001Good afternoon. The time is now 4… 35 p.m. And welcome to the August 27th, 2025. Climate Change Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee Meeting. I am Pamela Boozer-Struther, Committee Chair. And I welcome… and also the District 3 Board of Education member. And it brings me great pleasure to welcome everyone to today's meeting, and I look forward to our work together this school year. 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. Ms. Mcmillan, please call the roll. Ms. Boozer Strother? Donald Bell? Present. Kate Wonderlic? Joseph Jakuta? Present? Christina Kwok?
002Timothy Meyer? Dorothy Morrison? David Noda? Present. Beth Novik? Ramon Palencio Caval. Antoine Thompson? James Roberson? James Dubon Garcia? Maya Gudera? Olivia Thomas? Present. Sophia Villar? Mikhail Witherspoon. Present. There are 9 members present. Thank you all so much. We have a quorum, and with a quorum present, the Climate Change Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee will come to order. Before we. Move forward with the agenda. I would like to take a moment for our special guests to introduce themselves. We have a very exciting agenda, and I'd like to acknowledge the many guests that have joined us today. And I'm going to ask James Roberson. To assist, uh, in these introductions. Thank you. Thank you, Board Member Blueser-Struther. I'm going to start with our external partners. Uh, so I'm gonna begin with YCI, and I'm going to send
003it your way. Great, good evening. My name is Anne Strozek, I'm the Director of Outreach for the Youth Climate Institute. Thanks for having me tonight. And do you have any additional presenters that'll be speaking on behalf of YCI? We do have two students from Bowie High School, Kira and Glenda, who will be assisting and co-presenting with me tonight. Chara and Glenda, if you want to introduce yourselves, you're welcome to do that now. Thank you. Hello, my name is Kayla. I'm sorry I'm in the car right now, but… I'm the Secretary of our school's YCI chapter. Thank you. All right, next we'll go to EcoAmerica. I'm gonna send it over to Brett. Good evening, everybody. My name's Brett Matoulis. I am the Communities Program Director at EcoAmerica, and I'm very glad to join you this evening.
004Brett, I believe you're flying solo, but just to double check. I am just me tonight. Okay, thank you. And next to our internal partners, I'm going to send it over to Regina and CTE. Good evening, thank you. Um, I'm Dr. Regina Sproul, I'm a supervisor in Prince George's County Public Schools Career and Technical Education Department. Also known as CTE, I supervise our environmental studies, which includes animal science. And natural resources. And I also supervise our auto technology programs and interactive media production. I actually serve on the Climate Change and Social Justice Committee. And next, I'm gonna send it over to Van from the HB Owen Science Center. Good evening, everyone. I'm Dr. Van Ross. I'm the program administrator and supervisor at the Howard B. Owen Science Center. I believe that is everyone that's presenting tonight.
005If I did miss someone, uh… Please let us know now. Yeah, I see, uh… Director Matt Locke and Alston are both here from their divisions, if they would like to say hello as well before their presentation. Good evening, Board Member Boozer-Struther, and all, a pleasure to be here this evening. I am Jamie Alston, uh, from the Division of Supporting Services. Also, uh, sustainability and resiliency, and I serve with utilities, energy, solar, EV chargers. Hi, Director Matlock from the Office of Alternative Infrastructure Planning and Development. And, uh, I'm probably gonna be here just to discuss a little bit about our transportation issues. So… Well, great. Uh, thank you all for joining us. We look forward to hearing all about. Your work and… or your, uh, reports on behalf of the Office of Sustainability. Um, moving on
006into the agenda, the adoption of the meeting agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt. The August 27th, 2025 meeting agenda. Hearing no objections, the agenda. Is adopted, uh, moving on to 1.4 approval of the meeting minutes. If there are no corrections, the committee shall approve the June 25th. 2025 meeting minutes as distributed. Not seeing any hands or hearing objections, the minutes are approved. Uh, 2.0 presentations. There are 6 items for discussion this evening. After each item, we will limit each member's questions and feedback to 2.5 minutes per round, unless a motion is taken for additional rounds. There will be two rounds per agenda item. 2.1, Director of Sustainability Report. The chair recognizes Director Morrison. For the Sustainability Report. Thank you. I'm so sorry, I had my mic on mute. I was just
007saying thank you, Board Member Booza-Struthers, and I will now… project a couple of slides. Now, I'm not sure… can everyone see the slides? I'm trying to see if I can make it bigger. You can see it? Okay, perfect. All right, so let's get started. Director Morrison just needs to be in presentation mode. If you have presentation mode? Oh, you know, a slideshow, I'm sorry. Okay, so let's get started. Um, so what I wanted to sort of kick off with was just to let you all know that we will be having our Sustainability. And Climate Leadership Summit. It's in May, and I know it sounds like it's way off, but we're starting the planning process now. And we would very much like to have, um… The members of this committee be part of that planning, so
008meaning, or at least help us with the content. So, looking for members of the ad hoc committee to provide, um. You know, any input that they would like, and I have, uh, Kimberly. Our executive assistant's email on the presentation, so feel free to contact her if you have an interest in helping to craft that. Event. Um, the second item here is an EV policy that we're working on, and this is a policy for both internal and external. Uh, users policy, again, we would like to ask, um, input from this committee as we. Um, move on with… developing a policy review committee for EV charging. And, um, as you know, some parents have, uh, expressed concern about potentially. Having EV chargers on school grounds and having unknown folks charging, um, when the kids are around, so
009we have to really develop a policy so we address all of that. Um, with regards to solar installation, I believe Board Member Buza Struther had sent out an email. Seeing that, um, she was noticing activity in some of these schools, and yes, um, that is happening. We are in the process of installing, um. The solar framing, and if folks have questions on that, in the end, we have Jenny here, and also, um. Director Matt Locker could go into more details with that. Um, oops, so sorry. And, um, I also wanted folks to be aware that, um, through a partnership with the Prince George's County Department of Environment. We are considering Colin Powell Academy as being a pilot. South County, uh, I guess, Resiliency Hub. Currently, the Hyattsville Library. Is the North County Resiliency Hub, and
010we were approached by the Maryland, um… I'm sorry, Prince George's County Department of Environment. To see if we could use one of our store sites, um, for the South County pilot. So. More to come on that, but I just wanted folks to be aware that this is going on. And these will not necessarily be shelters, um, per se, so they would not be hubs that would. House folks, um, overnight, but. There will be places where one could go if there's, say, an extreme weather event, and folks need to. Have supplies, whether it's diapers, food, what have you, and on an ongoing basis, um, the Resiliency Hub will serve as a place. Where the community, as well as students, can go for climate change education and resources all year round. Okay, so, um, item number 5,
011um, I'm gonna just put a pause on that, uh, because Director Matlock will be, uh, giving us a brief explanation of. Why we have had to sort of, I guess. Cancel that project, uh, because the numbers weren't adding up, but he will go into more details with that. Um, FYI, we do have an administrative procedure that we just developed for food waste reduction. Um, and we are in the process of developing various, um, administrative procedures to help us implement the various climate action plans, so… FYI, it's there, and again, these links are all live and active, so feel free to go in and, you know. Um, communication. I also wanted to share that I was on the Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice. And sustainable communities meeting yesterday, and learned that. They have… I guess it's
012a different version of the Maryland Envirus screen, where they have now added a climate vulnerability score. To that tool. So, there's a link here as well to take you there if y'all want to sort of, you know, peruse around and see. What areas in the counties are considered to, um, have climate vulnerability, so… And, um, the last item here is just, um, a link to the most recent. Um, end of year climate action plan report. We do this, um. I guess once a year, but then we have, like, a media report, uh, which is kind of a truncated version of this, but the full report. Can be seen here. Again, the links are live and active. So, that is pretty much it for the update. Now, um. Tonight, we will be focusing on the climate
013curriculum Training and Partnerships. That's the part Area 1. Of the Climate Action Plan, and we have, uh. James Roberson and Donald Bell would be, uh, leading that effort, but before we go to that, I'd like to. Invite Director Matlock just to give us a little update on the status of the microgrid project, um, at Bowie Mullikan's bus lot. Go ahead, uh… direct madlock. I'm gonna stop sharing. Good evening, everybody. Yeah, uh, good evening, everybody. You need to… do you need to share anything? I'm going to stop sharing so you can… If you have anything to share, okay. Okay. No, I don't need to share anything. So, um… To be, um, to be… Straightforward about what's going on. As you know, we had planned for quite some time. To develop a, um, microgrid. Project at the
