001hear me I'm trying to call E yes Miss Wilson we can hear you good evening everyone I am Teresa Smith and I call the March 5th 2025 parent and Community advisory Council meet order Miss Gutierrez could you please um uh make the announcement about translation services Spanish thank you Miss Wilson can you please take the role yes labor representative Rebeca Brown present here business representative Sharice Holden faith-based representative Reverend Dr evina Huggins Civic Community representative carleta Lundy present thank you District run representative Masher Duran present District Two representative recording secretary Lans Wilson present District three representative Halen e District Four representative Christopher Smith pres five representative Kimber Lawrence District Six representative and chair Teresa C Smith present district 7 representative and vice chair Dolores Milhouse present District eight representative yosa H Hinton [Music] District nine
002representative shade Davis present superintendent design representative Dr Sheila Jackson Lee I excuse me Dr Sheila Jackson thank you for that promotion uh [Laughter] presid and superintendent designate representative Robin well pres Madam chair we have Quorum Madam chair may I interject uh did the district 8 representative Miss Hinton she must give you a verbal present or here she just raised her hand she must say here oh I'm sorry I had her marked as absent um she's here what she needs to say uh District 8 representative yosida Hinton um please say present if you are here present for my phone my audio is not working sorry working on it no problem thank you so much thank you Miss Wilson so we do have a corn to conduct business today so I was hoping to open this meeting
003up about the transition to good weather but unfortunately today we have been met with showers and some people do enjoy the rain so I don't want to damper that but I did look up um what does it mean to have good weather and it tells us that it can have a positive impact on our mental and physical health because we are more active in Social so I hope that the sun returns soon tonight we have a guest here Mr Morales he is the associate superintendent of communications and Community engagement I will give an opportunity for him to introduce himself during agenda item 2.1 so let's get into our agenda item 1.4 adoption of the March 5th 2025 meeting agenda I hope everyone had an opportunity to review the agenda are there any objections with adopting
004the March 5th 2025 meeting agenda here in none the March 5th 2025 Pak meeting agenda is adopted approval of the February 5th 2025 meeting minutes the February 5th 2025 Mee and minutes were posted to board dots are there any corrections to the minutes is posted if there are no Corrections the minutes are approved the next order of business is the report of the chair item 1.6 on February 12th I shared a copy of the last Peak report that was presented to the board of education and administration if you have not taken a look at this document please consider reviewing it we plan to prepare a similar report for this term and we would like contributions from everyone the next item some of our terms will be expiring soon we have asked the Board of Education
005to take a look at this and let us know when the next application process will be open um I'm going to give an opportunity for vice chair mail house to um provide further details about this item thank you chair Smith um so we submitted a notice to um the liaison um last month advising them that the terms uh are actually expiring um at the end of this school year June 30th as well as um making sure that for the policy it states March fth in parenthesis but it also says April 1 so the application period does um need to open now um to make sure that we give the community members enough time so at this time the district one District 2 district 6 District 9 and the labor union representative um which is also
006labor union and um um nonprofit are the vacancies that are open um we also submitted notification to um the liaison that we um are also pushing for the vacancy for the business Le on um because the representative has not been able to attend any of the meetings as well as um unfortunately our representative for District 3 um Miss Loa cor corz um is unable to continue on with um her membership um due to personal obligations so at this time we do have two vacancies um tentative vacancies because the board has to then go back and vote on um the business Community representative and the District 3 representative will need to identify another individual for that position that's it chair thank thank you Vice chair so that actually concludes my report are there any questions I
007have a question so you guys are saying I think you said district one my uh my seat or whatever you call it my attendance I will have to can I reapply for my position yes okay yes any um the policy states that we are able to serve two consecutive terms um the term is two years so you can serve four years right um and so you are you've already serve one term and so you can apply again and if the board member um the rep no it doesn't go like that what happens is the applications go to the superintendent liaison the superintendent then identifies um a representative and presents that to the board the board does get the entire list of um um individuals or applicants and so the superintendent does recommend but the board
008um has in the past made a determination of the individual that they may want um outside of the recommendation but you can reapply okay thank you welcome are there any other questions all right heing none we will now have the report of the superintendent designes the chair recognizes Dr Jackson good evening thank thank you everyone uh I will share my screen and um it's going to look lengthy but it's going to be quick I promise you that uh I'm just so excited about so many of the wonderful good things that are happening uh in the division of communications and Community engagement um and I just wanted to share them with you they're Consolidated into one place and I know that uh this team is often you know looking for you know tell us what you
009do and so of course one of the most exciting things is the first thing that you know our our budget proposal is moving forward uh many of you participated in some of the budget meetings and budget sessions that have been held this year and so we're moving forward uh we're into March and hopefully we'll be getting uh it forwarded from the county to the state for final approval but some of the good news and and you all will get the PowerPoint and be able to click on all of these links um good news about how our graduation rate rates have risen for all student groups uh in Prince George's County um we held last weekend uh spring into Wellness Health Fair and it was uh created and implemented in Partnership between Hazel health and our
010school system and uh just lots of good reviews I hope there some some of you all were able to go to that other good news uh we've had visits uh to different schools The Olympian Quin Quincy Wilson uh from our County visited uh Tulip Grove so we have several news links here if when you get this you'll be interested in just hearing his response and his participation with our schools we have a school teacher who's been honored uh from a coveted award that they've received uh and so I'm going as fast as I can because I'm I'm I'm too excited and I don't have to go into detail because you have all of this coming to you um posi Scholars this year everyone we have 12 of that have been named and uh they're all
011receiving for your scholarships as a parent I can tell you how good that feels when your children are able to achieve that goal um uh again we have the Excellence in gifted uh in tag gifted talented education award we've also uh as a district been holding what we call Federal transition meetings and that's really about supporting community members we have community members who have lost their jobs uh in the federal government and our district as long as some of our surrounding districts are looking at how do we create opportunities to support people whose lives have been upended and so you can see some of the news links there some of the things that are being said and reported about the work that's happening uh and there are lot of links there a lot of different
012news outlets are talking about that uh and then this is a repeat again I just want to say you know that uh you all know about uh the safe uh and supportive learning environment uh we had superintendent um houses statement last month but it's been um reaffirmed with him and uh bo share Brandon Jackson uh talking about it uh again lots of information uh that's being shared with our families on our websites in the news media social media and we just want to make sure that our Peak leaders know about all of this good news um all the things that happened in February about black history and Career and Technical Education Month a lot of great things happened in Prince George's and so we want you to you know have that information um we um
013and then another slide about just other great things uh Ramadan is going on right now and so we even have an initiative about how to create an inclusive Ramadan in our schools um looking at how do we best support All Families uh our office of interpreting translations uh gave us a report about all the work that they do and as you can see we have three of those wonderful Partners here tonight supporting this meeting um but they do a great job of making sure that all of our families have effective language access and then um all of you hopefully uh paid attention and saw that we provided as a system uh immigration resources to support families um and so we actually gave you a a direct link to the PowerPoint that was shared in those
014three immigration information sessions that we LED in the school district and we're planning to continue those sessions to answer any further questions or concerns that our families may have uh of course everybody knows family and Community Partnerships uh we're not an event per group but we do like to highlight What's significant in our community so of course March is women's history history month and uh their theme is moving forward together women educating and inspiring generations and not only our office but many offices in our school system will be highlighting different um activities and and events to make sure that everybody honors the contributions of women in history in the United States uh we also have the list of upcoming Family Institute sessions uh kindergarten Readiness is coming um we also have one coming uh the
015next one is March 25th and and these are uh based upon the superintendent's priorities and so uh benefits of bilingualism uh is really important for us uh to make sure that we all value I don't know if you all heard me speak Spanish in the immigration sessions it is important for us to you know make sure that all of us develop the skills to be able to communicate effectively across our entire Community uh also I just listed that uh our partnership breakfast which is an annual event uh celebrates all of our business and Community Partners is going to be held at the University of Maryland's Golf Club um and I apologize because the name went right out of my head but it's right off of 193 across from the University of Maryland um all of
016you should have received an invitation to that as well and very excited um that on April 1st we will be helping our superintendent host a community Forum which is going to be very different from anything we've experienced in the past with listening sessions it's going to be a opportunity for conversation two-way communication and doing some problem solving together so I'm excited to be able to support that work um we also I think I said this already we we we're planning follow-up sessions for the parents for the immigration resources our pride conference planning is happening and then just sharing some information about you again about our peas who are truly boots on the ground helping us move forward so I'm sharing with you again their calendar for the spring Family Institute sessions uh and as always
