Meeting of the Baltimore County Board of Education - December 2, 2025

001Good afternoon. This is Chairwoman Jane Lter. I call to order the meeting of the Board of Education of Baltimore County for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. This evening's board of education meeting is being broadcast through the BCPS online live meeting broadcast and on BCPS TV, Exfinity channel 1073 and Verizon Fios channel 34. In order to efficiently conduct this meeting, all voting items this evening will be done by roll call vote. may have a motion to go into close session as permitted by the open meetings act as found in the annotated code of Maryland general provisions article 3-305 B1 and B7 to discuss the appointment employment assignment promotion discipline demotion compensation removal resignation or performance evaluation of appointees employees or officials over whom it has jurisdiction and any other personnel matters that affects one or more specific

002individuals and consult with counsel to obtain legal advice. So move young. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Stleski. Thank you. May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, yes. Missowski, yes. Miss Hen, Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aomebe, yes. Musleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Miss Lar. Yes. Thank you. I now call to order the meeting of the board of education for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. Invite you to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag to be led by Miss Unambe. We will then have a moment of silence in recognition of those who have served education in Baltimore County. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

003justice for all. Thank you. Tonight's board of education meeting is being broadcast through the BCPS online live meeting broadcast and on BCPS TV Xfinity channel 1073 and Verizon FiOS channel 34. In order to efficiently conduct this meeting, all voting items this evening will be done by roll call vote. The first item on the agenda is the consideration of the December 2nd agenda. Dr. Rogers, are there any additions or changes to tonight's agenda? I'm unaware of any changes to this evening's agenda. Thank you. Hearing none, the agenda stands as presented. Earlier this evening, the board met in close session pursuant to the opens meeting act for the following reasons. to discuss the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation or performance evaluation of appointees, employees or officials over whom it has jurisdiction or any

004other personnel matter that affects one or more specific individuals and consult with council to obtain legal advice. The close session summary and the open session information summary can be found on board docs under this board meeting agenda date. The next item on the agenda is the election of board officers. At this time, I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Rogers. Thank you. As required by section 3-2B 09 of the education article of the annotated code of Maryland and board policy 8210, the first meeting in December is designated for election of the board chair and vice chair. According to the board policy 8210, the superintendent presides over the election for the office of chair. Nominations are now in order for the office of board chair. Are there any nominations? Becca Rogers. This is Miss Hen.

005Miss Lter. Yes. I'd like to nominate Mr. Emry Young for the position of chair of the board. Thank you, Miss Hen. I nominate Miss Christina Pumphrey for chair of the board. Thank you. Are there any additional nominations? Mr. Young, you have been nominated. Do you accept the nomination? Yes, Miss Pumprey, you have been nominated. Do you accept the nomination? Yes. Thank you. Hearing no additional nominations. Nominations are closed. The Education Transparency Act requires that any action of the Baltimore County Board be recorded by voice vote or roll call vote. Board members in favor, please say I or yes. Those opposed say no. Miss Gover, please call the role for those voting for Mr. Young for the office of board chair. Mr. Young. Point of order. Dr. Rogers. I'd like to speak to my nomination as

006would Miss Lter speak to hers. Sure. Go ahead, Miss uh Hen. As as Miss Liar nominated Mr. Young, she could speak to her nomination first prior to um voting and I'd like to speak to Miss Pumprey prior to that vote. Yes, you can go ahead and speak to uh Miss Pumprey and then I will give Miss Licter the opportunity to speak to Mr. Young. Um may I ask a question of Mr. Burns? As this is not procedure as I understand it, I believe we are to speak in order of nominations. For the record, Darren Burns, sport attorney, that your policies in the law aren't that granular. I think the presiding officer can select the person who may have asked first to speak and do it in that order. Again, if the board has a consensus

007opinion differently, the board would need to discuss that. I I defer to Miss Lter should she um choose to speak to speak first to Mr. Young's nomination. It's fine, Miss Hen. Go ahead. Okay. Colleagues, it is my honor to place in the nomination Miss Christina Pumphrey for chair of the board. Over the past three years, I have watched Miss Pumphrey demonstrate day after day the kind of leadership our board needs and our students deserve. She She is a consensus builder in the truest sense of the term. Miss Pumphrey has a gift for bringing people together, bringing bridging perspectives, and helping this board move forward with shared purpose. Her energy is limitless and her preparation is unmatched. Whether she is leading a discussion, engaging with staff, or listening to members of the community, she brings focus,

008clarity, and an unwavering commitment to students. Her long history with BCPS as both a parent and volunteer leader gives her a deep understanding of our schools, our families, and the work ahead. As chair of the policy review committee, Miss Pumprey has shown how effective leadership can drive meaningful, efficient change. She works collaboratively with staff and with every member of that committee, making space for all voices and thoughtfully incorporating every idea. She is conscientious in every decision she makes, weighing the insight and comments of her colleagues with exceptional care. Miss Pumphrey leads meetings with professionalism and respect, and she has consistently demonstrated that she can represent all members of this board with fairness, balance, and inclusivity. She is the kind of leader who listens, the kind who builds trust, and the kind who helps an organization

009grow stronger. For these reasons and many more, it is my privilege to nominate Miss Christina Pumphrey for board chair. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lter. Um yes, it was my honor to nominate Mr. Young for role of board chair. His work on this board in his current um tenure as well as his previous tenure have been um stellar. his work with the PTA council, his ongoing work with children in various roles, um his dedication as you will see him in various places and supporting um the work of our school system, his thoughtfulness and his way that he analyzes situations and then provides meaningful input and feedback um and his willingness to do what is needed without hesitation. I have witnessed that over the past three years. Um, I have relied on him as a thought

010partner over the past year in my role as chair and I have seen how he handles his role on various committees as well as when he chairs these positions. He has worked hard as a board member and he has earned um the position of board chair. Thank you, Miss Gver. Point of order. Dr. Rogers, would the nominees like to speak to their nominations? Mr. Young, would you like to speak to your nomination? Yes. I'd like to thank Miss Licar for nominating me for the board chair position. Um, I've had the privilege to, you know, work with multiple committees this year and and in previous years. So, I've gained a valuable insight into the operation of the system and including my previous experience. Um, the other thing is I bring to the position and open mind.

011I am willing to listen and to have the discussion on the various topics. Thank you, Miss Pumphrey. Would you like to speak to your nomination? Yes. First, I'd just like to thank Miss Hen for um her nomination and support. Um, additionally, I will say that I also agree that Mr. Young would um do a great job as chair. We've worked together at PTA council and throughout this um our tenure on the board. Um and I do think he would also be an asset as chair. However, I do feel in a leadership role that um I know how to run a meeting. I know the parliamentary procedure um and that I work really hard to listen to each board member um when they speak at every meeting. I don't come in with my votes already known.

012I listen to what everybody has to say in discussion before I make my final decision on anything. Um because I think that everybody on this board brings a valuable voice um that's most important for our students. I always try to stay student focused and I think by working together that keeps us student focused. Thank you. Miss Gover, please call the role for those voting for Mr. Young for the office of board chair. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Trainowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Ambbe, yes. Miss Dleski, no. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, no. Miss Pumphrey, abstain. Miss Lter, yes. Favor is six. All right, Mr. Young has received six votes for the office of chair. Miss Gover, please call the role for those voting for Miss Pumprey for the office

013of board chair. Mr. Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fmpong, abstain. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Aumbbe, abstain. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, no. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Lter, no. favor is five. Neither of the nominees has has received a majority of the votes. Therefore, nominations are again in order for the office of chair. Do we have any nominations for the office of chair? Mr. Deleski, um I will nominate Dr. Brenda Seavoy. Dr. Seavoy, you have been nominated. Do you accept the nomination? I appreciate it, but not at this time. Thank you so much for your consideration. Thank you, Dr. Zavoy. Are there any additional nominations for the office of chair? We do have the option to call the roll call vote again. Would anyone like to make any

014statements before Miss Deleski? Thank you. Um I I I believe all 11 members of this board are dedicated to students and capable of serving in a leadership role in just a fine fine manner. Um, the one thing that stands out to me about Miss Pumprey is that she is so in caring for every student, every stakeholder, every board member and every action that she takes reflects her commitment and it's unwavering and um I believe that um the the public has really witnessed a board member who will stand for them and um especially in terms of students in need and raising um the academics for students. She she's so committed in in her words and her actions. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any additional comments? Okay, we will try one more time. Mr. Young has

015been nominated for the position of board chair. Mr. Young, would you like to speak to your nomination again? Miss Gver, please call the roll call for the position of Mr. Young as board chair. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Frampong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Agome, yes. Miss Dleski, no. Dr. Seavoy. Yes. Mr. McMillian. No. Miss Pumphrey. No. Miss Licter. Yes. Favor is six. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Young has received six votes for the office of chair. Miss Gover, please call the role. for those voting for Miss Pumphrey for the office of board chair. Point of order. Would Miss Pumprey like to make any remarks before we vote again? Miss Pumprey. Thank you. I don't I don't have much else to say. Just um I think that my record as a

016board member has shown throughout my years on the board. Um I have one more yet year left in my tenure approximately. Mr. Young has three more left I believe in his tenure. Um again I do think that he would make a great chair but just wanted to make another comment at the end here um to think that I would do a good job in the role. Thank you. Thank you Miss Gver Mr. Young. No Missowski. Yes. Miss Hen. Yes. Miss Franong? No, I'm sorry. Thank you. No, Miss Harvey. No, Miss Abe. No, Miss Fleski. Yes. Dr. Seavoy? No. Mr. McMillian? Yes. Miss Pumphrey? Yes. Miss Licter? No. Favor is five. Neither one of the nominees has received a majority of the vote. Therefore, nominations are again in order for the office of chair. Are there

017any additional nominations for the office of chair? Mr. burns. It appears that we are deadlock. Mr. Burns, neither of the nominees has received a majority. Therefore, no chair has been elected as required by section 32B09 of the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland and Board Policy 8210. I would ask you to explain for the permanent record the effect of an unsuccessful board chair election on the leadership of the board. Thank you, Dr. Rogers, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, members of the board. Um, as the board has been advised in the past, uh, the Maryland law that's applicable to, um, elections of officers and school boards and in particular Baltimore County's board of education, uh, does u, um, governed by what they call the holdover doctrine. And in essence, the holdover doctrine, which is

018well explained in state board of education opinion um 20-08, it's a combination of the law that applies to you as well as um uh the Comar provision for what a majority of the board means. And when you combine it with the opinion, what the holdover doctrine means is if the board deadlocks in such a manner at the first meeting in December when it is required by law to elect officers and cannot come to a decision with at least seven members. And for the record, for the public to understand this, it's been specifically held that the number seven is because it's based on the whole board regardless of vacancy. So while you only have 11 members now, you are a 12 member board and therefore seven is the number. And in such instance where you're deadlocked

019and cannot arrive at seven in favor of a motion. And this is what this is. It's a motion to elect officers. Um the holdover doctrine requires that the current chair remain in the office. Thank you. The election is closed for the office of board chair. The election for the office of vice chair will now proceed. I guess that's me. Do it. Okay. Okay. Nominations are now in order for the office of board vice chair. Are there any nominations? Miss Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I nominate Miss Tiffany Leseawn Frimong for the position of board vice chair. Thank you, Miss Fong. Do you accept the nomination? I do. Thank you. Are there further nominations for the office of board vice chair, Mr. McMillian? I'm confused on why the board didn't have an opportunity to vote on

020whether we continue with that or not. The decision was made that it was done and then we moved on to vice chair. You know, don't we have a say in on that? Mr. Burns, you were deadlocked and the presiding officer, whether it is the chair or the superintendent, which your policy actually mandates the superintendent, the presiding officer for the election and chair as part of parliamentary procedure, at some point a chair's job is to move a meeting forward. I can't answer the question of where the board stood on it, but your presiding officer by board policy is the superintendent for the election of the chair. And I think the superintendent um made a final request for any additional um nominations. You had already had multiple rounds of voting and I assume that this the presiding

021officer assumed there' be no change in those votes. I'd like to make a motion that we continue voting on chair. Is there a second to Mr. McMillian's motion? Second. Still, any discussion? I I'll speak to it. I think that we ought to have input on that. You know, we talked in closed and not to let out anything, but that the possibility of of going a third was mentioned. And who's to say, you know, we keep doing this in my opinion until we come up with somebody somebody's going to give. Why not continue it? Thank you. Any further discussion? Let me just check the teams. No. Okay. Um, may have a roll call vote on Mr. from McMillians. I'm sorry, Mr. Young. Have a question for Mr. Burns. We had moved on to the vice chair.

022So, is this motion out of order? [snorts] I don't think it's out of order because within a meeting, you can reconsider an action the board taken. Whether or not the board approves the action to go back is up to the board. That's the best answer I can give you on that. Thank you. Any further discussion? Yes, this is Miss Hen, Madam Chair. Yes, Miss Hen. I on the prior um item, I had a nomination for vice chair. I want to make sure before we move on that we return for my nomination. Okay. Can you hold that until we come back to the I'm happy to hold it. Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion on Mr. McMillian's motion to continue the um process for electing a chair. Okay, Miss Gover, can I have a roll co

023roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Frampong, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Abe, no. Miss Tleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy. Yes. Mr. McMillian. Yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Miss Licter. Yes. Favor is seven. It returns to Dr. Rogers. No. Chair. Dr. Seo rescended her yes vote to a no. This was to continue the process for board chair. So you want to continue the process. Okay. She said yes. So back to you Dr. Rogers again. Are there further nominations for the office of board chair? Miss Dleski. Thank you. I will nominate uh Mr. Rod McMillian. Mr. McMillion, you have been nominated. Do you accept the nomination? We've been through this and I'm not going to get the vote. So, I'll I thank you very much, but I'm going to say no.

024Thank you, Mr. McMillian. Are there further nominations for the office of board chair? Mr. Young has been nominated as well as Miss Pumphrey. Mr. Young or Miss Pumprey, do you have any additional comments that you would like to make? Miss Pumprey, just one thing that I thought of that I forgot that I did sit in the vice chair position. So, I feel like I have some experience um leading up to the chair position and I I learned a lot through that experience um as vice chair as far as the agenda setting and running the meeting and everything else. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Gover, please call the role for the Mr. Young in the position of board chair. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Rempong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Mr. Gomebe.

025Yes. Miss Stleski, no. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillion, no. Miss Pumphrey, no. Miss Lter, yes. Favor is six. Mr. Young has six votes. Miss Gver, please call the role for Miss Pumphrey in the position of board chair. Mr. Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Ambbe, no. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, no. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Lar, no. Favor is five. The votes have not changed. Are there further nominations for the office of board chair? Neither one of the nominees has received a majority of the votes. Mr. Burns, we have uh an option to go around a fourth time. You can explain the process again uh based on section 32B-09 of the education article of the annotated code of Maryland and board policy

0268210 or we can entertain a motion to recess the meeting for 15 minutes. Do you have any advice? And and I would remind the board too that this is a action or an action item that's part of an agenda of a business meeting. And just like any other action item, you would not stop doing business um for an entire evening and never get to other agenda items. It is up the board at some point in time to make a determination that it cannot pass a motion or take an action and move on with your agenda. There is nothing wrong with taking a recess um um for whatever reason, but if you take a recess, you can't meet as a quorum and you can't discuss public business because you've already started the meeting. So, I'm not

027sure what the efficacy of that would be. But, um you are at the place where unless there are additional nominations, I'm not sure how your deadlock gets broken from I've done so far. Thank you, Mr. Burns. Are there any additional nominations? Is there any additional discussion? Mr. McMillian, I'd like to nominate Miss Frim Pong as chair. Miss Frim Pong. Mr. McMillion has nominated you as chair. Do you accept the nomination? I decline. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any further nominations for the office of board chair? Neither of the nominees has received a majority. Would the board like to place a motion for recess or would the board like to move forward? Move forward. Miss Harvey, I make a motion that we move forward with the election of the vice chair. Is there a second?

