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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Foundation: Growth in test scores is sign of good teacher

By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 10, 2010; 2:58 PM

While debate rages in the education world about how to measure effective teaching - or whether it is even possible to do so - research funded by a prominent advocate of data-driven analysis has found that growth in annual student test scores is a reliable sign of a good teacher.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reported that and other preliminary findings Friday from a $45 million study of teacher effectiveness in several cities.

Read more HERE.

As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up

By JAN HOFFMAN
The New York Times
Published: December 4, 2010

Ninth grade was supposed to be a fresh start for Marie’s son: new school, new children. Yet by last October, he had become withdrawn. Marie prodded. And prodded again. Finally, he told her.

“The kids say I’m saying all these nasty things about them on Facebook,” he said. “They don’t believe me when I tell them I’m not on Facebook.”

But apparently, he was.

Marie, a medical technologist and single mother who lives in Newburyport, Mass., searched Facebook. There she found what seemed to be her son’s page: his name, a photo of him grinning while running — and, on his public wall, sneering comments about teenagers he scarcely knew.

Someone had forged his identity online and was bullying others in his name.

Read more HERE.

Hold the brownies! Bill could limit bake sales

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
The Associated Press
Friday, December 3, 2010; 8:15 PM

WASHINGTON -- Don't touch my brownies! A child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama - and championed by the first lady - gives the government power to limit school bake sales and other fundraisers that health advocates say sometimes replace wholesome meals in the lunchroom.

Read more HERE.

EPA Releases New Draft Voluntary Guidelines for Selecting Safe Locations for New Schools

Smart Growth News
Smart Growth Online
11/30/2010

EPA has released new draft guidelines to help communities protect the health of students and staff from environmental threats when selecting new locations for schools. The new draft voluntary guidelines will help local communities consider environmental health issues in establishing school site selection criteria and in conducting effective environmental reviews of prospective school sites. The draft guidelines recommend involving the public in the site selection process from the beginning to help ensure community support for these decisions.

Read more HERE.

Comcast and MSDE announce fourth annual parent award

Comcast and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) are sponsoring the fourth annual Comcast Parent Involvement Matters Award (PIMA) program. The annual award recognizes parents and guardians whose contributions have led to improvements in Maryland public schools.

The program was created to highlight the positive impact parents have on public schools and to encourage parent involvement. Parents and guardians can be nominated for demonstrating significant, positive impact on public education in their communities.

Nominees must be a parent/legal guardian of a child in a Maryland public school, and a consistent advocate of public education. Nominees must have also demonstrated involvement in one of the five following areas within the last 24 months: communications; volunteering; learning; decision marking; and/or community collaboration.

Nominations must include three letters of recommendation, a two-page narrative essay describing the nominee's contribution to public education and completed nomination forms.

Nomination forms are available on MSDE's Web site at www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/pima/. Nomination packets must be postmarked by Wednesday, Jan. 19, and should be sent to: Maryland State Department of Education, Office of Academic Policy, 7th Floor, Attention: PIMA, 200 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201. Incomplete applications will not be considered and submissions will not be accepted online or by e-mail.

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.

Hiding exams from students

Class Struggle
by Jay Mathews
The Washington Post
November 18, 2010

The parent at McLean High School was frustrated. Two years ago he had to go to the principal to force a teacher to let his daughter keep a copy of a graded test so she could get a better sense of her errors. Last month, it happened again with his son.

“My son no longer gets any exams returned, and in some cases, classes aren’t allowed to even view their exams,” he said in an Oct. 8 e-mail to the same principal, Deborah Jackson. “Using exams to learn where you erred and to prepare for future exams is a time-honored part of the learning process. My son’s math tutor (a teacher in another school) asked for a copy of a recent exam he had taken and when told that exams were no longer being returned, said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. How do they defend doing that?’ ”

As Jackson said in an interview, rules don’t require that exams go home, but that is her policy and she is enforcing it. She has gone to each teacher involved in the complaint (most of whom said they did not withhold any tests) and has notified the entire faculty.

