Meeting of the Baltimore County Board of Education - March 25, 2025

001Afternoon. This is Chairwoman Jane Licter. I call to order the meeting of the Board of Education of Baltimore County for Tuesday, March 25th, 2025. This evening's board of education meeting is being broadcast through the BCPS online live meeting broadcast and on BCPS TV, Comcast Exfinity channel 73, Verizon Fios channel 34. In order to officially conduct this meeting, all voting items this evening will be done by roll call vote. May I 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 sections 3-305 B1 B2 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 or any other personnel matter that affects one or

002more specific individuals. Protect the privacy or reputation of an individual with respect to a matter that is not related to public business and consult with counsel to obtain legal advice. So move clear. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Young. Thank you. May I have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Young, yes. Missowski. Miss Hen. Miss Fong. Yes. Miss Booker Dwire. Yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Chica, yes. Miss Stleski, yes. Dr. Seavoy. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Humphrey, yes. Miss Lar, yes. Thank you. Good evening. This is Chairwoman Jane Lter. I now call to order the meeting of the board of education of Baltimore County for Tuesday, March 25th, 2025. I invite you to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag to be led by Miss Chica Kaloo. We will then have a moment of

003silence in recognition of those who have served education in Baltimore County of America to the stand for all. Thank you. Tonight's board of education meeting is being broadcast through the BCPS online live meeting broadcast and on BCPS TV Comcast Exfinity channel 73 and Verizon Vios 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 March 25th agenda. Are there any additions or changes to tonight's agenda? Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Sleski. Thank you. I move to add to tonight's agenda consideration of a motion to resin the resolution 2025-02 centure following agenda item G, please. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Okay, you don't have to. Do you want to? Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Um,

004thank you to the community members who spoke out um with their opinions regarding the censure and um you know, you're you're heard clearly and loudly in terms of the appropriateness of um the motion and the passing of the motion. Thank you. Thank you. So, at this point, we are voting on adding that um motion to the agenda. May I have a roll call vote, please? Miss Booker Dryer, no. Miss Harvey, no. Miss Chulu, no. Miss Stleski? Yes. Mr. McMillian? Yes. Miss Pumphrey? Yes. Mr. Young? No. Mr. Amanowski? Yes. Miss Hen? Yes. Miss Fong? No, Miss Lter. No, the motion does favor is five. Thank you. The motion does not pass. It is not added to the agenda. Earlier this evening, the board met in close session pursuant to the open meetings act for the following

005reasons. 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 other personnel matter that affects one or more specific individuals, protect the privacy or reputation of an individual with respect to a matter that is not related to public business, and consult with council to obtain legal advice. The close session summary and the open session information summary can be found on board docks under this board meeting agenda date. The next item on the agenda is personnel matters and for that I call on Mr. McCall. Good evening. Good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. like the board's consent for the following personnel matters. Tonight we have retirements, resignations, deceased recognition of service,

006and certificate appointments. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel matters as presented in exhibits D1 through D4? So move choo. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second, Pumphrey. Thank you. Any discussion? May I have a roll call vote, please? Miss Booker Dryer. Yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Chica Kulu, yes. Mr. Dlesky, yes. Mr. McMillion, yes. Miss Pumphrey, yes. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, Miss FPOM, yes. Miss Leter, yes. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is administrative appointments. And for that, I call on Dr. Rogers. Good evening, Madam Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, and members of the board. I'm bringing forward the following administrative appointment for your approval. Senior supervisor, building operations, office of facility operations. Do I have a motion to approve the

007personnel matter as presented in exhibit E1? So moved. Harvey. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Shik Ku. Thank you. Any discussion? May I have a roll call vote, please? Miss Boker Dryer, yes. Miss Harvey, yes. Miss Chica Kulu, yes. Miss Dleski, yes. Mr. McMillian, yes. Miss Pumprey, yes. Mr. Young, yes. Miss Dominowski, yes. Miss Hen, yes. Miss Faul, yes. Miss Lter, yes. Thank you. Dr. Rogers, yes. Joshua Smith, please stand. You're recognized. Joshua Smith is attending with his wife Nefert Smith and is being appointed as the senior supervisor building operations in the office of facility operations with 21 years of experience with Baltimore County Public Schools. His prior experiences include building service worker at Scots Branch Elementary School, assistant building operations supervisor and building operations supervisor at Pikesville Middle School, instructor, custodial trainer

008in the office of operations and energy management, and field representative and supervisor building operation in the office of facilities operations and logistics. Congratulations. Our next item is public comment. This is one of the opportunities the board provi the board provides to hear the views and receive the advice of community members if not selected to address the board. Members of the public may submit their comments to the board members via email at boeb bcps.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 the board's participation by the public website. While we encourage public input on policy, programs, and practices within the purview of this board and this school system, this is not the

009proper forum 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 continue 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. It is the practice of the board to allow elected officials to provide their comments to the board.

010We had many officials who have signed up, but they are a lot of them are still in session, but I believe that um Delegate Eric Eversol is on the line. Delegate Eversol, are you there? Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I am. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you so much. I come to you uh in my role as chair of the Baltimore County House delegation. I know that there has been some commentary in the form of letters going back and forth between the board of education and some members of the delegation. I first want to state that there is no official position of the delegation nor do I feel there should be. The board of education is elected through a uh completely accurate election process in my opinion and also the appointed members are appointed through

011a deliberate and thorough process where they are selected. To that end, you are your own body and you need to make your own decisions democratically. I support the decisions you make and uh whether or not I tend to agree with them or not is relevant to me as a citizen but not from my position as a legislator. And I just wanted to come and say I appreciate the very hard work that you all put in and that you are willing to have disagreements and uh settle them or deal with them as you see appropriate. I am so happy to be able to have a board of education that is as thorough and complete as you all are. And so thank you very much. And as I would like to say very gently, I think I'm

012I'm saying that as the delegation chair and as delegation uh we're going to stay in our lane uh officially. I'm also can't uh help but say that I'm pleased to have Miss Ch Koo on the floor of the House of Delegates being a page these days. It's pleasure to see her there. But generally coming back to the original point, uh keep doing the good work and thank you very much. Thank you delegate Eversol for your comments. Next, I believe we have D delegate Pesture on the line. Delegate Pastor, are you there? Okay. Delegate McKascal, are you there? Okay. Delegate McKascal, you may be muted. Okay, we will come back. Um, Miss Gover, are there any other elected officials online? Okay, then we will move to our next group which are school system affiliated. And our

013first speaker is Miss Leslie Weber from the PTA Council of Baltimore County. And I believe she's virtual also. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Good evening, Chair Lifter, Vice Chair Harvey, Board of Education members, and Dr. Rogers. I'm Leslie Weber, president of the PTA Council of Baltimore County. I'd like to invite everyone to our general meeting this Thursday, March 27th, at 7 PM via Zoom. Details are on the homepage of our website. At the meeting, we'll host an expert in student data privacy to talk about legal requirements and best practices to protect information from student education records. We'll have a presentation on student mental health trends focusing on the youth risk behavior survey data as well as BCPS supports to assist me student mental health needs. And we'll

014have a presentation about the BCPS live your best digital life campaign. As part of our responsible cell phone use campaign, in early April, we'll partner with a number of PTAs and schools around the county to host in-person screenings of the 2025 edition of Screen Aagers: Growing Up in a Digital Age. Screen AERS is a critically acclaimed documentary on the impact of social media and excessive screen time on the social, emotional, and physical health and academic performance of our youth. The film will be shown on April 8th at Winfield Elementary, on April 9th at Deer Park Middle Magnet, Delaney High, Honeygo Elementary, New Town High, Owens Milk High, and Ferris Point Middle, and on April 10th at Southwest Academy. In closing, I must mention that PTA council in keeping with National PTA's recent statement is deeply

015concerned about the recent executive order to dismantle the core functions of the US Department of Education. As noted in the statement, the Department of Education was created to ensure equal access to education regard regardless of zip code, ability, race, or economic circumstance. The department administers dispersement of Title One funding to schools with high percentages percentages of children from lowincome families and offers grants through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which holds states accountable for providing a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities. The department's office of civil rights works to prevent hate and discrimination in schools. These programs are essential to improving academic outcomes and student well-being and cannot be dismantled or diminished without having devastating impacts on the children, families, and schools they serve. As noted in national PTA statements statement, PTA remains

016steadfast in our commitment to advocate for investments in programs that promote promote educational equity and opportunity for all children so that every child's potential can become a reality. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Weber. I believe that um Delegate Pesture is now [Music] online. Okay. All right, we will move to our next category which is um unions and our speaker is Cindy Ston from Tapco. Okay. Um Miss Sexton, you can sit there. Miss um Delegate Ptor, are you online? I am. I am absolutely online. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, please. All right. Good evening everyone uh at the board and um out there in the audience. I'm sorry that I have to do this virtually, but I'm just leaving a hearing. Um and I want to start with that hearing. Uh and that's why I couldn't

017be there tonight. And it is about one of my bills that involves young people who are in what I call the second system. And that is the system that our too many of our young people end up in after and I'm going to say after adults because we're the one who are responsible for how our society, how our communities work have in one way or another failed them. Sometimes it's at home, sometimes it's at school, uh sometimes it's in the programs and the things and the ideologies that adults carry uh and put upon young people that in some way take them in a wrong direction. The reason I am so proud of school boards and groups that uh that support the school boards, groups like our special education parents, like our gifted and talented parents

018and parents who come out trying to support what the board does is because we have such you have such an opportunity uh to keep our young people out of that second system. I'm here in Annapolis with uh people like de delegate Scott uh Phillips, with delegate Althium Cascal, delegate Sheila Ruth, and so many more who really care in every single thing that we do about our young people. And that's why we wanted to come out tonight uh to be at that board meeting to support all of you. And so I'm saying the work that you do on that school board is so exceedingly important. It is critical. It is critical. Not just um for our young people, but the community that supports them. Our young people are listening. Our young people are watching. They are

019listening and watching to everything that we do. Nelson Mandela said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." And that means how we talk to each other, how we work together, how we have our differences together. There's a reason that the school board is nonpartisan because working with and about and for children has nothing to do with Republican, Democrat, independent. It only has to do with the heart and the mind to say that we are doing the work that is good for you. So what you do is so important and I wanted to take this time to say that. And no matter how much you get on each other's nerves or things that come up that make you angry with each other, doing what

020is pleasing to the ear, pleasing to the sight is important because we're sending a message to our children. And I'm just going to end with this from Frederick Douglas. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. So, thanks to all of you for the work that you are doing on behalf of the children in Baltimore County because they're going to grow up to be fine folks. And I want to thank the superintendent for working hard and all of the people in the schools. On Mondays, my chief of staff and I go out and visit schools. and I've invited other dele delegates to do the same. That's how I know what's going on in the schools. That's how I know what is really working, not from what someone else tells me. So,

021all of you on that board and all of you sitting out there tonight, bravo. Let's just make sure what our children see is the absolute best in our adults. So, thank you. I needed this because spending my time every day that I'm in Annapolis working on bills where we are trying to figure out what to do with people who didn't have folks in their lives to care about them and to help them change their minds about some of the mistakes that they have made. It is a relief to talk to the school board. Thank you and thank you for giving me more than three minutes alone. Thank you delegate pasture for your comments. Um you are getting a round of applause. Um one second Miss Ston is um Delegate McKascal online. I am here. Can

