001thank you so much the time is now 5:06 pm and good evening and welcome to the September 24 2024 special policy and governance committee meeting I'm Jonathan Briggs chair of the committee and District 2 board member it brings me great pleasure as I always say to welcome everyone to tonight's meeting and I look forward to our work tonight um we're going to move on to item 1.2 roll call um Miss Adeline please call the roll Mr Jonathan bre present Dr zapar Miller present m l Walker present M Tre present Mr BR Jackson all right well I think with the cor present the policy and governance committee meeting will come to order um so this meeting was called tonight as a result of the September 17 2024 meeting cancellation which required the committee's discussion and approval
002of important legislative matters and policy reviews that are advantageous to the functioning of the school district going to move on to item 1.3 adoption of the meeting agenda um if there are no objections the committee shall adopt the September 24 2024 meeting agenda great there being no re uh objections the September 24 2024 meeting agenda is adopted and now we'll move to item 1.4 approval of the committee meeting minutes if there are no objections the committee shall approve the August uh 20th 2024 meeting minutes as distributed great there being no objections the August 20th 2024 meeting minutes are approved now going to move on to public comment on agenda and non-agenda items um the registered uh public comment speakers can be live pre-recorded using video audio or written there is one registered written public com
003uh comment this evening that's from shelin Robinson individual who wrote about the inclusion of new preference on student ID cards um there are no live or pre-recorded public uh speakers but we do have that for the record and of course we as committee members will read through all of those contents Miss Robinson so thank you so much for submitting that so we now move on to item 3.0 legislative agenda uh and we'll move to um item 3.1 legislative platform timeline update the chair recognizes Mrs Welsh for the legislative platform update good evening good evening um I wanted to uh share with you the um this is a draft at this point in time and the purpose of sharing with you this evening is to get your input and see if there's anything that needs to
004be changed taken out added whatever because this is your legislative platform for this upcoming coming legislative session so this is again in draft form so that all the graphics all the things that go with it that make it look bright and shiny are not in it right now you just have substance and so basically I'll just go through each section and maybe we should as we hit the section if there anyone has questions or comments that and things that need to be changed or or added or you're okay we just then move on so the first one has to do with local board autonomy and basically it just talks about the fact that the board of education is absolutely the the uh group that absolutely has to have the autonomy to be able to interact
005first of all with the community get public input may be responsible for academics and financial accountability and all the unique needs and circumstances of the community and it is and it is the boards of responsibility um to do those things they they are the best people to support the school system syst and advocate for the school system um and if you scroll down a second uh Cindy please um it basically even even the law talks about the role of the Board of Education how important it is so as far as supports um the first one is that the uh board govern uh governance of Education policy which is fundamental to an effective public education system that promotes high standards of academic and fiscal accountability so that's just a basic General support statement then the next
006one is the board supports appointment Authority for the superintendent of schools the next one authority to govern its own operation as a board and then um supports repealing any provision that requires PGCPS to award grants to nonprofit organizations to support private dayc carees then as far as opposing uh it opposes legislation that reduces the autonomy of the board and the board's responsibility to determine board policies opposes legislation that reduces the board's governance and budgetary Authority um uh would you scroll down a little bit further please thank you um and opposes legislation that interferes with the board's authority to negotiate a contract with its superintendent and any legislation that creates unfunded mandates and I believe that is the last one under or one more if you'll scroll down one more there's one more legislation that requires
007pgps to award grants to outside organizations um as pgbs is not a revenue generating or Grant giving entity uh any questions comments um does this cover in terms of your thinking as far as what the aut for the board's autonomy and what you support and oppose can you just scroll up just a little bit please thank you you speak a little faster than my brain moves oh I'm sorry that's okay also can I can I just for the sake of I think uh organization can we actually raise hands and I just acknowledge uh you and we still have that two-minute timer um but uh chair Walker it looks like you were eager to share so I'm happy to to turn to you first it wasn't I was just asking if they could move it up
008so I could read it no worries thank you all right there any questions or comments about this first section we still have about seven sections to go okay Robin I think we can move forward okay then we'll go to the next one which has to do with Staffing and recruiting and it just talks about um you know that you know we have some of the best staff and that we work very hard to get very talented and a diverse staff to me the needs of our students um then if you scroll down I'll hit the supports and it poses so the first are the supports so um we um we support funding to support the full cost of training staff on legislative mandated subjects last year a couple bills went through that talked about um
009like I think the anti-bias training things like that and but there's no funding that goes along with it and yet we are supposed to be providing it outside the school day which means that costs money so that's important than full funding for mandated teacher certification programs again bills were passed last year which were we were in favor of in terms of uh providing alternatives for uh teachers so that it opens the door for us to be able to hire more teachers but again it was definitely that it's the responsibility of school system to cover those costs and that they were not funded um and then we support legislation to provide funding to supplement local funds for salaries that match Private Industry salaries to improve the recruitment of IT staff especially in the area of administrative
010applications and cyber security uh which we had last year but it's it is very important just because um that's a a critical need area and then let we support legislation to require higher education educator preparation programs to provide training on the science of reading and literacy instruction so with this Maryland State Department of education's new um policy on literacy it it it is it's it's an excellent policy from the standpoint of what they're trying to promote in terms of the teaching of reading and what's required in order to teach reading however it is it's working almost off the premise that once we have we get the teachers we'll we'll just do all the training for them and so this bill is this supporting is to say it wouldn't hurt to have some legislation out there
011that says higher ed is also required to train teachers in education I mean in reading instruction and this and the all the research that is has Beed out for literacy and reading and then the last one is that we oppose unfunded mandates um so then um any questions or anything related to the to the Staffing recognize hands in the order that they're raised or you can come off mute if you for whatever reason can't raise your um I am going to raise my hand just for the sake of process but I did have just for the last bullet point that you mentioned about the higher education institutions I think that's I think that's a great idea as you mentioned and I wonder if maybe we even push it further and say like subsidies or incentives
012for high for Partnerships with higher education institutions like if there's something that the state could do to really encourage even the development of those types of programs where they're really focusing on the science of reading um literacy instruction um because that may be some of the the Gap too is like the incentive of a you know Institution want to even focus on that if it's cost prohibitive um going to turn to Vice chair Miller thank you um in in this last one I really uh I really like that you added this because I know that they do require teacher and any educator to take um reading instruction I wonder whether we want to be specific with the science of reading I know that is a research base right now but um three four years a
013three four years from now if something else comes up that is a stronger base for reading um and we're saying the science of reading then we'll have to go back and change the law and if that doesn't matter it doesn't matter um I do I I do really wholeheartedly want this to go through but I I didn't want to tie our hands with the specificity if that makes sense so I will say that I know MSD has had some conversations with different universities and there's a lot still out there on reading on all different types of theories and ways you should teach reading but they're very specific about the science of reading and literacy instruction that this particular instruction science of reading because it is so research based so for purpose of what we need
014right this moment I really believe that that we probably want to keep it there they do they um they discussed it repeatedly I know that they have been working with Morgan University to to um to work a program out but it sounds like they would you're really talking about some definite specificity in the type of reading because I know in the past there always has been like a like a six credit requirement for reading but this is way beyond that so that's the only reason I did include science of reading Dr that makes sense sounds good to me it makes sense okay are there any other questions about this section right I think we're good to move uh forward so the next one is curriculum uh and accountability and this one I we wanted to
015really um make sure that our feeling is that it is the responsibility of the local board for selecting and implementing standards based curriculum and selecting um textbooks and instructional materials that align with local values and priorities so when legislation and last year we had a good number of bills that came through when which they wanted to legislate specific curriculum and curriculum standards and when that happens then we lose the opportunity as a as a school system to really incorporate into the curriculum many of the local values and priorities that are important like for Prince George's County so that is why it's so important that we don't want legislator legislation legisl the legislature to uh be mandating what curriculum we're teaching and then if you proceed a little bit further down uh since um and then
016it just talks about the fact that the board along with the help of the superintendent really are they're responsible for the curriculum and also I mean we have our staff take the standards that come down from MSD and they are the ones that put together and write all the curriculum and any uh system based assessments um so we support legislation that allows for continued flexibility with grading um limited requirements that are taxed to attached to blueprint funding uh more local control over blueprint initiatives uh mandating uh we support any legislation mandating that guidance from the aib and MSD regarding blueprint requirements uh be provided 18 to 24 months ahead of the deadline for meeting the requirements so that pgcp ah I can't talk this evening PGCPS is able to make the necessary operational adjustments to
017comply with the requirements so what has happened and repeat repeatedly is that the the mandates come down and they want the and they have the require what the requirements are which have to be done by such and such but no guidance is coming and then it comes at the last minute and some of the things that we have to do as the system they're massive they're major changes that have to occur so we need adequate time to be able to do whatever it is required to do so that we can meet the deadlines so we think that is really important for for anyone writing legislation to remember and then as far as opposes we have if you uh scrolled down please thank you requirements by the aib MSB and msde that makes uh PGC PGCPS
018responsible for the administration of the finan and accountability or operation of private providers for publicly funded pre kindergarten any legislation that mandates or prescribes curriculum and related on funded mandates any increase in state assessments requiring an increase in testing time for any given student Statewide controls over it student information systems and legislation that mandates that PGCPS be responsible for programs and activities outside of its instructional responsibilities so any questions or anything with the curriculum one I'm I'm gonna raise my hand again um but uh so if you could just scroll up slightly Cindy to the support so I I wanted to say that last bullet um which I'm fully in agreement with makes a lot of sense but I I just wonder if 24 months is a lot of time like I feel like 15
019months or 18 months seems reasonable but I feel like 24 months sometimes you know I think the the more time that passes education is really one of those things where we don't have time to waste because students are constantly matriculating to the next grade level so I just wouldn't want to set a standard that you know two years is a reasonable amount of time to like Implement things that might need to be you know they may need to be implemented to really meet specific standards for students I wonder if that could be adjusted to like maybe 15 or 18 I could say uh um be provideed at least 18 months ahead of time or no later than 18 months ahead of time or something yeah something like that thank you um Dr Miller I I
020was going to just circle back with the comment about 24 months um I hear what you're saying um chair uh but I was I want us to consider that depending on the Mandate some take longer than others it doesn't mean it can it doesn't start before that 20-month period but give us an opportunity to try it out um during even that 24mth period so I wonder if we change a wording to up to 24 months instead of giving a definitive like 18 or 15 so it gives us at least you know some time to prep and maybe in that second year most school systems will be trying it out and fixing some of the glitches so by the time that 24 months has gone by doesn't mean they haven't started the initiative it just means
021that it's given them an opportunity not to be held accountable for it before they have a chance to try it out um no I definitely hear you and I think that that those are good points the only thing I would say and I think and then I think we can move forward and also welcome Robin if you want to add in your your your thoughts here but I just think that with legislative language or even with requirements coming from the aib you know this is like something that they've likely researched that they're saying that the school district needs to do and I think if we're setting a standard of 24 months there's lots of in interpretation there um and even when I'm thinking about like other I happened just when I was making that 15mon
