001present commissioner Roberts here thank you and I'm here um that is eight nine here with one absent thank you is there a motion to reopen the meeting so move thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second bndo thank you commissioner bondima all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes commissioner hoods yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I'm in favor the motion passes nine in favor with one absent uh commissioner Brooks is here oh thank you do you agree to open reopen the meeting yes yes awesome awesome so that's um all in favor thank you commissioner Brooks um we will now have the moment of silence reading by commissioner mcfaden thank you and thank you commissioner uh James for the shift um specifically
002because of one of the um one of our community members I happen to to know um quite well so Anna Smith is her name started her career with City schools on December 3rd 2007 where she served the students for 14 years and one month as a guidance counselor Dr Martin Luther King Jr Elementary Middle School Booker T Washington Middle Frederick Douglas High School Naka freedom and democracy Academy and lastly Forest Park High School Miss Smith unfortunately departed on December 16th 2021 and will be missed greatly by her family friends and City Schools staff my condolences at heart go out to Mr Darius Smith her husband um and her son and and their entire family as well Jawan Robinson was a junior at Edmonson high school during his time at Edmonson Westside High School Jaan was
003a respectable young man who would always stop to greet everyone he was well-liked by many students and had a close-knit group of friends that he would do anything for when in the Halls his smile was bright and infectious when you got into a deep conversation with Jan he would provide oversight that really made you think deeply his smile his kind heart and persuasive thoughts will be truly missed around the halls and Campus of Edmonson Westside High School Deon Canada was a nth grade scholar at blueford Drew jemon STEM Academy Dean became part of the bdj family during the 2018 2019 school year Deon was excited about moving from middle school to the high school at bdj Deon showed an interest in robotics and enjoyed Hands-On activities deom will be remembered for his infectious smile and
004his hearty appetite Deon will be greatly missed by his family friends and the blueford Drew jemson STEM Academy school Community Tavon King was a ninth grader and Scholar at blueford J jemson STEM Academy Tavon became part of the bdj family during the 2019 2020 school year Tavon embedded himself in the bdj school Community as soon as he arrived at the school Tavon enjoyed his English classes and he did very well in them Tavon was also a lover of Athletics and was looking forward to being a part of our bdj of the bdj athletic program Tavon will be greatly missed by his family friends and the blueford Drew jemson STEM Academy school Community Jerel Gomez was a ninth grade student at digital Harbor High School Jerel was a magnetic young man whose quick-witted humor attracted new
005friends easily and added lots of laughter to their school community a natural leader Jerel quickly earned the respect of his peers his teachers and his mentors his smile and positive energy will be greatly missed Bernard Thomas III attended Edmonson Westside High School for nth and 10th grade before he transferred to another city school for the 2122 school year was a quiet kind of guy who was fair and advocated for himself every day he came to school Bernard would give his best effort and in his favorite classes and communicated his needs very well those who were fortunate enough to get to know Bernard knew that he had a great sense of humor and a genuine smile that could light up a room he had a passion for football and often talked about being the player that
006every school would want to recruit Bernard will be greatly missed by his family friends and the Edmonson Westside High School family please join me in a moment of silence for our city schools family memb set of transition thank you thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a motion to approve the prior Open Session minutes so move Griffin thank you commissioner Griffin is there second second chin thank you commissioner Chena all in favor commissioner bondima oh yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes commissioner Horwitz yes Commissioner James abstaining due to absence okay commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am also in favor that is nine in favor with one abstention the motion passes is there a motion to approve the closed session summaries so thank you commissioner bondon is
007there second second Griffin thank you commissioner Griffin all in favor commissioner bonda yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James absence okay commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reid yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor that is eight in favor with one extension the motion passes thank you so happy New Year everyone and good evening and welcome back I hope everyone had a restful winter break this was a time to pause rest reflect and connect with our families and those dear to our hearts it is also a solemn time for some as they remember those who may no longer be with us our hearts are with you the return to in-person learning has been challenging to say the least while many are excited to be back in school I would be
008remiss if I did not address The Angst and concerns shared by many of our families students and staff your concerns are understandable the current Co surged due to the Omicron variant the changing CDC guidance the last minute call to close many of our schools after break and all of the information that we have to sift through to make the best decisions for our families have left many of us confused we strongly believe that schools are the best place for student learning we also believe it should occur safely we see your questions and hear your concerns our school community our students families Community Partners are valuable to us what's important to you is important to us and we are continuing to work with the CEO and District staff to ensure your issues are addressed thank you
009for your feedback we encourage you to stay informed and active by visiting the district's web site and social media information please continue to share your concerns and suggestions with us and most importantly please stay safe wear masks and make sure you're vaccinated and boosted we appreciate your support is there a motion to approve the Personnel employment and payroll report so moved Reed thank you commissioner Reed is there a second second Roberts thank you commissioner Roberts all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes did did she say yes yes okay all right thank you commissioner mcfaden I'm abstaining okay commissioner Reed yes yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am also in favor that is eight in favor with one abstention the motion passes I will now
010turn it over to Dr sisis for CEO comments thank you chair Richardson uh good evening uh everyone uh as we all know uh the post holiday amacon surge had a signific ific an impact on our in-person learning schedule this week um we work throughout the weekend uh really to analyze an immense amount of testing data primarily pool testing results from our kindergarten through eighth grade schools um to really try to understand which of our schools would not be able to open for in-person learning on Monday um I realiz that Sunday's notification to families whose schools had to temporarily shift to Virtual learning did not provide sufficient notice for many families to adequately prepare their students for virtual instruction on Monday and I understand that our inability to send out notices sooner also had a negative
011impact on the schools School leaders and School staff in nearly a third of our schools for this and for every and any inconvenience or concern that resulted I am truly sorry these are very challenging times and in our determination to make the best decision we can for our students we sometimes fall short of that Mark this is one of those times when we inadvertently caused confusion and concern rather than clear communication I realize that I recognize our responsibility and I resolve to do better I also want to thank all of those staff who supported covid-19 testing last week for students and staff as well as those staff members who chose to be tested this week almost a third of our schools are shifting to Virtual learning that shift is temporary and limited to those schools
012where we did not have either enough staff to operate the building safely or um enough supplies and Staffing to administer testing this is the sole criteria we use in making this decision can we safely and effectively maintain in person instruction that is our decision point because in-person instruction is the best option for our students we are not considering a transition to Virtual learning across the entire District as long as we have staff to run our schools and test our staff and students we will keep our doors open for classroom instruction thankfully roughly 2third of of our schools met that criteria this week thanks partly to volunteers from our central office team who are also filling in to support schools where needed people like Dr Jenny woo and Dr Mark King who uh supported student covid
013testing at Utah mosh bur also people uh covering classes uh like Lori Lin Sutton and uh uh Danielle Holland as well as uh Adisa H Terraza um who all actually taught classes today um for teachers who could not be uh present due to covid and quarantining as well as people like Kim Coleman and Tracy Durant and Jess papia who served at merant taller high school as well as uh leaders like uh Mona khawi and Teresa Jones um who actually helped with lunch duty opening up uh milk cartons for elementary school students at lunch at Dicky Hill these represent just a fraction of the central office staff that I want to thank uh for really uh being all hands on deck to make sure that our young as many young people as possible could benefit from
014in-person learning and for supporting our school-based leaders and staff at a time when they need us most this is a big job and we can't do it without your trust your help and your support that's why we are offering rapid testing and access to the vaccine and booster for our team it's why we are resuming um weekly testing that is larger than any testing regime in the state at our schools and providing testing for central office employees I myself went down from my weekly test today and I'm very thankful that we work as part of an organization that provides ready access to tests at a time when not te tests are not always widely available Omicron is spreading across our community but we'll keep you safe by identifying positive cases continuing mitigation and taking preventative
015action to keep them out of our building what we are doing will not be easy but we've been here before in March 2020 in August 2020 when we began to welcome students back to August 2021 when we welcomed all students back to the classroom we have proven time and time again that we can host students and staff safely but this process is often difficult and never without its trials we are constantly looking for ways to improve our processes and one of the issues we have been studying is a way to reduce the number and length of absences due to quarantine for close contacts of those who test positive it is now my pleasure to introduce Cleo Hirsch our executive director for covid response who will discuss how this new program will work Cleo thank you
016Dr santalis um I'm going to go ahead and share my screen um and I'll just be running through a few brief slides on this new um program all right okay so the information that I'm providing now only applies to K8 schools um our individual saliva based PCR testing program will continue in our secondary schools and stand andone middle schools um for our covid-19 pool testing program um I'm going to share a brief update and how the program will shift um we believe this will streamline and improve the process as well as get us faster identification of who in pools have covid so when a pool of students pass we get a single result um that says that covid is present within that group of students so when that result comes back we will notify families
017and students will be invited back to school when students return to school They will receive an individual rapid test students who test negative will be able to remain in school and students who test positive will quarantine and the same process would apply of course to staff participating in pool testing um when we do this work we will report the individual cases identified through the rapid test to the contact tracing team they will reach out to the family of the impact ed student and ask if that that student and their siblings who are unvaccinated quarantined and we will also share that information with the health department sometimes we identify cases outside of our weekly asymptomatic pool testing program for example a student might be in class and begin to feel ill and they might go to
018the health Suite or students may stay home because they're not feeling well and a parent May or a guardian may choose to get a child tested outside of school um so those are symptomatic cases and when we find out about those cases they can occur on any day not necessarily in line with the pool testing schedule so for those cases we must do contact tracing to determine if there are any students or staff in the school who established close contact with that student um those folks would be provided an individual rapid test and again if you are negative you will be able to remain in school and if you are positive um you will quarantine um so while that contact tracing occurs everyone will stay in school um and then we will use those rapid
019tests to quickly identify if any of the close contacts have been impacted and then everyone um will also be asked to of course participate in weekly testing uh the following week and I hope you caught that because I'm getting a message saying bad Network quality thank you and that's it for my update Dr s I hope you caught it my network quality may have been poor it came through for uh for me uh hopefully it came through for others Cleo thank you very much and what we um we'll do is we will have this uh posted to our website um for those who um might have not been able to uh follow completely and uh for those who might want to refer back to it so thank you very much Cleo um next I am
020going to invite uh Sarah deal who is our um acting Chief human capital officer for this evening's pep agenda Sarah good evening good evening everyone um I'll be reading the PB so it is recommended that leanda Johnson currently social worker Matthew a Henson Elementary be appointed coordinator School social work related Services effective January 12th 2022 recommended that Susanna Wes currently education specialist to school counseling pupil Services be appointed coordinator School counseling secondary Services effective January 12th 2022 recommended that herck kofer currently assistant principal Lew walk Elementary be appointed interim principal Vanguard Collegiate Middle School effective January 12th through June 30th 2022 recommended that Stephanie gross currently assistant principal Dr Nathan a pittz Asherton Elementary Middle be appointed Ed interim principal of Windsor Hill Elementary Middle effective January 12th through June 30th 2022 the CEO notifications
021Michael Moss currently Academy principal District of Columbia Public Schools be appointed director academic recovery Chief academic officer effective January 18 2022 Katherine Heather Nolan currently director Knowledge Management knowledge College Management Department be appointed director academic recovery Chief academic officer effective January 31st 2022 Sandy Jacobs currently principal education Council District of Columbia be appointed executive director strategic resourcing and financial management Chief Financial Officer effective February 14th 2022 Tracy Frasier currently education associate 12 month principal leadership development be appointed director educator pipelines and induction principal leadership development effective December 20th 2021 nicardo Smith currently chief of operations US Army Garrison be appointed director contact tracing Chief of Staff effective January 18th 2022 and finally Courtney Pate currently Clinical Director school-based Baltimore Health Department be appointed director covid testing Chief of Staff effective February 1st 2022 thank you
022very much Sarah much appreciated um and as is our custom I will uh read more background on our uh principal appointees this evening uh Stephanie gross has successfully served City schools for 20 years a classroom teacher educational associate and an assistant principal after working in Corporate America Miss gross decided to take a leap of faith and follow her passion for working with children quote every child deserves someone in their Corner who sees and believes they have the potential to do anything they desire I do this work to support students in believing in themselves Miss gross hold a bachelor's degree from Howard University a master's degree from University of Maryland Baltimore County and an educational specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from University of Phoenix congratulations uh acting principal gross uh next uh uh harck uh
023kofer senior uh heriq excuse me a coofer senior has been in Baltimore city schools for 21 years years most recently serving as an assistant principal at leth walk Elementary School through the years he has served as an assistant principal math lead Behavior specialist department head and nine years as a math teacher a major in economics from John's Hopkins University Mr kofer was hired as a career changer to teach Algebra 1 in the middle uh in the middle of the school year at Clifton it turned out to be his calling and what he had been looking for quote the old me might have gotten the job done but I have to be better for the Learners and stakeholders who need to see a man of color actively reflect and improve Mr kofer holds a bachelor's in
024economics and and a master's degree from College of notredam of Maryland in leadership and supervision congratulations thank you principal kofer uh finally I want to let everyone know that tonight's celebration of the mvo football teams championship um has been postponed we will celebrate both the mvo Mustangs and The dunar Poets at a future meeting in the meantime congratulations to both of our state champions and their coaches who were both recognized recently by the Baltimore Ravens thank you and that uh concludes my com comments for this evening uh back to you chair Richardson thank you Dr sisas we will now hear an information item on the 2022 Capital raise opportunity just for point of clarification the board will also be voting on this um later in the meeting commissioner Richardson we can certainly go forward with
025this item I just want to flag that we did invite the Maryland stadium authority to be here but I um told them it would be after public comment at 6:30 so I don't think they're here yet so we can go forward with it they just wouldn't be here to chime in this is David wraith with the stadium Authority I if you wanted to do it now great thank you David perfect thank you Allison should I uh walk folks through the presentation yes thank you I'm going to share my screen now I think Mr Gant is there a um a way you can let me present there we go and chief you should already have privileges yep I found it can you see my screen Mr Gant not yet okay now it's coming up yes thank
026you thank you chair Richardson uh Vice chair mcfaden and all Board of school Commissioners this is Chris Dy Chief Financial Officer along with uh Chief of Staff Perkins Cohen uh we have been looking at an Innovative and exciting opportunity to raise some Capital specifically for uh High School efforts in in uh the near- term uh most specifically Frederick Douglas High School I will uh present the overview of the opportunity and as Mr David wraith of the Maryland stadium uh Authority has indicated he's here as well uh to answer questions perhaps in more detail as the um the opportunity was presented to us in in concept uh by Mr wraith and his colleagues at the Maryland stadium Authority so first uh a bit of context as the board knows and as the public uh members of
027the public may know to some degree uh we are engaged now in a um High School redesign rebuild and replacement activities as part of our uh 21st century building program uh project in partnership with the Maryland stadium Authority I think the the wonderful number of new buildings and Facilities that we've uh brought to life with uh MSA is now 24 uh but one area where we still have work to do is is in our high schools uh our high our High School uh efforts are right now in the feasibility study phase and most specifically we're looking at five different schools uh Baltimore City College Baltimore poly Technic Institute and Western High School which share a campus and also Frederick Douglas High School and Joseph C Brisco Academy which also are are collocated and as we
028are in that feasibility study stage we're looking at a potential uh cost shortfall uh of in the neighborhood of $200 million now it's early days in the feasibility study but that's a significant number and in particular with regard to Frederick Douglas High School one of the early um estimates for the cost of that uh High School to be executed the way we're um imagining it is about $117 million and in conversations with Maryland stadium Authority um and talking about this potential Gap app uh they introduced to us a a financing idea that we think is quite uh quite attractive uh specifically uh they they have proposed for consideration that they do or that we collectively as a partnership do uh a couple of different things first of all uh using projected Bond proceeds from uh
029current current bonds projected available cash uh and certain project maturities that uh refunds on on maturities combined with a new type of bond which is called a capital appreciation bond uh MSA and we are contemplating a transaction which would generate about $117 million that is the that is an amount that one of the feasibility studies has uh come up with for a a new redesigned and rebuilt Frederick Douglas High School and it was aimed at that number so so the Confluence of different funding activities was specifically aimed to try to get to that number of 117 million specifically for Frederick uh Frederick Douglas so again we've underlined in that second bullet um some of the it's basically pulling uh as much as we can to together for funds and then adding a new Bond to
030get to the number a capital uh appreciation bond is a bond that earns interest annually like I'd say almost all bonds do but importantly the interest is not paid until the end of the term uh this would allow City schools to get the $17 million now uh aimed at the Frederick Douglas High School project but we as a system would have no additional payment obligations other than uh when this new capital appreciation bond matures in 2051 and well it'll be divided up so that some matures in 2051 and some matures in 2052 we would continue uh our annual contribution to the 21st century uh project as as we have been doing and as we will be doing now until 2050 so that that is the the bare bones of the of the deal uh which
031again to say to say it once um one more time it allows us to get the money that we would need for Frederick Douglas in the very near term uh and then in exchange for extending our commitments instead of the program the program's last uh payments being in 2050 which is already what we've signed up for it two more years would be added at the same uh in the same Arrangement um and that would get us the necessary funds for Frederick Douglas so I think we have one more slide um as currently envisioned so it's it's it's it's conceptual stage so these numbers should be seen as what they are estimates on on best information but the um capital appreciation bond uh interest would be about 2.85% uh that's that's a low well uh the
032interest rate is what it is but it's it's an attractive uh interest rate for what we would be getting in return um also as part of the 21st century our other partners both the state uh the inter agency commission and the city of Baltimore uh the 21st century uh group would also have to commit to extending their payments out two more years in 2051 and 2052 um and generally speaking we we would want to execute such an arrangement um as soon as practicable only because um interest rates are now at a favorable rate but you know as we all know they uh their Dynamic and can change and it's historically still pretty low uh or very low interest rates so with that as the once over lightly and knowing that the MSA folks who have
033um very helpfully proposed this idea are available uh City Schools request to the board uh is to seek approval to proceed as outlined to investigate it more and go forward with the capital appreciation bond um which we would put together with the other available funds and U get cracking when the feasibility studies and and the like are finished um with the Frederick Douglas High School um renovation uh replacement project and that's that's the brief overview of what we think is an appropriate and attractive opportunity uh to raise money for our high schools thank you uh Chief Dy did the stadium Authority did they want to um provide any additional information to the board at this point um commissioner mcfaden I think they were available for question but my understanding is they did not have a