028Second, Pumprey. Miss Gver, call the role, please. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aumbbe, yes. Miss Dlesuski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, no. Mr. Pumphrey, yes. Miss Leicter, yes. Favor is 10. Thank you. Um, Mr. Burns, you have explained um to the community that since no chair has been elected as required by section 3-2B09 of the education article of the annotated code of Maryland and board policy 8210. What that means? Therefore, the election is closed for the office of board chair. The election for the office of vice chair will now proceed. Okay, this is chair board hold over speaking. So, let's get back to vice chair. Um, the chair recognized Miss Harvey's nomination of Miss Frenang for vice chair. And Miss Frenpang, did she

029accept yet? Okay. And Miss Fran Pong has accepted it. Um, Miss Hen, yes, you have a nomination. [snorts] Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I nominate Miss Felicia Stilleski for vice chair. Okay. Thank you, Miss Tleski. Do you accept the nomination? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Any other nominations for the position of vice chair? Miss Hen, is your hand still up or was that? Oh, never mind. Okay, it is still up. I'd like to speak to my nomination when acknowledged. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Okay, Miss Harvey, would you like to speak to the nomination of Miss Franong for vice chair? Okay, Miss Hen, would you like to speak to the nomination of Miss Stleski? Yes, I would. Thank you. Um, colleagues, it is my honor to place in the nomination Miss Felicia Stleski for

030vice chair of the board. Miss Stleski brings to this role the heart of an educator and the dedication of a true public servant. As a former teacher, she has a deep and personal understanding of what our decisions mean for students and for the professionals who serve them every day. And in every conversation, in every vote, and in every moment of deliberation, Miss Dusky places the needs of students first. She is consistently prepared, exceptionally detailed in her work, and one of the hardest working members of this board. Having served two separate stints as a board member, Miss Dusky's experience is both broad and invaluable. She approaches her responsibilities with seriousness, integrity, and a level of commitment that elevates the work of everyone around her. Miss Dleski is quite simply the embodiment of public service. Her calm,

031steady leadership and her dedication to doing what is right rather than what is easy make her an ideal partner in board leadership. She listens with care. She engages with respect and she brings a thoughtful, grounded perspective to even the most complex issues. For these reasons and many more, it is my privilege to nominate Miss Felicia Stleski for vice chair of the board. Thank you. Yes, Miss Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Miss Frim Pong is not new to service for Baltimore County Public Schools, although she was appointed to this board three years ago. She has a history of serving our students in the PTAs, in volunteering in schools, and in participating in boundary studies on our area education advisory councils. Miss Frim Pong has demonstrated a commitment to improving academic achievement for our students. She

032has been singularly focused on ensuring that all students get the resources and the supports that they need. Miss Frim Pong has the demeanor and temperament to bring people together and she would be an excellent support to the chair and it's for those reasons that I nominate her for vice chair. Thank you, Miss Harvey. Miss Stleski, would you like to speak to your nomination? Thank you. Um, thank you to Miss Hen for her nomination and for your kind words. Um, I also want to um share that I believe Miss Frimong um would also uh be a tremendous leader and um I value her work on the board and I think very highly of her as a person. Um what I can promise is just what I've promised as a board member. I um will always make

033decisions, even the hard decisions that are not easy to make um with students first. and every decision I make, it's really and truly what is best for students and um [clears throat] you know, I just want to thank you all for serving together. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Dleski. Miss Fong, would you like to speak to your nomination? Thank you and good evening. So, um I do first want to say to Mr. McMillan from his earlier motion to say thank you directly to him. I appreciate him for his vote of confidence as a chair and nominating me for that position. Thank you to Miss Harvey for nominating me in this position of vice chair. Um I'm a product of public schools myself and I believe in public schools. Um, and I do think that has

034helped me to be able to excel when I went on to college and have the opportunities that I've had um to build a wonderful life for not just myself, but my husband and I together and for our children. And so that is for me what I purpose to do here on the board. And I look forward to the opportunity to being able to support our chair. So continuing in that role as far as advocating for student outcomes and student success, but also being supportive of our chair in that role as far as leadership and just thank you again for the nomination. Thank you, Miss Fong. Any further comments, Miss Pumprey? I would like to comment on both board members if that's or both nominees if that's okay. Um, I think Ms. Fmpong has a way

035of listening to everyone as well. Um, she's open-minded. She's very always prepared for every meeting. Um, from the time we talk about um, staffing until the very end of the meeting, she's always well prepared, asks um, thoughtful questions. Um, and and so I think those qualities would serve her well as vice chair. Um, as far as Miss Tleski, I do feel like she's always student focused in all of her decisions. Um, she also listens to everyone, but her focus on students is what sticks out most mostly in my mind. I think as a former teacher, that's what lends itself to that uh quality. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Pumphrey. Any further discussion? Okay, Miss um FPM was nominated first. So, Miss Gover, may we have a roll call vote on the nomination of Miss Fong

036for vice chair? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aumbbe, yes. Miss Tleski, abstain. Dr. Seavoy, abstain. Mr. McMillian, no. Miss Pumphrey abstain. Miss Lter, yes. Two, three, four, five. Favor is five. Thank you. May we have a roll call vote for the nomination of Miss Dleski for vice chair? Mr. Young, no. Mr. Manowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, abstain. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Aumpbe, abstain. Miss Stleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Lter, no. Favor is six. Thank you. Are there any further nominations? Neither candidate got seven. So, are there any further nominations for the position of vice chair? Mr. McMillian. I'd like to nominate Miss Pumprey for vice chair. Okay, Miss Pumprey, do you accept the position? The

037nomination? Yes, I accept the nomination. Thank you. Any further? I would like to nominate Mr. Young for the position of vice chair. Mr. Young, do you accept? No. Thank you. Any further nominations for the position of vice chair? I'm Mr. Million. Did you nominate Who nominated Miss Pumprey? Mr. Million, would you like to speak to your nomination? No, thank you. She can speak for herself. Okie dokie. Miss Pumphrey, would you like to speak to your nomination? I don't want to say I don't want to speak to my nomination, but I will just reiterate everything I said when I was nominated for the chair position. I don't think there's anything else to add. Um because I also added already that I was already sat in the vice uh chair position. So, um I have experience there.

038Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion? Miss Gver, may I have a roll call vote for the nomination of Miss Pumprey for the position of vice chair? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss FPM, abstain. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Ambbe, abstain. Miss Stleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, abstain. Doc, Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Leicter, yes. Favor is six. Are there any further nominations for the position of vice chair? Miss Hen, is your hand up now? It is. Thank you. I'd like to nominate Dr. Brenda Seavoy for vice chair. Miss Dr. Seavoy, do you accept the nomination? Okay. Miss Hen, would you like to speak to your nomination? Miss Hen, would you like to speak to your nomination? Oh, sorry. I was on mute. Um, I'd like that to give Dr. Seavoy

039the chance to speak for herself and thank you for accepting the nomination, Dr. Seavoy. Dr. Seavoy, would you like to speak to the nomination? Yes, I'll speak. Um well I'm well better than qualified. I have 37 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in public schools. I also worked at juvenile justice the juvenile justice center. So I worked with all kinds of children and I have a heart for children. I don't mind going into the schools and working with the principles and teachers. Um this board has really enlightened me to a lot of things that are going on in Baltimore County. I think it's a great board, all the members here and um what else can I say? I have all the credentials and everything, but that doesn't mean anything. You have to have

040a heart for this job. You have to really want to do it and really uh put yourself all out for it. So anyway, that's me. Leadership and experience. Thank you, Dr. Seavoy. Any further discussion? Okay, Miss Gover, may we have a roll call vote on the nomination of Dr. Seavoy for vice chair of the board? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Aumbbe, abstain. Miss Stleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumprey, yes. Miss Leicter, no. Favor is six. Okay. Yes. Mr. McMillian. I'd like us to vote again. I'll make a motion that we vote again on vice chair on which specifically Miss Pumprey, but we can vote for everybody if we want. Okay. So, you'd like to do the whole everybody who's been nominated

041one more time. Is that what you're asking? Fine with me. Is that what you're asking? That's what I was I want to vote again. Okay, Miss Stleski, do you have a comment? I was going to have another nomination, but we can certainly vote again. I'll second. Okay, thank you. Do we need Was that needed as a motion? Do I need to do roll call on another round, Mr. Burns? No. Oh, there you are. Sorry. [laughter] [snorts] Okay. No. Okay. So, Whoa. Okay. So we're revoting on all of the people who have been nominated. So we'll start. And the four that have been nominated were Miss Fang, Miss Dleski, Miss Pumphrey, and Dr. Seavoy. Do I have that correct? Yeah. Can I say something? Yep. Can we speak to this? Yes. Any discussion? Yeah. Mr. Bigmillian,

042I think that Miss Pumprey and Miss Licter would work well together. Uh considering that Miss Lter has been in that role for this will be her third year. Correct. Yes. Correct. And Miss Pump sat in that role for one year. So they have experience in it. I think that would be a good match myself. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McMillian. Other discussion, Dr. Seavoy. Okay. Are we're getting lost. Are you making another nomination? Okay. But Mr. Young was nominated and declined. Are you still declining, Mr. Young. Okay. We can We're voting on what Mr. McMillian requested first and then if we don't have seven for any of those four, we'll come back to you Dr. Seavoy, but both people were nominated or I believe. Okay. Any further discussion on the four candidates that have already

043been nominated? Okay. We'll start with Miss Fang. Miss Fang, first, are you still interested in the position? Sure, that's fine. Okay. Yes. Thank you, Miss Gova. Roll call vote for Miss Remp as vice chair. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Stmanowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Ambbe, yes. Miss Stleski, abstain. Dr. Seavoy, no. Mr. McMillian, no. Miss Pumphrey, abstain. Miss Lter, yes. Favor is five. Thank you. Mr. Dleski, are you still interested in the position of vice chair? Yes. Thank you. May we have a roll call vote, please, for Miss Dleski as vice chair? Mr. Young. Mr. Young? No. Miss Dominowski? Yes. Miss Hen? Yes, Miss Framp. No, Miss Ambbe. No, Miss Dleski. Yes, Dr. Seavoy. Yes, Mr. McMillion. Yes, Miss Pumphrey. Yes, Miss Licar. No. Miss Harvey, no. Sorry. What

044was the total? Yes. Six is in favor. Miss Pumprey, are you still interested in the position of vice chair? Yes. Thank you. May I have a roll call vote for Miss Pumprey as vice chair? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski? Yes. Miss Hen? Yes. Miss Fong? No. Miss Harvey? No. Miss Abe? No. Miss Stleski? Yes. Dr. Seavoy? No. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Licter, yes. Favor is six. Dr. Seavoy, are you still interested in the position of vice chair of the board? Yes. May I have a roll call vote for Dr. Seavoy as vice chair of the board? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss FPong, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Aumbbe, no. Miss Stleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Lter, no. Favor is six.

045Are there any other nominations for the position of vice chair? Miss Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to once again nominate Mr. Mr. Young for the position of board vice chair. Mr. Young, would you reconsider your no and run for vice chair? Yes. Would you like to speak to your nomination for Mr. Young that we did speak to him? Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that the same reasons that Mr. Young was nominated for president apply here. Mr. Young has the temperament. He is leading in committees. He is a consensus builder. He is thoughtful in the consideration of uh board objectives and I believe he will work hard to support academic achievement in support of the board chair. Thank you. Mr. Young, would you like to speak to the nomination? Okay. Any other

046discussion on Mr. Young's nomination? May I have a roll call vote on Mr. Young as vice chair of the board? Mr. Young? Yes. Miss Dominowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Framp, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Mr. Aomebe, yes. Miss Dleski, no. Dr. Seavoy, abstain. Mr. McMillian, no. Miss Pumphrey, no. Miss Licter, yes. D is five. Any further nominations for the position of vice chair? Miss Dleski, I'll nominate Mr. McMillian. Mr. McMillian, do you accept the nomination for vice chair? Yes. Miss Dleski, would you like to speak to your nomination? Or I'll speak briefly. Um, Mr. Mcmillian is just as dedicated as anybody can be to this school system. His passion runs through. He's his honesty is such a strength because he says what needs to be said in order to support students and their um academic

047and personal success. He's held very high by the community and it is my honor to nominate him for this position. Thank you. Mr. McMillion, would you like to speak to the nomination? Uh Yes, Miss Licar might not believe this, but I think that I could work with her. I think that I would be open-minded. I would be willing to uh assist her in any way possible. Uh I would look forward to that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McMillian. Any further discussion on the nomination of Mr. Miss Pumphrey? [snorts] I will just say I think everybody who watches the meetings regularly know is with Mr. McMillian, what you see is what you get. He's genuine. He's outspoken. There's no behindthe-scenes talk, no backdoor action. Um, that's it. So, when you see him, it's genuine. And I

048do agree. Although it may seem like um it wouldn't work, I think Miss Licer and Mr. McMillion would work well together. And sometimes when you have those opposites together, um if it makes a better leadership team. Thank you. Okay. I'm not going to ask any follow-up questions. Um, may we have a roll call vote on the nomination of Mr. McMillian as vice chair? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski? Yes. Miss Hen? Yes. Miss Fong? Abstain. Miss Harvey, no. Mr. Ambbe, no. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. Mr. McMillian. Yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Miss Lter. No. Favor is six. Okay. So, Mr. Burns, as similar to the chair procedures, this follows the same suit. Correct. Yes, it does. The holdover doctrine would apply. And if board's reached the end of its debate and voting process for

049vice chair, then that's then you would have the holdover doctrine, which would be Miss Harvey would remain as vice chair. Okay, Mr. McMillian, I motion that we vote again on vice chair everyone that's been nominated. No, just we'll open it up and nominate. Start over again is what you're saying. Okay, is there a second? Second, Stleski. Okay, may I have a roll call vote on continuing or starting the process over again? [sighs] Mr. Young, no. Miss Dermowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, no. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aumbbe, no. Misski? Yes. Dr. Seavoy? Yes. Mr. McMillian? Yes. Miss Pumphrey? Yes. Miss Licter? Yes. Okay. Wipe out the past 15 minutes. Here we go again. Are there any nominations for the position of vice chair of the board? Mr. McMillian. I nominate the student. I'm not

050sure. I don't want to mess up her name, but I'm Her term ends in Yeah. Okay. graduation. Correct. Does that stop her from being elected? Mr. Burns. While we haven't researched it specifically as relates to Baltimore County, the law in many counties and likely applies here is that the student can't serve as an officer because of the truncated term. The term is by definition one year. So my advice to the board would be to avoid a result that could potentially be challenged as illegal. Thank you. So it could be challenged. So I nominate her. Okay. Missy, do you accept the nomination? Do not accept the nomination. Thank you. Thank you. Other nominations for the position of vice chair. Okay. Mr. McMillan. I nominate Miss Hen. Miss Hen, do you accept the nomination for vice chair?

