns Elementary School and at Roger Heights um, even before we ever did any of these things. And Kayla and I have been on different school system committees. So everything we've done has been to really create relationships and help people understand. One of the things though that I learned through this process is that really people don't understand until they see it. >> So until our farms were were built, there were people who would just nod and smile, >> but they didn't know what I was talking about, >> right? >> You know, and eventually um they got it because they could see it, they could feel it, they could be present there. And so a lot of what we do on our farms right now is

103is invite tours and and groups of people to come see it. And I I think that's also important. And um what I I mean be actually there is a school um in Riverdale that that is a former school that that um I did my first community garden at and and um first farm there. Um and you know it's been um and there is a school system there was a school system um farm there that was a community farm until um co and we have been trying to resurrect that one as well and have I mean we met with people at the school system who said we'll give you anou in a few weeks and we have yet to get it. So I mean it is a challenge to work with others. On the other hand,

104it's far more rewarding and important and especially as far as we're concerned >> to work with the next generation of people who need to know about where their food comes from and how to how to grow it and how to survive. I mean that's what resiliency is about. >> Yep. I agree. Thanks for that. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. And I'll I'll just do a little point of personal privilege that that certainly as a community member, um Margaret, I I know your vision and your political will to get this done. And and I I certainly feel like I've learned from it. So, thank you for your leadership in the community. I I I didn't know what an urban garden was until Eco City Farms. It was the first time I ever saw something like

105it. Kind of blew me away. probably it's some little bit inspired everything that as a board member I brought to brought to this work and the climate change action plan and so I want to personally thank you for for that persistence um because I I agree that's that's how we get things done for our kids. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other hands? Any other questions on our presentations before we move to um Tim Meyer's legislative update? All right. Well, uh, Christina, why don't you go ahead and close us out on this portion and then I will turn it over to Timothy Meyer who is going to going to lead us through Annapolis legislation. Thank you. >> Uh, and one quick question, do does the PGCPS board staff have a copy of the

106document? Uh, Micah will have to let us know. Are you able to post that when it from your Can you share screen? >> No, I don't have a copy of what Mr. Maya will be presenting. >> Let me I just sent a request to be able to share. >> Got it. Multiple sharing is on. So, when it's your time, you'll definitely be able to. >> Okay. Great. So, Christina is gonna close out this section and then we'll turn it over to you. Yes, thank you again um to the presenters. Um we will be following up with both um um groups today and um and if there are any other um stakeholders that you feel should be involved. Um be happy to to get some of that information. You can email me directly. Um we'll be

107following um coming up with both Miss Margaret Hubard and we also with Mary Abe and her um and her team. Uh so thank you again. Just to close up I am not going to go into this as deep. Um this is just a an update a focus update on just storm water management aspects that we do at different schools. Um, and I'm just, you know, we were able to on a high level really, um, decrease the the overall um, flooding zone in the school by over 35%. Uh, and this is at Colen Powell Academy. And just some overview, um, there's a lot of, um, engineering that is incorporated in in these storm water management projects. want to really clean out the pollutants of the of the water and also to control um the water level.

108So these are just to um as I had mentioned the bio retention that's also being done at Sutland and again um the the runoff that was diverted um from flooding flooding zones not only really um helped the school but also the community at large. It was about 1.1 gall mill million gallons of water um that was able to be drained um from this area. It could um for those just to give some comparison it's like 26,000 um tubs filled with water or two um big Olympic pools. So um the work that was done was really um not only to satisfy the mandate in PGC county for a 10-year but also for a 100redyear um mandate of of um flooding. So this is just um some images on the storm water retention structures. We'll come again

109at another presentation and um happy to you know um provide some of this additional information. And as you can see some of the equipment again just the tree conservation uh these highlighted spot that are yellow were part of that approved tree conservation plan. So just on a on a high level the storm water management that has been done here and it's great because now the DOE is going to be adding a resilience hub to this place. Um that concludes our presentation for uh priority 7 commit to climate resilient land management. Thank you. >> Yeah. And thank you so much to all the presenters and um to the PGCPS team u for the excellent presentations and the progress. Um really appreciate it. Um, and so I'm going to move us to item 2.7, the Maryland General

