Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 4/10/12

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, April 10 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, La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Correspondence/Board Member updates

• Bowie - Month of the Military Child - Waldorf library storytime on April 14th from 10-11 for PK to first grade
• Pedersen - Thank staff for all activities and events lately; MESA; Military Ball
• Wise - Senior Prom was amazing; MABE - nominations for officers
• Lukas - ditto on Senior Prom; Mudd History night and recognition given to Mr. Cunningham's wife; State Math Counts Competition

Education Association of Charles County update - read report

Student Board Member update - read report

CIP update - read report

Reading Recovery program - read report

FY 2012 financial update - read report

Budget amendment FY 2012 - read report

School calendar 2013-2014 - read report

Legislative update

• Doomsday budget and pension hasn't shifted to locals as of yet
• Senate 848 Maintenance of Effort passed
• House 245 extension of buses to 14 years passed
• Senate 362 age of compulsory attendance to 17 in 2014 and 18 in 2016 passed
• House 497 on use of Epi pens passed
• House 2 carbon monoxide detectors - passed
• Senate 867 oral health education passed
• House 596 IEP meeting documents passed
• House 617 remove requirement for kinship care affidavit passed
• House 1019 policy on use of green cleaning products in schools passed

Board goals - postponed to the end of the month

Unfinished business - Superintendent's Rule #5126

Motion to accept Superintendent's Rule #5126 by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Lukas - wants to know other members' opinions of why we didn't vote for this before...his main issue was for those who resided out of county.

• Abell - same reasons; constituents seem concerned with those out of county with tuition waived
• Pedersen - willing to see how it works but wants to revisit annually
• Bowie - wanted more information before deciding, likes that it removes the responsibility from the principals to Starkey administration. Waived tuition was also a concern of taxpayers.
• Cook - knew we needed more discussion; spoke with teachers who would leave over this
• Wise - a lot of businesses have perks

Yes = Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise; Abstain = Abell

Motion to change the due date to June 15, 2012 for this year only by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

New business

• Pedersen - State boards requested local boards to send a letter to legislators to stop the stall on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind

Future agenda items

Recognition – 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Employees
• Resolutions: Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals Week; National Physical Education and Sports Week; Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award; and Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader Award

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

• Liz Brown - EACC - transfer policy
• Natasha Copeland - Greenhaven Neighborhood, Davis redistricting, don't do it
• Rosemann Diaz - Bensville Corridor - don't redistrict
• Dawn Sutherland - Everyone must get involved to stop development in the county

Action items

• Minutes
Motion to accept Minutes by Abell; Second by Cook
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Personnel
Motion to accept Personnel by Cook; Second by Abell
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Elementary and middle school redistricting recommendation
Motion to accept the redistricting recommendations by Abell; Second by Pedersen
• Pedersen - If a family can show that a student in the family has been moved more than twice at any specific grade level (elementary, middle, or high), the student can stay at his/her current school if the family provides the transportation.
• Lukas - We know as a board that this has happened
• Bowie - Impact if we waited a year?
• Wineland - Class size would be adversely affected. Even adding relocatables, the rest of the school cannot support the number of students. 53 new students at Neal and 43 at Diggs just since September.
• Wise - Davis average class size is 30...at Henson it's 19.
• Pedersen - Attended Davis for lunch shifts and the hallways are too crowded to function properly. It's creating an unsafe environment
• Wineland - Enrollment at Diggs is 1100...the largest in the state. The largest income in the county is building houses. The county was building houses to build schools and adversely affecting the schools.
• Wade - Taught at Roosevelt High School when there were 3300 students there. It was not a good environment: floating classrooms, etc.
• Wise - 25 - Neal, Willets Crossing, Matula to Neal to Brown
• Lukas - 23 students - Ryan to Neal to Turner
• Weslowski - Inequity with children who can get rides and those who can't
• Bowie - High school redistricting -- could they get moved again?....yes
• Lukas - Made a speech
• Wade - Reprimanded Lukas

Motion to amend to allow students to remain at their current school if they have been redistricted more than twice at elementary school and have their own transportation by Pederson; Second by Lukas

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Lukas, Pedersen; No= Cook, Wade, Wise

(Original Motion) Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Pedersen, Wade, Wise; No = Lukas

• Non-discrimination policy
Motion to accept Non-discrimination Policy by Cook; Second by Pedersen
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
• Superintendent's proposed FY 2013 operating budget
Motion to accept FY 2013 operating budget by Lukas; Second by Pedersen
Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Adjournment