001began reporting broadcast broadcast the time is now 5 p.m I would like to call to order the November 15 2022 policy and governance committee meeting 1.2 a good evening and thank you for being here my name is Judy mickens-murray I am chair of the policy and governance committee I am an at large representative of the Board of Education we will now have the introductions of committee members and we will start with board members then administrative staff followed by the board office staff and board legal counsel thank you uh board members Pam would you start please sure uh hi everyone Pamela Boozer Strother I'm the District 3 Board of Education member and a member of the committee thank you Mr Alfa row are you there Mr Alvaro are you there Cindy would you check to see
002if Mr Alvaro is I see his fate I see the picture but I need to make sure he's in so that we can have a quorum and I need to make sure we have a court of board members thank you so we'll go to staff to introduce themselves while we're waiting to ensure that Mr Alvaro is in fact on the call Miss what wells would you introduce yourself good evening I'm Robin Welsh the director of government relations compliance and procedures okay uh Mr McClure introduce yourself uh good evening this is uh excuse me I'm George McClure supervisor of Athletics okay and Miss dicks good evening everyone I'm Miss Diggs Shirley Diggs and I'm the coordinating supervisor of intra Scholastic Athletics and Mr Joe Mr Newsome good evening everyone my name is Joe day Newsom I'm
003the director of the board office thank you so much and now we'll go back to Mr Alvaro to introduce himself he's the vice chair of the policy and governance committee hello everyone my name is Alice Ron Reese I'm the student member of the board and the vice chair for the policy committee I appreciate that and board Council was uh going to be a little late uh today so uh we'll introduce the board Council when they get here thank you may I have them and we do have a quorum may I have a motion to adopt the November 15 2022 meeting agenda so moved it has been moved and seconded to adopted November 15 2022 meeting agenda since there are only three of us here there are no objections the motion passes 114 I mean 1.4
004may I have a motion to approve the October 18 2022 uh meeting minute so thank you Miss Struthers I need a second thank you it has been moved and seconded to approve the uh October 2022 meeting the minutes uh hearing I mean are there any objections no I do not object um the motion passes we have the three what uh number of votes that we need uh 2.0 public comments there are no registered public comment speakers this evening registered public comments stickers can be live or pre-recorded using video or audio we're going to 3.0 legislative update Miss Welsh would you please give us a legislative update yes um so on Monday on November the 14th um board member Megan's Murray and also our administrative secretary um Cindy Abilene and myself had the opportunity to go
005and participate in the um Maids uh legislative committee meeting and the purpose of that meeting was that they were going to discuss their proposed legislative priorities and their commission positions and then get preliminary approval from the legislative committee so um they ended up reviewing the the priorities and we have posted the actual position paper on the website so that everyone can have the opportunity to review what they are proposing at this point in time because it hasn't been approved by the Legislative committee at this point it's just a proposal um and then in December if they receive any comments or they you know there's further discussion they'll finalize it and then that us where we'll be able to provide a more in-depth update of what is actually going to be whether it intend to move
006forward legislatively um so I would I really encourage everyone to have the up to take the advantage of the opportunity to just review go through the legislative uh their proposals because it's very interesting it covers many different topics that impact education and it's just important information that everyone should take the time to just review so it's right there for your for everyone's convenience thank you so much uh Mrs Welsh and I also uh agree with what you have just said recommend everyone to take an opportunity to look at what the um May um board of education is think I'm not made Association is thinking in the legislative committee around uh education and it's in depth it's very comprehensive so I encourage especially board members to review the document and it is on board Docs now
007for the Public's consumption Ms Welsh is going to accompany me as we are a team part of the administration and the board through all of the legislative meetings and uh Cindy will also I mean Miss Adeline will also accompany me so that she can start understanding that process when it gets uh when we're looking at issues legislative issues across the state of Maryland uh yes ma'am I mean thank you so much so I wanted to check in on our own legislative priorities we had kind of gotten out of our uh rhythm of doing that we we would have our our own specific priorities for the Board of Education and it's been a couple Cycles since we've done that and definitely a much shorter list than you know maybe's comprehensive plan and so much of it
008is actually year over year I wanted to see if that is something you know the chair that you're planning for us to do this year I know the timing would mean the legislative session would be kind of off to a start by the time we could finish that cycle but I just wanted to know what to prepare for if we're doing that this year or if or if Mabe is going to be our guiding document and priorities this year well what I've asked um board member Boozer Struthers is for uh Miss Welsh and myself to meet later on this week so that we can so that we can plan our plan for this year and you you're on point you're correct we need to have our own legislative recommendations and the administration needs and working
009with through and with the administration so I do plan to do that so I I appreciate your bringing that forward bringing that up but miss Welsh and I talked about that yesterday so hopefully we'll have something to share with the uh Palestine governance committee soon great thank you so thank you all right any more questions of Ms Welsh okay thank you now we'll go to uh 3.2 update on made ad hoc committee blueprint meetings I will turn the I will yield the floor over to miss Boozer Struthers to give us an update all right great thank you so much so this is in reference to the committee that Hawk committee I serve on the maves blueprint implementation at our committee and our next meeting will be Friday December 16th from 10 a.m to 2 p.m
010and I will um I think that's after our December meeting right our next govern so it may not be until January that I can report on this um however our work continues uh the goal of that meeting is to focus in on shared priorities think of it as possibly like a top five list um blueprint legislation uh potential uh recommended changes you know that as we begin to implement we find we have found that there's some challenges and so that is the book purpose and goal of this Committee in next meeting so more to come on that I did want to remind everyone that the aib continues its meetings this is the accountability implementation board that is pretty much our our top level um uh guide uh who we're accountable to for the next decade
011next meetings coming up there's one on the 17th and then um moving into December there's meetings later in November and December and they're still working through the pillars of the aib um plan which is and has been under in public comments so something for all of the committee chairs to watch as our Administration leads also engage and watch this so unless there's any questions that concludes my report uh thank you so much are there any questions from board members are anyone from the administration I I have one comment during the meeting uh with made yesterday the legislative meeting I think the public will see in the legislative committee meeting agenda there is a blueprint Implement implementation plan that you can click on and the and the public can look at where the blueprint uh where
012your committee where they are and there's also a template a template for uh to be used to review the plan so Pam I mean I'm so sorry I am so informal I'm trying to be formal Miss Boozled um that's also there and you might want to look at it and if it's something that you think that we need to post on board dots so that people can just go right to it and not have to click on an icon just to let me know okay and we can make that happen all right thank you okay thank you guys now moving right along we will move to 4.1 policies for discussion there is one policy for discussion policy 5122 into Scholastic and extracurricular activities I will now yield the floor to miss Welsh to give us
013an overview of the proposed revisions of policy 5122 and to introduce the administrative staff that is here to um to to provide additional information for us um so last year um the policy 5122 which is interscholastic and extracurricular activities academic requirements was amended uh and enacted by the Board of Education and probably the two biggest changes that occurred in that policy one had to do with that if you the old policy says specifically you must have a grade point average of 2.0 in order to participate in any of the interscholastic Athletics as well as any extracurricular activities and the one that was then amended and enacted on October 20th 22. it it actually not 22 excuse me 21 actually said that um you can now have if you don't have that 2.0 GPA we're going
014to give you the student aid um probationary period in 20 days but they're not allowed to be playing in any games or wearing any part of the team uniform during that time they can practice um and they are they must attend um like um I want to say like almost like a coaching or intervention kind of session every day for the 20 days in order to be able to improve their grades so that they can be get to that 2.0 so that they can play and then if they do meet the 2.0 at the end of the 20 days then they are allowed to play in the games and wear the team uniforms but if they don't meet that 2.0 then of course they're just as previously would not be able to um um play
015in the games and be a part of the team um so the next step when we're doing the the policy that was to put together changes to the AP the administrative procedures and it was when um Shirley digs who's the coordinating supervisor of the of the interscholastic Athletics started to work on this and got together with the athletic directors and they all discussed that and what they ran into were many roadblocks in terms of being able to implement that policy and Dr Golson requested that she with along with the athletic directors and with George McClure put together information about why it would not be possible to implement the policy so we have with us today they introduced themselves previously but Shirley Diggs and George Muffler who are going to share with you what are the
016stumbling blocks in order to be able to implement this policy and other proposals for changes to the policy okay Miss Diggs first correct yes ma'am yes ma'am um first of all I want to catch this world and I want to thank the board for allowing us this committee to allow us to come and talk about this um you could it is about the board policy 5122 and just a few concerns that we have we're not trying to just knock it out um but we do have some concerns especially since it came out before our athletic department even really knew about it so then the next step was I had to create something for athletics but we knew nothing about this until it went out to the public okay go next slide please so I want
017to talk first I'm only going to pull out a few things from the policy so that you know what we are talking about that seems to be a problem so the students matriculating to the ninth grade must adhere to the high school interscholastic athletics eligibility requirements this was changed in the board policy from the AP procedure and we would like to to Mo to promote and encourage our incoming 9th grade participation where we get the most participation we request to follow the previous AP procedure of no eligibility requirements for incoming 9th graders until the first quarter report that's how it was before and we want to give them the opportunity as you can see to adapt in the many areas of a high school class workload practices competing daily and just high school life we