110Assembly legislative update and review of 2026 session bills. And I'm going to recognize member of the CCAP, Timothy Meyer, who will provide an update of some bills um that are relevant uh for us to be a aware of. Thank you. Uh thank you board member booster rather than can everyone see um can everyone see me and the document here? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yes. >> Um so this is going to be a very quick this is going to be a very quick update because I there are thousands of bills that are currently moving through the general assembly. Uh I have mostly been focused on a lot of blueprint blueprint and general education related bills. Uh, but I was able to put together a few that are either climate action related or uh safe routes because

111we do all of our uh safe routes to schools and pedestrian safety work through PHCPS and this committee as well. Um, first of all, a couple key dates. Blueprint day is March 2nd. Crossover day, which is the date when a piece of legislation has to be passed in one chamber in order to cross over to uh the opposite chamber. Crossover day is March 23rd and Sina die which is the end of the session is April 13th. Um the first piece of legislation to take a look at is HB79 which is the climate solutions affordability act of 2026. Um little bit mislabeled. This is not actually a climate action or climate solutions bill. There was similar legislation that was introduced back in 2025. And when you look at the breakdown of who was supporting it and

112who was opposing it, almost all of the major environmental groups uh including uh Joe Djakuda from our committee and climate parents of Prince George's uh submitted testimony opposed to the bill. So this is the this is a bill uh trying to you trying to use language uh to be that climate solutions are to be carried out to the extent economically practical and it is really code for finding a financial excuse to not actually implement climate solutions. So um it only has one house it only I believe it only has one house sponsor this year doesn't even have a senate cross file. So, I don't think we have to worry too much about this bill, but just making everyone aware that this exists. And this is one that is also on the MAB, the Maryland Association

113of Boards of Education legislative tracker as well. Um, next is HB429 SB599, which is onfarmm organics and wasted food reduction and diversion grant programs. And it's an establishment bill to create a new grant program. It is, from what I can tell from looking at the bill, it's not a lot lot not a large amount of money. It looks like it's about $2 million total by FY29. And there are multiple parts of the bill, but there is one section later on where it talks about LEAs as being eligible to receive grants. So, if this bill gets any traction, this is one that's worth watching as something that could potentially be some small funding source in the future to go after some composting composting grants or other things within the climate change action plan. Um, and it

114was in it was introduced last year, did pass the house or similar version. Some of these bills change a little bit from session to session, but it um did pass the House with some amendments, but it then got stuck in a Senate committee last year. So, similar back with the same sponsors this this session. Uh and we'll track it and you'll find that things passing the House and getting stuck in the Senate can tend to be a familiar theme in Annapolis. Uh the next bill is HB 614 and SB 381 which is school building energy usage uh creating a monthly report sponsored by delegate Chia Woo. Uh and it has a appropriations hearing coming up in March. The fact that it's on March 19th probably means it's a fairly lower a lower priority. And next

115week it the Senate version which is sponsored by Senator Watson and Senator West. So this is actually a bipartisan bill will have its uh education envir education environment and energy or education energy and the environment committee hearing uh next week. Um, this is another one that was introduced last session, didn't gain any traction then, and I don't actually know off the top of my head what the PGCPS position on this bill is because it it requires each county board of education to collect data on energy usage and then create a monthly report. And sometimes when there are when there's any kind of mandates or requirements of boards of education organizations like the superintendent association or MAB which is the boards of education association take an unfavorable view of that because if there's not funding associated

116with the requirements a lot of times um those are reposed. So I that might be something for uh board member Boozer and board member Leva to look into what the official PGCPS position on this bill is. Uh moving along to uh a say climate adjacent bill because we always talk about we always talk about uh school buses. Um one of our Prince George's delegates Denny Tveris has a bill on seat belts and school buses. Uh but this is another example of a bill that I don't think is going to be going anywhere. It does not have a Senate cross file and in past years it did not gain any traction or movement. But I'm mentioning it because Delegate Diverus has been a friend of PJCPS and I know that this is a bill that that

