Market Losses Tighten Screws On Colleges

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer

American colleges and universities lost an average of 23 percent on their endowment investments last semester, according to a national survey to be released today, a drop that is hurting the bottom line across the board, from major state institutions to the Ivy League.

Colleges are feeling financial pressure from all sides as the economic crisis deepens. State funding has dropped. Private donations are expected to decline. And with more families facing job losses and dwindling savings, some schools say they are reluctant to raise tuition or cut financial aid.

Instead, half of the private colleges taking part in a separate survey said they are freezing hiring, delaying building projects or restricting staff travel. [Wash. Post]

WANTED: Blog Assistant

WANTED: A blog assistant to help post pertinent state, national, and global items of interest, breaking news, reports, etc. Please apply within.

NOTES: Board Work Session, 1/26/09

The Board Work Session on Monday, January 26th will be re-broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . 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.

Do you ever watch Charlie Brown? Have you ever heard his teacher? Well the public/open session of this meeting sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher...

WA ,WA, WA, WA,.... WA ,WA, WA, WA,.... WA ,WA, WA, WA,.... WA ,WA, WA, WA,....

REMINDER: BOARD WORK SESSION 1/26/09

The Board of Education of Charles County will hold a work session at 6 p.m., Monday, Jan. 26, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building in La Plata. The meeting will also be aired live on Comcast Channel 96. The agenda is as follows:

Call to order  6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Work session

• 2010 budget

Executive session

Adjournment

NOTES: Board Meeting, 1/13/09

The Board Meeting Tuesday, January 13th will be re-broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . 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.

CHAIRMAN WADE WAS ABSENT FOR THIS MEETING. MS. WISE PRESIDED.

NOMINATIONS FOR CHAIR (WRITTEN)
Wade - 3
Wise - 3

VOTE FOR CHAIR (WRITTEN)
Wade - 3
Wise - 3

VOTE FOR CHAIR (WRITTEN)
Wade - 4
Wise - 2

VOTE FOR CHAIR (ORAL)
Wade - 5
Wise - 1 (Abell)

NOMINATIONS FOR VICE-CHAIR (WRITTEN)
Wise - 4
Pedersen - 2

VOTE FOR VICE-CHAIR (WRITTEN)
Wise - 6

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

• Incidents over past week
• FY10 Budget Proposal $304.6M; increase in funding of $5.1M (1.7%) over FY2009.

BOARD MEMBERS

• Pedersen - Scrabble tournament cancelled
• Pedersen - Diversity Forum 2/28
• Pedersen - Possible legislation's

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER
Student Health Curriculum Review

EACC
Read report

CIP UPDATE

• Barnhart - Addition complete
• Gale - Bailey - Just started
• TC Martin - to be completed by the 09/10 SY
• Housekeeping & Technology Presentation

PROGRAM OF STUDIES

• Bailey - financial literacy
• Abell - dual enrollment - (will get back to me)
• Abell - Life Skills Curriculum - (will get back to me)

HEALTH CURRICULUM
Report item; action next month

BUDGET UPDATE
Read report

COMMUNICATION UPDATE

• quarterly report sent via mailer through private company free of charge to system with advertisement fliers
• Pederson - concerned about ads included (no controversial ads will be included)
• Abell - Fast Facts button added to website (will check into it)
• Abell - Possibility of adding an incident "ticker" on our web-site (future agenda item)

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

• Pedersen - letters Col Wade writes included in mailer
• Cook - wants to change board times
• Abell - incident ticker on web-site
• Abell - Student Code of Conduct - consequences changed for sexual assault
• Abell - Board notification of Incidents
• Bailey - Financial Literacy

PUBLIC FORUM
No one

ACTION

• Minutes - Cook Abstained. Abell, Bailey, Carrington, Pedersen, Wise APPROVED
• Policy 8000 & 9000 Changes - Unanimously APPROVED
• Personnel - Unanimously APPROVED
  

BUDGET HEARING
No one

Good....

Good administrators, assistant superintendents, superintendents, or any CCPS employee should NEVER BE

• manipulative
• deceptive
• disrespectful
• condescending
• threatening
• accusatory
• or anything but transparent and honest

to parents, staff, and the public, much less a board member.

Not only is it infuriating but it's disheartening.

REMINDER: Board Meeting, 1/13/09

Reminder... there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, January 13th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

Items that may be of interest:

• Election of Chair & Vice Chair
• Health Curriculum
• Program of Studies

**Please see the link to the agenda above. I will no longer be rewriting the full agenda on this blog due to time constraints on my part. If any reader really uses my agenda postings, please contact me and we can see what I can work out. Otherwise, click on the link above for the complete agenda and review my items of interest.

Abell to Hold Q & A

Charles County Board of Education member Jennifer Abell will hold a question & answer session for interested residents the second Thursday of every month from 6:00-8:30 p.m. at Unique Sports Academy, 109 Post Office Road, Waldorf. The next scheduled meeting is January 8th.
Call Jennifer Abell 301-659-4112 or e-mail abell4edu@verizon.net .

Stabbing at McDonough

Below is a letter going home with McDonough students today...what are these kids thinking?