018want to give them that opportunity first quarter to get adjusted before we move them into just saying they're not eligible because they didn't have a 2.0 from middle school and so we would like to see that go back okay next slide foreign school students participating in athletics now and extracurricular must maintain that minimum as Miss Welch said of a 2.0 or equivalent I know that there are incidences where they um we have heard that they want to put this down the lower 2.0 um we are not quite for that of course um but student athletes they have a chance to attend tutoring sessions when they need to the athletic programs offer study halls before practices academic advisors work with athletic programs during study halls many coaches require weekly and bi-weekly progress reports and students need
019to be held accountable for the year and not just the season athletic scholarships require high standards and achievement and requiring a 2.0 helps maintain safe and orderly behavior in sports and these are reasons why we're feeling like the 2.0 needs to stay one of the things we noticed this last year when we came you know came off of covet went full Strong full strength into Athletics um when we did not we did not require the 2.0 in the fall and I think as many of you have seen we had quite a few fights and things like that at games and this year now that we have the 2.0 back in place this year we have not had in the football season we've maybe had two altercations and that's it and it's just been amazing so
020part of that 2.0 is just to hold kids accountable make sure they want to be there and not just they're out there saying hey I get to play so um those are the reasons that we know that they should be able to maintain a 2.0 okay next slide so I took a survey with the other districts with the other supervisors during one of our meetings and so these are the uh grade point averages that they must have to participate in athletics and 18 out of the 24 has to have a 2.0 and 1 out of 24 has a 2.25 Charles County but they're trying to change that and one out of 24 Calvert County has 70 percent and as you can see some of them are um they're stricter than we are they have no
021more than one failure 12 of the schools have that zero failures five of them and then if they have any programs to participate after the quarter grades no other program has that to after the quarter grades come out that is it except um Hartford County has an appeal process now I also heard and I'm not sure on that one um it's either Anne Arundel or someone does allow progress reports to be reviewed okay next one so the academic eligibility on the day the report cards are issued um there's a few things that are in the language we want to take out the coach we want the athletic director to be completely uh responsible for the eligibility requirements and plus coaches can't look it up anyway um students who do not academically who are not academically
022eligible to begin the athletic season May regain eligibility if they meet academic eligibility requirements after completing a 20-day academic probation period that is one of our main concerns for one we did not have any time to put this in place uh there was no plan that came with it so you know it was kind of hanging out there we had Parents calling us saying Hey when's this 20 day my kid has been waiting 20 days they should be eligible now so there's a whole misunderstanding of exactly what that 20-day academic probation period is going to entail and I've like I said we just did not have time to even understand or put it together um and it also talks about they may not play in games or where any part of a team uniform well
023there's also practices so they should not be able to practice during this 20-day academic period and during it the student will be required to enroll and participate in an academic enrichment program designed to help improve their academic performance so there's some there's some problems in that what is the academic enrichment program is it during the school day is it after school is it you know who's running it the second thing is what are we helping we're helping them improve but we already have many things in place for that we have the tutoring sessions we have the study halls what else would this be and are we gearing in on certain subjects that they failed you know there's just there's some open-ended questions there okay next one so what we did is put together some cons
024these this was my A.D leaders and my athletic director's leadership group and um we put together some of the cons of it and then later you'll see what we can do if we do it and so the first of all it says it involves extracurricular activities and Athletics okay so George and I are in charge of Athletics who is in charge of extracurricular activities and who's going to monitor the extracurricular activities because even right now with the gpas who who monitors it um this is not the responsible of ability of athletic directors and it should not be categorized together so in the board policy it's together create it will create team dissension due to student athletes that sit on the bench and the students that have this 20-day opportunity are now joining them and getting
025to play whereas the kid who's sitting or is on the team maintain their GPA throughout the entire theater academic advisors who are they going to be they have to have high expectations they need to be defined as athletic academic advisors county-wide schools would have to be aligned so if I say at one school who's eligible after this 20-day what's to say what another school is going to say after 20 days you know we just we don't have a format yet um it's not Equitable to other students so you're talking about Athletics and you're talking about um extracurricular activities and what about other students when they start saying can I have a 20-day probation or you know whatever to be involved parent complaints if the athlete doesn't make it so once we have that 20 day
026and the kid does not make it you know there could be some parent complaints of well why didn't my kid make it um there's a teacher shortage of course so when would this class be taught what is the criteria slash subject for students to study during the enrichment period this program will mainly benefit the winter season athletes only and you'll see why on a timeline later and student athletes do not automatically exit to participate on a team and that's something we would have to make very very clear which is no problem to the parents because that's going to come up okay next one so these are the enrichment dates if we had to have them have the enrichment program the tryouts is a three-day session um we thought about okay they could try out if
027they make the team and they're under 2.0 then they start their enrichment date but um even then if they don't make it now you've taken a place on the team from somebody else so these are just dates right now they may not mean much but fall always starts August 10th we're not even in school on August 10th so the athletic director's work starting they've always worked starting early um and given their time and then the first day of school this is just based off now would probably be August 29th or around there so the eligibility for them to practice wouldn't start we did not want them to be able to practice because of liability um until they completed their 20 days so September they could go to practice they can sit on the bench they
028can watch um and September 26 is the first day that they could practice and eligible to play in games would be October 5th so as you can see the season ends so it's not they don't get much time in the fall okay in the winter same thing you can see it's much longer and spring all right okay next slide so if we had to do this the word policy do not want to start it really if we had to till next year but we definitely would have to sit down and hash out many things items to make it work um Step One we'd have to um establish the enrichment program for all schools what time of day do we have the athletic academic advisors or are they being used in other places in the school
029um they would need to have some training so that we're all on one page the steps within the class is this just another study hall that we already had or is it going to be a curriculum or is it individualized attendance students would only be able to miss one class out of those 20 days or otherwise they would have to come out and it's only for high school because I think some people had asked about Middle School they've been calling us to say hey don't we have it for Middle School um step two student must try out during the three days and must make the team that way it lowers who we have in the program rather than just taking everybody in the program um that would just be overwhelming and too much and no
030guarantee they make the team when they come out they're already late trying out uh and you know they take other people's places all enrichment class athletes must be on time and stay for the entire class one hour every day enrichment classes only offered one time per student athlete per year so they don't get to do this every season they just don't get to do fall winter and spring they must show in school bags that they've brought their grades up to a 2.0 and if the student doesn't have one then they would have to leave the team we would probably like to use like a Rundle maybe progress reports would be easier if we wanted to give them a little extra push but um this really puts a hardship on what will be um Equitable with
031each student you have a star player on your team and you want them to get through that 20-day period so you do everything you can to get them through that 20 then you have the kid who really wants to get through it but probably isn't a star on the team and you're just not as worried about so there's so many other entities with all of this um if they fail the fourth quarter students must go to summer school that's a must they must go to summer school before they come in the fall and before we allow them to even enroll in the fall enrichment to see that they have actually tried to up their grade so there's many opportunities for these kids okay next one so that's it and we appreciate all your support but
032I hope that you see how difficult this is and again if we have to do it we'd have to come out and sit down again and maybe do this before the next year okay thank you thank you um uh uh before I go to you board member of Boozer Struthers I wanted to ask if Mr McClure wanted to add anything at this time or do you just want to just help address questions no ma'am I think Miss Diggs covered everything okay I appreciate that so uh and Miss Welsh are you good with us opening the floor for questions did you want to revisit anything no I'm I'm fine with it at opening a floor okay okay good then uh we'll go to board member Pamela Boozer Struthers all right thanks I have a couple questions
033uh first I want to thank you and you are absolutely right um when we worked on this for it went back and forth for almost a year there was definitely lack of agreement on this board um and frankly I think we just got worn out and passed something and this is the result honestly this is the result and the board member who led this left so you ended up we all ended up with this so um I want to acknowledge that this was not our best moment not our best policy making um I do want to say that I worked with at least two cases at the high school level of this 20 days uh attempting to be a board member implementing the policy sharing the information but sharing Dr goldson's memo that you cannot
034compete you cannot wear the uniform I thought you could practice which I thought was a good compromise but they're what but the administrative side wasn't prepared so it didn't work for the in those cases in my district um and I am sorry for that you know that it was confusing to the students and families as well but the one thing I feel like I learned through that process was it didn't seem like this concept of academic enrichment for athletes was sort of solid in each of the schools like I was asking you know that a coach like well why aren't you taking advantage of these academic programs we have for our athletes to begin with and the coach didn't even know about them didn't seem to I'm just saying this is what I've heard I'm