022uh um recommendation I was thinking of in the context of the federal government there is like a new um shift in responsibilities that's coming from like a Federal agency and they gave 15 months for industry leaders to do it which is a year right that's a little over a year and that seemed reasonable so I think for a school district to have two years feels like especially because it's just so high stakes with students needing to really get the resources I wouldn't want to set that precedent so that's why I making that recommendation I do think if we want to you know um have further discussion offline about it I'm happy to do so I don't think this needs to be kind of a ongoing discussion but I hear you I think that's a good
023point Dr Miller um I I just want to say though it's they're not this isn't requesting that they change the deadline for anything it is just requesting that we get the information of how you want us to do it prior to have adequate amount of time to be able to do it that so that that's important to know too y um all right so are there other questions about this section okay um Dr Miller no just to close that out thank you for the clarification um Robin and yeah I think we should have it offline because I I I heal with the federal government but I think we need to consider the heavy lift of sometimes training up to 10,000 teachers um and the heavy lift that that requires with minimal Staffing just um to
024get some of these things done right rather than just done yeah let's have it offline that's those are really good points um are there other questions about this section right I think we can move to funding for Success Robin please and thank you okay so then the funding for Success um basically um as we all know adequate funding is critical if we're going to meet all the different things that that school systems are involved in you know we're looking at first of all student performance well-being eliminating achievement gaps uh preparing students to be College and Career ready providing safe and and secure learning environments delivering professional development wide variety of things so a lot of times our state and local funding doesn't reflect the actual Inc increase to school systems for complying with new mandates
025so and then if there's unfunded mandates that require compliance well then we're talking about a lot of times in order to meet the needs of this new compliance related thing we end up um reallocating our resources or cutting other programs to contribute to that contribute to students just to meet the new mandate so that was sort of the the description to them and and then if you proceed further down it talks about pgps supports legislation that mandates that Prince georgees County and not Prince George's County Public Schools fund the budget for uh the office of integrity and compliance funding and resources to accompany any new legislation and a careful study of the costs associated with the new legislation because uh frequently there I mean we've had inflation you know price of things have changed and
026so it's important that they they understand when they're asking for something just how much it will cost um using funds appropriated for Education solely for educational purposes requiring the County government to submit an annual report to the state um uh which would involve with a aib msbe and general assembly and the amounts and percentages of local revenues allocated to the local to the school system budget because sometimes um we hear all kinds of different different figures and stuff that they're providing and it would be nice that just have a set figure what is it that's being provided to the local school system providing a school system the option to remove all or portions of the Foundation program funding from the 75% school-based funding allocation requirement and that is not because that we don't want to
027make sure the schools have adequate funding but there are times when depending on the school and what their needs are they don't need the full 75% and although um we're definitely not in favor of top heavy Administration and it is often the central office that does all the grunt work behind the scenes and the support that you need to have in place just to be able to run the school system so having that kind of flexibility would it be extremely helpful and then receiving funding for the T tier to students in FY 26 because I think at this point they have um moved it back to I think FY 29 28 or 29 so and it was originally at FY 26 so we like that and then receiving funding for the implementation of the msde
028literacy policy so the training I just actually listened to a State Board of Education meeting today and the training that's involved for uh Stu for staff and we're talking K training from K to three and then three to five for these teachers but also having coaches that work with the teachers in the classroom so they're Pro really providing on the job training entire time so you think about our school system and how many elementary schools we have and how many um you know how many students we have in K to three how many teachers that means wa it it is a big heavy lift to be able to provide this really necessary training to our teachers so and receiving any kind of funding for this will be critically important and then we oppose diverting School
029funds appropriate by federal state and local government to fund non-public and private organizations and that that that any language you see as it relates to that really refers to the one bill that got passed last year where we are supposed to be giving out grants and we're using funding that we receed for education of our students to you know fund these grants which really is contradictory to what we want to do and what we're required to do with the money so so any questions related to funding or member uh bo out your hand yeah thank you so much well my my concerns about bullet point one go back to our board autonomy I I can't support bullet point one without us supporting a repeal of the bill for the office of integrity and compliance as
030a unfunded mandate and duplication of the uh board's role in governance and um auditing of the um of PGCPS so for this one I I feel like it says we are actually supporting this office by even suggesting a move of the funding whereas I I wouldn't be comfortable with this without our are going back to section one of our autonomy and having a repeal of this office thank you well and I just want to clarify because I read the that specific um bullet point to say that the county would fund the office versus the school district are you saying that you you're not in support of that language I'm not in support of the office without our auton without there being a bullet point added that we support a repeal of this office of integrity
031and compliance not agreeing that it should be funded by anybody it's a it's a waste of the taxpayer dollar to create this duplication and to imped upon the authority of a fully elected board on behalf of the the residents of Prince George's County so I just can't support it being funded at all okay um um and we don't have a timer up so I want to make sure that that if you have anything else on board member Bo that is all that's all I'm gonna move to chair Walker hey there um I think um for uh purposes of the policy and governance committee I think there's two um different looks at this office of integrity and compliance as related to what our thoughts are I think that the um what we want to be very
032clear on is that there was a bill that was passed for a four-year time span so in my mind regardless if we agree on it or not what it is is that it is here and so our work um for this policy um in governance committee is to make it uh as efficient as possible and then there is the other battle right now for me um a repeal is not in my while I think I know for sure it is redundant um what I do know that it is here and it's in a bill to be here for four years so I want to put our time my proposal is that we put our time and energy on modifying the wording uh as related to what is inside of the bill to best f um
033and remove the redundancies that we not only see in the system but ensure that it it this $1.4 million non-funded mandate is moved to um a different entity so that's my take on this particular office of integrity and compliance um as related so what will be going to this policy and governance committee as of the upcoming meeting that we have is um a uh mocked up uh Bill uh for us to be able to take a look at so that we can make it the most efficient um accountable with ownership and integrity for our board so that's just a heads up on what's coming thanks okay and I didn't hear I didn't hear push back against the first bullet because the I think the first bullet is essentially saying what what you all are saying
034and I think that it goes it doesn't go as far as what um board member boo Str wanted so that made sense the addition that she mentioned but I think we have that language in there that's pushing back again yeah no her her specific push was not to have it at all because it should be repealed period so that wouldn't even go on there at all because she would like for the push from this committee to be to repel the bill you know that's what that's what I heard from family boo yes and I think that's what I think the the bullet point does not say that it says the the opposite of that but um board member booer struther yeah yes uh chair uh chair of the board Walker did U express my sentiments
035of repealing uh the bill that created this duplicative office that uh interferes with the autonomy of the elected Board of Education that was elected by the uh people of this County um I I would prefer that we had a statement that we support a repeal of this bill in the first section now that I'm seeing this part lower down um but uh I will uh I've stated my My Views to my colleagues and uh we will just move forward thanks yeah and I think that makes a lot of sense and I think board member Walker is kind of wrapping this all up in a bow and I think probably we can move forward is that she's saying we can align on that and we'll have discussions about the the bill and the proposed amendments to
036it and then I think from there we can probably figure out if we'll add a blurb in there in that language so likely we'll have more discussions about it are there other questions about this section but Jonathan can I just say um although it doesn't say in the first section about the repealing the bill for that office we do have language that says we support the authority of the board to govern its o its operation as a board so its own you know your own operation internal operation which goes you know indirectly to this whole issue of the OIC and then it also says opposes legislation that reduces the board's governance and budgetary Authority which again is the same idea that the OIC does in in interfere with the board's governance and budgetary Authority so
037although it doesn't meet what um board member buer St would like to see um there is there is some indirect language that is there for that reason so yeah I just want to say that other questions about um this section I think we can move forward and Robin I I I always am so grateful for you I know we have so much to get through so I am a bit rushing this part because um we've had we have a lot so um if there's nothing else I think we can move forward to the next section so then they the the description paragraph really focuses first on the um um where we're coming from as a school system where we recognize that our responsibility is to um because of the school systems environmental impact on our
038buildings and operating its facilities that we have to be environmentally responsible um and work to create healthy places to learn at work and preserve the environment for future Generations so in doing that we really do need adequate funding um to be able to cover the costs of increases in con construction or retrofitting costs um driven by inflation and labor costs um as well as just the cost of the things you that you need to put in place to ensure that you're being environmentally responsible and then the other issue that is a major concern has to do with the fact that we have so many aging schools and and all the things we need to do to ensure that you know they are functioning properly you know that the infrastructures are strong and supportive um but
039at the same time they're safe and healthy for our students so saying that these are the supports if you'll scroll down Cindy the first two increase funding in all areas addressed by climate action reform such as electric buses climate friendly cleaning supplies solar energy Etc then the second one is the continuation of the Aging school program and increased funding from the Aging school program so we don't want them to eventually resend that program we want to continue and in addition to that we want them to increase the funding that comes from the Aging school program and then I don't know if there's any more if you'll scroll down Cindy further oh yes uh in cre um can you go down I go up one section I'm missing one Bol thank you increase State funding for
040school construction and innovate Innovation um renovation projects that is commerate with monitoring costs of Designing building renovating maintain high quality learning environments increase State funding for school construction to implement climate change action projects when constructing a new school building funding of systemic projects to improve the health safety and learning condition of school facilities renew expansion of the build to learn act built to learn act and then increased funding to provide additional space for CTE at full day prek kindergarten programs so those were all the supports and then if you scroll down for the opposes we have uh legislation mandating project project labor agreement agreements on major construction projects and then unfunded mandates so that was for construction any questions regarding this section seeing no hands I think we can move to school and Community safety
041please and thank you so then in school and Community safety um of course uh so I'm talking a little bit more about um how you know the um concerns es any kind of school related violence and especially implementing s uh safety measures uh for emergency preparedness and training uh which requires not just funding but also us working collaboratively with local law enforcement uh to ensure we have infrastructure and Technology upgrades everything in place um and then on top of that although we have uh pursued all the different safe to learn act grants they come through and generally speaking they're non-competitive grants so Prince George's County usually receives at least a million a little bit over a million on these grants we did buy all of the safety locks for the schools um for the so
042that the doors locked from the inside versus the outside through these types of Grants and uh a good number of the metal detectors have been come from that Grant as well as um we did uh pursue the the 2425 Grant at to cover cost of metal detectors but saying that in spite of that we're still in need of $5 million to equip all the middle schools with metal detectors as well as pay for staff to monitor the metal detectors um so um if you scroll down Cindy um first we support um this is this is that I didn't write about this in the paragraph but we do support this mandates regarding the provision of safe pedestrian walk ways in which the County Public Works office is respons responsible for assessing um um assessing and determining
043Traffic Safety needs uh traffic time lighting accidents traffic flow pedestrian traffic and other factors used to determine the requirements for sidewalks and traffic signals so I don't know if you recall but last year we had a bill that came through that had that but it was all on the responsibility of the school system and the school system is absolutely not equipped to be able to do those types of things you know we don't have the uh the um equipment or the people training in these areas to make those kinds of Assessments so that's why we feel that if it legislation is going to come through we do support it because we think it's critically important for our students to be safe when they're walking to school we but we also think that the County's Public