034per se presentation uh but since we were um summarizing their idea they they um agreed to make themselves available Mr wraith do I have that right or are you ready to present something and I misspoke no I don't have anything to present that I was just here today to answer any questions that somebody may have with regards to the proposed financing I appreciate that I see commissioner Reed and commissioner Rob Roberts I didn't know if you all had um any specific thoughts or questions uh yeah I've been privy and I had the opportunity to look at some of the data from uh from Chief dowy uh I guess the good thing about the situation is 117 million UPF front to help in terms of uh the renovations and improvements for for fedar Douglas High School
035the back end is 52 million in terms of what you pay 30 years from now so looking at the 117 up front and present valueing the 52 million it looks like no not no such thing as free money but it looks like almost 110 million in terms of money you can use now that have low risk to it in terms of this the Financial Risk uh lower as Chris dowy talked it's a low insurance rate environment so therefore the risk there is low uh and we're in looks like we're in a rising R rate environment so it's going to be down the road this year and future years rat should be higher so the cost will be higher uh in talk consultation with uh Chief dowy and talking to the chair of the operations committee
036uh commissioner Roberts uh Vernon Reed would like to recommend that the board uh consider approval uh for said funding for B for Frederick Douglas High School commissioner Roberts I appreciate that um commissioner Reed thank you for that um insight and that perspective commissioner Roberts did you have anything to add I see uh uh Dr James's hand as well uh Vice chair MC fetting I do not have anything to add I do think that this is an amazing opportunity for the system to move forward um with at this time but other than that I do not have anything else to contribute thanks um commissioner Rob Dr James thank you um thanks to the stadium Authority for the presentation and for uh Vernon and Chanel Chantel doing your due diligence to help support us on this decision
037uh two quick questions one um Chief Dy is there any City contribution in the prior 21st century schools agreement there was a city contribution component as well does that exist and is there anything we should have brought to our attention around that um and then second in consideration of the built to learn act will there be any possible negative consequences on acquiring other state funds um if we move forward thank you Commissioner James uh um I will happily take the first and uh I will gamely try the second but possibly look to David or Allison for more on the first one yes as you point out the the city is is a um a committed partner as as part of the 21st century uh building program uh they make annual contributions uh to that program
038and as contemplated they would continue to do so at their same rates uh the the shorthand uh is you I mean by Shand I mean the the the city's committed to $20 million a year we're committed to$ 20 million doar a year um it it got um with with certain um changes that happened after the as to how things are counted and whether the bottle bill is part of it you know that gets a a little bit more uh involved but to get to your what I think is your first question yes the city if this were to happen the city would commit to making two more years of their current payments as they are doing now uh every year as part of their um their part of the puzzle like we do and like
039uh the state does so that would they would have to continue doing that for two more years and the to the tune of $20 million um and as far as the implications on your second question of the built to learn a uh act my feeling is but David and uh Miss Perkins Cohen can uh weigh in is this would be under the offices of the 21st century right so so I think it would be treated like the the you know all the previous work has been in the 21st century so I think as part of that I don't personally know of any negative KnockOn effects uh with regard to the bill to learn act because it would be kind of um covered under the same umbrella as 21st century but but in that it is
040new and um this is the the beginning of the process uh I'm not I'm not sure we can say I can say that uh uh completely confidently um Allison do you have any thoughts so I I mean I think it's a great question I think it's the right question um we uh one quick thing on the prior piece is so yes the city has to continue to pay for those two years it's 20 million a year as well as the state has to as well well so remember it's a three-way it's a three-way piece so all three Partners will keep paying in um in 51 and 52 in 2051 and 52 um the in terms of this the um the resources from the state um we have certainly been in conversation with the state as
041many jurisdictions have been and I think you've seen in the news that other jurisdictions are also experiencing the cost of escalation that are happening as a result of the commodity issues and so on um right now and um and Rising prices and so we are continue to be in conversation with the state about the cost of that um uh and needing their help in terms of helping close that so those conversations are are ongoing um I think this is part of a strategy but it um but we are in continuing conversation about whether there are other ways to help close that Gap thank you appreciate that thank you Commissioner James did you have anything else I see your hand is still up thanks um uh Team for the discussion and the presentation Chief D it
042sounds like a great opportunity for um us to maximize at this particular um moment in time so thank you all for that thank you Chief uh Perkins Cohen as well um for your support with this I'm turning it back over to our board chair thank you commissioner mcfaden and thank you everyone um I will now review the consent agenda board colleagues please let me know if you would like an item removed and please State your question for the staff I am going to pull 8.01 facility renaming request at Western High School basketball court and 8.02 gifts and donations 8.03 policy EB CD delayed openings and emergency closings of schools second reader so that our student commissioner can vote on them and for presentation on the board 2022 legislative platform we will review items 8.04 through
043826 in accordance with the script so the consent items are as follows 13.01 sustainable and non-sustainable cafeteria products could you help me look up there all right 15.01 chilar Corporation 15.02% three blue Triton Brands Inc 15.04 Allstate contractor Inc 16.01 talson University 18.01 shaww Rosenthal LLP and 8.27 2022 Capital raise opportunity okay thank you we will now move to public comment speakers from recognized groups will have the opportunity to speak for five minutes we have Jocelyn Providence representing the Baltimore teachers union thank you excuse me I'm sorry good evening um everyone um hello my name is JN provins and I'm a high school math teacher in Baltimore City the main topics that I'll be discussing today are the state of our schools currently and the proposal to close schools Sunday evening at about 7 P.M
044about 12 hours or so before students and School staff were getting ready to head into school buildings an alert was put on Baltimore City website that 57 schools were to transition the next day to Temporary virtual learning how did we get get here we got here by people in power making decisions that did not incorporate the directly impacted students School staff and families December 22nd president Brown of the btu sent a letter to Dr Santa Lisa board chair Richardson and School Board Commissioners regarding the tremendous intensification of covid transmissions and a plan for a temporary transition to Virtual learning that would be planned controlled and would allow for students and School staff to test so that decisions could be made based on timely and accurate dat the btu and parents supported proposal was rejected city
045college students also put together a petition and a planned proposal that involved a temporary shift of virtual learning after winter break because it would be quote pivotal in preventing family gathering and travel related transmission to our students staff and teachers end quote 1,564 people signed their petition so far this suggestion was rejected I also spoke with students School staff families and community members and collected my own data the plan proposal that we came up with was results to return results to return would have allowed there to be a temporary a temperature check on the state of school buildings to find out how many School staff and students would test negative or positive for covid before going back into school building so decisions could be made based on timely timely and accurate data this suggestion was
046also rejected even though about 84% of the 977 people agreed or strongly agreed with it these people were staff students parents and community members pcab also made similar suggestions in their December 31st letter sent to Baltimore City School's leadership some of these suggestions were negative covid results to return for staff and students no more than a 24-hour lag between cases reported and covid dashboard being updated a detailed account of how test positivity and quarantine information was communicated to staff and families as well as covid-19 testing protocols for upcoming breaks like spring break when considering the impact of temporary shift to Virtual learning we must also acknowledge the negative impact of exposing students to a deadly virus could have on our students School staff and family after consistently staying in our bubble my fully vaccin boosted
047husband and I both of us Baltimore City Teachers as well as our infant son who cannot be vaccinated were infected by covid the week before winter break we will never get our son's first Christmas back and we will never forget the nights we slept on the floor by his crib as he weeed through the night through congestion and sickness our mild case left us unable to function for many days and took us until a couple of days ago to fully recover excuse me so about three weeks ago three weeks excuse me we know that Baltimore city has higher rates of asthma than the state average especially among our youth the health and wellness of our students School staff and families deserve to be respected and protected last week we had one day of learning because
048the focus was only only on in-person learning however if any of the previously suggested plans were used students would have been on their seventh day of learning today instead of just their third there are so many questions that still need to be answered that school staff keep asking will covid leave be extended to be used so School staff aren't exhausting their sick days what are the accommodations for imuno compromised students and staff members why is there inconsistency on whether staff members should be getting tested or not so many questions still need to be answered yes this is a very complex issue with so many moving Parts but students School staff and families need to be a part of the decision-making process because we have the most on the line finally I would like to close
049with a quick few remarks about the vote to close for Baltimore city schools first I am happy to hear that the votes that the vote has been postponed for next meeting so the board will be able to meet with directly impacted people from those schools a few additional points I would like to make um is that there is no research that proves that permanent school closings are good for students also what the state says is healthy sustainable School enrollment number for Budget and resource reasons is not more important than what families believe make a healthy and sustainable school like lower class sizes smaller schools promoting a sense of belonging and individualized access as was stated by multiple elected officials and school schools are Community anchors especially in the Black Butterfly and it just seems backwards
050that in the pandemic where the importance of mental health and wellness has been stated so much that we would force School staff families and students to be involved in another trauma-inducing situation of closing of their school please listen and act on the demands of the save our school coalitions and all of the demands of students School staff and families thank you very much for your time thank you Miss Providence next next we have Larry Simmons representing the parent Community Advisory Board good evening uh so Baltimore's Board of school Commissioners can you hear me give me one second there's is someone projecting a presentation want to be able to see our speaker give me one second Larry I'm sorry I'm trying to get this yeah commissioner Richardson I think it's me but I don't know how
051to get it off actually I don't know what's going on I can't see anybody is it the Whiteboard yeah it's the I didn't yeah I'm trying to I'm in the background trying to get rid of it I don't know how to get I thought it me but okay I don't know D can I'm sorry commissioner can you maybe disconnect and come back on right right and maybe that'll it doesn't say dell Brooks it says Sabrina Sutton Sabrina Saina SU yeah I'm calling Sabrina right now commissioner Roberts robertt sorry Robert don't you just go out and come back it'll take a second because it may not be commissioner Brooks I we think it's a um City School staff member okay Larry if you wanna there we go thank you you ready y good so uh Baltimore's
052Board of uh School commissioners City School leadership and elected officials have informed us that their priority is maximizing access for students to in-person learning we at the parenting Community Advisory Board agree that many students suffer learning loss and mental health detriments during extended periods of virtual instruction however this is not March of 2020 we now have access to vaccines and lay mitigation strategies that make our schools and our cities safer but another key difference between now and March of 2020 is the the current surge is both leading to Peak Hospital hospitalization rates including pediatric hospitalizations far beyond what we saw two years ago and it is also widely expected to Peak and to subside in a matter of weeks those of us of us who ask for students and staff to go remote for one
053or two weeks to not ask for an indefinite closure but a temporary pause for inperson in light of a surge that is unlike unlike anything we've seen unfortunately the district's actions to maximize access to in-person learning also take agency away from family members to protect their children from home in the words of one High School parent who who voiced their concerns to pcap I quote you are in your offices while you expose thousands of teachers and students in their families to a dangerous virus many students are around elderly people and those with compromised immune systems and you seem not to care you offer no options just in person end quote the lack of options are particularly Troublesome in its Equity implications for families those privileged few with work flexibility and emergency child care resources are
054already enjoying options many of our families have no access to rather than taking a one or two week pause to focus on planning an equitable and safe in-person return for all students we're hearing instead of well resource schools in Baltimore's more affluent neighborhoods unsurprisingly being able to quickly navigate to ensure better outcomes for their students for example by being extended a virtual option at their school at their school level even though the district does not offer so families in those schools could opt to keep their children safe at home we have also been informed of students at come here at one well-resourced Elementary School being offered individual PCR testing instead of pool testing which have done districtwide would have would have spared countless covid negative students from missing even more school after a wave of
055positive pool tests through one-third of Baltimore schools back to Virtual after one day of in-person instruction and sent many more students home to await individual PCR results even if their school itself remained open how many of our students who would most benefit from in-person instruction are at home under these circumstances While most privileged continue to have greater access to test and virtual learning thanks to this Mad Dash to open school during an unprecedented surge on December 31st pcab sent Baltimore City Public Schools leadership the following recommendations as we prepared for school reopening after winter break while the district has made commitments to families that include additional ways for families to to submit covid-19 consent forms pcab is requesting engagement in discussion around the remaining recommendations one while the mayor's office has made efforts to ensure
056students are provided with kn94 kn95 or n95 masks parents demand a level of transparency on how those masks will be distributed to schools and when we ask that the district provide account of how many high infiltration infiltration masks were obtained for the entire District post winter break and inventory details on which schools receive what number of mask and future distribution distribution plans while recommendation was to return to school on Monday January 10th giving ample time to receive covid test results students and staff returned to school for one day to then be told late on January 9th that over 60 schools would would need to go virtual given the quarantine numbers we're now seen in our district we request the district to quarantine we we request the district to determine which testing types are most effective
057at identifying contagious individuals including students teachers staff and others and and report back to this board there are questions around the reporting accuracy of the covid-19 case tracker dashboard pcap asked that the leadership guarantees no more than a 24-hour lag between a case reported and when it is updated to the dashboard we ask for detailed written account of how test positivity and quarantine information are communicated to staff and families including internal auditing procedures to ensure these critical Communications are timely to prevent further spread and encourage early treatment we will work to share this information with with families as for as we prepared to for the break ahead we asked for a strategy on Equitable covid-19 testing protocols that include a testing strategy for the following calendar academic break periods that exceed four business days spring
058break summer break Thanksgiving and winter break we again ask that the district not only test faculty staff and students but require all faculty staff and students to provide a negative result before entering for in-person learning we ask that we have this presented strategy by Friday February 4th City Schools family aren't asking for miracles they're asking for respect effective communication options that allow all students to receive an education during all facets of this pandemic in Co protocols that include a testing strategy that evolves as variant evolved our families deserve to feel like Partners in their students education they deserve respect thank you thank you Larry um an apologies again for the the technical glitch there earlier um next we have Carl Perry representing the public school administrators and supervisors Association good evening and happy New Year
059Madam chair Vice chair mcfaden fellow Commissioners and Dr sanelas not here tonight to talk about Co and the many challenges is brought to us from testing to contact tracing late notification of positive cases virtual versus inperson attendance and achievement drops guilt stress or fear you know medical workers have the expectation that they become ill due to their profession but now educators are expected to anticipate the same further discussion will to take place with District leadership soon I'm here tonight to discuss the delayed opening an emergency closure schools policies updates we have two points to emphasize when making these closure decisions please do so in a timely manner last week many employees arrived when the decision to work remotely for central office was finally announced they were already there they trudged through the snow this in
060the ice please comp consider employees safety along with student safety as we travel the same slick roads in addition we all work remotely for more than a year so principles though very essential need to be removed from the ontime list and permitted to work remotely and use their leave the notion used to be that principles had to arrive in case children didn't receive notification or reported to school for food with social media and more timely notification this won't be the case as it has not been for many many years please respect School leaders as we should not be expected to report to ensure walkways have been cleared and parking lots there are facilities teams out here that need to move about the district and and ensure this is happening they are the ones clearing the
061Lots anyway to sit in your building and look outside of a window and make sure that the walkway is clear that's a disrespectful thing for administrators that needs to change thank you for your time and please be safe thank you so much Mr Perry as always thank you finally we have Zen Gordon representing the associated student Congress for Baltimore city oh hello everyone can everyone hear me just hope that I'm not glitching out yes I can hear you oh thank you in case I glitch out please let me know I have my phone beside me so I can switch okay so I'll just start on good evening everyone my name is Zen I'm president of the associated student Congress of Baltimore city and we'll be sharing our various ideas today first of all thank you
062all so much for really having this board meeting today it really means a lot to us because the fact that you're all here trying to help us make our lives better it really means a lot and to go on uh we're just here to voice our concerns and we want to help we really want to help as much as we can a lot of a lot of schools are really going online because of the surge of the Omicron variant but this has not been districtwide the district's position is that in-person learning is favored since the schools have consistent rapid tests available for students schools not only have better like not they not only provide better education face Toof face but they are our second home but today we want to draw attention to the idea
063of mandatory testing thank you all for trying to respect our freedom and choices but for this point in time we need to be all together on this if one of us isn't tested and that person has covid well then many more will suffer to protect the mental health and to really make sure that the students are you know in person don't have covid uh that'll help prevent fear when we interact the policies we have now were helpful before this new year but now with the Omicron variant things have changed covid isn't just a sickness that you all suffer from temporarily the CDC stated that children have will have a risk of conditions like type one and type to diabetes as well as the misc which is a rare disease that causes inflammation in the heart
064lungs K kidneys brain skin eyes or gastrointestinal organs and we want to avoid such complications if possible though there is a contract Trace uh contract tracing in the district we feel that we can do more to improve it uh we would like to know when those were in contact with have covid many of our friends caught covid and we didn't know about that until told us themselves we are in this together as a team and if we're not synchronized well our whole defense will crumble if we learned this valuable lesson none from none other than the Baltimore city schools if we can't pursue mandatory testing then we should have also have the option of virtual learning if we pursue giving people the choice to test for covid or not then others should have the choice
065to not come into person to suffer the consequences that they didn't choose and at this point I like to go over and read a letter by my dear friend Ethan so good afternoon members of the board my name is Ethan and I'm The Treasure of the associated student Congress of Baltimore and most importantly I'm a sophomore of the Baltimore poly Technic Institute in recent days the Omicron strain has devastated our school system last afternoon my school sent out an email to a parents informing us that 61 students have been infected in last week making something nearing 8% of the student body actively infected with Co 19 I wouldn't comment on the merits of returning to Virtual learning because of the CEO of the city schools and other important individuals have made it clear that this
066is not on the table but independent of that specific policy there are a number of steps that this board can take to protect the student body and School staff and delay the the spread of the Omicron variant as the Baltimore teachers union has recommended a tangible First Step would be the remodulation of consent forms for weekly testing from an optin process to opt out process a decision numerous other school districts have taken like Washington DC while the rise of the cases have incentivized a number of students to submit these consent forms and seek testing for the first time the inconvenience presented by processing the paperwork remains a logistical barrier that might dissen divize students from seeking the weekly testing furthermore utilizing the district resources to provide High filtration mass for students would likewise be a