017always I'd like to give you updates about what our department has going on but again across our district our office as well as Community Schools in title one and um our strategic Partnerships offices make sure that we are engaging families to the best of our ability and in partnership with you all so I think a hand is raised Miss Milhouse please ask your question okay um so first I I didn't receive the invitation yet um for yeah I know we did last year and um and for those of us who were able to attend um it was a good um it was a good session to um connect with some of the other business partner and I think it's very important since we do have representatives from the community that are on um the parent
018Community advisory Council that um so I'm hoping that it maybe just hasn't gotten to us as of yet but if you could um go back a couple of slides I would like to touch on um what exactly the superintendent go forward the superintendent um well I'm sorry I will find it the superintendent Community for what what exactly is that um what what is that I know what a community form is that's not the question but what exactly is that supposed and what's the purpose of it so it's going to be it's a brand new initiative and I am if it's okay with him I'm G to leave it to I'm gonna ask uh Mr Morales to talk more about it uh I am we can on that then it's okay okay and then so so
019because I don't want to use up too much time but I do want to also if we can stop here Yep this is the slide yep there it is okay um so the March 25th benefits of um multilingualism what who who is doing that uh it will be our uh office of of oh my gosh I'm so sorry um it's a partnership between our office of curriculum instruction and our office of um interpreting and translation um one of that's one of the focus areas that are super superintendent has named this year to be a part of of the conversation about these are the things that we're doing and these are the benefits that we're seeing and so as a parent of a multilingual program and actually one of the founders of our program uh Spanish
020Immersion we look forward to having your insights and your participation in that and I will let you know as soon as I can refer back to the people planning it so that yeah you'll have an opportunity to weigh in okay because I I just want to make sure because I know that we are um very diverse when it comes to the various languages in our school system and I'm just hoping that this event is reflective of that um in that we are not oh you know it's for the Spanish speaking Community or students in the Spanish emerging program I I just want us to be very mindful of um making it a very inclusive event for all of our um um elll families or is this more so um the acquisition of the language like
021my children are doing you know in an immersive program which is still you know similar to the elll students who may not get it in such a structured way right so I just I'm just trying to figure out what what is it who's the audience I will give you more information I will find that out for you uh but again we have uh over 170 languages recognized in Prince George's County um and so the the plan behind this um I'm sorry I can't talk behind this is making sure that we recognize all of the different um uh languages that we have but yeah but I can definitely get more information and share it okay thank you are there any other questions all right Dr oh sorry I did have one question this is a kimra
022I apologize I hopped on late um I just did have a question about um where this information is located if you I know a lot of um parents and families not just parents um uh have a hard time like finding the information I'm wondering if it would be helpful to and you may have done this again I hopped on L um to just post a link to where this is all located like we know but just in case there's anyone listening or watching that would be able to to be pointed to that absolutely um most of I I embedded most of the links here that I do have links for however like for instance the Family Institute sessions uh Communications blast them out in social media they have them flying moving on the website um
023and I know that we're developing a portal for hopefully that will house most family engagement activities so that families don't have to look so hard um we would love for our website and and Mr Max Pew will tell you we would love for our website to be a oneclick kind of place for parents and so that that work I'm sure that U Mr Morales can speak more towards as well uh because you're right we often hear that you know it's so much but where is it and so thank you thank you for asking that question absolutely thank you all Vice chair ma house yes um I I do apologize well I don't because this I think this is very important um basically what Mr Kimber was talking about when I look at all of these
024dates um to make sure that I understood what you said you you will make sure that we not only know how to direct parents to get this information but it will have some links to these dates to give the what it is like who's the audience what's what should we look to get from attending the session right um like the session on kindergarten Readiness I'm assuming that would be parents who will be coming into the system right and so or not it can't be the parents that are already in the system because I'm already in kindergarten so it's it's kind of too late for me to get ready so is it for the prek 3 or you know I just need to get a better understanding of who the audience is um and how is
025it being communicated to those groups about the benefit of them attending or the awareness of it does that make sense it does it absolutely does and I can so for each of the um activities that we advertise on our Flyers we actually put a blurb talking about who is for what it is however uh I I think I'm hearing that we need a little bit more and we'll we'll talk about that I'll talk that over with the team as well uh and with the comm's team about making sure that we have information that helps people understand and make decisions about what they want to participate in yes yes thank you Mr Morales thank you just very quickly I I wanted to drop in a link um but it doesn't seem like I have the the
026ability but there is a a link um that contains some of these events and their registration um not to the extent of the information that uh Miss milus is requesting but we are working on revamping this page um but I can share the link with whomever I need to to make sure you all have that tonight okay great if you could share with Miss Barton and she'll make sure that the PAC Representatives perceive it yes if you send it to me I'll send it out tonight thank you um thank you Mr Morales Dr Jackson before you leave the floor um I have two two questions the first one is very direct because we haven't received the invitation to the March 18th event I just wanted to know um could you tell us when the RSVP
027is Du by because I am just the messenger on this um I will share with you that I actually sent the flyer to the board office I will follow up this evening okay and make sure that you all get it immediately because it has been shared okay great thank you then the next item I don't know what slide this was on but it's just dealing with the um the discussion around the federal Workforce possibly transition into the Academia World um and I the only way I operate is being transparent um I will say upfront that I don't believe everybody is gifted as being um a educator so and I don't I don't say this to be derogatory or anything so my question is how is the district preparing those who may just need a job
028versus having a a gift or a a desire to really teach are we really preparing these individuals to be in this educational sting Mr Morales may I defer that one to you yeah absolutely um so I will say I am working with human resources the team is working with human resources on this campaign specifically which just launched um and you're absolutely correct there are a number of positions um not everyone will be looking for the classroom or let alone qualified to be in the classroom um but there are support positions there are um administrative positions and what we actually are finding with our first ad campaign that we ran is that um people are floating to their strengths and so your number one uh search was actually um I want to say it was the
029support positions with actual Educators um being at the bottom of the list in terms of interest because I think most folks understand that there requirements it's not something you can just be placed into um but we are monitoring that I know HR is diligently reviewing um and is followup that is involved with this campaign so it's not simply submit an application and shoot it into the ethos uh there is followup that that HR is doing with this to make sure that we're getting the right candidates Vice chairman house yes and just to I'm picky back and we can like put a pin in this for a later discussion but when you say support positions what can can you provide an example of what a support position could be or what is posted what what is
030that mean so oh go ahead yeah I I was just going to say I I I as not being HR wouldn't want to speak to that specifically but what I can do is I can share the link with this group again to that Federal transition page and when you click on support positions it takes you straight to the list of available positions um so that would be more of a direct answer so I'll find that link for you all okay so when but can you find the link and go to the website while we're here so you can since it's public right and you can mention like hey this is one of the support positions that's posted and and I'm asking that question because I I think it's admirable to the school system to kind
031of you know have this campaign which is great but you know based on the budget crisis that we're in which is not a conversation for you um associate superintendent Morales or um Dr Jackson but you know as I've been very ADV you know vocal advocating for the budget and making sure that we are aware of what we're doing especially not having any money right a deficit means we're at zero we've balanced the budget so to say and so we're filling positions that may have vacancies which we may end up being a position that we have to cut as well so I just you know I'm hoping that when you all are looking at these positions how many of these support positions actually touch the schoolhouse that we may end up having to remove again based
032on the budget that has now been sent and we know that it's going to come back with changes so um if you could why while you're here since we don't have the link if you can go on the website and kind of give us a position that is up there um sure and and I did find it um if I can share yeah that I stopped um Muriel may have to give you rights to share okay any panelists can share okay thank you thank you maram um give me one second did not share the right one sorry about that and while you're doing that the other question I have is that the Community Partnership team um on our community call for district 7 one of questions came up about um lack of funding um what
033may happen and I would really like to know how do we um maximize the expertise on the Community Partnership team on the community engagement team to support um Community parent groups the schoolhouse on leveraging um Partnerships you know in the community that may be an asset to support um the need is even when we don't have the finances to provide the surfaces so how are we utilizing these groups to um really build capacity for us at the schoolhouse level so that can wait till you get to your part that Miss Smith is going to allow you to speak but um we can just stop on here okay so I yeah so real briefly this is this is the website it is pgcps.org for /u- impact um and this is a website that can be shared
034folks can go here um there's an option for folks that may not necessarily know exactly what they're looking for which is to your right which is a form that they can fill out where there's followup um and they can indicate their interest and we work with them um but to your question directly when you it's separated into four buckets and these will be positions that are posted as they become available so if you click on support staff for instance um probably because I'm a PGCPS person let me see if it'll yeah that's not it but let me so what if I so I I I will do it and we can kind of come back to it because I'm not PGCPS I'mma try to do it to see if I can click on and what
