Ready, Willing and Abell

In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise

2012-01-18T09:53:00.002-05:00

Michael Alison Chandler
The Washington Post
January 15, 2012

For decades, the prevailing wisdom in education was that high self-esteem would lead to high achievement. The theory led to an avalanche of daily affirmations, awards ceremonies and attendance certificates — but few, if any, academic gains.

Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise. Drawing on psychology and brain research, these educators aim to articulate a more precise, and scientific, vocabulary for praise that will push children to work through mistakes and take on more challenging assignments. Consider teacher Shar Hellie’s new approach in Montgomery County.

To get students through the shaky first steps of Spanish grammar, Hellie spent many years trying to boost their confidence. If someone couldn’t answer a question easily, she would coach him, whisper the first few words, then follow up with a booming “¡Muy bien!”

But on a January morning at Rocky Hill Middle School in Clarksburg, the smiling grandmother gave nothing away. One seventh-grade boy returned to the overhead projector three times to rewrite a sentence, hesitating each time, while his classmates squirmed in silence.

“You like that?” Hellie asked when he settled on an answer. He nodded. Finally, she beamed and praised the progress he was making — in his cerebral cortex.

“You have a whole different set of neurons popping up there!” she told him.

A growing body of research over three decades shows that easy, unearned praise does not help students but instead interferes with significant learning opportunities. As schools ratchet up academic standards for all students, new buzzwords are “persistence,” “risk-taking” and “resilience” — each implying more sweat and strain than fuzzy, warm feelings.

“We used to think we could hand children self-esteem on a platter,” Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck said. “That has backfired.”

Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 1/10/12

2012-01-10T18:03:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, January 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 - 10 a.m.

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

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman

Motion to elect Wise as Chair by Cook; Second by Abell

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

Motion to elect Cook as Vice Chair by Lukas; Second by Wise

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

Motion to elect Lukas as Vice Chair by Bowie; Second by Pedersen

Lukas respectfully removed his nomination

Superintendent's update to the Board - Spoke of Cunningham's passing. Read report

Correspondence/Board member updates

all took turns speaking of Mr. Cunningham
Lukas - visit to schools, thank you
Bowie - anti-bullying correspondence from parents; parents' rights; forum at Jaycees on 1/23
Lukas - donation of tickets to the Nutcracker ballet in DC for under-privileged children...thank you
Richmond - Ms. Dorsey and Mr. Cornette will be in charge of school operations

Education Association of Charles County update - read report

Student Board member update - see report

School administration - enrollment update

9/30 enrollment = 26,778
12/15 enrollment = 26,924
greatest growth in African-American, Hispanic, and Multi-Racial ethnic groups
greatest growth at Diggs, Davis, Neal, and North Point

CIP update - see report

ESOL program and Bunkyo trip - See Report

Policy #3430, Accounts: Opening and closing accounts - See Report

FY 2012 budget update - See report - breakfast

Legislative update

no increase in state funding, but will remain steady; 7 counties in MD did NOT meet maintenance of effort
teacher retirement may be put on counties

Unfinished business - none

New business

Wade asked for our position on MLK Breakfast. Tickets are to be bought individually if we want to attend.

Future Agenda items - None

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

Students - Caleb Caine, fifth grade, Academic Achievement, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer Elementary; Jaylyn Pinchem, fifth grade, Personal Responsibility, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary; Micaela Patin, fifth grade, Career Readiness, William B. Wade Elementary School; Paul Adams, II, eighth grade, Academic Achievement, Matthew Henson Middle School
Staff - Lauren Washington, first grade teacher, Jenifer; Velta Williams, Secretary to the Principal, Mudd; Audre Codrington, school psychologist IA, Wade; Immaculada Dove, special education, IA, F.B. Gwynn Educational Center; Michael Forrest, science teacher, Henson
Resolutions: African American History Month - Accepting: AVID advocates and students; Jada Proctor, 7th grade and Michelle James, school counselor, General Smallwood Middle School; Loren Ward, 9th grade and Laura Buzzell, math teacher, Henry E. Lackey High School; Dielle McMillan, 11th grade, Daquan Patterson, 11th grade, and Jacqueline Cheaves, school counselor, Westlake High School
Career and Technical Education Week: Accepting: Chitra Sharma, Chairperson, Charles County Commission for Women
National School Counseling Week: Accepting: Michelle James, school couselor, General Smallwood Middle School; Wanda Proctor, school counselor, Benjamin Stoddert Middle School
La Plata High School Thespian Society
Nathan Freeman, winner of the 2011 Student Space Flight Experiments Program (SSEP) Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-135 mission patch design contest

Public Forum - 6 p.m. - None

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept the Minutes by Cook; Second by Abell

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

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Pedersen; Second by Cook

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

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 1/10/12

2012-01-09T07:07:00.000-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 10, 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 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. All televised Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.
Executive session - 10 a.m.

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

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman
.
Superintendent's update to the Board

Reports of officers/board/committees

Correspondence/Board member updates
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board member update
School administration - enrollment update
CIP update
ESOL program and Bunkyo trip
Policy #3430, Accounts: Opening and closing accounts
FY 2012 budget update
Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

New business
Future agenda items

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

Students
Staff

Resolutions: African-American History Month, Career and Technology Education Month and National School Counseling Week

La Plata High School Thespian Society
Nathan Freeman, winner of the 2011 Student Space Flight Experiments Program (SSEP) Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-135 mission patch design contest

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 12/13/11

2011-12-13T18:35:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, December 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

Superintendent's update to the Board - see report. Extra discussion on tele-presence

Correspondence/Board member updates

Pedersen - dinner at Mt. Hope/ Nanjemoy was delicious.
Pedersen - Career Day at Mattawoman was very successful
Cook - All County Orchestra was fabulous
Wade - Joint Military Ball was very colorful and was very valuable for our cadets
Wise - Portfolio interviews; North Point...several are done on disc and include videos
Bowie - Senior interviews; very impressed; MABE legislative seminar was very informative
Wise - Wade was honored for the citizen of the year by Omega Si Phi

Education Association of Charles County update - See report

Student Board member update - See report

Deputy Superintendent update - Maryland State Golf Championship - McDonough High School

CIP update

IAC appeal
SMECO presentation of refund check - $145,708 for partnership on energy conservation (Demand Response Program)

F. B. Gwynn Center Renovations - see report (Power Point to be added to board docs post meeting)

Student Transfers

Dr. Vaira - Principals' meeting changes requested...deadline from March to May. Concerns with item #5 and #6.
Mr. Richmond - Recommends leaving the current policy & rules in place and let staff review them and come back to the board with recommendations.
Abell - was going to recommend strike #5 & #6 from the committee's recommendation. Current enrollment numbers show 9 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and two high schools with openings due to being under state-rated capacity.
Bowie - asked if possible to form committee to include teachers without children in the system.
Lukas - concerned with wording on capacity limitations
Lukas - questioned reasoning for changing the policy to begin with
Abell - board wanted to take a look at the policy/rules based on a report given in August showing the number of out-of zone transfers. Consideration must be given to the legal appeals that come before the board involving out-of-zone transfer denials. The board is tasked with deciding whether or not the Superintendent's denial contains one or more of four elements: illegal, immoral, unreasonable, or arbitrary. The first three aren't an issue. It's the "arbitrary." The committee's recommendation was based on policies in place in other counties across Maryland to close any loopholes and remove the question as to whether or not a decision was arbitrary.

Motion to accept the Superintendent's recommendation by Cook; Second by Lukas

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

Legislative Update

key issues are funding, teacher retention and maintenance of effort
do NOT expect any additional funding over last year from the state
possible shift of teacher retirement cost to local governments
more information after the session begins

Unfinished business

Hettel - Subsitutes: 360 had degrees of BA or BS and above. 350 are below. No count on AA degrees because we don't ask, but the question has been asked and they are collecting the data.

New business

Lukas - North Point removal of "nest" time.
Full discussion took place on the single lunch periods.
Bowie - anti-bullying seminar

Future agenda items

Pedersen - referenced an article on diversity

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students - Duane Kizer, fifth grade, Academic Achievement, C. Paul Barnhart; Arrin Sanders, fifth grade, Personal Responsibility, Dr. Gustavus Brown Elementary School; Elise Hopkins, eighth grade, Academic Achievement, John Hanson Middle School, Principal; Lashawn Queen, twelfth grade, Career Readiness, Henry E. Lackey High School
Staff - Robynn Mudd, first grade teacher, Barnhart; Tina Thomas, secretary, Brown; Brenda Richards, gifted education teacher, Hanson; Laura Buzzell, mathematics teacher, Lackey
War of 1812 DVD Project: La Plata High School seniors: Geoffrey Hammersley; Christopher Cheney; Jonathan Teeney; Matthew Bellerose; Casey Gaskins and Jennifer Munoz; and Michael Mazzeo, history teacher, La Plata

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Liz Brown - EACC - still has members that want to speak on how potential changes could affect their lives
Mary Fenton - J C Parks Elementary - thank you for allowing her children to attend local schools. Please keep policy that allows this to continue
Jennifer Turner - Piccowaxen - 2 children that had attended local school. School family. Supporting colleagues. Daughter got out of zone transfer to LaPlata. Can't believe it got this far.
Debborah Hahn - Middleton - 29 years. Son graduated already but had an issue in elementary school and she was allowed to transfer her son. Son got chicken pox at school and was allowed to sit in the office while she completed her class.
Cindy Hangartner - Wade - benefits received, enjoys perk. Saves on daycare and can be more involved with her own son's education who attends with her. Teachers will still give 100% but extra curricular activities will be affected. Several colleagues live outside of county and are weighing what their options are if they have to pay tuition.
Christy Nelson - Piccowaxen - has a daughter that is nonverbal special needs child who attends out of zone. Very upsetting to think she may need to find another daycare and school for her daughter.
Kelly Craft - Risk losing amazing teachers. Consider the life of a teacher: we knew what we were getting into when we became teachers, but bringing our children to school with us lessens the stress. Please reconsider.
JoAnn Garner - T.C. Martin - 11 years - lives in St. Mary's county. Has a 4 and 7 year old. Son attends TC Martin. Consider all the contributions the teachers already make prior to imposing tuition. Works from 7 -6 every day and her son is with her. Please reconsider.
Sean Starcher - LaPlata HS - son will be entering 6th grade next year. Wants son to attend Somers. 13 years ago, took a pay cut to come here. Will have to reconsider her employment if this policy passes.
James Brietinger - moved to La Plata...both students attend LaPlata High School out of zone. Retired but wife is a teacher. Thinks policy change is disguised as overcrowding. Has not seen statistics on enrollment that justify overcrowding. Quoted Item #8 as the only difference he sees that tightened up loop holes.
Rick Hood - Band teacher at Somers - daughter is a sophmore at La Plata HS. Lives in Hollywood. Stays after frequently and daughter stays with him. Has received an excellent education.
Julianna Herscher - TC Martin - son is an 8th grader at Hanson out-of-zone. Did not feel comfortable with him walking to and from local school Stoddert. IRT so her work location could change from year to year. Children maintain highh academic standards and they are not discipline problems or have transportation issues.

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Wade

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

Personnel

Motion to accept by Wade; Second by Pedersen

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

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 12/13/11

2011-12-13T08:27:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 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 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. All televised Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

Executive session- 12 p.m.

Call to order- 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance

Superintendent's update to the Board

Correspondence/Board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board member update

Deputy Superintendent update

CIP update

F. B. Gwynn Center Renovations

Student Transfers

Legislative Update

Unfinished business

New business

Future agenda items

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students
Staff

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Green Ribbon award will recognize eco-friendly schools

2011-12-07T09:24:00.002-05:00

Michael Alison Chandler
Maryland Schools Insider/The Washington Post
December 5, 2011

The federal government has long awarded schools with stellar academic achievement a Blue Ribbon. Now there is another way for schools to shine, with a Green Ribbon for environmental achievement.

The new award will go to schools with strong environmental curriculum and healthy and sustainable learning environments.

The Maryland Education Department is looking for the greenest schools to nominate for the first round of Green Ribbons.

Is your school outfitted with solar panels and surrounded by gardens that serve as outdoor classrooms? Are the students working on team projects to come up with new ways to limit greenhouse gases? It might be eligible.

“The greatest privilege we have in our short time on this planet is to make the world a better place for the next generation,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). “We are pleased that our schools will get an opportunity to be nationally recognized for their efforts to create a cleaner, greener and healthier planet.”

Last year, Maryland became the first state to make environmental literacy a graduation requirement. And the state already recognizes “green schools” and “green centers” that promote outdoor learning.

Schools both public and private can apply beginning in mid-December, and the state will select up to four to nominate. The Green Ribbons will be awarded in April.

When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids

2011-12-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

Valerie Strauss
The Answer Sheet/The Washington Post
December 6, 2011

Original post:

This was written by Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author.

A longtime friend on the school board of one of the largest school systems in America did something that few public servants are willing to do. He took versions of his state’s high-stakes standardized math and reading tests for 10th graders, and said he’d make his scores public.

By any reasonable measure, my friend is a success. His now-grown kids are well-educated. He has a big house in a good part of town. Paid-for condo in the Caribbean. Influential friends. Lots of frequent flyer miles. Enough time of his own to give serious attention to his school board responsibilities. The margins of his electoral wins and his good relationships with administrators and teachers testify to his openness to dialogue and willingness to listen.

He called me the morning he took the test to say he was sure he hadn’t done well, but had to wait for the results. A couple of days ago, realizing that local school board members don’t seem to be playing much of a role in the current “reform” brouhaha, I asked him what he now thought about the tests he’d taken.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” he wrote in an email. “The math section had 60 questions. I knew the answers to none of them, but managed to guess ten out of the 60 correctly. On the reading test, I got 62% . In our system, that’s a “D”, and would get me a mandatory assignment to a double block of reading instruction.

Read more HERE.

New Out-of-Zone Student Transfer Policy and Rules

2011-12-03T08:56:00.001-05:00

Seeking input, comments, and feedback.

The original policy can be found here and no changes are recommended.

The original Superintendent's Rules can be found here.

The sub-committee's proposed changes can be found here. The only requested change/addition to the recommendation is a grandfather clause.

Let me know what you think.

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ADDED BELOW

Out-of-Zone Transfer report from August Board meeting can be found here.

Current enrollment numbers by school can be found (link coming soon). (note - due to a recent vote by the commissioners, we are suppose to be using "state rated capacity" not "core capacity)

Tuition for out-of-county students = $6,925
Tuition for out-of-state students = $11,125

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 11/28/11

2011-11-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education Work Session on Monday, November 28 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.

Call to order – 6 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance
Public Forum

None

Work session discussions
Student transfers committee update

Abell - review of new Superintendent's Rules #5126.
Schwartz - reviewed in detail
Various principals gave input
(Sorry got involved in conversation and didn't record everything...nothing with major heartburn)
Will return in December as a Report Item and in January as an Action Item

Goals

Benchmark #1 - to be reworded
Benchmark #2 - recommendation to come from staff
Benchmark #3 - deleted
Benchmark #4 - deleted
Benchmark #5 - to be reworded
Benchmark #6 - deleted
Benchmark #7 - deleted
Benchmark #8 - deleted
Benchmark #9 - to be reworded
Benchmark #10 - reworded to increase the # of courses offered w/distance learning
Pedersen - Bullying issues; Abell recommended including it with Benchmark #5 above pertaining to Safe Schools
Pedersen - local control; conferring with state and federal leaders - possible communication type goal
Pedersen - academic rigor
Pedersen - recruiting minority teachers - deleted
Pedersen - wants goal to include ESOL curriculum - will be report item
Wade - IB program - cost prohibitive -
Wade - educational exchange program - possible communication type benchmark
Wade - joint military ball - deleted as a benchmark; annual event
Lukas - parent involvement, tutoring available at centralized locations; Abell pointed out tutoring is available at libraries; maybe under communication goal for publicizing
Lukas - SAT issue already addressed in previous Benchmarks
Lukas - involvement of local civic organizations - communications
Bowie - internal board communication; retreats; possible Board administration
Bowie - proactive in community involvement; possible board communication goal
Abell - previous goals and benchmarks reviewed - done
Abell - Board subcommittees - board administration goal
Wise - Board subcommittee for Benchmarks and Goals; Lukas, Bowie, Abell. Recommendations due at the work session at the end of February

Wise advised that MABE's fee for the Superintendent Search is $24,000

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 11/28/11

2011-11-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, Nov. 28, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

The agenda is as follows:

Call to order – 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session discussions

Student transfers committee update
Goals

Adjournment

High school hazing worries educators

2011-11-15T09:10:00.003-05:00

Michael Alison Chandler
The Washington Post
November 14, 2011

The principal of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School said she tried for years to rein in hazing during homecoming week. One day each fall, older students would shower ninth-graders with paint, pelt them with ketchup, yell “Go back to Westland!” — the local middle school — and occasionally rough them up.

Karen Lockard banned spray paint on campus. She brought in an anti-bullying expert for an assembly. She encouraged classroom discussions about values.

None of that stopped this year’s Color Day spirit event from becoming, once again, “freshman beat-down day.” One student went to a hospital after being assaulted, and many wound up plastered in paint. It got so out of hand that Lockard canceled next year’s Color Day. “It’s hard to change tradition,” she said.

