001Okay, the time is now 6:03 p.m. Good evening and welcome to the October 16, 2025 proposed charter revocation public hearing. I'm Jonathan Briggs, vice chairman of the Prince George's County Board of Education. The vice chair would like to inform the public that Spanish uh interpretation is available by clicking on the globe at the bottom of the screen. Miss Odo, could you assist with translating this announcement in Spanish, please? Senor bricks. language. >> Thank you so much. >> For anyone unavailable uh to join us live, this hearing is being recorded and will be available for later viewing on the PGCPS YouTube channel. Uh for record purposes, the vice chair reminds all to ensure that their microphones are muted when not speaking. Um the uh the hearing is received uh is to receive input from various individuals,
002departments and the public. The board is not conducting business, taking action, nor adopting any motions. Uh calling the hearing to order is not business and the journing uh the hearing is not business. Um in line with policy 8345 public comment, it is established that the public can register on site for public hearings until the public is notified that the testimony registration form is closed. Tonight, the registration will remain open for the live written and video testimony until 6:15 PM, so about another 10 minutes. Um, the testimony registration form is currently available on the PGCPS County Board website. So, with that being said, uh, I believe Miss Barton or Miss Adelaide, um, please call the role. >> Good evening everyone. Miss Ajakay, >> present. >> Dr. Ander >> present. >> Miss Boozer Stru >> present. >>
003Mr. Briggs >> present. >> Mrs. Brown >> here. >> Miss McCent. >> Dr. Moss. [Music] >> Miss Olivo >> present. Miss Walker >> present. >> Mr. Jackson, >> we have eight present. >> All right. Thank you so much, Miss Barton. A quorum is present. Uh we're going to move to the presentation. Um so I would like to recognize the superintendent designate um which I believe is um a few individuals um this evening. Um I see Dr. Deian Collins, Dr. Komero and then also Miss Siobhan Hall um to speak on the proposed charter revocation for Excel Academy. So I will turn over to whoever is the appropriate person. Thank you. >> Thank you board member Briggs. Um at this time I will turn the presentation over to Dr. Marorrow and Siobhan Hall to kick us off
004with discussing the proposed charter revocation for Excel Academy public charter. Dr. Marorrow. >> Good evening everyone. Um, and I'm actually going to turn it over to the charter office with uh Miss Hall and Miss Ransoms who are going to do the presentation for us this evening. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Siobhan Hallmith and I serve as the instructional director for charter schools for Prince George's County Public Schools. Uh, we have a presentation. I'm not sure if what I can I don't see it being displayed right now. >> Miss Barton, I believe that um either Miss Barton or Miss Adelaide are going to project it. So, Miss Hall. >> Okay. >> In a second. >> Yes. We'll make sure it's on the screen momentarily. >> Okay. Thank you. And while we are waiting for
005uh the presentation, I would like to introduce my uh colleague, our charter school leaison, Jubilee Ransom, who will be co-f facilitating this this presentation. >> Good evening everyone. All right. So, we only have the PDF to this presentation, but I'm going to try to see it's going to allow should be able to open it in this um if you put open with it should be able to open into Go. >> And um Miss Hall, if if it's helpful while we're waiting, if you want to just like frame the the night, that might help um while we're waiting for this. >> Absolutely. So this evening we are here to discuss the recommen I shouldn't say recommendation uh the revocation as outlined in our state's KMAR regulations for uh Excel public charter school. So this evening we
006are going to walk through the intended outcomes of this meeting. the role of our school board as the charter school authorizer, the overview of the charter school re revocation process as outlined in Komar. Uh the seed excel financial overview and the supports the district has provided uh over the course of one school year and our next steps. Immediately following our next steps, I believe there may be time that's open for those who have public comment. Okay. So, we'll begin with uh the KMAR overview and the intended outcomes of this public hearing. So, as outlined in uh KMAR uh 13A, the purpose of this hearing is to provide an opportunity for concerned citizens to submit their views orally or via written testimony or data on the proposed charter revocation before any final decision is made by
007our board of education. And please pardon me because I can't see I'm looking at my presentation. So if the presentation is appearing there it is. Okay. So if we can go back uh we can actually stay on this slide and Jubilee I will turn it over to you and then I'll come back when we get to slide eight. >> Sure. So thank you. So the role of the local education agency and charter authorization in Maryland. LEAs authorize charter schools. They manage the application renewal and revocation closure processes in a similar manner to traditional non-public schools while honoring the autonomy in the respective charter agreements. PGCPS board of education role as an authorizer. So Maryland charter school law identifies local education agencies also known as LEAs as the sole authorizers of charter schools. Charter school authorizer