035not saying I know all the truths okay but this is what I was told so can you one question is can you clarify what is happening at the high school level let's just talk about first quarter Sports football and soccer um what are their differences are soccer teams getting as much support as football teams like what what is going on anymore High School is different just because they prioritize it so that's one question I do want to say at the middle school level I think we're agreeing that 2.0 stands and as a new Middle School Parent of a first quarter baseball player I saw the motivation this 2.0 works we need students to know this in middle school because of how serious it is for high school play and I definitely encourage that um I
036do want to say that I think baseball and softball should be recruited in the spring so that the teams can be come together more quickly in the fall so I'm gonna I'm going to put that in there because I think that also is academically inspiring too in your last quarter like thinking you got to have that 2.0 to play in the fall so but I really want to hear about this academic enrichment piece at the high school level and understand is every school the same or not and then I have a follow-up after that okay um I will answer the academic I'll let George he's been handling the middle school but there is definitely a reason why we have to do it that way and so he'll explain that as far as the academics she
037has so every school should have must have and that's what I'm bringing back in because as an ad I did it and George was an ad we did it should have a full study hall after school for All Sports um then when it gets to a point that we have kids that have you know we have kids that have 4.0 that really just doesn't they don't need to be in there right they're they're good but we do have the the kids who do need it and so they every team should have a study hall and that's what we're working on now making sure that it's a mandate and um every school should have study hall so whether you use it as a team each team has it or you do it as a one-hole study
038hall the academic advisors seem there seems to be a little confusion and so we are working on what Dr Merrill on that to see are they the athletic academic advisors as we knew them to be or are they being used in other areas and so that that needs to be clarified and that's another part that this brought out is that you know come on guys where are our academic advisors I had three of them and they worked with us but not everybody is using those in there but that definitely is what we want every sport should be treated the same yes you know that's going to be um different in every school but that's what we're working towards being full-time has helped us we're meeting we're pulling things together and we're able to get this
039piece together but now I can say at the end of first quarter we don't have a large amount of numbers that have failed off the team because you know they they could be off the team right now before playoffs and everything else but they're not so that's a good sign so then now we just need to do better with making sure every school has it did that answer your question I'm sorry it did and in all last follow-up question after my colleagues have round one okay and I'll let George answer your question with the Middle School well I didn't take it as much of a question as I agree with her in this in the spring it would be nice to put a little attention into uh getting them motivated for the fall so uh
040I spoke with one of my newer ads was a baseball guy he just came in and we started talking as soon as the season ended just about some things you know some things we just can't do because of limits on transportation and you know that kind of thing but we did we did talk about if we could maybe get some motivation in the spring before they went home for the summer um you know on the 2.0 piece we maybe it would bring out you know number of students participating up and it might give us a chance to hit the ground running a little bit earlier and one of the problems with that George wouldn't you say is we have to have softball and baseball opposite of the high school so they can use fields and
041things like that same with soccer we can't use the same Fields so soccer is in the spring because we need the field space well I didn't take her for saying that I definitely agree with that that point though Shirley but I I what she said really caught my ear because I had spoken with somebody about about two or three weeks ago so well I really appreciate that because at least three of our uh teams uh and I've talked to parents of three baseball teams in particular for paying attention to softball it's those health forms that we were scrambling you know we had teams fail because we are I mean you know in my district and in other districts we are high concentration of poverty schools we know our students don't have Primary Health Care Providers
042we have to send our students to the most affordable um a clinic for these uh for their health assessment to be able to play and sometimes you can't get those appointments for like two weeks so I'm that is the other piece to this about why these teams uh couldn't go I know at least two teams last year and this year that couldn't go based on health forms alone so um along with the ex you know everything else around being part of a team keeping up your grades it's about giving families time to get to get the um health forms taken care of thank you thank you okay thank you um board member Cerrone ruay thank you and thank you Miss Diggs and Mr McClure for the presentation um I really wish we would have had
043you guys last year when this was being developed I think uh we wouldn't have to have this right now um and also just because then the policy would have been better we could have made it broader in the sense that you all would have the chance to work with the CEO to make the administrative procedure better um and just more specific that would have to go through the whole policy process and I think that may be you know what we need with this is making it more broader that way the AP has the leeway um to make the specifics so it doesn't have to go through the whole policy process um and so I know last year kind of the intent behind the 2.0 and I know this was my interpretation I felt that you
044know students trying out should have had that 2.0 and so the probation of period would be for those who are already on the team and then they're on the verge of being you know removed and so I'm not sure if that that was how it was interpreted but I felt like if you're entering the team or trying out you should have that 2.0 I think it should have made been made um apparent that that was the case I don't know if how my fellow board members feel about that um but I that's how I felt because I mean if you're on the team you made on the team um and there's some I guess value on having you on the team and I mean you're already we're on there you know the teammates you know
045the coach and so for you to have to be removed because of your grades unfortunately then you should have this opportunity to redeem yourself with the probationary period um and so the one question I did have was I know you showed us a timeline but generally how long are like Seasons um for our Sports so like this season for fall goes August to we are still in season at playoffs now it'll end football ends the first week in December but everybody else should end here in another week or so so um that's part of it the other part of the problem is kids who would come out late you're asking them to just come right before playoffs and that's rough for those kids who have been on that team all this you know the season
046working out so you also have there is a rule um State rule that you have to have 10 days of practice before you come out so maybe that's where yes the board policy did say that they would be able to practice so then again when would they practice if they're attending the hour-long session right after school because not all our Fields have lights and so there again is the equity they you know they'd have to get out there right away so um they have to have 10 days of practice which makes it longer and with the 20 days so if they did the 10 practices during the 20 then it's that's one thing if they didn't that's that's 30 days right there and and for the practices is it continuous or can it be like
047interrupted in those 10 days those 10 practices well it's 10 it's 10 calendar days okay so I guess if they interrupt so if they go to that and go late to practice that would be something we'd have to work out you know with each coach they would come an hour late to practice every day because the 20-day thing would have to be every day okay with no absence maybe one absence at the most now definitely after we get the slides that way we see those comments and the edits we need to make um and yeah that's pretty much it for me thank you everybody has the uh access to it now okay good thank you um back to board mem uh Pamela Boozer stuthers thank you um yeah I wanted to say that I did
048not interpret it the same way I thought it was incoming students in ninth grade 10th grade wanting trying out for the team that the 20 days could apply for and that was what I would what we ran into I think in one case the team was new in one of our schools charter schools so um you know sooner we're in into that issue the other issue that it really raises for us and I think this is more around you know for administration and for academic achievement committee our commitment to um you know the high quality instruction for students who say and their eighth grade or ninth grade and need that summer school program and continue to you know have the D and then the summer school program is not strong you know in one case
049student was enrolled in a class where the teacher never showed up and then they didn't do well again and their GPA stayed the same and then they ran into starting school with a 1.9 and couldn't join the new soccer team you know and it was devastating so I think we also have to look at our responsibility you know our continuing I know we do every day this is our number one thing is academics but those are kind of stories that we just don't want to hear those stories you know like I don't want to hear a story of a student who you know did the summer school program in the summer school program was not strong you know so you know it definitely opened my eyes up to you know more that we have to
050pay attention to but I want to say I think that's more on our academic committee Administration and our ongoing commitment but these are some of the you know just you know the things that we see happen to our students when the when just you know when we're missing a teacher you know so I just wanted to raise that those are some of the the things that really pull on your you know your heartstrings and your your desire to do better when you when you have an athlete you know kept out for for situations like that and I'm glad you brought that up and I did not put that in the PowerPoint but it made me think we also talked about making sure there's an uh GPA cut off for the 20 days so you can't
051have a 0.8 and come to the and want to get 20-day enrichment you know what I'm saying what else would how are we going to bring you from a zero to to a 2.0 legally or even academically so um we did want to try to maybe have a cut off for those kind of kids like that the 1.9 1.8 so even if it was like a 1.5 or something to bring them up I appreciate that yeah I definitely agree with that distinction okay any more comments from board members okay if not I have um a couple of things uh first of all I will apologize to miss Diggs and Mr McClure that uh your division was not included before this policy was approved second I would say to miss Welsh ensure that that never happens
052again as we go forward with other policies we need those folks that are in charge responsible we definitely need them to bless whatever's brought forward uh to the board second looking at equity um I I believe we raised that issue when we were discussing this because we understood that there were more extracurricular activities other than Sports we recognized that so I'm sorry that uh that was not picked up in in original I mean in the policy that we approved and then who is in charge who monitors um the athletic divider uh uh advisors that is something that you guys need to sort out before you update this policy and bring it back to us uh and setting standards I believe standards are extremely important so across this across our Prince George's County Public Schools the