035happens um but but thank you for showing that be because yeah we would have never known that that was helpful yes thank you um Carla Lundy one moment I see Mia has her hand up Miss Barton yeah I just wanted to add that uh Miss Milhouse when you go in you actually have to create an account for you can go in even as an outsider for you can go in and see the available jobs you have to create an account so anyone who you know be may be looking for a job you have to go in and create an account that would include a plenty your resume as well as your email address all your contact information and then you'll able to uh see all the positions that are available so you're saying I just
036can't see the list of vacancies on the the school district website without having to complete that task correct you may see um just a generic of what's available right now but it's on it's going to be very generic it may say admin secretary or uh parenting engagement assistant it's not going to tell you where it's it's available or you know very specific it's not going to give you that without created that account thank you for sharing that uh Miss L welcome back thank y'all thank y'all um and thank you for all your prayers and everything and well wishes and phone calls um so thank you Miss Bon that was very um helpful and so um I would hope hope that that that would change um whoever the communicate the communications person is because if we're
037trying to get the best um and sometimes you want to have the outside people to come in to be able to view this and have to go have less drama as far as being able to navigate the system um because even though I'm a stakeholder I'm not a um PES County Public Schools parent or anything like that and so it's challenging for me to have to navigate and try to find stuff and go on and everything it's really some it's frustrating just to be honest so I was wanted to ask is there a video tutorial on how parents can navigate our system the website that would be so nice if someone can think about doing something like that because we want to try to make things as um easy or whatever the word is I
038don't have the right word as easy as possible um and but remember we're trying to get the best people so we're limiting how you can access it then that's limiting the people who can access it that's just my personal opinion so um but thank you Miss B because I didn't know that either so that was good information and thank you um Miss Morales for being able to share those links with us right thank you thank you thank you chair yes thank you Miss ly Miss Wilson um I just wanted to know Miss uh Miss Lundy maybe the the word you were looking for is make it user friendly thank you Miss Wilson that's that's exactly what she's looking for great I trying to I'm so sorry I can't hit the button it is accessible on
039there you don't need it is not direct about the user friendly piece of it I was just on the website now and you and from the direct HR website it'll show you all the available positions that are open without logging in you just have to click on um link is that it is there you go CH when I did it it's on there you click on one under the instructional side it'll show you all the available positions on it and I'm sorry for followup but that's why we need that instructural thing because we wouldn't have known that I didn't know that and I know I'm not the only one especially our parents well well that's why I asked the question because I know that you can you can see them right but I didn't I
040I'm thinking that something new was created for the federal workers that they had to create a um an account and I I mean I mean okay yeah thanks great conversation thank you all Mr Morales yeah and just to add briefly um I will definitely communicate with HR from there it's kind of a HR own function in terms of Oracle um but I will also say one of the things that we concentrated on in talking about this campaign is making sure that we capture information at the onset because sometimes folks abandon their application they don't know what they want to do and so that followup is very important so just want to reiterate that peace but I do hear your feedback and I will share that with the team awesome thank you I don't see any
041more hands raised I think that we had a lot of fruitful discussion just on Dr Jackson's um report so thank you all um the the chair now recognizes Miss Welsh good evening everyone um I first I'll go over the policies that are up for public comment um the board um on on February 27th at their meeting announced that the following policies policy 3100 in called Investments policy 3160 transfer of funds uh policy 4113 this is backup for public comment Community involvement in the principal selection process uh policy 5111 legal age of um admission all four of those policies have been uh revised and so they are up for a public comment um and the 2 7th was last week and so they are up for two weeks so there's a another about week and a
042half that these these policies should be up for public comment that certainly you can um submit your comments U there's a link on the board sites that you can do that um additionally two policies were Revol were resented one had to do with the yearbooks and photographs um basically the yearbook photograph on it was a policy that just said if if a child doesn't like their photograph for the year book they can request to have it changed and that's really not policy language that's something that just would be you know a practice that would be done within the school and then the other one was the policy 9366 which was order of business par parliamentary procedures and that actually should have been uh resented back in the summer when they adopted their rules of procedure
043so that was a correction to get that U they got that um uh resented since we already now have the rules of procedures on how they conduct their B meetings the board of meetings the other thing is we have a policy governance committee meeting coming up on this coming Tuesday on the March 11th and there are three policies that are up for discussion and that is eate management is one of the policies and then the other one has to do with Community Schools and then the last one is board members vouchered reimbursement of expenses so those will be the three policies and and that always in a policy and governance committee meeting there's a section for public comment so you can certainly provide come to the meeting and you know actually talk at the meeting
044and give your comment or you can submit written comments um for that meeting related to those policies and um the board the committee really does the board members really take into consideration the comments that um community members and parents provide related to the policy so it's important if you you read anything or you do you either like or dislike or have ideas of things that should be included please take the time to respond and and give your comments so they can be considered by the policy and governance committee uh any questions about policies then I will just give you a brief update on the um legislative session it's uh fairly quiet right at this moment because the the bills are about to switch over from the Senate to the house and the house to the
045Senate um and so most of the hearings have been conducted uh at this point I did want to share with you that um doc Mr House had submitted written testimony on one of the bills Senate Bill 821 which was student immunizations uh temporary admission period and the that bill the whole that was the purpose of that bill was to extend the temporary amends of uh newcomers students who are not able to get um their immunization in time just start at the beginning of the year and so um that it could be extended to up to 60 days so that they could get their get their appointments in and they wouldn't miss any school they would be at school right from the very beginning as well as they would be able to uh the school system
046would not lose any money by the M fact because September 30th is the date that the state uses our their enrollment dat data for that particular day and if in fact we um they our students are enrolled at that point in time then we do not receive that per pupil funding for those students that are not enrolled so it impacts the system financially as well as it certainly impacts our students by not being able to be in school with the other students at the start of the school year um so um he did provide written testimony supporting that bill and then he also provided written testony uh regarding um the um this is one a bill that he opposed and it had to do with I just had it in my hand now I'm not
047sure what I did with it oh there we go he opposed Senate Bill 506 and and so in special education they are able to uh be uh receive reimbursement for Medicaid services so certain services that that um qualify under that uh umbrella of different types of special education services we receive funds through Medicaid on the providing those service and we received millions of dollars through that reimbursement and it's used to provide services for students and whatever the needs are for our special education students and within the special ed programs they utilize those funds and it just offsets the cost of special ed services and it's an important funding source and so this bill that came through it's it's um Maryland medical assistance program use of reimbursement funds by schools that particular bill was going to
048mandate um well right now it's still out there but it mandate how you're going to use your Medicaid funds and it actually talked about the fact that um you would have to use it for like interns and different types of programs and um extension of um trying to uh recruit other teachers things like that when in fact are those funds where actually right now are set up to be providing related services for the schools professional development uh D um private duty nurses so those funds have already you know um identified for particular services for special education students so uh and on top of that legislators really should not be telling school systems how to use their money um when they've they've gone through a trouble to to submit reimbursements so they can receive the money
049and use it especially in the area of special education in the area where they see the that where they best think it'll address the needs of our students so he did provide written testimony regarding that particular Bill and then he also testified in person on House Bill 504 excellence and Maryland Public Schools act and that was that that's basically the big funding bill for education and it's an it was a very important bill and many many superintendants across the state actually testified as well as many board members and probably the most the thing that was the most um concerning there's many things that were concerning within the bill but the two big areas that was a very big concern had to do with the blueprint has language and it um that talks about that starting
050in uh 2026 through 2030 there would be collaborative money added to the blue per pupil for collaborative planning for teachers because research shows that if teachers had the opportunity to work together and collaborate and learn from one another um number one it improves their teaching um and there's been a lot of research to support that they develop you know a lot of new teach teaching skills they you learn about different resources instructional Resources by working together with other teachers as well as it really increases job satisfaction and in a in a in a world where we're constantly struggling to retain our teachers that's also critically important for them to feel like professionals and have the opportunity to be learning as well as you know when they're teaching so they the bill was proposing that they
051would wait until 2033 before they would add on this collaborative funding which in fact was supposed to start next year um and per pupil so when the are finance office calculated that it stood that within that eight-year time period by them delaying the collaborative funding we stood to lose about um a billion dollars and so that was a pretty major concern um so that was the one big area of that bill and the second area had to do with the community schools and the delaying the proportion of um it's a pupil per pupil grant for eligible new community schools by freezing that increase That was supposed to begin again um in FY uh 27 and they were going to freeze it so that it or FY 26 freeze it for two years and it would