The episode last month in Montgomery County underscored that hazing persists in Washington area high schools, despite efforts to stamp it out.

“Whether you call it hazing or rites of passage, I’ve seen unacceptable behavior in high schools,” said Montgomery Superintendent Joshua P. Starr. “Our older kids should be helping our younger students succeed in school, not making them feel afraid.”

Read more HERE.

On Maryland tobacco farms, turning a tradition into potential health benefits

2011-11-15T08:45:00.005-05:00

Surprise! A positive article about tobacco!

[The 2011 Charles County Fair Queen -- Queen Nicotina LXXVI -- is Ms. Meaghan Pfeiffer, who was sponsored by La Plata HS SGA. Ms. Jacqueline James was first runner-up and Ms. Kourtney Wathen was second runner-up.]

Ann Gerhart
The Washington Post
November 14, 2011

Can tobacco, the weed with a killer reputation, be the next miracle drug?

Warning: The subject of this exploration will constrict your blood vessels, choke your windpipe and dispatch you to an early grave, 5 million of you a year. The most lucrative crop the Americas have ever seen, it kept the British at bay, kept the enslaved entrapped, kept Hollywood sexy. Until it didn’t anymore.

Stipulation: Deep bows to the great public health triumph of wrestling Big Tobacco to the mat and changing human behavior. Never before were millions persuaded to give up a highly pleasurable, relatively cheap habit because it was bad for them. And never since.

But: Tobacco itself refuses to die. It’s stubborn. It’s meant to grow here. The seeds are tiny as a flea and germinate like crazy. In less than a month, you can have a robust green crop that’s good for much more than smoking. You can grow vaccines in it. Extract protein from it. Make drugs from it.

Ten years after Maryland became the only state to use its tobacco settlement money to pay hundreds of farmers to quit growing the evil sot-weed, it’s turning out that tobacco has redemptive virtues. Nobody needed to bother exploiting them before; the stuff was so fabulously successful for 400 years as a vice. Even nicotine, the natural and highly addictive chemical in tobacco, has its benefits.

People smoked in part because a cigarette could calm you down and pep you up. Now research studies are exploring exactly how nicotine may safely halt cognitive decline and help those with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, schizophrenia and attention problems. The pure nicotine in the smoking cessation patch used in these studies is extracted from an American product that American farmers know how to grow.

Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 11/8/11

2011-11-08T18:01:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, November 8 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- 10 a.m.
Call to order- 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance

Superintendent's update to the Board - Read Report

Correspondence/Board member updates

Wade - attended MABE Directors Retreat at BWI last week. Survey for State Superintendent; encourages raise in board member salary
Pedersen - Plays & choral performances in Charles County high schools; legislative committee updates via email
Bowie - Library is having holiday giveaway of eReaders, Nook, or Kindle; Daughters of American Revolution, citizenship contest.
Wise - Adult graduation ceremony

Student Board member update - Read Report

Deputy Superintendent update - Results of Tell Survey. See Report

CIP update - See report.

Neal, Davis, and Diggs need to be redistricted. Committee is forming and will be complete by end of this school year.

CCPS Environmental Education - See report

Substitutes - See report

Cook - Substitutes should have at least an Associates degree.
Pedersen - would like a report via updates on what this would do to our numbers.
Bowie - are recent high school graduates allowed to sub in high schools? NO, must be 21
Lukas - clarification on requested report

Testing results - See report

Unfinished business

Pederesen - non-residents attending schools, update.
Richmond - 39 students were removed last year and it was a lot of work. Still following up students. 13 students has been removed from North Point this year.

New business - None

Future agenda items - None

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students - Sydney Marohn-Johnson, fifth grade, Career Readiness, Dr. James Craik Elementary School; Katherine (Katie) Czysz, fifth grade, Personal Responsibility, Dr. Thomas Higdon Elementary School; Cole Lucia, fifth grade, Academic Achievement, Malcolm Elementary School; Isabella Glaze, eighth grade, Academic Achievement, Benjamin Stoddert Middle School
Staff - Jillian M. Durr, elementary teacher, Craik; Mary Kate Long, Reading Resource teacher, Higdon; Lori A. Gould, Pre-School/LEEP Assistant, Malcolm, Theresa (Wanda) Proctor, school counselor, Stoddert Maryland School Counseling Association's Advocate of the Year Award: Ronald G. Cunningham, Deputy Superintendent of Schools

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept October 4th Minutes by Pedersen; Second by Bowie

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

Motion to accept October 11th Minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen

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

Motion to accept October 24th Minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen

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

Personnel

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

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

Legislative positions 2012

Motion to accept by Pedersen; Second by Bowie

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

Ethics policy

Motion to accept by Lukas; Second by Pedersen

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

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 11/8/11

2011-11-07T18:25:00.002-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 8 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 12 and is rebroadcast throughout the week. All televised Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

Executive session- 10 a.m.

Call to order- 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance

Superintendent's update to the Board

Correspondence/Board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board member update

Deputy Superintendent update

CIP update

CCPS Environmental Education

Substitutes

Testing results

Unfinished business

New business

Future agenda items

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students
Staff

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
Legislative positions 2012
Ethics policy

Adjournment

Maryland seeks to reform early childhood education

2011-10-26T10:04:00.000-04:00

Learning academies, focus on low-income families among initiatives

by Andrew Ujifusa, Staff Writer

The Gazette

Having already scored federal cash by promising major education reforms in 2010, Maryland is trying again this year, this time with a younger group in mind.

Maryland is one of 35 states, along with Washington, D.C., to apply for some of the $500 million available for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge, which will require states to reform their education and development programs for children from birth to age 5.

Among the 10 proposed projects in Maryland’s application are 24 local early childhood councils, creating a “breakthrough” center for early childhood development that would promote successful programs in Title I schools (those with high numbers of low-income students), and establishing “early learning” academies for teachers working in pre-kindergarten through the second grade. Conforming to the Challenge’s goals, the state also says it will track data and progress related to their early childhood programs.

Last year, the state won $250 million from the federal government to reform its public school systems. That grant, also under the Race to the Top reform program, required teacher evaluations to be based more on quantifiable methods such as test scores, and focused on incentivizing top principals to turn around low-performing schools. A pilot of the controversial new teacher evaluations is under way this year in school systems in Baltimore city, and Baltimore, Charles, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and St. Mary's counties.
The state draws on last year’s successful Race to the Top application in its proposal for the Early Learning Challenge. In the executive summary of its Early Learning Challenge application, the state wrote: “If awarded, Maryland would create a seamless Birth to Grade 12 reform agenda.”

Montgomery County Public Schools was one of two systems, along with Frederick schools, that declined to endorse the state’s Race to the Top application last year — in large part because it was concerned its professional evaluation system would be scrapped.

Read more HERE

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 10/24/11

2011-10-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

The Board Work Session on Monday, October 24 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.

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum - no one present

Work session discussions - Goals
Each on of the bullet points listed below were discussed. I did not record, in these notes, all of the discussion point but focused on the main points brought forward by each board member.

Pedersen

local control, board should address local issues in tandem with state or federal issues, including conferring with state and federal leaders about use of resources - YES
recruit minority teachers, work with FEA and community minority organizations to encourage minority participation in educational careers - POOL IS LIMITED
continue to encourage rigor & depth in learning - YES, SEE CURRENT BENCHMARK #1

Wade

International Baccalaureate - FUNDING DIFFICULTIES, BACK BURNER
Continue educational exchange program
Joint Military Ball

Lukas

Involve local civic organizations - ALREADY DISCUSSED
Involve parents
See greater student participation in SAT's

Bowie

Disseminate information internally to Board Members in a more timely manner
Be proactive in community involvement
Keep communication open internally

Abell

Continue current priorities, including current communication goals
review and achieve list of benchmarks, including testing
Active Board sub-committees

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/24/11

2011-10-22T13:40:00.001-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and stream live on the school system Web site at at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live
The agenda is as follows:
Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session discussions

Goals

Adjournment

Notes from Board of Education Meeting on 10/11/11

2011-10-11T18:11:00.001-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, October 11 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

Superintendent's update to the Board- Read report. Click HERE.

Correspondence/Board member updates

Abell - Student Transfer Sub-Committee has met and will be reporting its findings and presenting a recommendation at the November Work Session
Pedersen - MABE Convention was a success.
Wise - New Ethics forms are quite lengthy and comprehensive

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report, click HERE

Student Board member update - Read report. Click HERE

Bullying presentation - See Presentation. Click HERE

Cook - Educating teachers and parents but the students still aren't reporting;
Abell - Interested in our students' perspective;
Leah (student) - Get to SGAs to present to students;
Lukas - Read report stating it's not relative to any socioeconomic factors;
Bowie - Article in somdnews.com on 10/7 regarding bullying;
Taylor (student) - Look at it from the perspective of the one doing the bullying to see what the problem is that's causing them to do the bullying;
Pedersen - Peer mediation in schools? Pamphlets in Spanish? On website?
Wise - Upside Down Organization;
Leah (student) - Not reported as much in high school because students are more mature and don't let it bother them as much.

CIP update - See report. Click HERE

Abell - Commissioner Kelly referred to a "phase-in" opening of the new high school. Questions?
Richmond - Planning on opening under capacity for 9, 10, & 11 with anticipation of the new home builds in the zone.
Lukas - Projections for new high school enrollment based on core capacity. Now that it has changed to state rated capacity...will it change projections?
Wineland - Rely on research and trends.
Pedersen - Considering two family homes?
Wineland - Transportation has software that pinpoints every child's address and name and it will be available to the redistricting committee. The name will become a number.

FY2012 independent financial audit - See report. Click HERE.

Abell - Condensed lunches reason for loss in funds?
Balides - Definitely. Doing time trials and trying different things at those schools to alleviate.
Abell - Requests time trials also be done at the elementary schools based on parental complaints.
Lukas - Ditto, Ms. Abell.

Budget update - September Financials, click HERE

STEM initiatives - See report. Click HERE

Academy of Health Professions: pharmacy technician program - See report. Click HERE

Abell - How are the students chosen? Prerequisites? How is it advertised to the student population?
Palko - All 10th grade classes were visited by counselor and given application. HSAs are a factor and strong Chemistry/Math background.
Lukas - Transferable credits?
Palko - In talks with colleges including CSM.
Leah(Students) - Consider adding to all high schools?
Richmond- Continue to develop in the current location at Stetham.
Taylor - Limits on number of students per school?
Richmond - New this year then evaluate the program and grow from there.

Recruitment and retention update - See Report. Click HERE

Pedersen - Are we attending and trying to recruit at the black colleges?
McDonald - Yes, we are.

Legislative update - See report. Click HERE

Unfinished business - None

New business -

Pedersen - Everyone writing a letter to General Assembly relative to the pension?
Consensus was to have staff write one letter for all of our signatures.

Future agenda items

Abell - Student Transfer Subcommittee report at Work Session in November

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students - Kayla Nagle, 5th grade, Personal Responsibility, Gale-Bailey Elementary School; Michael Gill, 5th grade, Career Readiness, Mary H. Matula Elementary School; Thomas Carlyle Martin, Jr. (T.C.), 8th grade, Academic Achievement, Milton Somers Middle School; Courtney Jones, 12th grade, Academic Achievement, Maurice J. McDonough High School
Staff - Nathan Mouli, social studies teacher, McDonough; Linda Forrest, reading resource teacher, Somers; Lauren Hoza, kindergarten teacher, Matula; Joan Matthews, media instructional assistant, Gale-Bailey
Resolutions: American Education Week and American Freedom Week.

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Robin Tyler - High school drop out rate in the state of MD 3%. Invites everyone to come to a lunch at October 20, 2011, 11:30 -1:00pm at the Maryland National Guard Armory in LaPlata to discuss this issue.
Robert Harlan - NCLB. Athletic Inelegibility. Last month's board discussions. Break down who the minorities are.

Action items

Executive Session Minutes from 9/13/11

Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Abell

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

Minutes from 9/13/11

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Lukas

Yes = Abell, Bowie, Cook Lukas, Wade; Absent = Pedersen

Minutes from Commissioner Retreat 10/4/11

Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Abell

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

Personnel

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Cook

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

FY2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

Motion to accept by Cook; Second by Lukas

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

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/11/11

2011-10-11T08:02:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, October 11, 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. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live

Executive session- 12 p.m.
Call to order- 1 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance, La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update to the Board

Reports of officers/board/committees

Correspondence/Board member updates
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board member update
Bullying presentation
CIP update
FY2012 independent financial audit
Budget update
Stem initiatives
Academy of Health Professions: pharmacy technician program
Recruitment and retention update
Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

New business
Future agenda items

Recognition- 4:30 p.m.

Students
Staff

Public Forum- 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
FY2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan
Resolutions: American Education Week and American Freedom Week.

Adjournment

Teachers increasingly use home visits to connect with students’ families

2011-10-09T20:59:00.002-04:00

Kevin Sieff

The Washington Post

October 9, 2011

The two high school teachers knocked at apartment 512 of a Crystal City high-rise and waited to see the inside of Alvaro Nunez Alvarez’s life.

Up to this point, the teachers knew this about 14-year-old Alvaro: He was quiet. He had recently arrived from somewhere in Latin America. He was smart and ambitious.

They were here to fill in the blanks — to conduct a kind of parent-teacher conference on the family’s turf. There’s no better way, many educators say, to turn distant or unresponsive parents into allies and communicators, actively involved in the education of their children.

But that means venturing far beyond the classroom, penetrating the private spaces that students disappear to when the afternoon school bell rings.

When the door to unit 512 opened, there were Alvaro and his sister, standing in their matching Wakefield High School T-shirts, blushing. There were his parents, well-dressed, deferential, letting out a stream of “thank you so much” and “it’s our pleasure to host you” in Spanish.

Debbie Polhemus and Yun-Chi Maggie Hsu, both Wakefield teachers, were reaching out to the Nunez Alvarez family in a manner once considered out of bounds but now increasingly common in the Washington area and across the country: sitting in a student’s living room, munching on homemade pupusas, talking about academic expectations far from school halls.

Read more HERE.

India’s students will be the first to get world’s smallest computer

2011-10-06T16:50:00.000-04:00

Washintgon Post By Valerie Strauss

The big news in technology Wednesday was the announcement that India introduced a new tablet computer that is the world’s smallest and least expensive — costing $35. But just as important as the progress in small computer development is who the first beneficiaries will be.

The computer’s developer is is selling the Aakash, or “sky,” to the Indian government for about $45, and in turn the government will sell it to students for about $35, the Associated Press reported. The Aakash has a seven-inch color screen and provides word processing, Web browsing and video conferencing.

READ MORE HERE

Notes from Board of Education & Commissioner Retreat, October 4, 2011

2011-10-04T13:25:00.002-04:00

The Board Retreat on Tuesday, October 4 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.

Introductions

Wise - Requests the Board of Ed be placed on the Commissioners' agenda on a bi-monthly basis for updates.
Kelly - Yes, and they can reciprocate.

Funding Formula

Wise - BOE would like to review funding formula
Kelly - Commissioners are opposed to the set formula; just a good faith.
Collins - Origin of formula?
Wise - 10 years ago, as county grows the system grows, de-politicize funding decisions, etc.
Kelly - Maintenance of Effort would be minimum and then add as needed.
Cook - Legislation regarding MOE could change everything.
Richmond - Relationship of everyone involved, trust, respect, in support of MOE.

School Allocation Methodology

Kelly - Halfway to state-rated capacity vs core capacity; two years to go.
Abell - The sooner we can get to state-rated capacity the better; Expedite.
Pedersen - Ditto
Robinson - Agreed
Collins - Should review what the committee came up with a few years ago, market analysis.
Cook - Brief review from committee, phased in because it would affect the building & real estate industry and therefore affect the county's income.
Kelly - Residential development does not provide income to the county, but actually costs us.
Andritz - Current economy has made this more do-able. Changes made already helped tremendously. Shouldn't be as problematic as originally anticipated.
Davis - Would like committee formed again to re-look at the situation.

Motion to accept move to State Rated Capacity by Robinson; Second by Rucci

Kelly - Explanation of Docket 90 - Only pertains to Fairway Village.
Davis - Wants to delay vote.

Yes = Kelly, Robinson, Rucci; No = Collins, Davis

County Growth/Redistricting

Wise - Growth anticipation for our future planning?
Kelly - Transportation issues, light rail from SMECO in White Plains up through Waldorf.
Robinson - Bus rapid transit vs light rail vs commuter rail
Collins - Recommends someone from BOE staff sit on the Planning and Growth committee so we know of forthcoming growth and plans.
Wise - Enrollment at all levels of schools will be reviewed.

Open Discussion

Cook - What do you want to see from your school system?
Davis - We're doing awesome with state standards and being involved in the community. Number of trailers is bad. Need to have an open door policy.
Richmond - Disruptions during class. SAT parent participation.
Cunningham - EdLine
Collins - Opening ceremony at Eva Turner pre-k was one of his proudest events ever.
Robinson - Applause to creativity. North Point graduation was the best and we need to give the other schools the same focus that North Point gets.
Wise- Other schools did not want their graduations at North Point, and the Arena tends to bring out the worst behavior in some.
Robinson - Local venue?
Rucci - Officers in school a plus.
Lukas - Lines of communication always open. Maybe even smaller groups if everyone can't get together.
Pedersen - Digital text books?
Bowie - Thank you.
Wise - Next meeting in February.

