001e e e all right ladies and gentlemen I want to thank everybody for your patience I would like to welcome everybody to our March 25th uh public board meeting this evening so so much energy I appreciate that it's a it's an honor and pleasure to be here with all of you guys tonight and we'd like to welcome all of our families and our communities who are here with us in person as well as um those folks who are joining us online so um I'd like to remind folks who are joining us virtually that if you haven't done so please mute your phone and anybody who doesn't move their uh mute their phone could be muted by the call moderator or removed from the call additionally um if we have a little got a little Echo
002it's all right so additionally if you're not a board member or the CEO and her staff we ask that you turn off your video we do expect that we have a couple of Commissioners that are going to be joining us virtually for their parti participation this evening so I'll Now read a roll call the board to identify who's on the call please identify yourself uh first before speaking for the record um we'll also go through the roll call for each vote this evening Vice chair Parker Vice chair Parker present thank you commissioner am messenger Ames messenger present thank you commissioner koi commissioner Koy present thank you commissioner Esposito commissioner Esposito present thank you commissioner kinat Bay commissioner kinat Bay present thank you commissioner Muhammad Muhammad presid thank you commissioner reading linger commissioner reading linger pres
003thank you commissioner Rooks um we know in advance is going to be absent this evening uh commissioner Slater Harrington commissioner Slater Harrington present thank you and I'm also present is there a motion to reopen the meeting this evening some move thank you commissioner Harrington is there a second second keny Bay thank you I'll take commissioner Kenyata Bay all in favor uh Vice chair Parker yes commissioner Ames messenger yes thank you commissioner Ki yes thank you commissioner ESO yes thank you commissioner Kata Bay yes thank you commissioner Muhammad yes thank you commissioner reading linger yes thank you um commissioner Slater Harrington yes thank you and I'm also in favor this motion passes like to begin this evening by uh welcoming and and the recognition of our jrtc from Frederick Douglas High School um if we could
004ask everybody in the audience to join us in standing all order on colors posst i' like to thank Dam Damascus Murray Takaya Valentine Hawaii north city Lewis and Kelsey Harris from Frederick Douglas so thank you guys for the presentation this evening I'd like to now turn it over to commissioner Ames messenger for Our Moment of Silence we have a student observance I'd like to take time to recognize the passing of city school student this student was part of the school community and will be remembered fondly by the greater City Schools Community tonight we send deepest condolences to their friends and families from Frederick Elementary School Miss Gia hedgebeth Gia was a fifth grader at Frederick Elementary School whose growth over the years made us feel so proud she was full of Personality she participated in
005our after school program and was especially good at yoga more recently she developed a love for gardening and joined the gardening team she absolutely loved hugs and got them quite often from her peers and staff members Gia will be truly missed by the Frederick Elementary School family we will also take the time to recognize the passing of two City Schools Employees these individuals were committed to supporting our students through their work the greater City Schools Community will be will finally remember these employees tonight we send our deepest condolences to these their families and friends we inform you of with deep regret we inform you of the passing of Robert Nolan Robert Nolan started his career with City schools on August 21st 2004 where he served as a staff and students for 20 years and six
006months at Paul Lawrence Dumber dumbar high school as an assistant principal Mr Nolan sadly departed on March 3rd 2025 and will be missed by his family friends and City Schools it is with deep regret that we inform you of the passing of retire e William C Jenkins Mr Jenkins started his career with City schools on September 1st 1993 where he served the staff and students for 19 years and 7even months Mr Jenkins retired April 1st 2013 serving the district or last serving the district is a secondary teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School Mr Jenkins departed on February 24th 2025 and will be missed by his family his family friends and his former City Schools staff and students thank you commissioner messenger for lifting that up it's really important to remember those who have um really
007contribut to the Vitality of our community inside of our schools um inside of our buildings inside of our community as a whole so thank you for lifting that this evening is there a motion to approve the prior Open Session summaries am messenger so moved thank you is there a second second can you add a b thank you commissioner kinata Bay all in favor Vice chair Parker yes commissioner Ames Messer yes thank you commissioner COI yes thank you commissioner Esposito yes thank you commissioner kinat B yes thank you commissioner Muhammad yes thank you commissioner reading linger yes thank you commissioner Slater Harrington yes thank you and I'm in favor this motion passes is there a motion to approve the close session summaries so move Parker thank you Vice chair Parker is there a second second thank
008you commissioner esposo all in favor Vice chair Parker yes thank you commissioner am messenger commissioner Ki yes commissioner Esposito yes commissioner kinata Bay yes commissioner Muhammad yes commissioner re linger yes commissioner Slater Harrington yes and I'm in favor this motion passes um once again I'd like to thank everybody for joining us tonight uh for our March board meeting and I want to thank everybody uh who's joining us virtually as you know March is women history's month and throughout the district our women and young ladies have celebrated the many contributions made to our society earlier this month uh Dicky Hill Elementary Middle School hosted the second annual women's day tea party the Tea Party inspired our young female students connecting them with accomplished women from our community like Baltimore City police officers Realtors culinary businesses and
009more we'd like to shout out to principal Clark for another successful tea party and thank for your continued support of our youngers thank you to see what's happening more broadly around the district um to celebrate women's history month we invite um all of our stakeholders to visit the district's um X Instagram and Facebook pages um next the board and the mayor's office of Children and Family success will be hosting our virtual information I'm sorry information session to help Schoolboard applicants and the public learn about the role of a commissioner um we invite everybody to join us to hear testimony from current Commissioners and ask questions about the board's work and learn more about the process the virtual information session will be held on Thursday April 3rd from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. um more information on
010the session is forthcoming it'll be posted on our website finally I would like to focus my time on exceptional Baltimore City Scholars um across the district our scholar Superstar is a special segment during the public board meeting where we take the time to celebrate students and staff who have been H handpicked for their achievements and academics extra curricular and their impact within their school Community last time we honored two extraordinary students one from Liberty Elementary and the second from City neighbors high school you can learn more about them on the City School Scholars web page this month we have two new awardees from two different schools um we our first winner I'm sorry our first winner is Alana Farah Alana is an eighth grader from Baltimore International Academy which is located in Northeast Baltimore City