022you all hear and see me? We can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. So, I was on the ground and I had to come out from the garage. Uh, so please, I apologize. No worries. No worries. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you all. Um, I don't have a clock in front of me, so you just ring the bell as you need as if we were in appropriation. So, thank you all for allowing me to be here this evening. Um, I didn't get to hear um with what my fine colleague delegate pastor had said, but I want to just say that I have been hearing many sides of what's been going on at the school board. I have witnessed by going back through video some uh and I've have concerns. But

023I want to say that I want to commend you all for the fine work that you all do here in Annapolis. we have to work in a bipartisan um in leadership and by in a bipartisan way and so um and it can be um challenging but we find a way to be respectful to one another. For many of you who may not know, I am a child care provider by heart for the past which will be 27 years this coming May. And I often sit back and observe our children and they see that um and I see that they take on a lot of the behavior that they either witnessing at home or whatever environments they are going back to and even sometimes I must say even in daycare which causes us as adults to

024restructure ourselves and make sure we be mindful of the acts that we do in front of the children and the words that we say in front of them. What we have to do as child care providers is to make sure that we are reminding ourselves that our actions a lot of times take on our children's actions. And so I just want to say and I'm hoping that I'm preaching to the choir that we need to be careful and very mindful and figuring out how to also continue to be civil as adults and as in leadership. Yes, the tough conversations do have to come and they will, but being civil to one another is what I just wanted to remind um to re remind us um because our children are watching. Um and so I just

025wanted to bring that home. Um the words that I'm saying is not coming from the delegation. It's coming from me. Um uh and so I just wanted to make sure that I let you all know that. Um and so I thank you all for allowing me to be here this evening and listening um to the words that I say because our children and our families are listening um and we want to make sure that our families are concerned and going on the path of making sure their children get educated um and making sure that they feel comfortable with the leadership that they have. And so with that, I will end. And I thank you for allowing me to um to be a part of this evening. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Thank you.

026Now we will go to Miss Ston. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Leter, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. And I want to address two topics. First, our school psychologists and 12-month secondary counseling department chairs. You'll be hearing from some of them tonight. They've shown up here in force in the overflow outside because there wasn't even enough room for them inside. And those who speak can and will bring the specifics of their role because they can speak to that of course much better than I can. But I'm going to raise the concern of the financial part of being reduced from a 12-month position to a 10-month position. And this amounts to a 19% reduction in base pay. Yes, they

027are going to be getting EE days and unused vacation paid out as well as the R factor guaranteed in our contract. But it's not only the loss of the benefit of vacation and base salary, but the feeling that their work is not valued. As you have heard me say many times, I love a budget, but working one with a 19% decrease would be extremely difficult. Mortgage, rent, utilities, the list of expenses is long for all of us. and only getting a few months to shift and figure out how to run your household moving forward will certainly be a challenge. I don't know what the savings to the systems are the system are with this change, but families and lives are being disrupted as would all of ours be if we got our base salaries cut

028by 19%. Let's work together to find another way, a way that doesn't make such a drastic cut. And let's think about our students. The work our counseling department chairs and school psychologists do for them and with them over the summer is an integral part of their academic and mental health successes. And speaking of working together, I continue to be in meetings with the county executive and county council members around the budget. I've continue to ask them to fund the school system budget so that the negotiated agreements, the promises made to our staff can be funded. I don't know how to make it clearer to them that the county government was part of this process, working with the school system and the unions to get this historic deal and now they need to stand by it.

029Dr. Rogers, you did your part by putting forth a budget that included the compensation. We need the county government to respect that now as well. The budget concerns at every level concern us all. There is no doubt that we are in a time of well we are just in a time and now more than ever we must bring our stakeholders together and come to solutions that benefit first our students and we know and research supports the first step for their success is a quality educator. Let's not cut that. And the solutions will necessarily be more than simply supporting our educators financially. We must proactively look at what else may need to be done. but let's not do it on the financial back of the very people we need for our students. Let's roll up our

030sleeves and figure it out together. Thank you. Thank you. The next category are nonprofit community groups and our first speaker is Dr. Desmond. [Music] you were getting cheered to get there. Thank you. I I've been involved in this school system longer than probably 99% of the people in the room. Good. Good evening. Good evening. Um good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers, and board members. I'm doc Dr. Barbara Desmond. I've been attending BCPS board meetings for 50 years and been intensely involved for over 25 years, including leadership in the school system. First, Dr. Rogers, good evening. This is not address none of these comments to you and shouldn't be. This is respectfully addressed to the board and in reference to actions of the board. That said, I come before you this evening on

031behalf of the League of Women Voters, of which I'm education chair, to request that you resend the censure of Miss Maggie Dominoski. The League of Women Voters supports the First Amendment and the right of elected officials to speak on behalf of constituents, those whom they represent, as long as the language is not offensive. Based on timing, the censure here in mentioned occurred on March 11th, but refers to a January meeting and is admittedly based on perception of Miss Dominosk's questioning tone as univil and aggressive. At the January meeting that, as I said, occurred over a month earlier. Yet, at two subsequent board meetings, Miss Dominoski thanked the superintendent for her responses to her questions. In addition, many persons who observed the video of the January meeting, such as those in the media, did not perceive

032that her responses Miss Dominoski's questions as negative. To invoke such a censure, not for what was said, but because one manner of speaking was perceived negative, sets a dangerous precedent related to public officials whose questions and comments are on behalf of their constituents. Having served this system and on a number of boards and committees, I can attest that tone isn't always consiliatory. Tone is subjective and clearly based on perception of the listener. These are precarious times nationally, statewide, and in Baltimore County. As a minority, these times are saddening and troublesome. Again, your censure based on perception sets a hazardous precedent that can backfire on the public with many unintended negative consequences. Over the years, I have witnessed people marginalized and silenced because of perceptions based on questionable perceptions. So, such as tone, voice, speech patterns,

033clothing, unckempt appearance, aspects that are analogous and more akin to what Martin Luther King described as color rather than content. Finally, as board members, look at the division that this has caused and ask yourselves, was it worth it? Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Antonio Gardner. Our next speaker is Antonio Gardner from the Evolve Community Foundation. Good evening. Good evening, members of the board and esteemed guests. Um, my name is Antonio Gardner and I'm here to have a I have the privilege of serving for as the executive director for Evolve Community Foundation, Inc. We are a nonprofit organization um deeply committed to creating and preserving long-term sustainable community wealth and a better quality of life for the students, families, and the stakeholders of the communities that we serve. Um, now as a boots

034on the ground organization, we recognize that many students in our county are navigating challenges that extend from beyond the classroom. Economic instability, trauma, systemic in inequalities. And all of that often hinders academic performance and long-term success. So today I come to you before before you to highlight a critical opportunity. The integration of a trauma-informed assetbased framework into schools, an approach we believe that is essential to unlocking the full potential of Baltimore County students. Um the beast life tracks it success and purpose community engagement operating system which is which is what we pose proposed piling piloting in partnership with Baltimore County Public Schools. The beach life framework is a researchbased interdicciplinary model designed to challenge those head to designed to meet those challenges headon. It aligns seamlessly with BCPS's mission to rise the to raise the

035bar, close the gaps, and prepare students for the future. Our programs help students build resilience, develop strong social emotional skills, and embrace a growth mindset. These elements are foundational to academic achievement and long-term personal well-being. ECF believe ECF Inc. believes in the BCPS core values of trust and collaboration and we believe that strong schools are built on strong communities. Our model strengthens those values by connecting students, families, and local institutions to build a supportive community-based ecosystem that nurtures students success at every level. Uh through our peace pond and therapeutic landscape projects and outdoor education initiatives, we offer students hands-on learning experience in environmental education, marine science, and conservation, cultivating both career readiness and a deep connection to nature. This work supports the beliefs that students thrive when they're taught in meaningful experiential ways that stays

036with them for life. We are committed to bridging the opportunity gap by s sec sec securing essential tools such as technology, transportation, and financial resources for underserved students, which aligns directly with BCPS's unwavering commitment to equity and inclusive student success. We propose piloting the beast life track to success in community operating system framework and select Baltimore County schools to evaluated impact establishing a working group comprised of ECF leadership and as well as uh thank you. You're out but thank you very much. The next speaker is Marietta English from the Baltimore County NAACP. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, Chairwoman Lecter and Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Dr. Rogers and school board. I am Marietta English, chair of the NAACP Baltimore County AXO program and chair of the education committee. I want to thank you for your

037support of the AXO program and you know AXO stands for academic, cultural, technological, scientific Olympics and it we do fundraisers. I have a flyer here. And our program uh develops leadership skills for our students, integrity, public speaking, and decency. We teach them how to be respectful when addressing an audience. We try to be examples of what we expect of them despite what they may see in public as in public leaders on TV. You do not make fun of people with disabilities as we saw a leader disrespect a reporter who had a disability. They are encouraged not to bully or refer to people by names that are not appropriate. As role models, we should exhibit behaviors that we want our students to have. We can disagree and agree to disagree, but be respectful when we do

038so and address one another with decency and respect. Directions are read at the beginning of the board meeting as to what is expected of each speaker. Speakers should be aware that the public is watching and at no time should this board be disrespected. We we support your decision to conduct the meetings in decency and in order. I remember these words that a principal once gave me as a teacher. She said, "The video is always running." Remember, as as delegate Cheryl said, "Our children are watching us. They want to see how we react, how we behave, and they sometimes follow it. So, we need to be respectful, act in decency, and be positive examples for our children. Thank you. And if I can't leave my fundraisers here, um, I will somebody to give it to on

039the side. Thank you. Our next speaker is Janice Washington from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorarity Inc. The epsilon incororated. Oh, it says inc. Sorry. Just reading people. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Janice Washington, a 20-year retiree of Baltimore County Schools. And with me is our former president, Deborah Cuffy, a 25-y year retiree of Community College of Baltimore County, and other members of our chapter. We are members of uh uh oopsilon epsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Cappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated in Baltimore County. Dr. Nikia Shouelbard is our president. Uh, Chairman Lectar and all board members, Dr. Marian Rogers. Um, we appreciate the opportunity to speak before this board in support of the outstanding progress BCP had BCPS has continued to make an accountability information and star ratings for individual schools. Um, the Maryland State Department

040of Education released a new accountability information for each public school and according to the data, BCPS shows significant improvement with 38 BCPS schools seeing an increase in their overall uh star rating. BCPS has the greatest number 20 schools in the state who have earned a fivestar rating. as stakeholders. Uh we mentor and volunteer our time and resources to serve uh the schools and the students. We know that BCPS is one of the best school systems in the state and it is one of the top five school systems in the country. Um we applaud uh Dr. Rogers for the work that they have done in improving absenteeism. uh the uh academic progress in reading and math, the MCAT uh math and ELA improvements, and the graduation rate increase. Thank you, Dr. Rogers, and your staff and

041all the educators, counselors, and students for uh uh making phenomenal progress. Our chapter has an active partnership with the Baltimore County Schools and some of the schools we are mentoring, we have mentoring programs. We've given over $300,000 in scholarships. We feed students uh from our chip program. We assist students in having prom dresses and accessories that are free. And we culturally enrich them in our debutant uh precious pearls. We believe in the core values of liberty and justice for all people. And as guardians and educators, we teach and model for our students to be civil, respectful, and tolerant of all people, even the ones that they disagree with. We support this board uh the rules of demeanor and conduct and hope that all will abide by these rules. We stand ready to help and support

