001The time is now 5:03. Um, good evening and welcome to the January 13, 2026 Policy and Governance Committee meeting. I am Dr. Felton Moss, committee chair and district 7 board member. It brings me great pleasure to welcome you all to tonight's meeting. For those unable to observe now, this meeting is being recorded and can be assessed on the PGCPS YouTube channel for later viewing. Miss Johnson, will you please call the role? >> Dr. Moss. I I mean present >> Miss Olivo. >> Present. >> Miss Brown. >> Here. >> Mr. Briggs. Miss Walker. >> Present. >> Mr. Jackson. There are four present. With the quorum present, the policy and governance committee meeting will come to order. This time we'll do the adoption of the agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the January
00213, 2026 meeting agenda. Any objections? There being no objections, the January 13, 2026 meeting agenda is adopted as amended. Well, at this time, we'll approve the minutes. Um, if there are no corrections to the December 16th, 2025 meeting minutes, um, they shall be approved as distributed. There being no corrections. The minutes are approved. At this time, we'll move to public comments, um, it looks like we have no public commenters tonight. Miss Johnson, is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. >> All right, we'll move to our legislative update. Um, Miss Welsh can provide you with the legislative update and vice chair Olivo um probably can give a legislative update from yesterday and today um right after you miss Welsh cuz we were in Annapolis and um visiting the teachers union yesterday. >> So um the of
003course the session opens tomorrow. Um, however, the bills started coming through on Monday and um, I have been working in the past few days sending them out to the chiefs um, because they give you a turn uh, the Department of Legislative Services gives you a turnaround for uh, how much time you have for the to provide basically they're looking for any operational fiscal impact on the bills. Um, there's been a wide variety of bills that have come through. uh many of them are repeat bills from the uh previous uh session last year and um so as soon as I get information and the and I just so you know I have the um tracking chart is open for everyone so that you can go in and look and as they come in I have been
004posting the bills and putting a little description so once I get feedback and uh then I'll also give you information about position and rationale for that position also Dantel put a section in uh which is uh lists out all lots of bills not just the ones that are coming in through department of legislative services and some do apply to us some don't and they and that basically just lets you know where the bill is currently. So I am going to speak with her about combining those two so that we when you as a board member look at the at the chart the tracker you'll see the bill you'll see the name of it you'll see a description of it you'll get you'll see what our position is the rationale for the position but you'll also
005get to see like is it sitting in this committee is it going to hearing on this date that type of thing so that you have everything right in front of you you know as you move forward in the legislative session. Um, so I think I think for right now that's u the big thing that they're just they're just starting to come in and I'm sure by the end of the week we'll have many more bills from the uh from from legislative services. >> Vice Chair Lebo. >> Thanks so much um Miss Welsh for that overview. Um and Dr. Moss. Uh yesterday evening Dr. Dr. Moss and I had the opportunity to attend the Prince George's County Educators Association um representative council meeting. There were approximately 100 um teachers in attendance at that meeting and um
006Dr. Moss led them through our 2026 legislative platform book which um it's not showing up because of my blue screen, but hopefully um everyone has a copy and we're we're sending those out. We were also able to answer questions. Um, of course, as expected, our teacher representatives had um had really great questions that we were able to ask. The bottom line, um, I think the most important thing is that, um, we are all of us singing from the same song book um, as we head into Annapolis for our legislative session. I think that's very clear between the superintendent, the board of education, our teachers. Um so that was that was really um really terrific. Uh this afternoon a few short hours ago um Dr. Moss, myself and then um Jontel uh met with um chairman
007Barnes um Ben Barnes in Annapolis. We had a great meeting. We also shared with him our 2026 legislative platform and then an additional um one pager which I understand is kind of um hot off the hot off the presses if you will of um an update discussing um the cuts that have already that PGCPS has has taken um and then the the 5 million that we're asking for specifically from the county. So, that was a a really strong um discussion. Um great um great back and forth with um with Chairman Barnes and we look forward to continuing meetings as well with um members of our delegation. Thank you. >> I think you meant 50 million. Just you said 5 million. Just no worries. We know you know. >> Oh, I'm sorry. 50 50 million. Oh
008my gosh. 50. Yes. Yeah. And um thanks to um thank you so much for correcting uh board member Walker. Um but uh committee members, you you will see pretty soon a new document that just helps communicate our messaging around what's happening with the budget stabilization um in the district that the administration put together like today to be able to take to Annapolis. So uh it should be in your emails pretty soon, but uh super productive day. Thank you, Vice Chair Olivo. Um, at this time, if there's nothing else, we'll move to the next order of business. There are there any questions from any committee members or comments? Um, happy to, uh, I want to make sure I make space for colleagues. Uh, board member Walker. >> Yes, thank you for seeing my physical hand because