053standard should be the same implementation might be different but everybody in the schools need to understand what the standard is when we put it in a policy so I appreciate the conversation I appreciate you guys taking the time out to come and educate us because you're definitely educating me so I appreciate that and I'm sorry that we didn't hear from you uh last year so having said that if there are no more comments from the uh board members I would like uh Miss Welch please take under advisement the recommendations made today for policy 5122 by this committee and bring back to the next meeting which is scheduled for December 13th a revision to reflect the concerns unless you believe you need more time and if you need more time help us to understand that so
054that we can put it in the schedule okay that's fine just tell us what it is December would be way too quick for this okay so miss Welsh would you like to just come back to December and give us an update of where you are with your discussions and recommend the date that the Palestine governance committee should undertake this policy right I think that would be good because you also have the Thanksgiving break and know of all this and then you just want to do yeah we want to do what's reasonable we want we definitely want to do what's reasonable but we only we also want to ensure that we hear from not personally us but the the people who are responsible to implement this policy need to be involved in helping us to create
055it so ensure that um I guess the right group of folks and also um I Heard reference to the coaches and I understand clearly that the coaches cannot be responsible for something that the Personnel is probably exclusive is responsible for but maybe Miss Welsh as you look at that helped to codify but the coaches are responsible for and what whoever's in charge of the other pieces are responsible for okay okay I appreciate that all right question to ask one question I'm sorry oh sure you can ask questions so are we are we approaching this as though this board policy has to stand we just need to make sure we revise it is that what it is or that decision doesn't come yet until well we can't make that decision the three of us all we
056can do is make a recommendation to the full board so as of today the policy that's in place is the policy that's in place okay but but if it's if it's creating problems for you I think folks in the public school system you guys have to coalesce around what is it that you can do yes that is reasonable yes okay because we're not asking anybody to violate a policy but neither are we asking you to do um things that are impossible I got you okay thank you okay Miss Welsh yes okay very good all right so we'll move right along feel free to stay Miss Diggs and Mr McClure if you choose to if you choose to leave and we see you're gone we'll know you left okay thank you all right we're moving to
057policy zero 108 uh is the code of conduct and it's a new revision policy uh excuse me Madam chair yes ma'am you skipped the um intro for 5.0 oh okay I have here thank you uh thank you um uh Miss Adeline 5.0 policy for review or revision all policies taken on the policies today all actions taking on the policies today are pursuant to policy bullet policy 9340 policy development Roman numeral numeral four paragraph 7D there are four policies for revision and four policies returning from public comment so we will start with policy 0104 Title Nine new revision policy my colleagues may I have a motion to forward revised policy zero 104 Title IX to the full board with a recommendation to seek public comments okay it has been moved and seconded and I do not
058abstain I support the motion so um now we will open the floor I mean I would yield to miss Welch to give us an overview of policy 104. okay thank you um so if you were to look at the our old or the current policy on Title IX it really does not provide very much Direction it merely and this is not what's up on the board right now because this is the new revised one but I'm just letting you know what we did to the policy the current pop the current policy is posted on the website is um basically just tells you a little bit what's about what Title IX is and then it basically says brex the superintendent to take immediate action to correct any uh violation of Title IX so it has not
059very specific and it certainly wasn't in our format so instead of doing um attract changes because in essence that whole entire piece was taken out and not incorporated into the the new piece to the new policy that was being proposed um we made major revisions to the new policy so that in line with our format but it also includes specific information about what we are are required to do under Title IX of the education Amendments of 1972 and that particular act actually prohibits sex-based discrimination harassment and any education program or activities receiving federal financial assistance so we made some very specific changes and I when I say we I would say the office of general counsel was very was very instrumental in making these changes so um the main changes that you'll see in the
060policy number one is that we did change the title so previously the title was just Title IX but now it is actually discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex so provide it's a little bit more clear and a little bit more user friendly for people when they're when they might be looking for a policy that does address discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex then we included a pretty hefty definition section so if you scroll down Cindy and go down in into the um the actual uh definitions you'll see that we have definitions for parties retaliations sex-based discrimination which I do want to point out that when we're looking at sex-based discrimination we're looking at discrimination based on gender identity or expression as well as the Discrimination based on sex and then we
061also have definitions for sexual harassment sexual assault Dating Violence domestic violence stalking supportive measures and Title IX so we it's pretty extensive as far as the definitions and these These are important when we're looking at what might what might be violations of Title IX the other thing the major three major is the main purposes of the policy and the three major things that we did was first of all we do number one is to stop right there first of all we do prohibit sexual harassment and discrimination in the basis of sex on school property School sponsor activities or or by the use of electronic technology or in any manner that substantially disrupts the orderly operation of school or School sponsored activity in PGCPS and then on top of that we also prohibit reprisal retaliation against
062any individual who reports acts of sex-based discrimination that might be a complainant of witnesses bystanders or anyone providing any reliable information about access sex-based discrimination then the as far as actual what are we going to do as a school system we have a section that has to do with professional development because I think it's important that everyone is trained and understands what what sex-based discrimination is and what is prohibited and what you're not allowed to do and then if you keep going down Cindy um scroll down on policy um then you'll see go up from one section you're too fast because it's a little bit more there is an extent keep going a little bit further until we get to right um we might keep one more right there pgs reporting options so this is
063a very important section because it aligns with the law and what the law actually requires us to do when you are filing a complaint so we have uh information here in terms of um the um we first of all we have to provide Title IX coordinator contact information on the PGC at PGCPS website and that would be instant point of conduct as well as employee code of conduct so that that would need to be there um I do think it's actually in the employee code of conduct but I don't think it's in I mean it's in the student code conduct right now but not an employee code of conduct and then we talk about the actual reporting and filing a formal complaint and what that process is and then submitting all this information to the
064Equity Insurance office so it just lays out if you would mind scrolling down a little bit Cindy um for the student complaints um and then when an employee a pgps employee does receive the reply complaint and they keep continuing down a little bit further and then when we have employee complaints as well as applicants for employment um or applicants for student enrollment and we receive complaints from them and what we're supposed to do and then at the reporting information then we have information about Equity investigation an equitable investigation process which then lays out um that the responsibility of Prince George's County Public School to invest formal complaint investigate formal complaints of sexual harassment and or discrimination based on sex and gender identity and expression um and it lays that out and then further down under
065implementations of course we have a section that talks about the co develop administrative procedures and that would go in to much greater detail about the very specifics that the law requires in terms of both the reporting requirement as well as the investigation uh repo requirement and then the fact that the uh the the CEO shall take immediate action to correct any violation of Title IX and the operation of the school system and then there must be a Title IX coordinator designated to oversee implementation and compliance with the regulations of Title IX um so that's it in the nutshell but it is very different than what is currently sitting on the website does anyone have any questions board members do you have questions I can't see Pam I can't see you right now okay any questions
066board members okay seeing none I have a one question um Miss Welsh in the safe schools training is that this is covered right because I think every call is seeing it for all employees to take you probably saw it that so we used to have sexual harassment for student on student and staff on student and then we since then we we had redundancy because we actually have sexual misconduct staff on students I think and that one covers it and then there's also the the safe schools one on discrimination which also picks up the Discrimination part of Title IX and then we also have providing safe and inclusive inclusive environments for lgbtq students so we actually then also cover that piece of it in and transgender students and that and those modules so we actually hit
067sections of Title IX in each one of those modules that address discrimination and harassment right so I guess my question is is is that enough training for all employees so that that the system is like the CEO's office is sufficient training so that you will feel comfortable that all employees have knowledge of what it is that they're required to do or not do in the area of sexual harassment with Title IX it is um so um that's an excellent question I would never presume to be able to answer that question to say if it had a question um because it often depends on the learner um the other modules do cover these pieces of Title IX not and not as explicitly as if you had a module that was specific to just sexual harassment um
068but that they are covered so for some employees that works great and for other employees they may need to have a little bit more uh training so that's about the thing to tell you I understand that but I'm not looking for degrees of what I'm really looking for is employees need to sign something or there needs to be something that the CEO has put in place to help us the board know that if an appeal or something comes before us there's no question that these employees were provided that training or provided something that they had to sign off on that becomes a part of their record so so let me share that we do use safe schools safe schools actually tracks every single employee that does training so we run compliance reports after after every