Adjournment

Obama tells students: Discover new passions

2011-09-29T09:17:00.003-04:00

Bill Turque
The Washington Post
September 28, 2011

For an incumbent president facing a tough reelection campaign, no public appearance is completely free of political content. But President Obama’s annual back-to-school speech to the nation’s students, delivered Wednesday at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Northwest Washington, was about as close as it gets.

In a 20-minute address to Banneker’s 415 students, streamed live to schools across the country by the White House, Obama urged students to take their work seriously but also to experiment.

“That’s what school’s for. Discovering new passions,” Obama said, speaking under the basketball backboard in a packed gym turned steamy from the extra lighting.

“That’s why one hour you can be an artist; the next, an author; the next, a scientist,” he said. “Or a historian. Or a carpenter. This is the time when you can try out new interests and test new ideas.”

Obama told students he didn’t want to be “another adult who stands up to lecture you like you’re just kids,” prefacing a series of fairly lecture-like remarks.

Read more HERE.

Banana Man Principal Resigns

2011-09-28T21:40:00.003-04:00

PotomacLocal.com
September 27, 2011

Stafford, Va. – The principal at the center of the now infamous Banana Man controversy no longer has a job with Stafford County schools.

Dr. Karen Spillman, former Principal of Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, handed in her resignation to the Stafford County School Board on Tuesday night.

Spilllman came into the spotlight last week after she ordered a suspension for 14-year-old Bryan Thompson – a student at Colonial Forge who donned a banana costume and ran down the football field during halftime Sept. 16. After threatening to suspend Thompson for an entire year, the student was reinstated in his school after serving half of his 10 day suspension, and an apology was issued by the county school superintended [sic] after Spillman disciplined students who wore t-shirts that stated “free Banana Man” following Thompson’s suspension.

Read more HERE.

Victory: Indiana School Agrees to Cease Subjecting Students to Intrusive Mental Health Surveys Without Written Parental Consent

2011-09-28T19:26:00.002-04:00

The Rutherford Institute News
Press Release
September 26, 2011

PORTAGE, Ind.— Officials with the Portage Township School Corporation have agreed to cease their practice of having students complete mental health and suicide surveys without their parents' written consent after being warned by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute that doing so places them in violation of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), a federal law which governs student surveys by educational agencies receiving federal funding.

"This is a huge victory for parental rights," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Parents are the ones who should decide whether they want their children to be mined for information about their personal thoughts, beliefs or practices. We take it seriously when government officials try to short-circuit that essential parent-child relationship."

According to a parent who contacted The Rutherford Institute for help, on at least two occasions Portage Township School District sent home information addressed to parents concerning surveys to be administered to students in a quest for information about student drug use and depression or suicide risks. The surveys asked students to provide sensitive, personal information, including information about illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior and/or mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to the student. However, rather than requesting the parent's prior written consent, as required by federal and state law and its own district policy, the school had included an "opt-out" form, allowing the parent to opt his or her student out of participation. In the case of the survey concerning suicide risk, only one day was allotted for the parent to review the provided information, make a decision, sign the enclosed "opt-out" form, and return it to school officials.

Institute attorneys pointed out that the school district's practice of relying on passive consent for the surveys, by which parents are presumed to have consented if they do not return a particular form, constituted a violation of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), a federal law intended to protect the privacy of students and the rights of parents to control the circumstances under which their children are exploited for information-gathering. PPRA, which covers educational entities that receive federal funds, applies whenever students are asked to submit to any survey, analysis or evaluation that seeks private information about the student, such as political affiliations, sexual activity, illegal activities or religious beliefs.

Read more HERE.

Race to Top Winners Feel Heat on Teacher Evaluations

2011-09-19T07:48:00.001-04:00

Federal-grant recipients must live up to promises made in winning awards

By Sean Cavanagh
Education Week

Winners of the federal Race to the Top competition are facing difficult questions about how to make good on their ambitious promises to link teacher evaluation with student performance, a task complicated in some cases by resistance from educators and practical questions about how to judge job performance fairly.

For some states, that means wrestling with how to evaluate teachers in subjects for which no statewide test now exists. Others face a tough task of setting specific evaluation requirements based on relatively broad laws that established those systems, which in some cases were designed to boost the states’ chances in the competition.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia split $4 billion in awards through the Race to the Top grant initiative, which was championed by the Obama administration and financed by the 2009 federal economic-stimulus package.

Read more HERE.

AP, SAT participation increases

2011-09-16T09:46:00.000-04:00

Personally I don't mind the scores dropping as long as more students are taking the tests.

Charles County students increased participation in Advanced Placement (AP) and SAT assessment participation, according to data released this week by the College Board, which administers AP, SAT and other national programs.

Charles County Public Schools average score on AP exams rose slightly to 2.14 from 2.13 in 2010. Nearly 89 percent of all students taking the rigorous AP classes took at least one test in 2011. "Taking Advanced Placement classes in high school better prepares our students for future study and success," Superintendent James E. Richmond said.

While the number of students taking the SAT increased, average scores decreased. Scores for the class of 2011 were 1455, down from 1486 in 2010. National and state averages also declined. Average participation countywide is 39 percent, up from 35.7 percent in 2010.

Students average score on the critical reading section is 494; math scores are 488 and writing scores are 473. SAT tests are designed to demonstrate a student's mastery of certain subjects to colleges. Many colleges use the test as a part of the admissions process. Only scores for graduating seniors are included in the 2011 report. Students in the Class of 2011 were offered nearly $40 million in scholarships.

La Plata High School students averaged 1672, with 26.4 percent of graduates taking the SAT in 2011. Westlake High School students posted a 1492 average, with 18.5 percent participation. Both North Point High School and Henry E. Lackey High School students averaged 1445. North Point had 62.9 percent of its graduates taking the SAT and Lackey had 30 percent. Maurice J. McDonough High School%u219s average is 1415 with 34.8 percent participation and Thomas Stone High School students averaged 1377 with 47 percent participation.

Charles County Public Schools offers Kaplan Live Online, an interactive SAT preparation class in Saturday session in the spring and fall.

"Last year we saw an increase in our scores and felt the success of students taking online programs and preparation classes was moving us in the right direction. To see a decrease this year disturbs us, and we are looking to see how to encourage more students who want and need to take the SAT to take advantage of these classes and become better prepared to take this test," Richmond said.

A detailed chart of SAT results for 2010-11 college bound seniors is posted on the Charles County Public Schools Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/PDF/testscores/SAT-2011.pdf.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,858 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 9/13/11

2011-09-13T18:09:00.001-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, September 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 – 11 a.m.
Pledge of Allegiance – Thomas Stone High School's JROTC unit
Recognition of Project Graduation contributors

Superintendent's update to the board - Read Report

Correspondence/board member updates

Wise - Dr. Smith from MABE will be here on November 8 at 10:00 a.m. for a one hour presentation on Superintendent Selection
Wise - October 4 BOE meeting with commissioners
Wise - spoke with Delegate Murphy & possibly have a lunch meeting

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report

Student board member's update - Read report

Opening of schools - everything ran smoothly; uneventful

Update on athletic program - See report

Abell - Clarification on the transfers: Is it one full calendar year from date of transfer?
Cornette - yes
Lukas - Does this include those that moved into another zone and are attending another school?
Cornette - No, they are eligible
Cook - Looking at the reports, a greater number of minority students are ineligible for participation. Is this because we have a greater majority of minority participating and what are we doing to assist?
Cornette - We do have a monitoring and mentoring program that assists these students
Student - Are the numbers for freshmen first quarter taken at the beginning or end of the quarter because all freshmen are eligible?
Cornette - Taken at the end of first quarter
Pedersen - How many students are participating in our athletic programs?
Cornette - Will get.
Wise - Still need to know what we are doing to help those athletes that don't meet GPA
Cornette - Considering making a GPA eligibility regulation for freshmen. Have meetings with parents and discuss options, and resources.
Lukas - When are grades looked at during a quarter?
Bursick - We send grade sheets out via students for teachers to sign off on a weekly basis.
Brooks - Can you become ineligible at anytime during the quarter?
Cornette - They are assisted but don't become ineligible until the official grades.
Student - Has the use of Edline helped parents keep a closer eye on things and help with eligibility?
Cornette - Yes

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) update - See report

no time was lost due to facilities
transportation update

Report item: FY 2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan - See Report

Update on annual Bridge to Excellence; summer programs; Race to the Top - See report

Wise - How many students didn't graduate because of HSAs?
Jepsky - 0 for three years
Really in depth presentation; highly recommend watching online.

Update on staffing

Hired 151 new high quality teachers
Tough time finding the Tech Ed teachers
Comprehensive report next meeting

Report item: Ethics policy - See draft online; vote on next month

Unfinished business

Bowie - Bullying issues and concerns from parents; forums for schools to address and parents can discuss
Cunningham - Will have a report
Pedersen - Transfers and possibly form a committee to look at how we are handling our transfers.
Wise - Thinks a committee should be formed to look at how transfers are granted. Pedersen, Abell, Cook volunteered.

New business

Inter-category budget change FY 2011

Motion to accept Inter-category budget change by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Emergency closing days - October 21st & Nov. 2; see report - Abell - Affect on teacher contract?; Hettel- They will still owe us 2 days

Motion to delay vote on Emergency Closing Days until after Public Forum by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Future agenda items

Cook - Report on substitutes
Bowie - At first day of school noticed a higher number of Hispanic population and teachers concerned about lack of translators.
Lukas - Relayed public confusion of how the redistricting committee is going to be formed

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

L. Ramsey - Minister. Westlake graduate. For the use of standard gym uniforms but there needs to be a policy or rules in writing of the process for the students who cannot afford to pay for these uniforms.

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept Minutes from August 9 by Abell; Second by Pedersen

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

Motion to accept Minutes from August 22 by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Motion to accept Minutes from September 11 Conference Call by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Abell; Second by Lukas

Yes = Unanimous

New Office 2010 textbooks

Motion to accept New Office 2010 Textbooks by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

FY 2013 CIP state and local CIP program

Motion to accept FY 2013 CIP by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Recurring resolutions: American Education Week; American Freedom Week; African-American History Month; Career and Technical Education Month; National School Counseling Week; Read Across America; Women's History Month; Fine and Performing Arts Month; Month of the Young Child; National Student Leadership Week; Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals' Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week; National Physical Education and Sport Week; Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader; Charles County Teacher of the Year; Employees' Retirement; and Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award

Motion to accept Resolutions by Pedersen; Second by Cook

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

Emergency Closing Days

Motion to accept recommendation by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 9/13/11

2011-09-07T07:08:00.001-04:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 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. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

Executive session – 11 a.m.

Call to order – 1 p.m.

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

Recognition of Project Graduation contributors

Superintendent's update to the board

Correspondence/board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student board member's update

Opening of schools

Update on athletic program

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) update

Report item: FY 2012 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

Update on annual Bridge to Excellence; summer programs; Race to the Top

Update on staffing

Report item: Ethics policy

Unfinished business

New business

Intercategory budget change FY 2011
Emergency closing days

Future agenda items

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
New Office 2010 textbooks
FY 2013 CIP state and local CIP program
Recurring resolutions: American Education Week; American Freedom Week; African-American History Month; Career and Technical Education Month; National School Counseling Week; Read Across America; Women's History Month; Fine and Performing Arts Month; Month of the Young Child; National Student Leadership Week; Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals' Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week; National Physical Education and Sport Week; Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader; Charles County Teacher of the Year; Employees' Retirement; and Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award

Adjournment

Officials Look Overseas for Models to Pay for School Construction

2011-09-02T07:25:00.000-04:00

NOTE: You have got to be kidding me? And this is like a new revelation? I said this back in 2004 when I first was appointed to the board...and in 2005, and in 2006, and in 2007. Way to keep up 'officials'. (shaking head)

Lease payments to contractors among options
by ANDREW UJIFUSA, Staff writer

When the Canadian province of Nova Scotia wanted to build dozens of schools in the late 1990s, education officials turned to an unusual source of cash — private developers.

The developers contracted with local school systems to design and build 31 schools, and to provide maintenance and operations for the schools, in exchange for lease payments by the province. The contracts obligated Nova Scotia to pay $830 million during the 20-year life of the contracts.

Now, Maryland is beginning to explore whether similar arrangements, also used in Great Britain, could work for state school construction at a time when dollars for new schools and building upgrades are scarce.

Public officials from state and local governments and school systems are scheduled to gather at a Sept. 19 seminar in Annapolis to hear presentations on alternative school financing, as well as alternative funding and energy performance contracting.

David Lever, executive director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, said the key to such a public-private partnership is the creation of a strong contract that covers a variety of issues, from relationships with unionized maintenance workers to community use of the privately financed facilities.

“I haven’t made up my mind one way or the other, quite frankly. But I think it’s very interesting,” Lever said of whether the arrangement could work broadly in Maryland.

READ MORE HERE

Notes from the Board of Education Work Session, 8/22/11

2011-08-22T19:31:00.001-04:00

The Board Work Session on Monday, August 22 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.

The agenda is as follows:
Executive session

Call to order – 6 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum - None present

Funding formula - Paul Balides presented report. See report.

Redistricting - Timeline presentation. See report.

Meeting with delegation - Wise will set-up with the tri-county BOE's and the delegation

Superintendent search

Schwartz read, 4-201 Education Article regarding Superintendent appointment.
Wise contacted MABE for their process. MABE will come out and explain the process as a training
Abell - believe we should take advantage of what MABE is offering and the sooner the better
Lukas - How did Montgomery County conduct theirs?

Maryland Association of Boards of Education committees - everyone chose a committee

Retreat with Commissioners - October 4, 11:15 - 2:00 p.m.

Discussion of goals

Pedersen - Her idea; need to review
Abell - Previous goals? cannot find online. Long tedious process. Recommend postponing until homework is done and time allotted.
Bowie - MABE training talked about where we are going; vision
Richmond - requested we review the Master Plan
Abell - Requested Ms. Stubblefield to forward the previous goals to all board members.

New business

Construction manager at-risk contract - See report. Award to Hess Contruction

Motion to accept recommedation by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Personnel

Motion to accept recommedation by Pedersen; Second by Lukas

Yes = Unanimous

Attendance at MABE conference

Attendance at NSBA conference
Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 8/22/11

2011-08-17T14:14:00.001-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, Aug. 22, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/. The agenda is as follows:
Executive session

Call to order – 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Funding formula

Redistricting

Meeting with delegation

Superintendent search

Maryland Association of Boards of Education committees

Retreat with Commissioners

Discussion of goals

New business

Construction manager at-risk contract

Adjournment

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 8/9/11

2011-08-09T15:38:00.001-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, August 9 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

Executive session – 10:00 a.m.

Call to order – 11 a.m. - Pledge of Allegiance

Superintendent's update - Read Report

Delegate Peter Murphy - presented a General Assembly citation to Mr. Richmond recognizing him for receiving the 2011 Alan Shepard Award

Education Association of Charles County update - No report today

Student Board Member update

19 students attended Leadership Work Shop

August 18th is first CCASC meeting

Oral update on preparations for opening of schools; student transfers

Cunningham - administrative appointments; school preparation; programs happening prior to school; new teacher orientation; student transfers

Wise - Large influx of new students we didn't expect

Cunningham - student transfer information; see report;

Dr. Patricia Vaira (Director Student Services) - Brief overview of process

Abell - numbers are high, all schools are already over crowded & don't have openings so how can a transfer be awarded? High number of student transfers for employees.

Vaira - medical and criminal aspects do exist

Wise - concerned about transfers for programs; concerned about misuse

Cunningham - Dr. Vaira has added fresh ideas to the whole process

Taylor - annual approval?

Vaira - you do not have to refile every year unless by principal request

Abell - still concerned about the high number of students of employees, especially ones where parents work in different buildings; is this in the teacher contract?

Hettel - no, it is not in their contract or guaranteed.

Bowie - do these figures include Barnhart transfers regarding AYP

Vaira - no, these figures are from 2010

Pedersen - concern about consistency between the schools; supports employee student transfers to make family life more normal for our teachers but hopes staff understands that they will not always be approved.

Cornette - presenting on fall sports season; all schools will hold a pre-season meeting; all athletic trainers will be certified by October 1 per legislation;

Pedersen - team becoming ineligible because a student/player was ineligible due to residency; students practice on their own in school neighborhood communities; Are we liable

Cunningham - working on having legal consequences for parents that falsify information

Schwartz - Yes, we would be sued but it would be doubtful if we would lose. Coaches need to make sure that it is understood by players that practice is NOT approved.

Student - Eligibility for sports if students transfer?

Abell - they are ineligible for one full calendar year from the date of transfer.

Bowie - In the handbook does it state GPA is a requirement.

Cornette - yes; 2.0 but no more than one F

Taylor - transfers in sports; does it apply for incoming freshmen?

Cunningham - yes.

CIP Update - see report
Report item: State FY2013 CIP State and Local CIP Program - see report
College prep English; Study Island - see report (partnership with CSM)
Report item: new Office 2010 textbooks - see report
Oral update on staffing

a number of possible employees have declined offers due to housing issues because the banks are withholding mortgages. Rentals are extremely higher. Apartments are not giving teacher discounts anymore.