009I can't find the digital name. Um, I did want to ask, were there any um questions that came from teachers that we hadn't yet heard before? It might be some of the same if there was anything you could share with us. Um, and if not, it's okay. And then um I was also going to ask about if there's any followup for um the meeting um with um Delegate Barnes. >> Yeah, Vice Chair Levo, which one do you want to take? Um why don't you take the teachers and the questions just because you'd be more familiar with any questions last year. >> All right, got you. Um so there were the biggest questions actually came around honestly they wanted us to fight to preserve our dual language programs and get additional funding. Lots of conversations around
010dual language programs and making the request larger. I think they were appreciative of the fact that um and I know you'll appreciate this board member Walker because you've worked the last two to three years to make it happen. Um to see the alignment AC around federal priorities between the administration and board. So now they know exactly what to go to Annapolis and say um and then there were some you know other questions around buildings and facilities um around when were we going to upgrade and modify them overall. And then there was just general um appreciation for the raise that the board supported um this year. Um but yeah, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Um just lots of advocacy around um dual language programs, dual immersion programs. Let me make sure I um qualify
011that. And if I forgot one of the questions too, um board member uh vice chair Lebo, you can add on too. Yeah, I mean I think there were just a couple things also that weren't necessarily related to the legislative session, but kind of just were the opportunity to kind of address a board member around like maybe a building specific item or or that sort of thing, which um you know, we let them know for sure, you know, always reach out to your to your board member um about those sorts of things, you know, inside or outside of um conversations like that. And then from today with um Chair Barnes, you know, I don't there wasn't I wouldn't say there's like really specific followup as far as um any like pointed questions that he asked us.
012Um he I think he he really appreciated the legislative platform, really appreciated um you know the information that we shared. we were um we were able to explain kind of why we needed to make these $150 million cuts right now and where those were coming from and then where and why we were specifically asking for the $50 million um this year. So, I mean certainly we'll, you know, we'll follow up with him and thank him and all of that, but there wasn't anything that he specifically said, "Can you get back to me on X?" or any questions that we weren't directly able to answer. So, um, yeah, >> you good, Board Member Walker? All right. Um, others any questions? All right. Well, we'll move to our proposed policies. Um there are three more items for
013discussion. There will be two rounds per item during the discussion and each round will be two and a half minutes. If a third round is required, a vote will be taken. Um and we're going to start with policy 1700, the disabilities issues advisory board. Um the chair recognizes Miss Welsh to provide an update on the policy. Uh Miss Welsh, can you let uh folks know where we are on 1700? So, uh, currently, um, I I did, uh, speak with, um, Trenel Bowman related to, uh, trying to get more information about CCAC in terms of looking at how that functions in relation to how DI uh, the disabilities advisory board functions and and what are the similarities. and she did share with me the bylaws uh which actually provide a lot of there's a lot of
014similarities in what we would want as terms of an advisory committee to the board. I did share that with Miss Oliva who also I think shared it with Miss Brown and I believe the next step is that this you're going to have a conversation at the disabilities advisory committee meeting. >> Yes. And I I owe an apology to um board member Brown who I had um wanted to to catch up with before this and that's on me that we didn't have that conversation. So I apologize, but I am hoping that um that we can have that conversation and then take this conversation back to um to DIAP to have with them. Um and I think based on you know prior conversations we've had that that you're probably amendable to that. >> Thank you all. Um
015just so just to offer context for people who may be new to watching tonight and didn't watch the prior meetings. Um we are in the process of revising um board policy 1700 focused on dis our disabilities issues advisory board. We're in an iterative process right now where we're getting a lot of stakeholder engagement. Um so we've been talk we've done some analysis work to see what other districts are doing. It sounds like our liaison are going back to the disabilities issues advisory board to get more recommendations and feedback from them. So if that is the case, um the question at this time will be shall the committee recommend policy 1700 disabilities issues advisory board back to the sponsor for revision approval so that they can continue working on this iterative process. Is there any discussion
016on that? See is there any discussion from our colleagues? Okay, seeing there is none. U Miss Johnson, will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Moss. >> Um, yes, >> Mrs. Olivo. >> I >> Mrs. Brown. >> I. >> Miss Walker. >> I. >> There are four in the affirmative. >> Um, policy 1700 disabilities issues advisory board will be recommended to the policy sponsor for continual revision approval. Um the next one is does not have a policy number yet, but it's immigration enforcement activity. Um it's um it's a required policy based on House Bill 1222. So at this time, the chair recognizes Miss Welsh to provide an update of the new policy, immigration enforcement activity, um as it relates to House Bill 1222. So um to give just a little background we did we