042the Baltimore County public schools when and where it is necessary. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Clarissa Taylor Jackson. Good evening. Good evening. Apologies. I'm nervous. Don't be nervous. Well, I won't now. Thank you. Good evening. Um to the chair, vice chair, members of the board, and superintendent. Good evening. My name is Clarissa Taylor Jackson. I am with the Sigma Sorority Incorporated chapter. Uh well sorry Sigma Emerald Sority Incorporated Zeta Omega Sigma chapter here with me is my president my chapter president Shashen A. Alexander and my social action chair Julia Hollands and we ha my sisterhood our sisterhood was founded by seven educators and we celebrated 103 years of greater service greater progress to the world in this past November on this past November in March Zeta Omega Sigma celebrated 37 years of

043service directly to Baltimore County and the members of my chapter some of whom teach in your schools um are honor honored that we have the opportunity to support county students. Through the 37 years of service to the county, we've provided countless books, book bags to students and book bags and supplies to students who need them. And most recently, we supported Johnny Cake Elementary in Caitensville. Um, we also supported teachers and continue to support teachers at Church Lane Elementary School. And we also empower middle school and high school students to support their own physical and mental well-being and are planning or and have continued to do so every year through our annual youth symposium at Dundock High School. My chapter is not alone in support of Baltimore County students and teachers. You've you've already heard from

044um the very upstanding oopsilon epsilon chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha and you will hear from Baltimore Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta who are right behind me. Um, and I come to you and I was finishing my notes, but I'll just say it now. We will continue to support this county, uh, the county schools and all your students, especially the teachers who need us most in decency and order. We will continue to do so. We are proud to do so. And again, in the spirit of our founders who were educators, all of them, seven educators, we will continue to support everything that you do to support our teachers who are the ones that are growing our leaders right here in Baltimore County. Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next category is individual citizens um

045or students and our first speaker is Kristen Arara. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, esteemed members of the board of education and the Baltimore County school community. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my strong support for the proposed Caitensville Arbutus Middle School boundary change. My name is Kristen Arera. I am a pediatrician and the mother of a second and fourth grader at Hillrest Elementary. They are among the roughly 7% of students from Hillrest Elementary who currently district to our Butus Middle School. Despite having developed strong peer relationships and consistently positive interactions with school staff and administration, my daughter developed physical symptoms of anxiety leading up to the start of third grade. The unknown about who would be in her class, would she fit in? Would her teacher be kind and supportive all weighed on

046her sweet little mind. As the school year moved forward, her anxiety and willingness to attend school improved as she saw she still had plenty of friends in her class. And her teacher and school counselors were indeed kind and supportive. As the beginning of middle school looms and she knows only two children in her grade who would be transitioning to from Hillrest to our butus middle. My husband and I are very concerned about the negative impact that separation from her peer support network will have on her mental health and school performance. The transition to middle school is hard enough as it is even under ideal circumstances. My family is certainly not alone. Adolescence is a unique and formative time during which physical, emotional, and social changes can make adolescence vulnerable to mental health problems. According to

047the World Health Organization, one in seven 10 to 19 year olds experiences a mental health condition. Such conditions, including anxiety and depression, can profoundly affect school attendance and performance and are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. Research has consistently shown a correlation between positive peer interactions and improved academic outcomes. Students who feel supported by their peers are more engaged and motivated, leading to higher academic achievement. Additionally, healthy peer relationships contribute significantly to students emotional well-being, providing a sense of belonging and reducing feelings of isolation. It is our responsibility as a community to look out for all of its children. On behalf of my children and those in my community, I ask this board to support the boundary change to keep the entire Hillrest student bound body, including the approximately 7% of

048students in the affected neighborhoods together to support the mission of promoting their success in school and more importantly their social and emotional well-being during this vulnerable period in their lives. I am grateful to to the board for this opportunity to speak to you and I'm grateful for your and the community's continued commitment to this mission. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Brian Stewart. [Music] [Applause] Thanks for Good evening to the esteemed members of the board. Thank you. Um my name is Brian Stewart. I'm the school counseling chair from Kaitensville High School. I've been proudly serving uh as a member of team BCPS since 2015. I'm here to express my deep concern about the decision by BCPS leadership to restructure the secondary school counseling department chair position. This decision

049announced during a 15-minute virtual meeting uh on March 12th reduces our status from 12 to 10-month employees uh and will significantly reduce our capacity to provide essential services to families throughout the year. For context, uh BCPS established this 12-month designation back in 2016 is a strategic move to address uh concerns with student access, legal compliance, and conditions that are vital for ensuring uh a safe and orderly return to school for all stakeholders. those needs have not gone away. As we've learned, uh the latest change will result in an average salary loss of more than $18,000 for counseling DC's. Um working the 23 proposed EYE days, uh which aren't guaranteed from year to year could reduce this financial impact to around $7,000. However, this remains a substantial blow to the professionals that give so much of

050themselves in service to our students and our schools. Beyond that, uh, the plan as presented to us seemingly yields little to no actual net savings for BCPS in 2526 when compensating the DCs for our vacation balance alone could potentially cost BCPS more than maintaining a 12-month status for the year. Coordinating the delivery of tiered programs for students academic, social, emotional, and post-secary needs is not an easy lift. By reducing the number of paid days available to complete the same pivotal tasks, BCPS is knowingly compromising the quality of services available to everyone. In short, this will lead to unnecessary um scheduling issues, delays for new ent entrance, unbalanced classes, gaps uh in support for for students over the summer, and delaying uh the start of critical programs and services when students return in the fall. While

051BCPS has cited the um the contracts of several eleas to justify cutting DC salaries, um the decision fails to acknowledge that many of these same districts staff all secondary counselors at an 11-month scale or similar equivalency. Our system has continuously fallen behind in this area and the current proposal will set its back even further. This is not just a counseling issue. The proposed changes uh will negatively impact all staff, students, and families in the communities we serve. And for that reason, we respectfully ask uh for the board's support in overturning this decision and urge BCPS leadership to develop a more thoughtful plan that better meets the needs of our stakeholders. Our kids deserve better and we need to do better as a system. Thank you for your time and for your ongoing commitment to our

052students. Thanks. Thank you. Our next speaker is Su Allen Lef Fountain. Our next speaker is Suellan Leaf [Applause] Fountain. Good evening. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm Dr. Su Alen Leaf Fountain. I have proudly served BCPS students as a school psychologist for 28 years. Uh I would like to continue to speak about the partial layoff this time of school psychologists. It's important to note that our department is organized as a central office but we are all school-based employees. Uh the partial layoff would cut staff that services schools and students directly. Our supervisor and coordinator were not consulted in the decision to move to the 10-month position. I am concerned that this decision was made without appropriate data and understanding and that the consequences will be severe for our students uh

053and the system as a whole. Um one effect on the system would be related to thirdparty billing. Currently all 112 psychologists can build for direct mental health and assessment services 12 months. With a partial layoff the county will lose approximately two and a half months of psychology billing time on a yearly basis. a rough poll of 18 psychologists using the numbers from uh this past summer uh uh as an estimate that BCPS could well lose more than 170 hours of potential psychology billing. Um a significant loss of revenue for Baltimore County. Second, I would like to speak to the uh impact on hiring and retention of staff and how this will ultimately impact our students. Just one point of comparison, the base salary of a 10-month BCPS uh psychologist um to the Carol County uh

054school psychologist, it will take a starting BCPS psychologist 15 years to make uh what a 10-month Carol County psychologist makes at year 1. Uh we are no longer competitive or even slightly comparable to the surrounding counties. Most importantly it this is the impact on our students. The National Association of School Psychologists offers the following data. The recommended ratio of psychologists to students is 1 to 500. BCPS is currently 1 to 1 150 students. BCPS has a history of being significantly understaffed in terms of psychologists. We have had to add to our workload to cover additional schools while receiving no extra compensation. While this uh was recognized and appreciate appreciated by our administration, uh it has never been recognized uh by the county and now we'd stand to lose even more people. Uh fewer psychologists means

055less service to students year round. Upwards to 80% of children and youth in need of mental health services do not receive them because existing mental health services are inadequate. Of those students who do receive services, over 70% of them receive them at school. Um, for the benefits of our students, we are asking you to please reinstate all full-time psychologists to our 12 month TABCO positions or to consider an alternative pay scale. Thank you so much for your Thank you. Before we continue with our individual speakers, Delegate Scott Phillips is um on the line. So, Delegate Phillips, good evening and good for allowing me to join you all. Um it's been a long day here in Annapolis. Uh I'm joining because I had an opportunity um to kind of review uh some correspondence that came to

056the board from some of my colleagues and I responded to that. Um and I just want to commend uh the Baltimore County School Board for its actions um and respect this idea of local governance. Um, I think as a Baltimore County Board of Education, you are an autonomous body empowered by the state and by the county um to reach decisions regarding conduct and discipline. So, I just wanted to kind of come on and reiterate um what I've sent to the board members in writing. Um, civility I think is extremely important. debate and disagreement are part of democracy, but personal attacks, condescension, and repeated incivility cross the line. So I while you allow um uh debate um I do support this idea of sending a message to our community particularly our children uh of the importance

057of civility. Um I ask you all to ensure that some of the things that are taking place on the national stage um are not indicative of what we want our children to experience or to see. Um I also want to commend the board and Dr. Rogers on the successes that you've had um standing out with um you know five five-star schools in in our jurisdiction and the top schools uh in the state of Maryland. I want to commend you on that. Um also want to commend you on the transparency. I've had the opportunity to u spend a number of occasions visiting your town hall meetings at various schools around the the county. So, I thank you for continuing to do that. Um, there's always work to be done and um, as a state representative, just

058know that we're here to partner with you. Um, and understand that I respect different points of view. Um, but I I just want to make sure you all understand that we're here to partner with you, to support you. Our role is to allocate resources and to develop policies at the state level that are implemented locally. Um, and we will continue to do that, but your role is to manage things locally. Uh, and I really support um, what you are doing. Uh, and with that, I'll turn it back over. It's been a long day for me. Uh, and I need to figure out how to find some dinner. So, thank you all for what you do. All right. Thank you very much for your comments. Our next speaker is Sherry Baldwin Owens. Nope. Our next speaker

059is Sarah Stark. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening. My name is Sarah Stark and I'm a school psychologist with Baltimore County Public Schools. For the past 19 years, the role of psychologist in BCPS has been a 12-month TAPCO position. On Wednesday, March 12th, we were informed that our entire department would receive a partial layoff effective July 1st. This partial layoff is a reclassification from a 12-month to a 10-month position, effectively decreasing the salaries of the vast majority of our psychologists somewhere between 10 to 20%. Our most immediate concern is for our child find assessment centers which typically see an increase in volume over the summer months. In fact, two or more psychologists are often needed to provide coverage on the same day due to multiple IEP meetings and multiple assessments needing to be covered at the

060same time. For example, during the summer of 2024, an estimated 335 childfind IEP meetings were covered and 92 assessments completed for infants and toddlers. 77 screenings and 36 evaluations were completed. These are just a few examples of the crucial work that school psychologists do over the summer. We also need to speak to the lack of competitiveness Baltimore County will now have in hiring and retaining school psychologists. Our neighboring counties, including Howard, Montgomery, Anna Rundle, and Frederick, offer psychologists 11 to 12-month positions with some placed on an administrative pay scale, as well as additional compensation for obtaining national certification. With this reclassification of the school psychologist position, BCPS is no longer competitive or even slightly comparable to the surrounding counties. We will ultimately lose many of our current staff to other counties. Recruiting new psychologists will

061become extremely difficult. Of most concern is the long-term impact on students. A cut to school psychologists is a cut to mental health and special education services for students. Psychologists will be spread even more thinly due to attrition. This is likely to be costly to the county, our families, and our students. Services will be missed. Federal and state timelines will go out of compliance, leading to potential litigation. But most importantly, it is our neediest and most vulnerable students who will be negatively impacted. The bottom line is this. School psychologist work does not stop when the school year ends. We are simply asking for the time necessary to do our jobs effectively and to be fairly compensated for that time. Please reinstate all full-time school psychologists to our 12-month Tabco positions or consider an alternative pay scale.