044Works office should be the office responsible for doing the things that need to be done in order so that the walkways are safe and then if you scroll down further uh we have continuation of the safe tolearn out grant funding for school building security measures and listed out what they might be we also added funding to support the cost of purchasing and operating metal detectors in all metal schools and that's over and above the safe to learn act and then funding for crime prevention programs for students any questions um um board chair Walker yes thank you so much um Robin as always so the Safety and Security I recently learned about a bill that got passed last year I was hoping that you could help me dig into this one a a little bit it's
045HB 1390 and um delegate Kevin Harris submitted this one and it's it's called Public Schools public school construction funding and administration and my understanding is that we could really use a lot of that money to help us in our schools and for security enhancements I do know that um superintendent house is looking at additional creative ways like Ai and other things um and in other things that he'll talk to us about about school safety but not only at our middle schools but also at our elementary schools as well so if we could I guess the request is uh offline of here to I'll forward it to you but to take a look at this bill and see which pieces of that we're able to use that's that one then um the one above it I'm
046sorry I couldn't get to it quickly enough was the maintenance and construction I think that was the one uh yeah if we can just if I could just reserve the right to just follow up with you directly because I can't do it here um it's just moving too fast for me to be able to um talk to you about maintenance and just the wording inside of there for the additional dollars that you already talked about sure okay than and was that was that House Bill 1319 90 no 139 oh thank you okay no worries let me I'm gonna afford it to you right now thank you so much okay thank you also just say this and I think this might help for like as far as process goes you know this is really this is
047our platform right this is very high level what we generally buckets of what we care about but when we get into the legislative season we are going to you know outline with these highlevel themes the specifics around around legislation that is moving through the general assembly so I think what might be helpful is even if you wanted to share like the specific bullet points of what you want to see um that would help us as we're thinking about what we'd share with those committees or with those legislators um because these are just high level themes so I don't know if we necessarily would need to change the work plan per se based on on that but I think we can probably have an additional well I think part of it and maybe you're going to
048get to it I really I I hate to say this but I don't know the process we haven't outlined what the process is yet for you know how we get information in if it's this form how does it work so as soon as I know that I probably won't say if it wasn't the right time to say it I apologize I don't know where it is to say it so if you just hook me up with what the process is I'm absolutely happy to follow it we can follow that yeah we can follow up with that thank you um board member Bo Str thank you so much chair um I I think it's important that we replace the word metal detectors with AI weapons detection systems because these are two two different products and we
049are only using the AI weapons detection systems and there's confusion of just to avoid any confusion about about that because there are school systems that actually did have weapon metal detectors and they are switching over to these what we call these you know touchless AI weapons detection systems which hopefully will get better and smarter with each year they're not ideal yet um they we you know we were promised that our students could walk through with everything in their backpack that hasn't been quite the technology hasn't been quite there yet but I I feel like it's really important that we as PGCPS are using that terminology because it's very upsetting to me when I see comparatives and you see a school system in virgin Northern Virginia using the exact same system as a weapons AI weapons
050detection sounds you know technology advanced and and fancy and less invasive and then in PGCPS the exact same system is called a metal detector old school authoritarian um you have to take your things out of your bag so I I just think it's important for many reasons thank you so so um one I just want to share that um there is an AP that has not been totally finalized I think we're waiting to get something back from Safety and Security Services but it actually talks about um safety enhancement systems um but then it includes within that it could be cameras it could be anything enhances but now I'm wondering if in fact if everyone it would be an agreement to AI weapons detection systems as as we work on that AP that we change the
051name of it and so that it we're consistent in all of our language I I just a thought I just thinking about when you brought that up so Robin and I have a question too about security um might I make a request that maybe we can just follow up with the security team the department and just get the exact name that they're using because we I don't want to I don't want to oversell what we are using if it's not an AI um you know detector if it is is and that's great and I think we should be saying those things um the other thing I did want to say was one of the things I do want to make sure we add in here as a support just from hearing from um a recent
052meeting with legislators and also talking to um constituents is more security staff for the um the detectors whatever we're going to call them I know that like right now there's just the those those detectors can only do so much and if you have students you know coming in in and exiting multiple entrances in the building they can still get weapons into the building and I know that and I want to acknowledge that we have had incidents recently where that's happened and I think that this is the opportunity to really own that and take accountability and say that I think we need to make sure that we're adding in there that we need to have more security staff um in addition and funding for security staff um perhaps alloc you know listed out in the legislation
053so Jonathan if um Cindy will you go back to school and Community safety so I did I actually got um Miss further down I actually got from um Safety and Security Services I asked them to break it out for me so that I would have the total cost of of everything and um we still need um another 1,496 th000 um dollars to cover the AI weapons detect detection systems for the middle schools but in addition to that we need another $3,551 51,4 to cover the cost of staff to be able to run the um the the equip you know be there and do what needs to be done it's really monitoring more than anything so um the uh so that added together that comes up to a little over five million so that's why I
054had to incorporate that into the um to the uh to the little description saying it's that we need still need 5 million to equip all middle schools and pay for all staff to monitor the metal detectors then I did put down if you look at supports cind you you'll scroll down a minute and I can certainly change that language that's not a big deal keep going please um I have funding to support the cost of purchasing and operating metal detectors in all middle schools um I could change that to say um for purchasing the AI weapons detection systems and staff to actually operate and monitor the metal detector systems if that would be better I would love that because I think it's just explicit there's no interpretation or ambiguity what we were talking about okay
055second one there any other questions about this section okay I think we can move to student will for uh fair when you're ready Mrs W okay cind if you'll scroll up a little bit please thank you so um then this just talks about overall ensuring that we have a safe environment for our students um that that you know that's broad because it's fostering our culture of care and a climate of mutual respect cultural responsiveness attentive the overall physical and psychological well-being of every student and the reason why this is so critically important is because you me there's very clear the research is very clear that if students don't are not feeling comfortable and they don't feel safe and they don't feel welcomed and you know respected that really interferes with the whole learning process and
056so it's not a very suc successful experience for them so we are requesting uh you know sufficient funding for a wide variety of things so then if you go down to look at supports um we are still definitely in favor of universal meals for students funded entirely by the state because um who can do anything if your stomach isn't full uh and you're hungry so that's really important and then funding to maintain the mental health resources and supports that are currently being provided with eser funds but are due to Sunset um and that Sunset will impact our ability to provide the same level Mental Health Resources and supports that we have done in fact they they Sunset I think uh on 30th on Monday so uh that's going to be a big impact for us
057and then the next one is funding to support a restorative um restorative approaches coordinator for each school and for the training of teachers to implement restorative pract uh approaches then uh providing pgps and leas any any any Lea who manages their own professional nurses and have school-based clinics um providing independent Avenues to secure vaccines to students to close the gap of immunization compliance because that is still a major struggle for not being able to get our kids in school um when they're first coming because they haven't met all the immunization requirements and then of course additional funding for more professional school counselors School psychologists and addiction counsellors to improve the uh student to provider ratio and then funding for training of parents and students on the prevention of drug addiction and then legislation that reduces
058barriers for students to access home and Hospital programs as well as um legislation that provides NE necessary human capital to execute newly mandated job responsibilities uh because we did have one bill that came through last year that did did add a tremendous amount of responsibilities to each of the high schools but of course there's no funding and no Staffing to be able to meet up meet those requirements and then the the other one was opposes a legislation that restricts or eliminates the ability of pgps to contract for services so last year again there was a bill that came through that uh the whole goal of it was to basically eliminate our ability to contract for services and all of our uh we have a wide variety of special ed services and student services student services
059services that go to our students that are from contractors if we didn't have them we wouldn't be providing the services we need to provide them so of course we would definitely oppose anything like that right are there any questions regarding uh this section see board memb Booz or struther yeah thank thank you so much chair um for the first one universal meals something that's been a concern of mine since the pandemic when and we had funding for Universal meals post you know with return our return 2021 22 was the amount of excess food and waste and I would like to see I've advocated for this last year that that we put in there with Provisions for um uh composting and um food uh food waste reduction because it it comes with a lot of wrap
060cellophane wrapping um when when we have to move to when we move to Universal meals so I would like to see some Provisions around that around management of of uh yeah F I would love to see composting in there but if if that makes sense Miss Welch to to have some provision around the management of the excess food okay obviously meant towards car climate friendly um reduction you know of the of the food excess food yeah that makes sense and I I I did have a I have a clarifying question on bmer Bo can you just clarify what your uh like what your your meaning in as far as like language there are you saying that you want to have that mandated in legislation or well with I mean just when we say we support
061Universal meals for students funded entirely by the state I'm asking that the state fund the the the universal meals and um climate friendly uh you know way uh excess food management or even saying Universal meals and composting program I mean because that's the reality of the universal meals is a lot of extra excess food and some of it can be shared Whole Food whole whole fruit and packaged foods can be put on a share table um but a lot cannot and it it's been going right to the landfill and we are the number one uh we send the most uh food waste to the landfill every year and so I just I just think they have to go together like we to for you know to meet our policies and where the state is headed
062I just don't think you could have excess food and not have a food Waste Management plan around composting so so I could just say Universal Wheels with Provisions for composting and food waste reduction with universal Universal meals for students with Provisions for composting food waste reduction funded entirely by the state thank you yeah yeah and that's I think those are interesting points because I didn't know know I was thinking for me just uh when I was hearing that was like is that Contracting with you know businesses that have programs or that use environmentally Safe products and is that changing who they're you know working with as far as vendors um which could also be the interpretation too um so I appreciate that clarification um board member booer Str uh you're headed exactly in that direction
063that's all stated in the climate change action plan uh the two sections the one on climate friendly food and the one on was reduction hits on all of that so thank you for raising that the source piece of it is important too okay so that's what you meant ear least some of it um are there any other questions regarding this section okay I think we can move to special education is next the the um the little description talks about that um we do pro um place a high priority ensuring our students our special students receiving um uh special Education Services have a high quality are receiving high quality special web programs and instruction that meet their needs and then a little bit language about the fact that ideal mandates that the federal government cover 40%
064of the cost uh for educating students with disabilities but in practice they only cover around 15% so that really is a sh shortfall so uh funding for special ed is a vital component for ensuring all students receive the the high quality education they need in order to um um really um you know do what they need to do educationally so then what I have under supports is really um mainly about money so if you can scroll up please Cindy it says PG pgbs supports significant increases in funding to support high quality special education services increasing the state share of the total cost of non-public placements of students with disabilities incentives to attract high quality special ed staff teachers related service providers and support Personnel to ensure the provision of appropriate services and then we oppose