017had I had developed the policy based on the um attorney general's recommendations u from house bill 1222 and it was pretty just in line with that that in the meantime CASSA did provide public comment um and gave a wide variety of suggestions of which I did incorporate many of those into the policy and and so that's what we had I think at the last meeting and then We did receive at that meeting more public comment uh related to the um to the policy. So I did incorporate uh most of those um suggestions into the policy. And because I had said going back to the sponsor, I ended up sending it to to um board member Olivo as well as to OGC to begin the review process of it. So it can then go to OGC
018and the superintendent to review. But we have incorporated most of those uh suggestions or recommendations from CASSA into that policy. Um so the question is shall the committee recommend new policy uh on immigration enforcement activity to the policy sponsor for revision approval. Um this is because of the feedback the continuous feedback process from OGC. Um any discussion from my colleagues? Um board member Brown and then Vice Chair Leo. >> I just want to kind of remind um maybe some people don't know, but I do need to abstain um from any voting because of the role that I have in my professional um career. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Brown. Um Vice Chair Olivo Great. Thanks so much. Um, Mrs. Walsh, I was wondering if we had um a sense um of additional com
019of when we I'm sorry, a sense of the timeline for additional comments from um OIG our office of um general counsel. So, they are I did share with them that the next committee meeting will be um whatever that date is and when they would have to have it to me. I did actually speak with her today about it and she said um because this is such an important topic she not only will she probably review it but also our the our general counsel uh Mr. Henderson will probably also review it and probably related to the um I think the biggest area has to do with the lockdown lockdown recommendation um both from a legal perspective as well as an operational perspective. So, um, but I did reinforce with her today that if there's any way
020they can move it forward as quickly as possible because we'd like to bring it back to the next meeting in in January. >> Great. Perfect. That's what I was hoping the answer would be. Thank you. >> Um, board member Walker. >> Yes. Thank you so much. And thank you, Miss Welsh, for all the work that you're doing around this. we know that this is a um really important topic and it's very sensitive and so I just wanted to just double click on the fact that we are keeping our scholars at first and foremost. I just wanted to um put that out there. I know we are but especially to the public um that have a sense of fear at this time. We are just making sure that our scholars are safe and protected and make
021sure that we have all the guidance from the federal level but as well as um our own council as well. Um I did want to ask um and if you could I know we know the process but if you could just talk about what the process is because this is so sensitive. So you're going to take it back for revision um hear back from OGC and then if you could just talk about the key steps that's next maybe um um Dr. Felton or Yeah. Thank you. really getting around what the feedback is for um our constituents to be able to add in. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah, Miss Welsh, do you want to do you want to jump on what that process is going to be? And to board member Walker's point, it may be
022good to just highlight some of the key um directions that the immigration enforcement policy has has undergone over the last couple of iterations if you don't mind. So the policy itself um was um initially of course was very uh straightforward in terms of of what was in the actual um law and then um it has have incorporated uh from the last meeting we incorporated we did put a more robust um purpose statement based on actually the resolution from the board that had they had passed that you all had passed last year and then we included the recommendations, especially related to like training and then a communication plan. And then um making sure we the superintendent makes sure that he has resources available to about the rights of of students um immigrant students to receive an
023education. And then what kinds of supports are available and educational report pro uh protections and also legal and mental health uh resources and um also family safety plans. um and um the um actual standby guardianship so that if by chance a parent of an immigrant parent had um was taken away and there would they'd have a backup parent that could jump in and parent the student, you know, during that time period. Um and then I we also I did also add um information about um more specific information about what is should be requested from ICE agents when they come into the to a school as well as the furer uh protections and um and then um what is it? Uh let's see what else is this? Uh oh. If something were to happen to make
024sure that we did in um if something were to happen like say with a student with an ICE agent that we made sure we had emergency contacts to contact the students emergency contacts. Um and then also providing a whole list of of legal service providers. And so then uh from that we did receive more recommendations and those recommendations um had to do with instead of just saying ICE that we refer to them as immigration enforcement agents throughout the policy because a lot of federal agencies are now conducting immigration enforcement. So we I added that in and then they asked that for what we're talking about providing information about the legal resources that we include um at um low cost after no cost because we had no cost originally but they uh but um Cass's recommendation