Schools should be completely staffed by opening of schools.

Superintendent choosing to close the entire school system for the week between Christmas and New Year 2012.

New ethics policy - see report

Communications update - see report

Resolutions – American Education Week; American Freedom Week; African American History Month; Career and Technical Education Month; National School Counseling Week; Read Across America; Women's History Month; Fine and Performing Arts Month; Month of the Young Child; National Student Leadership Week; Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals' Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week; National Physical Education and Sport Week; Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader; Charles County Teacher of the Year; Employees' Retirement; Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award.

Unfinished business

Wade - concerned about the number of athletes, mainly minorities, that are ineligible for sports due to academics.

Wise - Report from Cornette forthcoming on how they are addressing this issue.

Richmond - concerned with the STUDENTS in general, not just athletes and it is being discussed and it is a focal point for staff.

New business

Future agenda items

Public Forum – 3:30 p.m. - None

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept Executive Session Minutes from June by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent) No Vote = Lukas

Minutes

Motion to accept Minutes from June by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent)

Minutes

Motion to accept June Work Session Minutes by Abell; Second by Lukas

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent)

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent)

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel Termination by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent) Recused = Abell

New policy #5118 Elementary and Secondary: gang activity

Motion to accept Policy by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous (Cook absent)

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 8/9/11

2011-08-04T08:45:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, August 9, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting will begin at 11 a.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Program schedules for Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12 are available on the Charles County Public Schools Web site at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.

Executive session – 9:30 a.m.

Call to order – 11 a.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Superintendent's update

Correspondence/Board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board Member update

Oral update on preparations for opening of schools; student transfers

CIP Update

Report item: State FY2013 CIP State and Local CIP Program

College prep English; Study Island

Report item: new office 2010 textbooks

Oral update on staffing

New ethics policy

Communications update

Resolutions – American Education Week; American Freedom Week; African American History Month; Career and Technical Education Month; National School Counseling Week; Read Across America; Women's History Month; Fine and Performing Arts Month; Month of the Young Child; National Student Leadership Week; Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals' Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week; National Physical Education and Sport Week; Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader; Charles County Teacher of the Year; Employees' Retirement; Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award.

Unfinished business
New business

Future agenda items

Public Forum – 3:30 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
New policy #5118 Elementary and Secondary: gang activity

Adjournment

New book takes on zero tolerance fervor in schools

2011-07-20T09:31:00.002-04:00

Tuesday - 7/19/2011

Leanne Italie

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - High-tech surveillance. Metal detectors. Zero tolerance for, well, just about any bad behavior, real or overblown.

Welcome to "Lockdown High," the title of a sweeping new book by journalist Annette Fuentes, describing how the schoolhouse has become a jailhouse and fear prevails.

Dating to Ronald Reagan's war on drugs launched nearly three decades ago, fueled by campus shootings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, "preoccupation with security and violence are particularly acute when it comes to children and teenagers," she writes.

But a paradox exists, Fuentes argues, and it goes like this: "Children are considered both potential victims, vulnerable to dangers from every corner, and perpetrators of great violence and mayhem, demanding strict, preventive discipline."

Read more HERE.

Study exposes some some myths about school discipline

2011-07-19T03:44:00.002-04:00

Donna St. George
The Washington Post
July 19, 2011

Here’s one myth of school debunked: Harsh discipline is not always a reflection of the students in a particular school. It can be driven by those in charge.

In a study of nearly a million Texas children described as an unprecedented look at discipline, researchers found that nearly identical schools suspended and expelled students at very different rates.

The report, released Tuesday, challenges a common misperception that the only way schools can manage behavior is through suspension, says Michael D. Thompson, a co-author of the report, done by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Research Institute.

“The bottom line is that schools can get different outcomes with very similar student bodies,” he said. “School administrators and school superintendents and teachers can have a dramatic impact.”

MD Becomes First State to Require Environmental Literacy

2011-07-05T17:49:00.007-04:00

Baynet.com

June 21, 2011

In an historic vote today, the Maryland State Board of Education provided specific guidance to all public schools to require that each student be environmentally literate before he or she graduates from high school. The vote cements Maryland as the first state in the country to approve a graduation requirement in environmental literacy, a credit to Governor O’Malley, to board members, and to Dr. Nancy Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools.

“This is a momentous day not only for Maryland but for educators across the country who are watching what Maryland does, and hoping to increase outdoor learning in their states, “said Don Baugh, director of the No Child Left Inside Coalition (NCLI). “ Governor O’Malley and Dr. Grasmick deserve our profound gratitude. For years they have put Maryland at the forefront of the environmental education movement.”

The state school board vote clarifies for schools that each child must receive a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary environmental education that meets the approval of the State Superintendent of Schools. Regulations given final approval by the board provide critical flexibility and oversight for school systems as they develop effective environmental literacy programs aligned with the Maryland State Environmental Literacy Standards.

While many exemplary environmental education programs already exist in some Maryland schools not all students have access to these programs. That can occur when schools feel compelled to emphasize math and reading instruction over science and other subjects because of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law.

With today’s vote school districts must now move beyond standard science courses that provide minimal focus on the environment. The Maryland State Department of Education has established two workgroups to begin revising and aligning Maryland environmental literacy standards, and developing guidelines to provide school systems with guidance and support for implementation.

Read more HERE.

Maryland officials scrap new sunscreen restrictions

2011-07-05T09:01:00.001-04:00

Marc Fisher
Washington Post
July 2, 2011

Less than a day after dermatologists and parents said Maryland’s new policy on sunscreen at summer camps would make it far more likely that children would suffer skin damage, the state health department Saturday scrapped all of the restrictions it had imposed just three weeks ago.

The new policy, announced in a statement that noted in bold capital letters that it “supersedes all previous interpretive memoranda regarding sunscreen,” will no longer direct camps to steer counselors away from helping children apply sunscreen. It also removes any mention of the previous ban on children assisting each other in putting on sunscreen.

The health department’s reversal came about 22 hours after a report on washingtonpost.com cited the American Academy of Dermatology, local skin doctors and parents warning that Maryland’s limits on who could apply sunscreen at summer camps would result in a surge of children going unprotected against the sun’s harmful rays.

The new policy specifically permits camps to provide sunscreen to children, something that the previous policy had banned.

The turnabout, which the health department said Friday night would be coming soon, resulted from what the agency’s assistant director, Clifford Mitchell, called “confusion caused” by the June policy. Mitchell said that policy was intended to keep children safe from inappropriate touching by counselors or other children but was not meant to deter the use of sunscreen.

But camp operators and parents sided with dermatologists, arguing that it was far more important to defend children against the daily danger of sunburn than to add another layer of protection against abuse.

The health department conceded that it had no information to indicate that inappropriate touching was a problem at Maryland summer camps.

Under the latest policy, parents will still have to sign permission forms allowing their children to use sunscreen, a policy that exists in a few other states. But the state now says that it “encourages the appropriate use of sunscreen during summer activities.”

Maryland school systems have a hodgepodge of regulations governing sunscreen use: some require parental permission, some make no restrictions and Montgomery County requires a physician’s note before children may use sunscreen.

State releases Maryland School Assessment (MSA) data

2011-06-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Elementary and middle school students at Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) continue to work toward 2014 goals on the reading and mathematics Maryland School Assessment (MSA). In elementary schools, 86.5 percent of students scored proficient or advanced on the reading MSA and 84.1 percent on the mathematics test. In middle schools, 82.8 percent scored proficient or advanced on the reading MSA and 79.5 percent on the mathematics test.

"Thanks to the hard work of our outstanding staff and students, Charles County is making progress, especially in the areas of special education and free and reduced meals (FARMS) subgroups," said Superintendent of Schools James E. Richmond. "We still have a lot of work to do, and the improvement targets continue to get harder to meet as schools reach the 80 and 90 percent levels."

The MSA reading composite score at the elementary level has risen 22 percentage points since 2003, when the tests first started. Elementary mathematics proficiency has increased by 19.9 points. Middle school reading proficiency has increased 16.6 percentage points since 2003, while middle school math proficiency has risen 33.4 points.

The MSA scores were released as part of the Maryland 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report, which uses the assessment data to determine if schools have met federal testing targets. The tests are required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that charts the progress of the overall student population in the grades tested as well as for students receiving special services and by racial subgroups. Scores are reported for a total of 12 tests, six reading and six math, taken in March by students in grades three through eight. Scores are expressed as the percentage of students who scored at or above the proficiency levels, which were set in 2003. The annual measurable objective (AMO) is the yearly benchmark established by the state for school systems to meet their goals by 2014. If one subgroup in a school does not meet the goal, the entire school does not make AYP.

ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS

Overall, 13 of Charles County Public Schools 29 elementary and middle schools met all testing targets and made AYP.
Schools that did not meet every one of the overall or subgroup targets in mathematics or reading for two or more consecutive years are identified for School Improvement. Schools exit School Improvement if they meet every one of the area and subgroup targets for two consecutive years. Four of 29 CCPS schools have been identified as schools in improvement.
In CCPS schools, C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School, which is a Title I school, entered school in improvement status and is required to offer school choice to parents. Letters to all Barnhart parents will be sent by July 6 outlining their options for the next school year. Only Title I schools in school improvement are required to offer school choice. There are no CCPS schools in the "priority" stage, which is the most severe level of School Improvement. For more information about Maryland's AYP process, visit http://mdk12.org/assessments/ayp/index.html.
The targets that all students and subgroups had to meet went up this year, causing more CCPS schools to miss making AYP. Five of the schools that did not make AYP missed making it in only one subgroup.

"Schools face much greater challenges with meeting AYP as targets grow higher. Schools that did not meet AYP are not failing schools, but simply have areas where the teachers, staff and students must put more of a focused effort," said Richmond. "We will work closely and collaboratively with these schools to address these areas in the coming year."

MSA PERFORMANCE

Students in the special education subgroup also made significant gains. Highlights include:

Grade 4 special education reading went from 57.6 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 70.3 percent in 2011.
Grade 4 special education math went from 59.1 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 65.2 percent in 2011.
Grade 6 special education reading went from 53.1 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 61.4 percent in 2011
Grade 6 special education math went from 44.1 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 58.8 percent in 2011.
Grade 8 special education reading went from 43.9 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 57.4 percent in 2011.
Grade 8 special education math went from 29.5 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 43.2 percent in 2011.

Students in the free and reduced meals (FARMS) subgroup also made significant gains. Highlights include:

Grade 4 FARMS reading went from 76.2 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 81.2 percent in 2011.
Grade 6 FARMS math went from 68 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 74.1 percent in 2011.
Grade 7 FARMS math went from 54.2 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 68.1 percent in 2011.
Grade 8 FARMS reading went from 66.4 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 71.9 percent in 2011.
Grade 8 FARMS math went from 50.4 percent in 2010 proficient and advanced to 60.2 percent in 2011.

State, system and local school data are now available on the Maryland State Department of Education's report card, www.mdreportcard.org. Charles County Public Schools results can also be found at http://www2.ccboe.com/msa/msa.cfm.

In the coming months, the Maryland State Department of Education will release algebra and English II data, High School Assessments, system AYP, attendance and graduation numbers.

Notes from the Board of Education Work Sesson, 6/27/11

2011-06-27T18:31:00.004-04:00

The Board Work Session on Monday, June 27th 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

Executive session is closed as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act of the State Government Article to discuss personnel matters, specifically the Superintendent's recommendations on certificated positions.

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

No one present

FY 2012 Budget Amendment - F.B. Gwynn Educational Center

Richmond - spoke regarding transfer of $1.3M transfer from fund balance to renovations at the Gwynn Center. Needs additional funds to complete the renovation properly.
Balides - explained financial aspect
Bowie - what if we approve & commissioners deny?
Richmond - can't imagine them doing so, but we will continue to strive to make the changes
Cook - pool? Fully operational

Motion to accept Budget Amendment by Abell; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous (Pedersen absent)

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnell by Cook; Second by Lukas

Yes = Unanimous (Pedersen absent)

Wise - August 22, will be a work session for the Board of Education to discuss vision and goals
Lukas - Any rescheduling of the meeting with the commissioners
Wise - Not at this time.

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board Work Session, 06/27/11

2011-06-27T08:27:00.001-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, June 27, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/. The agenda is as follows:
Call to order - 6 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Public Forum

Work session

FY 2012 Budget Amendment - F.B. Gwynn Educational Center

Executive session
Executive session is closed as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act of the State Government Article to discuss personnel matters, specifically the Superintendent's recommendations on certificated positions.

Supreme Court backs Miranda warning when questioning juveniles

2011-06-16T19:37:00.003-04:00

Los Angeles Times
David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
June 16, 201

The Supreme Court expanded the rights of juveniles Thursday, deciding by a 5-4 vote that police officers who remove a student from a class to question him about a crime usually must warn him of his right to remain silent.

"It is beyond dispute that children will often feel bound to submit to police questioning when an adult in the same circumstance would feel free to leave," wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor for the court.

The decision does not set a strict rule for all cases involving young people, but instead says their age calls for giving them special protection...

...Sotomayor said age is a crucial factor, and it suggests the student would feel he is in the control of the police. Officers and judges "simply need the common sense to know that a 7-year-old is not a 13-year old and neither is an adult," she wrote. "To hold, as the state requests, that a child's age is never relevant to whether a suspect has been taken into custody — and thus to ignore the very real differences between children and adults — would be to deny children the full scope of the procedural safeguards that Miranda guarantees to adults."

Read more HERE.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 6/14/11

2011-06-14T14:58:00.050-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, June 14th 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 - Maurice J. McDonough High School's JROTC unit

Swearing-in of new Student Board member - Taylor Brooks, Westlake High School

Contract signing

Motion to accept EACC contract by Abell; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous

Motion to accept AFSME contract by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous

Superintendent's update - Read report

Correspondence/Board member updates

Wise - Graduations went well. Poor behavior by attendees in audience has to be stopped.
Pedersen - Thank you to...Reading Partners Luncheon, Adult Independence Graduations, Title 1 Picnic, Juvenile Drug Court

Education Association of Charles County update - Read Report (Crab Feast 10/7)

Risk assessment and internal audit plan - PLEASE Read through report for good information

Student Board Member update - Read report

Deputy Superintendent Update -

Graduations - statistics already reported in Supt. Report. 67% attended Project Graduation.
Regency Stadium incident - Thursday, June 9th approx. 1,000 students attended baseball game from the tri-county area. Heat related issues & medical problems caused the event to be cancelled early and approx. 80 students were treated and sent to hospitals. CCPS immediately sent buses to transport students. Reviewing the entire incident with all involved (stadium, EMS, etc) to gain perspective and conclusions.
Abell- Relay public concerns as well as my own to be considered during this review process, including being told that water was not available to students who did not have money to purchase it prior to awareness of medical issues. Why did we not cancel the event since we were aware of the temperatures and alerts at least 3-days prior? Reported, students were complaining of heat related issues prior to EMS being called, but they were instructed to sit down and behave. Wants the completed review/conclusion made available to the public.
Cunningham - Same trip occurred the day before for other students without incident. Students arrived about 10:30...EMS called at noon.
Cook - Her child was there and stated that water was offered to the students prior to the illnesses.
Richmond - Cancel future trips of this nature and make an evening event. Takes full responsibility.
Abell - Thank you to all responders in the tri-county area.

CIP update - See report

Gwynn Center Renovations - reviewing all programs contained therein to modify/upgrade renovations ongoing as needed.
Navy Housing Site - will soon be ours. Asbestos review needed. We will be responsible for tear down of existing structures. Will help aid LaPlata High School flow of traffic during renovations.

Lifelong Learning Center - See report (power point presentation to be added to Board Docs for pubic)

New Office 2010 textbooks - See report; to be placed at several high schools for public review

New policy 5118 elementary and secondary: gang activity - see new policy

Unfinished business - none

New business - none

Future agenda items - Student transfers review added to August meeting

Recognition - 4:15 p.m.

Ruth Ann Hall awards
Outstanding vice principal award
Outstanding support staff awards
Resolution - Charles County Teacher of the Year - Stephanie Fara Harris-Walent, language arts teacher, Milton M. Somers Middle School
Employees retirement resolution

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

Ryan Shauf - follow-up on his wife's statements from last month regarding bullying at their children's schools. Please continue to work with schools and staff because not all issues are being addressed properly.

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept the Minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen
Yes = Unanimous

Personnel

Motion to accept personnel by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Handwriting

Motion to accept the handwriting curriculum by Wade; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Educational Facilities Master Plan

Motion to accept the Educational Facilities Master Plan by Cook; Second by Lukas

Yes = Unanimous

FY 2011 inter category budget change

Motion to accept the FY 2011 inter category budget change by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 6/14/11

2011-06-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, June 14, 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 recognition begins at 4:15 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Program schedules for Channel 96 are available on the Charles County Public Schools Web site at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.
Executive session - 12 p.m.
Call to order - 1 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance - Maurice J. McDonough High School's JROTC unit

Swearing-in of new Student Board member
Contract signing

Superintendent's update

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Correspondence/Board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Risk assessment and internal audit plan

Student Board Member update

Graduation update

CIP update

Lifelong Learning Center and new Office 2010 textbooks

New policy 5118 elementary and secondary: gang activity

Unfinished business
New business

Future agenda items

Recognition - 4:15 p.m.