069round and throughout the school year tracking did everyone complete their training and so so and then on top of that if there is a case where um that let's say there was a case of sexual harassment or discrimination and ero wanted to know whether or not an employee had completed the training we can pull up individual people's records and actually see did they complete their training that year also just one other thing if in fact you haven't completed your training safe schools will send out reminder emails to employees to remind them that they have not completed their training and they need to get their training done yeah yeah I appreciate that thank you because it helps to put the board in a better position anyone decides to appeal whatever to us okay thank you so
070moving right along uh colleagues are there any objections to forwarding the revised policy um 0104 to the full board for recommendation to seek public comments okay thank you um been hearing none emotion passes thank you guys all right 5.2 policy zero 108 code of conduct uh colleagues may have a motion to forward revised policy zero 108 code of conduct to the full board with a recommendation to seek public comment so moved thank you it's been moved and probably seconded and I also concur so I will now you'll look forward to miss Welsh to give us the overview of policy zero 108. okay thank you so um at our last meeting um Mr Whitley had gone through the changes that he had proposed um and in that me and the result of that meeting um I
071think everyone was in favor of the fact that if you if you um if you did not attend 25 for more of the of the meetings that you you failed to attend I should say 25 of me is excuse me that um you could be subjected to being charged with uh failure um next excuse me I can't even talk right now will form the collective Duty uh by the board and we it would follow the process of eventually going to the State Board um to see if the member could be removed and we you also discussed then and talked about the fact that if a person was 30 minutes late um and they had not provided any um notice that they were that actually they're more than 30 minutes late then they are deemed absent
072for the meeting and um and so those were I think the two big pieces that we had conversation about at the previous meetings in the last meeting though there was a question about what does an emergency mean and so Mr Whitley added definition for emergency so that we're clear about you know what does that mean when a person is running late for a meeting and can't attend or can't attend a meeting at all and then um the other thing is is that we also uh talked about the other thing that um he added was this language that had to do with you look at number 16 if you can go down Cindy and this is the big change that he added keep going um number 16 on page 4.7 right there okay so what it
073says here is that um where members must refrain from entering into any contracts agreements or other legal obligations on behalf of the board without Pro approval from a vote by a majority of the board taken at a regularly scheduled board meeting work session emergency meetings during executive session any action taken by a board member that is contrary to this policy shall be the sole financial responsibility of that board member unless said action is subsequently approved uh uh by a vote of a majority of the board taken at a regularly scheduled board meeting work session emergency meeting and executive session so that is a whole new piece that he added into this particular policy um the other thing I did want to point out if you scroll down a little bit further to where we're talking
074about keep going um keep going it has has to do with uh right here now wait stop right there please um where about the fact that if they meet if they fail to attend 25 of the board's regular meetings during the 12-month period then um they could be subject to being charged with a willful neglect of Duty we did also add in there that um the board member who's being subjected is who is subject to being charged with willful neglected Duty by the board May attend the board meeting when the charges are being discussed and continue down sitting right there and present any mitigating evidence that he or she believes is relevant however that board member is not allowed to vote and so that was a new addition that was not there previously so I
075think those are the three major changes that were added to the policy from our last Palestinian governments committee meeting okay uh uh we're open for a discussion board member of Boozer Strother thank you so much I think these are some great changes I'm really glad to see them and good discussion that got us there I do want to say that I think you know we probably didn't discuss in depth enough all of the meetings that we are responsible for I mean we we have had trouble getting Quorum for well tenants for hearings we don't need Quorum for hearings but there's definitely a trend of those who Skip meetings if there's not a vote or Quorum isn't needed and I I think we should be held more accountable to that so I would like to add
076hearings on this we have at least three budget hearings a year I believe we have two CIP hearings definitely thinking of the One the Fall one but I think we all have two cipa years so that's five these are our largest this is our biggest responsibility 2.6 billion dollars a year of the public talk about our budget um you know massive capital projects hearings to listen to the public so I would like to see those added and I would also like to see the appeals added which this is the you know the last stop for employees and students you know in our own administration and policy making and that we are being held accountable when there is disagreement that we need to be there for our employees and students and we have a horrible time
077making quorum for these and I think we're on track to have at least eight of these this year it's about you know at least one Thursday a month not if not two so I I would like to see both of these added in their appropriate place and I think 25 of just regular board meetings doesn't cut it I think we need to expand that I mean you know that's not a lot of our meetings we have many more meetings than regular schedule board meetings so that's where I would like to ask my colleagues to consider where we would expand upon the types of meetings we are accountable for to our constituents and especially as we move to a fully elected board that these are the biggest things we do and so I would like to
078see those added added in there it's the biggest expectations of our constituents thank you okay um board member Boozer Strother is you know tonight we're also going to look at 9360 which is the meetings of the board and I think if you if you don't see what you're looking for in that policy then we'll have the discussion to add something to zero 108. but they're you do you mind waiting until we look at policy um 9360. oh not at all I mean they're okay because that's really that's really dealing with the meeting so yeah I think I mean there has to be alignment like we can't have confusion between the two and I agree I agree but otherwise I think excellent work on this I want to thank everyone who helped us with this and
079uh we really need this okay so for now we can we can send um zero 108 for public comment and then when we look at eight point three tonight you'll let me know if it includes that with your speaking to in this policy okay yeah I don't think this is ready to move I mean I think the significant changes too well but we just voted to move it well you can't get a vote on that I guess and remember it's going for public comments so there's still time to to put something else or to change something in this policy yes that's right well I learned my lesson on public comment next that's okay comment this yes I just want to clarify what member visitors struggler what you requested you're saying tell me again please the
080hearings you know this concept of when the board should be convened as a full board and obviously sometimes members can't make all that and we have a we have a way like if if a member comes to us and says this isn't like my biggest work trip of the year and it happens to fall during a budget night they're going to miss a budget uh work session and a hearing like I think we understand that and would be kind Upon Our colleagues like we have some ways to be reasonable here but I think around its appeals I I think it is only employee and student appeals correct me if I'm wrong that we have appeals for any other category I believe though that anything that the superintendent makes a decision on can get appealed or
081many of the items can get appealed to the Board of Education so you could be hearing appeals even on transfers things like that too I really go ahead Miss what I mean um who's the Struthers go ahead yeah I guess I just want to make sure when I say the term appeals that it's all encompassing or understood as like like the body convening I agree with you so I think when we get to the 9360 yeah it's really spelling out whatever a regular board meeting is and maybe that's the appropriate policy to to do that that's what I'm saying yeah and so I'm not disagreeing with you yes well it's just two categories public hearings and appeals those are the only yeah public hearing something okay I got it okay okay uh can I just
082ask one question um board member Mikus Murray so is it if 9360 describes it though the 93 6 describes what these items are it doesn't necessarily say that there's any consequence for if someone does not attend so I'm just questioning whether or not are you just saying wait and then the next meeting will come back and discuss putting that will propose some language in at the next meeting we'll discuss the changes to zero one zero eight no I we pass sending zero 108 for public comment I am suggesting that uh if Pam does I mean if Miss Board member loser Struthers does not see in 93.60 what she needs to see or after we go through that one if if this committee believes that we need to align them in certain places then we can
083make a motion to do that so I'm just saying we're dealing with the meetings and there's a lot of information there uh in the meetings so okay okay Brothers yes yeah I mean I just I just want to confirm that I think we're all in agreement that understands that we have a public comment period that chick our chair is anticipating recommendations in that public comment to what at least I've spoken to to be in that public comment and that there's an opportunity for us to discuss this I think by that time we'll be constituted with a full board yeah great our committee will have more than three members you know so I am totally fine with that I I just um wanted to make some arguments this evening around why I think we should add
084those and then I I'm in agreement that the chair is saying that we will absolutely consider these when we re could be an after public comment exactly exactly and all board members too they can weigh in on it as well though I hate to ask this question but is in fact let's say that we we there's nothing we don't make the change now it goes through public comment and we know we don't gain public comments addressing hearings or anything and now we have to bring it back and make that change and it's not based on public comment it's just a committee change then generally it needs to get back out to public comments so I'm just wondering after we review 9360 it might behoove us to go ahead and just make a change if we
085think we need to make a change two zero ones or eight before we send it on the public comment I think you just said it better than I did but that is what I intend to do okay good okay thanks okay because we're looking at two policies that need to be aligned and we already know that but let's see what the changes are in those policies and there are a lot of them so it would be interesting just to see what they are okay and have that discussion and if we need to have another vote to hold it we can do that you know we can have a vote to hold both of them and make sure that they go back and both of them are lying so all I am saying is let's stick
086to the agenda let's get to 93.60 and see and it's next that's the next one that we're going to review okay are we all in agreement okay so colleagues and you know we have to have a motion to discuss it so colleagues may I have a motion to forward revised uh board bylaw 9360 meetings of the board to the full board with a recommendation to seek public comments I need a motion to discuss it thank you okay it's been moved and seconded I will now yield the floor to miss Welsh to give us an overview of policy 9360 who will also introduce Mr Newsom although he doesn't need the introduction but he had some recommendations to make regarding this policy uh from the perspective of the director of the board office okay so we'll start