025was that it would be no cap cost and low cost because sometimes it's very difficult to find no cost but you can find low cost so I did include that. Um and then I did um add information about um the uh students uh protections uh and and also training on c culturally responsive engagement um of immigration students and their families. And then the last area which is the one area that I do believe could possibly um be of a concern and I did u highlight that with but I did add the language has to do with the soft lockdown. if in fact um there was um turned out that there was uh agents that that was it was confirmed that there was agents in in the area that could be coming on school property. So
026I did uh so those are that's where it is right now with all of those additions to the policy. Um and they will I'm sure we'll be getting feedback uh related to that and certainly if you want board council also to look at that's that's good too. you know, the more we look at to make sure we doing the maximum amount we can within the legal, you know, um, requirements we have, that's great. >> Thank you, Miss Welsh. Um, to just wrap, um, to just add to that to board member Walker's question. Um, beyond that, we got lots of public comments and in included that in this, we need to also make sure that it meets the legal standard. Right? some of these recommendations while um may be fitting for us um we want to
027make sure that um we are protecting PGCPS legally and we're not passing policy that would be adversarial to federal state um fa federal state law um and so that's OGC is having to review it again any other questions from our colleagues >> and and may I add one other thing is that that's also important in this and this this was actually pointed out by the attorney general that we don't want to put any of our staff in a position where they would end up being criminally charged for something, you know. So, that that is an also an important piece of the policy, just providing good guidance on what they can and cannot do. Okay. All right. Um, thank you, Miss Welsh. So the question is um just a reminder to the public, one of our
028colleagues is unable um to vote on these matters given um their work. So um at this time the question is shall the committee recommend new policy immigration enforcement activity to the policy sponsor for revision approval? Miss Johnson, will you please call the role? >> Dr. Moss, >> yes. >> Mrs. Olivo, >> yes. Mrs. Brown >> abstain. >> Miss Walker. >> Yes, >> there are three in the affirmative. >> Um, policy immigration enforcement activity HB122 will be recommended to the policy sponsor for revision approval. The next weapon is policy 0126 uh which is student safety and prevention of child sex abuse. So, um um um Mayo, can you um post that put that up so we can look at it as as I talk through it? I I So, we had policy um 0126 which was
029actually um it was uh this one 126. Hold on. We have a student safety and prevention of child sexual abuse. That was 0126. But we also had another policy 0127 which was reporting suspected child abuse and neglect. And what I ended up doing is combining the two into one policy because there definitely was some overlap and it didn't make sense to have these two separate policies out there. And so once we get through this process, we can resend uh one of them. And so I um so that we just had the one. And so under 0126, I changed the name to uh student safety, prevention of child sexual abuse and reporting suspected child abuse and neglect. um which in reality when people know that you're also going to be reporting suspected child abuse and neglect
030that's another way uh to support prevention of child abuse because we know that there's all these reporters around um and everyone that's working in the our school system definitely should be reporters and report anytime they suspect uh child abuse. So, um, the policy statement, there's several sections to it. And I don't I'm looking at the version I have that I printed out and I'm looking at Mia's version. I don't know why it got so squirly, but it does have these spaces in it that it'll get cleaned up eventually, but it doesn't show any of my track changes. Um, but I but I can point out what we what were changed. So, I did combine both those policies and incorporate language from both policies as far as the policy statement. And I think that the biggest
031thing that both statement both policies were addressing was ensuring that we're providing for the safety of all students and really creating and maintaining a safe and supportive environment for our students. Um, I did add some additional uh language like inclusive um and and making sure students are successful in achieving excellence in education. And then also to uh promote a culture where employees and community members recognize and report any and all suspicious or improper behavior. Uh and where students and employees are not afraid to speak up or bring to the attention of responsible adults matters of concern. where individuals are held accountable for ensuring the safety of students in our care. Um, and so finally, the board embraces a comprehensive approach in recognizing, reporting, and preventing abuse and neglect of students and vulnerable adults. And I