067positive step as our health authorities have caution and mass are not sufficient in stopping Community trans transmission with the help of the public and our health commissioner the Baltimore teachers union have already procured tens of thousands of locally produced Mass helping protect students in need and benefit the local economy the district could follow this model to help close the resource gap for Baltimore's large population of students below the poverty line who cannot afford High filtration masks at this time Omicron continues to advance across the student body and the City RIT large in the valant efforts of our Public Health officials not withstanding as both a student government official but more importantly a well-meaning sophomore who walks into the classroom every day I must express my cute irritation each and every one of the three measures
068I have apped before y all should in fact frankly have been measures taken days ago and despite the student body faculty and staff now returning to the classrooms in person this week the pandemic stops for no one and will not be merciful on inaction delay and effective response I ask that this board conduct a thorough and all- encamping review of potential upgrades to existing covid-19 guidelines for the safety of our students staff and parents thank you and we just want to say we love you all and thank you all so much for your time today if there's anything we can help you with please let us know thank you so much Mr Gordon thank you I will now turn it over to our board executive for public comment thank you madam chair our first comment
069is from Tor Grace uh which I'll Now read good evening B Baltimore City Board of school Commissioners my name is Tori Grace and I the secretary of the youth as resources board of directors y has been organizing our peers and adult allies around school police issues since 2014 recently we have been working to get information around Gog guardian and mental health alerts we are concerned about the district's strategy of having police officers responding to Mental Health crisis after school hours we originally submitted public comment on October 26th we are recommending the reallocation of resources for an approach that does not involve law enforcement and identifying resources that are more suited in traumatic situations we are renewing our request for information and data around the following how do you track data for intervention both school police
070and counselors how many interventions have school police made last year and this school year to date what were the outcomes what training do school police get to qualify them to respond to youth in a potential Mental Health crisis what triggers and intervention words phrases if the city is setting up a system to send mental health Pro professionals to intervene mental health crises through limiting the role of the police why is the school system not considered the same kind of strategy this request for information was generated and presented at meeting at the meeting with the district in November that meeting included y organizers task force other y youth board members 35 additional youth representing seven other organizations other youth organizations there were another 10 to 15 adults represent representing another six advocacy organizations and agencies we
071followed up with the request before and during a smaller meeting in December and with two subsequent emails this month we look forward to receiving this information and data requested as soon as you can once we review the information the district has agreed to a follow-up meeting we are requesting that the meeting include School Board Commissioners thank you for your time you can contact me and she has her contact information uh next we have an email from autumn pth I am extremely disappointed in the level of communication we received an email at 11:00 p.m. that our son will be virtual the following day for privileged families this is a minor inconvenience I can work from home or easily take off without repercussions for single parent households or families who cannot call out from work this could
072be economically devastating We are failing families and failing the education and mental health of our students students are safe in school and their mental health is better supported with healthy social interaction s in September 2021 the National Institute of Mental Health released an article by NIMH director Dr Joshua Gordon and Dr Rachel LaVine assistant secretary for Health Department of Health and Human Services regarding the impact on mental health for American children stating children from minoritized and underserved communities hit hard as hit by the pandemic are likely feeling the greatest impacts for some youth these impacts will be significant the cumulative effects of the stress experiences especially combined with others adverse childhood experiences can pose serious risk to Children's Mental Health emerging data from the pandemic suggests that many children are experiencing an increase in stress
073and other mental health concerns including symptoms of anxiety and depression two years ago my husband and I planned to raise our kids through High School in the city we advocated for City schools and even served organizations supporting City families sadly after the experience with City schools and the bird and the polic have placed on our family we made the difficult decision to leave the place we have called home for 14 years we have spoken for f we spoken to families who are making the same decision or moving their children to private school where they can ensure a productive educational environment Baltimore city has taken every reasonable caution with pool testing diligent use of PP and quarantine protocols Baltimore city schools is accounted for risk and mitigated to the best of its ability but are failing
074to mitigate the risk to the mental health of our students the last thing effects of that failure will be felt long after the pandemic is deemed over I'm asking you to do what is in the best interest of students a population largely unimpacted by the severity of covid and ensure an option is available for students who Thrive through in-person learning and better Universal communication to families that was Autumn pth uh next is Lindsay Jones good evening as an immunosuppressed parent with multiple cority Cor excuse me comorbidities I'm very worried about my children Contracting Co at school and bringing it home to me it is evident that Community spread is like wildfire and we have to assume that the same is true in our schools every school should be tested virtual this week and students should
075not return to school buildings until the district can ensure that everyone students and staff have a rapid antigen test that morning testing needs to move to an opt out model instead of optin it is imperative that everyone get tested frequently not just unvaccinated people I want to hear from the district is we are committed to the safety of our staff and students and because of this we're requiring everyone to take a rapid test upon entry of the building you need to swab your throat in both nostrils this will ensure the highest likelihood of the test catching a true positive for the Omicron variant weekly PCR testing will also be required for those who haven't had covid in the last 90 days n95 kn95 or kf94 mask need to be wore at all times inside the
076buildings if you don't have one we will provide you one we are committed to having students in school for instruction as much as possible and the only way we can make this safe are by requiring High filtration mask and more frequent rapid testing uh thank you lindsy Jones MSD medical physics okay next another email from Tom and Brienne Brinkley to whom it may concern we are writing this email to express our major concerns regarding a number of issues related relating related to how the city schools have handled Co response for our children my husband and I have two daughters now in first and second grade and haven't ever had a consistent year yet not only am I concerned for my children but all all children attending City Schools especially those less fortunate that especially those
077less fortunate that don't have the means that other families do to provide and supplement the missing academic and social emotional support needed from missing so much school which is still not enough below highlight our concerns many children are struggling to make academic many below grade level and social emotional progress since being out of school since March 2020 due to no consistency and structure at school City Schools failing to effectively communicate in a timely manner pool testing results that thus putting parents at a disadvantage to fine child care families following all district covid guidelines just to get another set of unrealistic guidelines impacting the children not being able to go to school for inperson instruction unclear timelines for quarantining across the district many families have pulled their children out of public school so they can send
078them to private schools solely because they are conducting inperson instruction While others do not have the means to do this covid District policies being implemented in the city schools do not match what is being recommended by the CDC example five-day quarantine versus previous 10day further restricting students being able to learn be in person and learning students who were strongly encouraged to get fully vaccinated do so for the district to turn around after winter break to then say they need to quarantine if in a positive pool instead of returning to inperson instruction awaiting individual PCR test again missing inperson instruction students in underserved communities don't have a voice and have been put have been out of school for more than two years which I'm sure increases crime and further puts those individuals at a disadvantage ultimately
079we want these children to be in school enough is enough stop contact tracing Andor pool testing let the children wear mask and return to consistent structur inperson learning sincerely Tom and Brienne Brinkley uh next we have a live comment from Jordan steel Jordan are you available yes can you hear me yes we can hear you you have three minutes thank you uh good evening uh I'm the parent of a vaccinated kindergartner in city schools and I'm speaking out to express my encouragement that the school system do everything it can and to remain open and in person for the spring semester uh conversely I want to express my distinct dis pleasure at the decision to move to Virtual instruction this week and I also respectfully disagree with the position of the Baltimore teachers union and peab
080that a quote temporary pause to in-person learning is warranted or wise virtual instruction has been widely discredited and its negative effects have fallen disproportionately on atrisk youth which make up a subst anal percentage of city school students at the same time there is encouraging Public Health Data if we as parents teachers and City School staff choose to quote follow the science as we have purported to wish to do since the pandemic began so I ask that we set aside anecdotes of worst case scenarios however distressing those may be on an individual level and consider the following facts and I say this as someone whose unvaccinated three-year-old had covid definitely once and likely another time before before testing became uh widely available so here's some facts vaccines have been widely available to the overwhelming majority of
081city school students since November and are established to protect us against severe illness the Omron variant is milder than previous variants and hospitalizations of vaccinated individuals have not increased since Omron began became the dominant variant again hospitalizations of vaccinated individuals have not increased since Omicron became the dominant variant all variants have been proven to show much milder symptoms in children than adults whether kids are vaccinated or not again my kid is vaccinated perhaps most important as the CDC documented in a report last month there is little evidence that schools are major incubators of covid or are major sources of community spread so to challenge a familiar refrain sending our kids to school will not quote overwhelm the hospitals our priorities as a society have seriously gotten out of whack we've essentially decided that it's acceptable
082to harm children with the disruptive and damaging impact of virtual instruction and school closures in order to protect adults who choose not to be vaccinated I urge City Schools to adopt a rational risk tolerance model that weighs the enormous benefits of in-person instruction versus the negligible health and safety risks that Omron presents I don't need our school to protect our son from Co I need it to educate and socialize him in a nurturing stimulating and stable environment in person thank you thank you Mr steel all right moving back our next public comment is from Jacqueline Stone which is also an email oh wait was okay uh hello I'm jacqu Ln Stone uh my three children attend Thomas Johnson elementarymiddle School the impact of my children being in and out of school mostly out for the
083past 20 months has been nothing short of devastating virtual learning for three three kids required that I stopped working almost entirely in 2021 my two older children lost vital social skills that helped them with impulse control and led to anger and dangerous Outburst my youngest Express daily sadness and not being able to see her teachers appears thousands of dollars of therapy did almost nothing but summer camp in 2021 and a return to school in September September brought my kids back to life since October my kids have been in and out of long quarantine periods due to constant asy asymptomatic testing that showed positive cases of covid among asymptomatic or mildly ill children my children have all been assessed at a at above grade level aren't at all stimulated or learning much on any virtual platform
084one of my kids can't handle his seeing his friends and teachers on Zoom it's both disruptive and upsetting my oldest child who became afraid of people was terrified to return to school in September and is now showing signs of struggling in person after basically being without school since mid December due to random days off and long quarantines when my children were positive with covid finally in December it was anticlimactic to take the leas they had a mild headache for a day this is the experience most have with this virus that doesn't hurt the vast majority of children it's clear that BCPS can't control covid spread and why should it be able to the virus is emic all over the world the idea that constantly testing will somehow contain this is comical protocols that keep children
085out of school are senseless protocols to keep Kids Safe do not include avoiding an endemic virus the responsibility of BCPS is to provide a learning environment where children can Thrive schools provide food and shelter for the children affected by poverty and isolation which unfortunately is many in the city if children could vote they would be your constituents as your constituents it is your responsibility to Res represent them to the best of your ability virtual learning is a failure it does not meet the social cognitive or psychological needs of your constituents do not fail the small people that can't vote by keeping them out of school if you really want to keep them safe number one keep School schs open number two stop the asymptomatic testing and instead test the sick best Jacqueline Williams I mean
086sorry Jacqueline Stone next we have an email from Matthew slester sler excuse me our children need to be in school the co policies this school district is employing to help keep our children out of school are harmful to the students and families specifically Ally your quarantine rules seem arbitrary do not appear in line with State guidelines and have caused considerable confusion to many parents who want nothing other than to know their children have access to a good education we deserve better policies one that promotes schools staying open and getting children back to school more quickly our current testing pool protocols have the ability to keep classrooms closed and healthy students home in perpetuity this is wrong the harm caused by keeping our children away from the person learning experience and isolating isolated from their friends
087is Real the true impact of this may not be measurable for Years it'll be far greater than impact than the actual virus we cannot stop or we cannot stop the spread or eliminate covid we cannot quarantine it out of existence all we can do is learn to live with the virus and a key element of this comes at the school level we need better policies around how to educate through the pandemic not hope to sidestep it we've tried that for far too long with no results I welcome any discussion that comes from this email and would gladly share more detailed thoughts if asked sincerely Matthew sler next we have an email from Ellen Krauss uh she's parent of a second grader at Thomas Johnson hello wait I'm sorry I believe I read this one sorry
088excuse me NBC News Washington okay never mind uh as a supporter and advocate of a supporter of bcpss and advocate for public schools I admit that I am disappointed and sorry this is from Ellen Krauss again I'm disappointed with the communication or lack thereof from the administration during this tenous time parents across the city as observed through throughout various social media channels have wondered why there were there were there was no plan in place to react to the upswing and positive Co cases post winter break that are currently showing up throughout our schools at least this is the perception we all knew what was coming the more and more individuals would be and are testing positive and more and more pools would test positive the current perception is that none of this was discussed among
089any of the leaders of the community and or decision makers we received our first email from our principal at 10 p.m. Sunday night with a plan for how to proceed this week I do not fault our local school leadership they have been extremely communicative with every directive they receive immediately after they heard from the school administration at the central office please share any specifics of our plans going forward when there is a high prevailance of the virus shown by the community and at individual schools what is the contingency plan or the threshold for going virtual or going back to school in person will there be a plan to shorten the quarantine for asymptomatic students is there a plan to mandate vaccines we are all trying to be extremely empathetic in understanding that after two years
090of this we are to at a minimum have contingency plans in place at times like this many of us cannot quickly change our schedules or seek out Child Care at a moment's notice never mind the mental health the mental health implications these ad hoc decisions have on our children thank you for your transpar parency and guidance Ellen and our final public comment from the night is from capucine Wilson also of Thomas Johnson Elementary School good afternoon I am reaching out to express to all how important it is for my children to attend in-person schooling I'm at a loss of words sleep and mind at this juncture that two years into this pandemic we are faced with this Pand dilemma my children struggled immensely during the first year during the first year March 2020 through summer
091of 2021 doing virtual learning I have a six-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter and their social and emotional development staying at home throughout that time was damaging to say the least to think that we are even discussing going virtual after the mass population has done their part vaccinated adults and many children have as well as a disappointment my children do not effectively learn the Necessary Things virtually not that it matters because every children will in as they year one at this structure at this juncture parents need reassurance that they will have a strong enough school system to persevere through these difficult times Dr sisa's efforts are commendable and I pray that she continues her guidance and determination to keep these schools open we have to be able to continue teaching our children in person through
092this variant as science has proven thus far that this variant is more mild than the previous Delta and that should be handled in a more flexible manner the CDC has reduced their quarantine times from 10 to 5 with supporting evidence CDC also promotes keeping children in school with precautions such as masking and thorough cleaning and social distancing finally I have anxiety as I can imagine many other parents have trying to keep up with the communication lack of inconsistent protocol and guidance along with the change of protocol Guidance with no reasoning or rationale many of us had to stop working all together to keep up with those loose keep up with with the loose leadership from the ground up in an effort to get our children safely safely safely through an education our Baltimore City families
093have the right to expect that our children get a decent well-rounded education if families want to keep their children home and Virtual School them they should have that choice but if other parents want to send their children to school and have them in person learn we should also have that choice at this point the inconsistent loose inflexible and derailed approach to testing and school guidelines alog together have made it impossible to give our children stability below are a few questions I would like address number one why are we not following CDC guidelines to quarantine five days rather than 10 in Baltimore City number two why are we not following CDC guidelines to continue inperson learning when it is strongly recommended by the CDC number three how is the testing method we currently use pool testing
094if positive everyone quarantines for 10 days until all individuals PCR negative test or they find the positive effective in keeping our children in school please also provide data on false positive situations in pool testing I implore you to recognize the opportunity we have as a mass to make the situation better and save off the temptation of Simply going virtual this is bigger than just the moment may our leaders involved please do the right thing and keep these schools open God bless all you do and thank you for your efforts kindness and love cap Wilson uh Madam chair uh that is it for public comment back to you thank you very much Mr Grant Gant I'm sorry Mr Gant um I want to go back to our um consent agenda and um I wanted to ask
095our student commissioner um do you have any questions or any comments um I do not have any questions but I do agree that we should do opt in because it allows more people to get tested and I do agree with Zen that I do believe all students should get vaccinated and that currently the medical and religious exemptions is not ethical and does not keep people safe in the way it should thank you thank you for sharing your thoughts on that I appreciate it um and to my other fellow Commissioners based on public comments are there any additional items that board members would like to pull from the consent agenda chair Richardson yes I would like to pull item 8.03 policy ebcd delay openings and emergency closings of school second reader for a vote okay we're
096pulling for a vote okay um so any anyone else before do we have any hands up okay um is there a motion then to approve items 8.01 and 8.02 so move Madam chair wait a minute I'm doing this wrong we're we're voting for those yes okay all right so moved by commissioner mcfat is there a second second Robert thank you commissioner Roberts all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks commissioner chenya yes commissioner Griffin yes commissioner Horwitz yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes okay and I am in favor I want to Circle back and see if commissioner Brooks um is still with us yes okay um are you in favor or should I keep going with oppose or abstain uh I'm in favor okay you're in favor all
097right so that motion passes um all in favor is there a motion um for item item 8.03 motion to approve item 8.03 so move bnda thank you commissioner bnda is there a second second chinya thank you commissioner Chena all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin no okay commissioner um Horwitz abstain abstain Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden no and Madam chair I'd like to explain I think that um I think that we can give more time to consider what we've heard from um pazar Union um in regards to how um administrative staff is used um as as we consider delayed openings I mentioned this in Prior meeting so just want to make sure that the record reflects that not for me okay thank you very much commissioner Reid yes
098he said yes okay commissioner Roberts no okay I am in favor we have six in favor three opposed and one exstension the motion passes is there a motion to approve the procurement items 13.01 15.01 through 15.04 16.01 and 18.01 M M yes sorry this is uh sorry this is CHR upstairs also 8.27 oh I forgot about that one can I come back oh I'll add that to the list that I just listed right okay so let's add 1827 remember that is the capital raise um conversation we had earlier yeah just 8.27 just for the record 8.27 8.27 yeah thank you is there a motion so move thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second re thank you commissioner Reed that's who I heard all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks Iain okay commissioner
099Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am also in favor that is eight in favor with one exstension the motion passes we will now transition to the annual review items and I will turn it over to the office of new initiatives all right um good evening um Board of school Commissioners uh so tonight we're going to uh present uh our on the annual review recommendations for a vote the next L all you no way on this no way no way it's all show someone need to mute um who's not muted Miss Alvarez I think that thank you that was councilman Stokes okay thank you thank you Miss Alvarez thank you uh so this work is aligned to board priority number five that City
100Schools will provide equal access to District Services resources and Facilities to ensure the the success of student staff and the surrounding community it's also aligned to our goal and vision that every student receive a high quality educational experience that supports their learning and personal growth where they can Thrive and graduate from our high schools with everything they need to be successful in um College the careers and wherever their dreams may take them in this review um we are looking at a lot of different information um to help make um the best recommendations to the board to solve real challenges that we've been under um as a district um uh many of the recommendations um have a lot of different factors that um go into them and so we're trying to make sure that we understand
101um what's happening academically within our schools both from a performance um outcome understanding but also what we're able to offer offer academically to students um we're looking at the climate indicators like uh suspensions attendance um School survey results but also again our ability to provide um strong climate supports within schools um to create those healthy um culture and and restorative environments that we want um within our schools we're looking at um access quality and distribution of our programming um and assessing whether um student populations um are being equitably serve um both from a geographic standpoint but also from um different student group um perspective um we're looking at school enrollment and school size that impacts that directly we fund schools and state funds us on schools on a per people basis so the size of
102schools directly impacts the the ability to provide programming to students and so when students are undersized not small but undersized it really does um impact the experience of our students and and what kind of education we're providing to them um we look at building utilization and the condition of our facilities um as many people know we have the we have the oldest infrastructure in the state um we are um happy to be having the 21st century buildings plan and implementing that and being very strategic in how we use additional resources that come our way um so that it impacts the most students that's possible uh and that we um meet the needs of our student populations um uh but that those facility conditions are a real challenge um for us as a district uh and
103continue to be u a challenge um we're in the process of implementing um actions necessary for the 21st century school buildings plan um and tonight um this is we're going to be um considering our schools that are up for Renewal there are 14 of them that we'll be um reviewing tonight so we've been implementing a 21st century buildings plan um we you know started off with a really bold idea back in 20101 um when the uh initial framework for that plan was first released through the Jacob study and then the report itself and school year um 1213 um and um uh we prioritize communities that were underserved where we knew we would have to um close and merge School communities to be the first schools um to receive funding of the 21st century plan as
104well as um School communities where we had severe overcrowding um and that allowed us to um do 28 buildings 32 School communities um touched by the original set of funding um in school year 2021 we've opened eight new schools with three um new on set to open um that uh one that opened in January another set to open another two set to open this summer and so these are um uh the the list of those eight schools or uh that have uh or eight buildings that open um and so you see the list of the schools that um opened in um 2021 um so and you can see they're throughout um the district uh and then these are the schools the Rainy schools that be um open in um School year 2022 so you see
105Northwood um uh Highland town and montabello this means that 25 school buildings um um when rabello um finishes will have been um completed and open in the 21st century U buildings plan uh the other thing that we thought was important to give an update on is um you know we've been um looking at how we support our schools when we're dealing with severe um challenges around enrollment and bringing School communities and what's happened we've heard a lot of questions about that during this process so we thought it might be important to sort of give an update what's what you know and what has happened with school communities have gone through that transition process um since we've been using this more robust process uh and working with community over a sustained period of time so last
106year we combined Maryanne winterling with uh Locker the lockerman Bundy Community to form a new school Community um their enrollment the result of that is their enrollment increased by 51% uh and uh it's made a big difference in what the school's been able to offer students um now students can have art music drama and physical Ed education um more frequently um they've also Al been able to maintain that partnership with or kids um which gives students um uh access to uh uh orchestra music um uh lessons um they've increased their staff uh adding um more teachers as well as a librarian and now have a full admin team meaning not only do they have a principal but they have an assistant principal an educational associate and intervention um specialist um the School leader shared um
107principal Hill Miller shared that um you know for the first time there are other people to help with the decision making within the school to lead committees to do the work that's needed um and the impact that collaborative planning now teachers have other teachers in the building teaching the same content uh which is improving practice within the schools if they have colleagues to work with and students are able to work with students in other classes so it's really changed um the way the school Works they're now able to offer um uh collaborative planning every week for that 90 minute period instead of the the only um every two weeks that they did before and again it was not very collaborative right um because there weren't other people teaching the same content for the teachers to
108meet with um uh they've been able to offer um several different kinds of tutoring Pro programming spring board which started in the summer fbv tutors which is happened now for um students in grades 3 through five Amplified tutoring for grades K through 4 um they were able to get um with this support of her partner um uh the services of acaben to do um deep professional development with the staff around restored practice um and we've been able to make um fa facilities improvements to further improve what the experience of students uh and some of those include the creation of additional classrooms office spaces and small group spaces um the school also receiv received a grant for outdoor classroom and learning spaces um upgraded lighting throughout the entire building um all the chalkboards were replaced with
109whiteboards um all the group bathrooms were renovated um we were able to create a general uh gender neutral bathroom um and there's more renovation set to happen so when schools go through these transitions we continue to keep them on list for um other um ways that we can support or deepen the work that we're doing through Partners or through other um funding opportunities that come forward uh at parites Academy um where um they combined with uh the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Elementary Middle School um the elementary students became part of the Park Heights um Community uh and so their uh enrollment increased by 20 26% Middle grades combined with pimo so we'll look at that in a second but I'm going to stay here for a second um and what that um what's happened
110since Dennis pork heits is now an intensive literary site literacy site so that comes with the support of a literacy coach again deeper practice and improved practice school um they're again similar to Maran winterling able to offer art music dance and PE um more frequently um with each grade level having at least three resources um and so we're talking like you know throughout the week every day having a different um uh elective they were also able to hire more teachers and have that more of that collaborative fragr um uh planning and they were able to afford and get approved through the application process to become an opportunity culture School uh and so that's supporting the math instruction um this is a national model where um teacher coaches who have demonstrated high growth student learning coach
111other teachers that they work within a building and it leads to improved practice and improved outcomes uh and so they're now with those increased resources able to to um leverage that support and be an opportunity culture school um they've also received um quite a bit of facilities improvements you see pictures here um their new um Kaboom playground as well as a mural um that was painted um they got new HVAC um they got painting within the building new lighting floor Tower replacement um the heart of America Ravens in the Baltimore tree trust also created an outdoor um classroom area a Zen Garden in the peace medit room uh and in um uh this um Coming um in 2022 they'll have a a Weinberg Library transformation um as I shared when uh with that um closure
112of MLK the middle grade students um got reson to um pimo um and so pimo increased by 19% so split between those two schools um and this means middle school students pemo had one of our smallest middle schools uh Middle grades um you know it was it was one of those ones that you know was about a 100 middle-grade students so they were not able to afford to offer a real Middle grades experience at pimo um students not only get the the regular electives that I've been sharing about like Visual Arts drama PE and music but they also are able to participate in specialized programming that's afforded within the school um that's a middle grad health science program that's a pre-ct program supported by LifeBridge cite hospital where students take Advanced science courses related to
113Medical um Health Fields it's one of the few um pre-ct programs for middle-grade students that exist in the state currently I know Kerwin will have us um looking to do more of these kind of programs um throughout but there's very few of them uh and pimo is one of them and so now eligible students can participate uh within that um it also has a Communications program where students um are able to use that multimedia lab U and the video equipment to learn video um production um they also have a food for Life program where students learn to prepare healthy foods in the spring they're going to also learn how to grow um the healthy foods that they're um cooking and preparing um it also offers a full compliment of sports flag football volleyball basketball track
114baseball and extracurriculars like the gardening club Girls on the Run leaders go places the lgbtq club sgn debate and restorative practices for youth ambassadors and then finally Sandown Winchester Academy which um formed when we when we closed Gilmore Elementary and combined it with um Pender Hughes um uh to for um the sown Winchester achievement Academy Earth sway um their enrollment increased by 30 37% um after that merger they became a community school and intensive liter site literacy site which again comes with that coach that helps improve practice within the school they were also able to hire an assistant principal an ed associate and a math coach to make sure that again we're improving practice within math um they're now able to offer art gem Tech and music more than once a week the school leader
115shared that some students are getting those things twice um twice in a day um and so um those are some important improvements and then there was a lot of facilities improvements within the school all the classrooms and hallways were repainted and flooring was replaced by our facilities team we also had a partnership with part of America and Under Armour that resulted in the renovation and redesign of many spaces within the school the gym the auditorium the cafeteria the library the Teachers Lounge the front office um out door space so they we did um the Trees and Landscaping uh and then they in in December 20 2020 we were able to Pro um build a kaboom playground there and you see pictured um um part of the new library space um I share this because I
116think it's just important as um we think about some of these recommendations that are really hard what it could mean for school communities what comes out of the pain of some of these recommendations and um what we're really trying to do and what we're trying to uplift um so this is our timeline and so um uh we are here at the night where the board will vote so uh began this process on November 9th we heard tonight where the board will vote on many recommendations there are four recommendations that we're going to dis um postpone to the 25th uh board meeting the meeting on January 25th and we um share those as we get to them all right and so you see the summary um of the recommendations that we have um listed on the
117screen um uh one thing that um I um want to emphasize is um for members of the public and um board chair um richardon shared this at the beginning of the meeting um for this meeting there are certain things that we have shared with the board as part of the legal process and we have to remember the say so the board has a script so some of what we're going to say may sound a little bit mechanical is to ensure that we make sure that everything that was considered um in the process is stated on the record and we don't make mistakes by forgetting something or emissions um it allows the board to um vote however they're on the vote so they can accept they reject modify it does a lot of different things um
118but the purpose of the script is to make sure that we don't miss um sharing something that's important uh and so um with that um the coder Maryland regulations or Co or comar requires that local Boards of Education ensure at a minimum that consideration is given to the impact of a proposed closure on the following eight factors student enrollment Trends age or condition of school buildings trans Transportation educational programs racial composition of the student body Financial considerations student relocation impact on community in the geographic attendance area for the school proposed to be closed and school or schools to which students would be will be relocating for each of um tonight's closure and relocation REM uh recommendations including building surpluses of traditional Public Schools the board has received data regarding each of the eight comar factors
119the school's recommended forclosure and building Surplus our Dr Bernard Harris Senor Elementary School in 202020 2022 sorry excuse me Utah marshburn elementary school in 2022 steuart Hill academic Academy in 2022 and the new era Academy in 20123 for closure of the program but retention of the building one school's recommend reced for relocation which is clar Mount Middle High in 2022 one building is recommended for Surplus which is a George WF mcmein building in 2022 all right so the first thing that the board is going to consider is the relocation of claremount school to its space at the Patterson High School campus starting in summer 2022 uh and to retain that building for future use in 20145 the board approved the movement of the program to its specially designed space on a Patterson high school campus
120when all construction was complete um clar Mount was scheduled to move at a later date than the Patterson High School due to the impact of the ongoing demolition work um uh could have on the um existing student population at clar Mount um construction work and demolition at Paris High School Camp um campus um completes this year uh and So based on the consideration of Staff recommendations presented in the annual review of schools recommendation report testimony at the board special meeting and public hearing the content of the official record and the recognition that collocating separate public day schools with traditional schools ensures students across populations are benefiting from 21st century school buildings program um it is a recommendation of the CEO that the Claremont Middle High School program relocate to its new specially designed space in
121the renovated 21st century Patterson High School building effective summer 2022 and that City Schools retain the current cemat building effective 2022 I concur with the recommendation as stated do any Commissioners have questions for staff right um I'll now open the floor to Commissioners for discussion of the recommendation Commissioner James thank you madam chair uh this is a question that I I've asked a lot when we started talking about collocating and so Angela I really appreciate the in the reminder that its best practices and in the best interest of of students in separate day schools to be located and embedded in typically develop in schools that serve typically developing students uh my question is why have a separate name and a separate uniform why not just have the students of Claremont be the students of Patterson
122um rather than have a a separate and I you know I understand the the need for different Staffing to serve programs that serve students with special needs but why not just have one school to be truly integrated and involve everyone in the same Community uh yeah I thank you for that question so just so and it helps me to be more clear on the record so um the U Patterson building is designed as a campus where it has um uh two separate schools located on that campus so there's their um CL their um School spaces are separate they have separate interest es separate cafeteria SE separate gyms and that's important because students that are in a separate public Day School are designated as um their least restrictive environment is is as F and so they
123need more um they need those specialized spaces that's also important and something that we heard in the community feedback uh process important for families that their students be served um in the separate space that really attends to the needs that they have I appreciate that and I I understand the need for the SE the specialized servicing what I don't understand is the separate but equal of it um is the identity the culture of being able to belong to a school and go to basketball games and you know attend plays and be part of concerts and those types of things that they would have access to by being in the same campus and complex why not also give them the same pride and opportunity to be be a part of of the p p of the
124Patterson community and and I know that there's there's no there's going to be no movement on this I just wanted to publicly say again um for the record that I really believe that we should be looking at how we can do the most integration rather than than re rear but equaling folks thank you yeah yeah I mean there's there I hear what you're saying there's like there are like sort of State requirements based on the designation of students um but they you know there and and I don't know if Dr Brooks is on this meeting I am I'm here y so good evening everyone I'm uh Dr Brooks executive director of special education and um just to be uh uh clear again based upon the students individual needs as identified on their individualized education program
125they have been um identified as needing the need of having the least rest restrictive environment of lrf which is a separate public Day School however they will still have um access by being collocated on um the Patterson um campus to be able to um participate with their um non-disabled peers in extracurricular uh activities so although um it's the Patterson campus really The Claremont Patterson um campus where the two um are able to access those um extracurricular activities um as well as integrate um in some of the um secondary transition um activities as well um for all students so we want to make sure that we're meeting all federal and state laws and regulations based upon those students individualized needs and meeting them in their least restrictive environment but also providing them access to their non-disabled
126peers as well I I appreciate that I and I also again I understand we're not going to get traction on this for six years I've been asking for this there's not a single Patterson student that would say they go to the Patterson Claremont school and so it is different um so so just putting that in mind for future board members as we move forward to think about how we can take down barriers to separation isolation and marginalization and really make sure that that all students have the opportunity for the social emotional benefits of being part of of a typical Community thank you are there any other questions or comments hearing none and seeing seeing none um is there a motion for this item I move that based upon the recommendation of the the consideration of
127the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the annual review of schools recommendations report issued on November 9th the testimony given at the special session and public hearing contents of the official record and in the eight comar factors that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated is there a second a second Chena thank you commissioner Chena all in favor commissioner bonda yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner chinya yes commissioner Griffin yes commissioner wh Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reid yes commissioner Roberts yes okay and I am in favor um the motion passes that's all in favor Angela yep we're to the next yes all right so um the next um recommendation the board is going to consider is the surplus of the George WF mcmein facility in summer 2022 uh in 2020 the board
128approved the closure of the program construction work associated with the new 21st century um space for Clear Mount completes and so you just voted on that um students needing this level of placement will be placed at either the claremount school or the bear School based on individual need um and so based on the considerations of Staff recommendations presented in the annual review of schools recommendations report testimony at the board special meeting and public hearing the contents of the official record and the eight comar factors listed earlier this evening it is a recommendation of the CEO that the George WF mcmein building the Surplus to the city of Baltimore in 2022 I concur with the recommendation as stated thank you do any Commissioners have questions for staff and with the presentation up I can't see our
129commissioners online if I can't see Hands raised or anything okay no hands raised thank you um do any oh I'm sorry I will now open the floor to Commissioners for discussion of this recommend okay seeing none and hearing none um is there a motion Madam chair I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the annual re review of schools recommendations report issued on November 9th the testimony given at the special session and public hearing the contents of the official record and the eight comar factors that the board accept the ce's recommendation is stated thank you commissioner Roberts is there second second BMA thank you commissioner bondima all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner
130Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I in favor the motion passes all in favor Angela and so now we're going to um look at amendments uh proposals for amendments to the 21st century buildings plan uh and so the first one that um on a so on an annual basis the board can make amendments to the 21st century school buildings plan uh and so the board will now consider recommendations related to those changes of exhibit six in particular um that's the list of buildings as part of that plan that are scheduled for Surplus uh and so the first recommendation we're going to look at as um regarding the removing Dr cartery Woodson from that exhibit six plan um we want to retain that in our portfolio Carter gy was originally set to be Surplus in summer
1312022 however it has um its heating systems are actually connected to the Southside facility that houses New Era uh and we can't plus it without the system separation which was not approved by the IAC for Capital Improvement um program funding uh in addition we're exploring um holding on to um that uh facility and concert with the Southside facility of hopes of um potentially attracting um uh a developer who could help us build a new High School in the future um on that land um so we're hopeful about that so those are the the reasons that were uh maintaining uh the land and thus it is the recommendation of the CEO that exhibit six of the 21st century school buildings plan be amended to remove the Dr Carter G Woodson building from the exhibit six and