014Mullikan bus lot. It was… We're moving towards getting a concluded agreement. Uh, and we had gone into the board… well, let me start over. We had originally, uh, estimated that we would… we would use, uh, roughly about a million dollars in. Um, savings that we would make. Um, off of diesel, not buying diesel. And use that… that million dollars. Um, to fund… the cost of the microgrid, basically, like, sort of as a… As an ongoing payment on the microgrid. Um, that would then charge the buses. When, um… We… and that was based on an analysis that was provided by. Are experts over at JLL. Our consultants and information that we had from transportation. When we, uh, went to the board to get approval for the… to move forward with this project, uh, we also gave…
015we figured. There'd be a cost of expansion. So, we put down… Um, so we requested approval up to. $1.5 million annually. For the payments towards the microgrid. Um, and we felt that that was fair for roughly about 90 buses. And then, on top of that, we went to the county council. Uh, to get approval for a… Um… a, um, uh, what's called a, um. Payment in lieu of taxes, um… Uh, which would have been a, uh, would reduce the… Property taxes on the infrastructure that would have been owned by the developer. And then we also went and got a grant for roughly about $2 million. From the, uh, from MEA. Of the State Department of, um. Of, uh… environment. Well, so we got all that in place. And we kept having difficulties. Uh, trying to
016get… finalize our contract. We were working through it, working through it. We kept redesigning and redesigning, redesigning. And then, uh, the election… came, and… Uh… all of the subsidies for the electric buses. Sort of dissipated. So, we originally had planned. On purchasing 90 buses over the course of 3 years. And that would have fueled the microgrid. Basically. Um, and so that… those diesel offset… offsets. Were for 90 buses. When we got down to it, and we realized where we were, we said, well. Um, we're not gonna get 90 buses, so we said, let's try and go with… you know, 50… 45 to 50 buses. Basically, it's a little bit around half. Uh, I raised all this leadership, we all agreed that this was the right move. We went back to the developer and said, look,
017we know how. Difficult this is. Uh, we know that the subsidies are in jeopardy. Um, so we're gonna make this microgrid smaller, and then later on, if we can expand again, we'll expand at Greenbelt. And everybody agreed to do that. And, um, they still had… weren't able to give us numbers. Which was a little troubling. Um, and then finally they came back with a number. Um, and that number was, uh… 2.018 million annually, which is… Double what we originally had anticipated for 90 buses, and now we're down to 45 buses. And it was a dent. More than what we could afford, so… I met with their CEO of the company that was working on this, um… And we went back and forth to try and get an agreement on. What the facts are, what they're
018using for their basis and numbers. And I was also running the finances myself. Um, based on what we had financed before on other projects. Um, given current… current market conditions. So, finally, we met again in Tennessee. I was down there for a conference. Uh, we're… we're receiving an award for Phase 2, and I was down there, and I had arranged to meet with him, and we would go over the numbers again. And what we determined is that. I knew that we could probably finance the infrastructure that they were talking about. For roughly around $400,000. A year. So I'm trying to figure out where the other 1.6 was coming from. Uh, we went back and forth about it, and I realized. That the issue was their financial structure. Their financial structure was such that. They were…
019they were… they were equity heavy, and the rate of return on equity. Force their number up, and… As a result, um, they couldn't… Really pencil out. At the rate that we could pencil out on a loan. Okay, so we talked about potentially splitting. The cost of the… capital, where we would pay… because taking the capital completely out then took all their profit out. And then that didn't make sense for them either. So, I said, well, maybe we can split the cost of capital. I went back, we redid the numbers, they went back and redid their numbers. In a way that they wanted to split capital, in the way we wanted to split capital. Um, we would have still not come out. We would come out somewhere around 1. That's the number they came back to
020us with. That still wasn't good enough, because again. We're not offsetting the diesel cost. In that case, we're going above the diesel cost. And we have… that we would have for 45. Buses, so if you'd had basically 1.5 for. For 90 buses, we're talking somewhere. Market for us was somewhere between $450 and $750. For 45 buses. So, I said, well, we can't make that work. Um, and, um, I went back to our leadership, and I said, well. These are the numbers. We have basically 3 alternatives. Um, alternative one is we could… keep moving ahead with the project, but I don't know where we would get the money to pay for. The bus… the microgrid. Because it won't pencil out for us, based on the numbers that we originally used. And the source of revenue that
021we were going to use. Two, we could try and go back to them with a counteroffer. To try and take on more of the. Cost of the… Um, of the capital. But I still don't think it's gonna pencil. Um, because they're… right now, with their numbers, it's 1.6. Um, and I think anything below that probably doesn't work. Out for their profit. And I said, though, I think we can cancel a project. And then, uh, move forward with just charging infrastructure, strike the microgrid. And put the charging infrastructure. And a couple of other locations that might work better from a usage standpoint, because originally. The reason why we're using, um… the, um… Mullikan was because. Um, we were… we were redoing that site, and it made sense. There was a cost savings. To including that construction
022with. The build-out of the new. Um, of the new bus lot there. But if we were to do the charging, simply to do the charging. We probably would… and we probably would be better off putting it. Uh, at Greenbelt and or Crossland, or both. So, um… Leadership decided that it would be. More cost beneficial, and so did our consultant. That we would go back and just do charging infrastructure. And so, what we're going to do. Is we've already walked the bus lots. And we are now… we're gonna put out an RFP. Uh, to get proposals. To put, um, charging infrastructure, but no. Um, no solar, but just the charging infrastructure. Um, at, um… Uh, both Greenbelt and Crossland. And we'll roughly be around. We're thinking, like, 15 chargers at each location. And that'll give us
023enough to expand out if we want to grow a little bit. In addition to that. Uh, we are now… there were some… the cost of the electric buses. Is currently about 3 times the cost of a diesel bus. Which… and we have to replace 100 buses a year. So, from a cash standpoint. Our budget doesn't work very well for electric buses. However, next month, Dorothy. Director Morrison, um… Director Baldwin and myself. And a few of our other people were going to go down to Newport News, Virginia. To look at a propane. Um, bus lot. And that… the cost of those propane buses. Are more in line. With affordability for us. And maybe the methodology that we move with in the future at our other bus lots. With the goal of, you know, reducing emissions and
024that sort of thing. Uh, and making, uh, and building a more sustainable. Uh, bus, uh, program. Um, until at least maybe the buses for electric buses. Drops to something that we can reasonably afford. And so that's the direction that we're looking at at the moment. Um, and I'm open to any questions. Uh, thank you so much, Director Matlock. Uh, Director Morrison, does that conclude the report, and we could open to questions on the entire report? Yes, it does. Thank you, Director Mightlow. Great. So, um. Anyone would like to raise… raise their… Zoom hand to let me know if they have a question. And any… any aspect of the report. I'm not… not seeing any… any go-off. So, um… I'll just… oh, there's, uh, Ms. Novik. Have to… first of all, Director Matlock, that was… fascinating,
025and… really interweaves a lot of what you hear in the news. How it, um, implicates us at… the ground level, so thank you for that very detailed report. I have one question, and I didn't… Take a big note of it, but I had… talk to you, Pamela, earlier about, um. The food survey. And so, I'm wondering if that administrative procedure 0111. Can be aligned with that reduction of food waste. Could possibly be aligned with the students, um… Interest in a food survey so that less food is thrown away and more is eaten. So, Ms. Novak, I'm sorry, so are you asking if that can be incorporated into the administrative procedure? No, I'm just asking if we could use that administrative procedure as sort of a launch pad. For reasoning of why the students might do
026a survey to find out, um. Oh. Why their peers are throwing all the food away instead of eating it, which is what they said last year. And Mary… Yeah. Right. You know, I see no reason why not. I've reached out to Mary Kirkland, and she said that, um. They didn't have time to… Finish that project up last year, which she originally had started talking to James Duban, Garcia, and Olivia. Um, about… and Michael, um, as part of the team, but that. Was gonna get… put that together this year, so I just wanted to know. Right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely a possibility, and I see James's hand up, but I do know that, um. I believe it's the Office of Strategic Planning. They also do these, like, climate surveys as well. And I know last