032think what's really important here is that we as far as when you think about who is responsible for the safety, I think that is a responsibility that every single employee of this school system uh is it's every one of our responsibilities to make sure our students are safe. So it's very important. And then the last piece is to reaffirm reaffirm the B board's commitment to cooperate with appropriate agencies um to require Prince George's County Public Schools uh employees to comply with the the um sections of the ante code where in terms of reporting suspected child abuse and neglect and then to comply with all state and local legal mandates. And I will tell you that Prince George's County Public Schools does have a very good working relationship with um um Prince George's County uh CPS
033um and we are definitely when they're investigating any type of uh uh child sexual abuse or child abuse for that matter or neglect um we have a whole process in place and we do meet with them on a monthly basis to update to look at see if there's any breakdowns in communication those types of things just to ensure that um that um you we're doing what we need to do to to help our students. So this so I added to this um if you scroll down you know there's numerous sections to this but I added a lot of different purposes in this policy and one is to make sure that all our employees understand and hold accountable um that the highest ethical standards in their conduct and that they adhere to the um mandates um
034for moral basically to recognize report and prevent suspected child abuse and neglect. Just so you know, we not only do we do for safe schools, we have that in the beginning of the year where every employee every year is required to take the training on reporting uh child sexual abuse, but also our office in in I just pulled the memo up and the PowerPoint to update it and it will be going out probably within a week to all of the principles in the county and they are requested to do a review of we have three administrative procedures 41 um four fourhead 4218 4219 and then the administrative procedure unreporting suspected child abuse and the 4218 and the 4219 go into great detail in terms of first of all just in what is considered inappropriate behavior
035with students and then the second one has to do with inappropriate sexual behavior. Um, and so we do a mid-year review with all our school-based employees, um, just just really just to be cautious and to make sure no one ever forgets what it is they need to do. And then, uh, we have another purpose is just to make sure we're supporting uh, we're working together uh, and cooperating with investigations um, of for the Prince George's County um, the police department. Sometimes it's sometimes the state's attorney's office, the child protective services. Um um and um and then of course the department of social services. And then um we also want to support children and vulnerable adults who are alleged victims of abuse or neglect in consultation with county partner agencies. uh any any uh child who
036has gone through any type of abuse and and specifically sexual abuse but regardless any type of abuse it has farreaching consequences for that child and can really make life very difficult for them. So this is really very important that we do this. And then we have um also this it talks about and this has to do with prevention but enhancing human resource management systems and process for screening new and existing employees as well as volunteers outside contractors who have direct unsupervised and uncontrolled access to children of Prince George's County Public Schools. So we have a lot of volunteers that come into our schools on a regular basis and also go out on field trips. We currently have an electronic tracking system which act which we are able to look and the principles themselves are able
037to look and make sure that every one of their volunteers have gone through fingerprinting have gone through a CPS clearance check and have there's I think four training modules that they are required to do before they can be a volunteer as well as for our contractors and they have six training modules but and we're about to institute a the electronic tracking system for the contractors because we have a lot of contract contractors out there and we have a lot of contractors either providing services or or are actually working in our buildings, you know, when they come in to even things like fix things and stuff that are in the building. So, we want to make sure that that we have vetted them properly before they're before they're with our students. And then another purpose is
038to make sure that we're providing professional development to our employees on identifying, reporting, and preventing abuse and neglect. And then also within the curriculum there is um different curricular uh modules that actually talk about what students are supposed to do uh when uh and and reporting what is inappropriate behavior of in terms of an adult and what they and and you know that it's okay to report and they should report. Um so that's sitting in the curriculum and then providing opportunities for parents outside contractors volunteers and the broader commun community to develop awareness on recognizing reporting and preventing abuse, neglect of children and vulnerable adults. So then the next section goes into all the um definitions and most of these are pretty clearcut but I wanted to point out one which you might ask the
039question what is a vulnerable adult? And if you scroll down to the very bottom, um it says that this is a student ages 18 to 21 years old who is believed by an indivi uh by the individual reporting abuse and neglect to lack the physical or mental capacity to care for his or her daily needs and is suspected to have subject have been subject to abuse, exploitation or neglect by the students temporary or permanent care uh taker. So when you think about some of our students especially who receive special ed services that are in that 18 to 21 age range and generally speaking these are many times students that may not either are non-verbal or not very verbal. So they have a lot of difficulties. They they're at high risk of being taken advantage of.