051I do because I believe Miss Lter and I work well together and I believe in that we could arrive at consensus in uniting the board. So, thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. McMillian. Mr. Millian, I didn't ask if you would like to speak to the nomination. Would you like to? Well, I'd like to point out for the people that are unaware that Miss Hen was a former chair and vice chair, so she has several different years of experience in the leadership role. I think that would make a difference. Thank you, Miss Hen. Is there any Did you want to speak to it or did you already Sure. I I would like to speak to it. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um and and I appreciated Mr. McMillian's comment when on his nomination that that said um

052he would work well. I agree. Um I worked with Mr. McMillian as my vice chair. We worked well together and I believe that Miss Lter and I would work well together. Um I've worked with officer combinations um of chair and vice chair where um I was of a different opinion and mindset than my counterpart in board leadership and it was quite effective in that um we represented different factions on the board and with a divided board it's important that all viewpoints are represented um within board leadership because as board officers um a big part of the role is speaking on behalf of the board and when board leadership speaks for half the board that creates problems. It creates tension on the board and it does not um bode well for board harmony. So I appreciate

053the nomination. I am accepting of the nomination not for um personal gain but for what I believe I offer the board overall and the harmony that I believe um could result. So um thank you Mr. McMillian and thank you board colleagues for your consideration. Thank you. Any further nominations for the position of vice chair since we have started over again. Miss Fang, Miss I nominate um board member Mr. Young. Thank you. Mr. Young, do you accept the nomination for vice chair? Yes. Okay. Miss Fong, did you want to speak to the nomination? [sighs] Mr. Young has already had a wonderful a variety of wonderful things spoken about him this evening which I agree with. Um I think one thing to think about now then as we consider um this is for our vice chair and

054we talk about experience and things is that if we can only choose people who have had experience then next year in December when we will have I guess all new people um there's the potential that we won't have any type of overlap or someone who could have learned from leadership um because we won't have um the same people like in vice chair proceed to chair, etc. So, um, just want to also put that out there as well as if we only rely on someone already having been in the chair, then when do when does someone else get an opportunity to have that opportunity for leadership? So, Mr. Young would have the opportunity to learn under um Miss Licter. Thank you. [laughter] We had the opportunity to learn under Miss Licar and she came in as

055a brand new um chair off of elections and so you know there would be a lot that she would also be able to impart um to him in that role as vice um as vice chair. So, I don't think we have to just depend on someone having experience um when we look at this role. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fang. Mr. Young, I know you've spoken already. Would you like to speak to this nomination? Nope. Okay. Um Miss Pumprey, did you I just wanted to mention um as far as vice chair rolling into chair, it would be counterintuitive for us as a board to say that because none of our vice chairs have rolled over to the chair position. So, I just wanted to point that out. Thank you, Miss Pumphrey. Mr. McMillion. I'd like

056to point out to the the viewing public and also the people on the board that Miss Henn has been been elected twice. She's finishing up a seventh year tonight, I guess, as an elected board of education member and then she was appointed before that. So, she has more experience than anybody on this board. She also sat through the ransomware attack and the CO when we were shut down. So, I think that that's some valuable experience that that would help her retain or regain the leadership role. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hen. Your hands up. Yes. Thank you. I'll I'll be brief. I I just wanted to say I speak far more eloquently when talking about my colleagues than I do about myself, and that's because one of the most fulfilling experiences for me has been

057mentoring new board members as they've come on. Um, I spoke to that briefly with Miss Tleski um earlier and and Miss Pumprey and and that's what I've enjoyed most about um being in a leadership role is really um helping my colleagues and seeing the growth that they've experienced in moving into leadership roles and it's something that I plan to continue in my last year on the board whether or not I'm in a leadership role and and prior to this it's something that I thought about but hadn't seriously considered because I do believe in in growing um helping other board members to grow. Whether I'm in a leadership position or not, I think each of us has that role to play um with our board colleagues, with volunteers, with anyone involved in education. Um it's the

058educa educator in me in helping others to grow. So um I thank Mr. McMillian for the nomination whether it's successful or not. I will continue to help each of my colleagues grow by answering questions in both an informal and formal capacity. Um that's the heart of a servant leader and it's what I take the most pride in. So again, thank you to everyone who's accepted their nominations tonight. I appreciate you stepping up to serve. It's um as Miss Lter and Miss Harvey will attest, it's it's not easy. There's a lot of administrative work that comes with being a board officer and being willing to step up and and do it again for particularly for those who have been there um is a lot and and I certainly can empathize with wanting to step down and

059and not looking back. So um again, thank you for the nomination, Mr. McMillion and I will continue to serve um regardless of the the title or the role because it's it's not um an easy task for sure and I appreciate those that have done it who've gone before me and who will continue after me. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Gover, may we have a roll call vote on the nomination of Miss Hen for vice chair? Mr. Young, no. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Faul, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Aumbbe, no. Mr. Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Licter, no. Favor is six. Thank you. May we have a roll call vote on the nomination of Mr. Young as vice chair of the board? Mr. Young, yes. Miss

060Dominowski, no. Miss Hen, no. Miss Frampong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aumbbe, yes. Miss Dleski, no. Dr. Seavoy, Muse. Mr. McMillian, no. Miss Pumphrey, no. Miss Lar, yes. Favor is five. At this point, it Mr. Mcmillian nominate Miss Donowski for vice chair. Thank you, Miss Rob. But no, that Thank you. I believe that's almost everybody's been nominated at this point and no one has received seven votes. So, at this point, Miss Harvey would remain as hold over vice chair. I'd like to make a motion to to to vote again one more time for Miss Hen and uh Mr. Young, please. Okay. Um is there a second to Miss Dominowski's motion? Second. Still lost. Okay. May we have a roll call vote on Miss Dominowski's motion? Mr. Young. Yes. Miss Dominowski. Yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss

061FPMPong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Mr. Agome, yes. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, no. Miss Licter, yes. Favor is nine. Nine. Okay. Okay. May I have a roll call vote on the nomination of Miss Hen as vice chair? Mr. Young? No. Miss Dominowski? Yes. Miss Hen? Yes. Miss Fong? No. Miss Harvey? No. Miss Ambbe? No. Miss Dleski? Yes. Dr. Seavoy? Yes. Mr. McMillian? Yes. Miss Pumphrey abstain. Miss Leicter. Yes. I meant no. Sorry. One, two, three, four. Doesn't matter. Favor is five. Okay. May I have a roll call vote on the nomination of Mr. Young as vice chair? Mr. Young? Yes. Miss Dominowski? No. Miss Hen? No. Miss Fong? Yes. Miss Harvey? Yes. Mr. Abe, yes. Mr. Dleski, no. Dr. Seavoy, no. Mr. McMillion, no. Miss Pumprey, no. Miss Lter, yes.

062Favor is five. Okay. The next item on the agenda is personnel matters. Thank you, Mr. Burns, for your help. The next item on the agenda is personnel matters, and for that I call on Mr. McCall. Good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey. Superintendent Dr. Rogers, members of the board, are you tired, Mr. McCall? [laughter] I've had time to prepare and practice my script. Keep going. Like the board's consent for the following personnel matters. Tonight, we have retirements, resignations, leaves, and educator lensure appointments. Thank you. Do have a motion to approve the personnel matters as presented in exhibits E1 through E4. So move Stleski. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Seo. Thank you. Any discussion? May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong,

063yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Abe, yes. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Lter, yes. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is Thank you, Mr. McCall. The next item on the agenda is administrative appointments and for that I call on Dr. Rogers. Thank you, Madame Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, and members of the board. I'm bringing forward the following administrative appointment for your approval. Supervisor, Elementary Literacy Intervention, Office of English Language Arts. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the administrative appointment as presented in exhibit F1? So move Young. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second, Stleski. Thank you. Any discussion? May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Ambbe, yes.

064Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Licar, yes. Thank you. Dr. Rogers, thank you. Allison Brookke, please stand. [applause] Allison Brookke is attending this evening with her husband John and is being appointed as the supervisor elementary literacy intervention in the office of English language arts with 20 years of service with Baltimore County Public Schools. Allison's experience include classroom teacher at McCormack and Edmonson Heights elementary schools, reading specialist at McCormack Elementary School, and resource teacher, supervisor, and literacy specialist in the office of English language arts. Congratulations, Miss Brooks. Our next item is public comment. This is one of the opportunities the board provides to hear the views and receive the advice of community members. If not submitted to address the board, members of the public may submit their comments to the board members

065via email at boebs.org. The Baltimore County Police Department's Homeland Security Unit and Office of School Safety has recommended safety and security protocols, which are posted in the boardroom and available in board docs and on this board's participation by the public website. While we encourage public input on policy programs and practices within the purview of the board in this school system, this is not the proper form to address specific student or employee matters or to comment on matters that do not relate to public education in Baltimore County. Inappropriate personal remarks or other behavior, such as language that promotes violence against a BCPS employee or that disrupts or interferes with the conduct of this meeting, are out of order and will not be tolerated. Persons who otherwise disrupt or disturb this meeting will not be allowed to

066continue their remarks and will be escorted from the meeting. Please observe the three-minute clock which will let you know when your time is up. The microphone will be turned off at the end of your time or prior to that time at the discretion of the board chair. Our first category are school system affiliated groups and we have Mr. Gonzalez Cortis or Okay. Our next category are unions and we have Miss Kelly Olds representing Tabco. Good evening. Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Along with the holiday season, we are also getting into budget season. I am heartened to hear that Dr. Rogers is planning to present a budget that prioritizes funding the third year of our negotiated agreements. I served as the

067negotiations chair through the design and agreement of the new salary scales and the three-year path to reducing the scale to 25 steps. This effort was several years in the making and was a huge achievement for our county. The recognition of the need to prioritize lifetime earnings in a way that benefits both those entering the system and those who have dedicated years of service to BCPS was necessary and appreciated. Fulfilling the third year of this agreement will help to restore some of the faith lost during last year's budgetary struggles. We want to ensure that we are able to keep our current educators and be an appealing sought-after place for those just getting into education. I am looking forward to learning more about the details of the upcoming proposal and collabor collaboratively advocating to the county executive

068and county council to ensure that we are able to retain quality educators and provide the resources that our children need. Thank you. Thank you. Our next group are nonprofit community groups and our first speaker is Erica Williams nonprofit community groups from the Owings Mills High School PTSA. Good evening. Good evening. I had a completely different speech written to share tonight. I was going to highlight the amazing football team that our school has. I was going to speak on their stellar record and how they were division 2 champions backto back. I was going to plead for the school board to take in consideration how much we desperately need a turf field. Not just for safety reasons, but we lost an important partnership with Rocoan Smith and the Baltimore Ravens because of our deplorable field. Good evening.

069My name is Erica Williams. I come to you today on behalf of the Owings Mills High School PTSA. I have served as a board member for the past three years, advocating on behalf of what I call the forgotten school of the Owings Most community, tirelessly attending meetings, sending out emails, and making sure Owings Mills High School remains on the hearts and minds of change makers. I'm tired of saying the same thing over and over. I'm tired of sending emails with pictures begging for basic repairs. I'm tired of being shown maintenance requests that have been completed while more urgent requests continue to go ignored. I'm tired of band-aids being slapped on our school just to keep us quiet. I get it, money is tight. I get other schools have greater needs. I also can't help but

070to notice the renovations of other Northwest area high schools. We want the same positive spotlight that our neighboring schools receive because we are just as worthy and just as talented. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Antuinette Barber, also from the Owings Mills High School PTSA. Good evening, Chair Elector and Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, and members of the school board. For those of you I have not had the pleasure to meet, my name is Antonette Barber, the president of Owens Mills High School PTSA. But most importantly, I am a parent of 11th grader, Jaylen Wingfield, and a daughter and Anita Barber, who is also an alumni of Owens Mills High School 2009. I am here tonight to advocate not just for my child or children, but for every student in Owens Mills High

071School. For the past three years, I have been on the PTSA, same as Erica, requesting critical areas of our school to be repaired, fixed, or fully renovated. And while we continue to talk about attendance and question why students are not eager to come to school, we must also ask ourselves, would any of us want to walk into a building that feels neglected? This is 2025. Yet Owens Mills High School's look Owens Mills High School still looks like 2009. Our students deserve better. Our teachers deserve better. Our community deserves better. Right now, our school resembles a warehouse. A place where old furniture is stored while other schools receive new and updated resources. It is heartbreaking to watch our students feel embarrassed when they visit other team when when visiting other when other teams are visiting our

072school building and it no longer reflects pride, investment or care. Our students should walk in every morning feeling exciting, excited, inspired and valued not overlooked. And tonight, I want to be clear. Owens Mills High School will no longer stand quiet in the background. We will not continue to be ignored by BCPS. Um, one child, one voice. That's what we always say for the PTSA. Thank you. Our next category is individual citizens or students. And the first speaker is Jaylen Wingfield. Good evening, Madame Chair, lecture, vice chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, and members of the BCPS school board. My name is Jaylen Wingfield, an 11th grader here at Owens Mills High School. I I want to talk about what it truly means to create a welcoming, safe, and supportive school environment because our students deserve more than

073just a building to learn in. They deserve a place that reflects care, pride, and investment. To build an environment where students can thrive, schools must prioritize improvements to both their physical spaces and the resources available to students. A clean, well-maintained building sends a message, you matter. Your education matters and your future matters. Right now, too many parts of our school feels outdated, worn down or neglected. And when a building feels neglected, students feel neglected. Only smells high need several critical updates to modernize the building and ensure safety. Pri priority areas include repair to damaged flooring and ceiling tiles, expansion of the cafeteria and lunch spaces, a redesigned courtyard that supports outdoor learning and healthy social interaction, exterior improvements include including sidewalks, pavement patches, and parking lot safety. Our science lab greenhouse needs to be rebuilt

074and modernized. A proper greenhouse would give the students the chance to see living systems in action and even support sustainable farm farming projects that fresh produce can directly benefit the nest while teaching students agricultural biology and environmental responsib responsibility. Some spaces require major renovation due to age and condition. This includes bathroom needing deep cleaning and remodeling. Lunch areas requiring expansion to accommodate students safely. Outdoor areas needing paving, cleaning, and removal of unsafe or damaged sections. These updates are not luxuries. They are necessities. The nest. The nest is a lifine for many families. It must be expanded and better equipped to support students and parents who rely on OMHs for basic needs. A larger, more functional space would allow us to offer clothing, hygiene items, food, and other essentials with dignity and consistency. Students deserve a

075healthy, inspiring place to learn. Teachers deserve safe, organized spaces to collaborate and support students. When our buildings are maintained, our care and cared for, our entire community thrives. In closing, if we want to if we want our students to show up, stay engaged, and believe in our future, then we must show them through action that their learning environment matters. Thank you, and I hope everyone here has a blessed night. Thank you for speaking. Our next speaker is Mary Crowe. Good evening. Hi. Good evening. My name is Mary Crowe and I'm a special education math teacher at Nottingham Middle School. I'm here tonight to request your help in giving our students the resources that they deserve. Noddingham opened last year with a new name and new building, but inherited the entire student population of Golden Ring

076Middle School along with additional students redistricted from other BCPS buildings. Golden Ring was a title one school, a community school, and on the low-performing LPS list, and was therefore able to staff extra teachers, provide essential wraparound services, and recruit and retain nationally board certified teachers. Nottingham inherited the students, but none of the supports. We are not title one. We are not a community school. We are not on the LPS list. Yet in the 2425 school year, 97% of our students would have attended schools with one or more of these supports had Nottingham not opened. Many of these students lost access to food pantries, transportation help, and family support overnight. The highly qualified teachers who followed the same students took a $7,000 pay cut and continue to earn less than those at neighboring schools, furthering issues

077with teacher retention that schools like ours already face. Our data reflects this loss. Nottingham received a two-star rating this year, ranking in the ninth percentile of all middle schools, below 12 schools already on the LPS list. I share these numbers not to diminish the extraordinary dedication of our staff and administration or the progress that our students have made, but to clearly demonstrate the significant impact of losing all three supports at once. Our building may be new, but the needs walking through our doors are the same and in some cases have grown. You all have access to compare our percent of economically disadvantaged students to our surrounding schools where you see our numbers align with schools who currently receive all three supports. While Title One status is federal, community schools designation and LPS requests for Nottingham's

078unique situation are fully within BCPS's control. Tonight, I respectfully ask the board, Dr. Rogers and BCPS leadership to one designate Noddingham Middle School as a community school and two send a formal request to MSDE to add Noddingham to the 2526 LPS list. These actions are within your power and would make an immediate difference for our students and families. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lily Lumauer. Bluman hour I think and that person is virtual Miss Gver. Okay. Good evening. My name is Lily Bluman hour and I'm a member of the class of 2029 at Owings Mills High School. Although I am a freshman, I've been a member of the Owings Mills High community for my whole life. Both my of my parents have worked at OM for 19

