Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 2/12/19

The Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, February 12 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 – 11:30 a.m.

Call to order – 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance, Henry E. Lackey High School

Recognition of student state winners

Superintendent’s update - Report

Correspondence/Board Member updates

• Hancock - EACC legislative reception; Mt Hope recognition; Mitchell and Stethem visitation; CCASC Meeting
• Brown - Stehem visitation; Night to Shine
• Wilson - Stethem visit; Malcolm visit; CCASC Meeting
• Battle-Lockhart - CCASC Meeting
• McGraw - CCASC Meeting; Equity & Diversity; Scholarships
• Abell  - Polar Bear Plunge and congratulations to Washington Post and MD State teacher nominees & finalist

Education Association of Charles County update - Report

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees update - Report

Student Board Member update - Report

Significant disproportionality in special education - Presentation

• Still waiting on additional data to determine course of action.
• If child is NOT suspended but parent picks child up from school, it's still determined a removal from school.
• Submission for federal grant needs to include data toward end of May.
• Hill - consider discipline implications 
• Lukas - As long as we arent disproportionate we can still suspend
• Volunteered with MSDE for self-assessment program
• Abell - Alternative Elementary education is for K-2, prior to special education identification 
• Hancock - Funding ramifications?  YES

Projects update - Report

• Facilities tour on March 20th for Billingsley and Mudd.

FY 2020 operating budget - Presentation

Legislative update - Report

• School Calendar Bill just passed Senate this morning

Unfinished business

·         Grading policy #5132.2 - Presentation

• Hancock - clear up language on "alternative" and "initial".
• Lukas - students placed in last quarter?  Yes
• Abell - rewording of policy to incllude one-time and therapeutic

·         Retreat – March 11

• Topics team building and review core values

·        Teacher Town Hall – March 25, 4:15 to 5:45 p.m., work session, 6 p.m. 

• Teacher -  workload

New business

• March for Our Schools - Resolution

Future agenda items

• Hancock - Discipline Review
• McGraw - Discipline Committee requests email interest by 2/19

Recognition – 4:30 p.m.

• James E. Richmond Leadership Award: Accepting: Marvin L. Jones, executive director of schools
• Resolutions:  
• Read Across Charles County: Accepting: Indian Head Elementary School:  Janie Chang, reading recovery teacher; Sarah Fleck, reading resource teacher; Joshua Boadu, fifth-grade student; Madison Jennings, second-grade student
• Women's History Month: Accepting: Charles County Commission for Women; Maxine Somerville, chair; Robbie Wilson, member; Patty Stine, member; Sandra Swinson, secretary; Jennifer McSwain, treasurer
• Fine and Performing Arts Month: Accepting: Austin Gore, theater arts teacher, Henry E. Lackey High School
• Students: 
• Kush Patel; twelfth-grade; St. Charles High School; Principal: Richard Conley
• Lauren Kahler, sixth-grade; Academic Achievement; Benjamin Stoddert Middle School: Principal: Christienne Warren
• Nya Whitney, fifth-grade; Dr. James Craik Elementary School; Principal: Michelle Beckwith
• Hunter Headley; fifth-grade; Malcolm Elementary; Principal: Mary Finneran
• Renata Ashton; fifth-grade; J.C. Parks Elementary School; Principal: Gregory Miller
• Employees:
• Terence Stone; business education teacher; St. Charles
• Vincent Batts; building service worker; Stoddert
• Dana Moyer; learning resource teacher; Craik
• Kathleen Stafford; reading resource teacher; Malcolm
• Kelsey Jones; third-grade teacher; Parks

Public Forum – 6 p.m. 

• Derrick Terry - 2 solutions for fair and equitable compensation for educators.  Here as a parent.  Only 4.6% of college students choose teaching.  Charles County has highest starting salary in region.  Lack of instructional autonomy.  Allow employees to contract out for a second job.  Provide compensatory time for work outside of class.
• Perry Jones - parent.  curriculum that is more inclusive and diverse.  curriculum not reflective.  Need to tech history from all aspects.  need educational reform.  more subtle type of racism.need to teach multicultural prejudice.
• Carolyn Fisher - A lot of negativity around teaching and schools in general.  Want to talk about TAM.  11th year with TAM intern.  Amazing opportunity for her elementary students as well as the high school students.  TAM students learn first hand what it's like to teach.  They have helped her grow as a teacher as well.  Home grown teachers.  Everyone should nurture and mentor.
• Peter Ulman -  Hanson MS teacher.  Discipline behavior matrix.  Code of Conduct needs some clauses.  Chronic disruptive students should not be allowed.  Love the progressiveness of matrix.  Many behaviors continue to receive a Level 1, multiple times.  Please escalate.  Make students/families fiscally responsible for items.  Attacks on school personnel in any fashion (verbal, physical, electronic, etc.) will not be tolerated.
• NAME? -  Elementary School teacher - sharing the good not the bad.  special handshakes with all kids.  teacher kicked or bitten.  a students blood smeared on her.  cursed out.  punched, hit, kicked while protecting her other students.  Something has to change.  Teachers need to be respected. 
• Heather Hartman Jansen - MS teacher - safe spaces have been created in some schools...game clubs, book clubs, DI etc.  Teachers tutor.  Knocked down, seriously injured, cleanig and repairing bathrooms, flooded or damaged, bullied, hard to teach and learn.
• Sean Heyl - HS teacher - recruit programmers, influence athletes and pop stars.  teachers are cursed, pregnant teacher put on medical leave after a fight in class, concussion,  show you positive and negative,  we need your help.  give us homework.  come up 
• Amani Harrold -  Marine Corp veteran.  Mother St. Charles.  daughter GPA 3.4 is a senior made a bad choice in error.  disciplinary action was given.  suspension of 10 days.  hearing.  no extra curricular activities.  Policy was passed that music was not extracurricular.  Daughter was accepted to Hood College.  If she doesn't perform she doesn't get a grade.  She should be allowed,
• Dyothea Sweat - NAACP.  asking for assistance on youth initiative.  Year long program for HS students of color.  Need assistance of advertisement to students.  April 13 at NP competition.  Helps students that struggle with self esteem.  
• Kate Omera - Performing Arts students at St. Charles HS.  Due to a few students, the entire class will suffer.   Students should be allowed to perform and not disciplined on classroom requirements.

Action items

·         Minutes

Motion to accept the minutes by Abell; Second by Hancock

Yes = Abell, Battle-Lockhart, Brown, Hancock, Lukas, McGraw, Wilson

·         Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Abell; Second by Brown

Yes = Abell, Battle-Lockhart, Brown, Hancock, McGraw, Wilson; Abstain = Lukas

·         Textbooks: “Therapeutic Exercises: Foundations and Techniques” and “Muscles: Testing and Function with Posture and Pain”

Motion to accept the textbooks by Abell; Second by Wilson

Yes = Abell, Battle-Lockhart, Brown, Hancock, Lukas, McGraw, Wilson

·         FY2020 proposed operating budget

Motion to accept the operating budget by Lukas; Second by Abell

Yes = Abell, Battle-Lockhart, Brown, Hancock, Lukas, McGraw, Wilson

Adjournment