011Alana is a dedicated and creative student who uses her love for art in the French language to express herself an advocate for social for social injustices recently Alana won mayor Scott's Black History Month contest and exhibition for the Middle School category um the Maryland foreign language association's 2024 visual art contest and placed in the first national French creative writing contest two years in a row although Alana is very accomplished for such a young age she remains humble being a role model to younger students at Bia and supporting her peers on class assignments to learn more about Alana and personal personally congratulate congratulate her on her accomplishment the Communications office visited Alana at the balore international academy to capture this amazing video hi my name is Alana far I'm in eighth grade at Bor the National
012Academy and I'm this month's scholar Superstar I've been taking French for 9 years here at this school when I was younger I always wanted to like go to Paris and I would see TV shows about French and stuff and it just seemed interesting as I got older I started to enjoy taking French more and started to take more pride in learning French and accelerating my French and grammar and just learning more about French vocabulary and stuff like that I won first place in the art contest for best black history drawings for my drawing oppression basically it was a black woman and she had an afro and it had all these words of like degrading terms that were like maybe said to black people over times like is that your hair can I touch it um
013you're too smart you're very pretty for IT a black girl just these very degrading things that were said to black people over time and segregation and stuff like that that was something else that I didn't even know was like a contest so my teacher told me I won I was very like surprised cuz I didn't know it was contest I thought it was just regular [Music] artwork if I had to describe myself in three words I'd say smart mature and talkative I like new experiences and embracing new things so I'm kind of excited for change I'm not ready to graduate I'm going to miss this school and like the teachers and the people but I'm excited for newcoms in high school I kind of do want to take an art class because I still do
014want to continue art um definitely French um I know now I'm taking AP French so I hope that um in high school I can continue to do that and it's still Advanced I'm going to work on Art and French outside of school so like maybe at home or like private lessons stuff like that [Music] Academy just be the Superstar who said [Music] more so it's my pleasure to invite Alana and her family um up I where's Alana all right up front well um first of all before you begin I just want to say [Laughter] soic I was just congratulating um Alana and letting her know that I was born um in Belgium um my parents um insisted since I gosh since I was four years old um taking French so I speak French uh fluently
015as what I was sharing with her and so um I'm excited to know of other young people who are pursuing French and so I wish her the very best in all of her studies but like to give her and her family the floor for just a few minutes so come on up yeah family everybody yep come on up it takes a village so so love for you guys to share just a couple of words oh we've got a and all right pull all the chairs up so the floor is y' to talk a little first by welcoming Alana just to share a couple words okay so I made a little speech so say that pretty s that pretty much summed it up what you were at but okay um it is both an honor to
016be here today receiving this award and also a reminder of the many people who have helped me and supported me along the way like my family parents my teachers um especially my French teacher Mr Nono who nominated me for this award I'd also like to thank Baltimore city schools for choosing me for the super Superstar of this month cuz this award is not just a reflection of me it's a reflection of my school my peers and Baltimore International Academy as a whole and what we do because those are the people and the school who has helped me get where I am today because of that I've won the national French contest the national French writing contest two times in a row um the mfla writing contest and the black history writing contest and now this
017is another award and another reflection of me being great so thank you again for this award opportunity and honor to be here today and accept this support appreciate it and um I too on behalf of myself and her father her father is on his way home from work um but um we're very very proud of her we're we're just um excited for the future um she is definitely black girl Excellence at its best and it it started right here in Baltimore city um she started um when we first applied for Baltimore International Academy I at first I was saying I don't know because um the first three years it's only the the language that they're chosen in it's five languages you can choose um it's a lottery obviously you know and then hers was French
018was the first one we chose and that was chosen for her as well and um I first was thinking oh we can't do this CU I'm how am I going to help her with homework but they had a homework packet um for parents so the parents was was in English and and hers was and fren went from kindergarten all the way up and she excelled she excelled she excelled so um it's it's a charter I was you know it's a Baltimore City Charter School um and it is um I can't say enough about the school the school is just wonderful she excelled in it um other students have left you know other parents didn't stick with it um you there were trying times but she was excelling so I didn't allow my feeling to override
019what she was doing so I'm glad I just stuck with it with her and look at her now she'll be going to ply next year um she just she got accepted and she's been very excited and that was her first choice she made one of the highest marks on her with the mcap stour incap schor so she's getting high marks in her schooling um and um it's just amazing she's just very very amazing and um and getting started right here Bal City I'd like to welcome if you wouldn't mind handing the mic to your teachers and other folks at school level give them an opportunity to say a couple words and push the um go GRE thank you as Alena say we would like to thank you all for giving her this opportunity to receive
020this award and something that he did not mention she's going to Paris next month going to Paris next month uh we have a fi trip International fi trip with the student we have 19 student we taking with us and five parents right and four parents and what I can say about Alana it's not by accident that she's here Alana she's a hard worker everything that she take it seriously and today I would like to say again felicit alic M I'm so proud of you I'm so proud of my administrator as well and I'm so proud of you for giving us this opportunity to start this school thank you the floor for my board colleagues like to share here just permission before wees a board this even uh I just want to say thank you to
021Baltimore City Public School uh for giving our students this opportunity to shine uh this is uh the second year in the RO that you are having a student here so we are very happy for this opportunity that you are given to our students uh as Mr mukari said Alana is aess star in Baltimore International Academy and she also star here in Baltimore public uh Baltimore City Public Schools so we would like also to take this opportunity to say that uh what we do at ba uh we have been seeing the results he text time but today we are very part of our five language program and Alana did not add that she's also learning Chinese so she's she's not only flent in French but she's also doing Chinese so again thank you all for giving