079years. My dad coached soccer for a number of years at OM and his team only played in the stadium once for a regional championship game in 2011 before we even had stadium seating. A little history about my school. In the 1990s, we were the first school in the county to get community funded stadium lights. Years later and long overdue, in 2013, Owings Mills finally got a stadium that was funded by the state with an obligation of service hours to pay it back. Fans were finally able to sit in stands to watch athletic events rather than on the grass sale. More than 10 years after we got our stadium, we are still want waiting for a turf field at Owings Mills. We have watched as other BPS high schools have gotten turf fields and we've even

080had other BPS schools have turf fields that were replaced. Today I'm here to ask Board when will be our time. This year I played soccer as a member of the Owings Mills women's soccer team. We did not play one game in the stadium because the grass is uneven, muddy, and cannot support the field wear from the many teams we have. Rather, I played in the hole. Grass fields down the hill. Behind the school, fans walk by an empty stadium, chairs in hand, to come watch our games. It is embarrassing when our field just looks like patches of grass, an afterthought, because our grass field in the stadium cannot safely take the wear and tear from multiple sports teams. When the weather is bad, like today, other schools can still practice and play on the turf

081while we are stuck either indoors or cancelling so we don't ruin the grass field. We cannot collect a gate because we are not in a studio. Money from athletic events helps support our whole athletic program. Our athletic director gets allocated the same amount of funding from BCPS's other high schools, but must pay three to 4,000 above the dollar amount for grass field maintenance, including the paint to draw and redraw field lines. That money could go to other athletic needs like new uniforms, but it must be used to maintain our field. In addition to our athletic events, the fields at Owings Mills are used by Baltimore County Parks and Wreck. Having an additional turf field in the area would be an asset to the community because soccer programs are always looking for an 11v1 fields to

082use or be or run down grass fields what BCPS want to put forth at their best. Finally, turf field replacements around the county have already begun. If we do not move forward with the new field surface for Owings Mill soon, we will again fall behind other schools as they get replaced as they get replacement turf fields for their outdated turf surface. Owens and Mouse High has always felt like the neglected school of the county. Overlooked and underappreciated for everything it brings to BCPS. I hope the board hears our stories and does what is right. Pledges funding for a tour field at Ellis M High School jumpst start improvements to our school's facilities. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Amina Walu and also virtual. Good evening board members. My name is Amina Guerrero and

083I am a student at Owings Mills High School. Today I'm here to advocate for a significant and necessary need at Owings Mills High School, turf. For the past four years, I've been a player on the girls soccer team at Owings Mills High School, and our field conditions are not that great. Our field is patchy, uneven, and a safety hazard when it rains. I myself experienced an ankle strain my sophomore year of high school when I stepped on a hole on the field and sprained my ankle. Therefore, my team had to scramble to find a a replacement for me, which could have been avoided had we had turf. I wasn't able to play for a while due to this injury, which impacted my confidence as a player on both the school team and my club team.

084In addition to our field conditions, it is also very difficult to get an audience. Our main spectators are usually parents and and friends. This in turn affects our performance because it is very hard to play to our full potential when we go to other schools and see them have a big turnout. Also, it's an it's inconvenient for opponent for opponent's parents when they have to come all the way down because they have to walk across football practice before getting into our field. Furthermore, it's a safety issue because somebody who uses a wheelchair will find it hard to be able to come down into the field since it's a very difficult process of getting down. Our athletics field being unreliable is also another reason why turf is necessary. This is because weather conditions are a key

085factor in whether we play or not. This year was my senior year and I wasn't able to have a traditional senior night because we had to reschedule our game because it had rained and the field couldn't be played on. Installing an artificial turf field would guarantee a consistent playing schedule regardless of weather and ensure a safe surface for all practices and games. This would not only benefit soccer but also other sports, physical education classes, band practice, and potentially youth sport leagues. Have a good evening and thank you. Thank you. Our last speaker is um Bash Ferrron. Good evening to all. Thank you very much for a very interesting meeting. Um, this is the month of holidays and I just want to remind myself and remind you and everybody listening to me, merry Christmas, happy new

086year, happy any holiday anyone um, celebrates and recognize and I hope the school system in this month would recognize u everybody in, pull us all together, make us feel all welcome regardless of our origin, color, religion, etc. So on on the holiday, I always remember Miss Roma Williams. She was the chair of PRC about eight years ago. She is really the champion in the PRC that allowed the change in the policy which led to the equal rights of Muslim holidays and Jewish holidays. and it really opened the door for the Hindu holiday recognition and the Asian the Chinese New Year's. So it had um more positive impact than really a one issue uh item which I started with. Um as far as elections today, I feel there is positive and negative. I really enjoyed the

087positive when board members crossed the line between right side, left side, right wing, left wing. And I think that's really hopeful for us. Um there's so much political stuff around us. Many of it is negative. All what I say that since 1995 that I started being involved with the education system, we really need to get the politics out of the system. And I've seen some of you uh clearly focused on students. There is no other issue political, religious, whatever it is needs to be here except what is best for students. And I I've seen in some of you today in the elections that focus makes me more uh happy, more hopeful. and um you took one hour of my memory in my cell phone, but uh it was fun. It was good. Thank you very

088much. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the superintendent's report. And for that, I call on Dr. Rogers. Thank you, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, members of the board. I'm pleased to present the superintendent report. Um, while they get the PowerPoint up, I would like to make a few comments from uh in response to our public comment. Uh, specifically, I want to begin with uh Miss Crowe that spoke about uh Nottingham Middle School. I'm not sure. There you are. Thank you for being here. You did identify some lists with some designations that come um from the state. We have uh in the past advocated um with a new school. There are some rules um that all school systems have to follow in the state of Maryland. We certainly have no problem um advocating

089on behalf of Nottingham Middle School again. So, uh thank you for raising that and we will um advocate again uh and see if any exception can be made. Um in regards to our community members who have come out to Owings Mill High School, um I want to thank you for being here. I want to thank you for your continued advocacy. Um particularly Jaylen when you spoke about care, pride, and investment. Um I that struck a chord with me as that is um central to our mission and what we are about on behalf of all of our students. Many people have heard me say time and time again as we have the third largest school system in the state of Maryland and we have the third oldest infrastructure in the state of Maryland in terms of

090oldest buildings. Um, it was 2021 when there was a report made, the my iPass report that looked at the condition of all of our buildings and identified at that time that we had more than $4.7 billion worth of repairs, renovations, um, and changes that we needed to make to our building. Um, on the original list, Owings Mills was number 44 out of the then 176 schools. um that uh I know does not bring any comfort immediately to the group. Um what we do know is that there are many members of the community that are continuing to advocate to the students that talk about the turf field. Uh the school system is only involved in turf fields with new uh buildings, but we do have our lawmaker partners that advocate for funding. Uh there was an

091attempt made in 2025. We hope there will be another attempt made in 2026 that [music] is um successful. There have been changes uh to the building because there is no turf field. Considerable amount of effort to the fields to make sure that the grass fields are taken care of and students are uh have a place to uh play and um that they are safe. Uh we do have the other side community members advocating uh for us not to have uh turf fields but in a time of limited resources we just ask for your continued um partnership. We are advocating this session again for another built to learn act funds that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars into the building for the first time since BCPS has been built. We have three high school projects

092going on at one time. We've never had that before in the history and high schools are incredibly um expensive to build. And so we hear you. We see you. You know, we have uh been there to visit personally um and we will do everything that is in our power to continue to support you, to work with you, and to advocate um at the state level for additional resources so we can continue uh to invest in the hard work that you are doing under the leadership of Miss Moses. And so I just want to thank you for your advocacy and for being here. With that, I will move into the December presentation. So this is the season of giving. We want to remind all of our community members um that through the education foundation you can

093participate in share the warmth. You can participate in donations for kids helping Hopkins for children who are in John Hopkins Children's Center as well as the giving tree. Oh wow, that was right on time. um or the giving tree for us to adopt um uh some uh families that would appreciate our support this year. Please advance. Okay. Uh for the next few slides want to share with the community as you know a few weeks ago we had a uh stakeholder budget survey. We also annually have a principles budget priority survey. Um want to share the findings from that survey. Uh for our stakeholders, the majority of uh people who participated in the survey, we had about um uh 2,000 respondents were staff members, 67% staff members, 28% parent caregivers, and a small portion of uh

094students, secondary and elementary, as well as community members. They identified for FY27 um to really focus on hiring and retaining highquality staff, keeping class sizes small, and providing support services to students who are struggling in school. They also indicated to us in their uh report that the most important thing was for us to examine opportunities to improve over the upcoming uh year. Miss Gver, can you try to um bring up the remainder of the slide? No. There is a section that is missing that is okay. I will share it verbally. So in in addition to focusing on opportunities to improve which 65% of stakeholders um indicated when they rank the four system priority areas, the first area that was most important to them was highly effective staff followed by safety and climate. Academic achievement was

095number three and infrastructure was the last priority. Um this was through for all of our stakeholders. The budget ranking the top three areas were teacher student ratio, social, emotional, behavioral health and safety of students followed by instructional materials. We asked similar questions to our s our principles. Please advance to the next slide. We asked similar questions to our principles. Um this slide depicts the representation of principles who responded to the survey. 40% of the responses came from central zone, 36% from east and 24% from west. They prioritized hiring and retaining highquality staff, providing support services to struggling students. Following that, keeping class sizes small. Uh majority of our respondents represented elementary schools. uh very close representation of middle school and high school and 5% of the responses came from special schools and centers. Next slide

096please. When identifying opportunities to improve, preserving programs and um opportunities or balancing both of those with affordability, the majority of the focus. The support was for examining opportunities to improve. Principles prioritize the system four areas as safety and climate coming first followed by academic achievement then highly effective staff members and infrastructure. Their top three budget items were teacher student ratio social emotional behavioral health and safety of students followed by professional development for all staff. Next slide please. When we triangulated the data between our stakeholders and the principles that are charged with leading the school communities, the number one overall priority in both surveys was hiring and retaining highquality staff. Um both groups also prioritized examining opportunities to improve over affordability and in many of the com comments there was a focus on compensation. And so

097with that those are the uh results from the FY27 budget priority surveys from both the stakeholders as well as the principles. Thank you. Thank you. Next point of information. Yes. Sorry. I just have a question about the present some of the slides and the presentation that was just presented by the superintendent in her update. Um, okay. Do you want to send them to her and then she'll respond to them in the weekly Friday bulletin? They're up. You don't want to answer them now? They're budget. I mean, I just you weren't. So I have a budget update that is coming up the uh report on the survey if there are specific questions. Is this going to be included in this the survey results going to be included in that budget presentation? No. So so I'm happy

098to take any questions uh via email and send it send all the responses to the board in the weekly update. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is chair's report and I did not prepare a chair's report. In fact, I prepared a next chair's list to tell them what needed to be finished. So, I really did not have a report. I do want to say that I um have tried over the past year with Miss Harvey's help to facilitate the work of the board um and I will continue that work to facilitate the work um and to lead the meetings and will do my best. Um I'm very committed to this county and looking forward to continuing the work. Therefore, our next agenda item is our student member of the board

099report and Mombi. Thank you. Good evening, board chair Mrs. Lter, vice chair Mrs. Harvey, superintendent Dr. Rogers, members of the board, staff, families, and BCPS students. As we wrap up the calendar year, last month was full full of student leadership, school system collaboration, and meaningful conversations across Baltimore County. This month, the Baltimore County Student Council has held our countywide general session where student council members from middle and high school across the county gathered for a day of collaboration and leadership development. Students engaged in productive workshop workshops focused on communication, advocacy, and teamwork. An incredible reminder of the talent, passion, and drive that BCPS student leaders bring to their schools every single day. I'm extremely proud of the work the work our BCSC officers and executive board put into making this session successful and impactful. One

100of the most energizing experiences last month was attending the Maryland Association of Student Councils or MASC's fall leadership conference in Montgomery County where student leaders from across the entire state came together to learn, connect, and grow. Through workshops, networking sessions, and statewide discussions, I had the opportunity to share local perspectives, collaborate with students from diverse backgrounds, and bring new ideas back to our county level work. Maryland student leaders continue to inspire me. Coming up in January, the MASC will be hosting legislative session where students across the state will have an opportunity to discuss key legislative issues, bill stances, and nominate the two finalists for the MSDE student member of the board. This legislative session will be hosted right here in Baltimore County at Lock Raven High School. and I'm eager to welcome student leaders from

101across the state to our phenomenal schools. I've also been continuing my school vision visit initiative visiting schools across the county as part of my goal to meet with students and administrators directly. Each visits is each visit allows me to hear firsthand about the unique culture, strengths, and needs of every school. From conversations about academic support to discussions on school climate, these vi these visits help ensure I'm bringing authentic living student experiences to the board of education. I'm grateful to every principal, staff member, and student who has welcomed me to their building and shared their perspectives. Thank you to all BCPS community members and students who have spoken up and shared their story. And lastly, wishing all students, staff, families a safe, restful, and joyful winter break. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the

102agenda is unfinished business report on board policies. This is the second reader for these policies and for that I call on Miss Christina Pumphrey, chair of the policy review committee. Thank you. Members of the board, the policy review committee asks that the board accept the committee's recommendation to amend the following board policies. Board policy 8130, policy formulation, board policy 8132, policy manual availability and board policy 8222, superintendent, executive officer, secretary, and treasurer. These policies are presented to you on tonight's agenda as exhibits K1 through K3. Thank you, Miss Pumphrey. Board members, are there any separations being requested? Okay. May I have a motion to accept the recommendations of the board's policy review committee for board policies 8130, 8132, and 8222? So moved, Harvey. Thank you. No second is needed since the recommendation comes from the

103committee. Is there any discussion? Okay. May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young. Yes. Miss Dominowski. Yes, Miss Hen. Miss Framp. Yes. Miss Harvey. Yes. Mr. Ambbe. Yes. Miss Dleski. Yes. Dr. Seavoy. Yes. Mr. McMillian. Yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Yes, Miss Lter. Yes. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is action taken in close session. And for that, I call on Mr. Burns. Good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, members of the board. Uh tonight in close session, the board considered an appeal that goes by the caption uh H I'm sorry, SDA26-00004. Now would be an appropriate time for the board to affirm the action that took in close session. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the action taken in close session on hearing examiner case SDA26-4

104and authorize Miss Govert to sign for those board members not physically present. So move young. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Mr. Abe, yes. Miss Dleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Miss Lar, yes. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is contract awards. And for that, I call on Mr. Young, chair of the building and contracts committee. Members of the board, the board's building and contracts committee met on Monday, December 1st, 2025. Items M1 through M18 were forwarded to the full board for approval. Thank you, Mr. Young. Board members, are there any separations? Miss Dominowski? Yes. Six and

105seven. Six and seven. Any other separations? Do I have a motion to approve items one through five? Board member chair licer. This is board member from Banga May Henry's. Yes. Do you have a want to be separated? Thank you. Just had questions about um 151 17 and 18 relating to the track. So I can ask the questions. I don't know that they necessarily need to be called out. Should I just ask during discussion? Um yes. Let me get the motion out and the when I say any discussion then I'll come back to you. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, do I Okay. So, moved. Thank you. Um, no second is needed. Since the recommendation comes from the committee, I just want to reiterate that we are the motion was for items 1 through five and then

1068 through 18. Um, now time for discussion. Miss Franong. Thank you, Chair Licer. Um I just had questions about the uh different cost for the for M15, M16 and M18. I believe on all three of them there is an addition because of let me get to the file. It has to do there it is um resurfacing the pole bolt runway and landing area and jump runway as shown as so in our attachments we don't have any drawings but um I noticed that there were some different cost across they're all three high schools um but could you just speak to the different cost behind the contracts for the three different high schools and I believe that's for Overly is M15 Kinwood is M7 17 and Perry Hall is um M18. I'm sorry I couldn't hear very

107well. Oh no. Okay. of the high school tracks. Oh, a lot of it has to do with the they're sight specific. Sometimes the the tracks need a little bit more work in in taking up the old track. Um there's different different areas. Um with the auxiliary like the the running um not running the the other track events. So it really it's it's a sightspecific design that went out. Um, we also are trying to go with the we open the bids to every I mean we put the bids out to everybody. Um, if it's one contractor where we had on this one, I mean it all depends. They they might have come in low on the first one and then, you know, adjust things. It's out of really out of our control. It's the same standard.