Yet, that is not the end of it. Jackson said she doesn’t have final say on the handling of all exams. There are signs that keeping exams from students might become more prevalent, not less, in Fairfax County and other districts.

Read more HERE.

Fairfax school experiments with letting cheaters retake tests

By Donna St. George

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 17, 2010; 10:34 PM

The Fairfax County high school that asked teachers to all but banish F's from its recent report cards has been experimenting with an approach that would allow students caught cheating to retake tests instead of receiving zeros.

West Potomac High School Principal Cliff Hardison last month instructed teachers to allow cheaters to retake tests. The idea was that cheating should "result in a disciplinary consequence separate from an academic consequence," Hardison said in a Nov. 5 e-mail to teachers.

Later, after complaints from parents and teachers, he reverted to the old policy of using zeros but also gave teachers the option of offering retakes, according to the Nov. 5 e-mail. It said that individual departments would be discussing the issue as the school makes broader changes this year to its grading system.

Read more HERE.

At West Potomac High School, taking F off the grade books

By Donna St. George

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 14, 2010; 12:04 AM

Depending on whom you ask, West Potomac High School's latest change to student grading is either another sign of a coddled generation or a necessary step to help struggling kids.

The dreaded F has been all but banished from the grade books.

The report cards that arrived home late last week showed few failing grades but instead marks of "I" for incomplete, indicating that students still owe their teachers essential work. They will get Fs only if they fail to complete assignments and learn the content in the months to come.

Read more HERE.

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

The New York Times
By TRIP GABRIEL
Published: November 9, 2010

An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.

But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches.

The data was distilled from highly respected national math and reading tests, known as the National Assessment for Educational Progress, which are given to students in fourth and eighth grades, most recently in 2009. The report, “A Call for Change,” is to be released Tuesday by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools.

Read more HERE

In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda

The New York Times
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: November 6, 2010

HELENA, Mont. — Alarmed by evidence that gay and lesbian students are common victims of schoolyard bullies, many school districts are bolstering their antiharassment rules with early lessons in tolerance, explaining that some children have “two moms” or will grow up to love members of the same sex.

But such efforts to teach acceptance of homosexuality, which have gained urgency after several well-publicized suicides by gay teenagers, are provoking new culture wars in some communities.

Many educators and rights advocates say that official prohibitions of slurs and taunts are most effective when combined with frank discussions, from kindergarten on, about diverse families and sexuality.

Angry parents and religious critics, while agreeing that schoolyard harassment should be stopped, charge that liberals and gay rights groups are using the antibullying banner to pursue a hidden “homosexual agenda,” implicitly endorsing, for example, same-sex marriage.

Read more HERE.

Notes from Board of Education Meeting, 11/9/10

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, November 9th 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


Correspondence/board member updates

• Wise - Adult Graduation; FEA Induction; Emannuel Bakare appointed to the Student Youth Advisory Council

Education Association of Charles County update - See Report


Student board member update - See Report


Enrollment update -

• Cunningham - 26,852 slightly up from last year; 55.2% African American, 36.3% White, 3.8% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, 1% American Indian; 3,017 first time enrolled in CCPS. Additional statistics can be found in the report
• Abell - how many are seniors? 1st time enrolled? HSA's? 47
• Wise - Graduation rate process

CIP update - See Report

Race to the Top Grant - See Report

Autism Education Update - Charles County autism program at Matula Elementary for Pre-K and K; MIT = Multiple Intensity Teaching. 6 children currently enrolled; Later integrated into inclusion program; Hope to expand program to middle and high school in the future.

CCPS Environmental Education program - See Report

Board policy 4610 - See Report

Budget update - See Report

2011 Legislative issues packet - See Report

Unfinished business - None


New business - Noe


Future agenda items - None


Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Employees
• Maryland Association of Secondary Principals Award: Rick Conley, vice principal, Henry E. Lackey High School
• American Cancer Society Awards: 100 percent school participation award for 2009-10; 2009-10 Superintendent of the Year award: James E. Richmond

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

• Alan Jackson - American Freedom Week curriculum; against tasers & firearms in the school but if they are accepted, what is the educational content.