022us this opportunity before we go I present a word any additional thoughts from our board so we'd like to invite the family um to come up uh for a photo opportunity as we present this award toana um in recognition of um pictures I'm sorry and teachers everybody um in recognition of your accomplishments and achievement e e wonderful congratulations again Alana family and community so turn over to our vice chair for our second recognition this evening it is my pleasure to introduce our second winner Marcel Sommerville and I will do the introduction in English today my the whole thing in English uh Marcel is a 10th grader at Joseph C Brisco Academy in Northwest Baltimore Marcel is a determined and resilient student inspiring others to try their best and never give up with the support of
023his family teachers and Friends Marcel continues to show growth in his studies as a Athlete on the school's intramural basketball team to learn more about Marcel and personally congratulate him on his accomplishments the Communications office visited Marcel at Joseph C Brisco Academy me to capture this amazing video my name is mar Somerville I'm in the 10th grade from Jo City Brisco Academy and I'm a scholar [Music] Superstar Mr Morgan Mr Spain Miss green everybody in this school I've been here 4 years now right feel like I'm safe all the loved ones all the Lov ones I do it for my mother the people in the school that's in here uh my uncle and my grandfather they passed away the one that wanted me to play basketball since I was a little kid my grandfather was
024teaching me as soon as he passed away I gave up on him a little bit but when I got in high school I picked that no middle school I picked back up morning is what the important part is is that is that you doing something positive for yourself because if it wasn't for basketball Z you outside did on jail you know it's science it was mad but not mad my first basketball game we was down eight points and started going crazy 33 points for seconds and then I held the ball so they so I can just run the time on we won my name is Marshall Somerville I'm in the 10th grade from Joseph C Brisco Academy and I'm a scholar Superstar Marcel could not be here today but his teacher Miss green will accept
025his award can we clap for Marcel while miss green is coming good evening everyone um you can see from the video that Marcel is full of energy um I like seeing him come in in the morning because he's always smiling and he loves to hug everybody so he's very he's 17 years old but he's just like a big kid he's full of emotion um he has been through a lot and and for him to join us in October of last year and end up making um I know an A in my English class um and just to excel academically as well as athletically I'm just happy to meet him this is my first year in Baltimore city as a teacher I'm originally from Texas and it's just a joy to meet these students especially someone
026like Marcel um so when the application came out he was my first choice and thank you for making him your choice as well um and that's pretty much all I have to say thank you just just one comment watching watching the video clip there and thinking uh about another basketball player this week I'll just I just have to say I'm from Baltimore that's why uh presentation we are we'd like to in in honor of Marcel um take a picture with you um and recognize you know it's really important for our community to really honor our really committed and dedicated Educators who join us who choose to join us here in Baltimore City who choose to educate our young people we appreciate like your time your commitment your dedication your pushing all of that to ensure
027our kids have an exceptional education so thank you thank thank you thank you so um we will honor and Mark this occasion for Marcel with the photo if that is okay with you there all right um it's a hard act to follow to go back to our normal course of business but um moving forward on our agenda this evening we are going to um turn our attention to personel employment and quas judicial matters um in is there a motion to approve the pep and quaza judicial matters this evening Ames messenger so moved thank you is there a second second second I'll take commissioner reading linger thank you all in favor Vice chair Parker yes thank you uh commissioner Ames messenger yes thank you commissioner Ki yes thank you commissioner Esposito yes thank you commissioner kinat
028Bay yes thank you commissioner Muhammad yes thank you commissioner reading linger yes thank you commissioner Slater Harrington yes and I'm in favor this motion passes I'll Now read the consent agenda board colleagues please let me know if you'd like an item removed and please State your question for staff item 6.01 the supplemental appropriation athletic fields plan item 6.02 supplemental appropriation for playgrounds okay item 6.03 ADH community school strategy tier one second reader item 13.01 EMS link LLC item 13.02 cart excuse me carry sales and services incorporated item 15.01 Nicholas Contracting Incorporated elevator replacement at Northeast Middle School item 15.02% Contracting roof replacement at Northeast Middle School item 15.04 e pornus Construction Company Incorporated window and door replacement at Gardnerville Elementary School item 15.05 Janice contractors window and door replacement at Lakewood Early Learning Center item
02915.06 Clyde McKenry window and door replacement at Federal Hill Prep Academy item 15.07 Clyde McKenry window and door replacement at Franklin Square prek um 8 school number 095 item 15.08 Clyde McKenry uh window and door replacement at Garett Heights Elementary item 15.09% one Aon construction I'm sorry Aon Consulting and Incorporated item 18.01 p and cats Law PA hearing none we'll move forward to public comment we'll begin this evening with um our recognized groups we'd like to First invite up Miss Sheila bilps from secac welcome welcome welcome welcome good evening everyone I am here to clarify um the statement that I made last month about I me beginning of this month about the um parent survey I've BR a copy of it it looks totally different than the Baltimore City this is from the state this
030came out in February and it runs to the end of May I'm requesting and hoping that every parent that has a child is receiving specialized services in Baltimore City to fill out the parent involvement survey the it's always been a low turnout and maybe because all these surveys come at the same time and the parents not realizing that they all different but this one is greatly needed to be filled out they turnout has always been low but I'm letting them know now that this is the most important one for the children that's re receiving specialized Services I would like for them to fill it out and turn it back into the state if you have any issues like I said you can contact the special education department or meet me here May 12th and I
031will make sure that you'll get your um survey filled out May 12th third floor room 301 and that's my comment for this evening I just want to Echo I believe um Chief High cover shared that the survey is is there's two surveys it's deployed so um just so the general public can hear online so it's a special education survey and the general education family survey um so those are both available um and it's really important that information um is important for our programming our services to understand what needs are um your experience and touch points with Services here in Baltimore city so we do encourage um our entire family community on either one to let your voice be heard so thank you thank you were they both emailed or were they gu what it looks
032like so uh they are available on our website um the two surveys are deployed in different manners um to our families and communities but you can find them if you don't have it in your inbox so and if you have any questions like I said you can contact special education department as well thank you thank you so much Miss Bops we appreciate you all right our second um public comment this evening is from the Baltimore teachers union not sure if it is it's Sherry Sherry welcome welcome welcome are you virtual yes can I begin yes please good evening Dr Santa Lisa School Board Commissioners and guests my name is Sher Brown and I'm on external assignment with the Baltimore Teachers Union as a psrp member engagement specialist I'm here tonight to speak on several topics