108So, Miss Rean, do you have a followup or is that answer your question? Um I I guess that makes sense. And again because we don't have all the documents ourselves to see I'll say yes and then I'll ask another question I think a little bit later. So that's fine. Thank you. Any discussion on one through five and 8 through 18? Miss Pumprey. Hi. Um I just have a question about 14 and 16 which are the um open space schools, elementary schools. Um there on both of the bids or contracts there are listings for alternate one and alternate two. Could you explain what what that means? Let me see. For example, double see which Sure. For example, Logan says alternate one add staff restroom and for Chesapeake Terrace it's alternate one renovate existing vestibule and renovate

109existing classrooms on the east side of the project area. I guess my question is when it says alternate is that something that may not happen? Why is it considered alternate? Yes, we knowing we have a project budget at the beginning, we go and and design and that that we have the base bid, but when we look at other things that we might want to add, if we put that into the base bid to begin with and the base bid comes in too high, then we can't move forward with the project. So what we've been doing um on all of these is we've been designing like the secure vestibules or in in different schools they may have a certain need that they would really like to have something done that we'll go ahead and design that

110and then have it as an ad alternate and if the pricing comes in okay then we'll take it. Thank you very much for that explanation. Any other questions Miss Dleski? Thank you. Um this is about um contract number four. Um it looks like the um contract was extended by a certain amount of time and um the question is just was there a particular reason or need for the contract to be extended like any particular problems or that or was that something that was um typical and expected? Thank you. Uh so this was thank you for that question. Still, this uh will provide support through the the transition this coming summer and um into the basically through the summer and into the early fall. What we learned through the HCM and payroll transition was that the

111addition additional support in the managed care that we have was was critical to the implementation of the project. Um, what this does for us outside of that is it provides us some flexibility to have additional supports so our staff can help manage the the transition. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other discussion on 1 to 5, 8 to 18? May I have a roll call vote on um contracts 1 through 5 and 8 through 18? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen. Miss Hen. Yes. Thank you, Miss Rampo. Yes. Miss Harvey. Yes. Miss Abe. Yes. Miss Dleski? Yes. Dr. Seavoy? Yes. Mr. McMillian? Yes. Miss Pumphrey? Yes. Miss Lter? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Manowski, do you want six and seven separated or done together? You can do them together. Okay. May I have a motion

112to approve items six and seven? So move Pumprey. Thank you. No second is needed since the recommendation comes from the committee. Any discussion? Mr. Dominowski. Yes. Um just for clar I wasn't unable to um watch the contract meeting. So I just had a couple questions about the um copy and print services contract. Is that just for fiscal services or budget or is that can you clarify what that's for? Certainly, Miss Dominowski, that is that is for all print managed services throughout the school system. So, it's for all copers and printers throughout BCPS. So, in every school building as well. Yes, ma'am. So, I I can't recall what year it was we went from uh decentralized print programming to C so to centralized as a cost efficiency ma management. What does that mean exactly? So uh

113yes, prior to and and again I I can't recall what year I was in the schoolhouse. It was before 2019. We went to um we we had been in uh decentralized print management which means that each school and office was responsible for its own printers uh its own copers. We there were desperate contracts throughout the school system with different vendors. There were um there were not a whole lot of standards. uh purchasing reigned that in um in the in the latter 201s and went to a central print print management that provided standards and efficiency throughout the system. Now are schools required does that come out of their school allocation funds to use those printers? I I don't believe so. I believe it is it is centrally allocated. It is. Yes. So and I don't know

114Paper is their responsibility. They have to pay for they have to pay for their own paper. Yes. Okay. Is that the same for like central office? Do they have to pay for their own paper? Yes. Okay. Thanks. That's all. Did you ask about seven also, Miss Dominowski? Okay. Okay. Mr. McMillian, I'd just like to add Mr. Dominowski. I was in the school house when the schools were responsible for their own printers and it was a little bit of a nightmare. So, I think this is the way to go is to doing it across the entire system. This just my opinion. Thank you. It it was a nightmare. Um Mr. Alleski, um quick question. Um can you just describe the reason why the increase was so high, the 23 million? Uh defer to Mr. Tantliff on

115on that. Thank you so very much. Certainly. Um it's an extension of five years. So it's just basically five years worth with a little inflation built in. Great. Thank you so much. And uh 2013 was the year that we cut over to the central leasing. Thank you for making me feel old, Mr. Taylor. Other questions about six or seven? Mr. Seven. I I I know we've gone over this one before. How many of our schools get bottled water? Do we know? So that that number can fluctuate based on testing. Um in uh July the number was about 85. And what's the regular schedule for bottle delivery for our schools? Uh so the normal delivery schedule is every two weeks. Um that that can change depending on season and and need for the school. There is

116a process if schools need something more urgently um or not. We've also been in schools where um we've noticed they have uh water on hand. So we we work with them to adjust the delivery schedule. And how how is that taken care of in the schoolhouse? Is that something they have to allocate for in their their school allocation funds or is that something that we take care of? So this this um centrally uh we provide bottled water for any uh school that tests at a certain level based on the state standards. uh schools that do not meet that criteria can opt to purchase bottled water on their own. And have we checked with make sure that those schools that have would have to opt in basically um make sure that they have adequate you know

117water access fac like filling stations or whatever for the students to get to water if they don't have bottled water. So I'm I'm sorry I'm not sure I understand your question. So, you're saying that the schools that do not receive bottled water that don't, do we check their water fountains and make sure that they're Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any further questions? May I have a roll call vote on contracts number six and seven, please? Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Fong, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Aumpe, yes. Mr. Luski, yes. Dr. Seavoy, yes. Mr. McMillion, yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Miss Lar. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not sure you should move though. The next item on the agenda is the budget on the proposed FY2020 27 county

118capital budget request. And for that, I call on Dr. Graham and Miss Lazaria. Hi. [laughter] Thank you. Good evening again, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. As Miss Leicter just said, we are here to present to you the FY2027 county capital budget request. This slide shows the state capital request. Thank you, Tracy. That was approved by the board in September. Um, and we're sharing this with you just again to remind you that that particular request followed a very strict priority order this year. This slide reflects our county capital budget request and you will you will see that it is almost identical to the state capital request. Please note that FY2027 is not a referendum year, which means that we do not expect any new capital funds from the

119county for this year. So, digging into our county capital request for FY207, you'll notice that Delaney, Scott's Branch, uh, Talson are fully funded from the county, so you won't see them on this list. As I just said, the priority order aligns with the state capital budget request with one exception, and that's a repurpose of Golden Ring Middle School, which we're going to get to in just a second. This request also includes a number of systemics, those chillers, intercoms, boilers, and roofs. And we added in our two priority projects again in priority order from what you've seen in the past for planning and design for future projects. Although there's no dollar amount tied to them for this uh fiscal year. If funding comes available um we will divert it to those projects but they will continue

120their planning and design with the current funds we have. Mhm. What we are proposing, which is new and in the county capital budget request, is to move the crossroads center to the Golden Ring site. So, if you recall, the board uh approved closing Golden Ring Middle School uh for students when uh we built Noddingham. Um, we've taken a look at a number of options that we have and what we would like to do and what we're proposing to the board to do is to shift the Crossroads Center to the Golden Ring site beginning the 2027 2028 school year. What this would do is uh instantly provide some uh educational facilities to the Crossroads students that are currently uh less than available at the uh site that they're at. Now, uh it's important to note that

121the lease for Crossroads Center expires in 2027. Um, the FY26 budget uh includes uh rent, our our CAM, HVAC, our RETAX, and it's over $1.9 million. Um we estimate that in FY2028 the uh yearly cost will be somewhere in the range depending on the the current valuation of u cost per square foot between 1.16 million and $1.75 million. Now you might be asking why is that so much lower than what we're paying now? If you recall, when we brought the contract back to the board for spending authority on the cross the current lease of the Crossroads Center, um that was a 20year agreement that had been in place. It included all of the costs to renovate the Crossroads Center with the leasing uh company at that time back in 2005 if memory serves me correctly

122or 2006. Um there's also an important uh note that reoccupancy of the Golden Ring uh site would eliminate a one-time IA reimbursement of $3.9 million. And so let me explain that very briefly. Essentially, when the state provides us with funding capital uh for different projects, as they do many of our our sites, Golden Ring was one of them. um they expect those buildings to be occupied by students. When suddenly they are not occupied by students, the school system has a period of time in which to change the purpose of the facility or to reoccupy it with students. By reoccupying Golden Ring with students in the 2027 2028 school year, we will be able to work with the IA and avoid this almost $4 million uh cost to the state. Um, we do project uh we

123are looking at about $4 million in uh capital funding and some modest maintenance and other uh grounds funding in the upcoming budget to make sure that Golden Ring would be ready for the Crossroads students in 2027. This slide shows the uh schedule for our county capital budget request. The introduction obviously is tonight. Our work session will be in two weeks and we look forward to your vote in the middle of January. Thank you for that presentation. Um questions or comments, Mr. McMillian? Any talk about Rosedale Golden going to Golden Ring also Rosedale Center. So, um, that is that is something that our team has explored and it was is something that if the board is is interested in us looking at further, we would be happy to answer any additional questions on that. We have

124looked at that possibility. Okay. And on slide five, I think it was, I'm sorry, Mr. McMillian, I'm sorry to interrupt you. It we we have looked at it. It is it is possible to combine both programs in that facility and there's enough layers you could probably separate them. Yes, sir. Uh, on slide five, your list stopped at 13. Can we pull up slide five? Where is Spar Point Middle and Spar Point High School at down below that? So, I I I would be disingenuous to give you a number right below that. We do have that information. I do not have that right in front of me. And I know that's been paused. Yes, sir. But some other schools have jumped over that. No sir. So the the list that you see in priority the only

125the only uh priorities that um have been inserted are uh again this potential golden ring project if if the board is interested in that. Um and then some of these systemics again the the the boilers the roof projects I wouldn't even call those have been inserted. They are Sparrow's Point, the new Northeast High School, they are still in the same priority that they were in previously. Um the next two construction major construction projects that we do have in the queue um after the existing ones that that we've already started construction on obviously are the Northwest CTE Center and Papskco High School. And did the CTE center jump over Spares Point? No sir, it did not. It's it's always been ahead of it in the priority list. Thank you. You're welcome. First, just a point of

126order. Are should I be asking my questions now? I noticed in the agenda that it's it says to submit questions. It says if we have both of them. Okay, perfect. I just wanted to make sure before I move forward. Um, so my question is about golden ring. Um, do do the would the budget, excuse me, budget requests include improvements such as a secure vestibule? I remember that the office used to be located upstairs in that building. And part of the reason why that was never changed is because the students were moving from Golden Ring to Nottingham. So, that would be a concern that I would bring forward if we're moving students back into that building. Yes, ma'am. It would include it would our team has thought about that and um uh again looked at a

127couple of different of a couple of different models on what that would look at u the facility with the with the size that it is um and matching it to the current program at crosswords we wouldn't need to use all of the facility um so there are certain improvements that we could make like that that would be um that would be definite that we would need to do. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. My question is follow up to Mr. McMillian's the population the number of enrollments for crossroads is much less than the capacity that Golden Ring has. So if we don't move Rosedale in, are you just rehabbing part of the building or are you rehabbing the whole building and what other choices would we have? Yes, ma'am. So um and that's Thank you for

128that question. So it this project would not not be a full uh renovation or rehabilitation in any way. Um what it what it would do is it would make sure it would would freshen up um with some paint and some tile some of the areas that um that that require it. Um there are some things that um we would we would need to address before students can safely occupy the building. As Miss Pumprey said, things like a sec secure vestibule um would be necessary. And our team has closely looked at with with such a reduction in the number of students that the facility would serve, how we could most safely accommodate and support them in that space. Um so it would not it would not be a full renovation of any point. It would be

129our our maintenance teams, our um grounds teams, our facilities construction, our engineers have gone in taken a look and surveyed what are the things that we would have to do and what are some things that we could do to freshen the environment in a cost-effective manner. Okay. Thank you. So board members, um the capital budget is coming back on at our next meeting on December 16th. So, if you have additional questions, you may have um submit them to Dr. Rogers by um next Monday, the 8th, and then they'll be included in the December 16th board work session. So, thank you, Madam Chair. There's some members and teams that have have their hands raised with questions. Okay, go ahead, Miss Hen. Thank you. Um I had a question regarding the the IA reimbursement for the golden

130ring um occupation the 4 million that was mentioned on the slide. Yes. Go ahead. Is that is that for the um investment in air conditioning or because Golden Ring has not had recent um state capital investment. So I'm curious as to what the the 4 million liability um to the IA for reimbursement. Yes, that is correct. It's almost entirely due to the air conditioning. Due to air conditioning. Okay. Thank you. And um Chair Licter and Mr. McMillian asked two of my other questions which was um regarding or regarding the capacity at at Golden Ring and the um additional utilization. So I may have follow-up questions to ask um during the next session on that. So thank you to both of those members for asking those questions. That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. Miss

131Fmpong, thank you. And I'm trying to figure out whether or not Miss Hen actually asked my question from that slide. So with that reimbursement, um I believe Mr. Grim, you referred to it as a fee, but this was saying reimbursement. So I was trying to understand that $4 million. Is it something BCPS has paid out and they're getting the money back or is it something they do not have to pay? So, it and that's a great question, Miss Funkong. So, it's actually um part of an investment in capital dollars the state made to complete a capital project. Uh to Miss Hen's question, it it was largely due to the air conditioning system that was that was uh put in at Golden Ring. So the state when when they provide those kind of capital dollars there

132are strings attached. They assume that the building will be occupied and used um for the purposes to educate students for a certain period of time. Um they then amarize the amount of money that the system would owe back over the course of time. And so in this case, the amount that we would still owe at this point in time is just about $4 million for the Golden Ring uh project if we don't uh put students in. And we do have um some additional time if if this is not of interest to the board in order to repurpose it. Um but it's it's not money that we have. It's money that the state invested in a capital project that we would owe them back if we don't occupy the facility with students or repurpose it in

133some other way that the state accepts and and waves that figure. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So once again, please submit any questions on the capital budget to Dr. Rogers um and they will be included in the next board meetings presentation. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the report on the FY2027 operating budget overview. And for that, I call on Dr. Rogers. Thank you, Chair Lictor, Vice Chair Harvey, members of the board. I am pleased to provide you with an overview of the operating budget. For those who had an opportunity to attend our uh many community conversations over the operating budget, a lot of this information will be familiar. But as we are in the throws of fiscal year 2027, the development of the operating budget, wanted to take an opportunity to

134just bring um some key points to everyone's awareness. So the first is to remind everyone that our key investments, our priorities um are all focused on moving BCPS forward. Uh three years ago when we came together, our first charge was to make sure that we focused on school system improvement. uh both the technical aspects in terms of what we invested in but also the social uh processes making sure um that we were focused on the people um particularly our students and what they needed to be successful. It was based on our data as well as feedback from more than 10 community meet and greets reviewing documents and processes that we identified four main priorities. academic achievement, safety and climate infrastructure and having highly effective teachers, leaders and staff. And so for the last three years,

135as we have identified our uh requests for the operating budget, we have been sure to address these four areas. The reasons that we have Oh goodness, not usually doing well. The reason that we have remained yes uh laser focused um are our students. As I said, academic achievement is our number one priority. We know that implementation science tells us that it takes about three years of investing in an infrastructure really focusing on professional development and implementation before we start to see student um progress move forward. We are fortunate uh in BCPS that it has not taken three years before we have started to see progress in our students. This slide depicts year 1 and year 2 results. All of the indicators on this slide are external. They either compare the performance of Baltimore County public

