Board of Education Policy & Governance Committee Meeting August 19, 2025

001Gps YouTube channel for later viewing. Ms. Lopez, will you please call the roll? Dr. Moss? Mrs. Olivo? Present? Mrs. Brown? Mr. Briggs? Present. Ms. Walker? Will the quorum present, the policy and governance committee meeting shall come to order. This time, we'll move forward with the adoption of the agenda. If there are no objections, the committee shall adopt the August 19, 2025 meeting agenda. Are there any objections? There being no objections, the August 19, 2025 meeting agenda is adopted and amended. I also want to take a moment of personal privilege for a second, uh, and introduce our new committee leadership, Board Member Olivo is now our Vice Chair of the Policy and Governance Committee. So I just want to make sure I properly, uh, introduce our committee leadership. And I also want to, uh, name that

002Board Member Brown has now joined the Policy and Governance Committee officially. Um, we still have Board Member Walker. Um, who is still on the committee, and Vice Chair Briggs, um, is still on the committee. When I say vice chair now, it'll be Vice… not vice chair times, too, for this committee. Uh, it'll be Vice Chair, uh, for the larger board. So, just want to take a moment of personal privilege and. And let folks know, since it's our first meeting of those changes. We'll now move to the approval of the meeting minutes. Um, if there are no corrections to the June 17, 2025 meeting minutes. Um, they shall be approved, that's distributed. Are there any of… are there any corrections? There being no corrections, the minutes are approved. We'll now move to public comment. I just

003want to name the public comment as for our registered public comment speakers. They're both live, pre-recorded, and written. And I don't believe we have any, um, tonight, uh, that are coming before us. So we'll move to item 6.0, um, and, uh, which… Under this is 6.1. This is gonna be, um, our legislative day, and I just want to name a couple of things as we go into this discussion. I want to give a huge thank you. Uh, to Board Member Walker, um, who is chairing and leading our legislative day. Um, I don't think she went on break, um, because all the emails that have been coming about Legislative Day. Um, and so I know she and Ms. Welsh and, uh, and the team have been working. Really hard to make sure we are set up

004for Legislative Day. And with that being said, I'm gonna turn over. This portion of the agenda to the Beyond Capable, Ms. Robin Welsh, and she's going to. Talk about the legislative platform, as well as legislative day. Um, and I do want to be able to defer in this moment. To my colleague, Board Member Walker, to be able to, um, to interject when necessary. Um, so I just, just want to lay that out there for those folks who are listening. All right? There being no questions, we'll move to the legislative… oh! One other piece. Um, I see that, um, Dr. Ron Watson has joined us, who is the Senior Advisor to the Superintendent, who also supports this body of work, so… Um, I would suspect at some point, uh, he might engage in this conversation as

005well. So, good to see you, Dr. Watson, and welcome to the team. Thank you, sir. Okay, I'm turning it over. To Ms. Robin Welsh and to Board Member Walker. Good evening. I did want to say that I just got an email from Mr. Horn. And he can't get on the meeting. He says his link… he doesn't think it's the right link, or he has the wrong… or it's not working correctly. Uh, Reza, can you, like, resend it to him. Yes, I can send it now. You're welcome. Thank you. So, um, tonight that we are going to just go over the legislative platform, and. For new members of the committee, I did want to point out that the platform has two functions. One is to inform legislators about what the priorities are for Prince George's County

006Public Schools. Uh, because they can just easily look at the platform and see what they are, but secondly, it also is helpful for the Board of Education so that when. When a bill is introduced, instead of having to bring the bill to a board meeting, wait till the meeting occurs, because we only have business meetings once a month. Wait for the meeting to occur, and then bring up the bill, and then have the board vote on which position… what kind of position they want to take on the bill. The platform gives a lot of guidance on what the position will be of the board for the different bills that are introduced, so it's helpful, like, a two-way helpful type of thing, both for legislators and the Board of Education members. Um, if you, uh, proceed

007through, this is just regular, like, protocol, vision, mission, and core values. And this is the draft at this point, and then go to the next page, Rosa. Keep going, um, and then to this page. So, last year, and I don't know if you want to do it this… the same way as we did last year, but, um. And I do want to say that, um, so first, before I even get into it, is that. Um, I took information, I met with all the chiefs, and they also shared with me, each of them, what they felt were priorities. In their area of operation. And then I also, uh, met with, uh, Dr. Watson as well as with, um. Uh, Dr. Collins, and they had an opportunity to review the platform, and they gave, uh, valuable feedback,

008and then on top of that. Board members that had completed the, um. Have completed the actual survey that was sent out that, um, um. Chair Moss had sent out, and I looked at that information, um, also. So. Uh, in trying to put everything together, and so we're gonna go through this, and anything can be changed, Mina, because it is your platform, so… But I… it gives you an idea of what all the information that came, putting it all together, what it came up to. So, the four, uh, big legislative priorities that, uh, came forward was. They, uh, with special education, and especially since we are under corrective action, and we do have a lot of needs in that area, that's important. And then also. Programs to address multilingual students. Academic achievement challenges, and of course,

009that is a major priority from the standpoint of. The fact that it's 41. 40.1% of our population is. Made up of students that are a multilingual. And actually, just as an aside, there's 11 point-something percent of our students who receive special education services. So, between these two populations, that's half of our overall student population. Which is pretty significant. And then the next area has to do with construction and facilities. And then safe and secure environments. But then, in terms of these other areas, um. Uh, that we had… last year called a mother, I think, ongoing priorities, and actually, Dr. Watson recommended that we call it Key Measures for Future Success, which. I like, so I put it in there, um, was, um. Maintaining local board autonomy, implementation of the blueprint, adequate school funding. Recruitment and

010retention, curriculum, student welfare, sustainability. Information technology in charter schools. So, um, we can go through each one. If you have questions, of course, don't hesitate to ask, and we can, um, you know, discuss in more detail. Um, so, um, Rosa, would you please go to the next page? Oh, go right ahead. I do. I do, Robin, just really quickly. No problem, you speak so quickly. I'm like, can I jump in really quick? Okay, so as we go through these, Robin, when I take a look at the… I just want to just make sure my mind is right. So, for the 2026 legislative priorities, this is the. Compilation of all of them, and then these are kind of… If I look at all of these, all of these boxes are what's going to be on a

011PGCPS legislative booklet that's given out per your thoughts and draft, based on what you pull together, and then the highlights of, let's just say, these four that's being pulled out are really what we're gonna go after as we go to Annapolis and talk to our legislators from the Board of Education side. I just want to. Okay, great. And then the second piece, and I'll look at the details inside of each one, um, as well as we go through them, but the secondary piece I saw on here for key measures for future success, I see curriculum on here, and normally for our legislative platforms, we don't do legislation around curriculum. And so I was just wondering what your thoughts were. So, as we go through, those are just some things that's in my head that I'll,

012um, note. Thanks. Okay, that'd be good. So, um, so this one has to do with the, um, special education, and of course. That is… that has always been an ongoing concern. First, the federal government, you know, had promised that they were going to pay, like, 40%. Of the education, cover the cost for 40% of, you know, 40% of the cost to educate students with disabilities. And, um, the funding has always been around 15%, which is very concerning, as well as, you know, there's real questions about what does federal funding look like for the future, so this is a major concern. And probably the, um, special education services can be very expensive. Uh, both in terms of the number of teachers you need, because they… your class size is usually much smaller, as well as the

013related service providers. And then, oftentimes, you have students going out to non-public placements. So, you put all that together, um, that is very significant. So the… where funding is always a concern and needs to continue, because the types of programs our students need. To make them… to ensure that these students have equitable access to education, it's critical that we are funded appropriately so that we can provide the kinds of programs they need, as well as. Um, talking about, um, legislation. This talks about legislation that provides incentives to attract and retain highly qualified special ed teachers and the related service providers. And support personnel. Because in the, um, in the action plan, when they, uh, we got cited. One of the things has to do if we are lacking adequate number of staff, and part of

014that is, I mean, we just can't find the staff. I mean, even years ago, before. Before COVID and everything, there was a shortage for, like, speech pathologists and occupational therapists and physical therapists, but now it's even… it's much worse. And it's very difficult to get a special education teacher, so that is a real concern, and if there were… Um, any funding that could support, like, uh, like, financial incentives, that could be extremely helpful to attract teachers to come to Prince George's County. Uh, and of course, there's always been this back and forth with the state about what percentage of the share of the cost of the nonpublic will the state pay. Pay versus the school systems. So, if the school… if the state pays a higher percentage, that is… lifts the major burden for the

015school system. So that… and I did talk to our associate superintendent of Special Education. And discuss these items with her, and she thought that they did address what the concerns are. So that was the first actual priority. And then the second one, if you go to the next page, Rosa, is Programs to Address Multilingual Students' Academic Achievement Challenges. And this one, first, because our percentage is 40… 40.1, or it was on the 2024. Enrollment count. Um, if you, um, probably the biggest challenge is, of course, we want the students to master the content, but the problem is, first of all, they're dealing with. The fact that they have to master the language and the English language, and to a point that they actually have academic language. So you're talking about two-fold content as well as

016the language, but then on top of that, we have students that are newcomer. Comers that have not had any experience in the country, have not been in any U.S. Schools or whatever, and so you're dealing with that population as well as you're dealing with a population that have been here. Now, for many years, and they're, um, you know, I've had a lot of experience under their belt, so as you're talking about a lot of variation among this English level, as well as content knowledge. Of these students, um, and so it requires, uh, really special programming and a variety of. Levels of services that can be provided, and for the students that have been in the system for, you know, a good amount of time, they will probably need interventions. And so, it's a very expensive

017endeavor, as well as, depending on what these students have gone through. In their own personal lives, they might need mental health services, you know, mental health support and everything, just because. There might have been, you know, experiencing certain types of traumatic experiences where they need to have support. So. That's why we have here about provide… being provided sufficient funding, um, to really tackle these challenges and, um, develop the systems that need… need… that we need to have to meet the needs of these students, because you're almost talking about multi-level and multi-variations of programs. It's not like one-size-fits-all for… especially for… never for any child, but definitely for this population. Um, and then if you'll go on, uh, Rosa, to the next one. And this one, construction facilities, and this is… This is, um… I know

018that we had this last year, but it's still an ongoing concern because, number one, the fact that 50% of our buildings are over 40 years old. We have… we have a lot of major repairs to buildings, you know, um, like HVAC kinds of issues. Um, you know, the electrical systems that fail and have to be, um, upgraded, and then, you know, security, um, features, just… there's lots of big, uh, cost items that have to go with these buildings, and we're working, of course, as. So there's a P3 program to be able to build new school buildings, but that takes time. And, um, we're really ending up having to take money. From our CIP and put it into the, um. Put it into repairs versus attempting to move forward in our new building repairs or our

019actual renovations. For the building. So, and no matter how you slice it, if you don't… if you don't have a building, you can't educate students. And, you know, you'll see on the… on our front page of our website a lot of times, many days, probably more than none, are things that'll say, such and such school is closed because of whatever. And part of it is just because our buildings are so old, so this is a major concern that we have to face. Um, it's… so it's sort of that underlying foundation, which is so important. Um, for running… for running the school system. And then the last one under legislative priorities, uh. It has to do with, uh, safe and secure environments. Rosa, can you move to the next page, please? So… Oh, sorry, I didn't

020mean to do that. I almost got… Cut myself off, hold on. Oh, no, hold on, I just tossed my page. Okay, there we go. Okay, safe and secure environments. So then, the other thing that's really important, of course, is to provide a safe environment. If you talk to most parents, they'll say, yes, I want my child to be educated well, but what they really want, more than even that, is that they can be assured that when they. That their child returns home in the same condition they left. So, this is an important piece. And we have been working to, um. We've been working with the… with our safety enhancement devices. Um, to ensure that guns don't get through, uh, you know, into the buildings. And we did see, um, a pro… last… this past year,

021there were approximately a 25. Um, let's see, there were guns that came in, there was 25% of the guns, incidents of students with guns, and then there was… there was a reduction, excuse me, and then a reduction of, like, about 31.35%. Uh, in terms of weapons that came into the… this was high schools, uh, and they do keep account of that, the, uh, safety and security for the number of weapons that are coming into the building. So, it has been successful, so they'd like to expand that to. Um, four more high schools and a middle school, and not only do the devices themselves cost money, then, in terms of having adequate staff. To be able to man these, um, devices that also takes a lot of money. The other thing that they have placed in