033ranging from working conditions Personnel harassment and the transfer Affair all of which are intertwined on how bcpss does not meet the needs of the employees students or stakeholders let's start with the working conditions Baltimore city has spent millions of dollars to upgrade and renovate our school buildings yet we have buildings where students still cannot drink from water fountains elevators that are not being properly inspected and rodents that continue to be a health and safety hazard and show up so often that they may as well be on the class roster Heat tickets are being issued and closed out without resolution I have visited two schools where the elevator did not have a current inspection sticker during my first visit there the ride was so frightful I feared that I was going to be stuck in it
034during the second visit at the same site it was actually out of order this is unacceptable not only to someone with a Mobility disability but to the staff and students who assess is limited at another site I understand that there had to be accommodations made by moving a teacher classroom to the first floor for the staff member because she or he or she could not assess the their classroom via the elevator members are still commenting on the fact that there are rodents and roach infestations in their building unless their usefulness is in science lab no child or staff member should have to worry about who's going to cross their feet their desk or invade their Works Space and who's going to hit a ride home in their lunch or work bag at the end of
035the day we recognize that all students learn and retain when they are in a safe clean working environment anything less is just disrespectful to them to staff and to parents please don't assume that these occur only in our older buildings that is not the case our 21st century schools with their many upgrades still cannot Cur the infestation in our classroom now I would like to address the board on Personnel harassment especially how School leaders are handling and treating staff members that are there to help our students students why aren't bullying reports by administrators taken as seriously as they are when students bully one another why do we have to wait until it becomes a grievance before administrative harassment can be investigated why do we have administrators who are leaving the district who are under investigation
036or just fed up allowed to do the domino effect on employees livelihood without any repercussion why do we have North Avenue Personnel whose job is to be neutral siding with bully administrators with permission from a member i' like to speak on her behalf she's a single mom working as an office assistant or was working as an office assistant who was terminated for taking days off for medical appointments for herself and her child her administrator had her signed an agreement which without representation that tied her hands when the next incident required her to take off that's when the administrator submitted the paperwork to have her terminated without full consideration an employee in human capital refused to review and consider all the facts and had a termination letter already in the folder this caused a medical reaction
037from the member that required her to go immediately to the hospital it seems time and time again the district is quick to remov staff but drags their feet in addressing bullying and harassment by administrators who are creating a toxic work environment when members are more afraid of losing their job than being harassed belittled or intimidated on a daily basis that's a problem next I want to address what happened to the voluntary trans transfer option for employees who wanted to transfer to a favorable work site or away from their bullies what happened to informing members and the BTU of available vacancies the voluntary transfer window opened March the 1st and will close on May the 2nd I personally have inquired as to where the vacancies are for members to apply the response has been as soon
038as the budgets are finalized this is unacceptable for Budget matters to be taken place during the transfer window and then telling those wishing to transfer their application must be submitted by April 18th please make it make sense for a school system that thrives on data please make it make sense as to why the budget process is drawn out please make it make sense as to why administrators who need refresher training and people skills are retained and their victims are Let go please make it make sense as to why new Step increases for the psrp corrections have been delayed why are there deadlines on student record digitization but no proper tools are given to members to complete the task I invite thank you thank you thank you so much Miss Brandon we appreciate the comments this
039evening um we would like to next move to the associate student Congress for Baltimore city um Zaya sha I believe is leading off for us tonight it's pronounced Zaya sha Zana welcome welcome welcome thank you for the important correction hello um good evening my name is z sha I'm a freshman at Baltimore po techic Institute and an ad hoc member of asbc this evening I'd like to share some updates on asb's involvement in advocacy and engagement of students across Baltimore City before getting started though I want to thank the school board for this opportunity to speak tonight it's a pleasure to be here for the first time to start things off members of the youth Budget workg Group a group of students who have been working with the city schools Finance team and engagement team
040since the fall were given the opportunity to to attend their principal's budget collaborative meetings earlier this month student presence allowed insight into the behind the scenes of the school budget process as well as advocacy and suggestions about budgets that will directly affect them one student participant was able to participate in a discussion about staff employment options and possible fundraising to account for budget deficits this marks the first time students have been included in such meetings and we believe it is crucial to continue this practice we're grateful to the finance team and the princip to help facilitate this opportunity and we hope to take these examples and further build strategies to enrage a broader broader range of students in deep participation with the school budget process increasing student engagement during this part of the budget process
041is key in ensuring student voices are considered in decisions that impact their education continuing our advocacy with a blueprint asbc joined other Regional sgas from around the state in Annapolis last Monday with a large number of middle and high school students in audience a four of asc's members Brook Bourne Leah Sterns Cameron escu and Isaiah Gregory gave speeches that powerfully addressed the proposed cuts the blueprint and the dangerous threat to our education asbc believes that our continued efforts to support a fully equipped and high quality blueprint remain immensely important as Isaiah Gregory put it you don't lift a city by cutting its wings aside from advocacy efforts asbc remains committed to developing student leaders across our district March 11th to 13th was the Maryland Association of student council's annual student leadership convention with the largest
042delegation of over 150 students and advisers from 24 schools asbc members showcase true leadership and spirit for many in our in our for many in our delegation including me it was our first time attending an masc event we participated in student Le workshops connected with fellow student leaders around the State and voted for MC's 2025 to 2026 officers engaging with candidates during the campaigns was an impactful experience for many ascc members interested in furthering their roles as student leaders during the awards banquet Sebastian Harris a student from Paul Lawrence Dumber high school was one of 17 students who received the outstanding student leader award from MC now I'd like to pass it to my full board member to share an upcoming student leadership opportunity thank you thank thank you and do you um do you