027year, they had included a survey that, you know. Ask the students what types of foods they liked, and I've actually put them in contact with Director Kirkland. So that she's not reinventing the wheel, she can build off of that story that was done, so I would just definitely just, uh. Send a reminder to, um, Director Kirkland about that as well. Yeah, thank you so much, Ms. Novak and Director Morrison, for coordinating and. And I would… I would say absolutely any assistance that I could give, and all that coordination, I'm happy to do as well. Um, Mr. Roberson? Thank you. My question's for Director Matlock. Director Matlock. Are the electric buses currently in the fleet? Are they operating this school year? And if the answer is yes to that question. Um, do you know which schools
028they are servicing? Uh, and the reason for my question is. Uh, that could support some of our schools with their Maryland Green School application. Uh, I don't know if they're in use. I know we've been using… the remote chargers for buses. So, I can't… I don't have… an answer for that, that's… that will be Director Baldwin. I don't know. Yeah, and certainly follow up. You know, the last one I… That were… I'm sorry. You mean now? Okay. I was just saying, I think I… because of the charging issue, would only really buses. That was kind of operational. Checking what… But we can… Yeah. Director Morrison, unfortunately, your sound was going out, but it sounded like. Awesome. It sounded like there definitely needs to be a. Follow up with Director Keba Baldwin, Director of Transportation, to
029get clarity. On how we're utilizing the electric buses we have, given. The… the… the sort of… fluctuating circumstances around charging them. Um… So not seeing any other hands, I just wanted to add to this discussion. You know, that the electric bus transition commitment through 2040. It remains strong, um… We do it, you know, we do expect that. The, as, you know, as a board member, someone in policy, and… Um, you know, working in the… the sphere of advocating to state and federal government. We will continue to do that, uh, along with the Maryland Association of Boards of Education that have made this a priority for the state of Maryland. So we have the 23 other school districts as partners, and we, you know, the vision. Still there, but this transition in the federal. Commitment is
030impacting. All of us, so we're in it together, and the momentum is still there at the state level. So, are there any other… questions related to the director's report? Okay, not seeing any other… hands, um, I'm excited. To move to our next segment here, I think it is so appropriate that we're starting. The year with, uh, priority area number 1, support environmental. Justice through climate curriculum, training, and partnerships, a focus on our. Student learning and our educators, and our curriculum. Developers and our external partners. Um, the, um… Um, I… we do have multiple presentations, and I think we can pause for questions in between each of them. I'm going to… have the cha- I'm gonna recognize Chair Morrison, um, to introduce the team that will… Lead us through this, um, which I know will… include,
031uh, James Roberson, um. Right? Who I would like to… take a moment of privilege here to… Announce his recognition, uh, yesterday by the State Board. Of education at the state board meeting, along with the principal. A Burren Heights Elementary, Amanda. Alarich, uh, they received, um. The, um, uh, U.S. Green… school's recognition, uh, during a ceremony. Yesterday, their nominees, they'd done work for. Many years to prepare the school for this awards ceremony. The unfortunate part is that the current federal. Administration isn't moving forward with all the steps of this program, but the… But the earning… of the recognition did happen, and so the State Board of Education thought it was important. To recognize the schools, including Montgomery County and Arundel County and Prince George's County. That received this, and I… it was a great honor and
032privilege to join. Uh, both Mr. Roberson and Principal. Allerich as they accepted the award. Uh, so, uh, with that, I will now, uh. Hand this over to Director Morrison to move… move us through this part of the agenda. Sure, thanks again. So… Um, leading this deep dive conversation is James Roberson and Donald Bell. Um, so James Robeson is with the Street Center, and, um, Donald Bell. If the science, uh, supervisor. And, um, with them, presenting case studies include representatives from EcoAmerica. Uh, the Youth Climate Institute. Um, and we have, from supporting offices, we have the career technical education and the Howard B. Owens Science Center, and as these individuals. Give the case study, James and O'Donnell will sort of introduce them. Go ahead. Uh, with that, I yield the floor to… I'm not sure who's
033going for us, James? Donald? I'll go for it first. Thank you, Director Morrison. Um, I appreciate your support. Okay. Uh, James, uh, and I are co-chairs of Priority One. Um, but we serve with a much broader and larger group. That all work to support Priority One, which is supporting environmental justice. Through climate curriculum, training, and partnerships. And we will present our progress from school year 2025, and our next steps moving forward. And, um, when… when we… stop and think about, uh, priority one. In this challenge associated, um… Uh, and privilege associated with. Climate change curriculum and environmental justice. Um, we're pleased to be one of the first presentations of the year, especially on this first week back to school. Because, um, in working with Board Member Booza-Struther, even on the development of the Climate Change
034Action Plan. There's a reason why we made this Priority 1. Uh, because, uh, when we think about sustainability. Um, in an environmental sense, of course. We want to reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. Um, because that has so many different co-benefits. In terms of, um, health and, of course. Global temperature and our regional temperature, um, but for the efforts that we make. And priorities 2 through 8. To truly be sustainable. Then we have to have an impact in priority one. Um, and that is the information and learning. Uh, with our students, as well as our staff. And so, um, in our presentation, we'll have a Priority 1 overview. Um, and then go into our partner presentations and case studies with EcoAmerica and Youth Climate Institute. And then our PGCPS Supporting Offices with Career
035and Technical Education, and Howard B. Owen Science Center. And then, uh, questions will be interspersed, but we'll also have an opportunity. For questions at the end of the presentation. Alright, so Priority 1 overview. Um, we talked about… Uh, this really being the heart. Of the Climate Change Action Plan, uh, because at the center of all of our work are students. And so, this work, um, is… it goes directly into. What gets in front of our students, and what are they learning when it comes to climate change? Um, and that is work, uh, and learning on both the causes. Uh, mitigation efforts, as well as adaptation and resiliency. And so, within Priority 1, there are 6 operational actions. Uh, one, Operation Action 1 is creating a climate and curriculum and environmental justice work group. And that
036work, uh, we're sitting here speaking and working right now. But in addition to the development of the curriculum and environmental justice work group. Part of Operational Action 1. Is how are we making training opportunities available. For both our students and staff. And so, you'll learn more about Operation Action 1. As we move forward, but it includes opportunities, uh, from last year. Where we engage both students and staff to become climate ambassadors, and you'll hear more from EcoAmerica about that as well. Um, and then Operation Action 2. Uh, goes into, uh, launching and sustaining. Our climate-ready leadership summits. And there are opportunities for both of our students. Uh, and staff to engage in those summits. And then Operation Action 3. Is associated with climate technology. How we… how we provide access. To innovative climate technologies. Be
037it both, um, hands-on opportunities as well as digital platforms. And dashboards, where students can engage in learning and understanding. Climate change topics. Um, Operation Action 4, uh, is connected with our Career and Technical Education. Um, and… incorporates green skills and job readiness. And so, uh, we know that many of the careers associated with sustainability. Uh, and environmental work. Will only increase over the next 50 years. So, how are we providing our opportunities connected with our workforce and job readiness? And connecting that to climate change. Operation 5. It's building new climate partnerships with organizations. And so, you'll hear from, uh, two of those organizations that we work with. Over the last few years to develop these new partnerships that have, uh. Direct benefits to our students and staff, but there are many other partnerships that we
038are working, um, on and developing. In priority one as well. Um, and then Operation Action 6. Which is incorporating climate, environmental justice. Uh, into our curriculum and learning standards. And so, you'll hear, um. A great deal about our efforts. Uh, in that space. All right, so, um, diving a little deeper into operational action one. Um, and Operation Action 1, again, uh, we've developed the work group. But then the work group looks at. Training opportunities for students and staff. If we're going to incorporate. Climate topics into the curriculum. Then it has to be part of the culture of PGCPS. Which means students and staff need training and opportunities. And so, uh, we've had staff and student climate ambassador trainings, partnering with EcoAmerica. Um, last year, uh, we had… and you'll… you'll hear more about the statistics.