022two high schools is vape detector sensors. And they have been instrumental in identifying students who have drugs on them, as well as cigaret. And they are beginning to see a reduction in the possession of drugs and cigarettes in the schools by using that. Um, and then another area of safety that has been… is really a real concern has to do with. Also, upgrading all our cameras in the buildings, the surveillance cameras, because right now we have mainly analog cameras. And we really need to move to digital cameras, which are much better at capturing what's happening when they're… when they're. You know, taking pictures or whatever that's happening in a building, and little by little, we're moving towards replacing all the analog cameras with the digital. Cameras, and um… and I think… Oh, and then they

023are looking at alert systems for emergency responses for the elementary schools. So they have a lot of different things in place. And we've… we've been, you know, a fortunate school system in that we have not had any active shooters or anything, but it's critically important that we have. All these things in place to always be prepared. Um, the other area of safety that we're concerned about is the pedestrian walkways and intersections for students. Um, and that requires, and of course, that's a collaborative effort with the county and the state. It's not just… doesn't… it's not just our responsibility. But it's important, um, that we could, um, that in working together, that we could have legislation that would mandate, um, certain crosswalks, sidewalks, possibly. Traffic calming measures, like speed bumps in certain areas. Things that help

024the drivers, you know, slow down, pay attention to what's… what, you know, students and pedestrians who are walking on these pathways, or the walkways, and then. I also, in working with the county, looking at additional funds to support the hiring of Safe Passage coordinators. Who would conduct safety assessments and be the primary liaison with the Prince George's County Public Works Department and the Maryland Department. Of the state highways. So, the request for funding is really to support those expenditures that I just shared with you. So those are the four… now, and again, I'll repeat, if you think that they should… that they should… all four of them shouldn't be listed, or that you think there's other ones, you know, as we go through this, please don't hesitate to let me know. Um, I just… this

025is what I thought based on all the information was provided, but it could very well be that you have a different perspective. Um, the next… Yes. Hey, Rod. Hey, Robin. Um, I'm sorry, I should have told you I was gonna chop your presentation up a little bit. If it's okay with you. I think it might be helpful for my colleagues to have a moment to sort through these four properties, and then we can go to the larger piece. Okay. If I'm not reading the room well, colleagues, please let me know. But I think it would be good for us to have a round or two of questions and conversations about this. And I just want to color this for the public to say. Um, these four priorities are the ones that we would ask our

026legislators. Um, being our senators and delegates. To develop bills around in concert with us, we would be looking for additional. Measures around this, and so I just want to say that to the public. These would be our four, and then we'll go over our larger platform. Um, that will speak to what we believe, and what we also support, but this is where we would put boots on the ground for in Annapolis. So, um, what I'll do is, um. As it relates to these four priorities, colleagues, I'll see if Dr. Watson has a comment, and then I'm… then we'll turn the conversation over to my colleagues, and we can ask questions, we can discuss it. Um, Dr. Watson, if you're still on, I want to give you space. And I left something off earlier. Um, I

027don't know how I forgot this, but our board lobbyist is on. Um, yeah. John Tail Green, um, who is the most amazing individual, and when Board Member Walker talks, she'll probably… Um, say more about it, but Jantel's been working with our office and the administration to really get us to this place as well. But Dr. Watson, I'll turn it over to you, and then we'll do some questions from my colleagues. Thanks, Dr. Moss. And so, Robin, I just have a couple questions, because if I… if I put my legislative hat on and I'm receiving this information. Mm-hmm. It… to me, it lacks a little specificity. It basically says, you know, we need money for all of these things, but these things are not prioritized. Nor are there individual dollar amounts for each thing. So, for

028example, when you talk about school security, what's more important, digital cameras or securing the doors without metal detectors? Right? The schools that do not have metal detectors. Where are they located? Whose district are they in? And when you're talking about. Uh, getting these schools to the same level of security as other schools. Legislators need to know, are these schools in their district or not? Because they'll be more willing to fight for funding for those things. Um, since we've already, uh, outfitted several, you know, all of our high schools with metal detectors, we should know what the cost of a metal detector is. Right? And so, if we have to put metal detectors in 4 additional schools, how much money are we really talking about? Because a lot of these things come down to budgetary matters,

029not so much policy. Yeah. Uh, policy is, I want Prince George's to have metal detectors in every high school. Right? If I said that, you, of course, would say that's an unfunded mandate. But you would do the best you can to make it happen. And so, here… here… you know, we have these buckets that have a variety of things to accomplish the mission of. You know, the Board of Education and PGCPS. But it is helpful to bring specificity. Okay? With respect to the programs for special education. Are you asking for… are you saying that… You need more programs, the programs we have are insufficient. Or are the programs we have sufficient but lack. The special education personnel because of the shortage of being able to find those folks to execute. What piece are we actually

030talking about? Because if you're… if you're asking legislators to come up with programs. That's almost asking us to come up with curriculum, and you don't want to do that, right? And are any of the programs that you think you need if. If it is a program need and not a workforce shortage. Are they already available in the Blueprint for education, and we just haven't executed them yet? So, as a legislator, these are the types of questions that would come to mind. You know, as you're… as you're delineating. You know, the variety of needs. And, um, I just think that if we can think through. Some specificity. I think it would be helpful. You know, say to upgrade all the schools and security may cost. Okay. $6 million, but we're able to give you a million.

031Where's that million gonna go? How do we know we're slowly reaching the goal. Um, and how are we going to use metrics to show that to the legislators? You guys get me? So I'm going to sit back, Rob, and be quiet and listen. Yes, sir? But I just wanted to give you, you know, my perspective. If I… if I look at it through the lens of a legislator who wants to. Take what you give me and put it into action. But I don't have quite all the tools to do that. Okay. So, I just wanted to leave you with that. Yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Watson. Colleagues, I think that helps color. How we continue to mature this, um, you know, Robin was tasked with taking a million people's ideas and bringing them into

032six… into four priorities, um, and now it's our responsibility as a committee to do the work, uh, that, um, Dr. Watson said to color that. Um, and so now I'll turn it over to my colleagues, um, for… for questions, if you, you raise those. Um, um, certainly put your hand up, and you can engage with this, respond to any of the feedback we've gotten. Um, but certainly want to thank Dr. Watson and Ms. Welsh for. All of your hard work to bring all these ideas into four priorities. My hat's off to you for getting us here. Yes. Uh, Board Member Walker, your hand is up first. Um, Mr. Lopez, uh, will you give us a little time? They might go over it, I'm not gonna be too harsh, because I know this is important, um,

033but some little time might help us. He took a couple of my seconds. Can you, um, add those back? I'm just joking, thank you, no problem. Listen, thank you so much, Ms. Walsh. This is a… is a feat, especially with our committee, so I just want to say thank you so much. Um, some of the massaging, I think, that we can do, taking some of what, um. Senator Watson had to give to us today from the perspective of the legislation. I think readability, we can take that offline, just so it's very clear in bulletized form exactly what we're specifically asking them for. That'll also help us in Annapolis, and actually, a lot of our legislators print this booklet out, and they use it as a mini Bible as to what it is that we're looking

034for. I think that'll be helpful. Um, so we can take that offline if the committee's okay with that, taking the feedback from today, and just making that really crisp. And working a little bit with John Tell, who absolutely has gotten us indoors that we wouldn't have been in, so thank you. I know she's driving right now, so she can't come off and laugh, but we've all heard her laugh before. Thanks. Um, when I take a look at special education, I know that. Um, within the blueprint itself, we have some mandates of where we need to focus our energy, and especially our. Funding as well, so maybe we'll be able to call that out specifically as well when we start massaging it. Um, love the idea of talking about different, um. Districts, because sometimes that helps

035legislatively for you to know, like, oh, I'm going after this, because this is in my district, so appreciate that. I think that there's some clarity we can give on the multilingual. Students as well, not only with the challenges, but what it looks like that we're, um, specifically asking for. And I think, again, the bulletized will help that. Um, construction and facilities. Absolutely, and hands down. This is something that I think is a huge priority that we've had. We've called it Dollars for Scholars, kind of like that, but when I think about things like that, it's really dollars for our scholars to make sure. That we're not taking money from reining in, um, it's reining in some of our classrooms. We need to get that fixed immediately. It affects. Everything. And I think another option that

036we have colleagues this year, based on feedback, is we have an opportunity at the end of each of our priorities to say how it impacts scholars. What I've heard from legislators is, how does this impact the classroom for real? How does this impact scholars? I'm not talking governance, I'm talking about how does this impact the scholars, and I think we could add that, um. As a small bit underneath each of our sections, just to bring it all together. Um… I think for now, that's all I'll have, and then I'll come back for a second round. Thanks. All right, thank you, Board Member Walker. Um, Board Member Brown? Yes, thank you so much, Chair Moss, and… Thank you, everyone, for joining. It's so good to see everybody after a long, wonderful break. Um, for those who

037took a break. Um, so I kind of wanted… I had two questions. About the… safety, so when I thought about safety, I thought about the safe passage. I know that was mentioned, Robin. In, um. The presentation that you gave. I'm curious if Safe Passage uses traffic patterns as well, because I know that's been a call-out in one of my schools. So, Bowie High School's my only high school. And I think they've been asking for a traffic pattern to be done for close to 2 years. We've contacted. The state highway, Bowie Police… I mean, we've contacted PGPD, and so I think. Um, understanding the way. Safe passage works. Um, would be ideal for my district. I know that Pointer Ridge has called because of. Uh, you know, a concerned mother was, like, a kid almost got

038ran over, and so Safe Patches went right over there, of course, but… Is there something else that's tangible that Safe Passage is using. To help with the traffic patterns. Um, of the schools. I think that was probably the most important question that I wanted to ask. And there were some numbers that I was kind of, um, trying to understand. Did you say that 40.1% enrollment. Was multilingual. I just wanted to make sure that was correct. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, we probably will have to… I've got a question here. We'll have to probably get back to you on the safe passage piece, because I don't think we have the experts on the call to answer your question as it relates to safe passage. Um, but it also sounds like there's an opportunity to… uh,

039figure out that study that hasn't happened over there, um, a little bit later. I'm sure, um. Dr. Watson just made a note of that, um, and probably can get back to us on that. Um, I do have just one comment, um, that I want to… oh, Board Member Olivo, no way I would go before you. Go. Okay, thank you, Chair. Um, thank you, everyone, um, for this. Um, which I think is really helpful. I just wanted to… to do a, I think, a second to, um, to what Dr. Watson said about. Adding some more specifics here, um… And also, while fully understanding that I'm brand new to this committee and have not been part of the team that has been lobbying Annapolis, so I also defer to others' expertise in that area. But it does

040concern me just a little bit if we kind of go to Annapolis and we say, um, you know, something like, special education is a focus. We want you to focus on special education, because who knows what. Ideas our legislators might have, versus if we went and said, we need. To fund these specific things. We need state support to enhance these specific salaries. Um, and really had some… some specifics there that somebody could really kind of sink their teeth into and draft a bill around and make happen. Um, and so I just, I think… I'm in full agreement with these… these four priorities as large concepts, but I would love to see us as a committee. Um, you know, really have a lot more specifics to them, um, when we move forward. Thank you. Uh, Board

041Member Olivo, were you wanting a response from someone to your question, or you wanted a statement? Okay, got you. I got you. Um, Vice Chair Briggs, I see your hand up. Not necessarily, yep. Yeah, thank you so much, Chair Moss. Um, I wanted to just kind of echo, I think, the point that, um, Dr. Wassie made. I think, Robin, and you can, like, obviously you're gonna take Creative Wheel, I'm assuming, at least. On this, but I know that platforms tend to be aspirational, they tend to be kind of, like, literally just a bucket of information, and you have to kind of extrapolate the different ideas from there. And I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to have sub-bullets, like, if you have the kind of. Aspirational paragraph of framing the issue, like, for example, the individuals

042with Disabilities Education Act, like, I think that's so important, because a lot of times people don't have the context to know. What actually is happening at the federal level and how we've gotten to where we are, and then how to move forward. But I do also like the idea of specificity of, like, having, you know, lifting up certain things around schools and the community. So that legislators can contextualize, like, what does this mean for me, right? Because a lot of times, if they come to the platform, and they're just like, there's this bucket of information, how do I make sense of it? Especially if they don't have John Taylor, other. Board members to reference back to. So maybe… kind of honing in a bit more on what Dr. Watson said, like, having some way to

043kind of clearly. Separate the information if you want to do some more digging, then you can say, oh, okay, I didn't know that Siratfield had blah blah blah, um, this issue, and, like, we just have some research that we could pull around some high-priority issues that we may want to advance, um, that are tied to dollars. Yeah, colleagues, I really appreciate this rich discussion, and… I'm gonna make my comments about the platform, and then I'm gonna put. Board Member Walker on the spot here. Because, um, what we're doing today is the first step around these priorities. I think we'll be coming back to them. But she and Jontel have designed a working meeting. That will really allow us, I believe, to get into the teeth of some of these, the way they've designed the meeting.