043know which of your fellow student board members oh welcome want to push that one more time and then go green okay good evening everyone my name is sa Arden I am a junior at digital Harbor High School and the general assembly planning committee chair for asbc tonight I would like to share about the upcoming spring General Assembly that will take place April 9th along with student commissioner and acbc election following shortly after during the Spring General Assembly students will have the opportunity to network engage in peer-led activities and learn about the upcoming asbc election for the first time since six of 12th graders were empowered with the opportunity to vote for the representatives in 2023 asc's election committee has received enough applications to trigger a nomination Convention of 14 applicants four applied for ascb 's
044vice president role students attending the general assembly will have an opportunity to engage with the VP candidates hear speeches and Q&A and vote for the candidates who advance to the student commissioner and asbc election the student commissioner and asbc officer election will take place from May 19th to May 22nd students have the opportunity to vote for the student commissioner asbc president vice president middle School executive treasurer secretary and the chair of the diversity committee we appreciate the districts and the board's ongoing support for the asbc election and ensuring that the students have access to this opportunity to select their representatives for most students this will be their first time experiencing such a democratic process of learning about candidates and casting a vote so it is important that we make this a widespread and and richly
045engaging experience for all six to 12 students that we equip them in their roles as Citizens today and in the future overall I am so proud to announce the amount of quality of student leaders in Baltimore City you are making our schools and districts a better place to be a student to the adults across City Schools who are enabling that mission thank you and to the members of the board thank you for your support and the opportunity to address you tonight thank you so much will you remind us when asbc general assembly is next held it's April it's April it's April 9th April 9th all right and uh the election takes place the 19th to the 22nd of May right yes the election takes place from May 19th to May 22nd awesome great so we
046really do encourage all of our young people um to turn out and vote um the the elected offices are really important and it's a good opportunity to represent um your fellow student body across the city so thank you thank you thank you for joining us we appreciate it that concludes our recognized groups I'd like to turn over to Dr jkin for a general um public comment oh I'm so sorry we do have um Carl Perry from pizaza that is my fault virtual I almost felt slighted Bor chair I apologize that's okay that's okay it's been a while greetings chair Sally Vice chair Parker honorable board members and Dr Santa Lis I hope you've been having a very good school year welcome to through the spring this time of year is extremely busy stressful and exhausting
047for all leaders budgets Staffing changes observations student assessments state reports monitoring and the like this is also a time of uncertainty for some of our members annually annually the district uses data points to determine hey it's time to move principles and in essence take them from their school this year it appear appears to have been math even though we're changing the curriculum again even though in some instances where leaders wanted to replace various content teachers there were a lack of Ideal Replacements to fill those roles that happens often when you want to move someone but there just isn't any better on the sidelines so you have to keep that person schools are essentially our second homes places that we are to create where people want to come to learn every day they want to work
048they want to eat socialize become better citizens and live for a good portion of their lives but as a dist District we tend to disregard you know five to eight of our leaders annually these people have given years and years to lead their schools then with a quick conversation then a letter and secrecy to the community it's all gone though they still have you lead and represent the district during the rest of your tenure if no other position becomes available then that leader is forced to return to a 10-month teaching position though teaching is one of the most noble professions ever it is a demotion to leader who is removed by no doing of their own I request that in such instances now and in the future at a minimum they' be offered assistant principal
049positions if another unit 2 position is not available they were successful with assistant principles so even if they did not meet the ultimate expectations at their schools they were successful to their students and school communities you should ask some of their school communities before making these decisions as well I's and some district office executive directors have been quite busy this month I'm not going to metion I'm not going to go into the allegations of bullying harassment that the previous presenter shared what I will say is aside from delivering the Motion News even from one who has only visited the school roughly three times over the past three years quite a few have drafted and assigned performance Improvement plans though these can be used to support development these are being used in punitive manners it can't
050be to support Improvement especially when presented as being assigned for last year's data some are even simply based off documentation folders Google Drives and the effective use of calend systems not instructionally based it's March last year's data is not a surprise in March I understood the that the assignment of IEDs was to support evaluate Monitor and coach what type of actual coaching has been taking place by some if they are just being pushed to draft and Implement Improvement plans in March which is one of the busiest times of the year observations had to be completed and the arduous task of budgets being finalized I understand that all schools in theory received increases in allocations this year but with rising cost it seems as though almost all schools have experienced cutting staff both instructional and non-instructional
051class sizes will increase supports and interventions will decrease academic progress is of course still expected but with less to ensure Improvement perhaps next year the number of principles being demoted will double or perhaps those leaving for other districts will double instead I understand we have we have continued to make positive strides as as a district I fear now that we are Nearing a cliff and if something does not change we may fall backwards I conclude by saying very soon pizaz is going to implement its pizzazza climate survey we're going to share that information with the district very shortly finally April 5th National hands-off Day join us thank you for your time have a good night and please be safe thank you Mr Perry appreci appreciate your comments this evening and nice to see you again
052nice to see you as well now turn over to Dr jins for general public comment thank you uh to those coming to provide public comment the board recognizes the importance of receiving public comment on matters of educational interest each speaker shall be granted three minutes and speakers may not yield their time to another individual official time will be kept and at the end of 3 minutes please conclude your remarks no speaker may use the opportunity to Air employee grievances or make complaints on behalf of specific students speakers must stay on the agenda topic for which they signed up to speak and may not verbally or personally attack a school system employee or board member should speakers tray from this guidance They will receive a warning to immediately redirect their comments and may have their microphone