062Thank you for your time. Thank you. Since we have one speaker who has um is not present, we will go to the wait list. Um we have one space and the first person on the wait list is Makita Scott. Good evening. Good evening. Hello everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Bring the microphone closer. But okay, great. Thank you all so much. It's so wonderful to see everyone and I just wanted to um I wasn't expecting to speak but what I can do is share the letter that I sent in and I'm speaking on behalf of myself. I'm not speaking for an organization or anything. Um and I will share with everyone the letter that I sent in um as far as this board. So, dear members of the Baltimore County Board of Education, I

063am writing to express my deep concern regarding recent behavior exhibited at uh current board meetings and past board meetings. I would like to say that I commend the board for taking the necessary steps to reprimand and deal with inappropriate conduct. However, it is disappointing that such behavior occurred in the first place. I would like to say that just because in the past there has been uh disrespectful behavior on previous boards of which I um uh was a part of those previous board does not mean that it should be tolerated moving forward. This is a new board. This is an opportunity for a fresh start and I'm glad that this board prioritizes professionalism, respect and effective governance. The board of education plays a critical role in shaping the future of our children. When board members engage

064in univil discourse, it sets a harmful example. Beyond that, it fosters a hostile decisionmaking environment that can negatively impact our students and schools. Disrespectful tones and interruptions have no place in civil discourse. The board must continue to uphold Robert's rules of order to maintain order as well as professionalism. Additionally, board members must come to meetings fully prepared, particularly when referencing budget materials. If a member raises a question about the budget as a community, we would expect they have the relevant details and information ready to ensure an effective and productive discussion. Um, I feel that without proper preparation, time is wasted and is not a reflection of the professionalism expected in public meetings. So I commend and I urge the board to continue to reinforce expectations of civility and preparedness in all meetings. The community is

065watching and our students look to board members as examples of leadership and decorum and I trust that the board will continue to set a positive example prioritizing respectful and effective discussions. So I thank you very much for your time and consideration. Have a good evening. Thank you. So, we had um a lot of people on the waiting list and I know you haven't had a chance to speak, but just as a reminder, you can send us your comments at boebcps.org and we will receive them. Also, thank you to the many people who um sent us emails and feedback over the past several weeks. The next item on the agenda is action taken in close session. For that, I call Mr. Burns, but we didn't have any action in close session. Madam Chair, there no action

066require board action at this time. Okay. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the report on the Holly Manor community boundary recommendation. And for that I call on Dr. Grim. Good evening, Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. With me this evening is Mr. Paul Taylor, director of the Office of Strategic Planning. We are here this evening to share with you the committee recommendation for the Holly Manor Community Boundary Study. As shared with the board previously, this slide notes the process for boundary studies outlined in board policy and superintendence rule 1280. The objective of this particular study was to realign the attendance boundaries for the deadend section of Bumont Avenue, which impacts Hillrest and Westchester elementary schools. This study consisted of two committee meetings and one public information session,

067which is much less we normally do. This slide depicts some examples of our focus on community engagement throughout this specific boundary study, including the opportunity for stakeholders to provide comments online, interact via social media, and each committee meeting was livereamed. This slide shows the catchment areas for both schools as well as the area this study focused on. Six parcels, five residential and a park are impacted. As of the end of last school year, five students resided in this area. The recommended boundary aligns the Westchester boundary to include the six parcels at the end of Bulmont Avenue. This recommendation supports current transportation routes. The committee voted unanimously to approve the recommended option. The impact of this change in utilization for each school is noted on this slide. It's down slightly for Hillrest and up slightly for

068Westchester. With respect to next steps, the board will host a public hearing on the proposed boundary recommendation on April 9th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Westchester Elementary School to gather additional public comment. The board of education is then scheduled to vote on this boundary change at its May 6th, 2025 meeting. We would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank all of our committee members and community members who engage with BCPS throughout this process. Thank you. Any questions or comments from board members? Miss Pumphrey. Hi. You mentioned this study was much it was much less than what we normally do. Is that because of the size of the area? I'm assuming. Yes, that's correct. Okay. Okay. And my other question is just what is the history of this? Why is the small area not

069already why has this not already been done? I guess is my question. So that's that's an excellent question. Um we have we have a number of areas uh like this throughout Baltimore County. Um sometimes it's because uh there was there was a development um that was not uh fully developed or an area that was not fully developed. it was added to later when it was added at a specific time for one reason or another. It was included in one school's catchment and not another. Um, sometimes there's been other changes that that have occurred um where either there were road changes or or other demographic shifts. Um, something was uh a a piece of property was reszoned, for example, into some other type of a use. Um, and that's impacted the area as well. Thank you.

070You're welcome. Other [Music] questions? Okay, thank you very much. And we're going to stay here because we have Okay, we have the next agenda item as well. Thank you, Dr. Grim for the prompt. Um, wait a second. My Okay, next item on the agenda is a report on the ARUDS and Caitensville Middle School boundary recommendation. And for that, I call Dr. Grim. And good evening again. Thank you very much, Chair Licar. Per the new rule 1280, in cases where school boundary changes are limited in scope, the superintendent may employ an administrative review process. This is the first boundary change using this process. As initiated by the superintendent, the office of strategic plan developed a boundary change proposal and engaged the community before presenting tonight's recommendation to the board. The objective of this study was to

071improve transportation efficiency and leverage feeder pattern effectiveness. The schools impacted our butus middle school and Kaitton's middle school as shown here on this map. This recommendation removes the obstacle of Patapsco State Park between Patapsco Woods Forest Glenn and our Beutus Middle School. It also creates feeder pattern effectiveness for the Melvin Avenue Winters Lane community. So, it's difficult to see on the map here, but if you look at the section that is outlined in blue, it's the lower section in the center of the map. If you look just to the right of that section, uh there's a huge parcel of land there that is Papsco State Park, and there's also CC BC property there. At present, we have uh school buses that go into this area from what would be uh the top part of the

072map, drive to this area, pick up these students, and then drive around the park to get to uh our middle. And Miss Pumprey, to your question earlier, this particular development was added after much of the other area, much of the other street in that area had been developed. um and it is adjacent is close to the park and CCBC's property. The other section that's that's noted um is the Melvin Avenue in Winter's Lane. Um this would again help create continuity uh with our feeder patterns and develop some effectiveness in terms of transportation. This change only impacts 21 students. As a result, the demographic impact of this change on each school is small. Kaittonville, which is currently 65 students over capacity, would increase by 21 students. Again, the demographic impact on this change on each school

073is small. With regard to community engagement, letters were sent to each parent and guardian of students attending the two middle schools and the eight elementary feeder schools informing them of the recommendation. A website was created where the boundary change proposal was available to review and to provide comments. BCPS hosted a public information session and an online survey. 117 comments were received from the website and the survey had 262 participants. 79.4% of the respondents said that they strongly are in favor or somewhat in favor of the recommended option and only 16.8% said they were strongly or somewhat opposed to the recommendation. All the schools included in the community engagement had participants that in part participated in the survey. With respect to next steps, the board will host a public hearing on the proposed boundary recommendation on

074April 2nd, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Caitensville High School to gather additional public comment. The board of education is then scheduled to vote on the boundary change at its May 6, 2025 meeting. We would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank all of our community members who engage with BCPS throughout this process as well. Thank you very much. Questions from the board. Mr. Manowski. Yes, thank you. Um, you said it was a very small number of students that this affects and I know it's a very small number that strongly diso uh strongly oppose. Do we know what number of those parents, students, community members that strongly oppose that are being affected? No, I don't have that information. Uh, the survey is anonymous. We know what school community are from, but it's not specific

075to the location where they live. Okay. Will we will we be able to get that information when we do more of the meetings, the boundary study meetings? That that information is anonymous. So, we would we would encourage any parents that oppose to come to the to the board's hearing to to speak at that time. Um, we intentionally ensure that all of the comments are are maintained in an anonymous fashion. So, they're directly reported as submitted. No, I I I understand. I completely respect that. I just because it's such a small number of students that it affects and it's, you know, 14% strongly opposed. I just want to make sure that we're doing our best. Certainly. Thank you. You're welcome, Miss Hen. Thank you. So, I have a followup to board member Dominowski's question um with

076regards to those that expressed they were strongly opposed based on the comment form. Were there any trends in the comments that showed a strong opposition that you could single out as to why community members were strongly opposed to this recommendation that come to mind? We could we could certainly and Mr. Mr. Taylor is thinking about those comments. I've read through them to be very frank with you. Um the number of studies that we have at one time, the comments kind of come together. So I don't want to misspeak. Um however, we can certainly provide all those comments are are are available to you. So we can provide those comments to the board. All the comments are in the website on the websites are available to the public. Yes. Um so okay, someone could look through

077them, they would be able to find some trends perhaps. Yep. And we can but we can provide them to the board specifically. As a followup, people who are not affected at all by this boundary study can also go online and give their feedback. Correct? Yes. Yes. Okay. So, we don't necessarily know if the people who are truly impacted by this were the ones that they could have responded that they didn't like it. I know that we had gotten some comments that people didn't like the process, but they weren't part of the study themselves. So, I'm not sure if that's what it is, but I just wanted to get clarification that you can fill out the survey even if you have nothing to do or live in those communities. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Other

078questions or comments, Miss Booker Dwire? Do we know the cost saving to the school system for making these modifications to the boundaries? So the so the cost savings on on this on this particular study would really be to create more transportation efficiencies. That that would be a significant driver. I'm not sure in the in the balance um if we could identify a specific dollar amount quite frankly. Miss Funkong, good evening. Um looking at uh slide number eight um I saw that 74.8% were strongly in favor but as far as the number of responses it was 262 um which sounds like a high number. So that's good but can you I guess put that in perspective does that sound like I guess across the schools um a high number of responses for those number of schools.

079So in in terms of a survey itself that we put out for boundary studies, this is a higher response rate than we've received for many other studies or any other um any boundary changes where we put the online survey out. Um but but specifically in terms of again of how many responses we're getting per school or from one group or another, we we really can't identify that because the survey is anonymous, but it is a high number. It's a higher number of responses than we normally see receive on an online survey. Perfect. That's what I was hoping to hear. Yes, ma'am. Um so it sounds like the different things you guys are doing to get that communication out about the survey is we're starting to see these, you know, good effects. So, thank you for

080that. You're welcome. Other questions, Miss Dleski? Thank you, and thank you for everything that you do to support the boundary studies. Um, can you just direct us um to where we can find the comments so that we can read them before the hearing? Yes, ma'am. So I will I will make sure that the board gets a direct link to the the comments on the website but for the public's awareness if if they go to uh facilities management and strategic planning on the on the website and then they choose uh strategic planning and there's a section for boundary studies and each of them are listed there and there's a link to a to a web page for each one of the studies. Um, so this one would be the the Caitensville Arbutus Middle School studies, but

081we'll make sure that the board gets that direct link. Great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I'm I'm just going to uh let the board know that the link is in the chat. Well, thank you. Other questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the report on the puzzle pieces charter academy application and recommendation to the board. And for that I call on Dr. Elundorf. I didn't know if you want to use the click or I can do that. You trust me with it? Oh, yeah. Just make sure it's on. All right. Good evening, Chair Licar. Good evening, Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Dr. Rogers, and members of the board. I am here tonight to uh report on the findings and the recommendation for Puzzle Pieces Learning Academy Public

082Charter School. Just as a few reminders, tonight I will be presenting findings and a recommendation. And then um our partners at Puzzle Pieces are here as well and they will present for 15 minutes after I do like they did last year. And then on April 18th, you will vote as a board as to whether to accept Puzzle Pieces as a new charter in Baltimore County Public Schools. Okay. Okay. So, I will share some of the findings with you from the application and the timeline and some general information and then we'll get to a recommendation towards the end of the PowerPoint. So, as an introduction, um you can see here the general timeline. The application was submitted on time on January 2nd. On January 30th, we notified Puzzle Pieces that the application passed the technical review.