065unfunded mandates to provide special education services any questions questions about the um I'm gonna raise my hand really quick um I just want to say um and and I'm like breaking my rule of keeping it short but just want to say quickly that that was listening to an aib um meeting today about disability services and I know that there's kind of a um conflation of like is disability special education which they're very different things right you could have IEP but not necessarily be in special education or um have a disability etc etc so I just wanted to clarify that when we're talking about special education are we blending the two or do we have us a distinct disability section in the platform or are we also encompassing disabilities in special education well we're specifically so
066um so if you look at it it's either special education or 504 and the criteria for receiving 504 Services is not to is not as high of a standard as it is to receive special education services but but clearly you might have a disability that doesn't impact you educationally but you might need an accommodation for something or whatever so this is specific though to special education services because although sometimes 504 Services can cost money if you have to put in certain accommodations in place and stuff it's there's like you can't even compare the two the cost though for special education services I mean it it if you just look at even you don't even get in it on public but you just look at all the things you must have in place for students that
067do attend our public schools and often very small classrooms you know additional Staffing all those types of things and all the related services that are that are also involved it you know it it does cost the school system a lot of Mone so that is specific to special education services okay yeah I just wanted to say because for the disability which I know 504 could be accommodations it doesn't necessarily mean you know that you have a disability per se you might need to sit closer or further away from a screen whatever I just wanted to clarify that I do want to have something in there about not putting undue burdens on on F any legislation that puts an undue burden on families um to meet disability needs because when I was listening to the aib
068and I can send you the the video um there was a parent who was talking about just all of the different things that she had to navigate both in commuting one was that parents may send their child to a school in a different County than where they work and there's this commute issue and you know um making sure that services are aligned and that there are any challenges there there are certain thresholds as far as how much of it you know the income that a family has to make in order to qualify for some of these programs and then I think there's just some considerations that aren't necessarily um thought about when parents think about where their child is best suited to be versus what the school might think or what an outside program may
069say is actually best for the student so I just want to make sure that as we're moving forward we we're really charging legislators to not put undo burdens and they're taking into consideration Transportation cost or other barriers to access that might exist for parents of students with disabilities so I will say that for anything that the school system is um uh you know that goes through the IEP process the school system is responsible to fund even Transportation that's are considered a related service so you have to fund all those if a parent decides they don't want what the school system offers and they want to go to another school or something or take their child out of this count and go to another then of course they would have to bear that cost so are
070you saying that you want pgps to support any bill that how did you word it that it would not put undue burden on the on the parents yeah so as as as they're thinking about you know they're not thinking just about PGCPS when they're making the legislation right maybe our legislators are from our County but when they're making these decisions they're thinking about the needs of parents in relation to schools and they're thinking maybe there could be subsidies or there could be grants opportunities that they could put in some of this legislation to support the school district in funding needs and so that's what I'm the language I'm trying to get at and I'm sure you can find a smarter way to say that okay all I had to share um board chair Walker yeah
071I was just wondering for the sake of time the same thing you coached me on if we were going a little too deep for this particular one for if we want to take it offline or whever the right form is because you're going to tell me where the form is because I know it exists but maybe that's where we can dig in on on this one too because I would agree with you I just don't know if it's the the umbrella or if it's the under yeah I agree um thank you for keeping it on tat so I think if there are no other questions about section we can move on to Information Technology okay so information technology is um it just gives a quick description about the fact that you know basically we can't
072operate anymore without technology because we use it in every aspect of our operation um and not just in this classroom but administratively we uh do and so then um as far as the um supports um first of all we support legislation that mandates that msde convene a working group to develop guidance to local school systems on the safe and effective use of artificial intelligence including but not limited to academic Integrity plagiarism acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI for students and teachers student staff uh student and staff data privacy and data security Etc um that would really you know we we do have our policy and everything we're not asking them to produce policy but certainly you know they have the capacity to extend of much more research and get more information so therefore if they
073can provide guidance that would certainly be extremely helpful then the next one is that um that they would have state level state level standardized artificial intelligence agreements for local school systems to utilize when procuring software to ensure the safety and privacy of students and Educators and the protection of their data so much of the D much of the contracts that come through that uh that have anything to do with technology and now specific speically with AI um you really have to have the ability to you know purview it in a very with a fine tooth comb to make sure you're not missing any kind of tricky language there that could get you as a school system in trouble so again that would be very helpful and then SE last one state level accessibility evaluations for
074school systems to use to evaluate their technology tools for accessibility so a couple years ago bill was passed that talked about ensuring that anything that we provide that's technologically we provide it you know virtual anything like that for students with um for not just our students it could be for anyone for the public anyone with a disability that um accessibility looking meeting all the requirements is um that's actually section 508 and all the requirements related to that are are met um when any kind of um so that it could they could give us you know guidance on evaluations so that we make sure that all our everything we are using meets all the criteria thank you that's it for that thank you are there any questions uh concerning this section clarify clarifying questions right and
075I believe you said that's it as far as like that's the end of the platform which no it's not you still have you have Charter Schools I can tell you that charter schools are very Sim similar to last year that we basically we want to ensure that with Charter School that they follow all that anything as we as a public school required a mandated to follow you know in terms of accountability and requirements that the charter schools have to meet those very same requirements and that the schools that the Board of Education that it is the um it's the local board's authority over charter schools and to Grant Charters that we don't want that taken away and that um they are we are required to comply with federal and state laws um governing public schools
076and include fiscal accountability that there employees of the charter schools or teachers must be employees of the school system and include compensation and certification requirements consistent with other public schools in the system and then a legislation that allows school systems to set due dates for Charter School applications so that we have adequate time to address Financial Staffing Transportation scheduling needs and um the last one has to do with legislation to clarify ownership or Charter School assets that have been purchased with Public Funding then we go into opposes and they're very very similar the very first bullet is though from last year the very first bullet provide funding to public charter schools for eligible expenses associated with public charter school facilities there was a bill that came through last year um that actually talked about the
077um um really providing um funding for charter schools to um for different expenses than their public school facilities so there's all the law already lays out that that that the charter schools got I want to say i' have to look it up with something like 98% or whatever so they're getting they're getting the same type of funding that our that our schools are getting so then to add more funding to a charter school is and we opposed that bill last year so in general oftentimes a bill that didn't make it through one session will come back another session so that's why I did include that in the opposes and then basic they're basic things that um that we don't want any bill that limits the board's primary chartering Authority um that weakens academic fiscal accountability
078um that recreates any kind of blanket waivers for charter schools so that they don't have to follow their school systems policies and administrative procedures um that they don't allow virtual Charter Schools uh and promote home instruction Charter Schools um and um that they um allow charter schools to employ individual who are not Public School Employees um and that they also that their employees uh we oppose anything that says they are that their teachers don't have to meet the same certification require as our teachers do so that's it for Charter Schools then we have two more yet then we're almost done so this one the legislative drafting is a little different but it is CR critically important because what happens almost every single year the governor signs stuff in May and guess what they expect the
079school system to start implementing July 1 and it if you look at some of the bills that we have come through over the year over just looking at last year's bills the kinds of things that they're mandating and assist and any system but especially in a system as large as our system it makes it almost impossible for us to be uh in compliance with the law because generally speaking it requires a lot of planning the budget cycle the budget for the upcoming year has already been created so now you're adding all these unfunded mandates that where is that money coming from because you you already had budgeted for the upcoming year and so this section really talks about why it is so important for um and it also calls the school system to rush a
080lot of times or roll out of whatever the bill is mandating so you're not getting the best quality of whatever it was that the bill mandated because of little time to do what you need to do to do it well so this basically talks about that in the legislative uh drafting process that any bill that was implemented let's say it I mean like passes in May that the implementation would be not for July one of that year but uh the following school year because that gives time to really plan and put everything in place and same thing with regulations um and then the last thing is the legislation that contains uh requirements that conflict with existing legislation that we would oppose that because if you look at some of the what we're dealing with if
081you look at some of the things that are in 1079 that are also sitting out there in previous uh education articles they're they're not in alignment so that puts a burden on the school system try to figure out what are we supposed to do so we would really like that all the bills that are being passed that they align with one another so that was in that area and so any questions in that um see um chair um of the board Walker and then I saw um Dr Miller hand perfect thank you so much um hey Robin for this one I think the good news is that when we met with the legislative chairs they were um in line with this they were they just didn't know the timing so they said said hey guess
082what we didn't even recognize what the timing is that you needed so just let us know what it is because we standardly go with the same thing every year so this was brought up so I'm excited that it's on here and I think that we'll get support for this as long as we kind of outline what you have right there I think we'll get support for it perfect great um and thank you so much um uh Dr Miller uh actually uh board chair's comment is really exciting to hear that they are considering this roll out that's really exciting um I'm just wondering whether we should um everything everything would deter is determined by how heavy the lift is going to be so giving them a definitive time would be really hard but at least saying
083a year before we start putting it into place may help um but the other thing that I wanted to add to this one is could could there be some wording where if we start early it's okay and then let me tell you why I'm asking there's certain things that you want to stop right away that like you it they just can't go on any longer like we just need to do it right away so we want I I don't know whether in that case we want to be clear on that particular legislation and let this one go or should we put it in this one so I'm not sure how to handle that um I mean oh go ahead see if you had a response um Robin well I'm I'm not sure how I I'm
084not sure how to write it that doesn't necessarily contradict what we have here I I understand what you're saying and I'm thinking in some instances um I can see that I mean it's sort of like you know federal law says You must do one thing state law says you can't you you have to do at least what federal law says but you can do anything over and above what federal law has mandated so I'm just wondering when you think of it from a local perspective if we want to go over and above what is mandated uh even if it you know I I think we have I mean the board has the abil the authority to be able to do something like that so I don't know I mean if if you have some type
085of wording you would like to put in there that would be something but I wouldn't want to also undermine this language because I will tell you that I can't I didn't I didn't ask them they just said it to me every single chief that I met with that was probably the thing they were most concerned about they want to be in compliance but you're not giving us enough time to be in compliance got it well no if you're saying that we have the ability to start it or to implement earlier um then that's fine then we should just leave it like that we don't if we don't need to word it saying that hey it'll start next year but this is something that we know needs to stop right away for whatever reasons uh and
086if we can just go ahead head and Implement earlier then those are things that the administration would determine and move forward with I mean I think you do for the best part you do I'm just thinking of even the bills we have on our list right now for this year many of those things you could do in advance of when I mean if you if let's say they had really said it was a year from now that we could like for example which we're going to talk about surely is putting numbers on badges student badges that would certainly be something that I mean if we want to do it before it would ever be required we could certainly do that so many things I don't know if everything but many things you absolutely could do
