REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 3/26/12

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, March 26, in the staff development room at North Point High School. The agenda is as follows:
Call to Order- 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session


FY 2013 budget

Adjournment


Public hearing on redistricting – 7 p.m., North Point auditorium

The work session and public hearing on redistricting will be available as a video on demand on the Charles County Public Schools Web site, www.ccboe.com, later next week.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 3/13/12

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, March 13 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.
The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Executive session – 12 p.m.
Call to order – 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance, Thomas Stone High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update - see report

Correspondence/Board Member updates

• Abell - MABE budget meetings in June and July
• Bowie - thanks for the student shadowing us at the last board meetings. Suggests board members shadow a student. Liked the Bunkyo University farewell party. Library - bullying seminar.
• Pedersen - senior portfolio interviews at Westlake and Lackey were very good. Enjoyed time at Read Across Charles County; congratulations to basketball teams
• Cook - Destination Imagination - very impressed
• Wise - Science Fairs, very impressed with second place winner who built a robot to clean up leaves in the yard

Education Association of Charles County update - see report

Student Board Member update - see report

CIP update - see report

Superintendent's redistricting recommendation - see reports

• Cook - miscommunication and disparaging remarks about Barnhart from fellow citizens was disappointing.
• Bowie - transportation issues?
• Lukas - Neal redistricting, growth numbers?
• Barrett - projections based on units: some factual, some subjective.
• Lukas - Some children will be attending 3 different elementary schools; special consideration for 5th graders to stay at Neal
• Wade - Wants to know the number of students Lukas is talking about

Career technology education - see report

Proposed FY 2013 operating budget - see report
Update on 2013-14 school calendar - to be posted on the website for comment later this week

Legislative items

• maintenance of effort waiver legislation
• teacher pension
• length of time a bus can be in service

Non-discrimination policy - see report
Board goals - see report

• Abell - quantitative measures
• Wade - doesn't believe the board should be issuing goals for the system
• Richmond - we should wait until next year after the new Superintendent is in place and discuss with him/her any new goals and their implementation.
• Lukas - review the "goals" and use them as a monitoring device over the next year
• Richmond - add virtual high school to #4
• Bowie - new library will have tutor rooms
• Abell - HSA, SAT, ACT; read the definition of a goal, should be something striving to attain.
• Richmond - should be achievable and have resources

Unfinished business -

• Wade - 4 athletic teams at state level; if state champions in a particular area, we recognize at the board level

New business

• Bowie - continue with plan to meet with commissioners on planning and budget

Future agenda items

• Wade - Black History month at La Plata HS via tele-presence. Requests a board meeting be done this way
• Wade - Ms. Arnold should be addressed by Dr.
• Abell - students are requesting the possibility of drug dogs patrolling in schools
• Pedersen - Requests presentation by the Southern Maryland Food Bank for backpacks home with needy kids on the weekend.

Recognition – 4:30 p.m.

• Students - Shad Kirkham, fifth grade, Academic Achievement, William A. Diggs Elementary School; Elijah Neagle, fifth grade, Career Readiness, Arthur Middleton Elementary School; Geneva Long, eighth grade, Personal Responsibility, Piccowaxen Middle School; Amanda Hobgood, eighth grade, Academic Achievement, General Smallwood Middle School; Bianca Watson, twelfth grade, Personal Responsibility, Thomas Stone High School;
• North Point High School senior and national winner in the 2012 National Future Educators Association (FEA) essay competition - Elijah Steele
• Mattawoman Middle School's first-place MathCounts team
• Employees - Leroy Pressley, vocal music teacher, Diggs; Barbara Woods-Miazza, reading recovery teacher, Middleton; Nancy Buter, language arts teacher, Piccowaxen; Tamra Nissen, mathematics teacher, Smallwood; Philip Jones, science teacher, Stone
• Charles County's Outstanding Educator for Use of Technology - Courtney Brunone
• Resolutions: Month of the Young Child and National Student Leadership Week

Public hearing on FY 2013 budget - none

Public Forum – 6 p.m. (names are approx. spelling)