083Then I convened a qualitative review team um to review the application and um associated documents. Uh and then there's an interview typically for uh a charter school when they apply. So that happened on February 20th and that was inter that was recorded um with and this was with the founding group. they have the recording and so do we as a school system. And then on March 17th, um a revised budget missing documents were submitted based on some feedback from us. And you'll see later in this uh presentation some more detailed um information about uh submissive responsive opportunities, submission responsive opportunities. So this is a little bit about the qualitative review process for those of you who may not have been on the board last year. So the everything is um subject to BCPS rule 1600

084and the rubric itself is in appendix D and that really just shows you that there are four main sections and 28 subsections associated with the appendix um i.e. the rubric that is used to um evaluate the application from the charter school. So this begins our findings. This is section A. The school proposed to start with 201 prek4 through grade three and add one grade per year through fifth grade for a total of 316 students. Um when it comes to fruition, um the current structures would require the charter to fund any prek seats and we'll talk about this again a little bit later. Um but prek seats would need to be funded by the charter school itself. Some of the required documents for founding members were not included in the original application which I'll get to

085again later as well. and u the staff and board member profiles were included. Their um educational plan includes some really um important pillars. Project-based learning, SEAL, UDL are all foundational to the school programming. Um unique to puzzle pieces, they are proposing that every student would have a personalized learning plan. You can see that they do have some very specific curriculum choices there for all the subjects and um they have uh done extensive work in already developing community partnerships again with the educational plan. We're still in section B. It outlines how needs of multilingual learners will be addressed effectively. Um in the interview, excuse me, the um they expressed the intent to follow the required BCPS processes in many different ways um including special education processes that we have here in BCPS. Their recruitment plan for

086recruiting students is robust and includes strategies for reaching diverse populations and is very much um linked with their community outreach that they have already embarked upon. Still in section B, the lottery system that they are proposing is aligned with current BCPS practices. However, they are proposing that they would give priority to students within uh residing within a 10 mile radius of the school. That does not currently align with anything that we do here in BCPS. The um plans um do have a positive culture as a pillar of their um approach. They intend to use our student handbook and code of conduct. Um it was some of the feedback that we gave puzzle pieces was that they would need a more thorough emergency plan in order to open their school and they did um share that

087they plan to um follow all the requirements as it relates to health and wellness policies and procedures. Um in the interview was clarification was provided on the daily schedule. We gave pretty specific feedback on the calendar that they proposed in the application. Um and the hours weren't adequate from what the review team could tell but the interview um gave shed some light into that. uh that proposal. Um there were some references and policies that were that were incorrect that we've uh cleared up since then. Uh again, they have some significant plans to engage their families. And then uh there are waiverss anytime a charter school applies to um be in a school system. They typically have waivers and one of the waivers is related to pri priority enrollment zones um at which I was alluding

088to earlier. But they also are looking to do a modified calendar of sorts some something like what watershed does now. Um and then you what we'll talk about at the end of this presentation is the management of funds that we want to make sure that we're looking at more closely. Section C is the organizational plan. Um I'm going to refer several times here at the original application because there were some iterations after the application was reviewed. So the original application was missing some components, some documents if you will. Um the governing board components did include job descriptions, the orientation processes. So that the all the governing board information was intact. The interview did clarify some of the misaligned staffing that was uh reviewed by our HR department. Um and so that information was shared in

089the interview. Uh at the time of the application, the employee roster and the uh roster in the budget did not align. That has been addressed um as I will share in a couple minutes. and they intend to use our uh payroll process that we use in BCPS. The U per pupil amount in the original application was significantly lower than what can realistically be expected. So this was feedback from our budget office. In the original application, the principal and the AP were not budgeted and teacher salaries were too low in the in the original application as well. In the original application, there was no mention of accounting or procurement system. And as you can see there at the bottom, um there were responsive opportunities for um the puzzle pieces to to hear feedback from us and

090then submit things based on our feedback that happened u several times, three times to be specific. I have some dates later in the slides. U puzzle pieces intends to adhere to the guidelines for food and nutrition services. Uh for as far as transportation goes, families are generally responsible for their own transportation. As most of or all of you know, if a student has special transportation on their IEP, that is certainly something that would be required for us to give that student transportation. And in the original application, there were some insurance coverages that were not discussed. So, we're here towards the last slide. Um, I wanted to detail for you here on the left those responsive submission opportunities that I alluded to earlier. So after a an um we shared with the the charter the things

091that were missing that were really lacking that did not meet standards because each section is rated. They had several opportunities as you can see there on the left to submit those materials or provide clarification on sections that were lacking. So the recommendation um on the review of the application using the rubric that the review team looked at which is appendix D, the interview that took place and then those responsive submission opportunities that you see on the left. The um recommendation is that they would be approved um to operate charter and BCPS with two contingencies. It's really important to understand and and um the founding president and I have talked about this quite a bit with the situation with prek and um prek4 and prek3. they would currently need to be funded by um puzzle pieces

092as I alluded to earlier. And then lastly, just because of the um you know the unknown nature of certain things that are happening financially and um with grants that are usually applied for for by charter schools and those types of things. We just want to make sure that we would be in constant communication with the charter about expectations as it relates to budget and make making sure that that budget that they continue to refine would be adequate in opening and sustaining a new charter school. Thank you. Okay. So, we're going to have um members of Puzzle Pieces come up now to present. um they will have 15 minutes to present to us um and then we'll be able to ask questions um of all afterwards. So can we have um Mr. Smith, Miss McKinney? Oh,

093only two are coming. Miss McKenna was actually I'm going to let you guys introduce yourselves then since I just have names. Yes. Good evening, superintendent, vice chair, board members. Thank you for having us here this evening. We excited about the progress that we made with puzzle pieces. We really took some time and really learned a lot about BCPS during this process. Learned a lot about each other during this process. Um so we're excited about the news. We do understand there's concerns around the prek which we have um already started the process working with MSDE. I did submit our letter of intent for the prek enrollment as well. So we're and I attended the orientation. So I'm excited. You want to say anything? Yeah. So, good evening uh chair and vice chair and members of the

094board um and our superintendent. So, thank you for having us again. Um we want to just say that um one, we're grateful that you all are hearing from us again a year later. Um and that we've really taken the time to think about the ever growing population of multilingual learners and students who are qualifying for special education services throughout the county um and students who have mental health um concerns throughout the county. I think we heard from our counselors and psychologists from today. Um we really want to spearhead the push in Baltimore County for personalized learning plans for all children because all children deserve a unique approach to how they learn um as a universal right in education. Um so we're looking forward to even sharing best practices and letting puzzle pieces be a space.

095We um spoke to um Dr. Doug about this being a um space of um innovation for multilingual education. Um our plan is to have a push-in and pull out kind of service for multilingual education using some of the SCOP model um techniques to ensure that our multilingual learners are getting the the maximum impact in every curriculum area. So students getting um bilingual support in a lot of our curriculum is in Spanish and in English. So there are companions for all of our students to grow. Um, so we're just excited to um come into Baltimore County and share and um be in service to our students and our families. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Doug. I'm going to have you come back up here. I like that. Yes. When I worked in a schoolhouse, it was Dr.

096E. Now it's Dr. Doug apparently. You go by lots of names. I didn't want to mispronounce. We're good. I know. Thank you. It's um Okay. So, I was going to ask you come back up. So, questions from board members. Um, Miss Booker Dwire. Well, thank you for coming back and doing the work to submit the application. And I'll just tell you the preK process with MSDE. Be prepared. It's a whole other beast to deal with. Um, but I'm so glad that you all uh took the time to address all the questions and to submit the um updated application and always looking forward to expanding opportunities for students in Baltimore County public schools to have quality learning experiences. So, really thank you for that. And I my only question I have for you is um so

097you're you want to limit the in um to to the 10 mile radius. Could you speak to to the why of that? Um, we were thinking about that because of where our building is actually located. It's kind of like central between that Baltimore County and Baltimore City line, which can be kind of fickle. So, that's why we were limited to the 10 mile radius, but of course, we always are open to more suggestions around that as well, though. Okay. Um, yeah, because it would be great to expand and allow more students to um, yeah, to experience your Yeah. your learning environment. Mhm. We're definitely open to that. And just to for a point of clarification, um it's actually quite common in a lot of charter schools throughout the country that there is a priority for

098students who are zoned in that neighborhood um to give preference first before we accept students from all other zones in a in Baltimore County. Um, so we wanted to give preference to those families first because we understand that I mean in an ideal world, don't you just want to walk your kid down the street to, you know, your school as opposed to traveling from, I don't know, Talson all the way over to the Caitensville area? So, we want to make sure there's a priority for students like that. Just it's ease for families. Thank you. Other questions or comments? I may have missed it. Did you say where the loca what what location where the school will be? We are proposed to open at 4416 Wilkins Avenue. Okay. It's in the Caitensville area. Okay. Thank you

099for that. Other questions or Miss Funk. Good evening. Miss on. Okay. So, um to echo Miss um Booker Dyer, thank you guys for coming back. I'm glad that you persevered and came back. Thank you. So, um just a question. I think this is more for um Dr. Doug. It's sticking. I get one of those gold name plates. We'll get you a new one. So, with the contingencies, it's the it's a recommendation when there's an approval, but with the contingencies, so how does that work as far as kind of circling back to make sure that it's done and then like what are there any type of um time frames on these contingencies? But can you speak more to that, please? Yeah. So, the plan if the board um accepts the proposal is to then immediately uh

100consult with board counsel and to start having those conversations about what it would look like to hold the hold puzzle pieces to those contingencies, especially as it relates to the ongoing discussion about the budget. Um there has already, as you can see, been multiple iterations of feedback and um response as it relates to the budget and just in the times in which we live, the budget is just so important. So, we would want to make sure we're keeping a handle on that. And then that of course would be part of the um contract that's eventually developed before the the school could open. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Again, thank you so much for the presentation and again for coming back and working with Dr. Elmondorf on your application. Um, the board is

101scheduled to vote on the charter school application at the April 8th, 2025 board meeting. Thank you. So, I guess we will see you then, too. Thank you very much. Have a good one. All right. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the report on I'm excited even though it's not a great topic. Report on BCPS progress in action, chronic absenteeism in elementary schools. And for that, I call on Dr. Rogers. Thank you. Uh good evening, Chair Licer, Vice Chair Harvey, members of the board. We are pleased to have Dr. Jones, uh Miss Mustapher, Mr. Wilson, Miss Corteesus, and Miss Shipman come forward um to share for us an update and a presentation on chronic absenteeism in elementary school. If you guys will recall, as part of our uh data points that we shared in service