136schools with the 23 other school systems in the state of Maryland or we are compared um outside of the state in the US. All of these measures are validity and reliability um tested. Okay, we did we're good right now. We're good right now. Yes. Um and so as we move into this third year of the um of our plan for the system and moving student progress forward, uh we also know that it is going to be another challenging fiscal year. Um, we have spent time really speaking with our stakeholders to hear many voices about the priorities and educating our communities about the factors of change, what is different um, in our school systems. Now, um, this slide shows that there are changes at every level. Starting with the federal level for us, our large title

137grants are provided to us uh, by the federal government. When we usually talk about title one, title two, title three, title four, those are our federal grants. Um about 8% of our budget, um we have 737 teachers and 443 additional staff members who are supported by these grant sources. Um for at the state level, uh everyone knows that the state is facing uh more than a billion dollars in um a structural deficit. And so that gap um it more than doubles this year u and uh for the coming year. And so we anticipate as um the lawmakers go into session that we will learn more about the fate of public schools. We do know that public school funds are in a trust and they are protected as part of the blueprint. Um but there is

138also um uh focused effort to stretch those dollars as far and as long as possible. And so we await what that will mean um for local school systems and again are prepared to advocate in Annapolis uh this upcoming year on behalf of our students in BCPS. And lastly, the local level. The majority of our funding comes from county government as is the uh law and the expectations. Uh but we also know um from our partners that the impact of the federal government changes and the state government reductions have an impact on what they're able to do um in terms of providing funding above maintenance of effort uh to the school system. Uh this slide shows um uh the changes over time. So if we look at BCPS data um from 20145 to this past school

139year um and look at the changes, we'll see that uh enrollment has declined um a little bit since uh COVID but has remained relatively um stable. uh well over 108,000 students over this uh 10y year period of time. Um but at the same time the costs for wages and benefits across BCPS as have increased significantly. And so as we move into this budget year um and as we have been for the last few years um a lot of our focus is going to be on wages and benefits. Um, it's also important to uh talk about the enrollment because all of the sources of revenue, almost all of the sources of revenue that we receive are contingent upon enrollment. They are based on the number of students that we have. The more students you have in

140your school system, the more funding you receive. The same thing with when we allocate resources and funding uh to individual schools. Our number one characteristic that we use for all schools regardless of need is enrollment. And so it's important for us to highlight and for our community have to have an awareness that when we lose enrollment like the entire state of Maryland has been doing um there are losses that come in terms of funding as [music] well. And so this slide moves into the operating budget. uh making sure that there's clear understanding that when we're talking about the operating budget, we're talking about six different funds, but we really spend a lot of our time, focus, and energy talking about the general fund. Uh the general fund is responsible for all system operations. So when

141you talk about salaries, wages and benefits for every single employee, all of our instructional textbooks, supplies, plant operation and maintenance, the day-to-day operations of running the school system, including offices, um is part of the general fund. We have the special revenue fund. That's where we receive the grant funding. And the other one that I would highlight, which is a very separate process, uh and Dr. Grim and Miss Lazari uh presented uh our county capital request. The first step of that this uh evening are the capital projects uh for fund and that capital budget. We have a very se separate process for that. We have a state capital submission where the board of education votes in September annually on that and the county c capital submission and that vote um takes place in January. So all

142things construction are under the capital projects funds and every even year is when there is a bond referendum and that is uh when all of the voters in Baltimore County go to the polls and they uh register a vote whether or not they want to support additional school buildings in our school system. Um that is how we are building our high schools. Uh currently we have Lancetown, [music] uh Talson and Delaney that are under construction um as a result in large part to the bond referendum of um last year that was passed. Whoops, sorry, the wrong way. So BCPS does not generate our own funding. All of our money comes from external sources and all of our money comes with strings attached. Our money comes from local government, state government, and federal government. Um, it

143is also important for our community to understand that there is a law that governs the amount of money that we receive uh from the county government. It is the same law that governs um the allocation for all 24 school systems. It is the maintenance of effort law. And what it states [music] is that each county must appropriate an amount equal to the funding from the prior year and based on enrollment of the students. And so if we look at last year um for the operating budget uh general fund maintenance of effort for BCPS was $961 billion. The county provided $995 billion. So the difference between 9961 billion and 995 billion that was the funding that was discretionary. It was 3.5% that was provided to Baltimore County public schools above maintenance of effort. Uh the bulk

144of the funding that we receive is mandated by law. Uh BCPS is not revenue generating. Um all of our expenditures must be accounted for. Um, as you know from watching our um, board of education meetings, um, and we just had some contracts come through this evening, um, contracts come to the board of education for approval. There are appropriation limits, there are time limits, um, and specific vendors and purposes. Um, there are individual spending transaction limits, um, that, uh, schools and offices must adhere to. And as I stated before, all of our funding comes with strings attached. So there are requirements for reporting and external auditing requirements for all of our funding. Even our grant funds um most of our grant funds are reimburseable which means that we have to expend our first money our money

145first and then provide all of the documentation um to the state and federal government for reimbursement as an added measure that we will be compliant with the expectations of the grant. Even within a grant, uh while we cannot change allocations, we want to sometimes change line items. That is done through a NOGA process where we have to submit to the grantor for prior approval before any changes can be made. I think this is very important information for our community to have um about spending and funding in BCPS. And so sometimes when we're engaging with the community, um there are questions about how is the funding uh spent. Um all of the information that I'm sharing can be found on budget 101. All of the board contracts um going back to as long as we've had

146board docs can also be found um on board docs that have been approved with the specific vendors and amount and spending authority. Um but it but this uh graphic helps our community to understand uh how we spend every single dollar. 82 cents of every single dollar in BCPS is spent on employee salary and benefits. And then we further um uh provide you with a breakdown by uh union group. So 54 cents of every dollar in our school system is spent on Tabco represented employees. 11 cents on ASME represented employees. Our ASME represented employees are our bus drivers, our cafeteria workers, our uh plant workers, building service workers. 8 cents of every dollar is spent on ESPC represented employees. primarily they are our parah educators as well as our um clerical uh staff members. Six cents

147on case that's our supervisory union for all of our principles, assistant principles and uh central office uh leaders. We have two cents of every dollar on uh spent for OPE represented employees, office professionals. Um we have uh supervisors and uh coordinators in addition to our uh cafeteria managers that are part of um OPEs that work in human resources that work in uh technology and other aspects of operation. One penny is spent on all other employees. That includes non-represented contra uh contracted individuals. Two cents of every dollar is spent on supplies to run the school system. three cents on our utilities, um four cents for non-public placements for special education services. I will uh remind the community that we shared um previously in the blueprint presentation that uh two years ago the legislation passed law where

148non-public schools achieve par with public schools. That means that the uh tuition rates for non-public schools skyrocketed across the system over the last 5 years. There has been an increase of 32% um costs in this area for the state of Maryland, 31% um for uh BCPS. Um services 8 cents goes to services. This is all of our building maintenance. Again, I will repeat building maintenance for the third oldest set of buildings in the state of Maryland. All of our security, our contract buses, our um computers, as well as our software are a part of our services. And the last penny goes to um large furniture and equipment. This slide speaks to our budgeting elements. As we uh move forward in another tight uh fiscal um uh year, we have um some elements that are in

149place of how we conduct uh the budget process before a uh proposed budget is brought forward to the board of education. Um, this is the third year in a row that we have moved forward with a central office and non-school-based hiring freeze, meaning that as positions become vacant, whether it's through promotion, internal promotion, retirements, or resignations, that we do not immediately fill those positions, there is an exception process where people can request um consideration if it's a critical position. Uh we have only opened or lifted the the freeze for small periods of time over the summer for our central office. Um we engage in zerobased budgeting. Uh we no longer provide everyone with a guarantee of the same budget amount that they received the previous year and they share with us additional requests. Everyone starts

150with a clean slate where they have to identify every single request. uh the request has to be supported with either actual expenditures or if we have a contract and there's a builtin escalation. I'll uh recall your attention to gas and electric um where we had the numbers from the vendors that that's built into the budget. Uh you will not see any new initiatives come forward unless there is something that is mandated um by the state. Um, for example, the state is mandating a new mathematics policy, which the team will speak about a little um later on. They're speaking about next. And part of that new policy requires um integrated math options. Integrated math options might require us to uh ensure that we have the proper um materials necessary for our students to um implement what

151is required by the state and all. contracts. This year, we reverse sorted all of our contracts from highest contract to the lowest contract in the school system. And um going through each one through our divisions, we're looking for opportunities to renegotiate for a better cost. Opportunities if we're procuring a good to reduce the amount of the good that we are procuring um or outright eliminate the contract to red uh further reduce costs um this fiscal year. This slide um is to share just some very specific details on our reduction of central office supervisory positions over the last two fiscal years. Um as we have been engaging with community members, um I am very grateful for the community members uh that shared with us um uh that there were some uh still some misinformation in the

152community about the reductions that actually took place. And this slide um shows the reductions that have taken place over the last two fiscal years. um the specific type of positions. The only positions included are chiefs, executive director, director, coordinator, manager, and supervisor. These are only supervisory positions on this list. Um it also includes a line for where we added any position. If we added a position in one of those titles, the specific area where it was added. um and then uh making the subtraction for the net reduction and what the change has been over the last two years. And so in terms of central office supervisory positions, 69 positions have been reduced in central office over the last two fiscal years. Additionally, over the last two uh school years, BCPS has reduced um has made

153internal reductions to the total amount of $168.9 million. This slide has a uh new look, but it is information that actually was brought back from a um uh training that was provided to board of education members that was shared uh with myself and all of the board members three years ago in anticipation of ESSER. Georgetown University has continued to provide annual um presentations on uh the stages of budget cuts. um particularly for uh school systems. What you see on the slide are the four specific areas um where you can freeze, where you can trim for the from the top, negotiate as well as labor reduction. What we have added specific to BCPS are the checks for the areas uh where we have um already uh made those implemented those changes in BCPS over the last

154two fiscal years. And so you'll see in the first category of freeze uh there is a check in every area with the exception of offer early retirements. That is a topic that came up last year as a consideration. It is a topic that um we are uh discussing um in uh superintendent groups and we are doing our own internal BCPS research um as to whether or not that is a viable option uh for Baltimore County public schools. In the area of TRIM from the top trim payments to community um partners, we have um contracts. We have reduced and renegotiated contracts in that way. Outright trimming pay payments without um agreements to do so um is is not something that we have done. We have not eliminated all professional development days for our teachers or eliminated

155their prep time um where in some states you'll see that practice where um there is teaching that is occurring at all times of the day. uh we know that our uh teachers need time to uh grade, they need time to reflect uh and plan for the students and so that is not a step that we have taken in BCPS. Um we have made some salary adjustments um for this current fiscal years. However, we have not altered any benefits. um all of the research around altering benefits um speak to uh having staff members um have limited choices as well as um uh paying a greater share of benefits. As you know, for the last 25 years, we have partnered with Baltimore County government for benefits to provide us with uh greater buying power. And as a

156result, where the state has increased more than 25% in this area over the five years, uh we have been e able to um keep our increase um at uh lower than 20% in this area. And lastly, labor reduction, large staff uh layoffs. Some of our neighboring systems, as you know, um have identified specific uh roles in the schoolhouse that have just been eliminated. BCPS has not um gone uh through these uh measures, but at next slide. Um but as we continue to move uh forward um things are getting tougher and we're going to have to make some uh tough decisions. Uh we know that we are responsible to continue moving student progress forward. That it that is not uh negotiable. Um that is the number one purpose of why we exist. Um at the same

157time student needs are increasing and costs are increasing. Um it is my responsibility and I intend to fulfill it to bring forward a balanced proposed budget to the board of education for their deliberation. Um and uh it is my um uh goal to bring it forward in alignment with our county uh target. our county partners, our um uh county executive has shared uh that the target for the FY27 year should be 2% above um what we received for FY26. Um we have heard from our stakeholders that uh compensation is incredibly important and so we want to include year3 compensation package in uh the budget that we bring forward. And in order to do that, in order to make sure that the balance the budget is balanced and that we meet the county target and that

158we put in the compensation package, it means that we have to bring reductions forward. Um, I remind everyone again that 82% of our budget is uh in uh wages and benefits. And so we're going to as we uh move forward over the next few weeks have to make some uh tough decisions um in the best interest of our students that continues to move them forward with the limited resources that are available. And so at this time I would open it up for any questions. So Dr. Rogers, thank you for that, especially in late 27 budget season. Are there any questions or comments at this time? Mr. McMillian, Dr. Rogers, I noticed in the one column you had the early retirement piece. Is that there was no check in that box obviously, but is that something

159the group has talked about your central staff? So, um, that slide came from Georgetown University, and so it's one of the ways that most school systems across the nation, um, address when you have these budget shortages. We didn't have a check there because BCPS has not gone there, but we are looking, we're exploring all, um, options. You might be pleasantly surprised with the result of that if you offered it. We are investigating. Yes. Thank you. Other questions? Let me look on teams. Anybody? No on teams. Okay. Thank you for that. I'm just going to make a quick comment and I commented on this at the um community conversations, but I just love the dollar representation. I think that really points out to our community who ask over and over again where the money goes. I

160mean, that's a very, you know, onepoint p photo that shows exactly where the money goes. So, thank you for that. Thank you, Miss Pumprey. It's just the start of the season, so we'll have lots of time to ask questions. The next item on the agenda is the report on academic achievement for secondary math. And for that, I call on Dr. Molnick, Miss Machinda, and Miss Greenberg. Why the Good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers. We're excited to be here to join you um and share some secondary mathematics updates. Um we know that that's a major area of focus for curriculum instruction and our schools this school year. Oh, yes. I was supposed to get us started. Um as Dr. Molenex um shared this is uh absolutely an area of focus for us in

161BCPS. Uh this first slide that's depicted uh you have seen seen this slide before our math MCAP results. Um what this slide shows us is while nine out of 10 student groups improve their proficiency in math is that math continues to be an area of concern in both Maryland and in BCPS. Um, selfishly, we're going to focus on that concern in BCPS. The team has put together a workg group um to uh really focus on what the needs are of our students in [music] um middle school math in particular as well as algebra 1. And so I am pleased for them to provide an update on interventions and what those supports look like and what's to come um from the state of Maryland in terms of mathematics for secondary students. So um when we zoom

162in on secondary and add the layer of the 2223 school year, you can really see the trend data that shows an increase in mathematics scores for many of the grade levels. But what you also see here is the persistence in low proficiency specifically in grades seven and eight. So exact to what Dr. Rogers mentioned, this is our area of concern. This is our focus and what you should hear in this presentation are the strategy shifts that we're making to attend to students in need in the middle grades and in algebra 1. Um but what also from the last slide to this slide uh is is very clear is that something happens in that transition from elementary to middle school and this is not dissimilar from the state's data and they've acknowledged that this is an

163issue and why they have put forward this math policy. So, we're also examining what does that shift to middle school mathematics really look and feel like for students and how can we support them at taking and transitioning what they understood in elementary extending that understanding of number sense to include new domains in mathematics like ratio and proportional reasoning or expressions and equations. So, this is where we start this year at gathering some baseline data. You may recall that last year we piloted the STAR math assessment in grades 3, five, and algebra 1. This year we're using that STAR across grades K to algebra 2 to get an idea of where students are when they begin. So this was the original um administration. It took place in late September, early October. And uh this is a

164normre referenced computer adaptive assessment that lets us know where students are and how they are placing or performing in relation to their grade level peers. The data on this slide shows for grades six, seven, and eight that we have students ready to engage in onle um mathematics. So this was an assessment that they took when they had only one month of instruction at the grade level and it's a little different than the the data we just looked at. So, how do we maintain these levels and at the same time grow the green bands and blue bands and attend to those students who are coming to us with beginning skills? This is the same data but for our grade nine students. So again, we're in the year two of a linking study with the Renaissance uh