053turned off and comment stricken from the public record thank you again for your interest in participation in City Schools education and we'll now move to our first public comment which is from Karen Lawrence a agenda topic is sharing leadership insights learned through tenure at City Schools commenting live in person hello you have three minutes yes never done this before okay good evening Board of Commissioners chair and members Dr Santa lisis and colleagues and guests uh having been a member of cityy schools for the better part of my life I have had the pleasure of knowing many of you by name as well as many of you know me um and as we all know and as we all know tomorrow is not promised I don't have another 51 years to give um because of that
054understanding at this juncture in my journey I feel led to share some insights and lessons I've learned from these past 51 years while I'm still around and able to do so this journey began on January 31st 1974 as a business education teacher at Green Spring Junior High School since then I have occupied numerous leadership positions and now I can say with certainty that the educational opportunities I availed myself of along the way with practical experiences has prepared me for the role in which I now serve CEO on buts news flash none of this was my plan I was following a path that was already planned for me and I took it took me a long time to figure that out how many of you can relate to that praise be to God that I have
055been able to accomplish things I never imagined I could met and associated with countless amazing people and have continued to learn and grow through it all without the love and support I have received from supervisors colleagues staffs I've LED and those I've served I would not be the person I am today for that I'm so grateful my first piece of advice is for everyone to do what I did take an inventory looking back over your own life EXP experiences and consider how you got to where you are today and who helped you along the way because none of us has done this on our own we all have had help seen and unseen think about the times that you had a wish and out of nowhere your wish came true unseen help one example for
056me was when I was principal at lur Elementary School I would walk theall specific grants that the entity themselves make sure everybody online has their mic muted thank you I would walk the halls and wish that I could get the school painted in just a short period of time painters showed up at the door unannounced and unsolicited to this day I don't know where that came from unseen help think about times fell on your face as I did or dropped a ball and people overlooked your shortcomings think about why they did that I know the answer they saw your heart I learned that when people believe your intentions are good they overlook your mistakes if they think your intentions are evil the opposite is true nobody likes a bully The Authority that we have been
057granted to exercise our duties does not license us to be tyrants people don't like working for tyrants and they tend to do the bare minimum and based on the challenges that we Face we need 100% effort from everyone on the team nobody should be made to feel that their role is less important than another person's unfortunately on the world stage we are seeing a lot of that a lot of people have not gotten that message and are using their authority to cause greater harm I have been taught that all authority comes from God it is granted to us so that we can uplift edify and strengthen others we are to use that Authority we have to make a positive difference in the lives of others the reward for executing that kind of authority is the
058gift of loyalty from those we lead and interact with someone once told me that people will forgive anything but disloyalty when I assumed my first administrative role the advice I got from a very wise man who happened to be my late husband Reginal Lawrence was to do the right thing no matter what no matter who those words continue to be a part of my daily marching orders I remember a principal I once Meed asked how to be a good principal my response was try to be a good person and you'll be a good principal I'd also add that leaders must not be afraid to confront wrongdoing justify it or ignore it great personal harm can come to those we serve if we fail to stand up to wrongdoing of any kind and when we do
059stand up we must do it in a way that is not offensive because people may miss the point and the lesson our goal should be to avoid harm to others as much as humanly possible as well as GR Grant the others Grant to others the grace that we would like to receive if the shoe one other foot as we look at what is going around us our work as p as a public school system is more important now than ever before so many lives and Futures depend on our ability and availability to meet their enormous needs I am reminded of the words of our own doct Sonia Santa lisis from 2016 that I include in all of my professional development presentations those words were this is about who will live who will die this is
060about who will be able to fulfill all that they called to do this work is about building a generation thank you for us to get this right we have to be right how we serve each other is just as important as how we serve the community customer service is not simply an external exercise it is an internal one as well that understanding formed the basis of the establishment of the culture of care Committee of which I have the pleasure of chairing in short the committee's vision is a work environment rooted in professional satisfa satisfaction and service to the community where employees at every level see themselves as an integral part of city schools and appreciate it for their contributions it is a Grassroots volunteer effort made up of District employees who who believe that how
061we treat each other and how we treat the public are critical components of stakeholder satisfaction and customer service can't do one without the other at some point in the near future the committee would like to share more about the work we are doing thanks for your attention and I hope this message was received in the spirit in which it was given very much the comments and thank you for your service your very dedicated service to both more state public schools thank you thank you thank you thank you our next public comment is from Darlene Rogers the parent agenda topic is Baltimore revolutionary Academy of virtual education this will be an email spread as a parent of a scholar attending the virtual school Brave I've noticed declining Trend in effective leadership under the stewardship of our
062current Administration despite multiple vocal outcries failed attempts to address crucial issues it is clear that the needs of the school Community to include students and families simply aren't being met students Educators and parents alike have been negatively impacted by the lack of positive Community engagement support and constant developing issues that have been left unresolved the lack of open dialogue and attentiveness to countless concerns within the school Community has placed the future of our children's educational experience in the balance ineffective leadership not only dampens the morale of staff and students in the school Community but it also significantly affects school performance prior to the merger the V virtual program was once a beacon of inclus inclusive learning and growth has now been reduced to a shadow of its former self this trend should no longer continue
063the integrity and fabric of the former virtual program has been lost many parents are afraid to be transparent with fear of retaliation or mistreatment others are limited and forbidden to share out concerns during school Community meetings due to everyone being muted during family engagement meetings during these meetings the only option families have is to submit questions in the chat and to be told to email Administration in which a resolution is never reached these meetings were put in place by the district for families and the school Community to have the opportunity to work together share ideas voice ballad concerns and hopes to work collaboratively with leadership to resolve them but the continuation of this Behavior mimics zero interest in hearing the school community's concerns as a parent within the school Community I ask you the school