102of academic achievement, uh we spoke specifically about chronic absenteeism last year in our schools based on the collaborative efforts between uh central offices as well as all individual uh 176 schools. We were highlighted and recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education as having the number one improvement in the reduction of chronic absenteeism across schools. When we dug into that data, we saw that our improvement in chronic absenteeism wasn't only in the aggregate. We had improvement across every level of schooling across every zone and for every single student group. Um this did not happen by chance. It happened uh based on a lot of work. We know and understand that to impact academic achievement, we need our students in school and everyone was committed to that aim. And so we are so pleased to um

103share more information about um how central offices came together with schools last year and this year to focus on chronic absenteeism. Not only what our results were last year, but where we are year to date this year. and to hear from two of our amazing experts in the field joining us from McCormack Elementary School. Again, we are just so proud of you and your drastic uh improvement, significant improvement in reducing chronic absenteeism in your school and moving from a twostar school to a four-star school, the only one in our county. So, congratulations to you again and I'll turn the uh presentation over to Dr. Jones. Uh thank you Dr. Rogers. Good evening board chair Licar, Vice Chair Harvey, Dr. Rogers and members of the board. I am very excited to be a part of this

104presentation. Um feeling very um proud of the work that we do in the division of schools. Dr. Rogers um shared a couple of my talking points um but we didn't share talking points um which lets you know that we um we strive for coherence in the work that we do. I wanted to share the quote that I've read to you you all before and um it just goes like this. School improvement is not a mystery. Incremental, even drastic improvement is not only possible but probable under the right conditions. And that's Mike Schmoker. And you've heard that quote before when we've presented because I really do feel that way. We know with children, it takes a village with supports to school. For any of in schools, any of us who have been principles or or who

105have really kind of dedicated our careers to turning around um schools, it takes a team. And so I'm proud to be a part of the division of schools and the work of the team. I have had multiple opportunities even before the fame came to McCormack to visit the school and see it in action. So we hope by way of this presentation you get a high a good sense of the work that um Miss Mustaper is doing with her her team and the amazing support that they provide and then of course the work of our department of schools. So I'll turn it over to Miss Muster. Thank you. So, good evening, Chair Leter, Vice Chair Harvey, and Superintendent Rogers, as well as all the members of the board. Um, it is um with great pleasure that

106I get to speak about how in student support services we are supporting um our uh taking forward attendance um and mitigating chronic absenteeism. the the journey has been learning more about ourselves but then also endeavoring in how do we message this to our larger stakeholders. So we engage our students, our families, um our staff, our leaders in thoughtful discussions about how every student's presence makes a difference in their success across the board. So, as we continue to promote expectations, we we spend time with system level, but also school level expectations through the here for it campaign. Many of you may have seen the um little icon up there in the corner on the slide. You may have seen it when you've been out in schools. You'll see it on boards. You'll see it on promotion

107activities um that are in the school for students to track their own attendance. But also keep in mind it's for us as adults to track what's happening and how we're engaging our students as well. So not only do we sit and and make sure that we engage our students with information as well as our leaders in leading the way, but we also empower those system level and school level expectations that we live by every day are critically important. And it's critically important because we have to think about the ways in which we bring to life a tiered system of support. It's not just about planning for our students who have the great greatest discrepancies with attendance. It's about planning for all of our students each and every day which I believe Miss Cortises is going

108to highlight uh ahead. Um and then excelling. How do we excel as a community of learners in our commitment to attend school to take responsibility and own the school environment where we attend and we thrive every day. and that takes shared responsibility that comes to life in the teameing process. So I'm going to try to operate the clicker. There we go. So um the ways in which we bring about the here for it campaign is um as we engage we talk about communication to stakeholders. Some of that is simply getting the message out on social media. Some of that is sharing with schools on a a high level putting it into hub announcements. putting it into our principal weeklies, sharing attendance tips, sharing calendars. One of the things that we did this year was we

109actually put attendance calendars in our student handbook. That even leveled up further, not just us being aware, but our stakeholders, our families, our students, seeing the focus on attendance. We also expanded our um website and our toolkit. So, and the toolkits and websites are not just for those who sit in the schoolhouse, they're for parents, too. So, the information there that you might see, you might see a video on attendance, you'll see pledges, you'll see the calendars again, you'll see promotions about spring slump, how do you motivate your children, and what are some of the activities across BCPS. So, we've continued to build that out. Um, so that there are resources that apply to all. In addition, we also, you also see there, and thank you very much. We had last uh September was our

110attendance awareness month that had a proclamation and that was really exciting for our schools. We had many schools that posted it actually in their school lobbies and across the school environment and shared it uh with families. Um so the other thing that I kind of want to highlight that's a new thing this year is our strategic um partnerships. We recently had the opportunity to partner with the Ed Foundation and received a grant, if you will, through Kaiser Permanente and we've been able to facilitate providing our um uh five of our schools with attendance kiosks to help with that check-in on a daily basis. Um, empowering really comes from that ability to be able to build capacity, not just cap capacity of our our teachers and our staff, but our student and our families to understand

111the dynamic importance of attending every day and how that contributes to the instructional environment, but ultimately success. Attendance committees have remained in place. A charge from student support services is that all support personnel in school are part of those attendance committees and speak about resources that can be leveraged throughout that tiered system of support. Um and as well as we have um project attendees also. Excelling doesn't just come with us um sharing information in our larger communities. It's also about the data we use. We're using a lot of our data and our data dashboards to really speak to who our students are and how they're experiencing um attending school or the lack thereof. It also speaks to us looking at where do we prioritize our efforts in use of that data. Um also we have

112to be honest when we are looking to help our students excel and even some of our adults. We have to celebrate. We have to think about the positive engagement strategies and celebrate forward with all of our students. The next slide that you'll see is our systemwide chronic absenteeism data and this starts with 2020 2021. So, keeping in mind that that was the year we were closed for in-person learning um as we experienced pandemic and then in 20 excuse me 2021 2022 um we started coming back to in person and then we returned back in 2223. We immediately recognized during 22 23 that our students were experiencing challenges with consistently attending school. And what we saw was 50% of our students were experiencing some level of chronic or moderate um difficulties in attending school. I'm sorry.

113In 2324 we at that time we had talked about what are we going to do? how are we going to engage our stakeholders to really prioritize attendance? That's when um PU the Office of People Services um in collaboration with many offices created the here for it campaign. Um and so during that time, that's when we really started increasing the resources, making sure that we were using data to drive our decisions. we were looking at how we're planning for all students um so that we could see how we could support students in experiencing success and we did. So we ended up with nearly 57% of our students being consistent in their attendance um while a smaller majority at 43% were in that moderate to chronic range. And then if you look at the data today in

114the final column, you will see we are continued on that pathway um to have a successful year but also to continue to decrease our chronic absenteeism and increase our students who are attending consistently. this slide um when you talk about progress in action, this is a slide that really represents the total number of schools at 74 that are seeing trends greater than how they ended the previous school year. So they are already on a trajectory to to really mitigate and see forward that that chronic absenteeism is going to be down at the end of the year and we're only in March right now. The next slide highlights the chronic absenteeism by zone and what you'll see in the chart in orange to the left um you will see that that chart there's a disagregate and

115Dr. Rogers spoke to this earlier in disagregating the data we were looking at end of year. So you're going to see 2022 23 in the first column. The second column will be 23 24 and then year to date. Keep in mind that last column is what's happening presently. And what you're going to see is a progressive decline in the chronic absenteeism. You'll know McCormick and and excited to feature their great work has had dramatic decreases over time in their chronic absenteeism and something we are very proud of as we celebrate the 74 schools we saw in the previous slide but those who join us at the table today. And then when you look at the the lower um the box in the lower um area, the blue box I should say, um we are looking

116at this point in time over the last three years and looking at and we are seeing that we're remaining consistent with decreasing our chronic absenteeism. Um and again, we can't overlook highlighting the great work of McCormack Elementary School. Um but I'm not going to steal any more thunder. I'm going to pass this nice little clicker down. And Mr. Wilson, I know you've got some great words to say about McCormack. I'm not going to say much because this is a story right here, but uh good evening uh Chair Licter, Vice Chair Harvey, Superintendent Rogers, board members. Uh as the executive director in the division of schools uh supporting McCormack, it's just always my pleasure to uh work with Principal Corteesus. We have many conversations about continued school improvement. She's been the principal at McCormack for nine

117years and over that time student achievement has just increased over and over again. We always talk about that dot right in terms of our state performance and uh I just really enjoy the time that we spend uh just talking and working together. So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Principal Cortesus and Miss Shipman to share the McCormick story. Well, thank you everyone and good evening to everybody here. I have to say it is with great pride that we come before you today um to share the incredible progress that we have made at McCormack. Just one year ago, our school was rated two out of five stars under the ESSA accountability system. And today I have to say I'm so proud to report that we have risen to the four out of

118five stars. And this is a remarkable achievement because it reflects the dedication of our teachers, our staff, our students, and our families. Um, McCormack Elementary significantly reduced chronic absenteeism, leading to an increase in overall earned points from 39.0 to 57.1 and a major improvement in school quality and student success from 15.9 to 30.3. This progress reflects the success of our three- tiered intervention system, which removed attendance barriers and kept more students consistently in school. We recognized that absenteeism was a major barrier to student success and our data showed that students who miss school frequently struggled academically, socially, and emotionally. So, we knew that many absences might have factors beyond a student's control. There were some challenges, but to systemically address absenteeism, we launched this system aimed at intervention and prevention. In tier one, in our

119earliest intervention, we identified students with zero to two absences. We focused on preventing chronic absenteeism before it begins. Teachers closely monitor attendance and parents receive an initial letter alerting them with their child when they are starting to miss days of school. Additionally, uh the administrative team makes daily calls to families to check in and offer support. In tier two, we have targeted support for students in the three to five absence range. We intensify our interventions. Parents receive a second notice. The attendance committee makes phone calls to understand the root cause of the absenteeism. And we provide wraparound services including nurse follow-ups, counseling support, home visits by the PPW to remove those barriers and keep kids coming to school. And in tier three, our intensive intervention for five to seven absences, absenteeism has become a critical

120issue at that point, requiring mandatory parent conferences with school leadership and the pupil personnel worker. If necessary, we do discuss the legal implica implications um and interventions under Maryland law. However, our primary goal is always to remain supportive of the families and not punish families. We continue to provide wraparound services, educational sessions for parents, daily check-ins, and access to project attend, which Miss Muster just mentioned. For students who exceed those seven absences, we escalate to emergency interventions, ensuring that we exhaust every possible resource to help families get their children back in school. While interventions are critical, we also recognize the power of positive reinforcement for our students. Our students have incentive programs that play a vital role in shifting our school culture towards one where attendance is celebrated and we're very excited to celebrate a

121lot this year. Um, and which Miss Shipman, my second grade teacher here, will share with you shortly. Our journey from two to four stars is more than just a rating increase. It represents real lives changed, real students learning, and real families engaged in the success of their children. Our targeted interventions, tiered support system, and commitment to removing obstacles to attendance has tra has created a transformative effect on student academic achievement across all grade levels. With more students consistently attending school, our teachers have been able to develop uninterrupted lessons, leading to stronger retention of academic content. Students who struggle to keep up with the coursework due to frequent absences are now able to fully participate in classroom activities, resulting in noticeable improvement in their grades, test scores, as Mr. Wilson mentioned and overall academic growth and