044So after I make my comments, Board Member Walker, if it's okay with you and Ms. Welsh, I know that's the second item on the agenda, but I think it'll help color for my colleagues. What we're gonna do with those priorities, um, during legislative day, um, because we'll have to come back after legislative day and… and perhaps massage them or mature them a little bit more. Um, so I do want to make a comment around priority number four. Um, now let me say this. I am in strong support of everything that we have here. Um, but what I will say, the way it's currently written, it's asking for retroactive support. And this, I mean, reactive support, right? All of this thing, all these things that are under school safety are very reactive in nature. Um, and

045I know you may say the metal detectors are proactive. But I'd love for us to be a little bit more thoughtful about things that some folks, um, some folks might look at this and say, this is school hardening, while I'm not willing to go there. But some folks would. So I would love to see us, you know, put some other priorities inside of that one bucket. That is preventative in nature. Um, you know, back to the old school DARE program, right? How are we asking kids to stay away from. Making bad and risky choices, so… I think we gotta stick with what we have, but I also want to see something, um, that is a little bit more preventative. This past legislative session. Um, a bill actually passed that, um, was focused on… and PGCPS

046is currently piloting. Um, doing work right now, um, that is around restorative practice, right? Or restorative work. So, could we potentially say something in this language that would advance, or… or put additional funding in that priority? So. Um, you know, we've got Robin, and we've got Dr. Watson here, who are going back to the administration. Perhaps when you all bring this version back to us, you all can think about what that might look like, um, for the team to really color that a little bit more. Um, I think we keep what we have. We need more money for these things, because they keep our campuses safe. But I think there is an opportunity for us to put some preventative stuff, um, as we continue to make sausage here. The other things I fundamentally agree with.

047I think they're… They're strong, I think this is the work we should do. Board Member Walker didn't go this far, but I want to take it a step further. As we color this a little bit more. We had some really nice language last session that I remembered pretty easily when I didn't remember the 4, and the dollars for scholars was one that I remember. So if we could have that same kind of. You know, nice little feel to these four, that'll be great, but other than that, I think all the comments I've heard have been spot on. Um, um, colleagues. Um, I'm gonna turn it over to Board Member Walker to help situate how this is going to work, and that may raise more questions for you all. Um, and then Ms. Welsh, if it's

048okay, I'll turn it back over to you to do the rest of the platform. Board Member Walker, um, do you want to do that for us? Yes, uh, this… that sounds great. Thank you so much. So, I'm pulling this up. Um, perfect. This was great. The goal of today, you guys, just so everybody's really clear in the public that's looking in for us, the goal of today is to be able to, as a committee, vote on, in general, this is where we want to go for our platform. The reason why that's so important, especially with our top buckets, the reason why that's so important is because our legislative day is coming up as we requested, very early on, so it's coming up this, um. And we want to be in a position where we can

049stand in front of legislators and say, we are aligned on where it is we're going fundamentally and what it is we're going to be asking for. Such that that can become a working meeting. And what that means is that we're going to break into small groups within that legislative session so that we can talk about these a little bit more, talk about who's thinking about what bills, talking about maybe where there's synergies, maybe with something somebody has been working on already. And that'll give them a real feel as to what it is that priorities look like and feel like. This is… if you've heard about our legislative days before, or maybe you've attended them, or seen minutes from them, um, this one is a little different in a sense that we're really integrating, and we're

050being, um, very interactive. We're walking away with some tangibles with the small groups, and we're really excited about that. So, the way the timeline works, and why today is important is because we're going to look at this information today, we hopefully, as a committee, are aligned. It sounds like we are, fundamentally, and then we're gonna go back and make sure that this is a little more crisp. Um, based on what we've talked about, then we'll have that ready for our board meeting to present on behalf of our committee. Of course, you all will get it as soon as we have it, um, just to go and say, is this okay for us to go forward? So that just puts… everything in perspective so people are clear on what today's goal is, um, when we leave

051the meeting. All right, next is, if you didn't know, there's always a booklet for PGCPS priorities. Every year, PGCPS has their legislative priorities, okay? And what we began, which I think is very fruitful for us. Is to also have our top that's pulled out of there for Board of Education priorities in alignment with. That's the impact that we have as we go and we. Lobby, for lack of a better word, discussed, because you can't take all 20, but what we can do is do dollars for scholars, or special education, and talk about what these five are in greater detail, which is really important. So that's just for perspective. Okay. Um, just a little bit about the day itself. I mentioned some of it, but we're gonna… it's a fusion, so we're gonna start. Um, with

052a continental breakfast in our check-in for everyone that's coming, and those that are invited to this. To be clear, are our legislators. Um, our PCAC. And us, okay? And that's because we want to really focus, uh, to do the work that we need, and we don't have forever, because we also are going from 8 to about 11.30. That includes our workshops. And then we're gonna have our optional tours, because you know that we're doing this at a CTE hub. In, um, District 8, actually, in Crossland, and we'll… our legislators and those that attend will have the opportunity to go and see some of those in action with our scholars. Okay? The goal is that this is going to be outcome-based. It's streamlined, it's only anchored in our priorities, our top priorities that we have. It's

053data-driven. We have our pre-surveys this time, which is different. We've done research. We're gonna have our subject matter experts. That are there, which are the Chiefs, I don't know if I mentioned them, but they'll be there. Um, and then… the collaboration that we have for insights and legislation as we continue to forge our amazing relationships with our legislators. For this. So hopefully that was enough, but the day is gonna be great. We're excited about it. Yeah, I thought it would be helpful for colleagues on the committee for you to hear that… the kind of the continuum of learning around what we're doing here. Um, so we don't have to get this perfect today, um, but, um, we will do that. And what I really appreciate around the way Board Member Walker and Jontella thought about

054this, and Ms. Welsh. Is that we've not always… sat with our legislators, and… I'm gonna call him Senator Watson for a moment, then I'll call him Dr. Watson when I recognize him. Some of the feedback that the Senators gave us in Annapolis when we were there this past spring. And Senator Watson being one of them, is, hey, we want to sit with you all and work through some of this so that we're not writing bills that you all know nothing about. Um, so that we can do the right work. So a lot of this came out of that kind of feedback that folks like Senator Watson gave us. Um, so I just wanted to color that for everybody in the space. Senator White… I mean, Dr. Watson has his hand up. Oh, wait, before… I'm

055so sorry, before, um, to add on to what you just said really quickly, is that this has been an iteration, and this will be our third year doing this. And each time, we've learned along the way, and we've gotten to a place of, um, relationship building, we've gotten to a place of open dialogue, to the place of coming to the tables with the heads of the delegation in the Senate, um, and for us. We… they're also gonna be there, and they'll also have a speaking part in that, so that we can make sure that we're really aligned, and I just can't wait to see where it goes for years to come. Okay, Dr. Watson. All good. I can watch the poll was yours. Awesome, awesome stuff. And let me… let me just echo the work

056that Robin Welsh did in such a quick fashion. And I appreciate you, Robin. Let me give you an example, um, for everyone what specificity really looks and sounds like. Robin came to me and talked about House Bill 838. House Bill 838 was passed in 2024. It's called Prince George's County Family Child Care Home Expansion Grant Program Establishment. Okay? And… PGCPS took a… a position on it, and said. Pgcps advises that the bill may cause significant operational and funding difficulties. Okay? And that in… 2025 PGCPS expenditures could increase by as much as $1.6 million. This bill, in effect. Causes PGCPS to fund startups. In the family child care business. We don't… we don't need to fund startups. We can certainly utilize. Existing nonprofits to help support any gaps we have in services. But this, in my

057opinion, is a bad bill. But this is a specific bill that you can call out. That impacts our funding. That needs to go into the classroom. That I would suggest be specific in putting it on the legislative agenda. Why do we want to do that? Because this was a local bill. And while I don't know specifically who the original sponsor was. If we as a board say, this bill, you know, we won't say it's a bad bill. But this bill, uh, does not help us meet our needs. And the funding could better be used inside the classroom at a critical time. When we have funding shortfalls to really help us close student achievement. We say it in that form in front of everybody. It's the board speaking in one. Unified manner versus. One senator trying

058to take this bill. And undo something that was done 2 years ago. You follow me? And so, when I read that bill. Your position is clear, it's an impact. Here's how much the impact is, and it causes us to do this, which is not a part of what. You know, the Board of Education is supposed to be funding, funding new startups. Now, I want us to think as a team. Are there any pieces of legislation like this that are currently impacting the way we do business. Or our ability to close the achievement gap faster, more efficiently. If so, let's talk about those things. You know, a bill doesn't stay a bill forever. It doesn't have to. We can unwind some things. You know, as long as we're united and unified. Right? And then, when it

059comes to legislative priorities, you know, there are things that. We want, we're going to add some specificity to. But there are also some things that we don't want. And so a legislative priority would be to protect and sustain. And that's one set, protect and sustain, so we want to make sure we go on the offensive. When we need to, and we go on the defensive when we need to. The other piece is, here is a new bill that we think would make sense. And it falls right in line with our five pillars under the blueprint. It makes all the sense in the world. And we are, as one team, Board of Education Superintendent, 100% supportive of that. When we have that type of language going forward to a legislative agenda-setting meeting with the legislators. Yeah.

060Now we're cooking with high grease. We can really get some things done, you know what I mean? So, I appreciate Robin for bringing that bill up. I did do the research on it, and I pulled it up while you guys were talking, but I wanted you to… That's… that's a very specific thing that we can certainly try to attack. Yeah, so I really appreciate this, and I'm gonna turn it back over to Robin to talk about the rest of the platform, but it did raise. Boardman Walker has a question, though, or comment, but he did raise an idea for me hearing you say that, Senator Watson. Um, and you'll see this… Um, very soon, we have a massive tracker where we track every bill in the assembly, where we take positions on them. Um, as

061they have been written. But we have… haven't yet, um, or in my experience, developed a process. In this phase of going to look at bills that run afoul to our priorities. And so I do think we have an opportunity in this phase. Perhaps Ms. Welsh and team and Jontel. Um, to find deals that are currently in law to board… to Dr. Watson's point. That runs a file to the four priorities. So, in essence, we can ask legislators to. Either propose amendments to existing law, um, to be able to pull back on that. So I think there's a real opportunity there. And that just came to my mind when you were saying that. I think we do a lot of good work in terms of responding to what's in front of us. But this idea that

062you're proposing of, let's take these priorities once we shape them up a little bit more. And then find bills, um, that are perhaps already in law, um, that are getting in the way of our work, so that when we get to that table with delegates and senators. Right. We perhaps can say, we need amendments to these that align to this. I think that's what you were saying. I've said this to the public, and I need you to say that's what you were saying. So that I'm not making up something, um, Senator Watt. Okay. No, that's exactly what I'm saying, and the way you described it, Felton. Takes the Board of Education to a higher level of sophistication when it comes to legislation. What we get, typically, is MABE's position. And Willems would always get upset

063with me, because I would say, what is Prince George's County's position on this bill? And his response would be, I can only give you MABE's legislative position on it, right? And so there are times where I'm sure that possibly Baltimore City and Prince George's County was not aligned with something. That included all 24 districts. But we would never know that, right? Because we're only getting one perspective from MABE. And so, if there's a… and that's when the amendments can come into play. This might work for Allegheny, Worcester, Cecil County, but it might not work for. Urban school district with our demographics. So, what… how can we amend the bill to try to make, you know, everybody happy? And that's where, you know, the real sausage gets made, because we have to have that level of

064insight, but be able to know how to act and respond. You know, really, in real time. You know, when these things come out. You know, so I hope that we can… we can reach that level. Nice. Of sophistication and put a process in place where. If May votes on something that deviates with Prince George's County believes is best for us. That at least we can be notified, and we can work together as a delegation. You know, your senators and your house, to see if we can somehow modify it or minimize. The impact of Prince George's County. Yeah, we'll start a second round, colleagues, and I've been a little casual here, so for those of you who are… you know, maybe those of you who are watching in the public, this is… this is really some

065of our most important work, so… My casualness is really grounded in my colleagues being able to voice themselves. When we vote on these policies in a moment, I'll be less casual, but I do want to give Board Member Walker another opportunity to jump in. I do appreciate that. I'll be short, because you said a majority of what I was going to say. I'm an absolute fan of taking a look at the bills that are currently there that we might want to work with legislators to amend, and we can even propose wording, sit down with them. One thing that I did learn, um, last legislation very clearly was the power in sitting down with the legislators with the recommended work, and I think that you being here inside of this role will be helpful for us