008responsibilities are to oversee charter school quality and outcomes based on Maryland charter law. Also to ensure accountability across academic, financial and operational areas. also to make final decisions on the opening of new charter school applications, charter renewal recommendations, and non-renewals of charter school contracts. A little about Maryland charter law concerning charter renewals. Okay. According to Maryland Code of Education 9-107, charter renewal, a public chartering authority may not renew a charter contract unless the public charter school has demonstrated one, satisfactory academic achievement, two, fiscal management, and three, compliance with the provisions of its charter contract. >> Um, I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt. I just want to make sure I know there's a slide up and I just think visually I know auditorially it may always be helpful for people who are following along if we
009can just have the slides follow the presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you so much Rans backup. >> Okay. So, do you need me to voice this over? >> Yes. >> Again? >> Yes. >> Okay. Cuz I was looking at my own. Okay. Gotcha. Um Okay. Maryland charter school law identifies local education agencies as the sole authorizers of charter schools. Charter school authorizer responsibilities are to oversee charter school quality and outcomes based on Maryland charter law, ensure accountability across academic, financial, operational, and operational areas, and to make final decisions on the opening of new charter school applications, charter renewal recommendations, and nonrenewal of charter school contracts. Next slide. Maryland charter law. As it relates to charter renewals, according to Maryland Code Education 9-107, charter renewal, a public chartering authority may not renew a charter contract unless
010the public charter school has demonstrated one, satisfactory academic achievement, two, fiscal management, and three, compliance with the provisions of its charter contract. Next slide. [Music] and I'll be handing it back over to my colleague Siobhan Smith to discuss the overview of the charter school revocation process. Okay, thank you. Can we go to the next slide please? So, according to administrative procedure 3506, which outlines charter revocation, the following factors would trigger a charter revocation in Prince George's County Public Schools. The charter has breached the charter agreement. The charter has not fulfilled a condition imposed by the school board in connection with the granting of the charter. the charter school has failed to comply with the charter or federal, state or local charter law. For the purposes of Excel charter school, we are looking at the conditions
011that are highlighted in red. the fiscal conditions of the charter school being substantially deficient and also the continuum of the operation of the charter school is in contrast to the best interest of the public or the students of Prince George's County public schools. Next slide please. So when we look at seed excel and seed is the organization that operated Excel public charter school. Here is a financial overview. On or about August 21st, 2025, the executive director of Seed Excel Charter Schools notified Prince George's County Public Schools that the school could not open due to insurmountable financial challenges. The school's uh fiscal condition could be identified as being substantially deficient. Excel Academy has experienced severe fiscal deficiencies which culminated in the operator's unilateral decision to cease operation just 2 days before the start of the 2526
012school year. So let's go to our next slide. Okay, here is an overview of the school's financial position beginning in fiscal year 24. So what we see here is that in fiscal year 24, the school over spent by more than $600,000. This amount was to be recouped during fiscal year 25. Here you'll see a breakdown of how that overspending, where the dollars in cents were, and what were the factors contributing to the overspending quarter by quarter going from quarter 1 through quarter 4. I would like to highlight the last bullet here uh which is uh $347,000 which was a loan that was uh pro received from Prince George's County Public Schools in August of tw excuse me in April of 2025 to seed Excel. Can we go to the next slide please? Okay. And here
013is a timeline. Uh so in late fall of 2024, the seed excel charter operator communicated a need for financial support. Uh by the spring of 2025, the board of education approved financial assistance uh a financial assistance agreement for seed excel. In that financial assistance agreement, there was an outline of clear repayment stipulations and the supports that could be offered by Prince George's County Public Schools outside of the financial assistance. During the summer of 2025, Seed Excel, the charter operator, did not repay the financial assistance received from Prince George's County Public Schools as agreed and requested additional time and support. When we get to the late summer on or about August 21st, 2025, that's when the seed excel operator indicated due to financial uh deficiency, the inability to open in school year 26. Next slide, please.