087with you okay thank you um so by law 9360 means though the board when you look at it um a line you'll think that we basically rewrote the entire policy but that's not the case we actually first of all had to reorganize it significantly so you see a lot of uh of track changes be of just cutting pieces out and moving into parts of the policy so I do want to assure you it was not a complete change however um Mr JJ Newsome he did and his staff did review the policy and look at it from a standpoint of the work that they do in terms of the operation of moving a meeting forward smoothly and what things they felt were critically important to to make changes and then um ojc and myself did some
088uh language related to more legal requirements and also Mr Whitley did go through and review this policy also so it was sort of a combination of several people that worked on the policy but I'm going to let Mr Newsome review all the changes because he was the primary person in in making these changes thank you Mr Newsom thanks very much appreciate it appreciate having the opportunity um to address this policy with you all uh in the board office we do we refer to 9360 a lot and um over the last couple of months um I've come to notice what I'll call um holes in the policy or things about the policy that probably needs to be updated um or at least think about updating and think about improving so what I want to do by
089way of explanation is go through uh one I think there's six areas I'm suggesting you all consider making uh improvements to and explaining it to you and I'll tell you at front that some of this stuff is kind of excruciatingly dull because it's the nuts and bolts and the nitty-gritty of this but just bear with me we'll get through it okay the first area has to do with the timeline in 9360 for submitting um uh items to the agenda um and essentially excuse me can you tell us where that is in the policy so we can follow along with you I've got it on page eight eight okay that's fine okay here's here's the problem we've got all of the deadlines are the same day and by that what I mean is the board office
090is required under 93.60 to post the agenda for business days before the meeting so if the meeting is on Thursday we've got to post it the previous Friday night um there is also a deadline for administration to submit to the chair proposed agenda items and that's also four business days before the meeting there's also a deadline for board members to submit to the board chair agenda items to the meeting that's also four days before the um the meeting so in essence the way this works out is um all these things can happen simultaneously and there's no physical way for the board office to um meet its deadline because of the submission that there's an identical deadline for submission for submitting all the agenda items we can't if if the deadline is 5 PM and uh
091to for us to post the agenda and we get a half a dozen agenda items sent to us at 5 pm uh which is the time we've got to post it we we physically cannot meet the deadline so the solution I suggest to you all is to move back the deadline for submitting agenda items from four days to seven days and that's what appears on page eight okay so practical matter I don't really care about seven days or eight days or six days you can pick whatever number you want I just don't want it to be four days um so that that's one um um I didn't take down the page number but um there is a reference uh in this policy having to do with voting having to do with um purchasing there's a
092dollar value uh amount and uh because dollar value amounts are always subject to being changed in other policies um well one came up again yeah sorry about that um what what what Robin suggested and I agree with is that we would just make reference to the policy which I think is 3323 and and say that we the meeting will align with that policy so if that policy changes and we increase the dollar value from 25 000 to 50 000. we don't have to change it in two different policies we just have to change it in 3323 and 9360 will refer to 3323. it's it's just a a way to be more efficient if if we do come to make changes um and again I'm sorry this is this is that adult stuff but yeah no
093it's not Dull stuff I I need to make sure that Robin you understand is is it number eight on page 13 I mean I see 25 000 but you understand what Mr Newsome is referencing correct I do but I thought that what got posted actually had that crossed out curious that I'm looking at page eight and see where the recommendation is for seven business days and I was trying to find I see the 25 000 page thirteen eight I need to make sure Robin that or we can say Joe uh Mr Newsome you need to get with Robin if the board agrees if this committee agrees so that whatever we put out for public uh comment will represent what you're asking okay yeah okay go ahead go on okay so the next area has to
094do with something uh that's rather new and didn't probably didn't exist when this policy was created um this policy has to do all about meetings board meetings as you all know um and there's nothing in this policy about um changing a meeting from uh an in-person meeting to a virtual meeting yeah that wasn't in existence right it didn't exist right and so now it does exist and now we're taking up the policy now is the perfect time to introduce details about virtual meetings and so that's what I'm suggesting here I only put in one detail um because I I think you all probably need to think about it yourselves but if on page seven I put down that um uh there's required seven days notice to switch an in-person meeting to a virtual meeting but
095I didn't put in there and it's really not my place to put this in so I didn't put it in but I I strongly recommend you all think about it is who decides when there's going to be a change and how is it decided so for example um five board members can call a special meeting and the way they do it is they put it in writing um and they put it in writing to um the chair so we we know how that we know the operation of that you need five people and it needs to be in riding it needs to go to the chair but um I think you all should give some thought about virtual meetings as well and I don't have an opinion about how it should happen or who should
096decide but I do think we there needs to be a notice provision because I can tell you that the board office has to do different things for virtual meetings than we do for in-person meetings um and it really helps us if we have noticed there is things have come up where it's I can see where it would be impossible to to accommodate the policies if we don't get sufficient notice and virtual to in person or in person to Virtual is certainly one of those areas where we need as much notice as possible in order to make the necessary changes so I'm throwing it out there to you really as a topic to discuss um I put in there about notice I'm not wedded to it but I think you all would be a lot you
097know well well um you'd Serve Yourself if you thought of that a little bit um there is I've made a change to the provision about um special meetings so I just made reference to the fact that under the policy and I don't recall the page number I apologize Cindy um under the on the current policy if you want to hold a special meeting um you need five board members to make the request and writing or the chair can do it um I I made an addition to that an additional requirement and it this is very um uh selfish of me but uh the additional requirement is that uh the board cannot um consider a motion at a special board meeting unless a written motion is submitted 24 hours before the meeting and the reason for
098that is because um it's very very difficult to Fashion emotion at a meeting um and have it make sense particularly if it's complicated um and for us to adequately take down the details of it in a minute so that the will of the board is accurately reflected and we can get around that we can solve that problem if the proponents of the special meeting won a vote on emotion they submit the motion in writing um and then it makes it so much easier um to um accurately reflect with what the board is voting on and what they approve or what they what they amend or what they disprove uh disapprove so I'll leave it up to you to make a decision about that topic but um that's sort of my my selfish plea uh for
099clarity um you all know that on in December of 2024 the board is going to um by operation of law reduce from 14 members down to 10. um they'll be nine elected and one uh student member on page 14 and 16 of the uh policy uh the policy provides um the number of votes required um to pass a motion for example and so right now you all know that if the um we have two vacancies and the student board members voting we need seven votes and if the student member is not voting we need six well that's going to change um in December of 2024 so rather than take this policy up in December of 2024 what I added was language um that as of December 2 2034 the the um numbers will change from
100seven and six uh down to whatever it is uh six and five um and then there's a provision in there if we have two or more vacancies on the board um so that's that's just something where I'm trying to save time and trouble I'm gonna have to go back to this uh policy again in two years it's already in place um so that there won't be any rush in um the next issue is Page 18. um Cindy I noticed when I was reading up about other um Board of Education and how they conduct the new member onboarding I noticed a trend appears to be starting to occur in other jurisdictions and I wanted to bring it to your attention and that is in Montgomery County in Baltimore County and I believe Baltimore City their official
101minutes of meetings is the um audio visual recording and they produce written minutes but if there's a discrepancy between the written minutes and the audio visual the audio visual controls so I I think that's going to be the trend I think um other boards of Education are doing the same thing we are in that they um they record these uh meetings um and um they they you can look at it on YouTube or you can you can watch it as it goes and I think that I think this is sort of the wave of the future and why not um adopt this now um while we're looking at 9360 but again I don't want to overstep my bounds it's just something for you all to think about um and then the last thing is it
102should be near and dear to your hearts here on the policy and governance committee there's virtually no guidance um in our in our bylaws about um how to conduct committee meetings so um what I did in as just by way of a suggestion in 9360 is added on page 19 through 20 a section on um rules for committee meetings um and it's just you know you guys can pick whatever rules you want you don't have to listen to or follow my rules but I just sort of lay it out there for you as uh things to consider uh first of all I'm I'm saying that the reason for the committee is to gather information and make recommendations to the board um we were lucky enough to have a training done by a May parliamentarian earlier
103this year he strongly recommended that committees conduct their work less formally than boards um and that would in this case it would mean um a committee could have a discussion without a pending motion and um in committee votes um there's no reason to tally votes unless a Committee Member requests it um so it's it's it's things like that um there's no um requirement there's no timeline requirement for pen for posting uh agendas and agenda materials what we've always done in the board office is we've followed the rules for the um uh Board of um education so we post four days in advance but um what I would suggest especially for policy and governance that we post agenda and agenda materials within a reasonable time before the meeting because there's always um sort of last minute