165company who has STAR that will provide us with some predictive indicators connecting their STAR percentile ranks with their MCAP standards mastery. Now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Greenberg to talk about how we're taking this data and using it to move along with instruction and professional learning and intervention. One of the first things that we looked at this year was redesigning our professional learning. We created a professional learning series that specifically focuses on the standards and how they grow and expand upon each other in starting in math six through algebra 1. It is a series of learning that is pushed into the schools in partnership with the school leadership. And between each session of the series, there is um implementation support by my team going in and partnering with the teachers. We figured

166that bringing it directly to the schoolhouse would increase the amount of um uh ability to reach a greater number of teachers. And of course, my team continues to support um the schools in curriculum and planning, data analysis and response and leading for instructional change as those are continue um growth that we know we have. We have three um continuations of the pilots from last year that we started. Frackle we piloted last year in grades three, five, and algebra 1. We were able to expand that to all title one and community schools in grades three, algebra 2, and we are currently looking for additional um ways in which to expand that for grades three through eight and to the rest of the schools. Assistments expanded now to 15 middle schools this year, which is our one

167of our curriculum based um pilots. It's attached directly to our illustrative mathematics curriculum and supports the data driven instruction by our teachers. And the same thing with Kon Migo that is in 12 of our middle schools and that is again linked to our instructional um materials and is designed for the supporting the data driven instruction of our teachers. Um we have a systemwide professional learning plan. In the summer of 2025 we worked on planning to the content assessment limits of the standards. Um, and that is in light of the upcoming changes that the math policy we'll discuss in a few minutes, but really kind of digging into the standards and understanding how to plan to them, what's important. October 2nd, we talked about appropriate adjusting and enhancing of a curriculum. Um, and then throughout this

168year again, we are have the intentional learning to grow teacher content and pedagogical knowledge to the standards. And then we are partnering in March um for implementation of the revised standards and MSD is going to partner in or co-lead co-f facilitate that um learning. We also have a summer summit planned. Oops. Um for this summer we have two days where we will be bringing in math teachers to learn about um to learn about these new standards and to plan for um some of the changes that are upcoming in mathematics. So the mathematics policy um that was adopted in March of 2025 is bringing out around some significant changes in fall of 2026. We are going to implement the revised um college and career ready standards from kindergarten through grade 8. In fall of 2027 we

169will be implementing the integrated algebra 1 course which will be a combination of some algebra 1 standards and some geometry standards. We also will have the required number of instructional minutes at that point um will need to be implemented and then in fall of 2028 we'll follow the integrated algebra 2 course which will be some additional geometry standards and then the remaining algebra and then so geometry will no longer exist separately. It will be these two courses that have a combination of the three sets of standards. And so um in alignment with the policy, we've convened a math task force. And the math task force, the purpose of this task force is to really develop all of the strategies to implement parts of the policy for students in BCPS specific to the needs of our

170students. Um this uh task force includes the voices of teachers, administrators, central office leadership uh and stakeholders. There are four sorry there are six buckets um that we are focusing in on two of which are timely with regard to the middle schools and so we're looking at course sequencing we're looking at feasible bell schedules we're also looking at multi-tered systems of support so looking at that experience of of students shifting into middle grades um and then we are working through the professional learning um that Miss Greenberg described and continuing to lean in on our high quality instructional material to focus us on our instruction as well as making sure that we have a communication pipeline that lets communities know what's changing, why it's changing, and how it will impact families. And to ensure that we

171are aligned continuously with MSD's expectation, we are partnering them with them very specifically in three ways right now. We have an LEA liaison team that meets with them monthly to asssure that we are up to date with all of the information that's coming from MSD on the new policy. Um we are part of the curriculum committee lead um committee in order to asssure that we are hearing all of the responses to the various curriculum committees in alignment with the changing standards and we are partnering with them on professional learning not only for the revised standard implementation but also on modeling and reasoning as that continues to be an area. Thank you. So thank you very much for that presentation. Um questions or comments from board members? Mr. Manowski. Yes, thank you for that presentation and

172for um addressing these concerns with with math scores. Um I just had a couple questions. The um the freckle assessments and kamingo are these all digital AI gear um interventions supports for students? Digital, yes. AI, no. Just digital. They're all digital supports. And what inter like what teacher centered um supports and interventions are we offering? So we still have so we're talking about the secondary level the teacher component to freckle is the use of the data to be strategic about what the students engage in. Um so there are three different ways that students can engage with freckle. One is adaptive where the the freckle platform is engaging with the student as they answer questions with more difficulty. But there's another where the teacher actually sits and assigns based on the data based on the focus

173skills focused intervention and the student is engaging with what the teacher has decided is the skill. Um and then there's another is aligned to their star um assessment where they look at where star left that where they landed in star which is computer adaptive and how those students engage. So the platform yes is digital but the teacher is involved and can provide an opportunity for students to go beyond their grade level or to stay right in the focus skill based on how students are performing with the content. But all the work that the students are doing is actually done um on a digital platform. It is. It is. And the professional development is that just um geared towards helping teachers successfully uh facilitate the all the digital platform supports that we're offering? We all for

174freckle for all of them. No. So within the professional development we have a very distinct focus on the formative assessment aspect of it and the data driven response. Right. So how do I know how my students are doing in the moment before you know the summit of assessment to asssure that every time I am assigning something in the digital platform to the students meaningful to each student individually and so really kind of taking that data to inform what I'm going to do tomorrow and not wait. Um that's been one of the largest focuses on all of the professional life. Miss Greenberg, can you just bring the mic a little bit closer? I just want to add a couple of other things um to what the ladies have shared. We also are focusing on responsive instruction

175with our principles and teachers and and um department chairs. So we're working with them to understand how can you pull small groups so it doesn't take the teacher completely out of it. What would that look like? How do we provide small groups that's responsive to the needs and the data? So the teacher is still involved. They're not just putting children in front of computers. um they have to look at the data and determine what is the best approach for each individual child. Correct. So my my last question with that is just how are is the professional development helping the teacher you know teach the full class at one time and keep them engaged without having to put them in front of the computer? Is there is there an aspect of it saying, "Hey, look at

176me. This is what we're doing up here and now write it down on the piece of paper and do it that way or is everything geared towards the data driven from the computer?" So, I think if I could Oh, sorry. Thank you. If I could start there. I think uh Miss Dominowski, you're speaking to um pedagogy. So, these are experts in content here that can speak all day about what um teachers are learning in terms of content. Um, one of the things that we found out uh, three years was that the only group of teachers that consistently received training on pedigogies, those strategies on how do you maintain momentum, how do you maintain clarity of expectations, how do you make sure that you write an objective in such a way that students are able to

177demonstrate mastery and it's not just an activity or a surface level objective. Um, were our consulting teachers. And so we've invested for the last two years part of the training that all of the teachers receive in the summer and throughout the year is on the skillful teacher. All of our leaders have received that. Executive staff have received that as well as our teachers in building. and they are learning specifically those skills around momentum, around um uh clarity of instruction, classroom management, all of those pieces of how to teach students um how to engage in highquality teaching and learning is a part of the work that we're doing in all schools. And so that um part is led uh by our uh workforce development team and [music] we bring in layered on top of that the

178content piece on now first how do you know about good teaching that's the pedigogy piece and then the content how do you know about math six what does that look like what are the specific skills um that you need to learn in this particular unit of study and it's also important for us to share and reiterate that even when we use digital tools that helps us to increase our efficiency for teachers to um quickly diagnose where students are having difficulty for them to provide extra help um and things of that nature. the teacher can never be replaced for as the primary unit of instruction and so I think that's very important for our community members to understand and I would invite you to speak to professional development specifically around content but pedagogy um we are

179using the work of John Sapi Sapphir research for better teaching uh the skillful teacher is the text that we're using with all of our teachers across team BCPS okay I I think my my only point to that was are we reinforcing it with the content as well during those we do are we doing at the same time not just separate in the summer are we doing it with the content as well the the push in series that I was speaking about that is exactly tied to the skillful teacher and and then brings the math into it and here's how the standard lives across the years building towards that algebra one key point you know getting that math six math 7 math 8 pedigogy and content knowledge built that is all non-digital that is very much

180just based on pedigogy and content knowledge thank you for that I know I'm Running out of time. I just have one last qu question. The 60 minute cumulative instructional time, is that included in any time that the student is with the just the computer? Is that considered part of the 60 minutes a day instructional time? It's 60 minutes that they're in the mathematics classroom. So, not necess Okay. Thank you. And I just want to clarify that the three um curriculum products that you mentioned the freckle and the assistments and coningo those are not our core programs. Those are interventions or support. So as far as a teacher still standing up in front of a classroom of students that's still taking place. This is just to provide additional support for kids that need either skills repeated

181or above. Is that do I have that right? Yes, that's correct. Miss Harvey, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to go back to the mathematics task force. The task force has been um convened to address the uh performance for 8th grade and algebra 1 specifically or is it looking at math across the grades? It's looking at math across the grades. However, this year our focus is laser focused on the middle school level. So, the entire middle school level, not just eighth grade. Okay. And can you speak to a time frame or process? Will there be a point that you the task force will make recommendations? Uh is this will this be an ongoing process? Can you just speak to that a little bit? Yes. So the task force has already begun making

182recommendations. Different uh buckets of the task force depending on the timeline from the policy have more immediate um deliverables. So, we're already working with course sequencing and bell schedule specifically to bring recommendations forward. Um at the same time the professional learning will as has begun and will continue to get strengthened in the spring when we bring in MSDE to have to support and then um we'll continue through the community uh stakeholder engagement and communications to make sure that as things get solidified that that information is shared um publicly but it is ongoing and that the policy articulates shifts across three years. So this is work um coming down from MSDE to improve mathematics over the course of three years of this work. Thank you. Other questions or comments? Let me check. Um Mr. Dleski, thank

183you. Thank you for the presentation. Um just a quick question. I think it was slide seven about the requirement K through eight of 60 minutes of math per day, 300 minutes per week. How does that work with class periods that are 45 or 50 minutes? Thank you. That's why we're working with the task force to revisit bell schedules and determine if that how that can happen and give recommendations to schools. Okay, great. Thank you. And then is there like a a a date that you're aiming for with the task force to put those minutes in place by uh the policy requires that 60 minutes must be in place for K through 8 by the end of next year. Correct. I'm correct. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Thank you very much for that presentation.

184Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the report on academic achievement student attrition data. And for that I call on Miss Joseph, Mr. Mustaper, Mr. Reid, and Mr. Landon. Good evening everybody. Good evening. Let's take out Mr. Reid. Okay. [laughter] Like minus one. Go ahead. So, uh, good evening everyone. Uh, we have with us Mr. Landon who serves as our director of school performance and works with all of our schools on, um, student uh, data. And we have two members of our uh, executive uh, two of our executive directors that work on the high school um, level, Miss Carrier Joseph as well as Mr. Mustapher. um they are here to present some information on attrition. You will recall uh few weeks ago when we were talking about changes that we've seen and concerns

185that we have around um some of our students and some of the efforts to bring students back to school that we saw a pattern that was different [music] in the last school year than we've uh seen previously. And so their report will speak to attrition. Um uh the state provides some data uh as a whole, but we're going to dig into what the attrition uh rates look like in Baltimore County public schools, our uh concerns for specific student group um as well as uh the work that they are personally leading under the direction of Dr. Raquel Jones um to ensure that as many students as possible are successful in team BCPS. And so with that, I turn it over to the team. Thank you. All right. As Dr. Rogers stated, um today we'll be discussing

186our attrition rates um in BCPS and we do have information on the slide that pertains to um the attrition rate for the state of Maryland overall. Um our four our official attrition rate that is being displayed right now is for the class of 2024. We expect the class of 2025 data from MSDE uh sometime around the end of January or the end of fe or the beginning of February if the data is consistent um with uh what they did last school year. Um as you see overall from the class of 2024 there were 10.14% of the students actually um did uh leave school prior to earning a high school diploma. and the breakdown per student group and in BCPS our largest student group when we're looking at our attrition data is our multilingual learners uh

187and we have been making uh very good progress and working with our multilingual learners uh over the years and it's been a a cumulative effort from multiple divisions uh and departments within uh BCPS. um our our second highest uh within that group of m multilingual learners are our Hispanic students and they are just over a little over 20%. And when we look at a comparison with the state data, we know the largest population of students who leave um high school without earning a high school diploma. The largest student group there for the state is um our African-American students. And in comparison with BCPS um that is a dis decreasing population for us and the class of 2024 that student group um attrition rate was at 9.21%. So, we are seeing some uh progress with uh

188some student groups and overall we're making gains with all students. And again, we won't stop this um work until we can get all student groups at 0% because we know how um important it is for our students to earn a high school diploma. Next slide, please. The cohort attrition rates that you see on this slide are not final yet. The 2022 2025 cohort numbers in the top row are the students that just graduated last year. The remaining four cohorts of students are still in school and not due to graduate yet. For example, the bottom row of the 2026 2029 cohort are freshmen and are due to graduate in the spring of 29. Regardless of the cohort, our multilingual learner group has the highest attrition rate of all student groups, thus our area of concern. This

189next slide begins to talk about what are some areas of improvements that we are making and focus areas. First, we'll start with attendance. Our efforts to significantly decrease chronic absenteeism is critical. Chronic absenteeism is strongly correlated with attrition. Students who miss school frequently are more likely to disengage and drop out. So, addressing this through interventions will help our students stay on track. Um, instructional quality. Um, we're focused on the quality of first instruction, which means teaching practices and curriculum alignment so students succeed early and avoid falling behind. Strong instructional um strong initial instructional reduces the need for remediation and lowers the dropout risk. For our targeted support, our group is our multilingual learners and we are tailoring evolving interventions for them. We are expanding credit recovery options which gives students who fall behind a pathway

190to graduate. So this reduces attrition by providing flexible opportunities to earn mis credits rather than leaving school. And finally we have a systemic monitoring and early warning. And why this is important is because we are using datadriven monitoring to identify students at risk early. We intervene early and then we do this before attrition occurs. And some of the things that we have been working on to ensure that we continue to um have as many students as possible to earn their high school diploma. We realize that this work requires us as executive directors to be handson around this work. So we spend a lot of times during the summer visiting our EYLP sites. We also visit our EDLP sites. And this again this is joint work with our partners in the division of curriculum and instruction.