132that the building be retained by the district sorry I concur with the recommendations of stated do any Commissioners have questions for staff Christian any hands raised I will open up the floor for Commissioners for discussion of this recommendation okay um are is there a motion I move that the board accept the CEO's recommendation as stated is there a second second mcf thank you commissioner mcfaden all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reid yes commissioner Roberts yes and I in favor the motion passes all in favor Angela all right so um the next Amendment we're going to talk U go back one the next Amendment we're going to talk about is for the thir Marshall um middle building uh and so
133the recommendation is to amend the Surplus date from for that building from um 23 to 25 um that facility is the swing location for Vanguard Collegiate Middle uh and fly elementary schools um uh we expected to work on their facilities to to complete originally in 2023 however um U during the past legislation session we were able to secure additional funding um that's allowing for more Fuller Fuller Renovations of the north Northeast building which will be the permanent location for Vanguard as well as to fully replace the furly elementary building um for furly elementary and those projects are not expected to complete until 2025 so we need to hold on to the building until those projects complete thus it is the recommendation of the CEO that exhibit six of the 21st century school buildings plan be
134amended to change the Surplus date of the thir Good Marshall Middle building from 23 from 2023 to 2025 I concur with the recommendations ass stated thank you um are there any sorry about that are there any questions for the staff or does a board commissioner um have a discussion about this recommendation okay is there a motion I move that the board accept the CEO's recommendations as stated is there a second second Robert thank you Commissioners Griffin and Roberts all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes Commission Roberts yes and I'm in favor that's um the motion passes all in favor Angela y so the next um Amendment to the 21st century buildings plans for the West Baltimore building um
135we want to actually add this building to exhibit 6 and also have you vote on Expediting the Surplus date um last year you approved the surplus of this building for summer 2022 um we want to see if we can move it more quickly it's empty um to Spring of 2022 um since it's no longer needed for educational purposes um we had um kept it in case we needed it um as a swing space for some um construction work that was happening in the um Northbend Elementary midle building we ended up not um needing it uh so this is helpful it's a very large building to actually um return it back to the city and thus it is a recommendation of the CEO that exhibit six of the 21st century school buildings plan be amended to
136add the West Baltimore building to it and that the previously approved Surplus date changeed from Summer 2022 to Spring 2022 since the building is no longer needed for educational use I concur with the recommendation as stated are there any questions for staff from the board Commissioners or are there a discussion about this recommendation okay is there a motion I move that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated is there thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second bondima thank you commissioner bonda all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I'm in favor the motion passes all in favor Angela this is just a summary of those changes for exhibit 6 keep going all
137right and so um tonight the CEO is also um recommending that we defer the vote U so this is not something that you need to vote on but we're going to defer the vote on the um uh following recommendations until January to the January 25th 2022 Mee meeting uh and that's for um the recommend recommendation um to close in Surplus the buildings for Dr Bernard Harris Senor Elementary School Utah marshman elementary school um steuart Hill academic Academy um as well as a closure program relocation recommendations Associated for New Era Academy um to that next meeting for members of the public this means that you can continue to send feedback to the board through Friday January 21st which is Friday before that um Tuesday meeting all right all right and so that um concludes the recommendations
138that are associated for traditional schools I just want to thank the full team these require a lot of work work that you guys have been doing visiting schools meeting with community members um and so I want members of the public to understand all the work that you've been doing as a board around trying to inform yourselves so you can make the right the best decision ision I want to thank all of the stakeholders who thus far have participated in this process it's really important we really care about what community say and shares and the information that they have is important to us um and so um um I just want to note those things and I want to than all of the people that support this work there's a huge team that um does a
139lot of deep analysis and and pushing on um all the data and information um as well as meeting and talking with people to make sure that we're thinking through and walking the streets and and just like a lot that goes into this um from the facilities team um the academic team the finance department our office achievement uh and uh achievement and accountability our um uh Community uh our Communications engagement office our enrollment team that's also part of that um so there's just a lot of different um people who really try to help us make the the best recommendations as possible our 21st century office there just a lot there's a huge team of people who do a lot of work um Associated this we're at the heart trying to do and difficult circumstances what is
140best for students and so I just wanted to name that before we get into renewal I want to thank also that this involves a lot of people um our chief um partner in this work is the office of achievement and accountability I just want to acknowledge them um as well as our schools and our operators and uh and their school communities and fam so there's a lot um that they that also goes into through this process and our um chter our Charter and operator L School Advisory Board who um like our board are volunteers who help review these applications they're extensive they have a lot of um uh information in them and are um trying to uh weigh and understand what makes sense um uh is in the best interest of students and helping to
141inform the CEO's recommendations uh and so I just wanted to make sure that we publicly acknowledge those groups um as we get into um operator Reno good evening uh my name is Trevor Roberts I'm a specialist in the office of new initiatives um and before we uh look at individual schools and operator renewal just wanted to go over the renewal process for this year uh for 2021 22 we did have a u modified renewal process in recognition of um the uh difficulties of covid and the move to Virtual learning um so we're doing a more streamlined process this year in which schools are eligible for three-year renewals or non-renewal recommendations um non-renewal recommendations uh will only be considered if schools get not effective in one of four areas um uh schools that earn non-effective ratings
142in these areas uh that would happen when there are serious Financial sustainability concerns or inability to comply with critical state federal and local guidelines that places students staff or the district at risk so a not effective and effective programming for students with disabilities audits Financial controls operator capacity or um the Strategic leadership and governance um metric from the SC uh would lead to a non-renewal recommendation um any school considered for non-renewal um will also have its record of previous renewals and its record of academic performance considered and provided as additional factors for the board um to consider in its decision- making and finally schools currently in five year contracts that earn renewal in 2021-22 with meets expectations effective or highly effective ratings in these four in all of these four measures as well as effective
143or highly effective in the overall academic section of the rubric will be credited with a full renewal um for eligibility towards an eight-year renewal in in the future rounds um as they come up in addition to the results from those future renewal rounds um this revised process continues to consider data in and information um coming from the following components the renewal rubric which has been updated to reflect the modified process um School's application for Renewal data tables prepared by city schools and the school Effectiveness review which has um been and streamlined to include fewer key actions in metrics used in the school climate section of the rubri in terms of the process I mentioned our Charter and operator Le schools Advisory Board they're sort of the first um part of the review process they're made
144of um uh a variety of member organizations that include foundations nonprofits um school choice um Advocates uh and school operators as well as um District Representatives uh and so they look at all of the data and information both um quantitative and qualitative um that is um gathered in this process to inform um recommendations to the CEO they give advice to the CEO um on um on the recommendations and are governed by the process that Trevor just shared so um the recommendations themselves were CED by that review he shared in the prior slide um for the advice of the charter and operator LED schools Advisory board and the CEO then considers all of um all of that um in developing her own recommendations um and you know uh some instances can um um give extra weight
145in formulating the recommendation um to things that are um based on the severity of issues raised um and if it impacts the well-being of student staff District as a whole tonight you our board have a um a critical role in this process uh and so it's considering the recommendations and rationale of the CEO um the report the testimony at meetings and work sessions and kind of all the contents of the record um one thing I just want to um uh you're also governed by board policy ibj and it's uh admin rag ibj ra um for charter schools and policy FCA for non-charter schools um and it's um rag um this includes that the board has the ability to consider prior partial renewal terms afforded to operators who have serious challenges um in the prior renal
146that remain issues that continue to affect the well-being of student staff or the district as a whole based on um evidence in this renewal process uh and so the ihb ihj states the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals so for members of the public what that means is um even if a school was not recommended or was um recommended for a three-year renewal if it's a school that's in a three-year contract that meets this threshold the board could consider to non-renew that school just so we're super clear good evening everyone this is Teresa Jones Chief achievement and accountability officer uh we'll now share the recommendations for the first school for consideration this evening which is the Baltimore design school the school is operated by Baltimore
147design scho excuse me sorry could I continue no one said anything so you're fine oh sorry I thought thought I heard something my apologies um this school is operated by Baltimore design school Incorporated it is being recommended for the three-year renewal it is a transformation school which serves students in grades 6 through 12 it received a rating of meet expectations for audit content and internal controls mute expectations is the highest rating available for this particular component additionally received effective ratings in the following areas of effective programming for students with disabilities operator capacity as well as strategic leadership and governance which is um determined based on the results of the school Effect Review or the SC it also had an effective for overall academics a few key highlights um so first and foremost this school um
148actually received a rating of Highly Effective in its four-year cohort graduation rate with a three-year average of 99% of students graduating on time furthermore they received a highly effective in the College and Career Readiness area which considers participation and success as it relates to College and Career indicators such as the SAT advanced placement and Career and Technical education as well as College enrollment um in terms of programming for students with disabilities it received an effective rating in this area this area looks at a school's practices and procedures as it relates to services for students with disabilities and whether or not those students stud are exhibiting a trajectory for growth and achievement and then as it relates to Fidelity Charter and application overall they received an effective rating in this area and this area takes a
149look at the extent to which the school has fully implemented its Vision excuse me its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses any challenges presented in its data particularly when it comes to the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data and school demand um terms of other highlights um that are now captured on the slide but I would like to uh share into the public record uh we did note that there are strong practices in place as it relates to CTE programming which went from virtually no participation to 63.5% participation for the class of 2020 in either the interactive media production or the construction design management CTE Pathways the expansion of honors courses and advanced placement courses uh which included advanced placement 2D uh that's
150two-dimensional Art and Design AP Studio art AP Calculus AP Statistics AP English Literature and composition Etc as well as Partnerships with the Maryland Institute College of Art that's Micah lyola University of Maryland Morgan State University University of Baltimore and Baltimore City Community College resulting in 58.1% participation in dual enrollment for the class of 2020 they also noted 100% participation in activities such as the ACT SAT advanced placement and Career and Technical education 68.9% success in the areas such as a SAT advanced placement and career in technical education and that 78.9% of the class of 2019 were enrolled in college all of those areas I just noted are components of the college and career Readiness measure and therefore based on the consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator Runner school's work session and
151public hearings and the contents of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with Baltimore design school Inc to operate Baltimore design school be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1st 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation as stated do any Commissioners have questions or comments for this recommendation CH Richardson yes I would just like to um give some uh kudos to the Baltimore design school Community um and the stakeholders there and the leadership that his the historical leadership those who have served the school in the past those who are serving now um but particularly the students at Baltimore design school who uh persevere we see that we notice that quite often when at least when I do visits when
152we're going to the school for for multiple reasons so I just want to shout them out um uh for all of that hard work that we've been seeing over the the course of several years um here within our community they were even just uh highlighted on the news I think we just saw for their testing program there I think it was the the co testing program am I correct there was a story done on them and the way that the school leadership promoted that and and supported the community in that way so I just wanted to make sure that we recognize them for their hard work over the past several years and even now through throughout the pandemic thank you very much um is there a motion for this recommendation I move that based upon
153the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings the contents of the official record that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second Griffin thank you commissioner Griffin all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor the motion passes all in favor Angela the next school for discussion this evening is the Baltimore montau Public Charter School which is operated by Baltimore montauri Incorporated the school is also recommended for a three year renewal it is a charter school which serves grades kindergarten through eight as it relates
154to the audit content internal controls uh we noted a rating of meets expectations which I do like I would like to note um is an updated rating since ratings were first issued this particular rating has been changed to meet expectations based on additional information provided by the operator as it relates to effective programming for students with disabilities they received an effective rating they received a developing rating in the area of operator capacity an effective rating in strategic leadership and governance and for overall academics they received a developing rating as relates to their academic performance they received an effective rating in their park growth which assesses the changes of student achievement over time in English language arts grades six through eight they rated in the 79th percentile overall and math grade 6 to 8 they were
155in the 73rd percentile they were also highly effective in English language arts in grades 3 to5 at the 84th percentile but not effective in math in grades 3 to5 rating at the 42nd percentile for uh effective programming for the all student racial and ethnic groups category they received a developing rating this is the area which considers whether a school has varied instructional approaches and practices in place that have provided quality programming for all student racial and ethnic groups while progress has been made we noted that the schools should continue to focus on raising the achievement of all student groups while working to reduce the gaps that we see in in performance for operator capacity they received a developing rating um and this is the area um where we have now noted um that this school
156has not consistently met all the critical District obligations but has demonstrated progress when it comes to complying with the relevant uh requirements additional notes uh some of the steps that the school has taken to address challenges um include the creation of data cycle the active use of data to inform intervention and enrichment groups the use of an education associate to support the data cycle process and the hiring of an assistant principal with a math background to help coach teachers the school has also partnered with two organizations Ed Ops and improving Ed to improve its use of data as noted in the schools Effectiveness review uh their SC uh these are newer practices that are in place and so ensuring that all teachers understand and utilize a complete student learning data cycle will be necessary to
157drive Improvement within the school furthermore the school conducted an equity audit in 2018 and has done work with the school community and outside Partners to address gaps in student achievement that have been noted as serious concerns in previous renewal reviews this work has led to updated curriculum to be more culturally relevant as well as representative of the students body the school has also taken steps such as recruiting teachers and staff of color in holding regular workshops and professional development with the goal of increasing equity in school programming in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on the consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator runs schools work session and public hearings the content of the official and the content of the official record it is a recommendation of the
158CE o that the contract with Baltimore monaster Inc to operate Baltimore Monastery Public Charter School be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation as stated do any Commissioners have questions for staff or want to comment on this recommendation okay um is there a motion I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work sessions and public hearings the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation ibj r a uh that the board accept the CEO's recommendation as stated thank you commissioner Roberts is there a second second Griffin thank you commissioner Griffin all in
159favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes I'm also in favor the motion passes all in favor turn it back the next school we'll be looking at is the Belair Edison school operated by Belair Edison school LLC uh the the recommendation is for three-year renewal um the school is a charter serving grades K through 8 uh for the purposes of this review uh we will be considering it as an elementary school only uh which I will explain a uh a little more in a moment the school was rated meets expectations and audit contents and internal controls which is the highest rating for that category rated developing and effective programming for students with disabilities effective in operator capacity and
160strategic leadership in governance and rated not effective in and overall academics um the school is rated developing and Fidelity to Charter application overall which considers the extent the school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and the school understands and addresses challenges and its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data School demand grated not effective in park growth which assesses changes in student achievement over time in ela 3 through 3 through five being in the 366th percentile in the district overall and in math 3 through five in the 15th percentile school was rated effective in operator capacity indicating that it has operated effectively and the operator has met all state and federal reporting requirements critical District or federal obligations um the B arist School
161uh for known as B brm Lane Elementary has recently converted to become a charter school which occurred in 2016 and in addition to that over the past three years the operator has taken on merging Beller Edison with the AIA Public Charter School which was a a separate middle school program uh run by the same operator so for for the purposes of this review the focus was on the Elementary grades performance as the AIA middle school program uh had recently gone through renewal and the school's merger was only recently completed with that program um in terms of its performance the school must uh continue to take steps to improve student achievement some of the steps the school has taken to address these challenges include a phase used of AET and Dibbles assessments to inform data analysis
162at specific grade levels and to methodically deepen teacher practice and use of complete student learning data cycle that is supported by by professional learning and ongoing coaching for teaches teachers in the use of this practice Additionally the school has added Staffing including intervention teachers parent professionals and classroom assistance to support small group [Music] instruction in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on the consideration of operator renol report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the content of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with Belair Edison school LLC to operate the Belair Edison school be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I Ur with the recommendation as
163stated do any Commissioners have questions or comments I have a comment um and this is just about the not effective rating under academic is just that when if they are you know approved for Renewal and when they bring information back about um their academics I would be looking for specifically how in that area we've seen Improvement um because that's a that's one of the biggest concerns for me when it comes to any of these schools on this list is when we see not effective under the academic um rating Commission I just need to concur with commissioner Griffin especially when the the change in this CH uh this combination of schools uh focused on Elementary and the Very areas that that we're we're noting have not shown I me I'm really concerned about the math but
164that um both of those are are far from being effective so I would I would really be Keen in on what happens and I don't be it'd be interesting to know if there are some strategies already being identified as to what they plan to do about this no I I I I would agree and I think that um you know the the collective uh feedback and commentary is also one um that we wait uh knowing that you know the performance of the Middle grades uh you know has been um strong and I do think that it warrants noting moving forward um um for next renewal very similar to some other schools that you know are part of the process this year where we have seen growth in targeted areas that previous iterations of the board
165had similar commentary so I think we should note for moving ahead um you know depending on how the board votes of course um I would I would absolutely agree with that that that should be a crucial part of the examination and it really is the operator success with the upper grades that led to a lot of you know the recommendation to extend that time but I I completely agree and I think that should be something that we target the focus on in the next renewal cycle but full agreement any other Commissioners thank you so much commissioner Griffin and commissioner chenya is there a motion I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public