040So it's very important that we have our eyes open at all times to you know look out for these students and if we suspect anything that we immediately report it. Um so then it there if you scroll down there is language that talks about first of all just the prevention which is really just reinforcing what the um what the purposes were in in the previous section. Um and so it talks about the fact the superintendent designate is responsible for instituting the following. So this is there's the training and then there's the uh inter if you scroll down a little bit further the interdisiplinary training of all staff on an annual annual basis and then if can you go back up just one sec second please um let's see and then um comprehensive wait oh I
041missed it go down to I'm sorry C I thought there was more language there um and then comprehensive protocols ensure all volunteers are properly screened and that they're trained on their professional boundaries and um that they also are identifying and reporting suspected child abuse. Um and that they're supervised effectively. Um and that also that they don't have any access to non they only have access to non-confidential uh records on a on an asne basis, but that they're not they don't have access to any confidential records. And then we go into uh re uh the curriculum and that which is a whole another area which is to be training our students and preparing them um so and making sure first of all that it is developmentally appropriate curriculum but that that we are teaching them um
042basically how to protect themselves and and mitigating instances of child sexual abuse. And then we also talk about facilities. So um by law we are required to do annual safety assessments of all our school buildings. Um the safe tolearn act of 2018 uh talked about the fact that each school system is required to um to evaluate our the schools in terms of whether or not they um from a safety perspective. So it has things like you know whether or not all external doors are locked at all times. um a a wide variety of things that they look at. Um and in terms of like do you have teachers posted like if you have stairwells in your schools, do you have teachers when there's a like in the high schools and middle schools there's change of
043classes, do you have staff there to supervise? Um just uh like where I know another question had to do with uh how many of the doors being locked and where do they lock in indoor or outdoors? And we have taken care of that. They now all lock from the inside. they have safety locks and then cameras critical piece is making sure that all the cameras and hallways and everything are operational so that anything that would happen in a hallway you would be able to see. So that assessment is an important piece um for as far as ensuring safety. And then in terms of our student our visitors coming in and we do have an administrative procedure that addresses this, but all of our visitors are to sign sign in using the visitor management system. And
044that is a um that that actually does a real life uh check on um screening B on whether or not the person signing in is on the sexual uh registry. Um and it's for all 50 states. So that that's really important and you you always want to know who's in your building first of all and then secondly you don't want to inadvertently allow a a sexual a registrant to end up you know walking around the building and you don't you're not aware of it. So, and there are very strict rules. If if in terms that you are as sexual reg uh on the registry, you as a parent um still have a right to have parent conferences and stuff and attend certain uh you know like say your student is participating in a in a
045um concert or something. However, there's some strict rules in terms of how that would work uh if that parent were in the building for those types of things. And then um it also talks about the fact that um every board member and Prince George's County employee uh who has reasons to suspect must report um the either neglect, abuse or child abuse. And this one's an important one from the standpoint also of the fact that they it's the word the question you often get and we used to get a lot of questions. Well, I don't know. I'm just thinking maybe like our office used to get the questions. Maybe maybe there is the I it seems like maybe the this particular person maybe did something inappropriate and the the real key here is that do you
046suspect and suspect is not a very high standard. And so when a push comes to shove and the person is really questioning themselves whether they should report when they usually when they come if they call me I always say you know what if you're having this much concernation over this then I'm my recommendation is go ahead and report and so many of the reports that do come to CPS do end up getting screened out but better to report than to miss something for students so so we do make sure of that. We also have if you scroll down um there is um definitely consequences for not reporting. Um it's grounds for it's actually grounds for dismissal and it's grounds for losing your uh for a teacher losing your lensure if you haven't uh reported. And
047of course any person that when they do report they're supposed to uh report in good faith um that they truly do suspect that there is something um uh you know something has happened. And then if you scroll down further, confidentiality, that's another thing is that uh we make every effort to make sure that all of the reports are confidential. We uh principles even are not are not allowed to keep the reports. They are all sent to uh safety and security services. And in fact, there was a point where there was always a concern where teachers would feel if they had to report a staff member, they felt like maybe they would get a negative response or something from the principal. So, we had changed the policy the proc procedure, mystery procedure, so that there's no
048requirement that they have to let their principal know that they ended up reporting child abuse. um because we definitely want to ensure you know that um there's an open line of communication and that anyone that sees something wrong they just need to report. So that's that's basically what we have been doing all this time. And then if you scroll down a little bit further as far as implementation requirements, it says um that they would um that the policies will be updated and also that the superintendent shall report publicly each year on a systemwide efforts related to student safety. So that is sort of the combination of both those policies with some little additional things added just to make sure it's as comprehensive as possible. Thank you Miss Welsh for um for bringing this before us.