191Um our partners in student support services and our PPWs play a vital role uh in this work because again this work must be done using the hands-on approach. Also all of our high schools are engaging in having project graduation meetings. Um these project graduation meetings can h happen weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly depending on the data of the particular schools. Um these are structured meetings uh where a cross-section of individuals within the schools come together to review data and every one of our high schools have keeps a spreadsheet where on every single senior in a in a graduating cohort and they are identifying students who are on track, who are slightly off track and those students who need significant support due to various reasons. because it's just not about a student earning a diploma based

192on grades. You have to look at test scores. We also have to look at student service learning hours. We're also looking at attendance. So again, this is a cross collaboration from various adults within the schools as well as various um offices within our school system. And and also we've shifted to increasing our monitoring for 9th grade on track. Um and so you will see the same structured meetings for those students in ninth grade on track to make sure that they are engaged, they're coming to school, um are they earning credits, um and just providing all of those different supports. And so it's not just the focus on on the seniors. We have shifted to making sure that we are monitoring those ninth graders from day one that they enter our high schools. The early warning

193report that you see here updates nightly in power and form. It's based on the ABCs of an early warning system which include attendance, behavior, and course grades. Besides these three metrics, it also includes if a student is on track for college and career readiness, on track for graduation, GPA, MCAP performance, WEDA scores, a student's current teachers and grades that from one day prior for ELA, math, science, social studies, and world languages along with historical grades in those five areas along with all the students demographics. It attempts to assist schools to be proactive rather than reactive. We strive for data rich and informationrich to intervene early. And so how are we responding um to making sure that we have a focus on our multilingual learners? We're re-examining um how we are actually offering them credits, especially

194for our newcomers coming in. uh we talked to the students and so we're honoring their feedback and what they told us is that we needed to implement more CTE opportunities for workforce development. What they told us is that they wanted more flexible time because they had to accommodate work schedules. Um we have looked at other LEAs that have success with multilingual learners and we are looking at models that actually partner with uh like CCBC to create a model to support an alternative pathway for students. uh we are reimagining opportunities in EDLP and EYLP which is summer and evening school to make sure we have more offerings. And then one of the other trainings that we're putting in place is the sheltered instruction observation protocol which is known as SCP. Um it's a training so that

195there are skills um so that they're effectively teach grade level while you also have language and they're done simultaneously. Thank you for that. Any questions or comments from board members, Miss Dominowski? Yes, thank you for that and all the work that you're doing. I just had one clarifying question. Are you meaning to use attrition as the same as dropout? Yes, it's the same. It's the same thing. Yes, because I don't think that it is. Attrition is um could mean like a student is um we've lost track of maybe they moved to another county or another state. So, and dropout is we we haven't lost track with them. They've dropped out of school completely. So, I'm just confused as because I mean it's it it's not really this it's not the same. So, how do we

196know that um the students that we've lost track of haven't necessarily just moved to another or transition transitory and have moved to another county or another state and or haven't just dropped out altogether? How are we keeping track of that? So um through those project graduation meetings, our PE our pupil personnels help with that work and these are students that we have we have lost complete track of. They have not they have move they have not moved to another LEA um that we are notified of. We have no knowledge of of where they of where they are and this is years of interventions of trying to do that and this is around the clock. Our work in high school doesn't just stop when the school year ends. It stops throughout the year and so we

197work with our pupil personnel workers. We work with other LEAs to continue that work. So that tracking monitor that we talked about, especially in the early warning. We're starting from day one to make sure that that happens. And that's why the focus on chronic absenteeism is important because when they're not in school the first day, we're asking why, where are they, and even doing home visits earlier. Thank you, F. You're welcome. Um to piggyback on Mr. Manowski's if they are if we've lost them um do they still count as a dropout um for us with the state? Yes. So whether they've dropped out or they've moved and we've lost track, it's still both categories count as a dropout. Whereabouts unknown is a dropout code. Okay. And then my next question is or comment is thank

198you for getting the student voice as far as what they feel um they need. Do you have any student voice about what possible root causes are for dropping out? Are there any patterns and trends or it's just so unique to the kid? Yeah, there we in our conversations with students um a believe it or not a lot of it is the students have to work um that we're hearing that more and more uh from our students. So creating flexible programs for students. So um Dr. Rogers has done a wonderful job with the high school executive directors to ensure that we have in-person summer options as well as virtual uh summer options. That that was a gamecher for us uh this past summer. We were able to get more uh summer graduates. So students just needed

199a hybrid type of schedule in order to meet the demands. And some of it was child care, but a lot of students were referring to they have to work, especially uh many of our multilingual learners who had to send money back to their home country, their families in their home countries. Okay, thank you for that. Other questions or comments, Miss Dusky? Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and the work that you do. So, is it correct to assume that if a student graduates early, that's not included in this number? No. No. No. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good thing, right? It's a very good thing. [laughter] And then um in terms of the students that are on the cusp of graduating and they're at risk of not graduating and of course we want them to

200graduate, but we also don't want to um lower the standards. We want to keep the bar high and support them in in meeting whatever the graduation requirements are that they need to meet. Can so can you speak briefly to how you keep the bar high with the students while supporting them in achieving the graduation requirements? Thank you. Yes, we are um as you all are aware we have a second graduation and so the students who don't meet that high standard who have to um who don't finish by June um they have an opportunity to again earn the credits over the summer. Um, and we have those options in person and we have those options virtually so that we're keeping the standards high. They must they must um make sure that they meet graduation requirements, but

201that's a reason why we have that second graduation. Some of our students, the light bulb comes on a little later um that they want to have the engagement and they do that work. Some of them have extenduating circumstances. So, we are providing every possible opportunity to make sure that we are still keeping a bar high, but we we're providing multiple pathways for them to graduate. Thank you, Mr. Agab. Thank you so much for the presentation. I just had a quick clarifying question about project graduation. So, is that something that is specifically looking at seniors seniors or is it from nth graders up and just following them throughout their entire high school process? And that's um so we used to just have where we say project graduation, but the process that you just said is what

202we are making sure we're focused on from day one with our with our ninth graders making sure that we have that intense focus so that they're staying engaged um in school from day one. Thank you. And then also one more question. So when those gaps are identified, I know there's a lot of different things that we can do to support these students, but what is like the immediate course of action? Is that like a conference with parents or so? When when there is a gap, we actually have to drill down to what is the issue. Again, it could it doesn't necessarily have to be that they're failing a course. It could be that they're missing a state assessment that we have to ensure that they take or they are behind in their student service learning

203hours. So, whatever that gap is, the reason that they are not meeting with success, that's what we identify as um what we identify as the problem. That's when we then outline a plan of solution and it could be bringing the pair in, but we always start with the student. Again, these are graduating seniors, some who will be going on to college, military, and um the world of work. So, we always start with the student because we want to treat them like young men and young women. Uh but when that doesn't work, u there's many times where we have to bring in the parent or guardian to assist and provide support. Thank you, Miss Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think uh my question dovetales to Miss Ambbee's uh your early warning system. How are parents

204engaged with this system? So this is a internal um system for just our educators. So they would not have access to that via power and form. You know there's a certain amount of licenses that only our administrators have. So the administrators would then take that information and have to communicate it to them um via all the different methods that they have. But the as far as grades go um you know and attendance that's something that um parents are aware of every week they get an automatic message from the focus um which is our school information system our student information system and so they can also go in there and see their grades at any time. So parents are always aware of whenever they choose to be aware of grades and attendance for students. Thank you.

205My question really wasn't access to the system itself, but really if the school has information and we know that there's varying degrees of engagement um in different ways that parents engage with their children and they all have access to all those things that you said. But if you have a system that says we have three areas that we're assessing and if it goes yellow or red in any of those areas, we need to intervene as a system. How is that communicated to the parent so that they can partner with the system in making sure that their children meet the goals and graduate on time? Sure. um during our early warning meetings for for the ninth grader. So when they say, "Hey, this ninth grader, especially after the first quarter, they have kind of moved to

206that yellow area. Our counselors are reaching out to the families." You do want to start with the student because we want to empower them to make sure that they're monitoring, but they do reach out to families and they reach out uh our principles and assistant principles sometimes reach out in whatever mode works best for their families. Sometimes email is not enough. They have to call, they do inerson meetings. um they meet they meet them kind of where they are and so it is individualized to the to the need of the family but having those meetings are the critical step so we know what is the next act action sometimes despite all of the efforts no one is answering no one is coming that's when we send a PPW to knock on your door to say

207hey the school is trying to get in touch with you to tell you that important information so we we're utilizing every possible communication mode and our principles and assistant principles are saying talking points is another um game changer um for us in the system to say like hey we need you to call us or this is uh what's going on we have an afterchool program that's there and so that's another communication mode that we're using. Last question is there a structured activity oriented to a deadline around these um interventions? For instance, is there a practice or a policy where if it if a student enters the yellow zone or the red zone that we are contacting or attempting to contact parents or reach out or intervene within 48 hours? Is there we're talking to the

208student and giving them a certain amount of time to show improvement? Is there are there structured activities oriented to deadlines around the interventions or is it uh determined at a school principal teacher level? So the answer is yes and it just depends on the student. We always try to give the student the opportunity to make the corrections first. Um but there might be every student is different. So for some students the contact with the parent has to be immediate. It's not a 24 hours, it's the same day. Um, and these phone calls are being made by our administrators, our school counselors are doing a wonderful job. And it's and and there are um multiple touch points during the students senior year that if they aren't meeting with success, a email letter is is triggered and

209sent to parents immediately to let them know that their students are not on track uh to graduate. Um but the spreadsheet that our uh schools keep on every individual student in the senior cohort um they are documenting those parent contacts whether it was a letter, whether it was a phone call, whether it was a home visit. Um so that that is being triggered. So every student's situation is going to be uh very very different. Uh because if you're a student that have demonstrated over the course of your high school career that you need extra support, us waiting on providing extra support is just not a good idea. But if you're a student that you have been doing very well, but you just have a stumbling block, we we just try to work with the student

210and and for the most part those students make the correction. They they just may get senioritis um as many of our students call it. But but we keep we make sure that we keep in constant communication with parents because we don't want any parent at the end of a child's senior year finding out their son or daughter will not be graduating. That is that is a absolute no no. And we don't call leaving voice messages on a parent's cell phone as contact. We are actually making contact uh with the parents so that there are no uh surprises. Yes, ma'am. Uh thank you. I agree that it's an absolute no no. Um and uh Miss Harvey, if you're asking whether or not we have uh established process whereby everyone is checking on a regular basis now,

211um because most of our classes are half credit and we didn't have this system before, we do have uh through student support uh services, Miss Caster is uh in charge where there are regular credit checks for all of our students regardless of what school you go to. And so that there are certainly these other steps that occur, but at minimum there are regular times during the year where all counselors are reviewing the credit checks for the students on their case load and that will generate an action. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Seavoy, did you have a question? Well, kind of. I did a paper on the attrition of ninth grade students in an urban high school setting and I found out after the research that most of the dropout rate came in the ninth grade.

212So is yours varying from or do you have you know other like is it people dropping out in the 10th grade or 11th grade? Um or is the ninth still the main grade that kids drop out? Well we're start we start to see it and what we're trying to address is having more interventions in the ninth grade so it doesn't move on to 10th grade 11th and then 12th. Okay. Yes. I I would agree with you. I think getting a good start in ninth grade is so critical and that's why we've really tried to get students on the right, you know, out out to the a great start in the beginning when they start their high school career. Uh on track grade nine is also an ESSA metric um you know that's part of our

213star ratings. So, it's also beneficial to the school, not just to the kids too, you know, to make sure that all the students are are on track. Um, and and getting that good start, getting kids belonging in the school really matters. Um, so all those things are, you know, if you get behind in ninth grade and you and you aren't able to recover those credits and you just continue to play catch-up your whole career, that does lead to more students saying, you know, frustration and they're gone. Yep. Thank you so much. Thank you. Miss Pumprey, did you have your hand up? Yes. Thank you. [clears throat] You talked about getting student feedback specifically for our immigrant students which fit into that multilingual learner category mostly. Um are you hearing anything about students being afraid to

214come to school? And if so, as a board, is there anything that we can do at a governance level to make our students feel safe? So, because all children of course should feel safe coming to school every day. Um yes, thank you for that question. Yes, we have heard that. Um it it significantly um impacted our schools um and it continues to impact our schools. Our schools have done a great job like each student has that that person in the building they can go to and that's who they communicated those things and so they um have expressed fear coming to school because we tried to say you know what is everything that we could do to get you to school but it was coming to school. So yes they have expressed that. Okay. Okay. And

215do you I guess this is more of an opinion. Is there anything that do you think we can do as a board at a governance level to make students feel safer? I I would believe if um possibly talking to our multilingual learners your yourselves um so that you can hear their voice directly um and hear their stories um because it it will imp impact you um I believe because that's what we did. we um we stopped with just the adults in the room and we went out and spoke with the with the students um directly and so I think just talking with them directly those who are engaged to see what what we can do would be helpful would be my feedback. Thank you. Mr. Young Dr. Rogers mentioned this um briefly, but with the

216classes being half credit um is was that kind of designed to help with the credit recovery process? And I know that change was made last year, I believe. How granted, it's probably early for any data, but how have you seen that um or the effectiveness of that change? So, we have actually been looking at the data and we were comparing first quarter last year's grades versus first quarter this year. And we've had more students passing um first quarter this year than we did during the previous school year, which lets us know that um the change is showing some positive benefits uh right now. and we're able to get um students who are in ninth and tth grade who may have failed a uh.5 credit course uh we can now get them quickly enrolled in a

217credit recovery program so that they don't fall behind. Uh so that's really helping us out. So every quarter we're going to monitor uh the data and we're going to compare it to last school year and um the previous school year when we had 1.0 old uh credit courses. So, right now the again it's it's early in its infasy stages, but right now the progress um that we've made uh looks very positive because we've had less students uh failing for the first uh quarter of this school year. Okay. And you also spoke of student service learning hours. Um are there still a certain number of hours built into You're nodding your head so you know where 75. Well, no, no, no. And yes, infused. Yes, there are infused hours. I should let you finish the question.

218[laughter] There's still a certain number built into the curriculum where they will, you know, go through if they're paying attention in class and doing what they're supposed to, they're going to gather a certain number automatically. Yes. And and that the infused hours actually start in middle school, uh, Mr. Young. So, and we're monitoring that right now. So, all the work that we started with the uh project graduations for our seniors, we're now doing that same work with our eighth graders in middle school. And service learning hours are a part of that work because if we can get um all of our students leaving middle schools to have those 75 service learning hours, then once they get to high school, their grades, their focus can be on their academics as well as their uh state assessments.

219So that's one thing that we're trying to take off of the plates of the high school and students in high school. Thank you so much for that presentation and your wealth of information. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is information which includes the meeting minutes of the October 2025 Southeast Area Education Advisory Council. And the next item on the agenda is any board member comments or agenda setting. So, um, Miss Dominowski, yes, this might already be on a future agenda item, but if we could get an update, um, about our community schools now and our plans to expand community schools in the future. Okay. Thank you. I saw somebody, Miss um, Pumphrey. So last the last time we did this, I had something on my mind and I couldn't think of it and

220I thought of it tonight and the reason I thought of it tonight is because right our speakers for the turf fields. So it it just brought more questions to my mind. So, if we could have some type of report and discussion about fiscally the turf fields um compared to uh grass fields um as far as if we were to put a moratorium on the turf fields as recommended by the person the health advocate that came and spoke at their last board meeting or the board meeting before um maintenance and as well as maintenance the fisc the fiscal landscape of that and if there's anything we can do if we were to keep our grass fields um to improve the maintenance because I know part of the issue my understanding is part of the issue is

221the use of the rec councils as well and they're used so often that it's difficult to maintain the grass fields. So in general I just think there's there's so many issues integrated there that maybe we need to have a report about each side of it and to dis to discuss where how to move forward in the future. Okay. Thank you Mr. McMillian. I just want to add to to Miss Pumprey, the Southeast Area Advisory Council has been talking about turf fields for quite a while and they've attempted to get some answers and their their answers have been slow to come. Uh I've got two agenda items. Okay. And uh three times in the last six days, I've had extensive conversation with people about payroll issues and I'd like to see an update on Oracle and

222where we are with that. Uh the comment was made a couple weeks ago that you know one person is too many. Just sounds to me like there's more people out there that are having issues with their pay. And when you can't read your pay stub, you know, to me there something's wrong with that. Uh we've got to simplify that somehow. Uh second thing that I would like to see and I think it would benefit us and it would benefit me and it would benefit the public is to look at the the purchasing process. is to look at how a solicitation is written. Uh the need for solicitation, how it's written, how it's put out there, uh how they're received back the process and along with that is the rubric that's used to determine these. You

223know, do we always use the lowest bidder or is, you know, does the rubric is it flexible depending upon what the contract is? Uh and and what do we look at when we make those decisions? because there are obviously multi multi-million dollar decisions being made over these different contracts. Thank you. Anyone else? Again, you can always email any agenda item. I'm sorry, I have one more thing and I didn't get it out. I apologize. Um also, um Dr. Rogers mentioned advocating for um Nottingham for exceptions to losing designations. And I just wonder if there's a legislative item that um LGR may need to advocate for in order to not just for not well for Nottingham now, but in the future for if this were to come up again so that schools transitioning in that manner

224won't lose their designations. Um I know federally there's probably nothing we can do, but if we can advocate at the state level, if there's something we could do through LGR, I think it might be worth looking into. Thank you. And again, you can email any um other items you might think of. Okay. And then at this point, the last item on the agenda is announcements. The board's next meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 6:30. Thank you to everyone who's attended. Thank you to my board members for our um work together tonight. And this meeting is now adjourned.