066to be able to do. To make sure that we have a clear strategy. I like it so much that I am willing to say, yes, let's even add it on here. I'll even think of a nice name as either a legislative priority as a bucket, or a key measure for future success, because either way it goes, it's gonna be… when I talk to legislation and the modifications and amendments. Suggestions for improvement based on, um, what we've seen thus far and where we're going. Um, I think that it's a huge bucket of work that we do want to work on, and we don't want to miss the opportunity of even saying that out loud to make sure that people know, like, hey, if you haven't heard yet, we will be sitting down with you, and this

067is work that we're gonna do, going back and taking a look at some bills that we think might be able to even help our scholars move even further. So, thank you for that, because we have some bright ideas on some of the things, as well as the tracker, we need to get, um, him access to that as well, because even just going through the tracker of all the bills, you can see the ones that we have opposed and the reasons for that opposition, so that might be a great place to even get started, um, on this work. So, colleagues, if you're aligned with that, that's something that I would even recommend that we add as a bucket, um, when we take this work offline. I want to make sure I give my colleagues this second

068round opportunity. If you don't have anything else, we'll move to the platform. Um, I will take… Given that there's no dissent, I will take this as affirmative on the priorities, uh, and then allow. Ms. Welsh to move to the rest of the platform. And Ms. Walsh, I know we were to talk about Legislative Day, but it looks like Board Member Walker ended up covering that midstream. So, in whatever way you see fit to close this out, um, the floor is yours. Thank you. Um, so I… I thought I'd just go through each of the sections, but I do have a couple questions, and as we go through them. And also making sure that you want this included. So the one is the maintaining a local board autonomy. Um, probably the biggest area there has to

069do with the fact that the board has the… is the org… the group that does policy and makes policy for school systems, because they're the ones that have the governance role. So, um, we don't want legislators to be, say, mandating that you're gonna have to have a policy on this, or a policy on that. That should be a definite board choice. Um, and then the other thing is, and I don't know if you still feel this way, these are from last year, but I wanted to incorporate it for you. Include it, and then we can take it out if you think differently, or you want to add something. And the other one is appointment authority of the Superintendent of Schools, and that's because… and I add that also because we're the only school system in

070the entire state. In which the county executive actually appoints the superintendent and not the board of education. And since board members, as an all-elected board now, and the board is actually, um. Board members, your constituents elected you to be, um, you know, governing the school system and really looking out for the school system, and the superintendent is one of the biggest, uh. You know, player, and all of that, because he leads the forward the school system. I thought you might want to still continue to move forward with that. And then the other thing. Is to govern the operation of the board. So, in the past years, we've had several bills that have come through. And it basically told Prince George's County Public Board of Ed, actually, how they're going to operate, or what they're going

071to get trained in, or what they're gonna, you know, how they're gonna work within the board. So. Um, that was the other area, and then, um, the continuation of local board authority over charter schools and to grant charters. Um, so that you would maintain that, um, authority. And then opposing legislation that reduces the autonomy of the board and the board's responsibility to determine board policy. Maybe we should stop after each one? Do you think, uh, Chair Moss just… or you want me to go through all of them at one time? Um, it is my preference that you go through all of them at one time, but my colleagues are here as well. So, colleagues, do you want something different? Okay. Okay, now I do want to ask one question. So, Chair Moss, you had in

072your, um. Um, in the survey, you said something… you said, literacy and promotion and retention policies within the school district. And I didn't know if that was that you were saying something specific to legislation that you don't want to be legislated in that area, or is that something more specific to policies? Okay. Oh, that's actually board policy. I'm sorry if I put it in the wrong survey. It sounds like I did. I would not, I repeat, I would not want the General Assembly, uh, to develop any policies as it relates to what we should be doing in terms of literacy. Okay, I just… I just… I just wanted to make sure… I… I didn't know if you wanted to incorporate that into the… into the… or, no, okay, I just… I didn't want to think

073you missed… I missed it, because I just wanted to have it there. Okay. Then the next one has to do with the blueprint. And, um… And of course, probably the biggest concern, again, this came from our chiefs, is that making sure that there are no more additional requirements attached to Blueprint funding. And also, of course, providing school systems the ability to have more local control over the initiatives, and then, uh. The other thing we support is mandating, uh. Tied to instructional program that includes adequate funding and realistic implementation times. Um, and timelines, and timelines in the past has been a major concern, because a lot of times they've been asked to. To do something, and of course, we're supposed to be waiting, though, from guidance from… from the MSDE, um, or AIB, and… by the

074time we get the guidance, the timeline, that's when we're supposed to have it done, but we just got the… we just got the guidance from them, so as many times it's very difficult to implement those timelines. Um, and then, uh, we, um, again, oppose, um. I did already talk about the requirements, but any reduction in the blueprint funding, and underneath, uh, on the next page, adequate funding, though. I did incorporate this. This is something that Board Member Boozer Struther had asked to have incorporated into the legislative platform, which was. Restoring the original amount of Blueprint funding legislated in the law, plus additional funding for inflation. So, from, um, the… although it was reduced significantly, what money we did lose in the Blueprint funding last year. Uh, by the time the bill went through, it's still…

075there was a reduction, and so she… that was one of the things she would like to see. And also, um, additional funding. So, because of the collaboration, if you think about it, that we were thinking we'd get funding for collaborative time. And, of course, that was incorporated into the negotiated agreement with thinking that, of course, we'll be getting this funding. And of course, we didn't get the funding, so that does… cause our cost to go up, even though, um, and so that's a concern that she… She also expressed, but as far as adequate funding, and I don't know if, um, if you, um… Whereas if you want to go to that page on adequate funding. Um… That's on page 12. Um, and talking to Chief Howe. Um, she felt, again, like, um, an increased foundation

076in special ed funding, adequate funding, fully implement the Blueprint mandates, exclusion. Now, this is, um, unrelated to the, um, blueprint, but it is related to, um. To the law, exclusion of LEAs from the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Programs because PGCPS offers generous leave options for its employees. Such as personal annual and sick leave, and a sick leave bank, uh, which was negotiated with our labor partners. Um, and that was a bill that came up last year, um, and they did… they did push that timeline back before that it needs to be implemented, where we included all these additional days of leave. That are an additional benefit to staff. Um, but that is… would be a phenomenal expense also for the school system, so that was a concern she brought up. And then, um, she

077wanted to ensure that, uh, legislators know that funding and resources should accompany any new legislation. And that, um, and then, of course, I have board member Boozer Struther had shared, and then opposes a legislation that, again, that results in unfunded mandates, but legislation that mandates. That the school system acts as a pass-through for state funding of local workforce development boards for middle and high school career counseling. So, we… we actually, last year, uh, took the position that we did not support the. The bill, which then I think… I don't know if that finally did get incorporated into House Bill 540, but, um, that part where we… we are the ones who give the money over to the. Local, um. Workforce Development Board, um, in order to fund the career counseling for our, uh, our middle

078and high school students, and we don't… we don't necessarily feel it's a very efficient way, um. For many reasons, and that's why we did not support that bill. And so, um, she did bring that up. And that has been extended, I want to say, 2 or 3 years now. It was coming up for closure last year, but they did extend that bill. Two additional… two additional years, Rob, and that was… that was another one of my bills. Two additional years. So… Yeah, it wasn't… Yes, so… but it did have with it, which I thought was very good, that there's supposed to be a pretty comprehensive study. To look at how well that works and everything, which I think will be helpful to, you know, in terms of that. So… That was another area, and then,

079um… She was sharing with me that the tracking and reporting requirements for Blueprint expenditures. Um, that they, um, right now, they're asking for the blueprint expenditures by school. And she thinks that support… no, she… that they… yeah, and she would like to see tracking and reporting blueprint expenditures by each blueprint program. So, and that might be something MSDE is requiring, um, in terms of how we do track those funds, but I can see how that would be very difficult, in a way, versus just doing a massive. Category. Uh, like, if it's for… if it's… there are community schools funding, if it's our, um. You know, just the different areas of the funding, and then legislation that does not include a thorough… and so this is… and this came up in a couple of the Chief's

080recommendations. Legislation that does not include a thorough analysis of implementation costs, staffing needs. A realistic timelines. Legislation mandates must be accompanied by appropriate funding and operational support. And that's probably a lot of ways to go in terms of addressing that, but that is a concern. And then this, um. And so this goes to House Bill 3838, which comes… everyone in the organization, internal administration, is still very upset about this bill. And so she said… she added a legislation that mandates the use of funds earmarked to educate our students to fund grants. Uh, for nonprofit organizations to support private daycare providers. And a couple of the chiefs brought that up again, so that's… that is a real concern, but I think maybe we have. A way to address that more specifically, that we can possibly get

081that amended. Um, so that… we wouldn't have that… our money, the education for our students' money, going to, uh, nonprofits. Um, so anyway, then, uh, the next section is recruitment and retention, and, um, the three things that we would support, and again, this comes from the chief. Is legislation that would make June 15th the deadline for teachers to resign without being in breach of their contract. Which, by doing this, LEAs would know at the beginning of the summer what vacancies need to be filled. Which would result in greater chance of filling those vacancies earlier in the summer, because. Um, the requirement right now that's in state law says that they have until… I want to… it's either June 15th or July 5th, I think it's July 15th. Or July 30th, but it's very late in

082the year, and even just that addition of picking it up at June 15th so you know what all your vacancies are. Would be much easier then for us to know what positions we have to fill, because frequently, we're not… I mean, we just don't have… we get the information so late, and by then, most of you, especially your college graduates, have already been, you know, picked on by different school systems. And then legislation that allows, um, students in the education field to obtain student loans, which, if they work as a teacher for so many years following graduation, they will not have to pay the loans back. Which might be more incentive, then, for people to go into the education field if they knew they wouldn't be leaving with major, um, you know, a college loans.

083Um, because all they'd have to do is work for a couple years, and they would get paid off. And then the other one has to do with… transportation brought this one up, legislation that authorized certified driver trainers to administer the commercial driver license. Cdl learning permit. To test… to… test to prospective bus drivers. Currently, MVA scheduling requirements create delays in onboarding new bus drivers, which directly impact PGPS's ability to address driver shortages and maintain reliable services. And of course, that has been, for a long time, a major area of concern for us, and we struggle to get bus drivers, so then if we have to wait until they can, um, actually. Get their, um, take their learner permit test. That just slows that process up even more so. So that is… This is an important

084one, too. And then… curriculum. So you, um, Board Member Walker, you had asked questions about why do we have curriculum in here? And so, this is… so this is… and certainly it can be changed to anything. It's not… it has nothing to do with any legislation that dictates any type of or mandates any type of. Curriculum, uh, you know, on any subject matter, or what needs to be in the curriculum, because that really is the state board's. Responsibility in MSDE to come with the standards, and then the local school systems will therefore develop their curriculum. But this… what, um, Dr. White shared is that she was supporting legislation that provides budget allocations to increase staffing to meet expanded responsibilities. Particularly in the area of mediation services, student assessments, and compliance. And then, legislation that is

085viewed through the lens of its impact on special populations, particularly multilingual students. And students with disabilities. And, you know, as we're talk… as I'm reading this to you, I'm thinking to myself, I would think that we might have already covered this in the larger priorities. Um, and maybe we don't even need this, but let me go to her opposes. She said, uh, she also, uh, felt that we should oppose legislation requiring LEAs to man… oh, so this is another concern, which is… Related to, um, to, um, legislation that has come through. Legislation that requires LEAs to manage the complexities of child care provider support without adequate resources, LEAs cannot be responsible for private provider actions. An LEA can collaborate with private providers, but they cannot monitor or control the private providers. So, the way the

086law's written at this point, we are… we are supposed to be monitoring what the private providers do if they receive funds from MSDE. But we… we… I mean, we're struggling to do our own monitoring within the system, and then to have to be stretched that far to monitor what private provider's doing it… are doing is very difficult. And then, uh, the other thing was that any legislation that mandates actions outside of LEA's instructional responsibilities. Uh, and she says, when vacancies are rampant, LEAs need to focus on their purpose, which is to educate students. So, so, very frequently, bills come through. Where they want to expand the role of school systems. Um, to, um, more, like, service-providing types of roles or social-type social services kind of roles. Which, yes, we want to have within the system