052impact some of our new Community Schools they would not receive the funding they would need to address some of the needs that are identified when they do the needs Assessments in the community schools so I happy say and then there were many other things related to the programs that msde is involved in and they a lot of funding was taken away from local education agencies and and directed towards the Maryland State Department of Education so much of that has been modified so that at least not as much funding is going to MSD but and the funding That was supposed to go to or the local school systems are now it is going to go at least based on the newest amendments these this it was just amended it came out of the house today so
053I haven't had a chance to really read the the entire bill but I certainly was most interested in looking and seeing if they restored the the blueprint funding and they have done that in the Amendments that came through um in the house today so that's pretty encouraging um and I think it was pretty exciting that all that all these superintendant including Mr House were out there fighting for the funding for our schools and for our students and that they were um as well as the board members so any questions related to that thank you Miss Welsh at least that you you ended with a bang so that was that was really good to to hear that last part Vice chair mail house yes it is it is I again I had my hand raised earlier
054when you mentioned um the rescinded policy 9366 and so um I'm a little confused about the um the the comment and I really need a better understanding of the process if they if a mistake was made and it should have been rescinded when they voted in the the procedures that they had the bylaws that they put in place um correct that's what you're stated that they they had bylaws in place and then they decided to um adopt these parliamentary procedures that was was our parliamentarian assisted with and put together and really addressed how to conduct the meeting uh which relate back to the law and everything and in that process um and and there nothing really the not 9366 doesn't conflict with what's in the rules of procedure but there's no reason to have a
055set of bylaws sitting out there on top of now we have actually have formal rules of procedures so it was really more of a formality that they wanted to you know make a correction because one of the things if you sit if you spend any time looking at our policies you'll see a lot of redundance where different policies were created and they touch on a subject and then another policy comes along and touches on a subject so we're trying to really work to make those policies like be be specific to each subject that and address it fully without having a couple policies addressing one subject so it was really just a process to get it cleaned up what's the process for the community to be involved in that because if it was not that there
056was no vote that happened with it so when does the vote happen to O forgot we should have resend it and so there is a process that the community is supposed to be involved in this in the process so where is the community's voice in that resending piece that they forgot so it is now it's it's the because it went to public comment so that is the opportunity public comment now yes 9366 is on public comment now yes so then the other question and then we can talk about this a little later because I had some other questions I think it's 4360 because it that never went to public comment so what what I hear you saying is that it should so that's good to know so then my question also so I'm done with
057that right um so my question is as it relates to Medicaid and you mentioned that an unfunded mandate was coming down what was the bill [Music] number um on one second um it was Senate Bill 506 506 and did did that pass that didn't pass so that we so um we submitted testimony I don't know the status I think it's still in existence it hasn't I mean it's it it still has steps to go one it's a house bill I mean it's a Senate bill so it still has to go over to the house and it still have to go through that that whole voting process before it would ever get um make it through to the governor so at that I I um I don't know he that was that testimony was just this
058week actually the hearing was on Wednesday so he submitted for Wednesday's hearing so um um at this point I don't know what the status is since they just had that hearing okay theth they just had the hearing today so that's why yeah because I know they had a there um so I'm asking that question because for them to introduce a bill that tells us how to utilize the Medicaid funding you know I I'm you know it I I would I have to go and read it because they don't have the right even if they did write something if it doesn't align with the Medicaid State plan that's approved by the feds that's aligned with the federal regulations on how you are supposed to administer Medicaid which is very very clear strict guidelines then the school
059system would have to follow the state in federal law right because their their bill would not align with federal regulations in the federal guidelines for the use of Medicaid funding is very very clear because if you do anything outside of the Mandate then that will put us in Jeopardy and we already have to do 30% so it's a 7030 split and so then we're in Jeopardy of having to cover 100% of it if we put something in that is not covered by Medicaid so I'm going to put a pin on that as well and I'm going to look at this it would definitely behoove us as a parent Community especially when we're talking about the impact on this IEP services to be very aware and educate those who are submitting these bills to let them
060know like what don't waste your time but the law is very clear the federal law is very clear about how you utilize Medicaid funding and so they can't tell us to use it any other way than what we are being told because you can only you can only claim based on what's approved in the state plan correct okay I okay I just all right thank you thank you thank you Vice chairman House are there any other questions or comments hearing none um the other thing that I want to take a moment to do right here um because I I fail to do it earlier is to acknowledge board member Lolita Walker she is um in our meeting present in our meeting today and I wanted to give her an opportunity to State um anything that
061she may would like to share with Pak if there's anything all right hearing none let me get back to my notes here give me one second guys all right so we're going to now move into agenda item two which is our discussion for this evening parent engagement um I think that everyone knows that parent engagement is crucial it directly impacts a Scholar's academic success emotional well-being and overall development but what does parent engagement look like are opportunities for the district to improve here what are the current concerns these are some questions that I'm posing as we start this discussion but I would like to give Mr Morales the floor so that he can introduce himself to us and then we can dive right into the discussion thank you so much um yes my name is
062Lis Morales I'm the associate superintendent of communications and Community engagement um under that umbrella is Communications multimedia web services office of interpreting and translation and of course family Community Partnerships led by Dr Jackson um so we work very closely together as you all may have seen in October of 2024 we introduced a Communications a community engagement plan and we are in the um first year of that and so uh it was important for me to hear the feedback um and and especially on this topic as I work closely with Dr Jackson to re envision how we do um Community engagement partnership engagement understanding the uh climate that we are in in terms of the federal transition and how that could impact our schools I think that was mentioned earlier um but also what I've heard
063from um parents directly is there's a lot of talking at people and family and not really engaging in the discussion um and so to if I could to the earlier Point Miss Milhouse the April 1st um we're in the early phases of of of um identifying location but the April 1st Community Forum will be uh exactly that it'll be less of us telling you all just information I think we are going to touch on some important things that are coming down the pipe I've asked Dr Jackson no more than five maybe 10 minutes of that um depending on what the key points are and then that will be a forum where we will have the superintendent and cabinet members there available as we hear feedback and questions it should be more of a discussion and
064some responses in real time um and that will be qu L going forward because we want to be responsive um to what we're hearing um and of course there's room for adjustment in this plan but we are re-envisioning How We Do parent engagement to make sure that we are um positively impacting our schools and our communities um one other thing I'll touch on as we engage in this discussion another topic Dr Jackson and I have have talked about and are working on actively is um really doing a more targeted approach to how we go to our schools that may not have plos currently and making sure that we're providing them all the resources and we work very closely with Communications there is a Synergy there right because to do that we need the one pagers
065we need the instructions the the videos that that you all have mentioned um so we are working on that to make sure we're doing direct approaches to the schools and not necessarily depending on folks to come to us for an information session although that will continue to happen um because it works for some folks but also doing that more targeted direct approach to make sure that one we're increasing our plos but also we're providing the uh resources necessary for folks to make their own decisions based on their uh individual High School community so thank you for having me here hearing a lot of this that I've already heard is helpful and I hope to continue to partner with you all um to continue to improve parent engagement thank you so I would like to open
066the floor to our Representatives here um this is an opportunity for us to ask questions um as well as share any thoughts hey there chair it's Lolita to Walker I am um here I'm so sorry I couldn't get on the microphone is it okay if I chat just for one second sure thank you okay absolutely I just wanted to thank you all for all the work you all do I think that sometimes the public doesn't even recognize how much you guys go hard in the paint for all of our Scholars and all of our parents who are unable to have the access that you all have and the voice that you all have to be able to um advise not only the super attendent but also the Board of Education also from just listening tonight
067Dr Jackson you know I'm a super fan for all of the work that you do in the community I am really looking forward to uh Mr Morales how we really connect as you said and get the word out of all of the amazing work that is being done with Community Partnerships and engagement and how our board quite frankly can really help to be those voices on the outside um to get them into the community I know I have a newsletter and honestly sometimes it goes unnoticed the things that we don't talk about that so Community Partnerships right now is so immensely important to us as we walk into um everything that's happening Fe federally but you know we've just had elections here in Prince George's County it's really important that we tap into our partnership
068so I just want to say thank you to all the work that you all are doing and being a voice um for each and every one of us um of course I got to give a super shout out to District n representative who's here tonight but for all of you all I just want to say thank you and to chair and to Vice chair mail house um thank you all for leading the the helm um and really checking us when we really need to know what the parents are saying out in the community every time I come on I have to tell you all that please don't underestimate the voices that you all have to be able to advise and to be able to give us guidance on where it is that we don't see