122better outcomes particularly in literacy and mathematics. For instance, our third grade reading scores increased by 15% compared to the previous year and math proficiency has shown a steady upward trend. This progress is a direct reflection of the consistency, and I use that word a lot this year, consistency and dedication with which students are now engaging in lessons and the collaborative efforts of teachers, parents, and staff to support them. Students who attend school regularly have formed stronger relationships with their peers and their teachers. You can see the smiles in the kids' faces when they go walking through the hallways. They are more confident in their academic abilities. they are better equipped to handle the challenges that they face in the classroom. This academic success would not be possible without the dedication of our educators and the

123support of our families. And you've probably heard me say that three times today. The efforts we've made to improve attendance have laid the foundation for sustained academic achievement. And as our students continue to come to school regularly, we are confident that their growth will only continue. But our work is not finished. It's never finished. We will continue to refine and expand our initiatives, ensuring that no student is left behind due to absenteeism. We will follow and continue to follow the superintendent's system priorities and continue to develop systems and structures that not only get the kids in school, but also help them sustain a good education that's founded in good work. Thank you so much. And now, and now go. And now I have to introduce Miss Shipman has been with me for several years doing

124several jobs and she's one of our own that we've grown but she is our mar our marvelous second grade teacher so she's going to speak. I think we've lost our presentation. That's okay. Good evening. Good evening everyone. As you can see when students are learning in school their learning can happen as evidenced by our increases across all ESSA indicators. Currently, my class is at a 92% not chronically absent. In addition to the supports of our schoolwide supporters previously shared by principal Cortez's, I make sure to promote student incentives in my classroom related to attendance such as participating in drama club, additional academic support via tutoring, certificates with partnership coupons, quarterly attendance celebrations, and grade level shoutouts. Participating in PLC's has strengthened my teaching abilities, improved academic achievements of my students, and expanded communication with families

125and students. PLC protocols, community building, collaborative planning, examining student work, and feedback. To conclude, a couple of academic achievements I am proud to include is my HMH module 6 assessment with a class average of 79.8%. 8% and a math assessment in unit 5 with a class average of 71%. As you can see, attendance has had and continues to have a positive impact on my student data. Thank you. So, first of all, thank you to all of you for presenting, but especially to Principal Cortesus and Miss Shipman for being here, knowing you have to get up tomorrow and go back right back where you left tonight. But um I had the privilege of visiting your school back in February and I have worked with um the principal before, but listening and I wanted to hear what

126what did you do to have this dramatic um decrease in chronic absenteeism and it wasn't magic when she explained it. She really just really had systems and structures in place that she stuck to, but it was also the relationships that you built with parents and students to really get to the root cause of what was keeping them out of school and then finding the right supports to get them in school. But the followup you spoke about and the the non-stop contact, but in a good way with parents because I know after a while sometimes they won't answer the phone, but you got them to keep answering the phone and keep coming in and you match incentives to what kids told you they wanted and they needed. Um, it was just, you know, an honor and

127privilege to be back in your school and to see the work that you've done and to hear you present tonight. So, thank you for that. And who else has a comment or question on the board? Miss Pumphrey, I'm gonna be repetitive because I also recently visited McCormack Elementary. I'm just so proud of McCormack Elementary. Amazing. Um when I walked in, I also got some information from you regarding what you were doing um to influence absenteeism in such a extraordinary way. I was given the uh print out of the three tier system. Um and I just think your direct and very intentional interventions are what's really really driving this. Um calls home, letters home, and just not giving up on that. um making those connections and building those relationships with families. So, thank you so much

128for all that you're doing and I mentioned to you there, I hope you're sharing this with our other schools. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments or questions, Miss Booker Dwire? And so, congratulations. This is not easy work. Um and getting students in school is the first step to improving their academic achievement. They can't they're not learning well if they're not in school. And and so I have I do have one questions with the the supports that you're providing and the interventions. Um do you do home visits? The pupil personnel worker does, but we inform parents sometimes just to make sure that they're there that we're coming there with supports, nothing else. So that and the relationship is built through that, but we don't personally. And so that's um so that's good. I know it's been

129um in the news around these home visits and all that. And so um so yeah we don't want to send the teachers out uh from teaching to go do home visits and what and so then my other question is more bigger systemic is around when I look at the chronic absenteeism data and I'm looking at um east and west in particular. What are we doing with the east side and the west side to help to get their numbers down a little bit more? All right. I see central has come down um a lot and east and west still seem a little high. So well I mean it so what are we are we doing anything in particular with east and west? So I'll start us off and then Miss Mustaper can speak to it. One

130of the things that we're intentionally doing is making sure that east and west don't have a whole lot in between them in terms of collaboration. And so as was asked are we sharing some of the best practices we are. There was a meeting that I was able to attend that um principal Cortisas hosted to be able to share those best practices. When we meet monthly with our principles, we're making sure that east and west are now in the same space sharing those practices, sharing um the uh researchbased strategies and the evidence that goes along with it. And then I'll have Miss um Mustapher talk about it. as she said, we constantly talk about data because this year that's our um Eric's like that is our um initiative to make sure we use data as a

131lever for change. So, I'll have her talk a little bit more about the PPWs and the work that they are doing to go deeper into the data and make sure that all student groups on all sides of the county are succeeding with attendance. Sure. So, the what we have looked at doing and what we are continuing to do is to advance and train schools around best practices. So each school, the PPW went out to make sure that we're all aligning. We don't have to make it look exactly the same and we have to customize it by school, but it's advancing those best practices aligned to disrupting chronic absenteeism. It's also how do we, you know, promote positive attendance. Um, the other things that we have done is we've looked strategically at data in various areas

132and tried to prioritize some of our resources. in months before you heard about the family care coordination through Villa Maria. So really trying to find schools and identify not find identify schools that can access that resource on both sides of the county to support having an awareness but having that wraparound support that was referenced earlier. Um, so the the other thing that we're doing and you talk about systemic level, we are actually tasking our PPWs and our central office staff with going out and really looking at the fidelity of implementation of our attendance committees to ensure that those best practices are living forward in life and that we are using data to drive our decisions. What we have learned is that intentionality, that consistency brings about change and and that's exactly what we've heard this

133evening. So it's it's that high level just supporting and not coming as a gotcha. This is support. We want to make sure to leverage those best practices and work seamlessly across BCPS. So those are those are a few of the things that we are doing. And then my last question, I know that the board, we just adopted the um resolution to support immigrant students. Um are you seeing based off of what's happening federally um impact on the attendance of some of our students who may come from um families that from immigrant families or some of our migrant students. So what I would offer is I do think initially we saw we did see data um trend down and then we had the commitment to reach out to our families to really find out to the

134work that's been done and share it tonight. Dig up under what's getting in the way of a student coming to school, what gets in the way of that consistency and have those conversations. But also consider when we have a tiered system of support, we are planning for all of our students. And at each level, there's a different intensity of support. Um, and that and that's something that we want to make sure that we are intentional about going back to that intentionality and consistency. But honestly, it's taken a lot of boots on the ground, our PPWs being out there. It's taken our um central not central office but our support teams attending those attendance meetings working with our teachers really to think critically about what is getting in the way and how we can provide those

135supports to our students. So it's a it's a big hug a big warm hug. Yeah. Thank you for all the work that you all are doing. This is wonderful. Other comments Miss Chigakaloo. Yes. Thank you so much for your presentation. And so I truly just I was like doing mental math and I realized this was like an 80% decrease within a year. And so I just wanted to know like you've really emphasized the need for resources for wraparound services and for support and that you really can't see progress without support. But I also want to know in conjunction with support, how are you also able to just establish that standard with parents that they need to come to school and how are you kind of able to increase the standard of what attendance should look

136like while like outside of just providing support? How did you kind of just say this is what your child needs to do and kind of how did you get compliance with that? So in addition to attendance conversations, we also have academic conversations. So um a lot of times my AP and I will attend the parent conferences that teachers set up after school. So we're involved in conversations not only about attendance but also about academics. So because we built that relationship, it was easier to have that conversation and bring them on board. So for example, there's a review for a test and I'd say your child came home for uh with a test review. Um we need for you to sign it and please go over it with them because they're challenging themselves and they want

137to beat their prior score. So it is about um everyone taking a responsibility in it. Um the teachers doing the same thing and whatever I expect of myself as the principal I also expect of my teachers. And so we try to to model that for for them and their conversations with the parents. Um and we also have um we've doubled in our ELD population. I'm a triilingual first generation American so I understand that. But building that relationship, whether you speak English or you do do not speak English or whether you need some wraparound services or whatever the the case may be, that conversation, that relationship has to start day one and it has to be consistent and that's how you bring people on board. You start having real conversations and I know I mentioned the

138word real several times because that's what you have to be. You have to be authentic and you have to engage the families on multiple levels. Thank you. And then just for my second question, I was looking at your three tier support system. So I was just could you kind of share how for transportation how bus tokens were able to be a support for elementary school students as well as the dad mentors program I think. Yeah. So that was um the bus tokens were more for parents and we had some students with the McKini Vento um who needed some extra support. So we provided that through the pupil personnel worker. Um and then we also had dad mentors who are in the building and they're also providing support to our kids as well. So um just

139having re uh male role models in the building um where students can see themselves in the adults that surround them is also supportive. I hope I answered that for you. Miss Dominowski. I just wanted to follow up on that. The dad mentors program, is that something that you guys started in your school yourselves? So actually um I had the program in my prior school where I was principal nine years ago and then we carried it over to here. We had a shared decision-making team because we're a community school and in that conversation we thought we would um invite dad role models whether they're uncles, cousins, whoever they may be. Had um donuts with dad last week um and started to bring them in on events that they could see themselves with the kids. We're having

140a basketball tournament. we started to really engage all the stakeholders in the community. So, dads are really important. They they walk the halls. Um we're to the point where we want to get them t-shirts so that they but the kids know who they are. They are eager to see them. Um not to be offensive to moms or anybody in here. Uh but they're really excited to see u male role models and when Mr. Wilson comes in, they get really excited. is that um and these are all volunteers who just reach out to. Is this something that we can you know share with the rest of our schools because I think this sounds amazing and something that all of our schools could use. And some of our schools are Miss um Dominowski. Some of our schools

141do have Sorry, he's talking. Some of our schools do have um um father figure dad um programs, donors with dads in place. I've gone to um several of them. But I think we can continue to think about how do we share best practices around that in support of specifically reducing um chronic absenteeism. I think that would that would be great. Other comments? I have one more and I know you talk about teamwork and your teachers and your per this person but you have to look at the work that you are doing as building leader because you are really setting that that example for your teachers um through your own expectations for yourself. So you going and talking to the parents you having those conversations going to the meetings um that the teachers are having about

142academics. Um so thank you for your leadership at McCormick. Thank you. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Oh, I'm so sorry. Just one quick followup is I'm No, for the dad mentors program, I was just wondering is there like a mother figure equivalent? Just Absolutely. Absolutely. We were just trying to uh leverage it a little bit more. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Thank you to all of you and feel free to go back home and get ready to go back out tomorrow. Okay. Um let's see, where are we? Um, next, why am I lost here? Right. The next item on the agenda is information. And the information includes update on key school legislation and the second quarter audit report provided at the January 7th audit committee meeting. The next item on the