104updates and changes and I think that's that's a lot more realistic um I've also got uh something in there about emergency and special committee meetings would adhere to the same requirements as the special board meetings um I've also got official minutes would be the audio visual reporting of the committee um just just like that and you don't have to as I said before you get ignore each and every one of my recommendations um but I do think that there ought to be a section in 91 9360 that concerns um how committees and committee meetings are conducted um so that's everything I have to offer um I did notice and Robin I don't know how to fix this um but I I do want to call it your attention when we um change the language having
105to do with the annual meetings it says this is Page seven um Cindy it's number seven annual meeting it says the board shall hold an annual meeting on the first Monday in December to elect a chair and vice chair from among its members by means of an individually recorded vote that the only it creates an ambiguity with the law because the term of office for the chair and the vice chair is two years and you can read this to say that there has to be an election every year um so I don't really know how linguistically to reconcile those two and maybe they don't need reconciliation but to me when I read that I I it seems a little ambiguous to me and it suggests that we're voting for a chair and a vice chair
106every year and that's really everything I have to say and I'm sorry I even had to take this much long talking about it but I wish you all good luck with 9360. today well before I entertain questions one of the things that I will say to you Mr Newsome is uh I think you did a good job the recommendations that you've brought to us I think in your role as director of the board office I think that's part of your role to help us to see how to do business better and um so I don't have a problem with any of that but now oh Robin has her hands up before I go to the board members yes Robert I just you mind if I ask Mr Newsom a couple questions no go ahead okay
107um well first of all in terms of that language I know 4107 says specifically education article 4107 says specifically that there's supposed to be an annual meeting and when it's held for Prince George's County each county has a particular date and then it says the purpose of the annual meeting is a is to elect a chair and a vice chair so what what citation are you looking at that says every two I say I think I was I read that I just I'm trying to because somehow we need to resolve it because there's a discrepancy in the law basically between the two yeah I mean you can read it that way um Robin to be honest with you I I found the the terms of office and I don't have it in front of me
108I apologize but I can get it to you I'm sorry and then my other question is so we do have you have a section all about the agenda preparation but what about the uh I don't see any languages talk specifically about the approval of the agenda do you think maybe we there should be a paragraph added that talks specifically about the board voting to approve the agenda because they do that for for at least for the regularly scheduled meetings they do um uh we can look at Robert's Rules but I'm guessing that's in Robert's Rules okay let me say this and I'm gonna board members if you if you have questions because I think now the discussion we had earlier with 10108 that um uh board member blues or Struthers race it might be and
109I'm just suggesting this if you board members go along with it that we send both of those policies back allow all the lawyers The General um attorneys for the CEO the board attorneys and you Joe day to come together and bring us because you've heard some of the comments and board members you will be allowed to comment on this but I mean just from the top of my head I'm I'm seeing that there's some things in this policy that needs to be in zero 108 there's some things in zero eight maybe that needs to be referenced to policy zero zero 108 maybe you don't write it all out I don't know but um but that's my thought up front now go to uh Robin you still have your hand up I'll take it I have
110other questions but since you're telling us yeah yeah I don't want to I don't want to admit this time do the policy here okay I never take too much time but I will uh listen to uh comments from the board members um one memory loses started Tim uh thank you so much yeah I'll go through a couple I'm glad we're now going to just send them back and get all this Incorporated so thank you so much for that decision I guess if we have to make the motion to I don't know if we have to make a motion at some point but we do I think I I we're reverting back to the term of the chair and vice chairs one year starting this cycle so definitely we need to research that because I think
111that was my impression too um and the um special meeting emergency meeting agenda items I agree I I we are not we haven't been specific enough of the public about why we're having those meetings we got got ourselves very caught up in that just recently um we had a topic but the topic failed to have a PL like we didn't we didn't know what we were doing with that topic until we got together and heard from each other and created emotion so I do think there's there's something that felt off about that to me that there should have been a little more planning that when the topic was proposed there should have been at least a framework of the motion to come and I think that's what Mr Newsome would be so helpful right like
112in one of those meetings we didn't even know what the motion was going to be and not that it has to go that way because we were bored and we could change motions but I do think for the public as well we need to give at least some sense about why that's a topic so that's you know in that area of special media emergency meeting that's something I would like to see that Clarity um that we we are more clear about why this is a topic we have to give the public some idea about why the topic is there and then I did find on the when I was talking about the Appeals the documentation in our Authority and responsibilities of the Board of Education our handbook from Co comar um in our handbook it's
113page no it might be page one at one here um it's number nine on page one acting in quasi judicial capacity in particular deciding student and employee appeals education article 3-06 articles um I just want to say I found the notation for what that is when we do it the official thing that we do so I just wanted to call that out because I think that would be important to put in there when we say appeals that we actually reference this so those are my first few thoughts I'll I'll look at my notes and see if I have anything else thank you so much okay board members do you have any comments I don't have any comments on the policy besides what has already been addressed um I just had a question regarding I know
114we're sending both policies back for revision um but I mean an alignment revision to a line go ahead so to align um okay I know with the code of conduct one well actually let me let me backtrack um Miss Wells when it comes to board policies do they go in effect upon their approval yeah I think right when um when the board chair sends out a memo to Dr Golson saying this policy has been enacted please post it that is goes right into effect just because I mean I feel like especially zero one zeroa is something that we we really do need um and so knowing the changes we want to make to zero one zero to be more specific in terms of hearings uh could a motion be made that it's forwarded for public
115comment with the revisions that board member Struthers brought up and then but we still um have this one brought back for alignment but I just feel zero one zero H should continue in its course with the revisions uh not sure how we feel oh yeah um you know the only comment that I have with that is if we send it forward and it doesn't go to a board meeting until the 13th of December I believe and it has to be up for two weeks after that and we probably won't be able to act on it until the um sometime in the end of December the 1st of January so I I'm open to either way uh and I guess the question would be to you Miss well um if we if we well did you
116make a motion uh Ruiz did you make a motion that we're just discussing it the 501 like okay good um so uh Miss Welsh I guess my question to you is how difficult um do you see a difficulty in us sending zero 108 forward and with you making the changes that was a Struthers um raised about the meetings you know codifying the appeals meeting and well there was another meeting right so if you you add those two things then I think what my colleague Saran Ruiz is saying is we need to move that policy forward so that at least it'll be in place closer to the beginning of the time that the new board members will be on board rather than creating confusion no I think I mean if the committee is in agreement that
117they want to add into the list of meetings appeals and hearings um as the what you're counting up for the 25 and everything that I there's no problem and that end and then as soon as we make the change that uh Cindy can set it up to go out for I mean it'll go to the board first and then I'll go for public comments so I mean it could be easily done if that's what the committee would like to do okay let me hear from uh board member blues and Struthers yeah thank you so much so I think I'm looking for alignment between the two um I'm in 0108 I am looking at section four implementation responsibilities three maybe two it's hard to tell sometimes the edits once a board member is in this three
118or more consecutive meetings work sessions emergency meetings or executive sessions where we would be adding hearings hearings and appeals or quasi-judicial whatever language we reference right fails to attend 25 of the board's regular regular meetings we have a definition of regular meetings over on 93.60 we have to look at um 25 to me seems like a lot like I feel like 25 of regular meetings is such a smart is um like to reach that point um you're missing a lot of meetings so I I guess what I'm feeling like is it's I thought we were going to say that if you missed 25 percent of meetings you were automatically considered resigned from the board where did that go was it 25 or was it uh I'm looking zero one where is that policy I thought
119we captured that from when we were looking at the state boards policy that a few minutes meetings you were considered resigned from the board I thought we got that and now I can't find it okay here it is here is something on page six of seven on zero 108. once a board member has missed three meetings on more consecutive meetings work sessions emergency meetings and our executive session our fails to attend 25 of the board's regular meetings so there there was a a number and then or and that's where the 25 of the boards uh regular meetings during any 12-month consecutive uh period right so so if if if you're okay with that piece then we can still send zero 108 forward with the changes that you recommended to name those two hearings and then
120in you know 9360 go ahead well that's what I'm saying I'm not what happened to I thought we had already agreed that if you missed a certain number you would be considered resigned from the board like we were presented that about the state board's own um policies and when once you miss a certain number you're considered that you have resigned but did we lose okay that didn't make it in here that did not make it in here in this I remember Mr Whitley presented the discussion I remember the discussion but it's not here in a final recommendation it's it's actually the track changes it was taken out and I'm not sure why he took it out unless there was some conversation about taking I don't I don't know but it is the track changes so
121it's out okay so it was in and it was taken out so you want it back in um one member loser Strother well I'd like it to be stronger I think 25 missing 25 percent of meetings is uh like too too much like you know you've been a lot like again we're about to be fully elected board this is all your district has they don't have that large anymore if you are missing even just one percentage shy of 25 that's significant like to me it just seems too much like well you know the reason I I don't want us to come across as creating policies that become punitive I think if we communicate to our colleagues especially the new ones uh we come with a a with an air of trust first of all they