064board and Commissioners to hear our concerns and help us find a resolution there is no other way to express them there has been no followup to done followup done to monitor the progress of the newly merged virtual schools moving forward we are asking that bra be led by someone who EX udes school pride encourages and prioritizes the needs of the school Community to include students families staff and one who displays leadership that's rooted in empathy partnership and understanding and not dictatorship um the next public comment is Carol Patterson uh parent Community partner topic is also Baltimore revolutionary Academy of virtual education this is also an email that's being read I'm a parent of a student at the Baltimore revolutionary Academy of virtual education Brave I'm witnessing issues that concern that's concerning within our school Community
065the lack of communication and inadequate and demonstrations of school pride by the administration are generously affecting the morale of students parents and teachers alike essential details about school testing the day-to-day running of the school who to contact and general operational information are not being properly communicated being uninformed creates a sense of alienation and frustration among parents and myself like myself who value transparency and Community involvement in our children's education there's been a constant feeling of our way or no way a feeling that permeates in the atmosphere students and families didn't even receive warm greetings from leadership during Misa testing to encourage the kids and welcome families only the teachers did so some of the kids and parents um wasn't weren't even aware of the new school name so un fortunate sorry so unfortunate and just
066wrong on so many levels moreover the school still lacks a mascot a core symbol of unity and school spirit it has been almost one year since the merging of the two virtual programs and still nothing families were promis the opportunity to vote on the mascot but it never happened the importance of a school mascot extends Beyond sporting events it helps build an identity a sense of belonging for students and staff promoting pride and boosting morale a strong sense of school spirit and Community can positively affect academic outcomes increasing both student achievement and overall satisfaction School leadership should not dismiss these aspects as less important but instead appreciate their role in setting a positive and inclusive tone for memorable experiences we must ensure that our children who already face challenges in a virtual learning environment do
067not also have to combat a lack of enthusiasm and engagement from the school or to be forgotten leadership must prioritize creating a supportive engaging and inviting environment for all students and families alike I urge the school board and Commissioners to take to please take the necessary steps forward to help the brave School Community create a conducive learning environment that exemplifies both strong communication practices and school spirit let's make our Virtual School an institution that not only prioritizes education but also values its community and school spirit Brave deserves a leader who prioritizes the school community and be willing to work collaboratively with all state holders and Community Partners thank you and that is our last public comment excellent thank you so much I really appreciate that and before we move forward this evening I'd like to
068take a moment to acknowledge that we are um joined by Governor Moore Secretary of appointment Tisha Edwards I appreciate her joining us uh this evening she also previously served as the interim CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools welcome and we thank you for joining us this evening um based upon the consent agenda um based upon public comments are there any additional items any board members would like to pull from the consent agenda hearing none is there a motion to approve the remaining consent agenda so move kinat Bay thank you commissioner kinat Bay is there a second second am messenger thank you commissioner Ames messenger all in favor Vice chair Parker yes commissioner am messenger yes commissioner koi yes uh commissioner Esposito um is absent for the remainder of the evening commissioner kinat Bay yes thank
069you commissioner mamed yes thank you commissioner reading linger yes thank you commissioner Slater Harrington yes thank you and I'm also in favor this motion passes I'd now like to turn over to Dr Santa Lisa for CEO comments great thank you chair good evening everyone and we're going to begin by inviting chief neelon for this evening pep agenda thank you Dr santala good evening board Commissioners if you are present uh for recognition of being read on the pep tonight please stand up when I read your name and if you are joining us online feel free to turn on your camera so we can recognize you from the office of the chief academic officer appointments recommended that Latoya Lewis currently principal at Lois T Murray Elementary Middle be appointed director academic support and strategy effective June 28th
0702025 recommended that Melanie zaka currently principal at parkr school district be appointed educational specialist to mtss effective April 19th recommended that Lita zadic currently assistant principal at Fort Worthington Elementary be appointed educational specialist to gifted at Advanced learning effective May 31st 2025 from the office of the chief human capital officer recommended that Ashley Cher currently Special Assistant be appointed director Staffing initiatives and lure effect of April 5th 2025 from the office of the chief of schools recommended that Tracy Carter currently director operator support be appointed executive director operator support recommended that Megan Chester currently teacher special education at Lakeland Elementary Middle School be appointed School successfully aison special education effective July 12th 2025 and recommended that Jackin mro currently educational specialist to Transportation be appointed School successfully is on special education effective April 5th 2025
071congratulation to everyone on tonight's pep agenda thank you Chief neelson and again congratulations to everyone and just as a reminder we like babies here so you are just fine you are just fine um I would like to continue this evening by celebrating the accomplishments of our winter sports teams starting with basketball um our varsity girls basketball teams won Regional championships in division 1 a North Forest Park 3A North poly and for a North Western High School and the poly girls team went on to win the city championship in Varsity Boys Basketball Regional Champions were Edmonson in 1A North Dunbar in 2A North City College in 3A North and mvo in 4A North the the Edmonson boys went on to win the city championship and the city college boys varsity won the Maryland um mpssaa that's
072the State 3A state championships uh Western High School was City champion in girls indoor track while the merille boys were also City Champions sh out to uh their their famous Alum uh Mayor Scott who was also a trackie uh digital Harbor boys were Regional champions in 3A Central and Dunbar Boys in 2A Central the big news is indoor track in indoor track uh really were the individual event state championships where dunar boys won the 3200 meter relay digital Harbor boys won the 300 and 500 meter events as well as the 4x400 relay mvo won the boys 55 meter hurdles and City College won the state championship in girls 55 meter hurdles there we go nicely done and finally in swimming both the poly boys and poly girls were City Champions and in wrestling the city