Dear Parents/Guardians:

I want to make you aware of a serious incident that occurred late this morning in the school hallway. A student attacked another student with a knife and stabbed her. A third student was able to intervene and our administrators as well as community police officer went immediately to the area and got the situation under control.

The student who was stabbed was flown to an area hospital for treatment of her injuries. Our initial information is that the injuries are serious, but not life threatening. The student with the knife was taken to Civista Medical Center in the custody of police for treatment of a wound sustained in this incident. The school nurse treated the third student who intervened.

The administrators and I are continuing our investigation into this situation. We take the possession of weapons and attacks on students seriously, and in addition to possible criminal charges placed by police, any student in possession of a weapon on school grounds is subject to discipline up to and including expulsion.

I ask you to again review the school system’s Code of Conduct and talk to your children about the seriousness of bringing weapons to school and the severe consequences of disregarding the rules. Please also remind your students that if they have any information about any illegal, threatening or dangerous activity, they should immediately contact a staff member at the school.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call the office or e-mail me at jpetty@ccboe.com.

Sincerely,

Jervie Petty
Principal
Maurice J. McDonough High School(301)934-2944

Schools around state crack down on tag

You've gotta be kidding me....in the age of a fast food restaurant on every corner, both parents working and too busy to cook nutritious meals, and school systems strapped for money and time just to meet the academic requirements much less provide adequate time for physical education, we are now going to tell all the overweight, latchkey kids they can't run around and play tag at recess? What is this world coming to? It's not like a mandatory requirement at recess, it's OPTIONAL!!

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
By MEGAN A. CONLAN

Capital News Service

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland elementary schools are restricting the types of games students can play at recess, causing some people to worry that administrators are eliminating the very activities that let kids be kids.

Although most schools already prohibit games like dodgeball and tackle football, stringent no contact policies are, in some cases, affecting more basic childhood games as well. Tag is one game being questioned at more Maryland schools.

Read more HERE

Open Thread Sunday!

"Open Thread" is a place for you to tell me what you would like to see on this site. What can I do to make it more user-friendly, topics you would like to see discussed in the future, questions or concerns. If I missed your questions on another thread, please direct me to them here.

So here you go, give me your feedback.

Open Thread Sunday!

"Open Thread" is a place for you to tell me what you would like to see on this site. What can I do to make it more user-friendly, topics you would like to see discussed in the future, questions or concerns. If I missed your questions on another thread, please direct me to them here.

So here you go, give me your feedback.

Open Thread Sunday!

"Open Thread" is a place for you to tell me what you would like to see on this site. What can I do to make it more user-friendly, topics you would like to see discussed in the future, questions or concerns. If I missed your questions on another thread, please direct me to them here.

So here you go, give me your feedback.

NOTES: Board Meeting 12/9/08

The Board Meeting Tuesday, December 9th will be re-broadcast on Channel 96 on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

IMHO, nothing major happened at this meeting. All the reports are online by clicking on the link above. Only votes taken were minutes from the last meeting, minutes from a teleconference call, and personnel. All motions passed. Here's a breakdown of topics...

Superintendents Report
Board Correspondance - heard from libraries about opportunities
EACC Update
Student Board Member
CIP Status
Construction
Bridge Plan Update

Legislative Meeting On Again!

Okay, now the meeting is on again. Looks as though we have Delegates Jameson, Levy, and Murphy attending a meeting with the Board of Education Members on Thursday, December 18th at 10:00 a.m. at the Starkey Building.

Abell too Hold Q & A

Charles County Board of Education member Jennifer Abell will hold a question & answer session for interested residents the second Thursday of every month from 6:00-8:30 p.m. at Unique Sports Academy, 109 Post Office Road, Waldorf. The next scheduled meeting is December 11th.
Call Jennifer Abell 301-659-4112 or e-mail abell4edu@verizon.net .

REMINDER: Board Meeting 12/9/08

Reminder... there is a Board Meeting Tuesday, December 9th. Can't attend...you can watch it live on Channel 96. It will also be re-broadcast on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.; Fridays at 9 a.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

**Please see the link to the agenda above. I profusely apologize for not getting this posted sooner and for not posting regularly. I have been extremely busy of late and promise to do better after the new year.

Open Thread Sunday!

"Open Thread" is a place for you to tell me what you would like to see on this site. What can I do to make it more user-friendly, topics you would like to see discussed in the future, questions or concerns. If I missed your questions on another thread, please direct me to them here.

So here you go, give me your feedback.

Area Schools Reach for a Higher Bar On State Tests

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 27, 2008; Page A01

Half of elementary students in Northern Virginia and a third in the Maryland counties that surround Washington are scoring at the highest levels on state tests in reading and math, blowing past the goals of the No Child Left Behind law.

The finding, based on a Washington Post analysis, suggests that area schools have ambitions beyond the federal education mandate and don't need the threat of sanctions to reach them. It could also allay fears among some parents and academics that the 2002 law would dumb down public education by forcing schools to focus on low achievers.

Read more HERE

Meeting with Legislators

While it's not the normal legislative breakfast we've held annually for years, it is what we have for this year.

Board of Education Members will be meeting with Senator Thomas Middleton and Delegate Murray Levy on Monday December 8, 2008 at 10 a.m. at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building to discuss our 2009 legislative packet.