117she is very interested in. Uh bill that is near and dear to my heart which is HB486 SB526 which is establishing Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. Uh we celebrated that districtwide for Prince George's County Public Schools back in November. Uh, and I just got it's sponsored by Delegate Diana Finenel in the House and we had a very successful Ways and Means Committee hearing last week and it's sponsored in the Senate by Senator W Alonzo Washington with a hearing on March 4th. Um, I actually updated this from the last version that anyone else would have seen because I got a call uh earlier today that Ways and Means in the House is going to be passing the bill and we're going to be in good shape there. Um, but the bill was originally written to

118be Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day and also a Maryland school pedestrian awareness school pedestrian awareness day. Um, they wanted to make they want to make an amendment in the house to make it solely Ruby Bridges for this legislative session. So, uh, I'm going to follow the lead of the legislators legislators on that. Um, so the the language of the bill when you find it online right now will have the second part. I updated our internal document uh to reflect what what will be passing through the house hopefully in the next couple of weeks and this bill passed overwhelmingly in the House of Delegates last session. It got stuck in the Senate. Uh but we are counting on the triple that that triple E committee to try to get it passed uh and at least

119onto the floor for a Senate vote this this session. And I'll note that the two Prince George's senators who are on that committee are Senator Watson and Senator uh Kevin Harris, who's a new senator on new senator who was a delegate, now a senator. Um he's on the committee for the first time. So just if anyone has any positive personal relationship with either of them, it will be helpful to get some Prince George's County help getting the bill through that committee. Um and then a few other um two additional safe passage bills. There is HB1 1491 SB71. It's an interjurisdictional safe path pathways commission establishment and this is sponsor sponsor here is Arthur Ellis Senator Arthur Ellis from Charles County. Uh he had a hearing he had a hearing on this bill back on February

1204th in the Senate. I in my own personal capacity submitted favorable testimony in support of it. Uh, delegate Daryl Odum, who's our new 27 district 27A delegate from Prince George's County and a couple of other co-sponsors from Prince George's County are the House co-sponsors. I believe they only filed their House version within the last few days because it does not have an assigned hearing yet. Um, the best way to describe this bill from I had a chance to talk to delegate or sorry to senator Ellis at district 47 night a few weeks ago and it would be creating a statewide version of something that seems comparable to the school pedestrian safety work group that we had here in Prince George's County. So, not an exact parallel because there's a slightly different makeup of who would

121be on this commission, but it would be taking it would be similar to the work that we've already done in Prince George's County of looking at this issue holistically uh across the state. And then the last bill here to highlight is HB394 SB 158, which is construction of sidewalks and crosswalks, safe alternative routes to public schools, another bill that aligns with a lot of the things that we're doing in Prince George's County and PJCPS. Uh it is sponsored by Delegate Jen Terrasa um in the House with Mary Layman and Denny Tveris among the co-sponsors. They already had their house hearing. Uh the senate hearing was today. Also sponsored by Senator Ellis and I have submitted also myself submitted favorable testimony and with a little bit of statewide help, Strong Schools Maryland is also has this

122bill on their list of bills that they are actively supporting. Um it had simil there was similar legislation in the past. Did not move last session. And then I actually there's a typo there on Senator Ellis's name so I can update this version for the record, but um Senator Ellis had introduced several different times in the past. So he he had been carrying this bill forward on his own for several years. Uh now we there's at least some House sponsors and House in the House of Delegates who are promoting the bill as well. So, I do not know the chances of it passing because it's not passed so many times before, but there seems to be little bit more support. And but this is another one I will flag that requires a county board of