049Um are there any questions or comments from my colleagues um around this? Um I just want to say thank you. This is really important work um and I appreciate the level of detail that went in it. I didn't have any additional revisions today, so I I don't have any additional revisions to this. Um, but want to see if any of my colleagues do. U board member uh Vice Chair Alibo. >> Thanks, Dr. Moss. Um, Mrs. Walsh, I just also wanted to say thank you for your very careful work and attention to this. I think it it does make a lot of sense to have these two policies in one policy. Um, so that there's, you know, kind of one place that that we're looking. Um, even though I I know that there are a lot
050of, you know, other policies that are that are referenced um and the the APs that are that are referenced here as well. Um, but I I don't have any changes or um suggestions either, but I just again wanted to echo Dr. Mosen. Um, thank you for your your very careful um consideration of this. >> Well, you're w Thank you. You're welcome. Board member Brown. >> Yes. Thank you so much. And uh I just had one quick question about the title. Since we're combining the names, how are we just going to leave the title as it is and just add reporting to it or did we go that far? >> So, I did add and reporting suspected child abuse and neglect. But I mean, you certainly could change change it any which way you want. I
051just I just just basically combined the two policies. >> Okay, perfect. Yes, thank you. >> All right. Well, um the question is um shall the committee recommend policy 0126 student safety and prevention of sexual abuse to the policy sponsor for revision approval? Miss Johnson, please call the role. >> Dr. Moss, >> I. >> Mrs. Olivo, >> yes. Mrs. Brown, >> I >> Miss Walker, >> I. >> There are four in the affirmative. >> Thank you. Um, policy 0126, student safety and prevention will be recommended to the poly sponges for revision approval. Looks like we got a quick night, folks. We've only got two last things to do. Um, policies for second consideration. Um this is to send the parent family and community involvement policy um that we've worked on. Huge shout out to Pac and
052all their work of giving the superintendent feedback. I know board member Walker is on who is liaison to that committee. And then policy 5122 intercolastic athletics. Um so the question is shall the committee release the policies under agenda items 8.1 and 8.2 to public comment. Can >> Yes, ma'am. >> May I just say one thing about the intercolastic athletics? >> Yes. >> Um I um had followed back up with um athletics over the policy because of you know we had the whole language about making sure they are checking in the beginning of each sports season. Um and so and they were fine with that. But they also asked that we add um two two pe two other areas. And I so I want and again I don't want you to think I'm out here writing
053policy after before and you don't get to see it. So I wanted I wanted wanted to share it with you. So Mia, can you just pull that up real quick? Um it's I there's been a conversation about this before and it sits in the administrative procedure as well as in the uh NPASSA um rules, but I just met want to make sure that we are um that you're aware of it. And if you just scroll down, I highlighted in yellow. So I I wouldn't lose it. Well, it's not there. So what happened? Did you uh I want to Did you go ahead and put in the the ones I sent you, Mia, that I just sent you? >> Well, I was about to say I never saw anything in yellow. >> Did you just send
054it via email? I sent you the I had sent you the e I attached the ones that went to the superintendent >> the head um the yellow highlighted stuff. >> I can read it to you. Don't I I'll read it to you. >> Miss Williams, let's just do the let's just do this. We can fix it when it comes back from public comment since we have another revision if if that's okay. >> Okay. I mean, I was just going to read it just so you knew what it was because maybe you don't like it and then we wouldn't be sending it out. But it's up to you. It's just >> I just know the committee hasn't seen it. So, we should send out what the committee has seen for public comment um rather than that