143agenda is board committee updates and agenda setting. The first item listed in the board's legislative priorities. And for that I the first item listed is the board's legislative priorities. And for that I call Miss Booker Dwire. Thank you, Chair Licer. If I could get the presentation displayed. So, we have a dynamic committee um for legislative and and our governmental relations team um all displayed on the board and we have the absolute best staff that are helping to support this committee. And I just wanted to ground us and the public in the the purpose and the measures of effectiveness of this committee. Um we meet during the general assembly session or as necessary. And so as the general assembly session is wrapping up, we will begin to wrap up our meetings unless there's a special session

144or something else that comes up. Um our measures of effectiveness is developing the legislative priorities and sharing recommendations for the board to engage in legislative um advocacy. uh brief displayed on this screen are the bills that we have reviewed and discussed at the legislative um during the committee meetings. Um in addition to these bills, we have also talked about um the priorities and the positions taken by MAB on certain bills. As at this time, the committee has not decided to move forward with uh making recommendations to the board to take um action on any of these bills. And so um so we are just in a monitoring state. Um we did um share with board members well with the committee members that you know individually they are welcome to to speak as an individual board

145member and they are welcome to individually bring recommendations to the full board. Um there was uh a recommendation um brought forth by a board member but we did not get enough votes to advance to the full board. So, um, a board member can always bring, uh, recommendations. And so, we by now we would typically have our legislative priorities done. Um, and this is just a a review of what our 2024 priorities was were a reminder of our 2024 priorities. Um, which were around reducing class sizes, expanding out of school time learning, and innovative school schedules. And so for our 2025 priorities, they were informed by board meetings. Um the the discussion of board members, they were we reviewed MA's uh legislative priorities. We reviewed the state board of education's legislative platform. Um we also looked

146at MS materials from Pazam. Um and so all of that went into um developing draft board of education legislative priorities. Um we had a robust discussion around these priorities in January. Um and there and we um and then in February meetings were cancelled and so then at the last meeting in March um the committee voted to bring the draft recommend the draft legislative priorities to the full board to discuss to provide feedback to um to make any recommendations for um modifications before um engaging in adoption of it. And so these uh legislative priorities are around board governance, blueprint for Maryland's future, budgets, and educator workloads. And so at this time, I want to open the um the floor up to engage in discussion around these legislative priorities to capture any feedback from board members um

147on what you would want to see modified in these priorities um so that we could move forward with um adoption at some point. Mr. McMillian, I have a question about I think it's the second slide where you looked at the bills. Yes. We had pulled that up. I was looking for House Bill 1529 and I didn't see that. Have you talked about that bill? because I think that's obviously very pertinent to our our positions and so we can um you committee members are welcome to bring recommendations before the board um before the committee to to discuss that was not one that was brought up. I I find that extremely interesting because it talks about uh to be elected from certain districts and certain elections and establishing the process for how the Baltimore County School Board

148districts are reappointed after each denial census of thei United States. I mean that's critical to every one of our positions except for the appointed people. And so would you like to bring that up for discussion at a board meeting or I hope that somebody would take the initiative to do that within that within that committee. I mean, I'm I'm I'm a little bit surprised because that's that's our meat and potatoes. Yeah, it's important the it was not brought up in committee by um any of the committee members. Miss um to Mr. McMillian's question, I did bring that bill up um in committee at the January meeting um to which point Mr. Bazemore was following up on that on behalf of the committee. So, it was brought up, but the committee did not have an opportunity

149to discuss it as the February meeting was cancelled. I brought it up. Other questions or comments from Miss Booker Dwire's presentation? Okay, go ahead. And so um so are so is the are the board members comfortable with these legislative priorities or because I we didn't get any feedback on them. Um and so are we comfortable with moving forward with them or and and when we can put out a motion I can put out a motion to um and and maybe I'll do that so that we could kind of take a temperature of where everyone is. Um, so I move that we adopt the uh the 2025 board of education legislative priorities um as presented um in the slide deck. Is there a second? Second, Pumphrey. Thank you. Any further discussion? Yes, Miss Tleski. I just

150have a quick question. What on what slide are those priorities written? Thank you. They are on slide seven. Thank you. Other discussion. Further discussion. Okay. Then roll call vote on Miss um Booker Dryer. Can you restate the motion? And so the motion is to adopt the uh board of legislative board of to uh adopt the legislative priorities as presented in the slide deck. Miss Booker Dwire. Yes. Miss Harvey. Yes. Miss Chica Kulu. Yes. Miss Stleski, excuse me. Yes. Mr. McMillian. Yes. Miss Pumphrey. Yes. Mr. Young. Yes. Miss Dominowski. Yes. Miss Hen. Yes. Miss Fong. Yes. Miss Licter. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. So, we will clean these up, create a document, and um make sure this is shared on our um public website. Thank you for that, Miss Booker Dwire. Um continuing with committee updates,

151um audit committee, Miss Booker Dwire. Yes. So, the audit committee, we um we had a meeting this month um and we will have another meeting coming up. I just need to pull that up, but we are looking forward to our next meeting. Thank you. Yeah. Um, Mr. Young, buildings and contracts. The next building and contracts meeting will be held Monday, April 7th at 5:00 PM. Thank you. Um, curriculum committee, we had a meeting this past Thursday. It was quite a robust meeting with lots of questions about the secondary ELA curriculum as well as the um, multilingual learner and some summer programs. I'm looking at missed um at Dr. Donado, I think. Um and then our next committee meeting is on April 24th and a um portion of that meeting will be devoted to talking about

152intervention data um for the current school year. Equity committee, Miss Fang. So, okay. So, um, we had a meeting this month and we were able to, um, have a presentation about suspensions in particular. Um, so we were able to discuss different, um, trends and patterns that we saw from elementary to middle to high school. Um, as well as across our special education students, multilingual students, and certain ethnicities. Um, so, um, for our next equity committee meeting, we're going to be meeting on Thursday, March 27th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. And then our actual committee meeting will be April 10th, Thursday, um, at 4:00 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. Um, legislative and governmental relations, Miss Pooker. Oh, you just did that one. Sorry, didn't mean that. Committee meeting is April 22nd at 4:30. Okay. um policy review

153committee, Miss Pumphrey. Yes, we had a meeting on March 17th that I was unable to to attend. So, thank you, Miss Harvey, for taking over for me at that meeting. I did go back and watch the meeting, so I was prepared to talk this evening. Um we uh the committee reviewed policies 1270 community involvement parent and family engagement policy 5550 conduct and student behavior code and policy 6401 special programs advanced academics and gifted education. For those three policies, there were deep dive discussions into the policies and some recommendations for staff which um uh the committee in consensus was able to um provide those recommendations. So they will be brought forward to the board for first reader with some of those um recommended changes um for policy 6500 research testing and evaluation research and assessment. This

154policy was previously sent back to staff for recommend recommended changes. So, it had come back again to committee. Um, and those changes were accepted by the committee and will be brought forward to the board with a committee recommendation for first reader. Um, for policy 6304, schedules, commemorations, and obs and observ observances, excuse me, that will be brought forward to the board without committee um recommendation. Um, and I just I I need to say that I don't often go back and watch the committee meetings because I'm part of them. Um, but I'm very proud. I know I'm biased, but I'm very proud of our policy committee. Um, we have deep discussions. We look at the policies through an equity lens. We each bring something different to the table. Um, a diversity of opinions. And I just

155think, um, you know, we're efficient and effective with this committee. Mr. McMillian, Miss Pumprey, which one of these policies discuss the patriotic dates that people are contacting us about? That was policy 6304 which I meant it which I mentioned will come forward to the board without committee recommendation. So there was well we needed four to have a recommendation and there was only three votes for yes. How many people on that committee? Six. Thank you. And thank you Miss Pumprey. The work that that policy review committee does. We see that at each of our board meetings. Next is agenda items. So if any board members have a agenda item that they would like to be considered, please raise your hand that we can note it. Miss Dominowski. Yes. I would like to bring the quarter 2

156audit report to an agenda item that for discussion. Okay. Thank you. I like Mr. McMillion. I'd like to talk about our emails. Okay. Because I'm concerned a parent reached out to me and said, "Rod, your emails getting kicked back from, you know, the ones I send you." So when I was a teacher, my email was R. Mcmillion. I was told specifically I could not keep R. McMillion. I go back to the bio and here's R. McMillion six years and a couple months later. So my official email is Rod Mcmillion. So I'm concerned that I I did not receive one of the 500 emails that were sent, you know, regarding the censorship issue. So there's somehow now whether it's because Miss Miss Hen and I were on the previous board and there's some sort of filtering

157going on there. I I don't know. But I want to talk about that because I think that each and every one of us should be getting not uh constituent specific emails. But as the far as the group emails, I think we should be receiving those. And I don't know why I'm not. I don't know. And I've asked that and I nobody seems to know. Okay. Duly noted. Thank you. Um, Miss Hen, thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to discuss the state office of legislative audits audit and the request to delay that audit by one year as well as the status of any open items um from previous OA audits. Okay, thank you. Other agenda items? Miss Pumprey, may I make a comment that's not an agenda item? Um, yes. Thank you. I just wanted to

158mention that I attended the mind over matters um event last Saturday and it was an amazing event that brought students and caregivers that were able to participate in workshops regarding mental health and there were vendors there that provided information. And I was able to to attend the yoga forCal workshop which was amazing. Um and I think in the future through a grant may be may be brought to some of our schools in our system. Um and also the internet safety um workshop um which I believe uh the person who ran the workshop comes into some of our schools to present um informationational internet safety to our students. But I thought it was also very informative for parents. Um so just wanted to mention that and give a shout out. Thank you. Thank you. The last

159item on the I'm sorry, Miss Harvey. I'm sorry. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to make a comment. We've had lots of discussion about the function of this board uh and our obligations to the community, but I really want to thank the community uh for engaging with us. uh we don't always disagree and we we say that we want to hear from the community and we received over 1,000 emails uh regarding our decision uh to censure both for and uh in opposition to and that's fine. Uh that public discourse is what we seek and I I greatly appreciate it. uh and and I want to thank uh and and encourage more of our community to get engaged and have dialogue with us as a board. Thank you. Thank you for that, Miss Harvey. Go

160ahead, Miss Jigaloo. Okay. Um I also wanted to just specifically highlight it was House Bill 197 or Senate Bill 68. And so this was the bill sponsored by delegate pasture which is just to establish a comprehensive framework for restorative practices across Maryland schools. And so it has already passed in the House and is currently in the Senate committee. And I just feel strongly that this bill aligns with Baltimore County's priorities. And as Delegate Pastor George said earlier during public comment, we truly do not want our students falling through a second system. Um, and so I just kind of urge you to engage with your legislators just as they have engaged with us and just to keep the open line of communication and to reciprocate that within this bill. Thank you. The last item on the

161agenda is announcements. Okay. The board will hold a public hearing on the Arbutus and Caitensville Middle School boundary recommendation on Wednesday, April 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Caitensville High School. Speaker sign up will be 5:30 to 6:25. Our next board meeting is on Tuesday, April 8th at 6:30. And then the board will hold another public hearing on the Holly Manor community boundary recommendation on April 9th, 2025 at 6:30 in the cafeteria of Westchester Elementary School. Speaker sign up will be 5:30 to 6:25. We realize that a lot of people came tonight to speak um about these two boundaries that weren't able. So, I want you to make sure that you realize that you have another opportunity to present in front of the board um either on the April 2nd or the April

1629th date. Thank you for joining us tonight. Have a great evening and this meeting is now adjourned.