087in advance yeah yeah I agree I think we don't want to have limit limiting language and I did um and this is and I'm going to stick to the rule of not going um you know not going into like rabbit holes here but I did just want to say going back to the earlier discussion about the time uh limits because I think that this kind of aligns with that a bit um I was thinking maybe instead of having months it might be just like and again you can you can you can kind of finagle the language here but like the equip whatever is appropriate for is a best practice for um or industry standard for that specific roll out so if it's like auditing right and it takes two years for an audit office to
088get you know up to speed then that's fine and you can you know that would be very different from like a maybe something else and I so I don't want to have limiting language and I think that was the point that was being made but maybe instead of having months we could just have something that's very general say like it's that that these legislators are doing the research on that stuff and and really thinking like what's reasonable for the specific roll out or implementation of a of a requirement and mandate so just so that you know I did meet with um um um John Willams and um legislative staff from each of the different counties and this was a conversation they also had and so actually they they all came to agreement at that that
089really what we should be really advocating for is that you give us to the next calendar year to to be able to implement so that's why I wrote it the way it was because I sort of wanted us to be aligning with whatever May is coming out with but if you want to change it that's fine I think we should do what maybe saying because I think that that helps us bolster ourselves so yeah we should be align for sure thanks for that context um if are there any other questions about this section right I think we can move and then I just have one other one yet that I'll talk very fast and it's a new one also Federal support for public education and so um and and basically all it's doing is saying
090that you know we feel that a lot of these Federal programs need to be funded appropriately you know good example is idea with special ed services um that we do need because all the all everything sunsetting as of of Monday we really need to have uh additional Federal funding for mental health services for students um you know uh let's see what else uh that we feel that the federal government's role should be to supplement and support um rather than mandate because really education is a local effort um so and the funding related to cyber security threats e rap programs um and then the any federal mandate that it does come out it should be fully funded by federal dollars and then two opposes PRI prioritization of public education funding we do oppose that as well
091as uh Federal efforts prescribe how school system districts uh Implement apprenticeship programs um because we I mean we are I think we're be we know our community we know our businesses and so we don't need the federal government telling us how to do it so that was it that's it I'm done nothing else any any questions on this section um Robin I did have one just addition here and this is piece and that was around the federal government I just wanted to say that I think maintenance of effort is the term where you know if they increased funding and then that there's a funding Cliff because they're cutting that funding which is the sunsetting of these um dollars that we're getting that they could really I think if we had something there where this is
092probably radical in some way but like they could consider you know grants or other programs to really cover some of that maintenance of effort that localities aren't able to do because a lot of that falls on States and falls on counties to cover whatever additional funding the federal government was getting to fill that Gap and meet that kind of basic standard and so if we could just have something in there even though I know that's like a kind of shot in the dark or um a tall order I think that might be something just just to say that we said it okay um okay so if there are no objections the committee shall recommend the legislative platform to the full board for consideration hearing no objections um the legislative platform will be recommended to the
093full board for consideration now going to move on to item 4.0 policies for first consideration discussion tonight there are three items for discussion we will have two rounds per discussion and vote for a third round if necessary each discussion round per member will last two and a half minutes we're going to move to item 4.1 rules of procedure the chair recognizes um Mrs Welsh for an update of the rules of procedure what shall it be reflected as a bylaw a policy regulation or rules of procedure so our discussion that we've had and then we're finally going to get clarity on um so I'll turn it to you Mrs wilsh for clarity here so um I went through uh what was presented at the board meeting um maybe the August meeting that went through um what
094um Mr Swift had provided and then you had voted on different sections of that and in essence what I gathered from that was that um there would but several of the bylaws like 9360 there that's already being covered in under the rules and there's no need for um anything else because we have that so that we can get rid of those and then might um there were some a couple others that needed to be that were I think um res sended voted on but then there was the conversation about changing all the bylaws to policies so um they I if I GA gathered it correctly though it was that you had voted to change all bylaws to po we don't need the name of bylaw we'll just switch those to policies but I would also
095recommend that as we move through these bylaw these new policies that we there is no need to have a totally separate section in the 9000s that if you look at what you have sitting in your 8000 series which are all internal policies that it would make sense to have and we actually have had many redundancies between what's sat in the 9000s and what's sat in the 8000s that it would make sense to have all of the um that as we move these into policies that we then take them out of the 9,000 Series and start incorporating them into the 8,000 Series so I didn't know what your thinking was on that and as we go through tonight's agenda then we'll see where certain ones were recommending recision already we're moving through that process for the
0969000s okay so any um any any uh questions or concerns or comments about the um consolidation of the 8,000 9,000 Series um board chair Walker hi as you go over this in the public meeting if you could just give that overview even a more condensed one it just says that we're resending these and the reason is because they are Maryland State uh statute versus our Bo policies um therefore we have no governance to be able to change them that's why we're um res sending them thanks so much other questions or comments was that a yes I didn't know or back to me or oh you stated that as a statement not as a question but I'm happy to say that yeah I think that's what we um that is what we discussed and so happy
097to um draft language that way yeah um I see I don't see a hand but I see that um Vice chair Miller is off mute so just want to clarify if you have any questions otherwise um let going move forward okay um so if there are no objections the committee shall adopt that the rule rules of procedure be reflected as policies there being no objections the rules of procedures will be reflected as policies moving forward well you mean the bylaws correct the bylaws will be reflected as policies now moving forward yes sorry not rules of pursuit so I want to say that again there being there being no objections the bylaws will be reflected as policies moving forward um we're now move on to item 4.2 policy 91 100 officers the chair recognizes Mrs Welsh
098for an update my hand up I'm sorry you didn't see it my hand is up can you tell I can see it on my side I think you pull up down side yeah um uh board chair Walker yeah thank you so much um didn't we vote on this as a um board last month to go to policy you did yeah the bylaws I think switched anything that was left over that didn't get put into the rules that were not that they you hadn't voted to resend I thought you voted that it was going to be policy and to move it to to commit yeah we did yeah okay thank you um and then before I move forward um want to recognize um Mrs Miss adien just a quick question so I know we have the
099discussion around the rules of procedure if that um was going to be in the 8,000 or 9,000 Series like just the standard rules of procedure decide what we're going to do yeah that's and that's why you had that language in there around the rules of procedure um which well I I guess another question would be I I didn't I I no there was conversation about saying the we'll make the rules of procedure a policy then there was conversation that talked about not making it a policy so I mean I I don't care which way we do it I will say this that the way it's written the rules of procedures it is saying that basically I mean many of the things are not written out like we normally do on policy because instead he has
100an appendix there that list out that has the different laws that it's applying to so um if that if you're not going to make it a policy then it would be something that would just sit separate I guess and wherever you want to put it yeah yes um yeah and I want to clarify so there there's like there we were changing all of the bylaws to policies that we've had that discussion about there was the one piece that was just around like governance board governance which tends to typically be bylaws and that's the rules of procedure so the question is really on do we want the rules of procedure to become a remain a bylaw become a policy a regulation um or be or be referred to as a rule of procedure um and so
101that is um I want to clarify that that was my my fault there and not clarifying that and not fully understanding that piece um but before we move forward on a vote um I want to recognize board member Boer struther yeah thanks I um I know I mean I know we're not supposed to have bylaws anymore um based on our par parliamentarians advice and when we did the rules of procedure at the August board meeting I am I'm looking at the motion I know we we accepted some edits and then we agreed to them um and I believe I'm trying to see if we actually declared that night um yeah we were talking about I think we were calling it a bylaw at the time um we shouldn't have anything called bylaws anymore right so
102and we're saying that a rules of procedure I mean to me it would fit into some of like some of our policies are very procedural like that that's what why they exist so I just know we have to make sure it's not a bylaw but we did do that work we did agree to the document to the final edits of the document yeah and I want to bring this back because I feel like that was the confusion that was on my part for not really um clarifying that because that was the question that board chair Walker asked we did made the bylaws policy so all of those there's that one piece around governance and again that piece is normally tend to be a bylaw but now we're having a vote on whether that would be
103a bylaw a policy a regulation or we would refer to it as a rule of procedure um so that's essentially what we're discussing right now is on the rules of procedure what are we going to term it um board chair Walker yes I'd like to propose that we just take this question and talk to our parliamentarian because we did a lot of work on making sure that that thing was sufficient for how we move forward so we didn't have to come back to it so I'd just like to recommend that we take exactly the question Miss adlay um actually probably wrote it down I know probably ril did and we will talk to I will commit to us talking to the parliamentarian tomorrow to get that answered I feel like this is work that we've
104already done I just would hate for us to vote on something here and re and overdo what we did last time um thank you for that comment um Miss okay just quickly I hope I didn't confuse anyone so I was just trying to understand what the document itself the document we have called rules of procedure would that be just called rules of procedure or policy 8,000 or rules of procedure or policy 9,000 rules of procedure I think that's my question yeah it's just called rules of procedure can we take that off and talk to the parliamentarian I promise you we went through this for hours yeah and take that off please we we will commit okay and and and I do think I I don't want to have I really and this is again I
105think this is my fault for not clarifying so I don't want to have a redundancy I know that we have had a conversation with the parliamentarian a number of times about this so I do think it's in our hands to decide but if we want to take it back to the parliamentarian and then I think we can just take a vote on that as a committee um but otherwise I think we can make a decision here around what we feel makes the most sense do we call it a rule of procedure a policy a regulation or a bylaw and we can just vote on that to simplify any additional things on our plate that we have to move forward um so are there any are there are is there any opposition to us just voting
106now or making a decision now as a committee is there any opposition to this being referred to as rules of procedure any objections okay there are no objections the committee shall adopt that the rules of procedure be reflected as rules of procedure um and there being no objections the rules of procedure will be reflected as rules of procedure um and thank you so much for all that Clarity and I apologize I should have been the person who was clear on that um we'll move to item 4.2 policy 9100 officers um I recognize Mrs Welsh for an update on policy 9100 officers so um since so now that we have we're I think getting rid of all our BS going into policy I started going through all the 9000s and I realized so last time we
107met we talked about the chair at that P that byla at that point in time and that was uh 9210 I think and so then I looked at um I look we had one called the chair one called the vice chair one called the I think it was the CEO secretary and Treasurer and then we have one called the officers so the officers actually list out all these people and have has a little description about each one and then each of these ones about each of the other ones except for the chair which we've made major changes to also say the same thing which seems sort of crazy especially since if you look at this policy that we did previously about the chair we spent a lot of time talking about the vice chair in
108this one because we talk about if the chair is is if there's a vacancy or if the chair is in present and the vice chair does the same thing that chair does and so and my recommendation was that we just do away with the chair the vice chair and the um the executive officer treasur secretary and instead C officers put all the information about the chair and it'll address the chair the vice chair and the um and this it'll be the executive officer secretary treasur which is has to do with the superintendent so um I'll go through it and then if you don't want to do it that way we can certainly uh change it back but it just seemed crazy to have these little policies that are just on liners when you could just