166hearings the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy ihj and administrative regulation ibj that the board accept the CEO's recommendation as stated I concur with the recommendation as stated oh oh did we go out of order here did we okay so do you want me to back up let's back up my bad let's back that's probably me I second that that is where we are yeah that's where we are okay I second commissioner Griffin's motion okay thank you commissioner um James all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes commissioner oh and I I'm in favor yes okay how many in favor please no commissioner Chena commissioner Chena any any opposed or abstained okay I
167don't want to modified it and tied it to the efficiency that you talked about to we can withdraw that oh can we withdraw that okay so point of order we're going to withdraw needs to you okay you have to withdraw the motion so I'm going to withdraw the previous motion okay and instead give it to uh commissioner chinia to make a motion okay so now it go through the whole thing you got to start okay I moved that based on the consideration of the recommendations and rationale the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given by the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the content of the official record and the factors listed in policy is that I ibj and administrative regulation ibj a that the board modified the CEO's recommendation in
168the following matter by adding conditions uh for the submission of a plan to address the deficiencies in the Park growth areas um oh I mean okay by the by determination of the cont I mean that I don't no you're you're fine where you are where I'm fine where I am thank you I don't need a date okay thank you um the Angela does she have to read tuber review by staff that section as well she doesn't have to you can you don't you don't have to okay okay oh I okay that's fine to be re reviewed by stf I just some of that didn't fit but that's basically what I'm saying sorry about that in the uh yes in the AC in the in the um what did I just say in the follow in
169the areas of the of the uh academic deficiencies especially in the areas of Park growth is what I was saying is there a second to that motion a second Griff thank you commissioner Griffin all in favor commissioner bonda yes commissioner Brooks yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I'm in favor that motion passes all in favor back to staff okay the next school is City neighbors Charter School uh operated by City neighbors Charter School Inc the recommendation is for three-year renewal uh the school type is uh Charter s grades K through 8 the school was rated meets expectations and audit content and internal controls effective in programming for students with disabilities developing an operator capacity highly effective in strategic leadership and governance
170and developing in academics overall the school is developing in park growth uh which assesses changes in student achievement over time in math 3 through five in the 56th percentile and in math 6 through 8 in the 52nd percentile not effective in ela 3 through five in the 29th percentile and highly effective in ela 6 through 8 in the 87th percentile school was effective in Fidelity to Charter application overall which considers the extent school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and the school understands and addresses challenges and its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data and school demand and the school was ready developing an effective programming for for all student racial ethnic groups which considers whether a school is varied instructional approaches and
171practices in place that have provided quality programming for all student racial ethnic groups uh the school must continue to focus in this area on raising achievement of all student groups while continuing to reduce and eliminate gaps in performance uh between those groups um the school has taken some recent steps to address um these challenges including hiring an intervention teacher in 2019 becoming a universal design for instruction School intensifying its data cycle review process and use of interventions including multi-age targeted instruction during the school day as well in as in the summer and after school uh City neighbors application described processes and practices the school has implemented such as the school's Equity plan professional development on anti-racist teaching and goals to increase staff diversity while the school is still working towards achieving goals laid out in
172this plan further progress must be made as gaps and achievement data between black and white students are evident in the data and the student performance of black and white students respectively is very mixed with a gap in performance widening in 201819 and the three areas considered the School's application does not provide evidence of how exactly the school is working in the area is working to inform classroom instruction and improve outcomes and so continued focus is needed here in accordance with the TR school policy and law based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record there is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with City neighbors Charter School Inc to operate City neighbors Charter School renewed for
1733 years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on July on June 30th sorry 2025 I concur with the recommendation as stated do any Commissioners have questions or comments on this recommendation no okay commissioner chenya uh yeah it's me again sorry um I was a little concerned to hear this the the the statement about the Gap but that there W there was not a real definitive um plan that was listed in what was proposed so that I just need to to highlight that publicly um it would be good to see something um in the future as if this is approved yeah I think this is a school that is working on deepening and is working in that um in the area related to like academic and academic rigor um and so
174it's taking some of those practices that I think are important that that you know that people are um understanding the role that like bias plays in schools and you know looking at what materials they're choosing but also pairing that with what that means in terms of um what's happening within classes and from an instructional standpoint commissioner chenya could you repeat what you said because your mic was off and I want to make sure the public heard that my mic was off of the whole thing I'm sorry I was concerned uh and and I sort of got an answer I was concerned that that the statement that was made about uh not having a definitive uh plan listed or stated about addressing um some of the gaps in um achievement uh among the racial and ethnic
175groups um I don't I'm I'm not certain I wanted to do a a full um modification but just the fact because it is listed but I just would encourage that we' be looking for that and something very um concrete got it thank you so much are there any other questions or comments I just want to agree with commissioner Tenya um however the board decides um to vote as this comes back around potentially um I think it's really important um that the board focuses on that area um that that Gap closing is critically important um for for those racial groups that seem to be underserved in some ways um at that school I have I have the same concern and I was just listening and thinking about the amount of time needed to develop a plan
176because I I just want to understand there is there has not been a plan to address that it's been brought to their attention they understand their data and have some practices in place but not a full-on plan to address the Gap in academic achievement between um black and white students and various ethnicities in the school is that what I'm hearing correctly no I so I would not say that what I would say is that they have not they have a plan around how they're addressing these this is a complicated this um addressing gaps is complicated because it's not just simply it's looking at everything from like teaching students the content there's a lot that goes into that and I think where they're weaker is and really looking at what how that shows up in instructional
177practice like are are all students getting access to rigorous questions or rigorous content um uh are um are students having the ability um to um are they seeing or they are they getting the same kind of level of um assignment uh are they seeing themselves reflected is there some way that that's um playing out in the instruction I think in part um you can see their overall academics is developing so part of what you're seeing is playing out is they have some work to do in the academic space you know based on the data that we you know had that's the other thing this is we're looking at Park data would show that would have come from school year 16 17 15 16 16 17 and 17 18 so that's the other thing to note
178um but I think when we look at how they um with the work that they're doing they focus on um some of the other things that are important you you have to address like what uh recruitment you know what diversity looks like in your school so students are seeing people that look like themselves you have to address the curriculum materials that you're using but you also have to address the rigor and what's happening instructionally within the school right um you know like if you think about like the opportunity U myth um report that TNC put out um a couple years ago it talks about that that when we look at what's happening in urban schools that so many students are not even getting Ong grade level content and so some of that is improving the
179instructional resources that are given to teachers because teachers um you know do work to try to fill in gaps when there's not enough instructional resources but they're not curriculum experts so knowing if something's on grade level or at the appropriate um level of challenge is not something they have expertise in so really making sure that they that they Army teachers with everything they need as well as doing the work they're doing to like understand bias and how that could show up in the classroom and and recruitment so it it's it's it's in that academic side where they need to do some more work got it and so what I was trying to reconcile in my head with with knowing that was the recommendation for the three years versus a one year like how soon would
180we need to hear from them again to check in on them to make sure progress is being made because my concern is we wait three years like it could been three years of of no real progress in that area right versus having one year where you may have the ability to check in and say okay now what what have you done in this specific area to support the growth and development of the school how does that look now to be able to then think about another another renewal and I know that's a lot of work but when we're talking about our kids and trying to close these gaps and all of the different things things that you said I'm always concerned about the amount of time in between that type of evaluation so you can't
181you cannot make their term a one-year term I just want to name that like you like by by board policy there is no option for to give a school a one-year term your only options are for this um process is a threeyear a three-year conditions or a non-renewal in terms of lengths um you can in the in the conditions you could say you want to um see data that shows Improvement in these areas and and so we could have we can look at that in in the next year but that would be more informal data because um we wouldn't that's another reason why you can't do a one year is that you wouldn't have state assessment data back uh to review in that in that time um so the three years gives you time to
182actually have um data assessment data uh in addition to um other data the school would use and so you could put a condition that would require us to look at that to you know make sure that we're seeing that or and sharing that with you in terms of what's happening with their informal data and then when they have state assessment data the state assessment data got it thanks for that I see Commissioner James Hand yes ma'am so I just wanted to respond with a little Insider info um from my other hat my other job so City neighbors may not have articulated their plan but they they do have some work and they are doing making some significant efforts to address this they are partnering with literacy math and culture experts from Morgan and working reciprocally
183with our student interns are coming into the schools they're coming for professional development at Morgan we're really building a really beautiful relationship um so to commissioner Griffin's Point um absolutely this needs to be addressed um but I really think that they might just not have articulated well or that component of it in their in their write up but they are they are aware they are working they are being really transparent about their needs and leaning in for support so just just to maybe take a a breath um and and and know that hopefully that they will see some outcome differences in student scores soon thank you Commissioner James for that that's important for me to understand yep and if if any board Commissioners would ever like to observe one of you know I I can
184offer on my end you're welcome to come to any of my professional developments that I do with them um at Morgan and see what's happening are there any other question thank you Commissioner James I'm sorry are there any other questions or comments Madam chair so are we landing on a threeyear with a a conditional so it depends on the motion um that's before that's before us tonight so um I'm going to call for motion for this recommendation is that what you just did okay um okay so I moved that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operative renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings that the content of the the content of the official record and and the factors listed in
185policy ihj and administrative regulation ibj including section 3K of the policy providing that the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals that the board modify the CEO's recommendation in the following manner um addressing adding conditions such as the submission of a plan to address deficiencies in um academic achievement and performance between various uh identifying groups including racial ethnic background um and also gender identity just to ensure we're making sure we're paying attention to all of our students to be reviewed by staff is there a second second Robert thank you commissioner Roberts I'm going to ask for um is anyone abstaining from this vote I will be abstaining Madam chair okay all right thank you um so all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks commissioner chenya
186yes commissioner Griffin commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor Commissioner James you're abstaining yes ma'am okay and I want to Circle back to see if commissioner Brooks is abstaining or opposing or if he's still with [Music] us okay so the motion passes with is it seven in favor one abens ition and one absence thank you back to staff uh the next school before us is city city neighbors Hamilton uh it uh is recommended for a three-year renewal uh it serves students in grades k through eight um and audit content got meets expectations um an effective program for students with disabilities developing operator capacity effective strategic leadership and governance highly effective and then overall academics developing um developing and part growth in particular which assesses change in student achievement
187over time um for um Ela grades three through five um being in the 58th percentile overall and math um grade for Middle grades um being in the 62nd percentile they were not effective in um Ela for Middle grades being in the 28th percentile but highly effective in math for Elementary grades being in the 88th percentile they were effective in Fidelity to Charter which considers the extent to which the school's implemented its Mission St stakeholders understand that mission and the school understands and addresses challenges and its data particular in the particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice um data School demand they devel developing and effective programming for students um racial ethnic groups which considers whether school has varied instructional approaches and practices in place that provideed quality programming
188for all student racial ethnic groups um the school must focus on raising achievement of all student groups while continuing to keep differences in performance between student groups small in particular um the school's taken steps to improve practice um which include the development of intensives um which is an intervention block for students in grades three through eight um they hired an early literacy intervention teacher to support early learners um for students in grades um K through um third grade and they use I ready and other online learning platforms um in that work um they need to continue to deepen their work in the use of data to improve um the level of academic rigor used in instruction and to um Drive Improvement as noted in the school Effectiveness review um the school has recognized that it
189has achievement gaps and in response they describ several um Equity anti-racist processes and practices the school has implemented including classroom interventions an equity self- audit and ongoing consultancy work while the school reports internal data is demonstrating gains and reading and math assessments um these strategies have not yet proven effective um in state assessments and So based on that in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run school's work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with City neighbors Hamilton Inc to operate City neighbors Hamilton be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with
190the recommendation is stated are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation from commissioners is there a motion so I I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation ij- that the board accepts the CEO's recommendations as stated is there a second second Bunda thank you commissioner bondima all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brooks commissioner chinya yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes okay I am in favor that is eight in favor with one absent back to staff the next school we'll be looking at is City
191Springs Elementary Middle School uh operated by Baltimore curriculum project um the recommendation is for a three-year renewal and the school is a charter serving grades k through eight the school is rated meets expectations in audit content internal controls developing in programming for students with disabilities effective in operator capacity highly effective in strategic leadership and governance and effective in AC iics overall um specifically they were highly effective in perform in park Ela through 3 through five in the 80th percentile in their economic disadvantage comparison group and in ela 6 through eight in the 86th percentile um in the group effective in math 3 through five in the 69th percentile and developing in math 6 for8 in the 57th percentile the school was developing in park growth which assesses changes in student achievement over time in ela
1923 through 5 in the 62nd percentile overall and in math 3 through five in the 63rd percentile effective in ela 6 through 8 in the 68th percentile and in math six through eight and the 70th percentile school was developing in programming for students with disabilities which evaluates a school's practices and procedures and providing services to students with disabilities and whether those students are exhibiting a trajectory for growth and achievement um the School's application clearly shows how data Cycles are used to drive instruction on a day-to-day basis and produce effective outcomes for students the school also shows evidence of creating a welcoming environment for students and families has shown in the importance of restorative practices to the school's Mission commitment to providing wraparound supports to students and families and the commitment to Community Building with the
193surrounding neighborhood so in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on considerations of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is the recommendation of the CE that the contract of Baltimore curriculum project Inc to operate City Schools elementary middle school be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation as stated are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation from the board is there a motion I move the base upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale the CEO the operator renewal report testimony given that the operator run schools work session public hearings the contents of the official record the
194factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation ibj that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second Banda thank you commissioner Banda all in favor commissioner bondima commissioner chenya yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes Comm oh okay commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I'm in favor did we hear from commissioner Bond commissioner bonda could you give us your vote um I said yes okay perfect everyone didn't hear it so I just wanted to make sure great um the motion passes eight in favor with one absent back to staff so the next school before us is connections a community based art school it's operated by the Baltimore teacher Network um is recommended for a three-year renewal Ser students in grades 6 through
19512 uh it was rated developing and audit controls um and audit content and internal controls and effective programming for students with disabilities and operator capacity and in strategic leadership governance from the SC it was read not effective in overall academics um the school is highly effective in its absolute performance on park for um Ela um grade 10 um being in the 91st percentile in its uh e economic disadvantage group it was developing uh in Middle grades math being in a 59th percenti of its economic disadvantage group but uh but not effective in um Ela for Middle grades and a 36 36 percentile of its economic disadvantage group uh as as well as in Algebra 1 being in the 18th percentile of its um economic disadvantage group it was rated developing a felia a charter which
196considers the extent the to which the school has implemented its Mission the stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses challenges in its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and um student Choice School demand it was read it not effective in um its four-year cohort rate with um a three-year average of 69% of students graduation graduating on time however is important to note that that four-year cohort grad rate did improve from only 60% in 2019 um as a graduation rate to being above the district average by 2020 with 73.3% of students graduating uh it was read not effective in College and Career Readiness which considers participation and success in career and college indicators such such as sat advanced placement and Career Technical education as well as
197College enrollment uh while the school offers uh some AP courses um 31% of the class of 2020 participated in AP and has strong sat participation where 92.9% of the class of 2020 participated there are not enough um uh offerings to prepare students for college career and so the school needs to improve in this uh success in this area uh even though the school tracks data in several ways including use of the nwaa assessment and partnering with AET to um provide staff to assist teachers in analyzing data um there isn't a formal data cycle that's in place um in recognition of the need to use data more effectively and consistently um to impact academic outcomes for students the the school has hired a new staff member to support the implementation impl impementation of a data cycle
198uh and so that is a real thing that we see is um happening in school now the school also implements several strategies to improve student outcomes including the use of online platforms like MIM Max Prodigy and Achieve 3000 and providing students with after school tutoring through Fe tutors um the and climate the school is is has very um a lot of strengths here um the School's attendance is higher than the district average and its chronic absence rate is significantly lower than the district average the school uses PBIS and target support with a focus on early intervention to achieve these results uh as well as has a lot of um really thoughtful practices in place to support the whole child within their school we noted that on the uh board visit um so to make sure
199that we included that on the record in accordance with the Char school policy and law and based on consideration of the operator renewal report test Tony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with Baltimore teacher Network Inc to operate connections a community- based art school be renewed for a three-year term that would commence on July 1 2022 and end on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation as stated are there any questions or comments about this recommendation from the board chair Richardson sure so this is challenging for me because um it's challenging because there are and thank you um Miss Alvarez for noting um a lot of the successes and the progress and the things