Action Items

• Minutes

Motion by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Unanimous

• Personnel

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Cook

Unanimous

Superintendent's update to the Board - See Report

Adjournment

Fighting Bullying with Babies

The New York Times
November 8, 2010, 8:10 pm
By DAVID BORNSTEIN

Imagine there was a cure for meanness. Well, maybe there is.

Lately, the issue of bullying has been in the news, sparked by the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a gay college student who was a victim of cyber-bullying, and by a widely circulated New York Times article that focused on “mean girl” bullying in kindergarten. The federal government has identified bullying as a national problem. In August, it organized the first-ever “Bullying Prevention Summit,” and it is now rolling out an anti-bullying campaign aimed at 5- to 8-year old children. This past month the Department of Education released a guidance letter to schools, colleges and universities to take bullying seriously, or face potential legal consequences.

The typical institutional response to bullying is to get tough. In the Tyler Clementi case, prosecutors are considering bringing hate-crime charges. But programs like the one I want to discuss today show the potential of augmenting our innate impulses to care for one another instead of just falling back on punishment as a deterrent. And what’s the secret formula? A baby.

Read more HERE.

(Frederick County) School system enacts rules against 'sexting'

Gazette.Net
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Margarita Raycheva | Staff Writer

Growing trend of sending racy messages leads educators to include the term ‘sexting' in disciplinary guidelines for students, alongside gang activity and physical assault

Ask a parent about sexting and you may get a blank stare. But most Frederick County teens will know exactly what you are talking about.

Sexting, which is the act of sending nude or partially nude photos by cell phone, is becoming a popular habit of camera-phone equipped teens nationwide and Frederick County is not an exception.

"I noticed it in middle school when kids started getting cell phones," said Sarah Hauver, 17.

The Walkersville High School senior, who recently gave up Facebook for more face time with her friends, says she has never sent out such a message, but she is familiar with the trend and knows at least one person who has sent one.

When she was in ninth grade, two girls at her school got in trouble for sending out provocative videos and images of themselves via phone message, she said. The images were only meant for specific boys, but ended up getting leaked to dozens of other students, causing a major embarrassment, Sarah said.

"It got around really fast," she said.

The trend is a growing concern for educators in Frederick County, leading them for the first time this year to include the term "sexting" in disciplinary guidelines for students, alongside gang activity and physical assault.

Sexting now is a separate violation within Frederick County Public Schools' bullying regulations and, depending on the scale of the offense, the punishment for students who send these messages ranges from suspension and a parent conference to expulsion. Schools can also report offenders to law enforcement if they suspect a violation of criminal law, according to Ann Bonitatibus, the school system's associate superintendent for secondary schools.

"As the technology evolves, we have to keep up with it," she said. "And (sexting) impacts school environment."

Read more HERE.

How to evaluate students...look at their work

Washington Post
By Monty Neill


In June, I outlined a school evaluation system to replace No Child Left Behind’s test-only accountability structure. I then described in more detail how each component would work: first school quality reviews, then annual state tests in a few grades, and now local assessments. Together, these interrelated elements provide comprehensive evidence of school progress, as well as richer information for teaching and school improvement efforts.
The best way to find out what students know and can do is to look at their actual work. In a local assessment system, teachers document student products and processes. Research projects, oral presentations, essays, problem solving using computers, and science experiments allow evaluation of higher order thinking skills and deep content knowledge that standardized tests cannot measure.
What is standardized in this system is not individual student work but the criteria for gathering and evaluating work products. With a clear structure, the work assessed can vary: what books students read, the specific choices of what to emphasize in history or biology or math, the extended projects students undertake, etc. Strong structures already exist, including the Learning Record and the Work Sampling System. Other countries have developed various approaches to this issue.