109consume put them all together in one so this is basically the same uh policy or by now policy was bylaw that we discussed except I did add Vice chair and the secretary treasurer and uh and executive officer Secretary of treasur and executive officer so um I want to point out if you'll scroll down Cindy and um oh I did okay this is so interesting because uh keep going down a little bit further so I ended up Crossing out bylaws but the last time if you recall we met and there was a whole conversation about um the your the uh code of contuct for the board of I think it's 0108 and it talks about attendance and that there was nothing referenced in attendance so when I went back to look at that policy and read
110about what is considered like basically when you're going to take action to have a board member removed because they've been not in attendance for too long um that that would make s to describe that as a a vacancy so I have any board member who and this has come directly out of your um um code of conduct uh policy any board member who misses three or more consecutive regular scheduled board meetings work sessions emergency meetings public hearings appeals and or executive sessions or fails to attend 25% of the board's regular meetings during any 12 month consecutive uh 12 consecutive month period so that would be as you'll go further as we go into the policy B cany that would take care of it but scroll up a minute Cindy because we also have the language
111in the policy about temporarily so I then said Well if you know if you're going to get in trouble as a board member and the board can take action to remove you uh when you've hit what the definition for vacancy then wouldn't anything else beyond that be uh less than that would be temporary so I then took the language and said any board member who misses two or less consecutive regular scheduled board meetings work sessions emergency meetings public hearings appeals or executive sessions or fails to attend 20% or less of the board's regular meeting during any 12 consecutive month periods so if you're thinking about the chair or even the vice chair if you're if you've done that you're considered temporarily but the minute you jump up to 25% or you're missing uh three or
112more consecutive regularly scheduled meetings then automatically we assume your your position that that you've vacated that position and you're no longer the chair now I don't know if you want to do that but I did it base I went back and listened to the video and after reading through the code of conduct I thought maybe that would be just the way to go but if you think differently please let me know and then um I don't think there were any changes throughout the the um document if you keep scrolling through Cindy um because I think it keep going down because we had two there before but if you keep going it still has all the duties of the chair like we had before um we did official the vice chair and then we have uh
113so this is where you see if both the chair and the vice chair are temporarily unavailable to carry out the above duties the remaining members of the board shall select other members to serve in the capacity of the chair and vice chair until the return of the chair and vice chair and if you go further up get scroll back up a minute I'm sorry uh in the absence of the chair and board meeting the vice chair shall perform the duties ordinarily assigned to the chair but then it goes down to e and says in the event of a vac can see in the office of the chair the vice chair will assume the um no that's not correct uh in the event of vacancy in the office of the chair yes the vice chair will
114assume the duties of the chair until the annual meeting in December at which scroll down um the election of the chair will be held uh and then if the vice chair declines to assume the responsibilities of the chair then the board will elect a replacement for the chair and then in the event of a vacancy in the office of the vice sh the remaining board members will elect a replacement at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the board so that takes so there's two definitions I add I or think but if you think differently we can change it helps give Clarity on what is considered a vacancy and what is considered when you're just temporarily absent from um the board meetings and I think those were are changes that we needed yes thank you so
115much uh Robin um are there any questions concerning this policy Port member booer struther yeah looking back at that discussion I was the one who had brought up that there was some confusion around the idea of notification and and I asked well what if the chair or vice chair I think we were talking the chair this one on the chair um looking back at the at the bylaw 9210 chair was the discussion what if they don't notify and I think we we so that needs to come out out right well I I'm wondering if what you're saying today is answering my that question because I remember we all agreed that there was a gap in in process because the it assumed that this temporarily absent chair would notify but what if they don't notify and
116we had the discussion about well then we go right over to vacancy I remember uh chair of the board Walker you know guiding us over like well then do we move to the vacancy um you know that they're vacating the office they've been absent four times so I just want to and I remember we we decided that we didn't have a a answer so I guess I'm checking in to see do we actually have an answer to to that before you uh answer oh okay she's back I just want to say if that happens again if she drops off we can continue having discussion but we can't vote on anything um Robin oh I just want to say I've meant to take out this in a period of time a greater two weeks notice from
117the chair I wanted to take that out for exactly what you said at the last meeting because of the fact that um um what if they don't give you notice and I think that's what went back then to the conversation of the code of conduct because we already have standards set so why won't we just apply those so that I will take that out when it moves forward in terms of the um onee notification I mean one two week no what is is a one month notification I also meant to say one other thing I'm sorry is that um then there is um so it so it already says this policy that was a bylaw already went into great detail about the vice chair because it's telling you the vice chair is there to pick
118up the responsibilities of the chair when they're not available um but we then I did add two two sentences about the superintendent I meant to say so the superintendent of PGCPS this is G Cindy if if you want to if you want to scroll did she here yes if you can want to scroll down I'm sorry on Page Three G and H um so the superintendent PG PG scroll keep going down a minute no I mean up I'm sorry keep going up sorry um okay if the super PGCPS is the secretary treasur executive officer of is the secretary treasur executive officer of the board the superintendent may have IES on any question under consideration by the board but may not vote so that's language directly out of the previous bylaw that talked about the secretary
119treasur and executive officer and then um we also had language in one of them and I put this in unless uh tenure or salary of or the administration of the office of superintendent is under consideration the superintendent or or the superintendent Des shall attend all meetings of the board and its committees so um if you think about our committee two there's always someone designated by the superintendent you know as his um representative to be there um so those were the other two things I added to it thank you so much Robin I did just have one clarification around the 20% and the 25% um can you just clarify for that 25% language is it that if a board member misses 25% of meetings they're automatically that triggers the removal process it triggers the it allows
120the board to take um to um if you look in the law where it talks about the four areas of where a board member can be removed and of course it's not the board that does the removal it has to go to the state superintendent but all that information you would then put together your reasoning for why the person was not available and that they were out of compliance with the the code of conduct um and and um so that's why it's important to keep you know track of people's attendance okay and can you just clarify the distinction between the 20% again so then the only reason that I said so if you're considered a vacancy at 25% then anything less than 25% would be you aren't vacant yet you're still temporarily absent but you're
121not vacant so that's why I I just took that I we certainly can add anything you want to put in there but I was just thinking well if you don't meet that that criteria for for being considered vacant then of course you'd just be temporarily absent okay are there other questions um board chair Walker yep I just wanted to clarify that the 25% so when someone's 25% what it triggers is the board discussion it triggers the board discussion to determine what the next steps are so that we can move it forward that's just SP of record since we're on camera the other thing is um uh yeah I'm in alignment I feel we've been talking about this I I feel like it's been probably over a year and um I'm I'm ready to move it
122Robin you've done such a phenomenal job at it I think we are super clear and as we continue to look at it and get public input we'll still have more to talk about great thank you so much Rob no problem anyone else oh thought you had a comment Robin if there's no okay great if there are no objections the committee shall recommend policy 9100 to the superintendent for approval there being no objections policy 9100 officers will be recommended to the superintendent for approval going to now move to item 4.3 policy 2566 student identification cards I recognize Mrs wilsh for an update on policy 2566 student identification cards so um we have we we did have a policy we do have a policy that talks about the student identification cards um and the um the language
123if you look at the language that starts in the very beginning it was um this is language that came from that um from that policy because it talked about the fact that the reason we want our students to have student identification cards um is really for the Safety and Security of our students so it says uh the board is committed to providing for the safety of all students in Prince georg's County Public Schools property and to creating and maintaining a safe inclusive and supportive environment school where students can be successful at achieving excellence and education and then the purpose of the policy is to ensure that students in middle and high school wear a student identification card for safety and security purposes now the policy the way it reads right now talks about only high
124school but um I know there's been more and more issues at the middle school level first of all and secondly the reason this policy came up was because of um of a house bill that was um let me see if I can find it that talked House Bill 284 that talked about what should be on the back of student identification cards so and in that in that bill it actually talks about both middle and high school students so that's why I did say that the purpose of the policy is to ensure that students in middle and high school wear a student identification card for safety and security purposes um and then we have a definition of what is a school official and what's the school property because you'll see that language in the in the
125body of this policy and then the 988 suicide and crisis Lifeline which is what is supposed to be required a sticker or something on the back of the ID card um and that's a behavioral crisis hotline which provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day seven days a week for people in distress prevention and crisis resources and best practices for professionals so um um again that's driven by the law and so then um the language in order to assist in providing uh improv security within pcps all students in grades six through TW uh 12 shall be issued photo identification cards and student will be required to carry these cards at all times while on pgps property the number of the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline and now this is what I think you wanted
126um Jonathan but please correct me if I'm wrong and the wed link address for reporting bullying didn't you talk about some type of identif and there was no telephone number but there is a wed link address that you could put on the back of it shall be printed on the back of the student identification card so I did put that in there um um and and that's fine we can do the website I think they the The Bullying office talked about a QR code oh and which is fine I think either way it's it's accessible but you know QR code may be easier for students you know this this generation but how about if I put web link address and or QR code yeah absolutely and then the last piece again this is still much
127of the same language that was there before but it says students must present their student identification card to any school official upon requests these cards may also be utilized at various administrative purposes as determined by the school principal um by the principal such uses may include but are not limited to admission to Social and athletic events which again that was previous language that was in the policy and then of course the board authorizes a superintendent to development administrative procedure to implement this policy there any questions to this about this policy Court member Boozer struther yeah thanks I um so I think I just want to be clear so in the policy we're saying these must be on the back of the card but that doesn't preclude the ad the superintendent's administrative procedure for choosing other
128information to add to the back of the card is that if there's changes over time that would make sense to have other uh useful links to dat to helpful student information it's the the these are just what have to be there it means the superintendent can add it add oh yeah I mean they could if there was something else that they thought was important to add okay yeah and I I also agree with making sure it's not all just QR code because we at the middle school level we certainly have a growing number of parents who would like cell phones to not even be used by their students while they're in school at the middle school level that's so I think that that helps there so I appreciate that oh that's a very good point
129yeah it's a great Point um and and and I'll say for that that policy I'm not sure I think I was hearing that do we want to keep it General as least what I was interpreting board boo Str to mean we have we have the Mandate about the 988 suicide we of course have the bullying piece but do we want to have language in there that also allows her flexibility just in case there's any misinterpretation that the superintendent and his team can always add additional you know content to the to the I would support a statement that says the administrative you know the superintendent however Miss Welsh know you know is the expert in how you say to the superintendent your administrative procedure can you know choose additional information as deemed necessary or whatever that
130language would be okay yeah I just want say um and then are there other questions concerning this policy okay um if there are no objections the committee shall recommend policy 2566 I'm so sorry I do want to tell you that you did receive a written comment um as a under public comment um for tonight's meeting and it was specific to these ID cards so I want to bring that up before we move further out uh it says um basically that um they think that this particular person uh feels that they should it should display the student's preferred name versus um when that name is associated with the student's gender identity um um and so B that's basically the concern she then talks about her child you know coming to school and using preferred names um