200that um this particular school and operator have been putting in place one thing that I think stands out is um the attendance rate um and the way that they wrap their um holistic um hands and approach around the young people there um and it takes more than just um strong academic programming um to run and create a school um so I I do want to be clear about that and certainly we want to acknowledge um the growth and success of the students in the Arts at that particular school it's really great um to see um the Afrocentric um elements that they put in place for those young people we have those young people perform and um even throughout the pandemic they've been extremely Innovative um you know as a kudos to the teaching staff to
201the entire staff there um the challenge for me is the academic performance um and to see and notice um really a decline from the last time that connections was with us um for um review they were at a developing um rating and now we in in overall academics and now we're seeing um the the in effective rating there that's a challenge for me as an educator that's a challenge for me you know for the sake of our young people for our students and so I would encourage the board to really consider um you know really in this particular operator to develop a stronger plan um to raise the rigor of the instructional program that's happening at that school for the sake of the young people that attend that school there are incredible things happening um
202at the school but at the same time we know the foundation of the operation of that school with strong instruction um so I just want to make sure that we note that in our discussion this um this evening thank you commissioner mcfaden are there any other um comments oh I simply want to concur with with uh commissioner McFadden's statement and perhaps he can word that in some way commissioner Roberts I agree with uh commissioner mcin and chenya I think for me um what shows a intentionality on the behalf of this particular School Community is the addition of their data analyst position that they do to that they are choosing to use in a really intentional way of looking at how their students are performing and how to see some of those meaningful gains in moving
203forward um if the this school Community is awarded another renew Cycles I would just want to see how that person and how the whole school Community is able to use those intentional um data points from within the school um from within the student achievement aspects of this school to to to move us forward um especially in terms of the graduation rate um student achievement and graduation rate yeah I agree with that yeah I agree as well okay awesome are there any other hand on the teams okay thank you is there a motion for this recommendation I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings the content of the official record and the
204factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation hbj including section 3. K of the policy providing that the board May decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals that the board modifi the CEO's recommendation in the following manner by adding con a condition for submission of a plan to address deficiencies in the area of academics and graduation rate to review to be reviewed by staff failure to effectively implement the plan or new findings that reveal serious challenges and improving outcomes for students in the specify areas or that jeopardized student well-being achievement or safety will be the basis for earlier termination of the contract thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second second Robert thank you commissioner Roberts all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Brook Brooks is he
205here commissioner chenya yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor the motion passes that is eight in favor with one absent back to staff so next rep is this creative city um Public Charter School that operated by the creative City Public Charter School Foundation Inc uh they serve uh Elementary grades they were rated developing and audit content controls and uh effective programming for students with disabilities they're effective in operator capacity and strategic leadership and governance from the SC but not effective in overall academics they were not effective in park growth which assesses change in student achievement over time uh in their um Ela being in a 23rd percentile overall and in the math uh percentile overall they were not affective and Fidelity
206to Charter um which considers the extent to which the school has implemented its mission that stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses challenges and its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance drop out R attrition um student Choice uh School demand um the School's application did not prevent a clear strategy for uh Improvement of practices to address low student performance um which is also considered the strategies part in the uh Del Charter application overall they were developing and effective programming for students with disabilities which evaluates the school's practices and procedures and providing services to students with disabilities and whether those students are exhibiting a trajectory of growth and achievement um creative City public Char schools academic performance remains an area of concern um given that these were um areas
207of concern in in the prior renewal process um however n until 2019 did the school begin to attempt to improve practice um in its review and use of data by partnering with edops the school indicates that covid interrupted its progress but it plans to continue to work in this area um the current in this current school year 2021 um they have also hired um a Reading MA or in school year 2021 they have also hired a reading and math interventionist um to give to begin to provide students um supports to improve outcomes um the lack of use of strong p uh practice in student um learning data cycle remains an ongoing concern um schoolwide goals and data are not readjusted or Revis Revisited uh and teachers are not actively engaged in regular analysis of progress
208towards goals the school provided no evidence that shifts in curriculum and strategies are informed by active use of data in other areas looked at this metric the school has made slight gains in attendance rate and saw a decrease in chronic absence um however performance in both of these areas remain at the average in the case of attendance at 90% or worse in the district average in the case of chronic absence where 37.5% of creative City students were chronically absent compared to a district average of 29.9% similar performance is seen in enrollment in school demand where the school has seen Rising enrollment but remain remains below his contractual Min minimum and its cohort retention which measures the percentage of students who choose to remain at the school two or more years after their entry in this
209measure the school has seen a rising percentage of student students choosing to remain at the school but retention remains below the district average and so um in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on consideration of testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with creative City Public Charter School Foundation Inc to operate creative city public charter school be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation are there any questions or um comments with this recommendation from the board Madame chair um sorry commissioner Robert uh before the the year ended I had the honor and privilege
210of visiting the school community of creative city and what I found challenging was I I did not find that there was a silent art integrated program that correlated to moving moving or um to bettering the student achievement uh ratings that we see here today I think that the school Community offered some really wonderful some really beautiful oneoff projects but in terms of being able to offer a silent program um I I struggle with with seeing that vision and and I did not feel that the school Community provided um a solid plan in that way thank you for sharing that are there any other comments uh this is Vernon Reed uh commissioner Reed uh I was also lucky to be there with Angela and and commissioner Roberts uh I was a little worried about the trend
211line in terms of academically over the last three years they've gone from developing to not effective and uh just being on the physical plant uh there was a heavy heavy focus on being creative and artsy but I didn't see the academic rigor that I hope to see now that's my comment thank you very much for that any other comments is there a motion I move it based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools's work session and public hearing the contents of the official record and the and the factors listed in policy IB ibj and administrative regulation ibj R including sections 3K of the policy providing that the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for
212two consecutive partial renewals that the board defer the CEO's recommendation until the February 8th 2022 board meeting for further study and consideration that at that meeting whether instead the board should non-renew the contract and close the school at the end of the 20121 2022 school year thank you commissioner Roberts is there a second thank you commissioner mcfaden all in favor commissioner bonda no I accept with the commissioner um Roberts just said so you're in favor she's yeah you're in favor what she said yes okay commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor that is eight in favor with one absent the M the motion passes back to staff the next school is Elmer a Henderson a John's Hopkins partnership school
213which is operated by the East Baltimore Community School Incorporated the school is being recommended for a three-year renewal it is a contract school and it serves students in grades kindergarten through eight it received a developing rating in the area of audit content and internal controls as well as effective programming for students with disabilities for operator capacity received an effective rating and a highly effective rating in the area of strategic leadership and governance and for overall academics they received an effective rating as relates to their academic performance they had an highly effective rating in the area of Park growth which assesses changes in student achievement over time in English language arts in the Middle grades they were in the 90th percentile overall and for math Middle grades they were in the 84th percentile they were effective
214in ela for grades three to five in the 76th percentile and not effective for math in grades 3 to 5 at the 50th percentile they received an effective rating in the area of fidelity to Charter at application overall this considers the extent to which the school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses challenges in its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data and school demand the developing rating in the area of programming for students with disabilities uh is noted where the in terms of looking at how we evaluate a school's practices and procedures and providing services to students with disabilities and whether or not those students are exhibiting a trajectory of of achievement growth uh notes about
215this school include the following the school does have a strong culture of data analysis among faculty uh which is used to inform instruction it sets high expectations for proficiency among all students and provides access to Advanced and honors programming the school uses data to determine student supports as well as how to accelerate learning these supports include literacy lab which is a targeted intervention based on reading growth amplify reading which provides virtual support for small groups of students feev tutors and targeted uh during and after school intervention blocks in both math and reading while the school is taking steps towards growth for students with disabilities their Park results show that they are not yet on a trajectory for growth the data shows mixed results with scale scores rising in some areas uh we did note that
216an audit of school practices that was conducted by the office of special education showed that while the school generally provides appropriate services to students with disabilities that this is still an area of focus for improvement in order to ensure that all student schedules are set up so that they can receive services in the appropriate setting in consideration of the operator Ren report testimony at the operator run school's work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with the East Baltimore Community School Inc to operate Elmer a Henderson and John Hopkins partnership school be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I uh concur with the recommendation as state and with pleasure
217are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation from the board I would like to make a comment this is Dr MMA I just want to mention is that okay absolutely go ahead thank you I had the great opportunity to have a conversation with um not only some of the faculty there but the community and they were so excited about the school and the students that I talked to at a at a meeting with were um just elated at how great the there the teachers and their principal and um the the excit of being at school and also one of the parents had participated in uh speaking at one of their board meetings so I'm really happy with that school thank you thank you so much are there any other comments certainly Madam uh sure
218chair there are areas for growth and Improvement um which I want to make sure that we do not Overlook but at the same time with the focus on data um analysis and data driven instruction with the staff um the Community Partnerships that we know that that school has put in place um to holistically wrap their arms around um not just the students but the community um I think it's important um for us to consider that um in in our vote vote tonight so yes absolutely great leadership there's great things happening there but there certainly are areas of growth um that we want to make sure are focused on for the sake of our children and young people um as we want to you know encourage their success so I just want to make sure that
219we um understand that as well or just reiterate it thank you commissioner mcfaden I do agree with that um they're great asset to the community and they do have a community focus and I do appreciate that about this school um and the leadership is great there are are there any other commissioner Roberts her hands up okay commissioner Roberts thank you madam chair uh the only additional uh point that I would like to add and I I mentioned it during the work session last month is Henderson Hopkins has shown a lot of success in the area of student achievement and I'm not particularly sure if this needs to be listed as a conditional but I would love to see see intentional collaborative efforts from this school Community amongst our larger Charter Community um it's not remiss
220on me that there are some some substantial student achievement GS within the larger Charter Community and I'm not particularly sure if there are any intentional efforts amongst our Charter Community to collaborate on successes and um within their work um and so I wanted to note that because it is it's it's quite obvious in a lot of our schools um that in the area of student achievement there there are some schools struggling in that area and and this school has clearly shown that they have success in that area and I'm not particularly sure what intentional efforts are being um exhibited throughout throughout the larger uh Charter Community thank you commissioner Roberts um I I just asked this question and I'll ask it publicly about because I do agree with you about this intentionality of sharing best
221practices and and Miss Alvarez maybe you can help me with this because I don't know can we how can we facilitate that or make that happen can you tell a charter to collaborate or I just don't know enough so if you could educate me on that yeah I don't think that that's something that's appropriate for like a condition for a school so so no I wouldn't tie it to what you're doing here I will say that schools do collaborate like um uh I know that um Henderson Hopkins especially under uh principal Cam's leadership is very collaborative and does you know um reach out and work with um this their school communities the Maryland lines at public charter schools has also done a lot of work to stand up like collaborative practices so um they through
222the support of um msde receive like a a grant to be able to stien um uh schools that have uh exceptional practices and coaching other schools so that stuff is happening it it's happening um City neighbors that we talked about um later has a i Mike is going to kill me I maybe I think it's 20 a year I mean they've been doing this for a long I don't know what the length 10 years it's a long time they have a progressive Summit that they do um on on an annual basis and been doing it for for a sustained time where they bring in um uh people um across the city from different School types so not just in our Public Schools but also I think private schools are part of that work that they
223do they do a lot of intentional Partnerships there um as well as bringing in people from National from other places to again share best practices so there is a lot of collaboration that's happening uh among schol and we can share more about that when we do the ibj compliance report that'll come to the board later in the spring okay it is okay commission thank you so much Angela for helping me to understand that I want to move to commissioner chenya if I could take my if my mask were down you would see a big smile because I will just you know as the historian and uh just just to let you know that at one time our system actually did a best practices uh event every year and and had our schools to to really
224write up some of their strategies and share them and it was a wonderful thing so if it's possible to do to try again whenever we can be in person to do that kind of thing um that would be that would be great for both the charter as well as the traditional schools there are good things happening that people just need to have an opportunity to see more of I would love that that's great thank you that's awesome that's awesome all right is there a motion for this recommendation I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale the CEO the operator renor report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated thank
225you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second Banda thank you commissioner bondima all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor the motion passes eight in favor with one absent back to staff the next school for Renewal consideration this evening is the Frederick Elementary School the school is operated by the Baltimore curriculum project Incorporated and is being recommended for a three-year renewal it is a charter school serving students in grades kindergarten through five for the audit content and internal controls component they received a meet expectations rating for Effective programming for students with disabilities and operative capacity they were rated developing they Reed a highly effective rating when it comes to strategic leadership and governance and
226an effective rating when it comes to overall academics um I would like to note that because of Frederick Elementary's recent conversion to Charter status in 2017 and the modifications of the operator renewal process for 2021 22 the school year the school actually has limited academic data available and therefore did not have Park Trend or growth ratings however when we look at their absolute performance we noted that they were highly effective when it comes to their part Ela great 3 to5 Performance and noting that they were in there uh were at the top um in their economic disadvantage group so they were number one um at the 100th percentile within that group um also within their peer group they were the 100th percentile when it comes to math in that same grade band when it comes
227to their Fidelity to Charter and application overall rating they were rated effective and again that considers the extent to which the school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses challenges in its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data and school demand when it comes to their developing rating and programming for students with disabilities uh again this particular component takes a look at um a school's practices and procedures when it comes to provision of services for students with disabilities and whether or not those students are exhibiting a trajectory for growth in achievement they receive received that highly effective rating in strategic leadership and governance based on their school effess review um and that looks again at the school
228setting and progress towards student achievement goals their allocation of resources towards those goals and operators oversight of the school excuse me strategies such as strong messaging around the school's core values and expectations along with the successful implementation of the Maryland turnaround principles model which was a Ed based on the school's status as a school Improvement Grant recipient from the Maryland State Department of Education has actually allowed the school to successfully integrate two School communities from Frederick as well as Samuel Morris Elementary and establish a very strong um School culture in in the new school the school also has strong data collection and Analysis practices and it's seen Improvement when it comes to student performance as we've noted moving from being one of the worst performing schools at the time of their conversion to a Charter
229to now being the top performing School within their economic disadvantage group um again looking at their absolute Park performance however we do note that the school still has challenges to address uh particularly in the areas of suspensions attendance and chronic absence and while the data is starting to improve in these areas we do recognize that further work is needed in accordance with the charter school policy and law based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with the Baltimore curriculum project Inc to operate project Elementary School be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 concur with
230the recommendation as stated I heartedly concur with the recommendation as stated are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation okay is there a motion I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools's work session and public hearing the contents of the offal record and the factors listed in policy ihj and administrative regulation ihj that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated thank you commissioner Roberts is there a second second I heard commissioner Griffin first so thank you commissioner Griffin all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner chinya yes commissioner Griffin yes yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I'm in favor the motion passes eight in favor with one
231absent back to staff the next school is Ferman L Templeton Preparatory Academy which is operated by the FL Templeton Preparatory Academy Incorporated this school is recommended for a three-year renewal it is a charter serving students in grades kindergarten through 5th in terms of their ratings um there was an updated rating for the audit content and internal controls they are now receiving a meets expectations rating based on the additional information that was provided by the operator they received effective ratings in the areas of effective programming for students with disabilities operator capity and strategic leadership and governance and for overall academics they received a developing rating in terms of their program in for students with disabilities again this looks at a school's practices and procedures as it relates to provision of services to students with disabilities and
232whether those students are exhibiting a trajectory for growth and achievement when we look at their park growth uh we see that there are changes over time which allows them to be rated as effective when we look at their Elementary grades um so they were in the 66th percentile when it comes to their English language arts and then they were not effective when it comes to math um rating in the 31st percentile when it comes to Fidelity to Charter and application overall they received a developing rating and again this looks at the extent to which the school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders understand that mission and that the school understands and addresses challenges in its data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition and student Choice data and school demand some
233of the school the steps that the school has taken to improve student performance include ongoing professional learning for teach teachers in their learning data cycle the establishment of academic leads to assist grade level teachers in adjusting practice and the use of interventions such as feev tutors and Saturday school in effective programming for students with disabilities we see that the school has seen gains in both AC excuse me in both climate and some of their mean scale academic measures an audit of school practices that was conducted by the office of special education showed that the school has strong practice in place that ensure students with disabilities are receiving the appropriate instruction and services and that 100% of the schools students with disabilities were receiving their proper services in accordance with the tter school policy and law