Read more HERE

Teens are still reading for fun, say media specialists

By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 31, 2010; 10:44 PM

Teens read for pleasure, even in the digital age.

That's how it looks here in a Rockville library, where 14-year-old Olivia Smith is propped in a comfy chair, deep into a Japanese novel genre called manga. She has already been reading on the computer for an hour, and later, when she texts her friends, she will still be turning pages between messages. "I'm sort of a bookworm," she says.

Recreational reading has changed for teens in an era of ebooks and laptops and hours spent online, but experts and media specialists say there are signs of promise in spite of busy lives and research findings that show traditional book reading is down.

"It's not that they're reading less; they're reading in a different way," says Kim Patton, president of the Young Adult Library Services Association.

Read more HERE

President Obama: It Gets Better

Ed.gov blog
U.S. Department of Education
October 25,2010

THIS LINK is President Obama's video message, "It Gets Better." There is a link to a transcript of the President's video at the bottom of the page, and links to information on anti-bullying organizations.

Will New Ed Policy Affect All Districts Equally?

Washington Post
From Anne Geiger on the fallout from the midterm elections and the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives:

The good news and the bad news.

First, some important data...

As this table and this table show, there are 47.7 million students enrolled in public schools and 14,229 school districts in the U.S. Just over 13% (1,883) enroll 67% of all students (32 million students).

Among this 13% are the school districts of our major cities, such as Washington D.C, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston. Member districts of the Council of the Great City Schools (I served on the council’s board while on the Orange County (FL) School Board), a member organization of the 65 largest, serve over 7 million students.

Their students are 75% non-white, 60% low-income, 15% English language learners, and 12% special-needs. (Twenty-five of these districts serve over 100,000 students each. Their enrollments total 12% of students overall).

The remaining 12,346 school districts serving the remaining 33% of students (15.7 million students) have enrollments under 5,000. Over 6,000 (about half) of these have enrollments under 800.

Read more HERE

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 11/9/10

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 9, 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 http://www.ccboe.com/.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance, Henry E. Lackey High School's JROTC unit

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

Enrollment update

CIP update

Race to the Top grant

CCPS Environmental Education program

Board policy 4610

Budget update

2011 Legislative issues packet

Unfinished business

New business

Future agenda items

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Employees
• Maryland Association of Secondary Principals Award: Rick Conley, vice principal, Henry E. Lackey High School
• American Cancer Society Awards: 100 percent school participation award for 2009-10; 2009-10 Superintendent of the Year award: James E. Richmond

Public Forum - 6 p.m.

Action Items

• Minutes
• Personnel

Adjournment

Dear Colleague Letter from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali

Dear Colleague Letter
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY


Page 1

October 26, 2010

Dear Colleague:

In recent years, many state departments of education and local school districts have taken steps to reduce bullying in schools. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) fully supports these efforts. Bullying fosters a climate of fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the physical and psychological health of its victims and create conditions that negatively affect learning, thereby undermining the ability of students to achieve their full potential. The movement to adopt anti-bullying policies reflects schools’ appreciation of their important responsibility to maintain a safe learning environment for all students. I am writing to remind you, however, that some student misconduct that falls under a school’s anti-bullying policy also may trigger responsibilities under one or more of the federal antidiscrimination laws enforced by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). As discussed in more detail below, by limiting its response to a specific application of its anti-bullying disciplinary policy, a school may fail to properly consider whether the student misconduct also results in discriminatory harassment.

Link to full letter HERE.

Help Stop Bullying, U.S. Tells Educators

The New York Times
By SAM DILLON
Published: October 25, 2010

In a 10-page letter to be sent on Tuesday to thousands of school districts and colleges, the Department of Education urges the nation’s educators to ensure that they are complying with their responsibilities to prevent harassment, as laid out in federal laws.

The letter is the product of a yearlong review of the federal statutes and case law covering sexual, racial and other forms of harassment, officials said. Issuing the letter took on new urgency in recent weeks because of a string of high-profile cases in which students have committed suicide after enduring bullying by classmates, the officials said.