131display preferred until it was changed at some point that she's talking also about changes in the preferred name but according to board policy 0103 inclusive environments students have a right to be identified by the name that corresponds with gender identity and disregard for this policy is a violation my so um I mean I don't have any problems with that my only question is because this the the whole idea of a student ID card was for safety and security purposes I didn't know if there was some reason of from that perspective of why you wouldn't want to do that but I don't really know but but I did want to share that public comment that came in board member Boer struther yeah thank you I did read that comment and I do think that the one
132the existing policy does cover that it sounds like there might have been you know A administrative error that needs to be corrected and if they run into issues the inclusive environments policy certainly covers that you know that the ID card would be the the preference just like the you know the name that the you know that the um system has for graduation certificates things like that um but it you know I know that we do have references to other policies that if we feel that this needs to be reiterated we should put it in here the other board policy of the inclusive environments that that has been identified as significant I mean that would be one one way to demonstrate that we our assurances that we would will follow that policy when it comes to
133your ID card that's a good point I can certainly I mean we do we list out any board policies that are related to the policy and I said we can certainly include that and I have a question but or a comment but um board um board chair Walker yes I did I just um I think all of these are very important to our student ID cards I mean I think that there's also the of hidden disabilities there's also the thoughts of allergies severe allergies there's so many things that can go on back which are necessary in the cases of emergency especially where we are now um and so just a um just leaving it open for the superintendent and then letting him know that hey hopefully there's a policy by which we can or a
134process by which we can add these things in or give him recommendations to put them in because I don't just don't think there's any way we're going to be able to hit them all because those are two I just thought of just listening but we can put a number of things on the back for ease of information for a child for safety and security purposes I don't know your thoughts Robin it's a question I don't know how much space we literally have on the back of an ID card but I just thought of those two as well I'm sure that there's parents that have a plethora of them so maybe we write it broadly but then we ask the superintendent to create a process whereby he can help to prioritize those you know like once
135or twice a year it's Hefty for cost as well what well that I so if there anything like our ID you know employee ID cards there's not a heck of a lot of room on the back so I don't know how much you could get on but secondly um I mean he could certainly include language in the administrative procedure that would address that um to provide that option the only thing I was thinking if you're in an emergency situation and one of the reasons of having a student ID card let's just say I don't know something terrible is happened to a student student and now they can't talk or anything and you're calling you know it might be at a school activity or something and you're calling but you don't have the students actual names
136and you're trying to get a hold of the parent I mean there's so many things so I was I didn't know if that would be a factor other from a Safety and Security purpose because the previous Pol or the current policy that's all it keeps referring to is Safety and Security so that was my only question or chair Walker yeah I guess the only I love that because now you know of course we get ideas I guess when they go to take a look at the system maybe we could investigate with him if it can just have a scan on it of some sort so that it can have all of that information in a database because there's so much then he can continuously go in that means it's only one sunk cost for the
137system but in the back end he can go in and um you know continuously add different aspects to it maybe it can even link to Synergy so maybe we just ask what can be done there's so much technology right now but there's a list of things we can put on there for Safety and Security imagine a child passing out and you can just scan this thing and all of a sudden you have all the information you need about them thanks so um I did have a comment and I just wanted to say that I think uh consideration for this policy is um with the the pronouns is which is a really um great suggestion and I think that that is so important for students to feel that they feel seen and heard in school o
138think about um just the communication end with the school you may have a parent who has a kindergartener or a third grader or a middle schooler who hasn't you know who hasn't communicated to their parent that they would prefer to be called them or they or she or her and and I think that if a parent were to see them coming home with you know an ID that says something very different I do think we have to also navigate how do we how do we work with parents in in those things and I think that could be a safety security thing for a student right they go home and to a parent who isn't accepting of that and that puts them in danger in some way and so I think that um you know those
139are things that we should be um considering um is uh just the other implications of what could or couldn't happen that's a good point and I want to go back and look at our policy on lgbtq plus people because I do think we have some language about when a student hasn't informed their parent and and um it's not our responsibility to inform the parent so yeah and and and and and Robin you will appreciate this and then I I'm going to be quiet and pass this on but I think there may also be C case law for you to look at because I know that there are some school districts that have actually navigated this and they've had incidents like this and that may offer some you know starting point for what we might want
140to do as an example of like what worked what didn't work um so just wanted to say that to if you're doing research this um yeah I I think that inclusive policies covered you know that discussion around um students um communicating within the building and and not necessarily home and we we had you know quite a bit of discussion about that but I guess I would just want to make sure we're not excuse me saying that the student cannot on their own proactively say this is the name for my ID I think we're not the policy would not allow for that like the student can choose the policy says that like so I just want to make sure we're not saying let say that we had a we discussed a lot about the role of
141of parent notification and safety when we pass that policy and I think we got there yeah so maybe we can so maybe with this one I think if we're going to include that language and I'm not I know that came as like a comment um we can just revisit what those policies said and then have a additional discussion on um on this piece and perhaps come back to it um but just curious what the committee thinks on that are there any objections to us perhaps tabling this discussion and um coming back after we have the the clarification on the language and other policies um Robin no I'm fine with that I was going to say I'll go back and look at the other policy because we might be able to pull language right from that
142policy that would address this very same issue yeah it just doesn't hurt to look in and see so um so if there are no objections to us tabling this policy policy 2566 to the next policy and governance meeting for further discussion um then we will do that there being no objection policy 2166 student identification cards will be tabled into the next policy um in governance meeting um Bor member Bo sh yeah I apologize I tried to get my hand up when you gave us that last chance um I just want to note that the AP on um uh gender uh identity is actually I think where these the the use where you choose to have your name um um is is in that I think inclusive policies covers it but I think that very specific
143we've been talking about this point about um you know with the the student asking for this I think it's in the AP is the original AP okay I'll check thank you so much Robin all right we're gonna move on to item 5.0 policies for second consideration good question chair you said that it's gonna be postponed right yes postponed thank you thank you so much um so there are nine items for consideration um in item 5.0 policies for second consideration item 5 .1 school year 2425 work plan the chair I recognize Mrs Welsh for an overview of the school year 2425 work plan so s do you mind posting it please so we have we actually already started um implementing the work plan but we never really spent that much time talking about the work plan
144and I know um the time will be coming uh where um uh chair Briggs will be up there talking to the board about what the plan is for the uh for the school year so I thought it's good that we get through this so we can um just finalize it so this I'm not going to go through each one because I know we're in short in time but you can see what we have put in there are several if you recall from when the superintendent's recommendation we have numerous ones added that came through because of laws that were passed this past year um and then I did also incorporate a attendance because um board member buser brother had asked that we'd bring that back for discussion as well as board policy 5143 bullying harassment intimidation
145because um I know that board member Miller was also very concerned about that and when we had seen that finally got to see the data report related to bullying we thought it might be important to uh come back and review that along with the policy and make possibly make some changes to that policy so I did incorporate that I do want to point out though that if you look at um um for tonight's meeting you'll see all these recisions which are we're going to are weend the chair the vice chair and the secretary treasur and executive officers um uh because we're we're going to be all incorporated into the officer and one that we just did and then actions by individual board members that one is um actually if you look at that that's already
146addressed in the code of conduct so there's no reason to have that so my only questions I had which were um they had to do with 9361 and 9367 is that correct what do you have up here yes um in terms of meeting because I believe I do believe that this the procedures really should be addressing that there was some I mean there's not that much information about it but it does talk in the procedures about meeting time in place in Quorum um and then there's of course the appendix where has some of the laws back there so my recommendation was for recision but I wanted to make sure before in case you're absolutely uh you know what your thoughts are and then on top of that I did want to say that we also
147talked last year that we were going to bring policy 3323 back on purchasing um and that and um but at that time the committee asked if we could if um Miss Johnson who is the purchasing director if she would come and provide a training for for the um for the for the committee actually for the board of EDS so that better being better able to understand the policy and so I we definitely need to come back and and um put the policy in but I didn't put it anywhere because I don't know when you plan to do your training and I I know there was some conversation about doing online training but I think purchasing is one of those subjects that you're going to probably want to do in person just because you may have
148lots of questions about the information that she's sharing and I and and I know the whole idea last year was that you wanted to make sure you were informed you know an informed decision maker as you went through this policy so and I also know that I think there's been some Co conversation in the baa committee about looking at 3323 so I guess the question is when do you plan to do your training so that we know them where to put policy 3323 in um during that you know it within the year and then the other one that I had was not included in any of the recommendations but I am going to ask whether or not this would be something that um that you would like to incorporate into the uh to the work
149plan is bylaw 9354 which is now policy one but it's about the uh board members vouchers reimbursement of expense and again I think this is another one that had come up in the abbaa committee and I think concerns related to monitoring that and you know what is our process for monitoring so I didn't know if you wanted to incorporate that PO list that in also as an addition one um and then one more yet um so Chevy McCrae from my office had the opportunity to be in a meeting um uh with uh um Kim Taylor who's the vice chair of the education committee and she asked the question about uh the fact that our new cell phone policy policy board policy 5180 student uses social media and Peds and schools actually uh talks about that
150each School principal will make the decision if they want to um allow students to use cell phones beyond what the policy actually says which the policy basically says the only time you're really going to be using cell phones is uh you can use cell phones you're on your way to and from school on the bus whatever but that once you get to school the principal does have the right to designate a uh location and a time to use the the a cell phone but that would be up to the principal and her question was about uh would the if why wouldn't the board consider saying that was the responsibility of the superintendent so I didn't know if that was something that you wanted to have a conversation I will say cell phones are big a
151major Hot Topic which I'm sure you're aware of um and who knows the state legislature could end up mandating a policy that would end up changing your policy so I don't know what your thinking is but I do definitely would want to make get some confirmation on 9354 and whether or not you do want to put uh this cell phone policy up on the agenda you know on the list for as a conversation for the future thank you so much Robin um I saw board chair Walker's hand and then board M Boer Str you are muted just a quick one are we voting on anything else tonight only because I have a seven o'clock meeting so I just wanted to check that we are because I know I make quum on the recisions um okay
152just if okay the second piece is Robin our training um is in October with the um purchases Department oh it is yep it's in October and we meet on October 20 maybe sixth or something like that you got to look at the calendar maybe 24th oh we have the thank you Revel or um Cindy to let us know that and then the last piece on what was the last thing oh cell phon so mdse is look is is looking at the entire state for cell phone policies so my Reco would be that we don't decide anything here but I do know that the superintendent um it has come to his attention a number of times and that m mdsc is really working on the the state cell phone policy and then we'll fall in line
153with whatever that is and then it'll trickle to us to see if there's any we need to do by way of um our policies so those are the three things I wanted to add and then I have I'm going to stay for the question then I really have to drop I'm sorry okay okay go ahead uh yeah thank you so much I I I was going to say MSD state board had the cell phone policy on their agenda today so there's move movement above us that I agree with um board chair Walker that we should see see how that goes but but I um I do um you know I'll Reserve comments for if we do bring it back but I have a feeling we're going to have to bring it back just based on