073Championship went to Forest Park and last but not least Polly was the city champion in dance congratulations to everyone who participated in our winter sports season we are proud of you all and you should rest knowing uh that your CEO would not um make it through the first five minutes of any of those Sports um next I would like to congratulate the five principls named as recipients of the 2000 25 heart of the schools Awards in recognition of their outstanding leadership in fostering a positive engaging and supportive School culture for their students and staff um this year's uh winners are arita Adams at Northwood Elementary School Caitlyn Brooks at Moravia Park Elementary James gram uh principal of reach partnership school Nina mazone principal at Forest Park High School and Steve schi at Mount Royal Elementary
074School these School leaders were selected from 127 principales who received more than 2100 nominations from school communities across the district each awarde receives $2500 to support needs they have identified at their schools I'd also like to recognize the five principles who were chosen as honores and each of these leaders will receive $11,000 for their schools these principles are Darren brozine at Baltimore design school Ashanti Porter at Lew walk Elementary Middle Betty Adams the historic samua CID Taylor Elementary School Tanika lipsum Wildwood Elementary School and oia Hardy at William Paca Elementary School now one of the things that everybody should note in their calendar is that all of these outstanding leaders will be honored at the annual heart of the schools Awards to be held at the Hippodrome theater on May 29th thanks to the fund
075for educational excellence and our heart of the school sponsors congratulations to all of our honores and again thank you to our sponsors and then finally I want to invite everyone to a special Community conversation on supporting multilingual students and families to be held tomorrow evening from 5: to 7:30 p.m. at Patterson high school we will review our latest efforts to improve language access and services to multilingual families as well as any other concerns of our multilingual Community um thanks to Chief High cupboards leadership we will also be providing um bus transportation correct uh for many of our families tomorrow and everyone is welcome to participate in this important discussion um and this concludes my remarks for this evening turning it back to you chair thank you appreciate it very much um and I'm actually going
076to turn the meeting over to my board colleagues to lift up um our committee reports so I'll start at the very end with commissioner Muhammad for safety and wholeness good evening so we were able to review School safety in the options and the efforts that we are making to ensure that our students are safe we were joined this uh past meeting by one of our uh City Schools Partners the peace team who works to assure that school safe passage is happening so we encourage everyone to uh attend the safety and wholeness committee meetings uh and provide public comment as public comment is now available up until the time of our meeting so we want to encourage everyone to attend we also want to highlight that uh last month we had a listening session at colington
077Square Rec Center which was an event that was pretty much standing room only and we had we took this opportunity as a board to be able to listen to our community their needs and wants around safety and wholeness within our schools this is of utmost importance to the board as a whole and particularly to the safety and holness committee our next listening session will be held at Patterson High School on April 30th thank you so much commissioner Muhammad I'll turn over to commissioner Coy operations yes commission uh we the operations committee met last uh Tuesday and we had a number of discussion items that appeared on today's agenda including items relating to the Athletics field and the playgrounds uh as well as as some items that will uh come before us in the future specifically
078Rel to the uh Patterson high school and some need for protection from golf balls uh we also had a discussion about the amp implementation and a number of updates that were there which you could review and see in the recording uh and appreciate the hard work of the team in ensuring a a thorough thoughtful and um important update to systems for uh staff logging time and those relating to pay um that was our most recent uh meeting and our next meeting date is May 20th 2025 thank you commissioner Coy appreciate that um commissioner Esposito is not able to um join us this evening but at our next board meeting she'll provide an update on the policy um committee but I am going to turn it over to commissioner Slater Harrington who's joining us virtually for
079an update on teaching and learning good evening everyone there we go all righty um teaching and learning uh met two weeks ago uh the meeting was centered on the district's ongoing and future efforts to strengthen social studies education particularly in writing instruction uh professional learning for our teachers and student participation in um coursework and extracurricular programs we look forward to seeing the district's work um to expand access to Advanced social studies course increase engagement in programs such as National History Day I know my daughter and her friends love National History or NHD as they call it um and um strengthening writing instruction and um the uh how do you say uh cross-curricular impact of writing um um for social studies and um the Improvement of literacy so um our next meeting is April 1st and
080um we're looking forward to public engagement so please sign up to deliver a public comment and um come see the teaching and learning committee we are talking about the best things that are happening in the district uh with regard to instruction and how do how we advance uh our board goals around literacy graduation rates and math thank you thank you so much they very important really appreciate that um in addition to teaching and learning um coming up on April 1st um our next public board meeting is going to be held on the 8th um I do really encourage our public to join us we will be talking about the school year 2526 budget um the presentation will be robust um and engaging and encourage everybody to provide public comment um commissioner Muhammad remind us one
081more time when the next safety and holess is meeting um the listening SE SS are coming up correct so the next safety and wholeness meeting will be held on the 17th of April uh we're looking forward again to participation it will Dr jins spring break ah we're going to be enjoying spring break so we're not doing that so Dr jins can you help us out with our okay there we go May 22nd so uh I I'm sure with uh so much time we're going to be able to uh encourage quite a few people to enjoy and we look forward to being able to highlight another Community partner and if I can as I have the mic I want to take the time to be able to recognize that this is National Social Work month and
082I want to uh give praise and give a shout out to all of our social workers across the district for your sacrifice and pouring into our young people and their families every day thank you very important um any additional um events um anything else our board Commissioners want to put on the radar of the public yes I'll do a plug in commissioner Slater Harington might join but um I hope everyone knows that BSA students are in production of Aila and a b um I was able to go with my family on Saturday it was great um the production I saw I think they called it like a pre-screening or something like that so they alerted the audience that students might ask for their line or you know that kind of thing cuz they're still working
083it out but I'm proud to report no student X for aine only the adults in the Productions X for aine really excited doing some good work over there um it'll be running at Center Stage until April 13 go see it it's a great production and features one Addison Slater Harrington right anything additional this evening hearing none uh is there motion to adjourn second second all right thank you commissioner KY and vice chair all in favor signal by saying I I thank you so much we're a jurn I appreciate everybody joining us