122were elected their constituents are going to be looking for them and I I think we can have a discussion uh amongst ourselves as a board I think it should be broader than narrower it's what I honestly believe unless the full board decides that it should be more and they can do that when we take this policy forward yeah but I don't want us to create policies that that could be broader but we narrow it for whatever reason I think we we must uh work in an air of trust I appreciate that and also appreciate accountability from constituents um and that's an issue as well but I I guess you're right I mean if if we add in here the appeals the quasi-judicial uh body appeals as well as work sessions once you miss three in
123a row you're probably a board member who needs to be addressed so maybe you're right that we're catching board members before they miss 25 so maybe we leave that that open and you know I mean but what you're saying is we are not you are saying that you are okay that there is no automatic resignation that there's always I am okay with that because we as a board we can have other discussions and we can take that where those discussions go okay all right I didn't think we need to policy okay okay well yeah I I think with the other two getting in there it it will raise red flags on board members or commit or or increase communication the positive thing right like so you know I'm a board member who I I believe
124I've had perfect attendance so I take this very seriously right right but if I'm gonna all of a sudden get a new job and I have to travel I'm going to be really communicative to my colleagues like you know I know you're not used to me missing meetings but this is my most important meeting of the year I'm going to be out for a week and I'm going to miss two things and there's a space there's space for me to do that yeah exactly let's leave that space okay good okay I'm okay all right Miss Welsh I just wanted to point out so we do when we have the language here is on page six that where it says removal board members so this is the board itself can never remove a member and we
125have we have to recommend it right to the states to go to the State Board and then I mean we may have all the best information but depending on what the board member presents and stuff the State Board might think differently who knows and the and the person would still stay so it's really the final decision does lie with the State Board which is what we do have in that section okay then so from what I'm hearing we're good with sending zero 108 forward uh Miss Welsh if you will include those additional board meetings that um board member who's the Struthers um recommended public hearings and appeals I will put that in okay then so we're good with that one now the this one with uh zero Nano I mean 93.60 I I uh I
126will entertain a motion that we not send this one forward today and we are allowed the administration uh board attorneys and uh Joe um Mr Newsome um fine tune this a little bit more for us are we in agreement board members I make a motion that 9360 be set back for revision and Alignment um I don't know if we want to put a date oh yeah they can oh is is uh December 13th too soon uh Miss Welsh for you to bring for you to bring this back can you guys work on it between now and then you want to do it after the first of the year no I think if um I I don't know how Mr Newsome's schedule looks like because he's he's the major present provider here right um and then
127of course we always do consult with um ogc and with uh the board's attorney so uh at the start it would be myself and Mr Newsome working on it first so it depends on what his schedule looks like well we we uh we were a little busier than I thought we were going to be with uh additional meetings and uh so on and so forth um I will do my best this may be a two-step process um whereby we come back with revisions and discuss them and make sure they're in alignment with your wishes um but I I don't want to waste the 13th I think we ought to um come back and at least discuss the the Alternatives um to what's in the policy right now okay then so yeah go ahead I I
128didn't know if you all had any um reactions to any of the um areas I discussed at the beginning because that would provide me additional uh guidance about um aligning the policy with uh at least what you think your preferences are well I I'm to the board members before I speak do you have any comments and I see board members Sephora Miller has Dr Sephora Miller has joined us um boy remember Boozer strothers do you have any more comments about 9360 other than them taking it back I think I think my concerns were um address and I I mean but what I heard was there seemed to be some unfinished like there seemed to be some like reflection that was needed back on on some of the concerns of the the drafters so hold on
129let me well what I was going to say is this I think um Mr Newsome because we didn't because we didn't push back on what you have included in this document I think it's I think if you and Miss Welsh and then you send it to the board attorneys into the general counsel I think you'll have because I think it's important for you to include some things that helps the staff do the work and that's what I see here okay and that's why I'm not pushing back on it so if that's enough feedback for you then when you don't receive pushback then that means you're on track for something okay now this uh Miss Welsh and you need to ensure especially when you start talking about virtual meetings and putting it in here with some
130with some caveats around that um just make sure that you guys are in sync okay all right so the motion on the floor it was it second that Miss Boozer strathers okay good that I and I I support it so there are no uh objections so that passes to send uh policy 9360 back for revisions and please bring it back for um December 13th and I'm going to leave it in the um on the agenda for uh action so work hard thank you all right so next on our agenda is 5400 policy 3500 naming of schools uh School District facilities dedicating areas of school and School District facilities or grounds and erecting uh Monument update that I will yield the floor to miss Welsh so at this point the administration would request additional time to
131complete that policy okay um uh board member surrounding res do you have a question it's not related to this um it could wait until after sure okay uh well take your hand down so I won't be confused and I'll go to um board member boosted strutters uh I just want to say I'm glad to hear that because I there's a round of uh discussion that I need to have with our CEO Dr Goldson about my comments back to Administration that we haven't had a chance to have so I I've ordered the written response even if we don't talk to each other so I appreciate that um you would like more time so do I need to need a motion to send back for revision or table or what what is it well remember we made
132a motion and last time we're not I haven't made a motion tonight so the motion before at the last meeting was for us to re-look at this policy uh and to determine whether or not we need to do an action so I don't think we need emotion I just think that we allow them more time to bring back recommendations that you've already made possibly in December okay correct I understand thank you all right and for policy 4200 employee and 4-205 appeals before the Board of Education and an update on that policy as well yield the floor to Ms Welsh and and I'm just thinking this policy also where the administration is requesting additional time okay any questions from the board members about weather requests an additional time okay then good so you will bring those
133um colleagues here in Ms Welsh recommendation and updates we will postpone the revision of policy 3500 and 4200 to the December 13th 2022 housing governance meeting are you okay with that timeline as well yes I am if you have a lot to do okay very good all right now we will move to policy uh five six and I'm going to I'm going to read the next four policies because the action is the same we want them to go forward as first reader I would like for a motion for all four of them at the same time you have no objections okay okay good so 5.6 through 5.9 to move to the full board uh for consideration to move to public comment second thank you uh now we I I don't need to yield the floor
134to anyone because it is going for second reader there were no there were no public comments am I correct Miss Adeline yeah so in reference to Paula's um items 5.6 to 5.9 the motion should have been for first read and I probably comment oh yeah we just need to modify your motion a little bit let me start over you could scratch what I said all right motion to move 5.6 through 5.7 to the full board for first reader well we're going through 5.9 it's all four of them 5.9 sorry okay 5.8 and 5.9 second thank you so on October the 27th 2022 policies Five Points oh well that's what I was supposed to say but I'll say it now for the public uh policies 5.6 5.7 5.8 and 5.9 we're both voted on and approved
135by the full board for public comment there were no public comments received so now I've received the motion for policies 5.6 through 5.9 with the recommendation to advance to the full board as first reader at the December 13th um 2022 board meeting oh I'm sorry December 8th 2022 board meeting member meeting um is there a second it was smooth and seconded right thank you so we removed these four policies forward uh to the next uh board meeting which is December the 8th the motion passes thanks 6.0 follow-up next steps I have none follow-ups from previous meetings will be posted on board docs upon receipt next steps the next policy and governance committing meeting will be held on Tuesday December 13th 2022 at 5 PM this meeting will be virtual please check the board page on
136Prince George's County website for more information are there any more comments uh Dr Miller I see that you joined us did you want to say anything address the committee in any way no good evening just thank you for letting me listen and learn and hear so um I appreciate it and thank you for inviting me thank you and you have an open invitation to attend any you know in fact all board members have an open invitation to attend the Palestine governance committee meetings uh Mr Alvaro Saran Ruiz so my question was if we should take a motion regarding sending 0108 to public comment with revisions being made well we can do that to be on the safe side I I think it was clear that uh we was we had made the motion and that
137uh Robin was going to I mean Miss Welsh was going to include it but to be on the safe side thank you uh Vice chair for helping me so I will entertain a motion at this time that policy zero 108 would move forward with the revisions of adding the meetings appeals and appeals and public hearings thank you and public hearings have a second okay uh it has been moved and probably seconded any objections no I have none so the motion carries thank you guys so much and I I really want to thank the administration Miss Welsh and the board staff Miss Adeline this is a lot of work we have we have addressed a lot of policies uh this year and uh since the beginning of this year and we have many to go so
138I really want to thank you guys I I thank your effort your quality of work your professionalism your quick responses to my questions my concerns I want to thank you and I need the public to understand that it's a tremendous amount of physical work uh to to put all of this information in a place for the public to review so if there's anything else that I can do to make your life easier let me know um Miss Adeline okay permission to speak um I just wanted to add that again for the public should you need to know any steps we have in reference to um policies those can be found on the website and the tracker is there as well yes the tracker is on the website yes and that tracker was designed by Miss
139Adeline and um perhaps to your staff Mr Newsome thank you so much you've really helped us to get really organized and we appreciate it okay if there's nothing else may have a motion to adjourn at 704. some moves please second it yes who's the Struthers to adjourn second sorry yeah are there any um well this might help me with my terms I'm tired now objections objections thank you uh Vice chair and Miss Adeline your hand is still up did you have something okay if there's since there are no objections We Stand adjourned and thank you guys so very very much I will see you guys next month thank you thank you everyone bye good night