154movement happening um but I would I I I do think clearly hearing this there's a legislative agenda piece around um uh local control on this decision possibly that if we're already hearing that this is being discussed that that maybe we do need our legisl agenda to say something proactive around that proa what do you like what do you mean by proactive that that we're saying that the Board of Education should be making decision the cell phone policy decisions but not the state legislature it's another local control issue like if it if it's really that a active considering a delegate has met one-on-one with um the person you mentioned that um that you know maybe we need to be proactive at this point although you know I'm sure ma is being proactive on our behalf too
155on that issue yeah and I would say Robin to that point I I feel like you're thinking about this um because partly I know that there are a number of states that are rolling out actual legislation on cell phone restrictions and there and some are some are heavier heav heavier handed and others aren't I think that um what we should probably do is figure out what works for our district and I think that's where the advocacy can be because then maybe what MSD is proposing maybe or legislators are proposing may fit with what we think works for Prince George's County um but I don't know if I necessarily think that we should have like a bullet point that says like it should be full local decision making even though we'd likely just be going beyond
156what MSD is saying um so I just want to to say that as a as a consideration um I will tell you that we did have a b we did have a bill that went through last year that had on cell phone policy we did oppose it for the reason not because whatever it said about the cell phone policy but because of the fact that it countered to local board authority and that was the authority of the boards to be able to make their own policy um board chair Walker yes um I really have to I'm so sorry drop after this um but um what I wanted to just um add is that cell phone policies is not just asked by one legislator believe me there's more than 10 who have tried to address this
157with us it we just know that at a state level they're looking at it so versus doing competing priorities right now I'm happy to walk into this thing if we believe as a board which we don't know yet that we want to stand firm on one belief the thing about cell phones is that we're not going to have a standard belief for it so my Raco to our chair uh Jonathan Briggs is that we wait on what is happening and just see it a little bit and then decide if we want to move forward um on that legislation if we want to change anything is due October 1 and I don't think that we we can talk about it as a board but I don't think we'll be prepared for that but we can definitely
158Advocate okay um I wanted to say thank you I have to drop is there a vote that I can help on really quickly because I really gotta go before you go I wanted to make the statement that there are no active votes they're all if there is an objection um so if you stay on we can have the we can have quum I can't I'm sorry what if I I do have an objection but I'm happy to go with whatever you all have right now I'm sorry zapor I can text zapor and see if she can come back but I think we for the public we owe it to them to get through this I mean we have so much stuff to get through so if we can I mean even if you're going off
159camera and you're just muting but I do think just quum wise if we can get um someone on here and then we can um get through R can you um call zapor Miller back I do think it is extremely important um however me going into awake is also very important and I really appreciate the fact for that I really do so to the public I apologize but I really have to go I'm so sorry thank you um ril can we can we see if we can get uh thank you do we do we know um the availability of board member Jackson who's also a member of the committee uh believe I'm not sure he's still a member of the committee if I'm being 100% I think that he um decided to step down m is
160in another meeting okay you know if we remember Jackson um Cindy I know you had that communication with him is he I could double check and see if he's available okay thanks yeah so we can't do anything moving forward until we have because the think unless there's any other additional discussion about the work plan one other question about the work plan is we didn't talk about necessarily 9354 which is the board members V and reimbursement to expenses um uh since it had come up in bafa and I guess um the is the issue of just ensuring we have adequate monitoring and we're you know doing I guess all the checks and balances I didn't know whether or not you wanted to add that as a policy for this upcoming year or not I will say
161I have to say this work plan is tight there's lots and lots of stuff going on and once the legislative session goes into operation um it'll make it difficult to add too much more into the process yeah what your expert suggestion sounds like that we should probably hold but what would be the impact of us not including that well I mean you still have you still have like that policy does I mean that um there's a bylaw right now but it does address what your um like all the requirements it's you know you're it's I'm going to just point it up real quick to look at it it's put 9354 and it's not as old as many of the other ones it's 2017 so it's not it's not as old it does you know it
162goes into detail about what's allowable expenditures re reimbursement what's unallowable expenditures that goes in local meal I mean it isn't pretty much detail really so um I don't know that I mean I really don't know it because it does talk about that everything is supposed to be collected by the board office and then transmit to the office the Chief Financial Officer so there is there is a system in place um so I mean I mean I don't know I don't know all your internal operations that would probably be a question maybe even to ask Revel I don't know um but the it is one of our ones that actually does have a lot of information you know not just a single liner um sounds like you're in in bra do you have any context here
163and we have time to figure things out nothing additive at the moment but if you want to take it offline I'm happy to okay great um Cindy any did we hear back from Brandon he said he can't make it or he says no Al together no response yet no response okay um and I think what we can do is if you don't mind Cindy I think we can we can probably say because we're going to edit this out anyway so I think we can stop the recording and then make some more calls and then see probably give it another five minutes and all right um so if there are no objections the committee shall present the school year 2425 work plan to the full board in October during the introduction of the committee's introduction and
164charge report um are there any objections there being no objections the school year 2425 work plan will be presented to the full board for consideration we're going to move on to item 5.2 policy 4113 Community involvement in the principal selection process I recognize Mrs Welsh for an overview of policy 4113 Community involvement in the principal selection process Mrs Walsh Cindy will you please put it up please the policy um so this this policy is a policy that had been up for um going through the process and then right as we're closing up dur the end of the approval process with the board we did get this public comment so the policy itself is um as updated to reflect the support of everyone in the community is essential for success of our school schools and that
165um families and communities should be engaged it's part of their shared responsibility to be a part of um the um for improving academic outcomes for students so the policy has the following standards um to ensure that local stakeholders play an integral role the school principal vacancy will be posted on the school website stakeholders will be invited to complete a leadership profile survey to solicit their feedback on the qualities and qualifications they believe are essential for a new principle and interview panel that is made up with stakeholders will participate in the interview activity and stakeholders is defined as um um members uh in the community um and students and teachers who are in that actual School community that has the need for the principal and then at least one of the stakeholders shall be a parent
166of a student receiving special education or Section 504 services and then the panel of stakeholders should provide their recommendations to the superintendent and the superintendent shall consider the candidates Rec mened by the panel of stakeholders so um the these are all the steps that the policy addresses in terms or standards I should say in terms of making sure the community is involved in the selection of the principal thank you so much uh Mrs Welsh are there any questions to policy 4113 principal selection process all right seeing none and you're the only person second anything about that um if there are no objections the committee show recommend policy 4113 to the full board for public uh comment consideration there being no objections policy 4113 Community involvement in the pr uh principal selection process will be recommended
167to the full board for public uh comment consideration now moving on to item 5.3 policy 8100 Board of Education standing committees and focus work groups um I recognize Mrs Welsh for an overview of policy 8100 Board of Education standing committees and F Focus work groups so um policy 81 was a policy they came back um that we had we had done I think last year but we brought it back because we now have a new standing committee which is the audit committee so this policy um is was revised to reflect the fact that we do have an audit committee so it basically um describes the different work uh standing committees and focused work groups um and now we do have four standing committees standing committees which as academic achievement committee operation budgets and fiscal Affairs
168committee policy and governance committee and the audit committee um and then it also talks about the fact that um there will be focused work groups and they are required to provide an interum final written progress to the board um and that um the superintendent should designate at least one executive level staff to serve as a Lea on each committee and focus work group for the administration I do I would like to ask one question as we look through this policy uh this um policy to make sure that I actually we had a lot of discussion about which months of the year the audit committee was going to be presenting to the board and so I actually wanted board member of booster TR to have a moment just to look at if you go down to
169um it's under the standards standard seven um Cindy if you keep scrolling down I just want to make sure I had got it correctly keep he keeps scrolling um so I have um so inter ction of committee members it would be in September the operations budget and fiscal Affairs committee and the audit committee and then um for the progress report if you scroll down a little bit further Cindy um or scroll up I guess I don't know which you're going to keep no keep progressing through the policy a minute uh the audit committee would be in March if that's correct and then um keep the outcomes and output the final meeting for the audit committee would be June is that correct did I capture that correctly I just want to make sure I had the
170right months am I being asked to speak out of I'm sorry I should I'm I apologize but I did I uh chair BS I just want to make sure that we had the right the right months of the year for the audit committee yeah no um board member Bo okay thank you um the um I mean I the int I believe the intention was to follow operations budget and fiscal Affairs schedule the um this is for all future years we already have um permission from the chair of the board that in year one as we get up and running that we will be that we will be reporting later on this first one that would have been September will likely be November October or November so for all future years I was assuming that it
171would follow operations budget and fiscal Affairs because essentially audit was part of that schedule because of the the work was happening there so unless there is something to I don't I don't see a reason why it shouldn't follow oafa the same schedule so the same schedule okay then I'll make that change before we send it on yeah and um board member Jackson is the chair of audit right now of um if he had any think I know I know that b m Jackson joined I oh you can I concur I yeah yeah I'm sorry I concur um yes definitely um Vice chair of the audit committee has spoken um correctly about that we um wanted to kind of mirror oba's schedule so she spot on so I think due to us trying to get the
172the committee up and running I think that we may be delayed um think get o late October mean October November is probably when we'll be able to um do that thank you right are there other questions about this policy policy 8100 all right if there are no objections the committee shall recommend policy 8100 to the full board for public comment consideration there being no objections the policy 8100 Board of Education stand standing committees and focused work groups will be recommended to the full board for public comment consideration now have in a block the following policies item 5.4 policy 9210 chair recision item 5.5 policy 9220 Vice chair recision item 5.6 policy 9230 secretary treasurer and executive officer recision item 5.7 policy 9270 actions by individual board members recision it item 5.8 policy 9361 meetings time
173and place prision and item 5.9 9367 meetings quum and Adoption of the formal action prision uh I recognize Mrs Welsh to provide an overview of uh agenda items 5.3 through 5.9 so um all these policies have to do with um starting with 5.4 chair recision so these are really redundancies and policies that we already that we well for the chair Vice chair secretary those are all redundant now with the officer's policy so so that's why they would be requested to be resented and then the actions by individual board members is already addressed in deploy the um code of conduct for the board members 0108 so that would be a recision and then um by understanding was meetings time in place and the um the other one the um form adoption of formal was already was
174addressed through the rules of procedure so that would be a redundancy also thank you so much Mrs wsh if there are no objections the committee shall recommend the policies under agenda item 5.3 through 5.8 to the full board for public comment consideration there being no objections the policies under agenda items 5.3 through 5.9 will be recommended to the full board for public comment consideration uh we're now going to move on to item 6.0 policies for third consideration first reader at committee level um the two items for consideration will be considered as a consent agenda these policies were distributed to the general public for comment no comments were received um so we have item 6.1 policy 5121 grading and reporting for elementary and secondary students and item 6.2 policy 5134 uh 34 School clubs and organizations
175a recision if there are no objections the committee shall recommend policies 5121 and 5134 to the full board for first consideration great there being no objections policy 5121 and 5134 will be recommended to the full board for first consideration we'll now move on to item 7.0 closing remarks from the chair and adjournment um so this is closing and this is adjournment please note that the next virtual policy and governance committee meeting will be on October 22nd 2024 please continue to check the Prince George's County Board of Education web page for meeting information and updates there being no further business I want to say thank you for um the really great discussions that we had this evening um The Time Is Now 7:30 p.m. on the dot uh in the September 24th 2024 policy and governance
176committee meeting is ajour