087supports for students, but. We also have to realize that our main focus… we can't spread out and go beyond, especially into the community, when our main focus really needs to be what we need to be able to do instructionally with the students. So that was her concerns, and we can certainly talk about that. And then with student welfare, um, is very similar to what it was last year, but it's still a continual concern. Uh, and that would be… and again, this is coming from this phase on, but funding and resources at the company, a new legislation, which we already said, so we could take that out. Funding to hire staff to complete all the administrative responsibilities that are involved in working with the Consortium on. Coordinated community services. So that… that money's coming through the

088blueprint, and it does provide all this, uh, these… I think now we have 15. Um, uh, organizations that are involved in the Consortium on Coordinated Community Services, but the problem is, there is so much administrative work that is required on the part of the school system. Um, and we… and we don't have the ability… with our own staff, they're already stretched very thin, which means that it's an indirect cost, but it is a cost that we have to hire than additional staff to be able to do all the administrative tasks that are involved with that. And so, it's really a concern when it comes to those types of things. And then funding to increase the ratio of mental health conditions to students. So that we are more equitable in providing these services to students in

089all of our schools, because we have the need in all our schools, so we should be providing it. And then funding to support reductions in federal funding through the Title IV grant, which is used to provide mental health services to our students. And that's also a grave concern, is what's… what's going to happen in the future. With the funding for all the Title I through 4 federal grants that are coming through, because they cover. A major number of services for our students, so… Um, and that's a concern. And then, let's see, what else? Legislation that holds… And this… and actually, Dr. Watson already told me that this is… will not fly. But it's in here right now. But, uh, legislation that holds parents accountable for their child's attendance by utilizing creative ways to get parents

090involved. So that one, I know, does have to come out, um, but then funding to provide every school a restorative approaches coordinator. And, uh, who can then provide the appropriate professional development. Um, and… because even though restorative approaches is very… has been very successful, it is expensive because you have to have a certain number of staff trained in each school. And it really is about coordinating services and putting things together for it to work appropriate in a school. So that's important. And then additional funding for more professional school counselors, school psychologists, addiction counselors. To improve the students to staff ratios. And then budget enhancement for the provision of professional development outside of the school day for teachers, counselors, and for resources regarding behavioral health. Issues, positive behavior, um… intervention systems, restorative practices, de-escalation techniques, and

091trauma-informed interventions. So, those are all really critical, um, things that teachers need to know in this day and age. In terms of working with the students in our schools. Uh, and it also goes partly to safety, too, in terms of the whole trauma-informed interventions, de-escalation techniques, and the restorative practices. Um, so that's important. Then, what we do oppose is attempting to address student safety concerns. That imposed unfunded mandates in local boards of legislation that would prohibit or require certain disciplinary actions, such as. Various students' suspensions, thereby limiting the local board's authority to ensure the safety of all students and staff. And, um, the estate does have pretty strict guidelines on what type of discipline you can do, so that… so that can be a concern. And then legislation. Um, that restricts and eliminates the ability

092of schools to contract for services, and that's there because I want to say, two sessions ago. There was a bill that was. Um, it didn't make it, but it was introduced that actually talked about, uh, not being able to contract for these types of services, and because there's such a shortage in staff. Both in the world of special education and student services, we… the school system does a phenomenal amount of contracting for. Speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, um… Psychologists, uh, counselors, uh, you know, we rely on those contracted services, so we wouldn't want to lose the capacity to be able to continue. Providing that service. And then, um, the next one is sustainability. And, um, so of course, our school system, we are… have the Prince George's County Public Schools Climate Change Action Plan.

093Which is very aspirational, and it has very high goals in a wide variety of areas that are many years out in terms of implementing these goals. Um, and… but we did rely in the past on a lot of different federal sources of funding, and now those sources are, I think, drying up, and we are going to really have to rely more on state funding and available grants. So, the things that, um, are important that we will need is, um. Funding to support electric school buses, and corresponding electric charging infrastructure. Um, and then support for research and use of alternative, um, alternate low-carbon emission, uh, fuels. We are looking at propane buses at this point. Um, that run on propane, um… Because they do… they are a little bit less, um… You know, there's the fossil,

094I guess, fossil fuel burning. They're not quite as bad for the environment. Um, and they're… but they're not as expensive as electric buses, but ideally, it would be good if we could be going to. Electrification of all the buses, but… Um, anyway, we definitely need funding to support the State School of Electrification and the costs necessary. To, um, do that, as well as the infrastructure upgrades. And then funding to invest in smart metering technology and building automation systems that allow for real-time monitoring and control of energy usage. Um, so we actually, um, and I actually, in the first version of this, I did have all the… so I have to just say, in the first version of this, of this particular one, as it relates to the metering, I had all the details and all

095the numbers and everything of what… And because, just so you know, last year I was told. Not by you guys, but I was told I had to get all the numbers out of this. Out of the, um… of this legislative platform. They don't want to see numbers and take them out, so… so that's sort of been in my head, so that's what I did, so that's why you don't see many numbers. So, if you want numbers, we're gonna work to get numbers in there, but I did have numbers related to. Um, the smart metering technology, because we have situations where we are losing electricity, and we don't know that because we don't have a meter, that's running for either water usage or electric usage, we don't know that there's a problem somewhere until way down

096the road, and we've already spent, then, a fortune on electricity or water when, if we had these metering. That metering technology and automation systems, we would know right away. Oh, we got a problem somewhere because we're expending way too much water or too much electricity, which would be really important, as well as it would help in monitoring overall use of the school system, because there's. Of schools using the electricity, because the reality is, is that I wouldn't be surprised if there is a lot of wasted electricity in schools unless you're paying very close attention and really making it a goal for the school. You know, in terms of, like, just things like simple things, turnout, off the lights when you walk out of a room, things like that. So… Um, that would… yes. Miss… Ms.

097Welsh. Give us one second. We're only gonna have just a couple more minutes on this item, so for the last, uh, key measures, if you could tell us what's different about them from last year. That might be helpful, because I know we have a couple of policy items tonight that we have to get through. Okay, I'll quit. I'll… I. Oh, oh, okay. When I committed to my colleague 7 o'clock. Um, so I wanted to make sure we get through the agenda. Okay, well then, I will tell you that, um. The only thing that's really… so the charter schools at that… that is the same. It still has… it has, um. All the same items as supports. It does have, as the first one, high academic and fiscal accountability of all charter schools. Which is really

098important, because they should be still held to the same accountability that all the other public schools in our system are held to. And then the only other thing that I would say is that is, uh, different is that we do have, uh. Language in there that talks about support for indoor air quality improvements. Because that has been an ongoing issue for us. Um, anyway, that's… that's probably it in a nutshell. Most of it is very similar, so I appreciate you stopping me so that I don't keep rambling on when you might have important questions that people have. Yeah, colleagues, I think we can, um… I know many of you have seen this on… I don't know the name. Is it Diligent? That's our new, uh, board platform. I was about to say our old one.

099But you've probably seen this on Diligent, but I do want to make an opportunity for you to answer questions, knowing and understand a lot of these items we've carried over from the prior year in terms of platform. Um, but I would love to extend a round of questions for us, and then we'll move into a discussion on… a pretty quick discussion on our work plan, and then deal with some policies, um, before we get out of here at a step in. So, at this time, please, any questions that you have or comments for Ms. Welsh. As it relates to the full platform, um, this would be a great time to do that, knowing full well. Um, that we will have another opportunity to make modifications to this post our meeting with our legislators. Um, Board

100Member Brown? I just have one quick question. I wasn't sure if there was any… Thing regarding cell phones. My constituents have been asking so much about cell phones. And the cell phone policy, um, and I wasn't sure if that was brought up. During the surveys, um, or if that was going to be brought up during. Our policy time, so I wanted to make sure I brought that up. Yeah, I'll just color this for you a little bit, um, unless this committee's will has changed since last year, which I'm open to it. Um, our position last year was that we did not want the legislature. Mandating, um, any policies as it relates to cell phones for us, but that PGCPS. Would work to shore up its policies. Our prior superintendent and his team had started a

101work group and was doing some work, and actually. Um, this was actually one of, I would say, one of the legislative successes last year. Adrian Boffo's bill. Um, actually was a bill that would essentially say that. The district has the authority to come up with a policy, and he modeled it. After the work that was happening in PGCPS. Um, I thought it was important for me to color that for you. If the committee is supporting some state-level actions, um, we'd have to have a different conversation. Um, but Jonathan, Vice Chair Briggs. Uh, and Board Member Walker, let me know if I left out some portion there, but that seems to be… the path that we took last year as it relates to cell phones. Okay. But Board Member Brown, if you… it will come up

102in Board Policy, is to answer your question. Yes, that was the… We got you, we got you. Tell the good folks in District 5, we're gonna deal with cell phones. All right? Um, any other questions as it relates to the platform? Board Member Walker? Thank you, and I'll try to be brief. I know we have a lot to do tonight in our lasting half hour. Um, as… because we're going to at least vote on the general synopsis, so that then we can take it to the full board, um. One of the things I wanted just to chat about is if we can change… if folks would be okay with us changing the name curriculum. Um, and we'll find something to say around curriculum, but we do a very pressed job for us to not navigate

103within curriculum space, so I just think modifying that title was still the same words will be advantageous for us. I also, um, want to take a deeper look at what it is around charters. I know charters has been, um, of a large discussion, and just want to be careful of what we're asking specifically. About, um, legislation around charters. Specifically. Um, and then I just think to what we mentioned earlier, just to go, and we'll do this work, but just go and be kind of specific, put some bullets where needed, so that people's eyes can draw on exactly what it is we're asking for them is something that we'll take away offline. Thanks. Yeah. Uh, thank you for… thank you for coloring both of those. I'm amenable to them. There are no, um, you know, dissent

104from the committee, I think we're good. I will say, um, as it relates to charter, and, um, Rosa and Ms. Welsh, you can start pulling up the work plan. Because I'll make my comments brief. Um, as it relates to charters, I do fully suspect that there will be some measure in the session as it relates to charter, given. Um, all the things that we experienced, um, during the budget cycle. Um, as it relates to the administrative fee. Um, I've been invited to two meetings once again as it relates to Charters and administrative fee, one on Friday. Um, I'll certainly keep my colleagues up to date, but. Um, I'm sure we will probably hear that legislative day as well, so good call out, Board Member Walker. I think there is some movement to codify an administrative

105fee in state law, um, so that it's not left up to the district, so we will need to take a position around. How we feel about that, um, as colleagues and board members. Um, Ms. Welsh, um… It's you. Um, I just want to note, since you said administrative fee, do we want to add something in the platform right now, uh, in terms of… I don't know what your position is at this point, but… You might… I don't know that… yeah, we may want to stay away from it. I think I need to talk to the superintendent before I make recommendations on that. Okay. And, yeah, and my colleagues, I don't know if y'all are prepared to have that discussion, but I don't know that we need to do it tonight, because… Um, I need some

106more education on it before I can… can make a decision, so I want to hold that one. Board Member Walker, did you want to say something? Yeah, I was just gonna say around charters, charters is a very delicate situation, and I know that there's a lot of strong, um, positions on this. We are in a lot of talks right now, and I just think we have the opportunity to take a look at the language, be very clear. On what it is that we're asking. I, like you, would stay away from that language, but we might have the opportunity to touch base with Dr. Watson, um, as we, um, pull together this language. On what might be received. Yeah, um, perhaps Dr. Watson and Ms. Welsh can come to us before legislative day, and we can

107figure out how to maneuver this, because it's going to come up during legislative day. I don't want us to be asleep on that, but if you all could… advise the committee, uh, around how to deal with it. That would be great. Okay. Okay. I appreciate y'all so much. Um, next item, which is item, um, oh, uh, there's general consensus around this. I'll proceed, um, with, uh, moving forward with the… platform for the next discussion, and move to item 7. 7 point… oh. 7.0. Uh, there are 8 more items for discussion. There will be 2 rounds per item during the discussion. Each round will be 2.5 minutes. If a third round is required, a vote will be taken. Um, and now we'll move to 7.1. Committee work plan. I'm gonna recognize Ms. Welsh to give us

108a very brief high-level overview of the work plan, because colleagues, you should have seen this work plan. Um, on the board, on Diligent. Um, so Ms. Welsh, can you give us a quick overview, and then I'm gonna take a vote on the work plan. Um, yes. So the work plan is very similar to the one I had presented, um, before the summer. There were just a few changes I wanted to bring to your attention, and also answer a few questions. One is, is that, um, we did not have the immigration enforcement activity. Um, down as something that needs a policy, but… and that was House Bill 1222 that passed last year. It didn't… it never… it was never one that was on our list to track, but it is what it entails. It has to