055addition and then we can deal with that addition after public comment. I wouldn't want to send anything out that the committee um hasn't seen. So, we'll just deal with it when it comes back from public comment. Okay. >> All right. Any other questions? I think that's just the safest way um to deal with it at this point. >> Okay, that's fine. >> I don't know what's been posted online, what hasn't been. So, I just want to make sure I'm careful here. >> And and we did not get those we did not get those policies back till the last minute. And so, I sent them but but you had already posted the other one. So, that's I'm thinking it might been >> It's all good. It's all good. We're just gonna make sure we're good. Um,
056so, uh, could you please take the roll call? Miss, uh, Johnson. >> Dr. Moss. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Olivo. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brown. >> I. >> Miss. Walker. >> I. >> There are four in the affirmative. >> The policies under agenda items 8.1 and 8.2 will be released for public comment. Um last item tonight is these are the policies for third consideration and to advance to the full board. This is policy 5117 prek through three literacy promotion and retention. And then policy 8100 um the board of education standing committees uh and focus work groups. Um the policies under 9.1 and 9.2 were submitted for public comment. Two public comments were received for 8,100 uh board of education standing committees and focus work. Uh and I've just got to say and take a moment of
057personal privilege. Policy 5117 preK through three literacy promotion and retention is my hard work. So I am excited that it is going to full board now. Um and thank you Miss Welch for it. But your hard work on this and and Dr. White and her team, I mean they they've really killed it on our literacy work. So I'm excited. But could you share the public comments, Miss Welsh? So the uh and then how we address them. >> The first the first public and it has to do with policy 8100 the board of education standing committ committees and f focused work groups and the first one uh says that the policy uh needs to include a bounded response time for the board to reply in writing. I don't believe that the the policy addresses the responsive
058the board board I guess to reply to the different statements um when I get when there's um when the advisory committee is um and I'm trying to pick this up so I can read the whole thing when the advisory committee gives a yes I do not believe the policy addresses the responsibility of the board to reply to recommendations of the advisory board. So that was that was um one of the of the comments and then the other one um had to do with uh I have concerns about item 9C. This section is not entirely clear and um I'm wondering if Mia you can put post that policy a minute so we can just look at C9C. >> Yeah. and they said, "No, I see a noticeable gap, but would like the opportunity to discuss further."
059>> Um, and then they left an email address for us. >> Right. Yeah, I it's I I don't know what they were referring to in their comment. Um >> I don't know where that nine >> it's not a it's not it's not a nine nine C here. Mia, um here's what we should do. Um just to make sure we are fully addressing folks public comment, um before um Amy or I move this forward to the board next week, um on the agenda, I just want to make sure we respond to them to make sure we're clear. They left an email address for us. So, can we just reach back out to them and see what they wanted because that number doesn't exist at all. I just want to make sure we do our due diligence
060on public comment. Um I don't know if it got left like if they just couldn't click in the form or something. Yeah. But if we could if we could follow up with them before the board meeting next week and if it's something drastic I could do an amend we could uh get it amended um during the board meeting. >> Sounds good. >> Does that work for you, Miss Welsh? >> Definitely. >> All right. Um will you please call the role, Miss uh Miss Johnson? Dr. Moss, >> yes. >> Mrs. Olivo, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brown, >> I. >> Miss Walker, >> I. >> There are four in the affirmative. >> Thank you. Those policies we will be moved to the board for full con uh for full for enactment um at next week's meeting. We're
061moving to adjournment. The chair informs the public that the next virtual policy and governance committee meeting will be on January 27th. Please continue to check the Prince George's County Board of Education website for meeting information updates. Thank you all for great discussions and attendance. To our viewers, thank you for watching. There being no further business, the time is now 5:54. The January 13, 2026 Policy and Governance Committee meeting is adjourned. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. Thank you, Miss