039I won't steal Brett's thunder. Um, but we have some pretty exciting statistics associated with the trainings that we offered, um, last year. And then environmental justice training. Uh, in February of 2025. Uh, we had over 300 PGCPS staff. All engaged in an environmental justice training. Where we heard from, um, workforce partners. Throughout the community. Um, and, uh, partnering with, uh, Nicole Jackson. Um, on… in those efforts. Um, the Maryland Climate Teach-In, you'll see more about this on the next slide, but the Maryland Climate Teach-In. As part of a greater effort throughout the state of Maryland. Uh, and this work is through the Maryland Climate Commission. And the education communication and outreach. A subcommittee of that state-level committee. That provides this opportunity for, uh, schools, organizations, communities, individuals. To all get engaged in speaking and learning
040about climate change topics. In April of each year. Uh, so we'll… we'll dive in there a little bit deeper as well. We had a climate simulation training. Where teachers engaged in, uh, dashboard training. And… and helping students. To look at futures and evaluate solutions. Associated with climate change, and what are all of the impacts associated. With, um, each of the solutions that go into climate change mitigation. And adaptation efforts. Our climate and stormwater Stewards Program. Has, over the last two years, provided opportunities. This is a partnership between Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Anacostia Watershed Society. And Prince George County Public Schools. To provide opportunities for more than 50 trips. For schools that have been fully funded and paid for. To get students out, um, at either a Prince George's Park or a Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Site to
041learn more about stormwater and climate, um, as part of their field experiences. And then, uh, with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, we've had an opportunity for the last, uh. 3 years to partner with them to provide climate courses. Uh, to our teachers at little to no cost. Through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. So the image that you see here are our teachers actually out. On one of those climate courses over the summer, they get out on the water. Um, many… in most instances in those courses, as part of their efforts in learning about the local environment. So that they can bring. The local environmental impacts into their climate change, uh, curriculum. And their lessons with the students. Okay, so the Maryland Climate Teaching. Um, hopefully you've heard about it, but if you haven't, now you have, and
042we're gonna be looking forward to you participating. Uh, this upcoming April. The Maryland Climate Teaching is an annual event in April focused on climate change education and solutions. It brings together educators, students, and community members all throughout the state. To discuss this issue. Um, and so we're very appreciative of, um, all of the individuals and organizations. That are part of the Maryland Climate Commission that helps drive this work for the Maryland Climate Teach-In. Um, the call goes out. To, uh, LEAs, counties. Um, governments throughout the state to respond, and what this really boils down to. Is… as an individual or an organization, or a school. What will you do to engage, uh, folks or students or… Community members in April to talk about climate change. And it could be something. Um, uh… Uh, at, like,
043a… 30-minute conversation. To an all-day event, where you're hosting multiple different. Uh, components to it. So, each organization, there's a lot of flexibility in how they do this, and so you see some different examples here. Where there's a tree planting, and that can certainly be part of that climate conversation. Or, uh, on the right, you see students developing posters to increase awareness. They all play a role and can count toward the Maryland climate teach-in. And so, on the next slide, uh, we have some really exciting results. From the climate teach-in, so if you look at the 2025 participation. Uh, this is across the state. You'll see that the concentrated areas and the highest participation. Areas are in red there. Um, and so we're alongside Barnesville School and Towson University. But Prince George's County Public School
044led the state in Maryland climate teaching participation. Uh, by far. We have 53 educators across the, um, across the county. All participate in this effort. All engaged in different activities, uh, at their school level. And so, hats off, um, to all of the, uh, teachers, administrators. Um, all of the central office staff that supported our Maryland climate, uh, teacher and participation efforts. As well as, um, Board Member Boozer-Struther, um, because I know you were promoting the climate teach-in from your platform as well. Um, to get the community, uh, activated and involved. So we're really excited to see these results. And I'll turn it over to James to discuss the Maryland Green School program. Thank you, Mr. Bell. Uh, before I get started, there's quite a bit of background noise where I am. Is that coming
045through at all? Okay, great. Uh, so… We wanted to share the Maryland Green School statistics with you. I mean, it's one of our favorite slides to share at any presentation, right? We're number one in the state with the number of Maryland green schools. Uh, for those not familiar with the program. There's a non-profit in the state. Uh, that awards the Maryland Green School certification to schools across the state. And as you can see here, we lead. How that ties into our climate change work. Is, um, this Maryland Green School program is a gateway. Into schools promoting environmental literacy. And one school… what we've seen is one schools buy into this. Um, we are starting to see more of the education, more of the objectives of the Maryland Green School kind of. Move towards climate change
046education and environmental justice. That happens, uh, probably more often in the middle and high schools. Um, but… through this program. Actions by students. Are required, and so we're starting to see students engage more with climate change and EJ. Uh, so we wanted to share that. With you all. So, under Operation Action Number 2. The Student Environmental Alliance Summit. This is going on… been going on for a number of years, uh, I'm gonna say 10 plus. Uh, and so it's a two-day event. Day one this past year was at Bladensburg Waterfront Park. And that day is more action-oriented, it's outdoors, uh, the vast majority of the day. And we want students engaged in PG… or in Prince George's County, um. Taking action, being solution-oriented, right? And so… We have the majority of our high schools participate,
047uh, students that are typically in the Green Club or some kind of science club, or Enviathon. Uh, those are the students that are targeted by the high schools, and they bring them out, um. For these two days. Day 2? Uh, the last couple of years has been at Bowie State. It's much more conference style. Uh, the students are going around to different workshops, they're engaged with leaders. Around the state and within the county. On local and state issues, maybe regional issues as well. Um, and we also provide time for the students to collaborate. Uh, so we, you know, a lot of these students are like-minded, they want to take action at their school, so we're trying to build in time. Uh, to teach them how to collaborate, because some of them need those skills, and
048then provide that time for them to do so. So, last year, you can see that was in April. Um, and we are planning, uh, to do that again this year. We also have, under Operation Action 2, a leadership summit. Uh, and this is adults only, right? So what are we doing here in PGCPS? Uh, Board member Boozer Strother. Has been a leader on this for a number of years. Director Morrison, your office has taken the lead on this and sets this up. Uh, I'm not gonna speak much to this. Director Morrison, I can send it over to you. You can probably provide more context and detail than I can. Did you… did you want me to provide more context now, or is this a question… you're just putting it out there for folks to learn
049more? Yes, no, no, no, yeah, if you just want to say a few words about the summit, uh, the Leadership Summit. Yeah, I mean, sure, this usually ranges from anywhere from, I guess, um. 50 to 100 participants. It's a mix of, um… In a PDCPS staff, as well as other LEA staff and our various partners. And we come together and talk about, you know, climate solutions, what we could be doing better. And so, yeah, and we try to… I know this… I think I alluded to this earlier in my, um… Director's report is that we are looking for input, we're starting to look for input right now for. The session in May… next year is going to be in May not… not in April, because we want to be part of the SEAS. Um, efforts,
050so we are sort of deferring ours till May. And so, yeah, you know, we're open to ideas of what people might. Want to see in a leadership summit, so… so yeah, feel free to contact Kim if you're interested. And I'm actually going to just… I took the opportunity to just kind of reference that the county, so the county government. Is actually having something similar. They're also calling it a climate-ready leadership summit. Um, it's not… it's not… unfortunately, it's not open to the public. Um, they hope to have about 300 people, but it's going to be mostly county executives. Um, I'm sorry, county… office departments and the county executive is going to be present. And the whole idea is to kind of kick off the importance of climate change. And bring that awareness and education about
051the county's Climate Action Plan. Now, this is… I feel like this is an excellent opportunity for us at PGCPS. To be able to share what we're doing in this space as well, because they are looking for key presenters. And, uh, Board Member Buzenstrother, I will have to talk to you separately about that. So, um, so yeah, so that's… that's coming, and I'm hoping that we will… be a part of that gathering as well with the county. And I think that's in November. It's what I… it's what I was told, so that was just a little extra. I didn't even ask for it, but I'm just putting it out there. Go ahead, James, continue, you can continue. Thank you, Director Morrison, and just, um… I'll point out, yesterday, when we were at, uh, MSDE. Uh, awaiting
052the awards ceremony, the folks behind us from Montgomery County Public Schools, I believe. It was them, uh, shared that they attended the meeting last year and how great it was. And just to say that we're really leaders in the state. Across, uh, you know, across Maryland. So, uh, you're… it's a great… Uh, it's a great event, and I think other districts are looking, uh. To us, and how they can improve. All right, uh, Operation Action Number 6… Uh, so… curriculum, right? Uh, that's where Mr. Bell and I spend most of our time. Is, uh, teaching and learning. And so… This past school year, 24-25. Uh, I'm gonna go through what our committee, as Mr. Bell shared, there's several of us in a subcommittee working on this. And our overarching goal was to increase climate change
053in EJ into our curriculum documents. There were focus areas last school year. Those focus areas were the Schmidt Center. Uh, Howard B. Owen Science Center, the Science Office, the Social Studies Office, JA Finance. And the health office. And so, all of those offices were targets, uh, to increase the number of touchpoints and number of hours that. Uh, those students and those classes interacted with climate change and EJ. And I should back up and say, in the 23-24 school year, we established a baseline for climate change education in EJ. So, last school year, uh, was year one. Past that, um, baseline information. So we targeted those offices. Um. In the fall of 24, uh, our committee presented at the Academic Programs Division meeting. And then we also went out to department meetings. Uh, which includes CNI.