123education to uh proactively create a plan. Although I think most of the elements of the bill actually align with the uh Prince George's County School Pedestrian safety workg groupoup's recommendations that board member Boozer Strother and I were both on that committee or on that work group and crafting those recommendations. And then there's there were a few other there there's a bill that's not going to go anywhere on uh there's a a Republican sponsored bill on trying to promote propane buses which would be in conflict with some of the things that we do on this committee uh and work group but I don't think that that's going to go anywhere. So we don't really need to engage on that bill. I don't believe. And that's that's that's that's and I but I I will notice one

124I will add one last comment which is as I was trying to find climate related bills, there are really not that there are really not that many of them this year. And that in and of itself sends a statement about Annapolis and where their priorities are this session. And it's even harder to find a climate related bill that is actually a source of climate funding to be able to do climate related projects. >> Well, thank you so much, Tim. Tim, and I appreciate you taking the time, volunteering the time to do this research and pull together this report. And this certainly should be helpful for any next steps of the policy and governance committee. and uh board member Olivo. Uh great that you're here today since you have so much influence in taking a look

125at these and if supporting them will benefit uh the school system. Um so I do see hands. Uh uh Joseph Jacuda. >> Uh thank you so much for that presentation uh Mr. Meer. Um >> I'll say I'll just say too quickly uh Joe thank you so much for your help. Joe Joe shared a couple of his bills that he's been tracking with me as well. No problem. I always glad to share. There's so many bills to follow. It's it's easy to miss a couple. Um I I I guess on that comment about funding, I will say that at the very during the special session that was held um they did override the veto for the Renew Act um study. And while that the Renew Act study doesn't exactly provide funding, it is studying a mechanism

126that would essentially be like a should call it a climate super fund bill or something like that. And that and previous in um previous additions of the uh Renew Act have come with funding for electric buses and net zero schools. So it's it is possible that in the next year or two once that study is done there may be more appetite for it. Um and I would also just note that I did have my some concerns about HP614 myself uh the the monthly report just because I had seemed like the board of education was not the right party to be collecting energy data. it seemed like it would be the school district and also it's very duplicative of some other requirements that were placed in on the school systems a couple years ago through HP

127630 from 2021 sessions. So I I I do think that they I do hope that if uh there's any look at that bill that folks suggest that maybe they go back to the drawing board and try and integrate it with existing statutes. But those are my comments. I guess it wasn't really a question. >> Thank you. >> Um Tim, any response to >> Yeah, I I was just going to say in terms of Joe's com in terms of uh Mr. Jacuda's comments on HB 614 and the SB 381, which is the school building energy use monthly report bill. Um those hearings are the Senate hearing is next week and the um yeah the Senate hearing is next week and the House hearing is in March. So there would be there would be time for board

128member Olivo and the policy and governance committee if they were planning to weigh in on either of those bills to to either come weigh in with a favorable unfavorable favorable with amendments if we're trying to shape the the general direction of them in any way. >> All right, great. Thank you. Uh Michael, >> hi. Um hi Mr. Meyer. I just wanted to um say thank you for this presentation. Um I recently was up at the MGA in the page program and now that I understand like how it works, it's really cool seeing like it from the other side cuz like we've been in Annapolis. So, it's really cool to see the work that's being done from the county side um to influence stuff in Annapolis and um I definitely will be following those bills on

129my my MGA account. I I am so proud to hear that we have PGCPS students who have their own my MGA accounts that that just deserves a round of applause in and of itself. Um and I I just I did want to make one note. I mentioned how the the one bill has a hearing next week for anyone and this is as much for the students but also for anyone else who has not engaged in Anapapolis before. um when you do sign up to testify uh you have to sign up two day exactly two days in or two business days in advance of when the hearing is. So to use the example of the the bill that has a hearing next Wednesday the 25th, you would need to sign up between 8:00 in the morning

130and 6:00 at night on Monday. And you have to really you have to set a lot of reminders in your calendar about when a bill hearing is, when the bill signup window is. make sure that you have your testimony prepared in the right format so that you can upload it within that window. But just for any for anybody who's interested in ever engaging in on on these bills or anything else, um wanted to mention that two-day sign up window. >> Yeah, excellent information. Um thank you so much. And Michael, congratulations on um being selected as a page this year. Do you do you get to go back for another week or is your your time period up? >> Yes, I get to go back during week nine from March 9th through 13th. >> Excellent. We'll