234and based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the content of the official record it is the recommendation of the C that the contract with the FL Templeton Preparatory Academy Inc to operate FL Templeton Preparatory Academy be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation is stated do any Commissioners have questions or comments regarding this recommendation is there a motion uh Richardson I just want to quickly state that if it's okay just want to quickly state that of course again yes there are areas to grow and improve but based on what we heard there are uh systems in place at Ferman um that hopefully will address um
235um these academic concerns particularly um that were noted tonight however I do want to just you know just let the board know and remind the board that Fermin Templeton is an anchor in central 21217 um and as a school that I've visited several times and and partner with their students and the community the community comes together so beautifully at that school um and so with the additional supports that we heard tonight that are in place um for those young people and for the staff um hopefully I'm fairly confident in the staff that's there in the school and the entire community that wraps around those young people there it's really beautiful to see and if you all ever get a chance to stop by Ferman it's just a great Community um school um so I'm I'm
236really hoping that um with those supports in addition to the the community support and and and engagement that we will see some Trends upward in the area of academic performance thank you so much commissioner mcfaden is there a motion I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale the CEO the operator renewal report testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings the content of the official record the factors listed in policy ibj and the administrative regulation ibj including section 3. K of the policy provided the board decide may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consec partial renewals that the board accept the CEO's recommendation is stated thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second chin thank you commissioner chinya all in favor
237commissioner bonda yes commissioner chinya yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I in favor the motion passes eight in favor with one absent back to staff okay the next school we're going to be looking at is the Green School of Baltimore operated by experiential Environmental Education um it is an elementary charter and the recommendation is for a three-year renewal the school was rated meets expectations and audit content in internal controls effective in programming for students with disabilities in operator capacity highly effective in strategic leadership and governance and effective in academics overall the school is rated effective in park growth which assesses changes in student achievement over time in ela 3 through five in the 66th percentile overall and highly per effective in math 3 through
238five in the 89th percentile the school is rated highly effective in strategic leadership and governance from school Effectiveness review which evaluates a schools setting and progress towards student achievement goals allocation of resources towards goals and operators oversight of the school and the school is ready developing an effective programming for all student racial ethnic groups which considers whether a school is varied instructional approaches and practices in place that have provided quality programming for all student racial ethnic groups um the school must still focus on raising achievement of all student groups while continuing to work to reduce and eliminate gaps in performance but the school has made significant progress in examining practices and implementing improved programming in this area since this last renewal uh specifically the school has implemented an anti-bias framework to guide instruction at all
239grade levels and um attention to Performance of different demographic groups is evident through the data cycle used by the school school also uses responses to intervention approach approach to ensure that all students have access to grade level appropriate instruction while also receiving interventions to address any areas where they need more intensive support the school is also working to to diversify its teachers and staff and is participating in professional development on culturally responsive and anti-racist teaching strategies um since the school has started this increased focus on ensuring Equitable instruction across racial groups the ACH achievement of black students students saw gains in both Ela and math the school has implemented strong data and instructional strategies for students with disabilities which has led to increasing student performance um from 2017 to 2019 in addition an audit of
240school practices conducted by the office of special education showed that the school had strong practices in place that ensure students with disabilities are receiving appropriate instruction and services and therefore in accordance with the charter school policy and law and based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is a recommendation of the CEO that the contract with experiential Environmental Education Inc to operate the Green School of Baltimore be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 202 I happily concur with the recommendation as stated are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation from the board just that I think that it's always wonderful to see such
241great news about a school in its progress and kudos to the Green School of Baltimore for all the hard work um I know they had to start somewhere and overcome challenges and to see them at this point point is great I agree completely with that is there a motion yeah I moved that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the testimony given at the operator run schools work session and public hearings the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy ihj and ihb and administrator regulation ibj including section 3. K of the policy providing that the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals that the board accept the CEO's recommendations as stated thank you
242commissioner Griffin is there second second bonda thank you commissioner bondima all in favor commissioner Banda yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor the motion passes eight in favor with one absent back to the staff so next is independent school local one high it's operated by the Baltimore teacher Network Inc um the recommendations for threeyear Renewal they're a high school they were R developing in a content internal controls effective programming for students with disabilities operator capacity strategic leadership and governance from the scr and not effective in overall academics not effective in particular they were not effective in the four-year cohort graduation rate um with a three-year average of a 58% of students graduating on time um the four-year cohort
243grad rate declined from 68.4% in 2019 to 40% in 2020 it rated not effective in College and Career Readiness which considers participation and and success in career and college indicators such as the SAT advanced placement and Career and Technical education as well as College enrollment the re not effective an absolute performance on Park Ela 10th being in the 70 percentile of its economic disadvantage group um and similarly the the same um reading and the same percentile of 17th percentile for Algebra 1 um for that economic disadvantage group they are to developing and Fidelity a charter overall application which considers the extent the schools fully implemented Mission stakeholders understand the mission and school understands addresses challenges in data particularly in the areas of enrollment student attendance Dr re attrition and school um student Choice uh data
244School demand uh despite um College care Ren being a major area of concern for the school and its prior renewal the school does not um still does not offer any AP courses does not have any Career Technical education Pathways and does not offer dual enrollment options for students 73.9% of students participated in um the SAT across the um areas considered in this measure the school had a 0% success rate Independence indicates that they are planning uh and I guess did this year add a Career and Technical no that they're no they have not yet yet this year sorry that they're planning to add a career and Technical education programming to improve student Readiness for college career but it's not clear how close the school is to implementing such a program and the school has been
245without CTE programming during the entire course of the current contract the school has had some success with attendance and cronic absence for students with disabilities um with attendance of these students being higher and croning absence being lower than um both the district average um um for general education uh and for general education students at the school in on the last year of review um the school's academic performance for students with disabilities does not show a clear trajectory for a growth an audit of school practices conducted by the office of special education so that half of all students sampled required Faith or free and public education meetings to resolve issues that led to students with disabilities not receiving the full Services required by that by their IEPs and so in accordance with the charter school policy
246and law and based on consideration of the operator renewal report testimony at the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the content of the official record it is the recommendation of the CEO that the contract with the Baltimore teacher Network Inc to operate Independent School local onei um be renewed local one sorry be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I canc care with the recommendation is stated are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation commissioner chenya I have I have several major concerns and I I can remember the last renewal when we I think we put some conditions here and quite frankly I don't see fruition of any of that I'm extremely concerned that 50% of students uh with
247IEPs had to have hearings because of of uh not being in compliance so um I just this this really concerns me um I'll stop there thank you very much for sharing that um any other comments I just Echo those concerns concerns and and a lot of the same things came up for me when I was looking at um some of the data that was shared with us in the report and I did also notice um and thank you so much to staff for putting together those binders know that they're being used but you know being able to look back and see some of the historical record of you know what was requested and how many times they have been renewed or given conditional renewals um really does factor a lot into thinking like where is
248the Improvement um in the practice that are being put in place to help support student achievement but also a good culture and climate that is is effective for our students especially thinking about our students with disabilities um I want to make sure you know that they're being serviced properly as well so I have a lot of concerns with this school thank you are there any other comments commissioner Roberts um Miss Alvarez's hand was raised before mine oh apologies Miss Alvarez no worries I just want to clarify something for the record so the so the elic review that offers a special education review looks at a sampling of students so it's not the case that 50% of all students with IEPs needed F readings um fape meetings it's that this of that sample it required half
249of the people in the sample to get fape meetings so I just want to be very um um clear about what that finding is that it's is is still a finding but it's it's not the same thing as was stated so I just want to clarify that on the record I I just have to say given that this is not a large population that's still disturbing that of of the review that 50% would would have some issues I'm sorry thank you commissioner Roberts thank you Madame chair um adding on to commissioner Griffin and commissioner chena's points around special education I also wanted to note for the record um that the the lack of implementation of the CTE program was was very um influential in my decision tonight I think that um having such a small
250student population also limits this community from offering any additional Advanced courses um so hypothetically for students uh considering transferring amongst addition um that that would be very limiting for students um but but really for me would be the failure someone not hear thank you um really for me tonight it would be around um the failure to implement and upstand a a solid CTE program over the course of a of a number of years and not just this one renewal cycle um in addition to that it would be the graduation rates which are um very concerning as well thank you very much um are there any other questions comments is there a motion for this recommendation I move that based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator renewal report the
251testimony given at the operator run schools's work session and public hearing the contents of the official record and the factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation ibj including sections 3 pointk of the policy provided that the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals that the board defer the CEO's recommendation until the February 8th 2022 board meeting for further study and consideration at the meeting whether instead instead the board should non-renew the contract and close the school at the end of the 20121 22 school year thank you commissioner Roberts is there second to that motion second second commission okay I heard commissioner Chena first commissioner Reed but thank you commissioner Chena all in favor commissioner bondima I'm abstaining okay commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin Commissioner James
252yes commissioner mcfaden yes commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor that is seven in favor with one exstension and one absent the motion passes back staff um so next is Southwest and the final school for tonight is Southwest Baltimore Charter School um they are operated by Southwest Baltimore Charter School Inc um they serve um students in grades K through 8 um they uh met expectations and the AUD content and internal controls they made at effective in effective programming for students with disabilities operator capacity um strategic leadership in governance and then developing overall in academics um a particular note they were highly effective and park growth which assesses the change of student achieving over time um El for Middle grades um in the 90 um with students being in the 93rd percenta
253overall um they were effective in Middle grades math in a 75th percentile um however they were not effective in English language arts for um Elementary being in the 24th percentile um and 50th percentile um for math for elementary um they were effective in absolute performance on Park um for um Middle grades Ela being the 69th percentile of their economic disadvantage group as well as um in math where they were in the 65th percentile of the economic disadvantage group they were not effective similarly in the elementary grads um for ELA being in the 31st percentile for that economic disadvantage group and 46% off for math um in their Middle grades um group respectively I think that's a typo I think it should say Elementary R sorry um effective in programming for Trevor can you check that
254and confirm that so I can correct that on the record they were effective in programming for students with disabilities which evaluates to schools for practices and procedures and providing um services to students with disabilities and whether those students are exhibiting a trajectory for um growth and achievement they were developing a Fidelity to Charter application overall which considers the extent the school has fully implemented its Mission stakeholders um understand that mission and that the school understands and address its challenges in its data particular areas enrollment student attendance Dropout rates attrition the academic performance pattern SE in the school's master in which the school strong Elementary grad instead of middle in the current renewal um um is um re only recently implementing a Miz learning model um um over the upcoming years um despite um Elementary um
255being area of improvement in the past um they're utilizing a strong um practice of student learning data cycle to inform practice um and so that use of that is an area the school must focus on so that um sorry let me say that over uh the utilization of a of um a student learning data cycle to inform practice is an area that the school must focus on so they can provide a comprehensive focus focus on Improvement at all grade levels the school describes practices and tracking academic and climate data and has shown positive results uh in some areas such as a low suspension rate and other areas such as attendance and chronic accents the performance hovers near the district average for Middle grades there are improvements in comparison to the average especially in chronic absence
256where the school has a 18.5% chronics absence rate in 201920 compared to the district average um uh middle grade chronic absence rate of 29.3% for that year the school is on a trajectory for growth for students with disabilities in climate areas such as attendance cronic absents and suspensions academic performance of students with disabilities is mostly above the district average the no Elementary student score proficient in the most recent year for which of the data is available U which is an area for growth for the school an audit of school practices conducted by the office of special education show the school has practices in place that ensure students with disabilities are receiving appropriate instruction and services and thus with the charter school policy and law and based on consideration of the operator renew report testimony at
257the operator run schools work session and public hearings and the contents of the official record it is the recommendation of the CEO that the contract with Southwest Baltimore Charter School Inc to operate Southwest Baltimore chch SCH will be renewed for three years for a term that commences on July 1 2022 and ends on June 30th 2025 I concur with the recommendation are there any questions or comments regarding this recommendation from the board I just want to you know briefly say again that it's clear that the school is making progress um so I just want to make sure that we note that um it seems like there's great leadership at the school um an infectious uh positive energy that principal has at that school and I think um um with that leadership we should be able
258to see some some growth um because I don't think that um that particular School leader and that team um has been there for the full duration of this particular review so um I just wanted to note that I know that when we visit the school um the different comments from the community um we do hear a lot of positive things and thank you Miss Alvarez for reminding us of um a lot of that growth so I just want to shout out um the school the team and that particular Community um for for the improvements that they're doing but certainly there are areas for growth as as we continue to reiterate that we also need to be serious about focusing on um to raise achievement for our young people thank you so much commissioner mcfaden is
259there a motion for this recommendation oh um before you do that motion sorry um chair Richardson can I just correct that that there's a type on the slide I just want to say it correctly in the record before you vote um and so uh they're not effective uh in the absolute performance the second bullet they're not effective in the ELA but and being in that 31st percentile um for um Elementary grades in both um Ela and in math being in the 46 percentile so it just say math Elementary so that that that's just a typo project so you're excuse me chair sure so you're is that you're saying math 6 through eight so it should be three through five yeah yeah at the end of that bullet of the second bullet it where it says
260math you'll see math is listed twice but the second time you see math is is Elementary thank you is there a motion I move the B based upon the consideration of the recommendations and rationale of the CEO the operator will do a report the testimony given that operator run schools work session and public hearings content of the official record and the factors listed in policy ibj and administrative regulation ibj including section 3. K of the policy providing that the board may decide that a public charter school is not eligible for two consecutive partial renewals that the board accept the CEO's recommendation as stated thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second Robert thank you commissioner Roberts all in favor commissioner bondima yes commissioner Chena yes commissioner Griffin yes Commissioner James yes commissioner mcfaden yes
261commissioner Reed yes commissioner Roberts yes and I am in favor this motion passes a in favor with one absent um I want to personally thank St before you continue yes I'm sorry I need to beg the apology of the board and the community and ask to amend my vote in my notes for how I was going to vote I transpose the two City neighbors I need to change my vote to to approval of the secondary school's renewal and abstaining from the elementary school from City neighbors Hamilton I apologize to the to my colleagues and their community on that one so I just want to be clear the school that Morgan is working with is the Elementary School Hamilton yes yes and I apologize I had I was just reading on my notes and had them
262switched how do we do that the okay we'll have Christian is going to have the record reflect that thank you for um correcting that commissioner thank you I'm sorry to interrupt I just wanted to get it out in the right order before we move to agenda items awesome it's okay um I just want to again thank the staff this is a heavy lift and um we were well taken care of in Terms of all of the site visits to the schools and all of the materials that were provided to us so I just want to thank the staff I also want to thank my fellow Board of Commissioners for taking the time visiting the schools having conversations with school leaders and community members um as we have always said this isn't easy um but it
263is a part of the work that we've been assigned to do and so um and and we so we want to just thank everybody who participated in this process with us um we are at item 9.01 in the agenda and what we're going to do is delay that for for future meeting um Angela you have a question sorry um just a couple of notes just for the um good of the public for people that are listening so um there were two schools where the vote has been deferred so staff will will follow up with you on what that means and what that will look like um tomorrow um so just look for um um um detail so um that was for Creative City and Independence so we will be in contact with you so I
264just wanted to make sure that we said that on the record additionally um you notice that we talked about the school serving students grades K through 8 that's from a contract perspective so there are some of these schools that serve prek grades um but prek is controlled by the district it's just a technical thing so that's why we didn't mention that on the record so Baltimore monu balair Edison um City uh Springs El maray Henderson Frederick and Ferman all have prek as well but it's not part of their contract I just want that to be really clear on the record tee sorry thank you Angela is that every single thing you have to say tonight on on this agenda item yes okay um all right so like I was saying we're gonna delay 9.01 which
265is the policy FFA naming renaming a school facility policy um to a future to a future meeting um so this um we have our upcoming meetings can you read those for me wrong button operations committee um is scheduled to meet on Tuesday January 18th um 10:30 a.m. policy committee will meet that same uh day at 3:30 p.m. this is important not that all things aren't important but um our winter board parent and Family Forum is coming up on Tuesday the exact same day as these these committee meetings but it will be held um at 6 o'clock it is virtual so all of us um colleagues team members um staff members folks stakeholders parents that are listening please encourage um parents to parents and family members Guardians to chime into that virtual hearing on um the
2666 because certainly um City Schools wants to hear more and lift the voices of our parents our families and and our stakeholders so that is Tuesday the 18th at 6 o'clock it is virtual next exact session is Tuesday January 25th at 3 o'clock public board meeting is on that same day Tuesday January 25th at 5:00 pm and the teaching and learning committee will meet on Tuesday February 1st at 3:30 I appreciate you thank you so much commissioner mcfaden is there a motion to adjourn so move thank you commissioner mcfaden is there a second second thank you commissioner Griffin I know we are all in favor so thank you all for hanging out with us this late tonight um thank you to the public and we will see you again in our future meetings good night
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