054Uh, specialty programs, early learning, CTE. And we presented there what we were trying to do with, um. Climate change education in EJ. After those meetings occurred, we began to offer office hours, we started working with individual offices. We, of course, were working with those focus areas, but other offices were coming to us and saying, hey, we want to start some of the work now. Um, and so we had office hours over the winter. And we would go in and support individual offices as needed, so if somebody said, hey, we've got this idea, we want to do this, A, B, and C. But we're not sure how, so we would provide a lot of that support. Uh, from members on our team. And then, uh, when we got to the end of the year. We did
055another audit to see, uh, what the changes were over the past year from our baseline data. So that's what I'll share next. So, great news. Um, we saw growth. And so, in our content areas, our touchpoints increased. And so did the number of hours that students are engaged with climate change education and environmental justice. Uh, so, we're growing. We're not, uh, exactly where we want to be. We… there's a lot of room for growth still. Uh, but we're really excited about what we saw. And what I can say, and those target areas. Like the Schmidt Center, like JA Finance. Um, we see 5th grade students, we be in the Schmidt Center, and JA Finance, these 7th grade students, we see all of those students. So all 5th graders, all 7th graders are having those touchpoints.
056In the science curriculum, social studies curriculum. Health curriculum. Also, those students. Are being touched at multiple points in those curriculum, uh, documents. And so, that was really exciting for us to see, and of course, that's kind of driving some of this data. Um, so… That's what happened last year? And then we get to next steps for Priority 1. Um, so we are going to continue to be explicit about climate change and environmental justice education within our departments and our… Uh, different offices. Uh, we'll be supporting the curriculum writers, right? They're doing a lot of that work, uh, throughout the year and into the summer. Uh, and we're serving as advisors, uh, because they're not experts. And so we can come in and give ideas and that support as needed. Uh, professional development for all staff.
057Uh, Mr. Bell spoke about this, but we will continue to offer professional development. Uh, not only to teachers, but to all staff. Uh, but we are, you know, we are being targeted… we are targeting those curriculum writers specifically, uh, on some of our PD. Uh, office hours, we're working on that again this year. We'll offer office hours for folks to come in. Uh, and get that support. Cte, uh, they are going to continue to engage in climate change topics and bringing that into their education programming. Uh, partnerships, we're going to continue to grow those. We just had a meeting at the Schmidt Center looking to. Foster the current partnerships we have, and hopefully create additional, uh, partnerships supporting climate change education. Uh, technology provide opportunities for student access to technology that will allow them to
058explore climate topics. And promote, uh, student action. And then, as we shared, uh, or as I shared earlier, prepare for that climate-ready leadership summit, the student and adult events, which will happen in April of 2026. So, I am going to send it over. To EcoAmerica. Uh, thank you, James. My name is Brett Matoulis. As I said before, I'm with the organization EcoAmerica, and we are one of the partners that has been providing some of the training, the Climate Ambassador training. So, the mission of EcoAmerica is to move society towards climate solutions, and we do this through a number of different ways, primarily through our partners, and. We've partnered with various school districts, uh, and other kind of school-focused organizations. Um, but Prince George's County Public Schools is definitely among the top of our school-based partners.
059Uh, and we really value, uh, this partnership. Uh, could you advance? Thank you. Um, so, like I said, the main way that we've been engaging with PG County Schools so far is through our Climate Ambassador Training. This training equips the participants who take the training with knowledge, hands-on experience, and resources to speak and take action on climate change. We deliver this in several different ways, uh, live online, uh, on demand online through our recorded modules, and then in a kind of hybrid method. So, you can see, uh, a module that was recorded by Mr. Bell, as well. There are some of the other contributors to this training on the call. Uh, your wonderful students, Michael, James, Olivia, and Maya, uh, contributed to this training as well. And also, uh, thanks to Ms. Novik, uh, and
060Director Morrison for their contributions to this. As well. Um. Next slide, please, please. So this is Donald alluded to this earlier, the kind of exciting news of what we achieved last year, in the last school year, uh, is that we actually conducted the two largest training events that EcoAmerica has ever conducted. With PG County Schools. So, first, it was a professional development training for the teachers that we did. Uh, in November of last year, and then we followed that up with an Earth Month, uh, training for upper-level high school students, uh, in April of this year. So, in all, we trained 230 teachers, completed the training, and 316 students. So, you know, upwards nearly 550 members of the PG County Schools. Community. Um, we… so, there's obviously lots of interest here, um, and we're excited
061about exploring this further, uh, for the coming, or for this school year that has just started. The opportunities to repeat these and expand on them, and indeed, so the completed, that's how many people went through the training that became ambassadors. There's a kind of voluntary, um, joining of a community at the end of it, so everybody who has completed the training and become a certified, uh, ambassador, they're certified that they've completed the training, they can join our. Community of ambassadors that stretches across the entire country. Next slide, please. So, I'll just give you a little taste of what the training entails. This slide has a lot of text on it. I'm not going to go into it in a whole bunch of detail. I think you can access the slides later and. And read these
062in depth, I'm just gonna highlight a couple of things here. Uh, so the learning outcomes include understanding climate justice. Uh, becoming aware of climate solutions, uh, being able to communicate effectively on climate change. And also gaining confidence to take climate action. Uh, next slide, please. Uh, the training covers 5 modules. It begins with Climate Basics. We don't assume that anybody already has the foundations of climate change. All of our, uh, material is science-based and research-backed. We don't get heavily into the science. Uh, we focus more on the kind of, uh, big picture, uh, overview in terms that everybody can understand, no matter what their background or discipline is. In Module 2, we focus on the impacts of climate change and the injustices that arise around it. In Module 3, we have a really heavy focus
063on solutions, uh, both the big picture and also the local solutions. Uh, because we believe that you're not going to be able to scare anybody into climate action. We really need to. Provide a positive, uh, vision in terms of the benefits that arise from climate solutions, and how we can produce. More just and healthy society through implementing those solutions. Module 4, then, is a practical kind of skills-based module where the participants begin developing their own personal effective climate message. And then finally, we round out the training, uh, with a focus on engagement and making a difference as an ambassador. Uh, next slide, please. So, like I said, we deliver this in multiple ways. We did, for the professional development training in November, we delivered it, uh, live. Via Zoom, and then for the April session,
064we did it in a kind of hybrid way, where, um, what we did was we provided high school teachers. With a classroom facilitation guide, and they relied on the recorded content in. Our learning management system to assign, uh, homework for the students, and then they facilitated using the classroom facilitation guide. Activities in the class to reinforce the learning and work with the students to explore the topics, uh, in much more detail. Um, I didn't include it in here. I should have added a slide to this. We have some new resources, um, that, uh, are kind of cross-disciplinary. Um, we have. We call it the Skit Kit, so it's something that engages in the performing arts, and this is something we can explore in the coming year, uh, of, uh, how to model effective climate communication.