069because we're not as close as some of you all are so again chair Smith and vice chair mailhouse and to each and every one of you all thank you so much and um anything I can do as a Le liaison for the board let me know but I really want to start off um with the the work that we're going to do by way of overall communication by overall communication not only for the populations that we see but also the under the underserved populations um as well specifically our special education um group as well so thank than you all um for everything and if there's anything that you need from me definitely reach out thank you thank you for opening up with that I'm gonna go on mute before I say what I would like
070to say so um Miss mailhouse okay I'mma I'm I'm just gonna do one second and leave the floor open for other people to jump in because I think I said a lot because I I have so much to say so many questions but what first question what is a PLO what what is that Mr Mr um Morales what's a PLO yeah I was going to defer to Dr Jackson because I don't want to butcher it thank you and I I could not find my unmute button um that's an uh an abbreviation for parent leadership organizations so that covers the whole gamut of what we have we have PTA PTSA PTO ptso parent clubs parent advisory groups and we're talking about all of the different iterations of parent leadership organizations in schools so we just put
071it all under PLO um so that you know that helps us actually have conversations with schools as well tell us what is your PLO that you have that's active in your school and and as a district we don't mandate you know that you have to have a PTA or PTO uh because some communities either might not have the ability to do it or may not have the desire to have one of those particular organizations but we do support and help schools figure out that you must first of all have some type of organization that promotes family um advocacy getting parent input getting parents engaged at the Shared decision making level so we call it PLO sorry I guess you thought Palestinian Liberation Organization no we're no I I didn't my my BL my brain didn't
072go anywhere I was just like just ask the question you know assumption leads you into a lot of bad places so I said let me ask the question um and so thank you for that and and so I want to say this um I I I I hate to use this word but I'm going use it engaged I'm I I believe I'm an Engaged parent and um as an active parent in my plos at the schoolhouse um my work that I do on a district level county level um I still feel very disconnected um there is no sense of community with me in PGCPS um and it is very concerning because there seems to be a huge disconnect between the parent body the community and then what you all do where you all sit um
073I will say I am very active and I I the sessions that your team has um monthly with information you know we're coming to these seminars I think it's a lot of good information the Gap is what do you do when you walk away with the information right and so so we end up going back into our silos and just like what's what's happening um as we've heard the website is extremely hard to navigate um the school system as a whole the board as well as the school system has failed to understand the art of Engagement the power of Engagement the power of the parent as a partner in education the power of the community as a partner in education and so um you know I I hear what's happening um I would like to
074see the the the communication and Community Partnership plan again um but I hear I hear it I know people are talking what's lacking is the action behind the words there is no follow up no follow through we submitted a report um now two years ago and it was a big component of it that talked about Community engagement and communication and um that has not been addressed when I listen to the board meetings um as associated with the budget um I I heard a lot of requests as it relates for information to come out to the community but there's always this divide between what administration does and then support to the board and I will say this the board is the governing body but if the board Board needs information to communicate back to the people
075the superintendent team should be providing that information to the board to give to us to the people or we go right to the Comm the the superintendent and if we can't find it anywhere here we are again scrambling trying to figure out where to go and so um for me chair um as a very engaged parent a very active parent a connected parent I feel very disconnected um there are a lot of resources and I'll say again to Dr Jackson and the team um the quarterly conversation with parent leaders the monthly workshops that parents if you're not going to a community members go to them there's a lot of great information um but what I find is that we get so much information and it's just like what do I do with it where do
076I where do I go first right um and so I'm I'm really hoping that we move from the lip service and we really get into the art of Engagement because the only way the school system will move and improve is that you see me as a partner when you just look at me as a parent you diminish the value that I bring I bring degrees I bring experience and I hate to say sometimes I think I can do people's job that work for the school system and run circles around them but but I would never come in that way I always come as a partner to have um an open ear to understand cuz I'm not in the schoolhouse I am on the outside and so when you see me as a equal um then
077we engage very differently so I know in district 7 we what we had as a community advisory or parent we have a parent and a community Advisory Group that meet you know once a month um has been helpful I'll shout out board member Walker she always has some amazing events we as parents have to be more engage um so there is a level of Engagement that's happening and then when you leave those event when you leave her event at least I know you know what to do she had a budget session you know now what to do with that information so um I'll put a pining on that I will say no more and just listen from here on out but I I'm over the the the check off uh you know I'm not here
078for the check off let's get to work and um really operate and partner and utilize Dr Jackson's team so they can really get out in the community and engage with us like they used to in the partnership team to help us as parent groups build these Partnerships in the community um and you know we we don't really need someone to consistently talk to us but engage with us thank you Vice chair mail housee and if I know you if something Barks in your mind that is not it for you this evening um I think the next hand was Miss Walker yes and this will be my last comment I promise I try really hard when I am able to come to these meetings to not say anything just to pull in the information um but
079as we're doing round offs one of the things I really just wanted to impress upon this group again is you know to be partners in what that really effectively means particularly for the board um and I can't speak for the administration but I assume it's the same you know I want to leverage my role as the board liaison to be able to get the advice you all are advising an advising board to give that information to the board to give it to the board so that we can communicate effectively so that we can Implement um these strategies I know I'm new to the liaison role but I'm a parent as well and have been on a PTA before have been in a leadership role on a PTA before and so what I'll share is this
080we have so much information I think miss m house said this too there's so much information coming to a parent every day between your school class dojo uh canvas like everything is giving you information and this is another tool but what we have to do effectively is work with our board members in order to also leverage that like we're leveraging everything now we want to get it out and be effective so the advice that you all give to us I want to be able to leverage Mr Morales for overall Communications to look at Community Partnerships and engagement with um Miss uh with Dr um Shila Jackson but all of those things I want to be able to give and I'll tell you all that sometimes beyond what the board agenda is there's some board members
081who aren't able to get to all the levels that we need so if it's not on the agenda sometimes people miss that it's not an excuse I'm just telling what is and so what we have what I need to be able to do as your board liaison is take this amazing information that you all are giving monthly be able to synthesize that information and give it to board members and say hey as a combination between Mr Morales like here's some thumbnails that we can use for information like just some thumbnails and some details that we can use from information that's coming and then me to be able as a district N9 board member Etc send it out and say hey from the board liaison perspective this is what I need you to shoot out in
082your newsletters and I think that'll be helpful as well as finding out from you all um like what you all gave us a while ago for the advisement document that you're saying you're going to revise I'll tell you I read it I and it is information that we need to implement and we didn't do a good job doing that you all did a phenomenal job at doing that so what I will do and I will say as a boore liaison is I will ensure that you can get in front of our board to let us know those things so that we can act like act differently and more efficiently I do agree that it is the board's role as well to reach out to our liaison some people don't know I'm sorry some people don't
083know who their Peak member is and so I'll take that back after this meeting and say hey do you know who your Peak representative is here they are and did you know that there's a business um liaison or um a nonprofit liaison so that's just information sharing that I can take that to do a report and share back so any of those ideas that we have so I could get more information to the board I'm here to be able to be that mouthpiece for that as well so we'll work together everyone has read the policy knows the policy and can and can knock it out so um about to say chair Walker I know it's okay gota be used to that um I'm so glad that you ended with the policy so just as a
084a an initial reaction um in board policy 1500 Pak should be Enga or the board should be engaging with Pak and we're still lacking in that regard um I did share that with the chair um was it we started a new week so it was last week and and I shared it as Pak chair but I also shared it as district 6 representative that is that is one um area that we need to improve upon P does have engagement with the administration but we need it on the board side as well absolutely and I'm so glad you brought that up so actually coincidentally today I also sent a message to the chair as well and just as a reminder because I know there's a lot going on is that quarterly and it says at the
085minimum quarterly that we should be engaging um and so this is um jfm and so before the end of we should absolutely make sure we have that connection directly I did send the reminder because I know it's there in the policy and so I will take that to be able to follow up and make sure we can um sit with you all because again the information that you're providing from The Advisory standpoint is so important because you have a voice that um we should have with our ears to the ground but you all have a different type of voice um and you're in that advisement capacity so absolutely and I'll follow up on that thank thank you uh Miss Lundy okay that was very good all right so um I have a a few things
086so I wanted to find out from as far as engagement is concerned from um associate is a director I don't want to get these titles wrong associate superintendent oh okay thank you superintendent Morales I was just trying to find out my first thing is is there any updates on the uh our district for representative that vacancy seat for our parents are there any updates on that can you speak to it that's my first question I don't hear can you hear me I'm sorry can I jump in so he can't speak to it yeah yeah okay okay so who could I contact about that so hey Char for you talking about for the Board of Education correct so that that position is being appointed by the county executive yeah I we gota wait okay when I