In one case, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, jumped from the George Washington Bridge in an apparent suicide last month, days after his roommate, according to prosecutors, streamed over the Internet his intimate encounter with another man.

The department issued the letter to clarify the legal responsibilities of the authorities in public schools and in colleges and universities under federal laws, the officials said. Certain forms of student bullying might violate federal anti-discrimination law.

Read more HERE.

Study: School buses safe enough without seat belts

By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Monday, October 25, 2010; 8:06 PM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- School buses are safe enough without seat belts and students in many cases ignore a requirement to wear them, according to a study in Alabama released Monday that found the straps would save the life of about one child every eight years.

The study was ordered by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley after four students were killed in 2006 when a school bus without seat belts nose-dived from an overpass in Huntsville.

Following that accident, federal transportation officials required new, smaller school buses to be equipped with lap-and-shoulder belts by 2011. Larger buses are to have higher seat backs.

Read more HERE.

Study: Half of teens admit bullying in last year

October 27, 2010 - 5:34am
By ANDREW DALTON
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Half of high school students say they've bullied someone in the past year, and nearly half say they've been the victim of bullying, according to a national study released Tuesday.

The survey by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics asked more than 43,000 high school students whether they'd been physically abused, teased or taunted in a way that seriously upset them. Forty-three percent said yes, and 50 percent admitted to being the bully.

The institute's president, Michael Josephson, said the study shows more bullying goes on at later ages than previously thought, and remains extremely prevalent through high school.

"Previous to this, the evidence was bullying really peaks in middle school," Josephson told The Associated Press.

He said the Internet has intensified the effect of taunting and intimidation because of its reach and its permanence.

Read more HERE.

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

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, October 12th 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  10:30 a.m.

Presentation on Space Foundation partnership (I was unable to attend this portion)

Executive session  12 p.m.

Correspondence/board member updates

• Pedersen - spoke about MABE conference in Ocean City.  Would like to discuss policy on social media.
• Cook - would like to discuss Data 3.0 during a work session.
• Wade - discussed a seminar he attended regarding minorities and another one on African American Minority Achievement

Education Association of Charles County update  - Read report

Student board member update  - still awaiting for an advisor to be appointed

Use of tasers update by Sheriff Rex Coffey -safe to use; see video

Recruitment and retention update  - see report - lots of nice statistics

FY 2010 Independent financial audit  - see report.  no deficiencies reported

Legislative audit  - see report.  17 recommendations noted

Unfinished business - none

New business

Motion by Pedersen to award contract for Middleton renovation

Second by Cook

Vote Unanimous

Future agenda items - None

Recognition  4:30 p.m.  - See agenda

• Resolutions: American Education Week, American Freedom Week

Public Forum  6 p.m.

• Al Jackson - NAACP - MD Attorney General report on the use of electronic weapons.  Didn't realize tasers, guns, etc were already used in the schools.  Why do we have violent weapons in the school?  What is the educational value?  The demonstration was not the normal level of tasers.  Australia has banned for their officers.  Wants board to reconsider their use.
• Janice Wilson - NAACP - concerned about the use of electronic weapons in the schools.  Task force findings in the MD report.  Risk of serious injury or death.  Believes police trainings and guidelines severely underestimate the level of injury or death.  Believe tasers are used more on African American persons than on caucasians.

Action Items

• Minutes - Pedersen has one correction on item 16.

Motion by Cook; second by Carrington

Vote Unanimous

• Personnel

Motion by Carrington;  second by Wade

Vote Unanimous 

• FY2011 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

Motion by Cook; second by Carrington

Vote Unanimous

• Board chairman election bylaw

Motion by Carrington; second by Wade

Vote Unanimous

Adjournment

Taser Demonstration

Below is the YouTube video of a taser demonstration that I volunteered for in August. Sheriff Rex Coffey will be presenting safety in our schools at the October board meeting.