065Through the use of performance. Um, and the next slide is the last slide that we have. Uh, as I said, at the end of the training, after everyone receives their certificate that they've completed the training, they're invited to join. Our online community, which has thousands of trained ambassadors in it, all across the country, across multiple sectors. Um, there are lots of other teachers in it, there are lots of students in it, there's also community leaders and health professionals in here. Uh, so it's a really good, um, uh, forum for networking and connecting, uh, with others who are doing this, uh, similar kind of work. Um, so that is, uh, that's everything that I have, uh, to present. Um, I don't know if I handed off or we do questions or how that works, so… We're
066gonna go into the next presenter, and I believe questions are at the end. Oh. What? Okay, yeah, we could wait till the end. That's great, we could wait till the end. I did want to jump in before we start the next presentation on Bowie High School. I'm really pleased that. Board member, Robin Brown, has joined us, uh, the board member for District 5. She represents. Bowie High School, and is here to, uh, you know, watch this segment and cheer on. Uh, the students at Bowie High School. Um, Board Member Brown, are you able to come on for a moment to… to say hello before we get going? Yeah, sorry, I'm looking for my glasses. I'm super excited, um, thank you so much for everything, for the team, all that you all do. I think this
067is just such… an important, um. Issue that we continuously need to address. My kids went to Camp Schmidt. Um, before COVID, so I'm like, thank God, you know, they were able to experience it. Um, but I know my kids now, they bug us because we don't have electric cars in the house. I'm like, well, I don't have electric money, so… That's just a joke, but, you know, the curriculum does work. They have really followed through, whether it's as little as recycling, making sure classrooms. Are equipped, even starting from elementary school. So keep up the good work. My kids are now in high school, um, but I just wanted to make sure I let you all know, I thank you for everything that you all do, and I'm super excited to see what my Bulldogs are
068doing, um, and any support that you all need, of course. Uh, thank you so much, uh, Board Member Brown. It's so great to have you with us. So, um, we can… we can now move forward. Thank you, Mr. Roberson. Absolutely, what a great introduction for. The Youth Climate Institute, and I'm sending it your way. Great! Thank you for making time for me tonight. It is so good to be here, and off the record, on the record, I know we're being recorded. I have to tell you, I've worked with so many school district. Districts across the nation. And you all are heads and tails. You are leading the pack across the nation, not just in Maryland, so kudos to. This committee. So, um, tonight we're going to talk about the Youth Climate Institute. Before we get
069started, I must give great thanks to James Roberson and Donald Bell. Who, from day one, have been. Exemplary partners always allowing us opportunities to work with students and teachers. Tonight, we also have… Two Bowie High School students that will be co-presenting with me. They're going to be covering our last slides on climate action student projects in your county. Glenda and Kira, and they're under the guidance of Ms. Anisha Tung, who, if you don't know. She is incredible. A dynamo, a supernova. So, let's go ahead and get started. So, what is the Youth Climate Institute? This started, this was born during COVID. And it's just a way for, um, for us as adults to show up. For these students, provide programming. That recognizes their voice, as well as their activism. You know, in high schools, there's
070music and band and athletic recognition. There's nothing across the nation that recognizes. Activism, and as well as. You know, all the different types of climate action. So, we are looking for ways to lift up students, teachers, and schools. So, the biggest thing about the Youth Climate Institute, if we go to the next slide, is it is a program. It's a national program that did start in Maryland. Um, we are now across the nation with 42 chapters, and what's really cool about this program is it does align with the Kerwin Blueprint in terms of delivering college and career readiness. And opportunities to learn about many green careers. Going to the next slide. We have a lot of, um, perks for our chapter leaders at school. So, you know, they have access to resources just like Brett
071was describing. Um, if they are seeking national board certification, they can dovetail YCI with that. As well as green school certification. We also support. Our chapter leaders in fundraising if they need it for action projects. And just… the reason we're all here tonight is because we know that we need to support the Earth. And, most importantly, our students. Next slide, please. So, you're asking probably, well, who's in YSCI? Well, take a look at PG County. You have 6 schools involved. And we're so thrilled, and as I mentioned, James, um, has really helped us to make those connections with teachers in your district. If we go to the next slide, we are also nationwide, just adding Tennessee today. So. Every week this summer, it's been super exciting to add on another state. Next slide, please. In
072addition, we now also certify schools. And we also have some YCI chapters at nature centers and community centers. So, we are following that certification program of gold, platinum, and diamond based on length of time that they have chapters open. Next slide, please. So, what is this program? You're probably wondering, scratching your head. This is an extracurricular. Program. It happens after school. Some chapters run it hybrid, where they meet in person directly after school, some meet virtually. We do leave it up to the chapter leader to figure out which way to implement the program, so there's so much flexibility. Based on the student needs and the teacher needs. It's a one-year program where in the fall, students, um, attend live workshops. That are designed, um, fresh each year with new faces, new voices, and new topics.
073Um, they're also… they're recorded, so teachers and students can access them later, if that works best for their schedule. And then as they head into December and January, they begin to come together to brainstorm. What type of collective climate action, um, project do they want to work on? And so, after that year, they become certified. Climate Ambassadors. They receive a lapel pin and a digital badge for their resume and their LinkedIn. And at this point, a lot of students are like, well, what's next? Well, if they're really interested, they can become a Certified Climate Ambassador with honors. But here, here's the real story here. When they do a capstone project. They receive compostable graduation cords. And yes, our students are motivated to do good works, but it is those cords alone, I think, sometimes, that
074motivate the kids to. Start and complete the project. So, so exciting. And those are handmade by volunteers for the Youth Climate Institute. So, we love that YCI provides opportunities. Um, to engage with students across the nation, to connect with industry experts. To become nationally certified, and really practicing those leadership skills. And a lot of our kids. Anecdotally, I've seen a big jump with going to college and deciding to major in careers such as policy, sustainability, environmental science. It is so exciting. So, um, if we could go to the next slide. And so, we are always trying to help our busy teachers find what I call the easy button. Where if there is already an existing green club or an environmental club. Why not pair the two. And certify all the kids in that environmental club
075through the vehicle of YCI. And that is proving to work out really well. And Anisha is pictured on here with a quote, um, about how she's been so successful doing just that. Next slide, please. This year's live workshops are focusing… The trend or the theme is human health, and we're doing that by offering. Live talks on climate science. Climate impacts, solutions. Climate justice, and the intersection with water quality. And climate anxiety. So we're really excited to bring in a whole new set of speakers. Um, some of which are students. Some are industry experts, and some are college professors. And then our next slide, please. As I mentioned, as James also reiterated. Yci is a great vehicle to connect with Green School certification. So, again, just like national board certification for teachers, green schools. Yci can
076help folks kind of double dip and check those double boxes, which… which we love. Um, for our next part of the presentation, I'm going to hand it over to Glenda and Kira. Glenda, are you able to unmute? And Kira, are you able to unmute? Um, yes. Who? Um, hello again, my name is Kira. Um, could… Uh, could you go to the next slide, please? Um, so… Um, action projects that, um, PGCPS is involved in, and… Um, our club is trying… it has been involved in, or is trying to get involved in this year. Our stream cleanups, um, with the City of Bowie. Uh, last year, we… Um, we attended the stream cleanup on behind the giant on Annapolis Road. And we're able to, you know, pick up a lot of trash and compose that waste
077properly. Um, we're also, um, looking forward to this year doing a fast fashion thrift store. Where we ask, like, students to donate clothes that they don't, like, want anymore, or, like, extra clothes. Um, that I may not fit them anymore, and we can… I'll give them out to, like, people in need, and also… Um, so some to fundraise money for, um… our school's club. And also to, you know, um, preserve… to really, like, emphasize conservation, because waste, uh, especially in fashion, is a… Serious issue… Uh, could you go to the floor, please? Okay, so our current activities in our club has been recycling distributions around the school last year. We undistributed recycling bins. Um, to teachers that requested… Them in classrooms. And that is, like, that's able to help our school recycle more, especially because
078those recycling bins weren't often as seen in classrooms. As they are today, thanks to that. We also, um, like, occasionally, and we are trying to more frequently do cleanups and community service, both around our school and in our local community. We've done cleanups, um, around our campus. Um, we've also worked in, um, our greenhouse. We've… planted different, um, plants, and we've… Um, sold them to the community to, again, fundraise for more activities during the school year. Um, we've… Last two years ago, we planted a tree, um, near our school's football field, so that was really exciting. And, um, we also like doing educational and informative meetings. With our members to… Um, to learn more about climate change and make sure you stay aware of. Environmental issues. For our future activities, we're planning to do more
079sustainability drugs at the Fast Fashion Thrift Store I mentioned earlier. Um, we're planning to do, um, more group-wide projects. So, like, more team-involved, um, yearly environmental projects. We also plan to do school-wide info sessions to make sure that not just our club, but all of, like, the students and staff, like, in our school are aware of environmental issues we face, and. That's a partner more with school and local green or STEM organizations. For example, last year. We partnered with the Science National Honor Society in our school. Um, at a STEM Expo. Where Green Team got to do, um, an exhibit. Talking about environmental society and conservation. Uh, can you move to the next slide, please? Oh, oh… Um, I'm not sure if Glenda's… Okay. I was… I'm sorry, I was having technical difficulties. But, um…
080I've always had a strong interest in helping to find ways to create a positive change and improve the environment. I've always seen different things that needed improving, but people weren't really doing things about it, so I wanted to be part of it, be able to help improve. Our surroundings. Nyci has given me an outlet to actively contribute to these efforts and make a difference in my community. Being part of this, um, team, association, and club, I've been able to do so many things, like clean up, um, around our school. It's become a lot more cleaner. And safer in general, because animals are able to move around freely now. Because there's no trash or recycling in places they're not supposed to be. Also, as president of my school's chapter, I've also had the opportunity to inspire