087already know the answer it's coming soon it should be coming soon answer okay so my next thing is my next thing is um as it relates to engaging our parents um is it possible I don't know if you all have done this before um to engage with like um our partners was it parks and wrecks um at the community centers to to do something at with the community centers in the in the neighborhoods and the community that's my first little thing then another thing with the business Community is it possible to partner with our movie theaters to do something to host uh host something there they have the big old screen and everything we could do like popcorn or whatever and that would be a nice relaxed way to get in the community to um
088engage um with our parents and their students as well as through our local community centers and then also I wanted to ask with respect to the board members newsletters and all of that now forgive me if I don't know the answer to this are these posted centralized somewhere on our website because I know everybody got their own little thing but is it are they centralized somewhere on the website where a parent can go and look at each districts whatever they have that's it that's a great question I'm G jump in real quick that's a great question um to be able to be but let me tell you how you can individually get it and so for the public as well so I'm going to give you the district 91 but you can when you get
089there you can sign up for everybody's so if you go to bit bit.ly District the number nine news it will take you to school messenger or you can just search School Messenger on PGCPS and what you need to do there is directly um uh uh subscribe and you can and I tell my audience all the time subscribe to everybody's newsletter because you want to know District 9 of course but you also want to know what's happening in all the other districts as well so what you do is you have to self- select to get emails right we can't just push it to you because then it'll be spamm so you want to go in and you want to directly subscribe to all the newsletters that you want and what I suggest especially for this group
090is that you all subscribe to each and every one of them so then you'll get everybody's but as far as putting them on the website um that would be a director moral answer that I guess but definitely subscribe for sure okay and I have a I have a um followup too um that I just lost Lord have mercy Jesus I lost my followup but anyway that was that was good that was good information oh that I know what it is is it possible for this body we can add the chat feature because stuff like that would been good to be a to put it in the chat so the public can see it if they want to do that because instead of us remembering stuff and writing it down so is that possible oh who
091is that so so we we'll get we'll get the information from um Vice chair Walker to get to miss Barton and we'll send it out like that so can I ask a question is is there a reason why we don't have the chat feature is it's not allowed yeah typically on these um particular meetings for the Board of Education anything there we don't have it for board meetings either um and it's really because we don't want it to be a um an OM violation often times sometimes you can have a meeting within the meeting yeah and so what we want to do to your point because a lot of times I want to use the chat feature too but to your point Miss Barton when she pulls together the minutes she'll go ahead and just
092throw that link in there so you all can make sure that you can subscribe and then what Bard members should do which I will have is that they should take the notes from these as well they'll get them too I'll talk to Miss Barton about how we can do it and what makes sense but if we get the notes from all of our committees then then we can selectively choose what we put inside of our newsletters as well and that pushes it out to our communities so I'll tell you that because everybody doesn't get these notes and it's be I get them because I'm the liaison the board liaison but I have to talk to um I'll talk to the board office about if we can start getting the notes from everybody just to see
093what we want to put in our newsletters the kind of hot topics that's really important for to know and be able to push to our own communities great thank you Mr Morales did you have anything you wanted to respond to to miss lundie yeah and if I may also something that um Miss mhouse raised real quick um so miss Lindy in terms of posting things to the to the website the uh we could definitely assist the board office with that the board office owns the board page uh but we do help from time to time so we can definitely support that and then miss Milhouse just briefly to touch on um what you shared I think if this body is open to it we're happy to uh pres represent the communications plan to this group
094specifically uh to be able to just be keenly aware of how we've actually delineated the support we provide for the board office versus um what we do and then how we envision kind of reimagining um engagement because to your point Miss mail house it is absolutely a partnership and it is a marathon I know that there have been concerns that that predated me but we're trying to address that Dr Jackson and I um to make sure that we get to where we should be and that's part of this plan so we definitely look forward to working um together with you on that thank chair is it okay that I speak real quick sure and and um um associate Chief Morales that's a lot of words just have to say um so Mr Morales is it
095okay if I just respond to you in that way um thank you for that and and that would be great and and hopefully the committee as a whole um we will be open to that um but I I would also like um for us to be um able to you know you can share us what what you have but to be open to some feedback that we may have based on you know the work that we're doing with our board members but also what people are coming to us and sharing and what we're experiencing um because what you all may see from engagement for what you sit is not the same thing that we experience right um so the experience is very different when you on you know boots on the ground and I just
096want to add to miss Lundy um the jump start engagement document that um was created um by Peak and that we shared and and HED that the school system would adopt in some way as a easy toolkit for Community it walks through um how an individual can sign up to start getting information and start getting engaged so um that that is a you know up to the changes that need to happen on there are it's no longer SchoolMax in its parent view um but again we're hoping that the school system does look at it and think about how they could utilize it and you know update it somehow to make sure that parents know what to do once they get into the school system to stay engaged so thank you m Morales thank you miss
097m um Mr Smith I see you but let me um see if Miss Jackson needed to respond to anything DRS I'm sorry thank you um just a quick response um Miss Lundy asked questions about um our movie theater businesses as well as Park and planning um Park and planning is a big partner for the school system and they actually provide workshops at Family Institute sessions at our conferences and partner directly with schools so um one of the things that we're learning is it's not so much the big things of you know us going out but actually letting our communities um organically engage them every Community has a park and planning facility and what we do is work with principles to reach out to them we do what we call Community Community Asset mapping reach out
098to that parking planning uh organization in your neighborhood there are specific things they can do for your school and and that is a powerful way to get them engaged in working with our movie theaters um a lot of our schools have adopted them as partners and so they actually make those part of their field trips that they do um and so we kind of stay out of that kind of Lan because first of all we'd have to pay we don't have that kind of money to pay to engage a movie theater um unless one of them wants to adopt us and do something like that um but we definitely do our the biggest job that we do is trying to empower schools uh in their communities to really engage their families to go out and
099what we're finding is a lot of families uh Empower themselves to go out and get those Community Partners to do things for their schools um so but thank you for asking that Innovative question we appreciate it thank you Dr Jackson Mr Smith thank you and this is for Dr Jackson or associate Mr Morales how do you guys measure the um the success of your engagements with schools right so let's say if a school needs assistance with something and uh let's say like for instance I think I try to start a PTA at our school with it right and I think we reached out for support what measures do you guys have in place to get feedback on the success of that engagement with the Family Partnership office to come out of support with it or
100to get that feedback to say hey how did it go with it did it was it useful or anything like that so I will I will defer to Dr Jackson in a moment but I do want to say this Mr Smith um that is part of our current conversation um in terms of how do we do that how do we improve that right because I think right now and I think we all know this on this call a lot of our systems are manual um and so there there's gaps there and so what we're looking at collectively is how can we capture exactly what you're talking about and um how do we refine what we're already capturing so it is a work in progress but I'll let Dr Jackson speak to what's existing thank you
101uh one of the things that we do our best to do as a small team uh it's three specialist for family engagement two for business Partnerships is do followup whenever someone ask us for assistance we go back to them to ask how did that work is there anything else you need and we document that in our own office um but I think like Mr morala said it's it's something that um I would like to see us be more efficient at um so that we can you know have real time reports and um show those Gant charts of you know what kind of return on investment do we have yeah I say I I'll say this I think we when we started reached out for PTA this is one of the primary reasons why I'm sitting
102here now with it is we res support know how to start it and how to foster a good relationship with our school administration right know how to how to get it maybe from a school that wasn't used to a PLO existing right and I want to say I wasn't at the meeting but I think we found it almost adversarial right or almost the support that we received was almost antithetical and I use that word very precisely with the antithetical to your mission but I think and it was almost it almost sat down our ability to even start one because I think everyone we reached out for support at our school I think it was a hope and get a help in hand there with it and so I hope as you guys look at re
103you know um revitalizing you said taking a Fresh Approach to that that that that is Incorporated in there or not a set of standards in terms of how to approach um a schools with it when that support is requested because I think not just me but I think I actually spoke to other parents here recent trying to do something else as well and so similar feedback provided as well and if I can briefly I appreciate that context um what we have talked about Dr Jackson and not because this is a very close collaboration um what I have told the communications team is your your job your primary job right now because to the point that was spoken earlier I've noted a disconnect between the community and the district right and so the job of communications
104right now the primary function is to support Dr Jackson's shop to do and achieve the very things that you're saying in addition to all the other things but that is a primary function for me in my view and so to to that point one of the things that I've asked of Dr Jackson stop is um we shouldn't be waiting until someone reaches out for help we should be proactively going to the schools that we know do not have those parent leadership organizations and then also providing getting with Communications to make sure we have the collateral um to support them so that they can walk away knowing what the what the next step is what their resources are because there is a point where and I want to be completely transparent about this there's a point