Ruth Ann Hall awards

Outstanding vice principal award

Outstanding support staff awards

Resolution - Charles County Teacher of the Year - Stephanie Fara Harris-Walent, language arts teacher, Milton M. Somers Middle School

Employees retirement resolution

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
Handwriting changes
Educational facilities master plan
FY 2011 intercategory budget change

Adjournment

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: Are We Creating an Education Nightmare?

2011-06-10T08:31:00.002-04:00

Patricia Deubel
thejournal.com
June 8, 2011

We seem to be setting ourselves up for disaster education. Efforts are underway not only to adopt value-added models to rate the effectiveness of individual teachers, but to use these models to identify those at the very bottom who might later lose their positions and those at the very top who might then be eligible for merit pay. Yet in all the policy discussions and public commentary, there's been little focus on learners and on how, precisely, we define the qualities of a good teacher.

The movement to revise methods for teacher evaluation to include such models came about in an effort to undermine current evaluation systems that tend to rate most teachers as satisfactory (Hull, 2011).

Educators are concerned because their evaluations will be tied to results of their students’ standardized testing, which are used in value-added calculations, while other factors, such as experience and training, are diminished. There's concern that the increase in testing that will be required to use those models to rate all teachers might come at the expense of learners, taking the joy out of learning and making it boring, as President Obama pointed out ("Remarks," 2011). And there's concern about our lack of agreement on what it means to be an effective educator.

The need for highly effective teachers is a given. But when, as part of the discussion, I heard policy makers and business leaders proclaim that experience and advanced degrees do not necessarily matter in teaching (Strauss, 2010), I took a look at my own career--which began about four decades ago--and concluded that I do not agree. Questions came to mind regarding the nature of teaching and to what degree value-added models could really help school districts identify teacher effectiveness to merit changing existing compensation systems that have traditionally been based on experience and degrees.

Read more HERE.

Md. teacher evaluation redesign bogs down

2011-06-10T08:19:00.003-04:00

Michael Alison Chandler
The Washington Post
June 4, 2011

Last summer, Maryland won a $250 million federal grant with a promise to build a model to evaluate teachers and principals that would be “transparent and fair” and tie their success for the first time to student test scores and learning.

Now, the state that prides itself on cutting-edge practices and top-in-the-nation schools is struggling — along with every state or school system that has ever tried — to come up with a reliable formula for improving the teacher workforce and rooting out the lowest performers.

Bogged down by political infighting, large gaps in technical know-how and regulatory hurdles, Maryland recently applied for a year’s extension to fully execute the evaluation system it has yet to develop.

“We knew this was going to be very difficult,” said state Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick, who is requesting that the evaluations not carry consequences for teachers and principals until 2013-14, so schools will have more time to train and experiment. “If it rolls out too soon, it won’t be done well, and there will be reactions from teachers that this is a half-baked idea.”

Read more HERE.

Dozens of Md. children treated after heat exposure

2011-06-09T19:00:00.002-04:00

Darci Marchese contributed to this report.
WTOP.com
June 9, 2011

WALDORF, Md. - Several dozen elementary and middle school students in southern Maryland have been taken to hospitals after they reported feeling ill because of the heat.

William Stephens, director of emergency services for Charles County, says the students were overcome by heat Thursday morning while attending an event at a semi-pro baseball stadium.

The students were on a field trip at the Regency Stadium in Waldorf, Md. for a "baseball and education day," said Keith Lupton, stadium general manager.

County spokeswoman Crystal Hunt says a total of 72 children were taken to area hospitals and 10 were treated at the scene. All of the students have since been released, Hunt says.

Stephens says he can't remember an event of a similar magnitude in his 25 years on the job.

Former Charles County school employee pleads guilty

2011-06-07T21:42:00.002-04:00

Barnes-Thomas admits to purchasing electronics through Title I funds

SoMdNews.com
Tuesday, June 7, 2001
Gretchen Phillips, Staff Writer

The former Charles County public school employee who was charged for illegally using thousands of federal education funds to purchase electronics for her personal use pleaded guilty in federal court today.

Rhayda Barnes-Thomas, 41, of Accokeek pleaded guilty to theft involving a federal government program, in connection with a scheme to use federal funds received by Charles County Public Schools to purchase technology items such as iPods, computers and televisions for herself, friends and family, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

According to the release, Barnes-Thomas admitted to stealing more than $5,000 worth of property purchased using federal funds between 2009 and January 2011.

Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 5/23/11

2011-05-23T18:33:00.000-04:00

The Board Meeting on Monday, May 23rd 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.

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum- None

Discussion on FY 2012 budget

Pedersen - Maryland Council of Education Effectiveness; new education evaluation
Lukas - CIP approval & discussion
Cook - Thanks you to Balides
WEdnesday at 7:30 County budget meeting and forum

Report Handwriting - see report

FY 2011 intercategory budget change - see report

Lukas - dollar threshold for approval?

Action items

FY 2012 budget

Motion to accept 2012 Budget by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous (Bowie absent)

Out-of-county tuition fees

Motion to accept out-of-county tuition fees by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous (Bowie absent)

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 5/23/11

2011-05-20T11:25:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, May 23, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/. The agenda is as follows:

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session

Discussion on FY 2012 budget

Report items

Handwriting
FY 2011 intercategory budget change

Action items

FY 2012 budget
Out-of-county tuition fees

Adjournment

Notes from Board of Education Meeting 5/10/11

2011-05-10T14:35:00.007-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 10th 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, Henry E. Lackey High School's JROTC unit

Recognition of student liaisons

Superintendent's update - See report

Correspondence/Board Member updates

Pedersen - Employee Breakfast
Wise - Ethics Panel Letter stating they found no violations or concerns

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report

Student Board Member update - read report

Discipline update - read report

Suspension to the Superintendent happens within 7-10 days and is recorded.
Abell - students possibly staying in school until appeal process plays through and then serving the suspension
Wise - do we move students to another school like Fairfax county does. No.
Pedersen - bullying, student victims are still in the same school with the suspect. Victims are offered counseling and in extreme cases could ask for a school transfer.
Abell - Can the suspect be moved to another school or is it always the victim?
Dr. Vaira - Yes as of 2010 Safe School Act
Abell - Zero tolerance or gray areas?
Cunningham - Everything goes through a hearring officer. Disciplines are based on individual infractions.
Bowie - Parents resource; website and principal
Pedersen - Zero tolerance does come up on our web-site as being in the middle school handbooks. Suggestions for possibly changing the terminology from "Zero Tolerance"
Cunningham - Will be reviewing all of them prior to next year.
Abell - Serious offenders, ankle bracelets; how to alleviate fear of students and parents
Dr. Vaira - offenses that occur in the community, we can not discipline in the school and therefore they cannot be moved
Abell - Report available for parents of infractions by school similar to Montgomery County
Cunningham - haven't currently but suspension report by school is available on web-site
Lukas - can we have 'ankle bracelets' sent to another school
Dr. Vaira - on a case by case basis dependent on infraction
Pedersen - visible presence of ankle bracelets used as bullying
Benson - Electronic monitoring students can only go back and forth to school & will go to Cheltenham immediately for any infractions; they get better grades & attendance & have better attitudes

CIP update - see report

Educational facilities master plan - see report

Handwriting - see report

suggests replacing D'Nealian method with Handwriting Without Tears (yay! no more monkey tails)
Cook - parents question why students need to know cursive; correlation to academic achievement
Bowie - website on handwriting techniques and materials for parents - Yes
Lukas - 10 - 30% of students struggle with handwriting. Script? Cursive? in general?; General: why did we use D'Nealian to start with? Best program at the time. Disparity on how cursive is taught from one school to another.
Abell - Questions have already been answered; thankful to see monkey tails gone

FY 2012 budget - read report

Out-of-county tuition fees - read report

New policy 5118 Elementary and Secondary: gang activity - see report

Unfinished business - none

New business - none

Future agenda items - none

Presentation of Alan Shepard Award to Superintendent Richmond

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Students - Ashley Eastburn, T. C. Martin Elementary; Katelyn Kluh, Walter J. Mitchell Elementary; Leilani Mason, Mary B. Neal Elementary; Teghan Simonton, Matthew Henson Middle School; Crystal Simmons,Mattawoman Middle School; Aaron Kauffman,North Point High School
Employees - Shirley Foster, language arts teacher, Matthew Henson Middle School; Jaime Wright, physical education teacher, Indian Head Elementary School; Christine Krebeck, science teacher, Walter J. Mitchell Elementary School; Jennifer DeAtley, reading resource teacher, Mary B. Neal Elementary School; Timothy Cerutti, mathematics teacher, North Point High School; Margaret Woodley, media specialist, Mattawoman Middle School; Earl Harrod, building service assistant manager, T.C. Martin Elementary School; Kathryn Stapelson, gifted education teacher, William A. Diggs Elementary School; Maryann Bourassa, gifted education resource teacher, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Amber Schauf - Parent. Children have been victims of bullying both verbally and physically by students and staff. Incidents have been reported to teachers, principals, youth officers, central office, superintendent, etc. For ten years now they have suffered verbal, physical, sexual abuse/harassment, threats of violence including explosives and guns. Someone do something.
Robin Tyler - Program on Bullying and the impact to the community. Next one is May 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Israel Total Life Ministry in Waldorf. (Live Taping) robintylerfoundation.org

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept Minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Unanimous

2012-2013 calendar

Motion to accept 2012-2013 Calendar by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes = Unanimous

Public hearing on FY 2012 budget - no one signed up

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting; 5/10/11

2011-05-10T07:12:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, May 10, 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, Henry E. Lackey High School's JROTC unit
Recognition of student liaisons

Superintendent's update
Correspondence/Board Member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board Member update

Discipline update

CIP update

Educational facilities master plan

Handwriting

FY 2012 budget

Out-of-county tuition fees

New policy 5118 Elementary and Secondary: gang activity

Unfinished business
New business

Future agenda items

Presentation of Alan Shepard Award to Superintendent Richmond

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
2012-2013 calendar

Public hearing on FY 2012 budget

Adjournment

Impact of recession: New schools too costly for some counties

2011-05-06T10:04:00.000-04:00

Charles and Wicomico counties turn down state construction money

By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun

11:40 p.m. EDT, May 4, 2011

As the state Board of Public Works approved $264 million for school construction Wednesday, two counties asked to delay new buildings because they aren't certain they can come up with the money to finish or operate them — an unprecedented sign, officials said, of the continuing financial challenges confronting local governments.

"We've never dealt with anything like this before, where we've come to this sort of crisis point," David G. Lever, director of the state's Public School Construction Program, said of the requests by Charles and Wicomico counties. "It's a real bellwether of the economy."

State Comptroller Peter Franchot said such "uncharted waters" should be a "blinking red light" for state officials. Franchot sits on the three-member Board of Public Works with Gov. Martin O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp.

"This could just be the tip of the iceberg," he said, questioning whether other counties also might struggle to support new or enlarged schools given the toll the economy has taken on local property and income tax revenues. "In these tough times, perhaps we should reassess these shiny new schools that we're building."

READ MORE HERE

School braces for failure

2011-05-04T19:29:00.002-04:00

If Barnhart misses AYP again, sanctions follow

Maryland Independent
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
By Gretchen Phillips, Staff Writer

School staff began warning parents Monday at C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School of choices parents have in the event it does not meet state and federal goals on this year's Maryland School Assessments.

Parents may be able to opt to send their child to another school in the district, though Barnhart staff did their best to convince parents that Barnhart is "awesome."

The MSA is a test given to students in grades 3 through 8 in math and reading to satisfy requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Students and school systems strive to achieve set standards on the state tests in order to test proficient or better; the percentages of students in each grade who must test at the proficient level to meet the standards for each school rise each year.

Read more HERE.

Penalties for drug offenses weigh heavily on students

2011-05-04T19:21:00.003-04:00

Washington Post

April 30, 2011

Donna St. George

As many high school seniors thrill over their college admission offers, Nick Hanna wonders about the effect of his mistakes in Fairfax County. Four Virginia colleges have turned him down, and two have placed him on wait lists.

What exactly will follow his June graduation, Nick doesn’t know. “Everything has changed,” he said.

It has been nearly a year since Nick, then 17, was disciplined after a search of his backpack at Langley High School produced a small device used to smoke marijuana. That alone would have meant a suspension, but when the device tested positive for residue, school officials imposed a second offense that was more serious: drug possession.

Marijuana use is common among high-schoolers across the country, and in Fairfax more than 38 percent of 12th-graders admit to having tried it, according to a county survey.

Read more HERE.

State board considers changing school discipline rules

2011-04-27T17:33:00.001-04:00

A suspended student could not be kept out of school during an appeal of the disciplinary action

By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

7:16 p.m. EDT, April 26, 2011

In an attempt to tighten state regulations governing school discipline, the state school board will gather reaction on a proposal to limit the time a suspended student can be kept out of school during the appeal of a serious disciplinary action.

The board said Tuesday it wants to implement a regulation that would require a school system to bring a student back to school the day after the suspension is over. In some school systems, a student can be kept out of school for weeks or months while an appeal is heard, a practice the state board wants to stop. Under the proposal, if a student is suspended for 10 days and appealed the suspension, the student would have to return to school on the 11th day.

The board began discussion of the issue after a Fairfax County, Va., student, who had been out of school for several months following a suspension, committed suicide. Family members have suggested that the suspension contributed to the student's suicide.

State education administrators said they have almost no statistics on how often students are out of school for long periods after disciplinary actions, but the board said it wanted districts to be required to collect such data.

The proposal also would require the school systems to complete an investigation and the superintendent to make a ruling on the disciplinary action within the first 10 days that the student is out of school.

Most systems require a superintendent's approval if a student is going to be suspended for more than 10 days.

The school board is seeking reaction on the proposal from the school districts and the public in the next month.

Board of Education hosts joint meeting with Commissioners

2011-04-26T19:09:00.001-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a joint strategic planning meeting with the Charles County Commissioners at 12 p.m., Wednesday, May 4, in the Boardroom at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata.

The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

I. Lunch – 11-11:45 a.m.

II. Call to Order – 12 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance

III. Strategic Planning Work Session

Overview of county public schools in general, with emphasis on special assets or areas of importance for individual schools. (It would be nice to hear about what is noteworthy about our current schools and student populations.)
Budget, Maintenance of Effort discussion
Information on programs that support low income students (Title I and Judy Centers)
After school programs - homework and tutoring programs
Parent Outreach - various initiatives that BOE has to communicate with and involve parents.
Security and overall safety of our schools.
State Quality Indicators - how we rank.
Communications Protocol - Board President to Board President; staff-to-staff.
Two meetings per year - next meeting will be hosted by Commissioners.

IV. Adjournment

Regional Conference Focuses on Food Security

2011-04-22T08:43:00.006-04:00

By Marty Madden
The Baynet
4/21/11

Southern Maryland community leaders and volunteers gathered Wednesday, April 20 at the Calvert County Fairgrounds for the region's third annual Hunger Conference.

Over 80 people attended the five-and-a-half hour event presented by the Southern Maryland Food Bank. Several of the conference's speakers indicated the eradication of hunger was a security issue.

"Food security is having access to enough food for an active, healthy life," said Cassandra Kaiser, a nutrition associate with Maryland Hunger Solutions. At particular risk are people who do not live in proximity to a grocery store and children from low-income families. While there are government-supported nutrition programs designed to aid the latter group, several speakers indicated they are not being embraced by the entire community.

Maryland Hunger Solutions' Director Cathy A. Demeroto noted Calvert and Charles counties "rank at the bottom in participation of the school breakfast program."

Read more HERE.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 4/5/11

2011-04-05T13:31:00.007-04:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, April 5th 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, Westlake High School's JROTC unit

Recognition - La Plata High School, 3A/4A state wrestling champions, and Unified Sports Bocce ball champions; North Point High School, 4A state boys' basketball champions

Superintendent's update - Read report

Correspondence/Board Member updates

Cook - attended Blue Ribbon Committee on Diversity
Wade - Kudos to the atheletes that came before us today
Wise - MABE is looking for people to run for Board of Directors
Pedersen - Educational Showcase - kudos to Westlake HS presentation
Bowie - thank you to Ms. Estep and the schools, staff and students for an excellent educational showcase
Pedersen - EXTRA article on Algebra II
Richmond - students art projects to be placed on the shuttle

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report

Student Board Member update - Read report

Deputy Superintendent - Discipline procedures report will be coming next month

Concussion procedures - Phylis Reinard

CDC guidelines have been updated.; see report for procedures

CIP update - see report

Students Targeting Academic Rigor with Success (STARS) program

See report
Discussion

SpringBoard English language arts -See report

School calendar 2012-2013 - See report

Budget update

retirement system not passed down yet
waiver for maintenance of effort not filed by county
See report

Legislative update - See report

Unfinished business

Pedersen - Goals meeting
Wise - after budget

New business - None

Future agenda items

Abell - report on students attending schools out of zone; especially those that receive legitimate waivers.