014So, based on the information here, uh this is concluding our report. The next steps would be for uh the Prince George's County Public Schools Board of Education during its October 23rd board meeting to vote on the recommendation for the contract revocation. So that concludes our formal report and uh Dr. Marl, I will turn it back over to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. U and I'm actually going to turn it over to uh board member Briggs. I don't know if we have any questions. um from the panel or if we have any public um responses at this time. >> Yes. Thank you so much, Dr. Merrell. Um so, uh I'm not sure who's tracking the um tracking if we have any. We've had until 6:15. Um do we have any public commenters, Miss Adelaide or
015Miss No one signed up? >> No, we received that. >> Okay. Um, okay. And I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not, but are we are board members able to to ask questions in this? Is there the parliamentarian or any I know this isn't a public meeting for that, but um or is there some way to have questions be submitted um about this uh this presentation in the interim? I know board director Adelaide, you probably have the best insight here on that question. Yes, board members can ask questions. >> Okay, great. Oh, in this meeting. Is that correct? >> Okay. Okay. Um, so board members, if there are any questions on your end, um, I just want to make time for that. Um, granted that we'll be voting for this on October 23rd, you
016can of course raise your hand and I'll acknowledge you in the order of your raised hand. Um, there's also the option to submit a comment. um privately uh around around this process. Okay. Um board member Goins McCann. Thank you, Vice Chair Briggs. I don't have a question, just a comment. There was a note on there a slide about the board approving something. The board never made any actions to formally approve an agreement or anything of that nature. Add that notion as a board. And so I just wanted to make sure that was cleared up. There was no formal vote, no formal anything that we took as a board to approve anything of that nature. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I'm board member going and want to clarify too because I know for the public
017it says local education agency which uh Dr. Mero if you want to clarify here the distinction between the board and the local education agency as it pertains to the law um because I think that'll probably help with um answering board member Gwen McCann's question. the the LEA. >> Yeah, the local education AP. >> Yeah. So, the local educational system is the Prince George's County Public Schools and then the board of education of course is the board. And so, I think what you're referring to um Miss G uh board member Gon McCiece around who approved um some of the funding, some of the uh actions that took place along the way. Is that what you're referring to? If I can just ask for some clarity. Uh, and feel free. >> Okay. >> The specific line that
018says that we the specific line that says we approved. >> Got it. So, you want to So, we're clarifying that the approval did not come directly from the board, but it it was possible that it came directly from the LEA from Prince George's County Public Schools leadership at the time. >> Yes. >> Got it. Okay, other questions from board members. >> Okay. And I just wanted to for the record myself um state that I I did want to I I want I I want to preface this by saying that transparency is um I know this is a big piece that we all care about and um so that is coming under that tone. One of the things that I um want to ensure is that I know when I looked back in the spring for
019the presentation that the board approved if we could pull that record because that was something that I didn't see in board docs that I want to make sure it was something that um is a part of this process that we're naming in the presentation. Um so wanted to have that for the record too. Uh and then I see another hand board member Walker. Hi, and thank you so much. This will be really quickly uh quick. I was just um wondering if you could talk to um I know that the charter uh school group have really been working on improvements to ensure that we're taking a look at fiscal responsibility for our charters. Uh not just this charter, but the other charters that we have. And I just was hoping you can give us a quick
020overview of any of the improvements that's been made as a result. I don't know if it's as a result of this or in the process. Thank you so much. >> So I'll take that question. Uh so one of the ways that uh we are looking to improve our um fiscal oversight of our charters. Uh in addition to now gathering the quarterly financial statements from each charter operator, we are now working in collaboration with our budget and finance office to review and our accounting office. We will begin to review those documents in collaboration with them to identify what could possibly be uh the beginning phases of financial insolveny or if there's anything that could give us pause about the school's financial standing. Additionally, we are continuing to collect annual audits for each of our charter operators
021and looking at those financial audits in alignment with GAAP uh policies and procedures. So, we are continuing to partner with budget and finance and also with the accounting office as well to take more of a deeper dive into those documents that will be submitted. >> Okay. Um I think I I am frozen but I am here. Um any other questions from board members? Okay, seeing none. All right. So um there being no further comments or questions from the board, um uh we want to thank you all for joining us for tonight's hearing. The time is now 6:26 p.m. and the October 16th, 2025 proposed charter revocation public hearing is adjourned. want to say thank you all for the presentation and a good night to everyone. >> Thank you.