105where when you start that journey to become a a parent leadership organization if you do go to PTA PTO route that is a separate entity now right so we do have to kind of guide and then let go um but we can still be a resource um but just want to wanted to share that yeah thank you yeah just distinguishing what I really mean is just the partnership between the school right about how to navigate so that that piece I think still existing though but thank you so much for hearing the information Miss mail housee I I I know that we wasn't gon to be able to let you put a pen in it you have the floor I'm trying I I really am because it's just so important to me that we get this
106right um and the the it's now very complex that you have Community communication and then the Community Partnership and the community engagement is housed under you know the communication umbrella and I I I I'm just trying to and you know what Mr Smith mentioned about um making sure that we get the customer service piece of it right he when when you know you you all know the needs because you have a department that focuses on engagement and Partnerships and then you are saying you know um Mr Morales that we need to be a lot more proactive because we know that there's a need out there right um again you know what was also mentioned is how are we tracking the effectiveness of what we have in place and so I I didn't hear that piece
107answered but I did hear that you stated that there is something in the works and you're looking into it and so I want to make sure that when we're talking about it we're looking at the effectiveness on how we communicate right so the communication we're then also looking at the effectiveness of Community Partnerships we're looking at the effectiveness of community engagement because th those departments have very um clear um uh roles and responsibilities that also work collaboratively but what I also see that there's an opportunity is if you have no control over what happens in the schoolhouse then how does that work when you create these packages and create information and Dr Jackson under your guidance they create all this other information these tool box these kits that you created but who's holding the schoolhouse
108accountable for making sure that we get it as a parent and so there's a disconnect between what you all create in your shop and then what happens when it gets into the schoolhouse and so that that's a bigger broader picture that needs to be addressed as relates to accountability so we can say that you have been accountable you did your part in creating but you are not responsible for what happens once it gets to the schoolhouse and that that is the disconnect there are a lot of great tools a lot of great information we we're not getting it somehow so what does that look like what you and chief Davis and how is the Synergy going to be created cuz whatever plan you create as it relates to communication and engagement if the core piece
109of it is not how there's a quality control piece from what you create and then what's now in the schoolhouse and who is Now tracking that for quality control again check off you did your part you can say that I did it but there's no accountability Mr Morales yeah thank you no I I appreciate all of those points and so I want also want to be very clear when we talk about um and you're right I didn't I didn't answer this but let me try to answer it now when we talk about how we measure right yes there are things in progress things were trying to refine but right now we're looking at it you know we take every campaign and we look at what was the open rate who engaged with it um how
110many phone calls were received how many didn't get answered how many people were opening to the news ET um I've even we've had conversations about maybe some things do need to be printed in limited capacity because the open rates are not where they need to be so we're looking at all of those metrics one of the things i' I've talked to Dr Jackson about and we're working on is making sure that we're also um it's also monitoring how many the increase in plos but more importantly as we're doing these information sessions it goes beyond that right we are actually instituting if you again hopefully I get to present the communications plan to to this group but in the communications plan um part of what we shot for is 100% uh participation after every information session
111in a really short survey that lets us know exactly what you're talking about here did you get your next steps did you get the information that was helpful so we're trying to monitor this on multiple multiple fronts and then the other thing I just wanted to clarify the engagement should never look like going to drop something off to the school and just leaving it there what I've actually requested the team to do connect directly with the the principal yes ask for the most uh Fierce Advocates at the school level and meet with those Fierce Advocates those parents those Partners um and actually start to walk them through not just drop something off at the school and let it let it sit there we want to make sure we're engaging directly to to hold your hand
112until we get to that point where okay now we're starting this process of a PTA or PTO okay but there's so much autonomy in the schoolhouse and and I get it I I I I feel like you you're just like okay we can do this um I just want to make sure that you're realistic about the the part of the puzzle that you have no control over so how does the superintendent make sure that there is um a Q&A you know at the schoolhouse level because you still cannot do any of that unless the schoolhouse opens its doors and say welcome we're going to invite you in and a lot of the fight for us as parents is at like the reality is we should never know you right I should never know you because
113I have such a relationship at the schoolhouse but because it's broken there and then I have to come outside the schoolhouse to get support and then if I'm not getting it outside the schoolhouse then guess what I feel disconnected I feel like nobody cares right and so what I'm saying is a lot of the stuff that you are presenting it may be great in theory but we I I would invite you to spend some time with us us Peak members even on a oneone to kind of see what's happening in in our districts so you can get a better understanding of what's happening on the on the ground right um boots on the ground is very different from sitting in the High house and saying hey this is what you were going to plan um
114I think it is a great approach but what we've experienced is the fight is at the schoolhouse right and all the information that we see you know every month here we're just like we getting it but how is it getting to the masses and and so um again you know we we have people you have a Community Partnership team you have a community engagement team but they can't come into the schoolhouse unless they invited absolutely and I'm definitely open to I'm open to meeting with with everyone and want everyone to know that we do work very closely with Dr Davidson as the chief of schools to make sure that we are getting through those doors um but yes I hear what you're saying not it okay and is anybody else and maybe it's just me
115m does anybody else experience I mean know you you it's not just you I actually would like to chime in here real quick um I provided public comment back in December to the Board of Education about um engagement because it's dear to my heart as well and I personally believe that there needs to be a shift in the culture so that parents don't feel disconnected when some parents try to engage it may not be perceived in a positive light and this is at the schoolhouse level to um Vice chair Mel House's point so to me we gotta tackle the culture piece we can throw people in to engage but if we don't change our posture from the culture we'll still be singing the same to so that's number one Shifting the culture um one question
116that I do have and it don't have to be answer but I want to pose this is where are the parents and the community stakeholders in the discussions about getting the change that we want to see um I you know we can't work in a silo and not saying that it's h maybe it's happening and I'm just not aware of it but um um it would be good if you you know if the parents and the community stakeholders can be part of the discussions with the school with the district um then the next thing is engaging meaningfully you know I mentioned we don't just want to be lunch monitors we don't want to just be chaperon Miss millhous mentioned earlier about you know families having skill sets tangible things that can be beneficial to the
117district um you know we're more than just a parent to the scholars that's in the schoolhouse so I I think that our school houses have to see us in that light you know you know we we want to partner with you but you got to see me as more than just being a parent um then the next piece is how can we build trust and confidence so that the connection can truly be there I'm curious on what are the best practices as far as engagement with other school districts that's is that that are big that are big as um Prince George's County um cuz I'm I'm I'm sure that this is this ain't something that's new so you know what are the best practices is there anything that we could um benefit from there then
118we mentioned this earlier parents don't just want to be a dump of information um it's more than just information sharing here last night I had a I talked to a parent in my district we we ran into each other um while we was we was at an event and we both shared the same experience about something that had happened um at a school and in in in short the schoolhouse has shared in class dojo certificates that the scholars had received and it kind of blew our mind that a ceremony wasn't held so it's like again just sharing information but you're not allowing us to be part of that experience that would have been a perfect opportunity to bring parents to the schoolhouse and just simply connect on that level so if if we don't feel
119like we're connecting how can we build the participation from families so I know that that was a mouthful but I just wanted to really share it's it's it's coming down to the experience and unfortunately as Miss millhous said it's at the schoolhouse level and Miss Hilton I saw you raise your hand I'm not sure if you would like to provide comment or do you have a question yes I do I would like to provide a comment um uh first of all for Mr Smith I'm officially a PTSA president and it's been very difficult for me to be first of all because I have to take it up on myself on having the PTSA and engaging with the community and officially like be official which it was very difficult to be because a group of people
120start and they invited me and I have to end up being the president because this is a lot of work and um you start with zero money and starting from the zoom meetings and everything you will have to put up some money and the insurance but I I I'm official and we we make a work but it being very difficult to get engaged because I try to have meetings twice a month or fundraiser and it's very difficult to engage anybody from the school or the parents but I'm on the PT you know I'm on the high school level which is a little difficult to deal you know to bring the parents to engage with us so that's another thing and from your perspective Mrs Smith I have the same like like my heart is aching
121because I feel like I volunteer so much in the community and I feel like I am failing my own child because there a lot of things that have been going on with me personally for over two years now that I just cry overnight and I have a heavy weight on myself and I have I feel no help at all at all zero when my child was at the point of taking his own life and I had zero help and it's been very difficult for me because my school was used as an example how difficult it was to even put in Homebound and it should not be that way it should not be that difficult when I have a group of Hospital psychiatrist and doctors CT scam MRI EKG all kind of thing this is not