131watch we'll watch for you. Um, Director Morrison. >> Um, thank you board member. It's really just um in my mind and I apologize I don't have the details but I was contacted but um by someone with regards to the I think there's a bill floating around the SE um SEIF which that's the fund that the Maryland Energy Administration um pulls from to have all these different grant programs. So there was talk about, you know, using that. I think that fund is roughly in the neighborhood of $1 something billion dollars. And there was some talk about using those funds for other things, right? And so uh the push is to um to not have them do that and you know save it because we we meaning Georgees County, we have been a huge beneficiary of all

132those funding. So, whatever we can do, I still need to find out um get permission to see if I can testify to in support of it. I'm not sure I can in my role. I have to ask the higherups. But yeah, so I don't know if anybody has heard anything about the SE funding and the funds being diverted to other things as opposed to um um energy projects. Has anybody heard anything? No. >> I will look it up and I'll see. >> Joseph just put up his hand. Maybe he has a Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah, that um I I don't know all the details, but yeah, I talked with the state Sierra Club the other on Monday about that bill and I know they're looking for folks to come and support the maintaining the SEIF

133funding um because it's it's a big pot of money that they want to raid. So um if if uh if anyone's interested I can try and get you in touch with the Sierra Club folks uh um in order to support it especially if you don't have uh you know such uh limitations on what you can and cannot do >> right >> thank you so much Joseph adding that information and and certainly we as a board understand the negative impacts when um dedicated funds or revenues are then um converted to the general fund which is what happened to the energy and telecom tax two years ago which is part of our big budget discussion. So, uh, Director Morrison, I want to thank you for catching catching this one because, um, that this is exactly how that

134happens where we have the dedicated revenues for um, programs and projects and public services that we care about and then they go into a general fund where where then you don't have them for that anymore. So, um, um, Mr. Meyer and then I guess you could close us out and I'll just close out the meeting. Sure. And I always what I was going to say was that this is also the reason why it helps to have groups like this get together because director Morrison highlights an issue for us. Um Mr. Jakuda spotlighted that he sometimes does work with the Sierra Club. So even if director Morrison is not able to submit testimony or weigh in on that particular issue, there are others of us who are involved in this meeting who do have either ourselves

135or contacts and networks for environmental organizations who could. And that's a perfect example of the way that I've gotten much better at helping to track these bills this year is doing work through the blueprint coalition, which has a legislative committee that meets every single week, goes through all of the education related bills coming up in the next two weeks and then figures out which different groups who are involved. Are they good bills? Are they bad bills? Are they bills that need amendments? and then uh which groups or entities are the best position to uh engage on that particular bill and weigh in with testimony one way or the other. And that that's really helped me be able to keep track of all of this. And again, like I said, just hearing that Michael himself is

136is has his own my MGA account is uh the single best thing to come out of this out of this meeting because we it's everything comes back everything that we do comes back to students and uh trying to help empower students. Uh, and if anyone and if any if anyone has follow-up questions on any of these legislative on any of these legislative bills um or anything else moving along legislatively in Annapolis, please feel free to reach out. >> Thank you, Tim. And thank you for ending us on the note of um that we're you know the that we are focused on our students and children of this county and all the work that we do and all the many volunteer hours that the members of this committee give to this work but I know all

137of you are so active in the community uh engage with these the these issues and bring them to PGCPS and the board. So I want to thank you as well. So I'm going to move to 3.0 the adjournment. Uh the chair informs the public that the next virtual climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting will be held on April 29th, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. Please continue to check the PGCPS board web page for more information and updates. Excuse me. Um there being no further business, the time is now 6:34 p.m. and the February 18th, 2026 climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting is adjourned. Thank you all so much and have a great evening. >> Thanks everyone. >> Well, good evening