109do with, um. The requirement to have a, um… a policy that addresses how you're going to handle when immigration people come into the building, uh, into a school building. And how do you, uh, handle that, like, in sensitive locations, which school systems are considered that? And this provides… they did provide guidance on what needs to be incorporated into the policy, but it is required of any sensitive location. That we have a, um, a policy addressing this. So… Um, and actually, I think it's due in October, so it would be one of our first policies that we would begin addressing so that we could be up-to-date with that. Um, and so, um, I wanted to bring that to your attention. The other one is, um, the, um, parent… family and community involvement. Um, Dr. Joseph would

110like to add that to the list, because. Um, he fell strongly about, um, that, and I think he has something in his 100-day plan that actually addresses. Upgrading that policy, and so, um, he asked that we be able to, uh, re-look at that policy. We did that just, um. Last, um, March of 2024. Um, but certainly, I mean, and it's your call, because these are your policies, but if you want, we, you know, I did put it on because he requested, but if you don't want it on, then let me know, but if not, we'll just keep it there. And then the other one that was added, um, because the policy itself says, we'll review it every single year, is artificial intelligence. And that was put… that's in the language of that policy because of

111the fact that. We keep learning more and more and more about artificial intelligence, and so we want to make sure our policy is up to date right now, since that's all new information. And in answering Board Member Brown's question, I wanted to point out that we did put back on the, uh. The list for, um… their policies as student use of social media and portable electronic devices in schools, which refers, basically, to cell phones, so that the committee has the opportunity to re-look at that. And, um, you know, see if there's anything they would like to change in that policy. So that's what I… there. But other than that. Good. Um, everything else is pretty much the same. And, oh, and then you did ask the question, um, uh, Board Member Walker, about, um. Um,

112ethics, and that… and I believe you did get a response from Office of General Counsel. Um, in terms of… I'm thinking, I recall this, that you had a response, that it's not… I guess the policy itself on the ethics regulations. Does not, um… mentions Office of General Counsel, but there's no language within that policy that actually addresses specifically. Who is, like, overseeing that ethics panel, and I think the main reason is because it's supposed to sit, you know, by itself. Um, if they have to report to any one group, or some group or person. Um, then you lose… they lose their ability to, um, make independent decisions, so I think that was the gist of what Officer General Counsel had shared. So I didn't include that. Now, if the committee wants to add it, then

113of course. That's certainly your call on that. And you also asked a question about the bill that's had to do with cursive that came out in 20… I want to say 2022 or whatever. And actually, um, I went… I did read through that bill, and that bill does require. The cursive training and cursive writing, but there's nothing that references having to have a policy about it, so we don't need to worry about adding that to the list. All right, well, thank you, Ms. Welsh. Um, I want to… before we take a vote on this, I want to flag for my colleagues something that we definitely gotta get better at. Given that you now know that this is the list of policies we're gonna review this year. I'm going to strongly encourage you to submit your

114amendments using the link that we have. Um, we have a link, um, for writing new policies, amending policies. Because we have a lot to cover in committee meetings. So, if you could use that, it helps Ms. Welsh to be able to update and revise these policies. Um, looks like Board Member Walker's hand is up. Or was up? Is… yes, go ahead, Borman. Thanks, thank you so much. Um, from the administrative perspective, Ms. Lopez, if you could help, and it might just be me, for our board members that's on this committee, um, helping our admins, if you can take it back for our admins to put this, literally, this, um. Chart inside of our… invitations for this meeting, and with a reminder to… the link to submit. Our updates, that will be amazing, for me, anyway.

115I don't know what other colleagues are, but for me to do it, it'll be super amazing. Um, did you understand that piece, what I was asking, inside of our meeting invitation for this meeting here? Perfect. Thank you so much. Um, it'll make sure that I get my work done, as Dr. Felton has specifically asked. In advance. All right, the next piece I was going to say was for the ethics, um, Ms. Walsh. My ask for it to be on here was not to say who they report to, because I totally agree with you. It was more so, there was a gap in understanding, um… who trains them? Who is the point that's inside of the administration, should they have any questions? That was what the back and forth was, and it's not the board, actually,

116it is general counsel. So it's not who they report to, um, that I think was… was… gray. It's really the specificity on that is the, um, role. That is responsible for making sure that their needs are met in the communicative body with them. So, if there's anything we need to change in there for that, um, we went through a lot of back and forth in order to get that answer, so I would think that… I think it's a little gray, but we could take a look at it offline and see if it's worth. This committee's discussion. Um, the last piece that I have, I am aligned with this list. Thank you for pulling it together, is we don't see PCAC on here, and I do know that we did. We talked PCAC last time. The

117reason why I'm bringing it up is, um, the Disabilities Issue Advisory Board is in here, which I'm a fan of that being on here, but I think that as we change. Modified, um… advisory boards. That they are similar in how exactly our policy looks, and what that process is going to be. For getting members, or what one says versus the other, and I think we have an opportunity to maybe even look at both of those at the same time. Um, that's just what my thoughts are. I don't know how other, um, committee members feel, and I think that there still was a little bit of ambiguity in a piece of the PCAC one. I just don't know. Exactly where that was tonight. So, if I could just write to you offline and say, yes, that…

118I do… I'm still aligned with that, or no. It's all set, then I'll do that, um, tomorrow. Thanks. And then you'll let me know. Okay, okay. Board members… I appreciate us calling those out, but Board Member Walker, I want to let you know that you do reserve the right at any point to bring any item up for the committee, and as the chair will bring it up. So, if you don't get it on this agenda, if you feel the need to add it later, I want to make sure you know that we're able to do that on a verbal. Yep. Um, so we can add those whenever you want to. Um, Board Member Briggs? Again, lay down. Yeah, thank you so much. Um, I wanted to just add three things. One of them is that

119I actually can't see this. I'm wondering if the public can't see this, if we could just zoom in on the visual. The second thing was, I'm not quite sure what the process is for, um, Trim Moss. You may be the person to answer this, or Ms. Lopez. I'm not sure what the process is for that link. I haven't seen it, and you've mentioned it a few times, so I do want to be mindful of that, to take steps to. Follow whatever the process is, but can you… can someone expound on what exactly the process is, how it works? When is… when is the link sent out? And then, um. Yeah, I think that that's probably the biggest question. Yeah, it's a really great question. So, the link is actually in the tracker that Cindy sends

120out each week now. It's a link where you can propose new legislation or amendments to it. So you would, uh, just include it there. What I will do is… Um, I'll make sure I elevate it to the top of your email. What it does is… It helps Ms. Welsh be able, when she's drafting them, to bring them up. For us to be able to discuss, it's to include your feedback already. So, like, in meetings, you're not having to propose. She can get that language worked out. Because our policy process is so long. If we have to send it back to her for her to get the language right, that delays how long we move policy… that delays how quickly we can move. Policy through our process. We've done that a couple of times, and so

121this is one way to support not having to continue bringing something back multiple times and not allowing it to follow its true policy process. It's honestly why we get, at the end of the year, we have a backlog of work. It's because we keep, you know, rehearsing things over and over and moving it from one committee to the next. But if you're able to put your comments. In that document, it helps her with revising things. Before she comes to the meeting, because when she brings board policy 4200 to us, she already has modifications that reflect the priorities of the administration. What we're doing is adding what we think to it, but if she can take what the administration is saying, what the board is saying, to bring us a good document, it makes the process

122cleaner. Um, that is the aim and the goal there. Okay, um, so I wanted to say, just in response really quick, is that I think it might be helpful to share… I know if we're sending it out to all board members, for committee members in particular, it might just be helpful to kind of share directly the link so that we know that that's there. And then, I wanted to clarify, um, Chair Moss, is this process meant to. Replace a discussion. So, let's say, for example, a board member has an additional thing that they would like to add as an amendment to the policy real time when it's happening. Are we… is… what is your… what… how do you envision this, um, going? Because I want to make sure I understand it, and maybe new committee

123members might have questions, too. Yeah, no, really great question, Vice Chair Briggs. It is not my goal to limit discussion while we're in this. It is actually my goal to. Um, make our conversations richer, um, so that we're not getting caught up in the minutiae of language on a call. Um, so I'm not… and I'm also not trying to preclude you if in real time you have a sense of change. Or you see a greater opportunity. What this is, is to make our work cleaner. Uh, Ms. Welsh is literally in real time trying to type what we're saying. And that's not always fun, um, on her side. So, it's to clean our work up, but… Um, as a committee member, it is your… it, you know. If you've got a change you want. Uh, please

124make it in real time, and I'll put it to a vote, and if it's the will of the committee, it will happen. Um, but that doesn't preclude us from doing, uh, work to clean… to make our process, um, tighter, if you will. And the public deserves to see on a document. What modifications and red line we're making as much as possible. Did I answer all your questions, Vice Chair Briggs? I got you. Um, and I never stop you from adding anything, just so you know. Um, Senator Watson, Dr. Watson, your hand is up. I'm gonna struggle with calling you Senator. That's all right, Chair Moss. Just quick question. So what I'm looking at are these recommended policies. For action by the board. That's what we're talking about right now. Yeah, so every year at this

125time, um, the superintendent and the board proposes the policies we'll work on for the full academic year. Got it. Got it. And… The board members will take all of these in aggregate, and they can. Put comments in on any one of these. And how do we know when one is complete so that it can go forward for a final vote? Yeah, so we actually have a… this is good. So, um, for new commitment, this is a good orientation for new committee members, too. So, Ms. Welsh and I and now Ms. Olivo, we meet prior to these committee meetings to decide which items are ready to go on the agenda and to move along the process. But all of our work originates in committee, and once it comes out of committee, it goes to the board.

126So once it's gone through the public comment phase and all of that, and Rosa, it might be helpful. Um, you know, we created a nice little graphic to help with this flowchart of policy, because our board policy is so… complex. I must say, I'm used to, on other boards, we just, you know, move the thing along the way, but we have a pretty robust process that includes community input, uh, given the state law around first reader and second reader. Provisions, but we meet, uh, as committee leadership, and we move an item, and when it's ready. Uh, from the administration and from the board to then be discussed at the committee level. I hope I answered your question. Right. Yeah, yeah, yes, you did. So, I guess my question I was trying to get to, are

127these prioritized in any way, shape, or form, or this just is everything that needs to be done? Yeah, so the document you see in front of you doesn't reflect, and it's not in the order of priority. Um, but, um, you know, some things we will move up based on need and concern, but this is not in an alpha… it's not in an order that. The first one we're gonna look at is rules of procedures, which… might be it. We actually might be. Looking at it first, but that's not what's intended here. Right. Uh, one of the things I could suggest is, when you do, and hopefully you do, you guys do have a board retreat. You can work, flesh out some of these real-time, but I would ask you… To put at the top of

128the list, evaluating the superintendent of schools. And what you're going to be presented with at the next board meeting is a fantastic-looking data dashboard. That the, uh, cabinet has come up with as a way for transparency for you as board members and for the general public. To track everything they're doing, how they're meeting their goals. But in speaking with the superintendent, one of the things he really needs from the board is how he is going to be evaluated. How can he determine success measures? You know, through his own personal KPIs, if you will, in data dashboard. And the sooner we can get that to him. And, um, flesh that out. I think it'd be great. Oh, my man. Okay. You know… You don't have to worry, it's on the agenda tonight. We start… yep, we

129started tonight, so no worries. That one is on the agenda tonight, and the… Thank you so much. Fantastic. Ms. Welsh, you had comments here? You're muted, friend. Sorry, I was gonna say we are gonna address that tonight, so… but I did also want to say, uh, share with Dr. Watson that what we will be bringing back to the committee also will be a schedule for the year. Um, after that we've made… decided which ones we're going to address, then we do put together a schedule. Uh, for the entire, um, school year. And of course, like, for example, the fact that the, um, like, I… we do know the superintendent would like to have the, um. Policy 0105 addressed earlier than later, so that would be one of the first ones we would look at, and

130the other one, I know that I just spoke about had to do with the immigration. Um, enforcement activity, and because by law, we need to… we need to move forward with that, that would be, like, one of the early ones. So we'll look at legality usually drives. The ones that we try to get done first, but um… but we will have a schedule for the next… by the next meeting. I just want to caution for folks, we don't always… we don't vote on the schedule. We vote on the document, because we don't always follow the schedule, because something might happen. Right. We vote on… we vote on the policies, we don't vote on the schedule, so, um… but committee members, are there… if there's no other discussion, uh, Ms. Lopez, people… Ms. Lopez, could you