122something that I'm making it up this is on doctors who we proing evidence of diagnosis and hospital and police and the one thing that I even saw in my house of Social Services after trying to get an IEP which no parent should experience that in their life the comment that was put on those documents was horrific I'm telling you they was so painful that I cry it's not like I don't cry all the time because the the situation is difficult I had never deal with mental illness to this level is on top of very difficult situation and so it's being very difficult for me and to feel alone and to be sitting in this year and being part of this meeting and this is what is happening to me I just wonder what happened to
123all the parents because I can reach out I know numbers I know people and I don't get no help help so I'm alone to the point that I'm like should I go back to my country like because I don't know what to do should I take the child out of the school because to me at this point I don't even feel like what is for it's like um well I'm going to stop it here because I'm going too deep is this is probably personal to me but I'm just wonder if how many other parents because I have experience of other parents seeing it they don't know that I'm doing this because if I'm being honest with you I'm hurt I was not here last month I didn't think I would come back but I'm I'm
124not a quitter I don't going to give up and this is why I'm sitting in here and this is why I'm speaking out and this is why I think I will go to meet all of you in person because I feel like I am not alone I am not alone at least um the person that I have is still attending somehow minimum barely to nothing but I'm seeing other kids just out because they don't know what to do or they don't speak the language or they don't know how to get help and when they reach for help is more like I'm I'm making other people feel uncomfortable they don't understanding what is going on with me I'm a kyotic it it's a problem whether it's a medical condition it's something that is happening it's something
125that a psychiatrist has say a doctor has say a medical scanner has say a city scan has say it's not something that I'm making it up it's something that is evidence it's something that so machine say that is true and but I feel like if I'm here and I'm talking to you and I'm part of this and I volunteer in the community and I PTSA president and this is happening to me where I don't sleep I wonder what is happening to all the parents and and this is my ending for tonight and and like I say last week I didn't think I would attend here I was supposed to send a letter saying I'm not but I'm I'm a fighter I'm not a quitter I'm not going to give up and and my child is
126my problem this is my situation I'll continue with him even if he would never get GD or high school diploma at this point I just going to continue leaving and I'm here thank you guys and I'm so sorry that this was so personal no I understand Miss Hilton and I do thank you for not sending a a letter of resonation um and if we if we need to talk offline I'm I'm here to support you in whatever way that I can so Mr Morales I I I know you just heard everything but to to sum it up I mean it's coming down to partnership it's coming down to advocacy we don't want our families feeling alone we want to have access to information and we want the district to be receptive to the things that
127is being you know said like she just said all of this documentation and you know I'm still feeling like my back is up against the wall so we have to effectively um make changes and I think one way that we could possibly do this is allow or or perhaps it needs to be said because I think in in meetings um policies are discussed with the administrators but AP 4217 is not being followed so if we could get the school houses to revisit this policy that may be a starting point um and I see Mr Mr Smith did you did you I was gonna let Miss I was Miss Hinton speak okay Miss Elon oh I'm so sorry but I cannot hold it um you know I say mental mental health mental illness so because of
128mental illness you don't have to be a genius or have a PhD to see it so this person I walk into the school and he look kind of bad bad shape ears and all kind of stuff and somebody they asking what what is going on with you what is wrong with you I can tell you that I was a little embarrassed because this is not another another kid asking this is a personal walking working in the school and as you can tell I know how to dress the child had clothes but he doesn't know when he's clean when he's dirty he looking kind of off I don't feel like the person should make that kind of comments because the child is not okay up here and he didn't have to be a genius to know
129that I'm like Lord have mercy I hope he don't find the wrong parents in the wrong day and say something like this that should never been say to a child that is looking like he was looking that was my child I'm so sorry go ahead I'm sorry no thank thank you for sharing it probably just needs to be sh shared this evening um so thank you Mr Smith yeah thanks I'll be very brief sorry m m H I also say thank you so much for sharing your story right I think it was very personal but I think it touch to me it touches first off you're not alone right I think we have us here right looking forward to kind of connecting with you but I talked about at our last meeting about really kicking
130off like the parent like a parent you get where we can kind of connect like something like that so to kick that off in a real way I'm very much committed to doing that Dr Jackson we talking the whole this whole the whole time we've been here now for several months about getting that parent the parent email list for our district so I think for us not to help be really alone be really helpful we can kind of fulfill that at some point because it's been six month I mean four or five months now so hopefully that'll be great so that we can each have for our districts but miss miss H we're going to kick that thing off so we're not alone so there's support system built in with it talked to uh Vice
131chair mous earlier on it to really we definitely see the need for it and I think you're hitting at home with you all I got thank you Miss Miss Hilter did you have something else maybe that was just a hand from earlier okay so the next um agenda item and let me just make sure do are we have we wrapped up our parent engagement agenda item is there anything else that need to be said I just wanted to step in and say and I apologize for being off camera um thank you to everyone that shared their stories I do um agree with you know Mr Smith and and look forward to us all getting together cuz We're Not Alone um it breaks my heart to hear the story I'm I'm an empath um so I'm
132crying right along um however I do I heard what you said um miss hitton about imagine this the parents that aren't as involved or can't be as involved as we are and what that looks like for them and we have to change it like we just H like we have to um we have to sorry I'm that wasn't what I was initially going to say but I just I wanted to lift that up that you're not alone and I look forward to us getting together I know um chair Smith that you had talked about um you know putting um arranging something for us so I do look forward to that Mr Smith I do want to say that I did get the and and to Dr Jackson I did get the list um for our
133for my district for District Five at least um so um thank you for that um I I think I might have gotten it through um board member Brown but I do know that it went out um so I just wanted to put that out there that that the the list and I have reached out to to the parent leaders in my um District um haven't heard back only from one who happens to be a friend but I will keep trying and keep at it um but um and I totally lost my train of thought I apologize but just wanted none of us are alone and and I don't want other parents that aren't as involved or can't be as involved to feel like they're alone either um that's super important to me and and and
134making sure our Scholars are supported is is why I'm here so I just hope that we can we can do that do that work thank you so much Miss Lawrence thank you for sharing that um yeah this is very important Dr Jackson I just wanted to offer uh a sincere apology to Mr Smith I came down with the craziest flu and I sent uh Miss Lawrence hers and then I I apologize please blame it on my head and not my heart you will get it tomorrow everyone will get their their District list of parent leadership organizations that we have so yes because we do want you to be in able to reach out to your your neighbors thank you thank you Dr Jackson all right um just for the record I wanted to mention that
135um doct or Reverend hug is it Higgins or Huggins I think it's Huggins she's not present today but um no you know not really intentional today is Ash Wednesday so I think everybody can understand um while why she is absent so I just wanted that for the record then um Miss Barton sent over links to all of um the peak Representatives so you guys should have that information in your email once we get out get out of this meeting you'll be able to see it um and I think the next agenda item oh actually I need to ask is there any unfinished business I don't think there is are there any announcements from the district Representatives Miss mailhouse well Dr Jackson hand was up Dr Jackson Oh I thought she might have left it from
136the previous comment all right so I just wanted to add um chair Smith if if was okay that we make the announcement that we had invited for our next meeting in April the um parent um um representative for the Merlin State um Department of Education um the board um uh uh gosh I forgot his name Nick um I Nick reer he will be um he will be attending our meetings to talk to us from a parent perspective on sitting on the state board and um that would be very interesting to also see what he says as he's experiencing things at a different level um from engagement and um Nick Greer G re R so he will be coming to attend our next meeting um and we'll send something out to the team so you'll have
137a quick um bio about who he is I mean there's a four-year term um but I think it's exciting to have um um him attend our meeting just to really talk about um what his role is as a parent representative and how do we get engaged on the stateboard level for advocacy um in the work that happens there as well thank you thank you for sharing that any other announcements um Civic and Community um I would like I would like everyone want to know as well as the public who is listen that is listening that this is my second term of course um and since I've been here um some of the other members know that I have a community page on next door it's entitled Prince George's County parents for education and since it's
138Inception we now have 52 members so I want to let you all know that that's significant to me and that I do share our meetings at that on my page so that that's a way that I reach um parents and students who may be you know navigating um next door which is a community page that goes all across the county so I just wanted to let everyone know that thank you Miss ly thank you any other announcements okay for district 6 I would like to let you all know that this Saturday is our chat and chew I think the last two months we might have not had had those um so if anybody's listening from district 6 please plan to come out um those start at 11:00 a.m. and I don't see any more hands
139um as far as follow-ups I only captured two items um that's the parent list that will be distribut from Dr Jackson for the respective districts and then um Miss Barton would you be able to work with Mr um Morales to schedule that meeting with Pak um to get the the overview of the comm's Strategic plan absolutely okay great thank you um Miss Wilson did I miss anything not that I can think of I'm looking at just followups next steps and that's it okay all right great so I thank you all for being present and engaged and contributing to today's discussion I think it was very fruitful as usual um so it is now 9:01 p.m. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting um I motion that we adjourn the meeting at not 1
140p.m. on March the 5th 2025 we have a second second who was that sorry Akra Lawrence okay great thank you it has been properly moved and seconded that the March 5th 2025 meeting be adjourned at 9:01 p.m. thank you everyone hope you guys have a wonderful evening thank you bye bye thanks everybody see you good night everyone good night thank you guys