Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 12/8/20

The Board of Education Virtual Meeting on Tuesday, December  8 was streamed live on ccboe.com and aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOs Channel 12.  The meeting 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. Individual names are spelled to the best of my ability.

Executive session – 12 p.m.

Call to order – 1 p.m.

Superintendent’s update to the Board - Report

Board Member correspondence

• Battle-Lockhart - Happy Holidays
• Brown - Thank you to everyone for working through this. School allocations!
• Hancock - Thank you to everyone.  Thank you to Dr. Hill and Hollstein for their service.  Thank you to Rucci and Bowling for taking my calls regarding APFO.  Apologies to Ms. Kiessling for comments from made by our delegation during the legislative breakfast.
• Abell - Happy holidays, thank you to all staff.  MABE Budget committee meeting and budget submitted to Board of Directors.  Final approval will take place by February.  APFO, let your voice be heard.  Reach out to a commissioner and let them know how you feel about the proposed legislation.
• Lukas - Thanks to staff for all the hard work.  Tutoring when i can.  Allocations...we can handle growth but we need the funding.
• Wilson - virtual hugs and thanks and happy holidays.  Support schools during online plays.   CTE applications.  Legislative breakfast, thanks to Bowling and StewAart and CT Wilson for speaking like leaders.  APFO and commissioners having a presentation today on the Town of LaPlata and Indian Head.
• McGraw - congrats to administrators, staff and students; Dr. Mudd for closing achievement gap; MABE Board of Directors meeting and discussed legislation.  Thank you to Dr. Hill for your service.  Selection of new Supt information forth coming.  Thank you to Amy Hollstein for her service.

Education Association of Charles County (EACC) update - Report

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

Student Board Member update - Report

First-quarter grades - Report

• Battle-Lockhart - Students having issues; were they provided the tutoring service.  
• Hollstein - Yes.  And we have overspent the grant and will need to have intervention services over the summer.
• Lukas - Equity gap...is it in a specific group?  Learning support rooms
• Yes, disconnected students and homeless population.  Now we are starting to see in ELL students and special population.  Anyone getting an I, in MS and HS were offered to attend school with bus transportation and masks.  No on-site instruction is given, just access to internet.  About 70 kids.
• Hancock - Clarification on revised grading policy.  I was against this previously but this is entirely different circumstances.  Asked for student opinion.

Recruitment and retention strategies - Report

• Wilson - HR has made significant gains under Ms. Majors leadership; Signing bonus task force

Project status update - Report

Overview of current budget status - Report; CARES grant Funding

Intercategory budget change - Report

Legislative update 

• Looking for any vetoes or overrides; especially Kirwan bill
• Public/Private partnerships for school construction in PG County and build to learn act.

Unfinished business 

New business

• Suspension of Board policies - Report

Motion to approve continued suspension of policies by Abell; Second by Wilson

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

• Suspension of grading policy for the first quarter 

Motion to approve suspension of grading policy by Wilson; Second by Brown

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

• Approval of multi-year contract for architectural services for Charles County Public Schools - Report

Motion to approve contract by Lukas; Second by Wilson

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

Future agenda items

• Wilson - student board member presentation on the student representative staff and officers
• Hancock - Student forum in regards to SRO's
• Wilson - work group with HR regarding signing bonuses

Virtual Recognition – 4:30 p.m. 

• Students
• Tamia Smith, Grade 12, Career Readiness, Thomas Stone High School, Principal: Shanif Pearl
• Rajan Venkatesh, Grade 8, Academic Achievement, General Smallwood Middle School, Principal: Brenda Tillotson             
• Makayla Russell, Grade 5, Personal Responsibility, William A. Diggs Elementary School, Principal: Debra Calvert
• Payton Jones, Grade 5, Academic Achievement, J.P. Ryon Elementary School, Principal: Melinda Johnson, Ed.D.
• Employees
• Luciano Morales, Jr., instructional assistant, SAIL program, Stone
• Trevor Gillum, computer analyst III, Smallwood
• Kim Powell, kindergarten instructional assistant, Diggs
• Donna Rzechula, instructional assistant, Three-Year Old program, Ryon
• Wanda Woodland, instructional assistant, STAY program, F.B. Gwynn Center, Principal: Daphne Burns

Public forum

• Email written comments to boardmail@ccboe.com

Action items

• November Board Meeting Minutes

Motion to approve  November Board Meeting Minutes by Lukas; Second by Abell

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

• November Board Work Session Minutes

Motion to approve November Board Work Session Minutes by Abell; Second by Brown

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

• Legislative Meeting Minutes

Motion to approve Legislative Meeting Minutes by Abell; Second by Brown

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

• Personnel

Motion to approve Personnel by Brown; Second by Lukas

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

• Intercategory budget change

Motion to approve Intercategory Budget change by Lukas; Second by Brown

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

Adjournment