131please take the rope? Um… Take the vote. Dr. Moss? Mrs. Olippo? Um, aye. I… Mr. Briggs? Mrs. Brown? Hi. Ms. Walker? There are five, uh, yes? There are 5 in the affirmative, the work plan will be recommended to the full board, so the full board will be voting on this at our next meeting. Uh, let… we will now move to policies, and Policy 8100. Um, Board of Education Standing Committees and focus groups. The chair recognizes Ms. Welsh to present. If she has any guest speakers, and to provide an update on Policy 8100, Board of Education Standing Committees and focus work groups. So, um, I don't have any guest speakers, but I did want to talk a minute about why we're looking at 8100, since we just did that, um. Uh, last year. Um, it turns

132out that, actually, Board Policy 9140, which talks about citizens advisory committees. Actually talk about the, uh, in terms of the fact that, um, there should have been… we should… we do have one, like, the PCAC, and then we also have the Disabilities Advisory Committee, but there's also supposed to be a superintendent and board evaluation, Board of Education and Superintendent Evaluation. Committee that is an advisory committee, which we have not… we have not addressed or have, you know, done. So. I… now, if in fact that you do… don't want to go that route, then we can certainly. Just take… take it out. Um, and move forward, but Rosa, if you would just, uh, scroll down to the, um. To… let me see if I can find it in here. It's actually page 6. Which actually talks

133about the, um. The superintendency evaluation committee. And then the Board of Education's Advisory Committee, there you go, it's in red. So, uh, basically, um, what it says is that the super intense evaluation… under superintendent evaluation, and then in a minute we'll talk about the superintendent's evaluation. Policy, because they're all sort of inter… interlinked. So the superintendency valuation, it says the superintendent and the Board of Ed Evaluation Committee is charged with developing the formal evaluation instrument. And annual performance goals for the superintendent and Board of Education's annual evaluation annually prior to the beginning of the school year. The committee shall present the evaluation instrument, and the superintendent's annual goal performance. Annual performance goals to the board for approval at the August Board of Education meeting. And then, um, the… upon receipt, the superintendent's plan of action

134to support goal achievement… wait a minute, am I reading the correct one? Did I jump to the… to the other? No, I'm still in the right one. That upon receipt, the Supertense Plan of Action to support goal achievement, the committee shall review the plan and provide feedback. The plan shall then be presented to the Board of Education, uh, board by September 15th. And then the committee shall meet and conduct a preliminary evaluation of the supernet and present to the board at the June Board of Ed meeting. For the board to formally evaluate in writing the performance of the superintendent. So, that is all very new language. Oh, wait a minute. And then for the Board of Education evaluation, the committee will develop a board self-evaluation instrument based on the board's annual performance goals developed by

135the board. The committee will present the self-evaluation instrument to the board for approval no later than the September board meeting. And the board will conduct a self-evaluation annually at the end of each school year at a professional retreat. And post the results of the self-evaluation at the website within 30 days of the last day of the retreat. So that is, um… And then, um… The advisory committees… the advisory committee established by the board may include, but, um, and then I did include this, when citizens, um. Okay, at least one citizen's… that's on page. If you keep scrolling down to page 8. And can you just excuse me one minute? Um, my husband opened the door and put the dog in here, and this dog is making me crazy. So that dog needs to leave, I'll

136be right back, I apologize. You're excused, Ms. Welsh, I totally understand. You know, the superintendent says that, um, the superintendent was asking people to come drive buses and recruiting them, and he said. That we have dog insurance, too, so I hope Ms. Welsh is taking up… taking the superintendent up on his… dog insurance. Oh, board member Walker, your hand is up. So, while Ms. Walsh was gone, I was gonna say, we have, in fact, had a superintendent's evaluation committee, just if we had it one time, and that was for Mr. House, we did. So I just want to say, we actually did do it, but I am in favor of the details that are within here today. Yeah, um, I just don't… I think that, um, it may have been prior to that committee, because

137that committee did actually put out a report, um, the first time, I think on his first evaluation that was done, a comprehensive report was done. And just to finalize this policy, then, I did add, because we're going to recommend that Board Policy 9140, Citizens Advisory Committee, then be rescinded because it's redundant. But in chord, since this is 8100, which has to do with meetings. Then this, the advisory committee is established by the board may include, but are not limited to, at least one Citizen's Advisory Committee, uh, um, to provide community advice and assistance on problems, policies of the board, and… or any element of the school system. And the committee should include parents, teachers, students, and other citizens as members. And if you recall. Um, we already have a policy, the PCAC. Policy, so we

138already have that, but this is just talking in generalities about advisory committees, and then at least one special education issues advisory committee. To provide advice on the implementation of board policies, accessibility of facilities, and employment, and hiring issues. And then the last thing I added was similar advisory committees may be established for an individual school or group of schools within a region, and that actually comes from the Citizens Advisory Committee. 9140. Each Citizen Advisory Committee shall be appointed for a specific purpose, and each specific appointment shall be for a specified period and subject to the written acceptance of the appointee. So that is… those were the changes in terms of, um, the whole picture of both adding the superintendent and the board's. Evaluation committees, and then adding some language about the advisory committees, and then

139we can actually eliminate board policy 9140. Yeah, thank you so much, Ms. Welsh. Uh, I'm gonna see if my colleagues have any questions or comments. I have one. And, um, any, any, anything from my colleagues on this policy? Change. Um, seeing that there are no hands, can you scroll back up to the top? And I did not have this idea up front, but it's gonna be one that is crazy. Um, so it will definitely need to be discussed by my colleagues. Um, can you scroll back up to the top? Um, to the section where our standing committees are, where they're listed out, and the composition of them. Yeah. Um, this is gonna be quite crazy, uh, but I'd love to have a conversation about. Um, adding a member of PCAC as a non-voting member to

140our ad hoc committees. And thought, uh, yeah, Board Member Walker, but that… I mean, but that's… I'd like to have that discussion as we go through this revision and see what that could potentially look like. Um, to increase governance. Yes, Ms. Boerman. I'm absolutely fine with that, um, to be honest. I'm a fan of a non-voting member, and… being online. I think it should be optional in case their schedules don't allot for it, given that they're on specific, um, times, but I think that the option should absolutely be there. I think one of the things we talked about, um, for the last couple of years, to be honest, while I've been on the board, since I've been on the board. Is how we get PCAC more involved in the work that we do, so that

141they can continue to be a voice for the community back to us and liaise in that way. And I think that this is a perfect opportunity to be able to also do that as well, so I'm a fan. Board Member Olivo? Vice Chair… Vice Chair of the… Thank you. Oh, thank you. And I'm sorry, my dog is also barking in the background, so I apologize about that. I see. This is maybe a silly question, but is ad hoc committee the same thing as standing committee, or is that a different group of committees? You had said ad hoc. Committees to add a PCAC member to our ad hoc committee, and I just want to make sure I understand which committees those are. Okay, great. That… that's what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure.

142Oh, I was referring to our standing committee, so the four main… Thank you. I'm not opposed. I'm… I… need a second to maybe wrap my head around it, but I… I… I think offering, um… that opportunity is. You know, anything to increase participation, I'm in favor of, so thank you. Vice Chair Briggs? Hey, thank you so much. Um, I guess I would… I would say I'm also not opposed. I do have more questions about the why, the rationale, and I think also inclusivity, so if we're gonna create this opportunity for the parents, then I think I just would want to make sure that we're being as aware of all of the various stakeholder groups that would maybe want to weigh in on various aspects of our. Um, standing committees, and so I just want to

143be comprehensive in how we approach it, and as well as having the rationale together as to why. And then, I think. That would be a bit of backwards planning for PCAC, because we'd have to update their policy to figure out, how do they select who's going to be there? Because I guess there's just a lot of implications to, like, iron out the kinks, but I think… more inclusivity is a good thing. Yeah, great, great comments, and Board Member Briggs, I promise you I have not thought through this, and I'm not gonna sit here and purport that I have thought through it. Uh, it was certainly an idea, but let me tell you why the idea came to me from the start. Um, I think when you talk about… I think one of the core responsibilities

144as a board. Is to build trust among the community and to increase opportunities for the community to engage in governance. I think there's an opportunity for that. And I think committees is one way to do that. Even after hearing you talk. I'm open to a parent or a community member being… even if we didn't use PCAC. If we had a process where parent and community members could apply to serve on, you know, our standing committees each year. And we created that venue. Um, I think that would be a tremendous opportunity to increase, um, civic participation. I've been reading a lot of research around… from Jonathan Collins. Who's been talking a good bit around. How boards get better at governance, how boards do a better job engaging. Stakeholders, including parents and community members, and I truly

145think we have an opportunity. Um, as an elected board to continue to increase that engagement and input, and just to imagine. Um, you know, when we're having committee meetings, um, if we had that level of voice that could engage in this discussion, and I gave them 2.5 minutes to really chime in and offer a perspective that. Uh, we may not always have. I don't have that figured out, but I do think since we have the policy open. Uh, it's an opportunity for us to increase stakeholder engagement, uh, and involvement in the core work. Of policymaking. Um, Board Member Brown, I'll stop talking because your hand is up. Uh, and they didn't give me a timer, so I know I'm over time. No, they definitely gave you a timer, so you're good to go. Board Member

146Brown. Oh, I don't see… I just want us to, um, just remember that. Part of our elected. Position is policy and governance. And we have to be very mindful. Um, with the stakeholder engagement. Specifically, while we're… as a board, an elected board, engaging. I think it is important. As to why board members should have outside opportunities to engage. With their, um, constituents, with their elected officials, um, to get that feedback and to get that impact. I have… I can speak, I know that for sure, that I have a wonderful relationship with my PCAC member who has a District 5 task force, and so when there's. 30 members of that task force, they're able to engage with me consistently, and I am. Aware of what is going on. So I think we just have to be,

147uh, mindful of the position that we hold, um, and one of the things legislatively that we had even discussed earlier. Was making sure that the board continues to hold their autonomy. And so, I just kind of wanted to make sure I put that out there, even as a PGCPS parent. Listen, if it was up to me, I'd be 100% parents on the board, but. I know that would not give 100% stakeholder, um. You know, opportunity, because the whole entire county doesn't necessarily have. Their children in PGCPS, and. Their input still matters. Um, and so I just wanted to make sure that I kind of put that out there. And, um, allowed us to be mindful, but I think it was also a great idea, uh, Chair Moss, so thank you. No, listen, this is what

148we should be doing. We should be debating good and bad ideas as committee members, so I love this. This feels real great. Uh, Board Member Walker, I see your hand up, and Dr. Watson, once the board members finish the round, I'll get you in, if that's okay. Uh, Board Member Walker. Yeah, you know, just, uh, doubling back on this one, I think that… the beauty of us being able to craft this. Is really to craft. You know, what the role will be. For me, as the board liaison to PCAC. They are extremely clear on what my role is and what my role is not. And my role is not on that team to give input during meetings unless absolutely necessary, based on the topics. It's really to act as a listening piece. To be mindful

149and to see if there's anything as a board member that I can help them to liaise between, um, the Board of Education and their group. And it's very rare that I'll say something on a PCAC meeting unless they have something for me, or unless they need something for me. So I think to what Board Member Brown is saying, is that we are elected officials for a reason, and we don't want to get dicey into. Having policy conversations. And having comment, public comment, inside of those that might not already be signed up for public comment. So I get it, but I believe that we can create some guardrails on what the role and responsibility is of that one, and then ask them, is it something that they're interested in, or even think through a little bit

150on. If it's open to advisory boards, and then who would get which piece, or how we do that, but I. I will always be a fan of, um, making sure that we can have someone. Non-voting on a team in order to, um, be a present member. Yeah, thank you. Um, uh, Dr. Watson, I know you wanted to chime in here. For sure. Okay. Yeah, no, I think… I think she answered it. Non-voting, so the members of the public who. Who participate in the standing committees. They are non-voting members, right? That would be my recommendation. Okay, that's cool. The other thing is, what I'm looking at on screen, it says the standing committees. Boys will have 4, but I see 5 here. The Board of Education Superintendent Evaluation. Does that need to be a standing committee,

151or is that… At least the way it was done in the past. It's really a standard operating procedure. Once it's developed, the tool. Then it's, you know. Give us your self-evaluation, we review your self-evaluation. Here's our final evaluation. And that evaluation results in… some kind of predetermined amount of… of, um… Award, you know, monetary award to the superintendent based on their performance. Then there's an opportunity for the board to revise the. The metrics in his or her dashboard, and then we just go through the process annually. Um, but does that need to be kind of a full-scale standing committee? Through the course of a year, I'm just asking. I think it does have, um… I don't agree with… I don't… I'm not opposed to it being a standing committee. I think it can be a