081and involve others, building a collective support system. And environmental change and aid. I've been able to help people realize. What things need to… they… would have wanted to help change in the environment how they would have helped, and to actually help them. Go out into the environment and, um, help. And for, um, as well, YCI means to me, as someone that wants to work in the environmental field one day and make an impact with career. I feel like YCI has given me a huge stepping stone in doing so. Um, through the YCI website, I was able to find a local environmental park that I currently volunteer at, and it's given me… given me more experience in the environmental field. And additionally, I am currently planning on doing, um, a year-long capstone project. Um, connecting with
082my community, and… you know, spreading that environmental consciousness and awareness. And, like, in my school, NPCS schools in general. And then I've been able to meet, like, a lot of professionals. And it's kind of like informative sessions, um… about climate change. Environmental work, and etc. So… My site has been a huge part in. Where I've come today. Thank you both so much. I'm so glad that you could be here tonight. It means. So much to hear from the students. I love the adults, but students, that's where it's at. So, and then our last slide is just contact information. If anyone has further questions, or you want to check out our website, here we are. Thank you for having us. Europe. Europe. Okay, I think we're up. All right. Hi again, Regina Sproul, Supervisor in the
083CTE Department, better known as Career and Technical Education. So I think before I talk about environmental… our environmental studies program, I just want to make sure that people are aware that CTE is across Prince George's County. We're largely in the high schools. There's a bit of programs like computer science and some other things, engineering, that drop down. To the middle schools, and then down a little bit more to the elementary schools. But we're largely in high schools, we're college and career ready. And so, we promote opportunities, experiential opportunities for young people. To get licensed and certified in fields that they've expressed interest as they start to begin their professional career. So, we have about 48 programs in… divided into, like, 12 clusters. And so an example might be our health programs, which would be pharmacy
084tech, medical assistant. Biomedical science, and… Certified Nursing Assistant. So those are 4 different programs under the one cluster of Health and Bioscience. And so all of our programs kind of fall that way. So as its most or main… to the work that we're doing on this committee, then I want to focus on. Our environmental studies program. So, environmental, agricultural Natural Resource, that's the cluster. Within that cluster. There are actually two programs, and so one is Animal Science, which is housed at. Gwynn Park High School, and the other… is natural resources, so it's plant science, and that's housed at High Point. And FMR height. And so in those programs, that there's obviously built-in components where young people are. Learning about environmental justice. Right? And that they're understanding ways to better protect the environment and to look
085at the impacts of a climate. So, one of the things we're doing across our department is looking at where. Climate change, like, understanding of that and EJ are infused, and then the other is, as we start to write new curriculum. We're building that in. So, I added interactive media production because that's one of the programs we just recently wrote this summer. The four courses in that program, and we… We rewrote 3 of them, and made sure to infuse aspects of EJ into these programs. And so, just so people know, interactive media production. Is… it's gravity. Graphic arts. And so, our students come out. As all… nearly all of the CT students come out with license and certification. And interactive media production, also known as IMP. The students come out with a plethora of Adobe Suite
086certifications. And so, integrating, right, environmental justice in that, and how we're using. Resources and how climate change is impacted. Is a big part of the work that we… Uh, that we do. Our office primarily, I always say our client is really the teacher. Right? And in support of that, we work with the admin, and if we're doing good with our professional development, with our curriculum writing, with our facilities, as we build out specialized classrooms and labs. Then the teacher is able to do a better job of supporting and training our students. So that's how we have an impact. So, I'm gonna go to the next slide, if you would. Board Member Brown kind of led into my slide. So, EV. Right? Um, we have an EV car that we are actually putting at Laurel High
087School. Law high school houses our auto tech program, which is also where Crossland. And in a smaller way, at non-traditional programs north and south. But Laura also has auto body, and so they have both of those programs there. And so we're moving the EV car there. So the picture you see is a completed. Electric vehicle, so people know that, um… diesel fuel is supposed to be ending. You know, in… is it 2031? They're about, right? The diesel fuel is supposedly coming to a close, things change all the time, but what we are moving is to hybrid. Um, and to electrical vehicles, and so we have to train our young people that they're able to work on these kinds of cars. So this is a project that they're doing in both auto tech. And auto body,
088right? From sort of under the hood to the body and the composition, the structure. Of the program. So, I wanted to also bring up the fact that we… we do disposal of oil, because we do still do, like. The students will do old changes, tire rotations, things like that, breaks, and what have you. And so, we have a company that comes, and this is true for auto, but it's also true in, like, our culinary arts programs. And that we have a company that comes in a sustainable way, that comes and. Collects the oil that are at the schools from these programs, and we try to do it in a way, um, that kind of suits our environment. So that's part of the work that we're doing, and we're continuing to sort of grow in that
089area. We're continuing to work with our partners, like Mr. Robeson, Mr. Bell. Um, and our business partners, who were actually part of our program advisory boards. As we keep moving in this direction, and train our students so that they better understand the impacts on climate. And how to do a better job, um, on behalf of us all, right, around environmental justice. Mr. Represent, I'm gonna pass it on. All right, and I can take, um, the slide for Dr. Rawls, uh. The How Will Be Owen Science Center. Um, hopefully everyone knows we have a phenomenal, uh, science center in the HBO and Science Center. And they have an amazing planetarium. And so, one of the aspects of Priority 1. That the Science Center took on. Was, of course, incorporating climate into the programming. That they offer
090there. And so, they developed, uh, and found this planetarium show. In film called Kira. Um, and there's… there's, uh, in this film. It covers water conservation, um, issues. And… not to… no spoiler, no spoil… spoilers, but… Um, these individuals struggle in a society where they're trying to get out this message. About protecting the environment. And so I won't say any more than that, because this is actually a show that the students. Can participate in. Um… But it crosses not just science. But also multiple content areas. I had an opportunity to go to one of the pre-screenings. Last year, and, you know, of course, there are scientific elements to it. But it also goes into the ethos and pathos. Um, what is being communicated in the film? So, it's cross-curricular, uh, in the message. And then
091we can go to the next slide. Um, the visit begins with the film. But then, there are modules after the Planetarium show. That the school will select. Where they can engage in climate change data and visualizations. Um, they can look at collecting air quality data. Artificial intelligence, and how does AI collect weather data? Uh, there's an arts integration, uh, module that they can select. Where they work on the climate quilt. Uh, and then they talk about the relevance and reliability of information. Um, and that's certainly something that, uh, our students will need to be equipped with. Moving forward, how to evaluate the data sources. And the reliability of the data that comes before them. Um, and then water conservation. And so they look at a combination of these topics, all connected with the film, as
092part of their. Visit to the Owen Science Center. And so that is one of the ways that the Owen Science Center has. Incorporated climate change elements and topics into the programming. And this, um, this Kira platform and program has actually launching fully this year. And that's our update from the Owen Science Center. That concludes the Priority 1 presentation from all partners. Oh, well, thank you, Mr. Roberson, and all priority partners. Donald Bell, um… for all of, you know, everything you covered in the first part of the… The overview, um, really… really excellent, um… information for us, so I'm sure there's going to be questions, so we can… We could take the slideshow down so we could see everyone on the… screen, um, I do want to start with a special shout out to. Glenda and
093Kira for… for… being with us, and… for your great presentation, I'm so happy you took this opportunity to show off. Your great work, and to join with your peers here who serve on the… Committee. Um, you are welcome to join the conversation. Kira, I see you're still here. Um, so we can get going… with questions, I don't see any hands up yet. I'm watching for them. I see… Jamie Alston, and I do want to invite… Our student members, um… Michael, Olivia, James, Maya. Certainly, please feel free to jump in with. Even if you don't have questions, if you'd like to offer student reflections on how this information resonates with you. And your peers, so… but we'll go ahead and… go with, uh, Jamie first, and then, uh, David Noto, please, please follow after Jamie's questions.
094Thanks. Thank you, Board Member Booza-Struther. Just wanted to say great presentation tonight. It was well, uh, put together and quite informative. And I, too, wanted to take a moment to, um, acknowledge our students. Great job participating and affiliating with YCI. It's really awesome, and as you, uh. Not sure if you noticed any, um, thing different when you entered in for the first day of school yesterday at Bowie High School. Uh, but we were, uh. Fortunate to be able to get you some LED lighting. And as you consider your, uh, thanks to the Empower Maryland program, and as you consider your capstone project. Or something to add for your capstone project, and any other offerings under YCI. Um, as it relates to, um… Reducing your greenhouse gas emissions, energy stewardship, and so forth. Uh, please don't
095hesitate to reach out if I may be of support in that area. Also, there's Building Supervisor Holmes and. Um, you've got, uh, Board Member Brown as well, so just wanted to say, uh, thanks for your participation. It's exciting, as Board Member Boozer-Struther indicated, to see you actively participating in all the great things you're doing. Thank you so much, Ms. Alston. Uh, David? Thanks. Um… So, I suppose this is a question for Mr. Bell and Mr. Roberson. Um. The first question I had had to do with, um. Has there been any outreach to. Um, when you were talking about, like. Planting trees and things like that. Has there been any… outreach to, like, the PG Master Gardeners. Um, and, uh, any interaction with them about possible. Opportunities for collaboration. So, one of the, um, one of
096the areas that we… weren't able to include this earlier, uh, but it is part of the training that is offered to teachers each year, where climate does, uh, is incorporated. Into the content, but there's a greenhouse and garden. Workshop that's typically offered a few times a year, uh, kind of, you know, either by the science office or the Schmidt Center, or in between. Um, and as part of that greenhouse and garden workshop. The Master Gardeners are invited. Uh, in the, um, uh, Esther Mitchell, the Prince George's, uh. Coordinator or director of the Master Gardeners. Has presented to our teachers for, I think, the last 4 or 5 years. Um, as part of that, as well as some members of, um, DNR and University of Maryland Extension. Uh, to help increase opportunities for our teachers and
097students. To, um, uh, plant outside, but also, uh, utilize garden. And greenhouse spaces. I will add… I will add to that that, uh, we have engaged other. Nonprofits to come onto school grounds to do tree planting, so one example would be Casey Trees, which is out of Washington, D.C. Um, and they've come on to, uh, at least a couple of our schools and done large tree plantings, and they kind of define large as. I believe 15 or 20 trees or more, and so I know one school put on, like, you know, planted, like, 30. Um, so we are looking at organizations that can do that. Because of the changes at the federal level, a lot of that money was coming from the Inflation Reduction Act, and. Some of that's no longer there. Great, thank you.