Recognition - 4:30 p.m

Students - Brianna Morris Indian Head Elementary; Hayley Tanner, Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary; Emma Morgan, JC Parks Elementary; Mary Kate Cooper, Wade Elementary, Kathryn Newsome, Davis Elementary
Employees - Diane Laco, pre-kindergarten teacher, William B. Wade Elementary School; Kathleen Adkisson, instructional specialist, Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary School; Deanna Wheeler, science teacher, J. C. Parks Elementary School; Patricia Gray, mathematics teacher, Theodore G. Davis Middle School; Randell Braithwaite, mathematics teacher, Westlake High School; Jaime Wright, physical education teacher, Indian Head Elementary School
Resolutions: Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation 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.

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept the board minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Motion to accept executive minutes by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Unanimous

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 4/5/11

2011-04-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

The Board of Educations next monthly meeting is Tuesday, April 5, 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, Westlake High School's JROTC unit

Recognition - La Plata High School, 3A/4A state wrestling champions, and Unified Sports Bocce ball champions ; North Point High School, 4A state boys' basketball champions

Superintendent's update
Correspondence/Board Member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board Member update

Concussion procedures

CIP update

Students Targeting Academic Rigor with Success (STARS) program

SpringBoard English language arts

School calendar 2012-2013

Budget update

Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business

Future agenda items

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees
Resolutions: Teacher Appreciation Week; Administrative Professionals Week; Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation 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.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Charles County Public School Employee Charged In Theft Scheme

2011-03-31T14:11:00.004-04:00

The Baynet
March 31, 2011

Allegedly Stole Computers, Apple iPods, and other Technology Equipment Purchased Using Federal Funds Intended for the Needs of School Children

Greenbelt, Maryland - A criminal complaint was filed late yesterday charging Rhayda Barnes-Thomas, age 40, of Accokeek, Maryland, with theft concerning a federal government program and making false statements in connection with a scheme to use federal funds received by her school employer to buy technology items used for herself, her family and friends. Barnes-Thomas is scheduled to have an initial appearance today at 4:15 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jillyn K. Schulze.

The complaint was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Steven D. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Department of Education - Office of Inspector General; and Charles County Sheriff Rex Coffey.

The U.S. Department of Education provides federal funding, known as Title I grants, to public school districts with enrollment of low-income families to help ensure that all children meet appropriate academic standards. Typical uses of Title I funding include purchasing equipment for classroom education. According to the affidavit supporting the criminal complaint, since approximately 2006, Barnes-Thomas has been the Title I coordinator for the Charles County (Maryland) Public Schools (the County Schools), assigned to manage the County Schools’ Title I funding, including overseeing the purchases of technology equipment for use in classrooms paid for with federal funds.

Read more HERE.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS NANCY S. GRASMICK ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR RETIREMENT

2011-03-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

BALTIMORE (March 30, 2010) – Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick today announced her intention to retire this summer, which will end her nearly 20-year tenure at the helm of the nation’s most honored public school system.
Dr. Grasmick has served as State Superintendent in Maryland since September of 1991. She currently ranks as the nation’s longest-serving appointed state schools’ chief. She will retire on June 30.
Maryland this year has already received several national accolades. Education Week in January named Maryland the number one school system in the nation for an unprecedented third straight year. The College Board in February followed up by citing Maryland student success in the rigorous Advanced Placement exams as the nation’s best, also for the third consecutive year.
“Our students and our schools have made tremendous progress over the past two decades, and stand on the edge of even greater progress,” Dr. Grasmick said. “It has been my great honor and privilege to work with our state’s outstanding educators to provide our children with the educational system they richly deserve.”
Under Dr. Grasmick’s leadership, Maryland schools have seen marked improvement. For seven consecutive years, Maryland’s school systems have raised scores in both reading and math, and there has been strengthened achievement across racial subgroups. Student achievement also has increased for students receiving special services, such as low-income and students with disabilities. At the same time, MSDE data reveal a reduction in many achievement gaps between subgroups, especially at the elementary-school level.
Maryland has seen dramatic improvement in other areas. Its work in the Advanced Placement program has been cited, logging the nation’s greatest increases in the percentage of students scoring at college mastery levels in the exams. Graduation rates in the state have risen steadily over the past 20 years, while dropout rates have fallen.
The Maryland State Department of Education has been a thriving incubator for innovative practices under Dr. Grasmick. Determined to strengthen school performance across the board, Dr. Grasmick led the state to initiate one of the nation’s first accountability systems, predating the federal No Child Left Behind Act by several years and receiving national recognition along the way.

In other pioneering efforts, MSDE initiated what may be the nation’s first state division for leadership development, shining a spotlight on the principal as instructional leader for each school. The Department four years ago launched the nation’s first statewide award to honor parents who contribute to school improvement. The State more than a decade ago set in place the nation’s only service learning graduation requirement.
Dr. Grasmick has put a special focus on early childhood development during her years as State Superintendent. The Maryland Model for School Readiness, which charts the preparation of students as they enter kindergarten, has earned a reputation as a national model. Over the past nine years, the percentage of children deemed to be fully prepared for kindergarten has risen from 49 percent to 81 percent. Over those nine years, Maryland has moved all early care programs under MSDE, and the Department initiated an innovative curriculum for pre-school students linked to the State’s K-12 curriculum.
Last summer, Maryland was awarded one of the U.S. Department of Education’s 12 Race to the Top grants, a $250 million program designed to take the nation’s top school system to a new level of excellence. The grant takes aim at continuing the improvement of the State’s lowest performing schools, redesigning teacher tenure, strengthening data collection, and constructing a new system of teacher and principal evaluation that puts student performance at its heart.
Dr. Grasmick’s career in education began as a teacher of deaf children at the William S. Baer School in Baltimore City. Over the next 30 years, she served as a classroom and resource teacher, principal, supervisor, assistant superintendent, and associate superintendent. Dr. Grasmick is the only person in Maryland history to hold two cabinet-level positions simultaneously; in 1991, she served as Special Secretary for Children, Youth, and Families and as State Superintendent of Schools.

Dr. Grasmick—a graduate of the Baltimore City Public Schools (Western High School)—received a doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. from Gallaudet University, and a B.S. from Towson University. She served on the President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education and has garnered numerous awards for her visionary and consistent leadership, including the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education; the College Board’s first President’s Award for K-12 Leadership; the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP’s Community Service Award; the Johns Hopkins University’s Woodrow Wilson Award; the James Bryant Conant Award from the Education Commission of the States; and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Child Advocacy Award. Dr. Grasmick recently served on the American Academy of Sciences task force that produced “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” a report that spotlighted math, science, and technology education in this country. She has been inducted into the Daily Record’s “Circle of Excellence,” an honor bestowed only on those named to the newspaper’s Top 100 Women list more than three times. Just last month she was named along with developer David Cordish as the first two inductees into the Daily Record’s “Circle of Influence” honoring influential Marylanders who have a positive impact in the State “in a wide variety of ways and settings.”

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 3/28/11

2011-03-28T18:48:00.001-04:00

The Board Meeting on Monday, March 28th 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.

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Liz Brown - EACC - Delay opening; teachers overwhelmed in crowded classrooms
Robert Harlan - Against delay of opening the school. Population is increasing. Commissioners may want you to delay altogether and just not build the school. Baltimore County is opening one and they are in the same economic situation we are. Try redistricting and rezoning existing schools.

Discussion on status of St. Charles High School

Wise - Read letter from Commissioners
Wade - Discussed meeting with legislation; thinks school not to be built altogether should be removed from the table. Richmond meeting with Governor before Christmas. Believes new board of commissioners are very different from the last and he trusts them. His mind has changed since his "no" vote last meeting.
Pedersen - County needs the high school. The past is the past. Time to move forward.
Bowie - Commissioners committing to operating cost? If worst case scenario happens, would the 200 employees still need to be laid off?
Richmond - Cannot solve overcrowding in high school by moving middle school students. Yes, if we have to foot the $10M ourselves, it would be difficult without layoffs.
Lukas - Could the high school open with fewer students depending on funding?
Richmond - Yes
Lukas - In delaying for one year, we still get the state funds, but a longer delay could impact the state funds. Cost we are presenting to commissioners include cost of pool?
Wineland - Bids have pool as an alternate. State does not pay for land, design, engineering, etc.
Pedersen - Grant $ for digital classroom
Richmond - Mikulski & Cardin secured the $.5M for the digital classroom

Motion to delay opening of new high school to 2014 by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Yes = Cook, Lukas, Pedersen, Wade, Wise
No = none
Abstain = Abell, Bowie

Adjournment

Calvert's school layoffs to start in April

2011-03-28T18:14:00.002-04:00

If we (Charles County) continue with the new high school as currently scheduled, we WILL be doing the same thing very shortly.

Calvert Recorder
Thursday, March 24, 2011
By LAURA BUCK
Staff writer

At today's Calvert County Board of Education meeting Calvert County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith revealed he plans to lay off $3 to $6 million worth of employees and will be starting "the first wave" in the next week or two.

He said approximately 69 employees, most of whom are teachers, have already been spoken to and told their positions might not be available in the 2011-2012 school year.

"We want to make sure the bulk of people know by the 29th of April," Smith said.

In Smith's $187 million fiscal 2012 budget he estimated having to cut about $6.6 million mostly due to anticipated fixed charges and cuts in state dollars and funding from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or ARRA.

At Thursday's meeting Chief Budget and Business Officer Tammy McCourt also projected that Calvert County Public Schools could lose $374,371 in employee pensions shifting to the county, $559,000 in unemployment insurances and $300,000 in increases in fuel costs.

McCourt did say the school system could gain an additional $1 million in state aid should the state continue to provide its current per-pupil funding.

She said at this point health insurance costs, exact numbers on pension shifts, costs for special education non-public placements, state and county allocations and number of staffing cuts remain unknown.

"It's a bad situation; it's just bad," said Calvert County Board of Education President William "Bill" Chambers.

Smith said he was hoping for feedback on how to make the process of laying off employees "as sensitive and humane as possible in these circumstances."

The cost of small class size

2011-03-28T09:56:00.004-04:00

By Eva Merkowitz
The Washington Post: Opinions
March 27, 2011

That class size should be small is revered like an article of faith in this country. Its adherents include parents, education groups, politicians and, of course, the unions whose ranks it swells. In many states it is even required by law, which has lead to millions of dollars in fines against schools in Florida and a lawsuit against New York City by its teachers union.Yet small class size is neither a guarantor nor a prerequisite of educational excellence.

The worst public elementary school in Manhattan, 16 percent of whose students read at grade level, has an average class size of 21; PS 130, one of the city’s best, has an average class size of 30. Small class size is one factor in academic success. The question, then, is whether the educational benefits of class-size reduction justify the costs.

Some proponents contend that because research shows reducing class size is beneficial, spending on this should be prioritized over anything that is unsupported by research. That’s a neat rhetorical trick but unsound logic. The absence of research on, say, teacher salaries doesn’t prove that we should pay the minimum wage to teachers to dramatically reduce class size. Research should guide spending decisions only if it measures the benefits per dollar of spending on all alternatives.

Read more HERE.

Fairfax schools consider recording student disciplinary hearings

2011-03-28T09:44:00.004-04:00

Donna St. George
The Washington Post
March 27, 2011

A growing number of Fairfax school officials support the idea of creating audio recordings of student disciplinary proceedings as the district seeks to respond to parent complaints about fairness and tone in the hearing room.

The hearings, which have become a flash point in a debate over how students in trouble get punished in Fairfax, have been criticized by parents for being highly adversarial and straying from fact to suspicion.

Assistant Superintendent Barbara M. Hunter said Friday that both she and the hearings office support the concept of recording what happens during the system’s 600-plus such proceedings a year. Hunter said she could envision parents being given a tape or CD shortly after each hearing. Now, notes are taken during proceedings but are not intended as a transcript.

“We are listening very carefully to what the community is saying,” Hunter said. “One of the ideas that has emerged is this notion of recording the hearings, and we would welcome that. We think the idea is very workable.”

Read more HERE.

NOTICE: Board of Education Work Session on New High School, 3/28/2011

2011-03-24T20:08:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education plans to meet for a work session March 28 to determine the future of St. Charles High School.

Construction and annual operating costs are the center of discussions among and between the Board and the Charles County Commissioners. The Commissioners have asked the Board to delay construction on the new high school to 2014, but the Board wants funding commitments before making a decision. The Board, in a March 23 meeting, told the Commissioners they are faced with three options: build the school by the opening of the 2013 school year, delay the school opening to 2014 or stop the project.

The March 28 meeting will be the second work session in two weeks for the Board of Education, which could not get a majority vote to delay the school until 2014, but agreed to meet and outline for the Commissioners their funding concerns. On Wednesday, Board Chairman Roberta Wise summarized five issues and asked the Commissioners to consider and commit to the following:

yearly operating costs of $10 million;
payment of construction cost increases caused by delaying the school opening for one year;
keeping the school design intact;
additional funding to secure the construction site if project is delayed; and
assurances to pay for emergency facility repairs needed for student safety schools if the school system changes its capital improvements plan to push out all other projects for five years.

"We are here today to ask for your support. We are here today to ask you to step up as leaders and provide us with solid commitments. We are running out of time to meet the state's April 1 deadline for a timeline and plan for St. Charles High School," Wise said.

Superintendent James E. Richmond has been given an April 1 deadline to notify the state's Interagency Committee on School Construction (IAC) about the school system's plans for St. Charles High School. Wise, Vice Chairman Maura Cook and Richmond accompanied Commissioner President Candice Kelly and county staff to a meeting with David Lever, IAC director, to alert the state of a possible construction delay. The IAC must determine what it will do with funds approved and partially expended this year as well as with additional funding recently approved for the new high school. The state Board of Public Works approved the Board of Education's request for construction of St. Charles High School in 2010. The Board, in October 2009, voted 5-2 to proceed with a request to the state to build the new high school that the school system originally proposed to open in 2011.

Following the Board of Education's 2009 vote, the former board of Charles County Commissioners committed a $10 million, one-time funding payment to Charles County Public Schools to help operating costs for the new high school. The $10 million would be funded from the county's Developers' Rights and Responsibilities Account (DRRA). The new board of County Commissioners recently informed the Board of Education that due to the recession, the expected developer payments to the DRRA never materialized and the money is not available.

"We need this high school. We also need the money to operate it and provide the same educational program available now. To open this school without additional funds would impact the educational program, class size and our ability to move public education forward," Wise told the Commissioners.

On Wednesday, the Commissioners agreed to one point; there are no plans to redesign the school to compensate for construction cost increases caused by delaying the project. The Commissioners also expressed their commitment to building the school, but stopped short of promising operating costs or other funding. Commissioner President Candice Kelly said it would be easy to generate another promise of funding, but the reality is that the county's financial future is uncertain. She said the Commissioners are optimistic that the economy is rebounding and asked the Board to work with them new high school funding issues.

The Board of Education's March 28 work session is at 6 p.m. at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building. The meeting is public and will be broadcast live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12. The meeting is also aired live on the school system's Web site at www.ccboe.com.

Notes from the Board of Education Work Session, 3/21/11

2011-03-21T19:46:00.004-04:00

The Board Meeting on Monday, March 21st 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.

Call to order 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum - No one signed up

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Discussion on status of St. Charles High School

Cook - Would commissioners help with emergency CIP items?; Are commissioners aware of extra costs?; and guarantee of operating cost covered
Pedersen - Relocatables can be used if project is delayed?
Wineland - Redistricting would be a must if we don't build.
Lukas - Population in high school projections over next three years; Greatest source of funding, DRRA or excise tax?
Wineland - Population holds steady and then starts to climb by 2015
Pedersen - We need the high school; Consequences of delaying a year?
Wineland - Economy has started to recover; cost is continuing to climb
Cook - Money given to us for the digital classroom must be used by November 2012
Pedersen - 3 stipulations she wants initiated to the commissioners ...maintaining the site, inflation and the building could not be changed
Cook - Would also like to add a stipulation of operating cost
Lukas - We had a letter of commitment with the last commissioners and that didn't help us out too much.
Wise - Delay CIP for 5 years...we CAN still do systemic renovations like Jenifer roof?
Wineland - Still need $475,000 to make it happen this summer, if not next summer
Abell - Not sure if we want to send 'stipulations' to our new commissioners. Not certain or sold on the idea that we MUST have this new high school right now.
Wineland - Redistricting could get everyone below core but not state. We could house them with relocatables, but what happens when the economy turns around? If we stop it and have to adhere to new codes, population and inflation could overcome us.
Wise - State would be upset with us and possibly not fund us again.
Lukas - Experience of teachers (seasoned) and salary all figured in opening costs
Richmond - most worried about the operating costs of $10M for every year...equates to 100 teaching positions. If opened on time, the school system would have to come up with ALL the cost of operating.
Hettel - Cutting two hundred teachers would increase class sizes by 5 across the board in all grade levels

Motion to delay the opening of the school by one year and work with county to cover the operating cost by Pedersen; Second by Wade

Cook - Cover all the previously discussed items with the commissioners...inflation cost, operational cost, site, structure remains unchanged, emergency CIP items
Abell - I voted against it from the beginning...we can't afford it, irresponsible financially to continue, we don't have the money, the county doesn't have the money, the state doesn't have the money...no money to build, no money to operate, etc.