152standing committee. It does have implications as a standing committee, and our board policy, a standing committee is expected. Uh, to meet a certain number of times, and so it would hold this committee… committee's feet to the fire with regard to… to meeting a significant number of times. I think what the intent here, and Ms. Welsh can talk about this a little bit more intimately. Is for us to clean up. I mean, we haven't had these policies… I mean, we're cleaning up policies, is what we're doing, is putting everything in one place. And so, if the committee does decide to remove it as a standing committee. It would still need… we would need to create a new category, um, for this, and put it in this exact board policy. So that it is not separate from,

153um, this board policy that looks at. Um, our standing committees and focus work groups. We're trying to get all of that in one place. Um, so creating another functional structure. Would need to be codified in this existing policy, um, if it's not a standing committee. Ms. Welch, do you want to jump in here? I know your hand is up. Um, so I just wanted to say that, um, um, the only reason it's sitting as a standing committee is because that's what was in the previous bylaw from way back. Um, but if you certainly want to change that, that's perfectly fine, too, and call it some other structure. Would then… would then… you would not be required then to meet, like, at least every other month. However, you would be required to meet, and maybe numerous

154times initially, until you, you know, put… get the work done as it relates to putting together the. The actual evaluation instrument, those types of things to have in place. So. Um, but… but I don't know, that's really your call. And I did want to say. I think one middle of the road opportunity is to make it an ad hoc committee, um, and Board Member Walker, you want to jump in here? Oh, you were saying exactly what I was gonna say. I said I want… I was wondering, because I also, when I see standing committees, it means that that's another committee that yet another board member needs to be able to sit on with a lot of requirements that go alongside that. Um, and so one of the things I was thinking is maybe, what if

155you all think… what if we think about if it could be an ad hoc committee and put some timing around it, so we know when the superintendent's evaluations are, and so we can say X amount of time before that, that it gets done, and this is what the process is. Uh, that way they're time-bound, and it's up to… Yes, it will be a certain amount of people that'll be on a committee in order to do it. When we did it before, I feel like there were, like, 5 people on a committee to pull together the evaluation, but I think we have some things in place as of right now where we'll just be able to kind of take a look. This data dashboard, et cetera, all of the things that are necessary, but I think

156it can be time-bound in an ad hoc committee. That's just what my outside thoughts are. Okay. Um… Yeah, I mean, let's try, if there's no dissent from the rest of the committee members, let's write it up as an ad hoc. Vice Chair Briggs. You know, I really want to just be… I think something I have as a… piece of feedback and critique is, I would love it if, as much as possible, we can get the full board for things that I think, um… Input for things that impact the full board. So, for me, I guess my perspective is, like, if we could actually circulate this idea, which it may be something that, um, folks collectively are interested in adopting, but I would just feel more comfortable as a committee member if we. Um, had that

157conversation with Context to the full board, so that they collectively can make that decision around whether that should be a standing or ad hoc, um, you know, moving forward. Um, I think great feedback. Part of our policy-making process does not engage the full board until later in the policy-making process, so I think it will be incumbent upon us. As members of this committee to talk to our individual colleagues on the board around. What sausage is being made on this committee. Um, unless you are wanting to pull this item out and discuss it full board, that would be the only venue. That we would have to do that, but I think your comments are necessary. Yeah, and again, I think it's, you know, again, this is my perspective here and opinion, um, so that's one, but

158I think that if we have the infrastructure in place for opportunities where it may be. It behooves us to reach out to the full board, then that may be helpful. So, um, something to consider, it's a thought that I'm putting out there, um, and that was what I wanted to share. Yeah, I'm happy to bring this committee and recommend it to, uh, for full board for a discussion at a meeting, um, on the front end before it goes out for public comment. That's what we would need to do, because right now, it doesn't go to the board until… and I'm just… I'm speaking to the public, not to you, Jonathan, because I know you know this process incredibly well. What we would need to do is make it an item on the agenda to talk

159about at a regular board meeting. If that's what you want to do. Board Member, uh, Vice Chair Olivo? Thanks. I was just gonna suggest, um. That some of… some of these kind of, you know, bigger… bigger philosophical concepts are also. Potentially perfect for a board retreat discussion as well. Um, Mr. Briggs, because I definitely… or Vice Chair Briggs, I definitely, um. Understand, you know, what you're saying about this, this is, you know, this is a pretty big item. Not that all of our policies aren't, but this, this is a pretty big concept to discuss, um, and I think that it. It would be something that potentially could be on a board agenda. Our board retreat is in October. Yeah, but I… yeah, I hear you all out. Um, we could… we could talk about some

160things at Board Retreat, but… I do think we have a clear process for board engagement. While it's not at the onset of policymaking, at the front of it, there is an opportunity for committee… for the board… the full board. To engage. I don't want the public to be mistaken or believe in any way that. There's never an opportunity for the full board to engage on a policy. We do have that. It's just not… at the policy development stage, any organization with a governance model. The policies originate somewhere and then move to the whole. Um, so I do want to… I do want to lay that out there. But these are big ideas and concepts that I think, for sure, are worth. Full board discussion. We'll figure out how to move… we'll figure out how to

161move in that way. Uh, Ms. Welsh, no… yeah, Ms. Welsh? So I was just gonna say that, um. In agreement with you, um. Um, Chair Moss, is that your process that you have set up is driven by policy does talk about the fact that it eventually does get to the full board. And nothing ever stops the full board from having a full-fledged, outright conversation about any one of these policies when it reaches the full board, and it could even be a type of thing where that, um, Dr. Chair Moss, when you're going over all the policies that you stop, right, with that one, and say, this is one we really think we need to discuss. So that you would engage them. And we have made… the board has made changes to policies up to the

162very end before it actually finally gets enacted. So it could be that. And the other thing I thought I'd like to do is just see if there's anything in the lull that actually talks about boards, standing committees. The purpose of them, and the idea of having, um, people in the community on a standing committee, just to make sure there aren't any legal kinds of issues, just to double-check that. I wouldn't want to look at that also. Yeah, I think when this comes back, um, for, um, our next opportunity to review it, perhaps all these comments we've made, we can check the legality of some of these recommendations. I want to encourage my colleagues to talk to some of your other board colleagues on how they would feel about this as you approach the next discussion.

163Um, but, uh, what we would be voting on tonight is to move this. Policy along the way, um, so that she would then come back, um, with more revisions to us. So, um… if there… if… are there any comments around. These recommendations that would give Ms. Welsh an opportunity. To do that. If not, um, I'm gonna ask that we take a vote to recommend this to the policy sponsor for revision approval. So, for member… Chair Moss, I… I know, I know, like, you… how you like to move these policies, but I'm just thinking, because this is so important from your internal process, you all have said a lot of different things, especially as it relates to the superintendents. Committee, even as an ad hoc, do you want to have the opportunity to re-look at this

164one more time before you actually vote to move it out? Because it'll go through OGC review as well as then the superintendent has to. Um, um, basically look at it and give his input on it, and it might be… and approve it, basically, and you might be, at that point, when you get it back, saying, no, that's not exactly what we wanted. I just want to make sure that we have in it what you want when it's finalized to move it forward. It's LGC, I think that's well taken. Board Member Walker, I see you want to jump in here. Yeah, I wonder if we can. We did have a lot of discussion around the superintendents. I wonder if we can take it out of a standing committee and move it to an ad hoc committee,

165with being time-bound based on the superintendent's recommendation. We vote on that and follow our standard process. I truly believe that we are a policy and governance for a reason, and I think that in our committee, we can do committee work and take it through our process to get our colleagues' input, and as well as touching base with colleagues and get their input so that. When it does come back to us, um… we can make, um, even, uh, deeper discussions on it to get it right. But I think we're in a very good place right now, um, for us to be able to move it to ad hoc, and if it doesn't pass, then we'll know we need to do something else, uh, after the vote. Yeah, I think I'd like to at least, uh, move

166this along so we can get an OGC opinion on the legality of some of these, uh, different pieces. I'd like to get the superintendent's feedback. Okay. Once that comes back, then the board can make revision… then the committee can make revisions based on that. That also gives my colleagues an opportunity to collect feedback. Um, and when you bring it back to us, then we can vote to move it out for public comment or table it. Um, so I still think there's an opportunity, but I do want to give you. The authority to proceed with an OGC review, a superintendent review. Based on the comments we've made tonight. If any of my committee members dissent to that, I'm happy to yield, but I don't want to bottleneck the work on this. Okay? Um, Miss, uh, at

167this point, we'll take a vote to move this… Ms. Lopez, will you, um, please call the roll, uh, for. To move this to the committee sponsor for revision approval. Uh, Dr. Moss? This is Olivo. Hi. Mr. Briggs? Mrs. Brown? Ms. Walker. Survive in the affirmative. Alright, I'm gonna move to items, uh, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8. Um, these are all items that are being rescinded. Um, item 7.5 through 7.8. Uh, Ms. Welsh, do you want to present, um, these items pretty quickly, and then we'll get a vote on the rescinding these policies? Yes, um, so first of all, um. 7.5 and 7.6 are actually not practical anymore, because we don't really do newspaper advertising. Um, we… we… almost everything we do is electronically, and not, um. And not… not by newspaper, or even sending information packets

168out, so it's really… I think the time has gone for those two. And then numbering and indexing a board actions, if in fact… I definitely… I don't think we need to have that policy. If we felt the need, we could always, um. Go to the procedures that Michael Swift had put together. And add some language there related to numbering and indexing board actions, but I don't think it's necessary to actually have a full policy on that, because it's almost administrative in nature. And then, uh, the last one is the one we just spoke about, which has to do with the Citizens Advisory Committee, because we're going to be putting all that into 8100, so it would be redundant to have it. Thank you. Um, the question is, shall the committee recommend the rescinded policies to

169the policy sponsor for revision approval? Is there any discussion from my colleagues? If not, Ms. Lopez, will you please call the roll? Dr. Moss? Mrs. Olivo? Mr. Briggs? Mrs. Brown? Aye. Ms. Walker. There are 5 in the affirmative. Aye. There are 5 in the affirmative. The rescinded policies will be recommended to the policy sponsor for revision approval. Colleagues, I want to flag for you, we're gonna have one more item tonight, but I skipped 7-3 and 7-4 tonight. These are fairly new and big items, and I don't know, given that we've been on a 6-week break, if my colleagues have been able to. Uh, provide comments or submit amendments to these, so I'm going to encourage us to do that. Um, soon, the big one is 7-3. The superintendent evaluation, 7-4 is participation in meetings electronically.

170So I'm gonna skip those tonight. In the interest of time, but also in the interest of… we're just returning from a break, and I'd like my colleagues to be able to engage with those policies. Um, so that's why I skipped those tonight. 8.0 policies for second consideration. There are none. And then we have a couple of policies tonight for third consideration. These are first reader to the board. So, the telehealth policy and the community schools policy, so the 6.1 and 6.2. They've gone out for public comments, and no public comments have been received. Um, so the question is, shall the committee recommend the policies under Agenda Item 6, 1 and 6-2? For the full board for enactment. And I'm happy to explain to my committee members before you vote for this. In short order, that

171the community school policy is essentially an update based on state law, things that were passed during the legislative session. Um, that will require us to update that policy, um, and I just wanted to clarify so you all would know what you were… what you were voting on if you weren't on the committee last year. Um, that's what we were doing. Uh, Ms. Walker. Board Member Walker. Yes, I think you meant 9-1 and 9-2, not 6-1 and 6-2. That's right, I appreciate the correction. That means that I might be a little dyslexic tonight, so 9. And 9, 2… Is there any other discussion? My new colleagues that are on the committee, can we answer questions for you so you feel good with this vote? But we discussed them last year, so I know that puts you

172in an odd place. Okay, um… Miss, uh, Ms. Lopez, will you take the role? Dr. Moss? Mrs. Olivo? I… Mr. Briggs? Mrs. Brown? Ms. Walker? 5 in the affirmative. Aye. There are 5 in the affirmative. The policies under Agenda Item 9.1 and 9.2 will be recommended to the full board for consideration. An enactment. Um, colleagues, uh, we're moving to adjournment. The chair informs the public that the next Virtual Policy and Governance Committee will be held on September 16th. Please continue to check the Prince George's County Board of Education website for meeting information and updates. Thank you for all the great discussion and attendance. To our viewers, thank you for watching. There being no further business, the time is now 7.15. The August 19th, 2025. Meeting of the Policy and Governance Committee is adjourned. Thank y'all,

173and have a great night. Thank you, have a good night, young. Right. MsThank you