098Olivia, I saw your hand up for a moment. Would you like to come on now? Oh, yeah, I accidentally lowered my hand, sorry. So, um… I just wanted to say it's really nice to, like, hear about. Other things that are happening in programs and schools, so… Great, thank you. Appreciate that. I mean, considering how much you… you do, you have great programs that you're working on all the time, so we appreciate that. Um, I see, um… Uh, Mr. Meyer, if you don't mind if I have, um, Kira go first? I was gonna… I was about to offer to defer to her. And then, come to you? I also… My question was about the CTE program. Mentioned earlier, uh, the environmental and agricultural Resources Program, if. I recall correctly. Um, I was wondering if that, um…
099like, if it already exists, like, within other… Um, like, Prince George's County Schools, or if it's something. I knew that's being implemented because… Um, at my school, like, I've never… heard of that program being offered, but it sounds like interesting. And, like, a good opportunity, so… Alright, is that me? So, I believe I heard about the CT Environmental Program, so that was your inquiry. So, it's at… Um, Animal Sciences at Gwynn Park. And we do have some chickens. We did have a pig, but he's at the Conservation Society. Plant Sciences at Fairmont Heights and High Point. So there are CTE programs. In pretty much every high school. If you're in the southern part of the county, we have Crossland as our CTE hub. Which houses a lot of our programs. It houses 19 of our
100programs. And there's a hub being built in the north in Adelphi, but that's still… I think the projection is around 2031. So it's hard to put everything at every school, because these programs take a lot of space, but every school has some… opportunities. And then a lot of the schools. Do or will feed into one of the two hubs? Hi, thank you. Thank you, Kieran. Um… we're… I think we're hearing that, uh, students at Bowie High School might like to… to hear more about how to expand some of these programs there. So we'll… we'll definitely follow up on that interest. Um, so the next two… uh, questions, uh, Timothy Meyer, followed by… By Kate Wonderlich. Uh, thank you very much, and it's more just a couple of observations, because we covered so much ground in
101all of the terrific presentations. I think it was Mr. Roberson who said something about professional development being offered for all staff. Um, that is a great thing that it's offered to all staff, but I just want to highlight that, um, I think sometimes there's things that slip through the cracks with. The PGCPS Climate Change Action Plan on paper versus the way that it's actually implemented, and I wanted to specifically highlight. Focusing on building services and PGCPS vendors to actually make sure that they have proper training, and I'm using this as an example from my own school of the number of times that we've had the building services team just mow over. Native grasses or native plants, and… or we just had some trees that were butchered that were actually done in collaboration with Casey Trees,
102and um… So there just seems to be this disconnect sometimes of how things actually function on the ground, um, and we can't force every staff member to go through training, but, um. At least the building services team that helps take care of the grounds, there's a whole lot of environmental things. Um, that a lot of times it seems it's not their fault, it just seems like they're not properly trained and equipped to deal with some of these issues. Um, also, we, um… backing up to… I had forgotten to ask this quick. It didn't come to my head quickly enough before Director Matlock left, but I just want to raise it as something that we can maybe. Right down in the notes and put in the record. Um, I'd be curious, from Director Matlock's experience, if
103he talks to his colleagues. Who do a similar type of job in other LEAs around Maryland, and whether or not they're going through similar challenges. With the economics of the electric buses, because there might be some… if there's… this is a widespread issue across many LEAs, maybe there's some sort of statewide legislative. Solution that we can all put our heads together and brainstorm on. And… for lack of a better way of putting it, I'm almost thinking. Built to learn Electric School Buses Edition, where we can… you know, talk to Montgomery County, talk to Baltimore City, a couple of the other ones who have the largest delegations, and see if there's something that we can maybe put on the legislative agenda going into next session in Annapolis. Yeah, thank you. Before… the time's gonna run out,
104but I did want to give a chance for… it seemed like Director Morrison was really hearing you on the training part of the. Yeah, so I was just gonna say, just kind of speak on behalf of, um, Director Matlock. I do know that, um, other directors do talk to. Um, their peers in other LEAs, in terms of what they're doing, and there's a lot of comparing notes. Um, Vedicur. Um, part of what we did in the Climate Leadership Summit is to encourage that kind of conversation as well. So, there is that, uh, going on. Of course, there's always room to do more of it. And I also want to say that, um. The state, specifically the Maryland Editing Administration, has been trying to address. Some of the challenges we've been having with funds, so they've
105been very generous in, um. In awarding us, uh, various grants for electric school buses, solar, to capacity building. And with regards to the training, um, this is one of the things we've talked about, is including, uh, courses within… I don't know if you all are familiar with, um. I guess it speed up China, there's some mandatory training that I have to do every year. So one of the things we talked about is to have, like, a sustainability module. It's not here yet, it's probably going to take a while. To, um, to establish, we have to go through all the different hoops and all the red tapes to have it, but that's one of the things that we have been discussing, is to have that training be part of eDoc Trina, so I just wanted to
106offer that. Thank you for all the answers, and I'm always happy to continue the conversation with you too, Director Morrison. On that. All right, thank you. Um, Kate? Hi, good evening, thanks for all of the presentations, they were great, and I think all of the actions around. Recommendation 1 are so important and really the foundation of the implementation for. A climate change action plan and PGCPS, so I appreciate all the work y'all are doing. My question was, um, for Ann at YCI, and, um, and also Kira and Glenda, if she's still here. I'm curious on, um. Whether there's a model for middle school and elementary school kids, and the. Um, in the certification process. And what Kira… And, um, and Glenda might think about that in terms of, like, opportunities for mentorship. Now, it looks
107like Anne had to depart, um, so we'll follow… we'll certainly. Take that question and get that to her. Take care. Thanks. Um, even though, uh, in terms of the meeting, I think that's… a really good idea. By mentorship, do you mean, like, high school students mentoring middle school students? Yeah, middle school or elementary, yeah. Oh, middle school to elementary. I think that's, um, a great idea, and, like, partnering with local. Middle and elementary schools is something… Um, that, like, YCI could… Worked for some of the future. Great, I'm glad you're interested in that. I think it's a good idea. Thank you. Any other questions this evening? Okay, not… not seeing any, I just want to once again say my thanks to all of Team. Pgcps, who joined us and gave us more insights into your.
108Programs, I know this committee really values all of our curriculum divisions and the intersection here, and. To see it highlight… highlighted is… is, you know, we… just means so much to us to see this. Progress, and we're happy to hear the report that you're seeing that progress in the data that you're. Collecting, and we certainly know it's impacting the students. Um, I did… I was gonna let Anne. Also know, um, I was really thrilled to hear the blueprint for Maryland's future in Pillar. And of course, our CTA program… CTE program for Pillar 3, College and Career Readiness. That intersection has always been incredibly important. To me, as I've looked at this as a Board of Education member, and our responsibilities to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, so I'm gonna. Thank everyone for that. But I
109see Beth Novik's hand going up, so I'll have… Beth asked the last question, and then I will do my… part around closing out the meeting. So we'll have Beth, and then we'll go from there. Board member Booster-Struthers, do you think you and I could stay with the CCAP students, um, just for a minute after this meeting? Oh, sure, I think… I think we can stay in here and be not recording. Uh, Micah, uh, does that… are you… okay with that? Um, yes, I believe I'll be able to stop the recording. Okay, thank you. Okay, sure, we can do that, thanks. Yeah, so we are now… At adjournment. Um, the chair informs the public that the… Next virtual climate change action plan ad hoc committee meeting will be held in October 29th. 2025 at 4.30 p.m,
110and please continue to check the PGCPS Board webpage for more information and updates. And there being no further business, the time is now 6.25 PM in the August 27th. 2025 Climate Change Action Plan. Ad hoc committee meeting is adjourned. Thank you all so much, and have a great night. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Take care. Thank you, good night. Good night. Thank you. Take care, everyone. Thank you