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

Motion Fails

Lukas - Too many dominoes lined up for failure; it would be nice, we need it, but can't afford it.
Wade - Doesn't think the commissioners take this seriously.
Bowie -

Motion not to move forward with the high school with the way things currently stand by Abell; Second by Pedersen
Rescind her second by Pedersen
Cook Second the recension

Motion Fails

Motion to reconvene on Monday, March 28th at 6:00 p.m. by Lukas; No Second

Motion Fails

Adjournment

Loan Study on Students Goes Beyond Default Rates

2011-03-21T18:26:00.000-04:00

New York Times
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: March 15, 2011

For each student who defaults on a loan, at least two more fall behind in payments on their student debt, a new study has found.

The Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit organization, said in a report that two out of five student loan borrowers were delinquent at some point in the first five years after they started repaying their loans.

Almost a quarter of the borrowers used an option to postpone payments to avoid delinquency.

The institute said the goal of its study was to develop a fuller picture of the debt burden that students face by compiling data on students who have trouble repaying their loans, but do not default.

“We want to get beyond the dichotomy of people who default on their loans and everyone else,” Alisa Cunningham, the institute’s vice president for research and programs, said on Tuesday.

The study, based on data from five of the nation’s largest student-loan agencies, found that only 37 percent of student borrowers who started repaying their loans in 2005 were able to fully pay them back on time.

And that percentage is probably decreasing, given the high unemployment rate of recent years, Ms. Cunningham said.

Read more HERE

U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status

2011-03-16T07:24:00.000-04:00

New York Times
By SAM DILLON
Published: March 16, 2011

To improve its public schools, the United States should raise the status of the teaching profession by recruiting more qualified candidates, training them better and paying them more, according to a new report on comparative educational systems.

Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the international achievement test known by its acronym Pisa, says in his report that top-scoring countries like Korea, Singapore and Finland recruit only high-performing college graduates for teaching positions, support them with mentoring and other help in the classroom, and take steps to raise respect for the profession.

“Teaching in the U.S. is unfortunately no longer a high-status occupation,” Mr. Schleicher says in the report, prepared in advance of an educational conference that opens in New York on Wednesday. “Despite the characterization of some that teaching is an easy job, with short hours and summers off, the fact is that successful, dedicated teachers in the U.S. work long hours for little pay and, in many cases, insufficient support from their leadership.”

The conference, convened by the federal Department of Education, was expected to bring together education ministers and leaders of teachers’ unions from 16 countries as well as state superintendents from nine American states. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that he hoped educational leaders would use the conference to share strategies for raising student achievement.

Read more HERE

NOTICE: Board of Education Work Session, 3/21/11

2011-03-15T18:29:00.000-04:00

The Board of Education of Charles County is holding a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, March 21, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will be aired live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and streamed live on the school system Web site at http://www2.ccboe.com/boe/live/.

The agenda is as follows:

Call to order 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Report

Discussion on status of St. Charles High School

Adjournment

Portions of the meeting may be closed as permitted by State Government Article 10-508 (a).

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 3/8/11

2011-03-08T17:59:00.001-05:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, March 8th 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, North Point High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update - See report

Legislative audit report, pupil transportation follow up

See Report
Public vs. Private transportation
No compelling reason to undergo conversion at this time.

Correspondence/Board Member updates - Maryland Commission on Education Effectiveness

Abell - MABE Budget Committee Meetings scheduled for 7/11/11 & 7/26/11
Bowie - Westlake Senior Portfolio
Lukas - Chess Tournament
Pedersen - Maryland Council of Education Effect (see attached report)

Education Association of Charles County update - see report

Student Board Member update - see report

Assistant Superintendent Update

Maryland Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning Survey (TELL)
Athletic eligibility recommendations - see report...residency issues and requirements; task force/committee working on. Future superintendent rule change would require students to actually be living in the residence (as opposed to a home in the process of being built) before being eligible for athletics

CIP update

Wise was invited by Commissioner President Kelly to attend a meeting with herself and Dr. Lever on March 3. Ms. Wise also invited Mr. Richmond, Ms. Cook, Mr. Wineland.
Dr. Lever said, if the high school is delayed, a plan is needed and a protection for the already prepared land.
Budget Director for the County suggests we put CIP items on hold for 5 years & build the school and let it sit for one year
Richmond concerned about safety issues regarding postponing CIP items for 5 years and also about the operating costs for this new high school.
Wineland - met with county staff for follow-up. How would we pay for emergencies like Jenifer Elementary roof?
If we delay the project one year, due to the economy it would increase the cost of the school by approximately 10 million dollars, which the state will NOT pay.
Open bids on the school next week.

Motion to hold a work session on 3/21/11 to discuss by Pedersen; Second by Lukas

Unanimous

Motion to go into executive session by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Unanimous

Mathematics programs and Charles County Public Schools Educational Showcase

See report - PLEASE LOOK AT THIS, VERY INFORMATIVE ON NEW MATH
Abell - asked about Computer Science no longer counting as a Tech Ed credit mandated by the state. Anne Arundel was able to file a waiver by altering the curriculum. Possible for us to look into this?
Estep - They are exploring this and other possibilities/courses
CCPS Educational Showcase, Saturday April 2, 2011 at North Point High School from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. 64 workshops, etc.; transportation can be provided

School calendar 2012-2013

will be available online soon.
One consensus was to use President's Day as a make-up snow day, leaving the spring break intact. This can be enacted for the coming school year also.

Legislative update

The sky is falling
No really, it's falling
Hail & sleet (is anyone reading this?)
Looks as though the pension funding is going to get pushed local
House Bill 858 -supply concussion information to students and parents and would disallow students to return to activity without a medical note
House Bill 977 - allows students to attend any school in the county with open seats (baa haa haa)
Bakare - Students are supporting Bill 858

Unfinished business - none

New business -none

Future agenda items

Abell - Discipline Policy
Pedersen - board to talk about vision and goals
Lukas - Guidelines/policy in place for funding new schools obviously doesn't work; possibility of discussing ways to fund new schools
Wade - Update on breathing apparatus' put in schools a few years ago. (defibrillators)

Recognition 4:30 p.m.
Students
Madison French, Academic Achievement, Mudd
Kyle Smith, Personal Responsibility, Middleton
Marshe Hill, Personal Responsibility, Smallwood
Ciara Albrittain, Career Readiness, Piccowaxen
Kinsey Polk, Academic Achievement, Diggs
Jennifer DeMarco, Academic Achievement, Stone

Employees
Jason R. Peer, school counselor, Mudd

Carey L. Rohrbaugh, teacher, Diggs
Anne K. Ward, English teacher, Stone
Nina M. Capuano, teacher, Middleton
William Marchione, counselor, Piccowaxen
Jennifer A. Kelley, instructional assistant, Smallwood
Daniel Meltsner, Charles County's Outstanding Educator for Use of Technology

Resolutions
Month of the Young Child
National Student Leadership Week

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items
Minutes

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous

Personnel

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 3/8/11

2011-03-07T18:14:00.002-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, March 8, 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, North Point High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update

- Legislative audit report, pupil transportation follow up

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Correspondence/Board Member updates - Maryland Commission on Education Effectiveness

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board Member update

Maryland Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning Survey (TELL) and athletic eligibility

CIP update

Mathematics programs and Charles County Public Schools Educational Showcase

School calendar 2012-2013

Legislative update

Unfinished business
New business

Future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.
Students
Employees
Daniel Meltsner, Charles County's Outstanding Educator for Use of Technology

Resolutions Month of the Young Child and National Student Leadership Week

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items
Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Study: Manassas Park and Calvert County have most efficient schools in D.C. area

2011-03-01T19:23:00.002-05:00

By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 27, 2011; 11:27 PM

Even when tax revenue is scarce, lawmakers rarely ask a key question before they vote on education budgets: Which public schools produce the most bang for the buck?

A new analysis of spending patterns and test scores in school systems nationwide found a surprising result: Manassas Park and Calvert County have the most efficient schools in the Washington area.

...

Elsewhere in Maryland, on an index called "basic return on investment" - one of three methods the center used for comparison - Frederick County received a top mark. Schools in Montgomery, St. Mary's and Anne Arundel counties were rated just behind. Then came Howard County, with high achievement at a relatively high cost. Prince George's and Charles counties had the lowest efficiency ratings among Maryland's suburbs.

Read the complete article HERE.

How teacher development could revolutionize our schools

2011-03-01T12:14:00.002-05:00

By Bill Gates
The Washington Post
Monday, February 28, 2011

As the nation's governors gather in Washington for their annual meeting, they are grappling with more than state budget deficits. They're confronting deep education deficits as well.

Over the past four decades, the per-student cost of running our K-12 schools has more than doubled, while our student achievement has remained virtually flat. Meanwhile, other countries have raced ahead. The same pattern holds for higher education. Spending has climbed, but our percentage of college graduates has dropped compared with other countries.

To build a dynamic 21st-century economy and offer every American a high-quality education, we need to flip the curve. For more than 30 years, spending has risen while performance stayed relatively flat. Now we need to raise performance without spending a lot more.

Read more HERE.

Va. teen's suicide prompts Md. review of disciplinary policies

2011-02-24T07:29:00.001-05:00

By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 23, 2011; 11:05 PM

(The following is related to Sunday's WaPo article, Suicide turns attention to Fairfax discipline procedures.)

Maryland officials will ask school systems across the state to examine their disciplinary policies in the aftermath of the suicide of a Northern Virginia football player who took his life as he grappled with the fallout of being suspended from his high school.

The Maryland Board of Education asked for a review of policies in the state's 24 school systems, expressing concern about any existing "zero tolerance" practices and a need for support services for suspended students.

"I want to get some assurance that this never happens in our districts," said Kate Walsh, a member of Maryland's State Board of Education..."

Read more HERE.

Digital Learning Programs Around the Country

2011-02-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

Feb 9, 2011 – 10:31 AM
AOL News

An ongoing experiment with digital learning is changing the look and feel of American education. In New York City, the country's largest public school system, a pilot program was launched in the fall to test three types of digital learning courses: Advanced Placement, credit recovery and blended learning, which combines online courses with traditional face-to-face instruction. Elsewhere around the country, states, school districts and private institutions are testing the waters in what could amount to an educational revolution.

Here are a few examples of those programs:
1. George Washington University Online High School

In January, classes opened at George Washington University's virtual prep school -- a private, virtual high school, officially known as George Washington University Online High School. The school has 16 matriculated students from nine states so far, according to The Washington Post. It is operated by online education company K12 Inc. (many of the current students are reportedly children of K12 employees) and has plans to open its virtual doors to students worldwide. One year's tuition at the school costs $9,995.

2. Florida Virtual School

When it was founded in 1997, Florida Virtual School was the first statewide online high school. Today, it's the country's largest e-learning system, with more than 220,000 students taking at least one online course in grades K-12. FLVS courses are free to Florida residents and provide options for students who need flexible school schedules or who want to take classes that aren't offered at their own schools. School districts are also using virtual courses to meet a class size-limit law, which doesn't apply to e-learning labs, according to The New York Times.

3. Credit Recovery in Houston

The Houston Independent School District offers online credit-recovery courses to students in danger of failing a class. This fall, 2,500 students were enrolled in the program and 27 "grad coaches" -- not teachers -- were tasked with monitoring their progress, according to The New York Times. The program is touted as a cost-effective means to improving graduation rates.

4. California Virtual Academies

The California Virtual Academies is a network of nine online charter schools throughout the state. During the 2008-2009 school year, CAVA had more than 10,000 students enrolled. This fall, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest public school district in the country, opened the City of Angels Virtual Academy, an online high school offering ninth- and 10th-grade curricula.

5. 39 State Programs

According to Keeping Pace, they are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The states that do not have state virtual schools or online learning initiatives are Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Homepage High: Computer No Substitute for Teacher at Tech High

2011-02-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Part 3 of a three-part series on joining the digital learning revolution in America.

NEW YORK -- The High School of Telecommunication Arts & Technology is something of a misnomer, Principal Phil Weinberg explains. The Brooklyn school's curriculum doesn't focus on telecommunications or technology any more than the next school does.

"We're a high school, like every high school in the city should be," Weinberg said.

But a new program implemented this year adds a little authenticity to the word "technology" in the verbose name. As part of New York's iLearnNYC program, the school is piloting online credit-recovery courses for some of its 1,300 students.

A burgeoning movement toward digital learning is changing the face of education in schools nationwide. A 2009 study by the Sloan Consortium estimated that more than a million K-12 students were enrolled in at least one online course during the 2007-2008 school year. In secondary schools, the most popular type of digital course is credit recovery, according to a 2010 report by the Babson Survey Research Group. And in November, the federal Department of Education released its National Ed-Tech Plan, calling for "revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering" in American schools.

Read more HERE

Homepage High: Computer Subs for AP Teacher

2011-02-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

Part 2 of a three-part series on joining the digital learning revolution in America.

NEW YORK -- Norma Vega, principal of the ELLIS Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, faces a conundrum familiar to many high school principals: Limited resources restrict the number of classes she can offer her students. And though she tries to give them every opportunity to prepare for college, with very few students ready for Advanced Placement classes, she hasn't hired an AP teacher.

"It's about what's most efficient and what's most effective," Vega said. "If I don't have 25 kids, how do I justify hiring an AP teacher that I don't have at least a full class for?"

And yet, 12 of her 241 students are taking either AP English or AP American history this year -- just not in the traditional sense. They're taking it online.

A nascent digital revolution is taking place in some American schools, where administrators and teachers are rethinking traditional classes and experimenting with online learning. A study conducted last year by the Sloan Consortium found that 75 percent of school districts surveyed nationwide offered online or blended learning courses during the 2007-2008 school year. And online learning isn't just spreading, it's spreading quickly. The number of K-12 students enrolled in online courses increased 47 percent in those two years.

Read more HERE

Homepage High: Teachers, Computers, No Textbooks

2011-02-10T13:50:00.000-05:00

Part 1 of a three-part series on joining the digital learning revolution in America.

NEW YORK -- Anastacia Brie, a science teacher at New York City's Hudson High School of Learning Technologies, recently realized why she wasn't tripping over backpacks in her classroom anymore. Her students' bags no longer hold textbooks.

This seemingly insignificant detail belies a new approach to learning that's changing the look and feel of classrooms nationwide. There are no textbooks at Hudson High School because the content is entirely digital. The school (originally called Homepage High School) opened in the fall with a vision of combining online courses with face-to-face instruction, a method known as blended learning.

"My hope is that we're going to change the way education looks in this little place, in this little school," said Principal Nancy Amling, who created the school with the city's Education Department, "and that ultimately we will impact all of New York City."

Read more HERE

Superintendents' Contracts

2011-02-09T13:13:00.002-05:00

The following information has been provided by a blog reader, with a request that it be posted. I welcome your comments.

Fairfax ˜ base salary in 2009 $292,469 (plus $65,500 in deferred pension pay investments)

to manage 22,000 employees,
173,000 students and a
$2.2 billion budget (billion, with a ˆb-)

Montgomery ˜ no details; Washington Post reported in 2009 his compensation package was worth $500,000

to manage
22,026 employees,
141,777 students and also a
$2.2 billion budget (billion, with a ˆb-)

Charles ˜ base salary $289,050

to manage
3,397 employees,
26,779 students and a
$299.5 million budget (million, with an ˆm-)

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 2/8/11

2011-02-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, February 8th 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

Superintendent's update - read report

Correspondence/Board Member updates

Wade - accolades to Mr. Richmond on telepresence
Pedersen - School visits; spoke with teachers about reviews
Wise - school visits; career center scholarship programs....March 1st deadline

Presentation on advertising on school buses

"Saying it Loud" Presentation
Wise - brought forth fraudulent letters of support from the company; COMAR rules, etc.
Abell - Safety of students if other drivers are reading signs on buses; commercialism of our students, don't they get enough.
Wade - Doesn't see a reason to change the yellow school bus. no distractions needed.
Bowie - business perspective, not a good investment, buses aren't used year round.
Bakare - surveyed student opinions and they don't want it. It's odd.

Motion to vote today by Pedersen; Second by Wade

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

Motion to deny by Cook; Second by Pedersem

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

Education Association of Charles County update - read report

Student Board Member update - read report

Deputy Superintendent Update - Parent Advisory Committee

Abell - requested update on the cell phone policy review committee

CIP update - read report

Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA); Minority Achievement; and potential Advanced Placement (AP) teachers

See power point

Budget Update - See report

Legislative update - See report

Unfinished business

Pedersen - thanks to the students for participation in the Diversity Forum
Wade - thanks to the people that clean the school parking lots; cadets that open our meetings are part of a larger force. kudos to the military and don't cut the JROTC programs

New business

Pedersen - question regardimg dates and agendas for work sessions

Future agenda items - none

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees
Resolutions: Read Across Charles County, Women's History Month and Fine and Performing Arts Month

I had to excuse myself at this time due to family commitment.

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Your Turn: Give Parents More Power in Schools

2011-02-08T17:12:00.004-05:00

Theodora Chang and Erica Williams
The Root/ Education Reform
Posted: February 8, 2011

The case of the Ohio mother jailed for enrolling her daughter in an out-of district school shatters the myth that low-income parents don't care about their children's education. More parental involvement could speed up education reform.