• Kristen Cuttner - Project Lead the Way at North Point is by application into the engineering program only. They do NOT offer the program to students actually zoned for North Point. All other high schools offer the program to the students within their zone.
• Roseman Dia - redistricting at Davis Middle School, PG County students are allowed to pay tuition and attend
• Jennifer Dugan - Redistricting at Davis. Should not move current students to accommodate future construction
• Paul Handwork - Redistricting at Diggs and after school care would need to change to accommodate him driving to North Point campus and Henson. Get rid of PG students and illegally attending students.
• Dawn Sutherland - Redistricting, at previous hearing and commissioners hearing. portable trailers.
• Cindy Handgarter - Redistricting. Berry Hill Manor. Davis to Henson, after school activities would be harder, longer bus rides, making room for children that are not even here.
• Leanne Evans - Redistricting. Bensville corridor. One daughter at North Point and one at Davis and convenience to go to one campus. Hopes both can stay at current schools for the coming years.
• Jose Schwam - Redistricting. Eutaw Forest. 3 children. Will affect bottom line when selling house.
• Lourdes Saignon- Redistricting. Davis. Thank you for meeting with me during the recess. Apology for being disrespectful during the last hearing. Allocations. Reassign new developments, not current neighborhoods.
• Irene Fletcher - Redistricting. Son bullied during last redistricting. Daughter at Henson. Don't move the children, they suffer. Children are not a number. The board is going to be held responsible for her children's medical bills for their counseling

Action items

• Minutes
Motion to accept Minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Personnel
Motion to accept Personnel by Abell; Second by Cook
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Policy #3430 Accounts: opening and closing accounts
Motion to accept Policy #3430 by Pedersen; Second by Lukas
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Superintendents rule #5126 – student transfers
Motion to accept Rule #5126 by Cook; Second by Abell for discussion
Pedersen - doesn't feel there is enough change
Cook - If we vote against, we are stuck with our current policy
Pedersen - it could be brought up again
Lukas - questions for staff on transfer report issued in December; have to look at specific schools to recognize there is a problem
Bowie - Supt recommendation says ALL employees and the sub-committee recommendation says only certificated
Pedersen - staff members should only be allowed to bring students to school in their building.
Abell - a seat is a seat. You cannot MAKE a seat that doesn't exist.
Pedersen - go back to subcommittee's recommendation with additional work
Abell - agree but add additional clauses to address a grandfather clause & not to supercede any previously arranged negotiated agreement
Lukas - agree with Abell about a seat needs to be there, but doesn't want to shut down ALL transfers. Doesn't think it should only be available to employees
Bowie - parents upset by non-taxpaying students taking seats
Call for the Vote by Abell
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise; No = Lukas


Yes = Wade, Wise; No = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen
Motion for the sub-committee to reconvene and come back with recommendation by Pedersen; Second by Abell
Wade - do we have authority to do this; request staff on committee
Abell - This is the only rule we have to approve and staff was previously on the committee and will still be
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wise; No = Wade

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 3/13/12

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, March 13, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting begins at 1 p.m. and student and staff recognition starts at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. The meeting is also streamed live on the Charles County Public Schools Web site. Visit http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/ to watch the meeting.

 

Executive session – 12 p.m.

 

Call to order – 1 p.m.

 

Pledge of Allegiance, Thomas Stone High School's JROTC unit

 

Superintendent's update

 

Correspondence/Board Member updates

 

Education Association of Charles County update

 

Student Board Member update

 

CIP update

 

Superintendent's redistricting recommendation

 

Career technology education

 

Proposed FY 2013 operating budget

 

Update on 2013-14 school calendar

 

Legislative items

 

Non-discrimination policy

 

Board goals

 

Unfinished business

 

New business

 

Future agenda items

Recognition – 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Elijah Steele, North Point High School senior and national winner in the 2012 National Future Educators Association (FEA) essay competition
• Mattawoman Middle School's first-place MathCounts team
• Employees
• Courtney Brunone, Charles County's Outstanding Educator for Use of Technology
• Resolutions: Month of the Young Child and National Student Leadership Week

Public hearing on FY 2013 budget

 

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

  

Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• Policy #3430 Accounts: opening and closing accounts
• Superintendents rule #5126 – student transfers

Adjournment

'Creative...motivating' and fired

Bill Turque

March 6, 2011

The Washington Post

By the end of her second year at MacFarland Middle School, fifth-grade teacher Sarah Wysocki was coming into her own.

“It is a pleasure to visit a classroom in which the elements of sound teaching, motivated students and a positive learning environment are so effectively combined,” Assistant Principal Kennard Branch wrote in her May 2011 evaluation.

He urged Wysocki to share her methods with colleagues at the D.C. public school. Other observations of her classroom that year yielded good ratings.

Two months later, she was fired.

Wysocki, 31, was let go because the reading and math scores of her students didn’t grow as predicted. Her undoing was “value-added,” a complex statistical tool used to measure a teacher’s direct contribution to test results. The District and at least 25 states, under prodding from the Obama administration, have adopted or are developing value-added systems to assess teachers.

Read more HERE.