The tale of Kelley Williams-Bolar, a Ohio mother sentenced to jail on Jan. 19 and fined $30,000 for enrolling her daughter in an out-of-district school, has taken on a life of its own. Her story has sparked rallies, petitions and a robust national dialogue about educational equity. But it is more than an illustration of the egregious economic, geographic and racial inequities in our public education system. Williams-Bolar has become the poster parent for a very specific issue in the education-reform movement: parental involvement and choice.

Her story stands in stark contrast to the popular but wildly inaccurate narrative of low-income parents of color being uninterested in -- and stubborn obstacles to -- their children's education. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated (pdf) that low-income and minority parents strongly value education and higher achievement. The question is, what can engaged parents like Williams-Bolar do right now as the arduous reform process moves along?

The current Elementary and Secondary Education Act includes some parental-involvement policies focused on school-parent compacts and parent-teacher conferences. But many parents find these tools inadequate, and they are using more dramatic options.

Read more HERE.

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 2/8/11

2011-02-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 8, 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, La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Superintendent's update

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Correspondence/Board Member updates
Presentation on advertising on school buses
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board Member update
CIP update
Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA); Minority Achievement; and potential Advanced Placement (AP) teachers
Budget update
Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

New business
Future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees
Resolutions: Read Across Charles County, Women's History Month and Fine and Performing Arts Month

Public Forum 6 p.m.
Action items

Minutes
Personnel

Adjournment

Facebook 'Bait' Pages Raises Flags

2011-02-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

Parents, school officials concerned
Friday, Feb. 4, 2011
By GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Staff writer

Anonymous Facebook pages that rate students' attractiveness have many school communities in the county concerned.
The pages are found on the popular social networking site where people post information and photos for friends and family to see.
The members of these pages are posting photographs of students and fellow members post comments, which are usually of a "sexual, hurtful or otherwise inappropriate nature," the Charles County Sheriff's Office has warned on its Facebook page.
Elizabeth Bellet, 17, a student at Thomas Stone High School, said the pages are "the worst thing to come to Charles County schools in a long time."

Read more HERE

The fine art of polishing your online persona

2011-02-04T09:46:00.002-05:00

Jenna Johnson
Campus Overload
The Washington Post
February 3, 2011

Your high school career is coming to an end and college is already on the horizon. You've worked hard all these years, putting together a terrific academic record that will hopefully lead to acceptance to the college of your choice.

Your applications have all been submitted -- but you could still be sending info about yourself to the admissions committee without realizing it.

All of your hard work could possibly be undone by a not-so-great online and social media footprint. You probably didn't think a college admissions officer would look at your Facebook page, MySpace homepage, Twitter feed or the videos you uploaded to YouTube... but there's a chance that's exactly what they're doing.

Read more HERE.

7th Youth Arrested in Bullying of Teenager in Philadelphia

2011-02-03T12:08:00.003-05:00

By JON HURDLE
The New York Times
Published: February 1, 2011

PHILADELPHIA — A seventh teenager was arrested on Tuesday in a bullying incident in which a 13-year-old student was kicked and beaten before being hung by his coat from a spiked fence post, the police said.

The attack on the 13-year-old boy, whose family came to the United States to escape the war in Liberia in 2000, was recorded on video by one of the suspects.

Read more HERE.

Plastic pellet incident at Va. school ends in expulsion, assault charges

2011-02-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 1, 2011; 8:55 PM

Andrew Mikel II admits it was a stupid thing to do. In December, bored and craving attention, the 14-year-old used a plastic tube to blow small plastic pellets at fellow students in Spotsylvania High School. In one lunch period, he scored three hits.

"They flinched. They looked annoyed," Mikel said.

The school district saw it as more than a childish prank. School officials expelled him for possession and use of a weapon, and they called a deputy sheriff to the scene, said Mikel and his father, Andrew Mikel Sr.

Read more HERE.

'A Rosa Parks moment for education'

2011-02-02T14:14:00.002-05:00

By Kevin Huffman
The Washington Post
Monday, January 31, 2011

Last week, 40-year-old Ohio mother Kelley Williams-Bolar was released after serving nine days in jail on a felony conviction for tampering with records. Williams-Bolar's offense? Lying about her address so her two daughters, zoned to the lousy Akron city schools, could attend better schools in the neighboring Copley-Fairlawn district.

Read more HERE.

Duncan, Lee urge more black men to become teachers

2011-02-01T12:32:00.002-05:00

By DORIE TURNER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 31, 2011; 4:54 PM

ATLANTA -- Filmmaker Spike Lee joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan in issuing a call Monday for more black men to become teachers, making their plea at the country's only all-male historically black college.

The two took part in a town hall meeting at Atlanta's private Morehouse College just a week after President Barack Obama urged more people nationwide to become teachers.

Duncan told an audience that more than 1 million educators are expected to retire in the coming decade and that federal officials are hoping to harness that opportunity to create a more diverse teaching work force, noting that less than 2 percent of the nation's 3 million teachers are black men.

Read more HERE.

Three-year-old suspended from Arlington preschool for too many potty accidents

2011-02-01T11:55:00.002-05:00

By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 30, 2011; 12:56 AM

Zoe Rosso, who is 3 years old, likes to bake brownies with her mom, go to tumbling class and make up elaborate worlds with tiny plastic animals and dolls. Like many children her age, she sometimes has difficulty making it to the toilet on time.

That's why she was suspended from her preschool. For a month.

Arlington Public Schools' Montessori preschool at Claremont Elementary "removed" Zoe in December, asking her parents not to bring her back to school for a month, or until the child learned not to have any more "accidents."

The principal escorted Zoe and her mother, Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso, from the building on Dec. 3. "The principal told me that Zoe had had enough chances," Rosso said. "That seemed absurd to me. It came as a total shock."

Read more HERE.

National science test scores disappoint

2011-01-26T04:24:00.002-05:00

By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 25, 2011; 8:42 PM

About two-thirds of U.S. fourth-graders failed to show proficiency in science in 2009, the federal government reported Tuesday, meaning that the average student was likely to be stumped when asked to interpret a temperature graph or explain an example of heat transfer.

Seventy percent of eighth-graders and 79 percent of 12th-graders also fell short of science proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a key measure of performance in a subject that President Obama and business leaders call crucial for American competitiveness.

Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 1/11/11

2011-01-11T15:35:00.002-05:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, January 11th 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.

Recognition and Public Forum were removed from today's agenda due to inclement weather

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Election of Chairman/Vice Chairman

Nominate Wise for Chair by Cook; Second by Abell

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

Nominate Cook for Vice-Chair by Abell; Second by Wise

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

Superintendent's update - Read Report; Update on inclement weather decisions

Correspondence/Board Member updates

Cook - Residential Verification Committee with Del. Peter Murphy ready to begin work

Education Association of Charles County update - Read Report

Student Board Member update - Read Report

CIP update - Read Report

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives; Career Technology Education - See presentation
Legislative & Budget update - teacher retirement update...waiting on the governor's budget next week

Unfinished business -

Wise - School visitation schedule for board members complete
Wise - MABE Committee members - need volunteers
Wise - NSBA Conference; board consensus is to try and send new board members

New business -

Department of Education Resolution on Navy Housing -

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous (Wade - not present)

Future agenda items -

Recognition 4:30 p.m. - canceled due to inclement weather

Public Forum 6 p.m. - canceled due to inclement weather

Action items

Minutes

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Yes = Abell, Cook, Pedersen, Wise; Abstain = Bowie, Lukas; Wade - not present

Personnel

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous (Wade - not present)

Board policy 4610 amendment

Motion to accept by Abell; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous (Wade - not present)

Adjournment

New law labels interns 'highly qualified teachers'

2011-01-05T19:40:00.001-05:00

By TERENCE CHEA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 4, 2011; 5:55 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Civil rights advocates are blasting new federal legislation that allows states to classify teaching interns as "highly qualified" teachers and regularly assign them to schools with mostly poor, minority students.

The measure, which remains in effect until the end of the 2012-13 school year, was signed Dec. 22 by President Barack Obama as part of an unrelated federal spending bill.

The legislation nullifies a Sept. 27 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California illegally classified thousands of teachers in training as "highly qualified" in violation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Under that law, all students are supposed to be taught by "highly qualified" teachers who have earned state teaching credentials, but a 2004 Bush administration policy allowed states to give that status to interns working toward certification.

Read more HERE.

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 1/11/11

2011-01-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 11, 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

Election of Chairman/Vice Chairman

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Superintendent's update
Correspondence/Board Member updates
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board Member update
CIP update
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives; Career Technology Education
Budget update
Legislative update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

New business
Future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees
Resolutions: African-American History Month; Career and Technical Education Month; and National School Counseling Week.

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

Minutes
Personnel
Board policy 4610 amendment

Adjournment

Letter to the editor: Charles County school system needs better bus policy

2010-12-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

Parent
Maryland Independent
December 31, 2010

...I bring this entire situation to the public's attention because I am appalled at what the school informed me about the Charles County bus policy.

I was told that only children in prekindergarten or kindergarten are not to be dropped off without someone there to get them off the bus.

Since my son is in second grade they didn't see anything wrong with him getting dropped off at the edge of our driveway, on the highway, with no one there to retrieve him and make sure he made it to the house safely.

Maryland law states: "A person who is charged with the care of a child under the age of 8 years may not allow the child to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent and the dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle is out of the sight of the person charged unless the person charged provides a reliable person at least 13 years old to remain with the child to protect the child. … A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding $500 or imprisonment not exceeding 30 days, or both."

So if the law states a child younger than 8 cannot be left alone, then why would a policy state that a child can be dropped off alone from the school bus? I don't understand this with so many children abducted each year or injured from pedestrian-related accidents.

The school system needs to revise its policy to make sure our children remain safe and not a statistic.

Kathy Almassy, Bryantown

Read the full letter HERE.

Board Swearing-In

2010-12-16T09:38:00.001-05:00

The swearing-in ceremony for the new Board of Education is set for 4 p.m., Dec. 20, at North Point High School. Two new Board of Education members, Patricia Bowie and Michael Lukas, were elected into office. They join incumbents Roberta S. Wise, Donald Wade, Jennifer Abell, Maura Cook and Pamela Pedersen, who were re-elected to their positions. The Board begins a four-year term and elects officers at the January meeting.

Charles County Public Schools provides 26,858 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 35 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 12/14/10

2010-12-14T18:05:00.001-05:00

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, December 14th 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, Maurice J. McDonough High School's JROTC unit

Maurice J. McDonough High School Football Team - Class 2A State Champions

Superintendent's update to the Board - Read report

Correspondence/board member updates -

Wise - Senior Portfolios; Military Ball
Pedersen - All County Band & Strings, Senior Portfolios; It's Academic
Abell - Rachel's Challenge at Somers...would like to see implemented at all schools

Education Association of Charles County update - Read Update

Student board member update - Read Update

New student advisor update - Mr. Gary Winsett, Social Studies, Thomas Stone High School

CIP update - Read update

Appeal to IAC on Dec 3; Will be appealing before the Governor on certain issues
265 Total Portable Classrooms in the system

St. Charles High School redistricting timeline - See report for timeline

Navy housing

Land on Radio Station Road where Matula, LaPata, Annex, etc....135 acres has been deeded to us by the Navy since it has been used for educational purposes for over 30 years. Need to go after the broken down houses on the sharp turn on Radio Station Road. Advised Dept of Education we are interested. Must show educational use within 12 months

Solar energy concepts - hopefully move to whole system in the near future

Student exchange process, English Language Learners (ELL) intake process/handbook - See update

Budget update - See update

Board policy 4610 amendment - See update

Legislative update - See update

Board farewell reception - Oasis Café, 3 - 4:30 p.m.

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees

Unfinished business - None

New business and future agenda items - None

Public Forum - 6 p.m. - None

Action Items

Minutes

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Unanimous

Personnel

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Unanimous

2011 Legislative issues packet

Motion by Bailey; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous

Adjournment

Autism Breakthrough? D-Cycloserine Treatment For Impaired Sociability

2010-12-11T11:34:00.003-05:00

Scientific Blogging Science 2.0
News Staff
December 8, 2010
2:20 a.m.

The social impairment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can have a profound impact on quality of life.

As part of their research, Eastern Virginia Medical School scientists say they have verified that a specific mouse strain, known as the BALB/c mouse, is a valid animal model of the limited sociability seen in persons with Autism. In the presence of another mouse, BALB/c mice move as far away as possible and do not interact as normal mice do, they say in much the same way people with autism often avoid making social contact with other people.

This finding gave them a way to test whether an existing medication can alter the function of certain receptors in the brain known to affect sociability and help the animals be more at ease around others. The medication used was D-Cycloserine, originally developed to treat tuberculosis, but previous studies showed that it also might change social behavior. In preliminary studies at Eastern Virginia Medical School, the medication appeared to resolve the Balb/c mouse's deficits of sociability - BALB/c mice treated with the medication behaved as a normal mouse would when placed near another.

Read more HERE.

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 12/14/10

2010-12-10T21:37:00.001-05:00

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 14, 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 recognition begins 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. Board meetings are also streamed live on the school system Web site at www.ccboe.com. If there is anything listed on the agenda that you would like to ask questions about or want more information, please let me know.

Executive session - 11:30 a.m.

Call to order - 1 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance, Maurice J. McDonough High School's JROTC unit

Maurice J. McDonough High School Football Team - Class 2A State Champions

Superintendent's update to the Board

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Correspondence/board member updates
Education Association of Charles County update
Student board member update
New student advisor update
CIP update
St. Charles High School redistricting timeline
Navy housing
Solar energy concepts
Student exchange process, English Language Learners (ELL) intake process/handbook
Budget update
Board policy 4610 amendment
Legislative update

Board farewell reception - Oasis Café, 3 - 4:30 p.m.

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

Students
Employees

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

New business
Future agenda items

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

Action Items

Minutes
Personnel
2011 Legislative issues packet

Adjournment

Ready, Willing and Abell

In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 1/10/12

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 1/10/12

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 12/13/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 12/13/11

Green Ribbon award will recognize eco-friendly schools

When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids

New Out-of-Zone Student Transfer Policy and Rules

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 11/28/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 11/28/11

High school hazing worries educators

On Maryland tobacco farms, turning a tradition into potential health benefits

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 11/8/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 11/8/11

Maryland seeks to reform early childhood education

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 10/24/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/24/11

Notes from Board of Education Meeting on 10/11/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 10/11/11

Teachers increasingly use home visits to connect with students’ families

India’s students will be the first to get world’s smallest computer

Notes from Board of Education & Commissioner Retreat, October 4, 2011

Obama tells students: Discover new passions

Banana Man Principal Resigns

Victory: Indiana School Agrees to Cease Subjecting Students to Intrusive Mental Health Surveys Without Written Parental Consent

Race to Top Winners Feel Heat on Teacher Evaluations

AP, SAT participation increases

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 9/13/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 9/13/11

Officials Look Overseas for Models to Pay for School Construction

Notes from the Board of Education Work Session, 8/22/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 8/22/11

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 8/9/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 8/9/11

New book takes on zero tolerance fervor in schools

Study exposes some some myths about school discipline

MD Becomes First State to Require Environmental Literacy

Maryland officials scrap new sunscreen restrictions

State releases Maryland School Assessment (MSA) data

Notes from the Board of Education Work Sesson, 6/27/11

REMINDER: Board Work Session, 06/27/11

Supreme Court backs Miranda warning when questioning juveniles

Los Angeles TimesDavid G. Savage, Washington BureauJune 16, 201

The Supreme Court expanded the rights of juveniles Thursday, deciding by a 5-4 vote that police officers who remove a student from a class to question him about a crime usually must warn him of his right to remain silent.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 6/14/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 6/14/11

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: Are We Creating an Education Nightmare?

Md. teacher evaluation redesign bogs down

Dozens of Md. children treated after heat exposure

Former Charles County school employee pleads guilty

Barnes-Thomas admits to purchasing electronics through Title I funds

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 5/23/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Work Session, 5/23/11

Notes from Board of Education Meeting 5/10/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting; 5/10/11

Impact of recession: New schools too costly for some counties

School braces for failure

If Barnhart misses AYP again, sanctions follow

Penalties for drug offenses weigh heavily on students

State board considers changing school discipline rules

A suspended student could not be kept out of school during an appeal of the disciplinary action

Board of Education hosts joint meeting with Commissioners

Regional Conference Focuses on Food Security

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 4/5/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 4/5/11

Charles County Public School Employee Charged In Theft Scheme

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS NANCY S. GRASMICK ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR RETIREMENT

Notes from Board of Education Work Session, 3/28/11

Calvert's school layoffs to start in April

The cost of small class size

Fairfax schools consider recording student disciplinary hearings

NOTICE: Board of Education Work Session on New High School, 3/28/2011

Notes from the Board of Education Work Session, 3/21/11

Loan Study on Students Goes Beyond Default Rates

U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status

NOTICE: Board of Education Work Session, 3/21/11

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 3/8/11

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 3/8/11

Study: Manassas Park and Calvert County have most efficient schools in D.C. area

Los Angeles Times
David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
June 16, 201