St. Charles Community (SCC) Confirms New High School Fee to School System

The school system and SCC negotiated an agreement last year for SCC to pay $1,000,000 as a fee in-lieu of providing a graded high school site per early county government Adequate Public Facilities requirements (Docket 90). The fee will be paid to county government in three installments and placed in the new high school construction project line item as follows: $250,000 on or before June 30, 2010; $250,000 on or before September 30, 2010; and $500,000 on or before December 31, 2010.

Schools absorb good, bad news

Some can crow about MSA, others must buckle down

Tuesday, July 27, 2010
By GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Staff writer
Maryland Independent

While six of 29 elementary and middle schools missed state progress goals, school officials remain confident that students are making improvements.

Tuesday, the Maryland State Department of Education released results for the Maryland School Assessment, a test given to students in grades three through eight in math and reading to satisfy requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

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

Read more HERE

Children's Health in the National Spotlight

American School Board Journal
By Naomi Dillon

The much-publicized planting of the White House vegetable garden in spring 2009 was the first sign of something big to come.

Not since World War II and Eleanor Roosevelt had crops of produce appeared on the presidential lawn. Besides First Lady Michelle Obama, the groundbreaking ceremony featured recently appointed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a proponent of sustainable living, and two dozen fifth-graders from a nearby elementary school who would tend and harvest the 1,100-square foot plot sprinkled with 55 varieties of vegetables, herbs, berries, honeycombs, and bees.

By February, Obama had turned her passion into a Cabinet-level cause, unveiling Let’s Move!, a White House initiative that calls on everyone, from parents to policymakers, to make the health of future generations a priority.

Every week since then, it seems like a new group, program, or campaign is being waged in the fight against childhood obesity. PepsiCo recently announced it would stop selling sugar-laden drinks in primary and secondary schools worldwide by 2012. And the new Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation -- a consortium of nearly 80 U.S. retailers, food manufacturers, and nonprofits pledging to reduce 1.5 trillion calories from Americans’ annual food consumption by 2015 -- was set to release a nutrition and exercise curriculum for elementary schools at press time.

Read more HERE

Report: Head Lice Is No Reason to Keep Kids Out of School

By Alice Park
Monday, July 26, 2010
Time.com

They are miniscule, measuring at most 2 mm to 3 mm long, yet few things induce more panic or fear among parents than head lice. But while an infestation of head lice on a child can be uncomfortable, the critters do not pose enough of a contagious hazard to justify the strict policies that many schools use to keep infected children out of class, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

In the clinical report, released by the journal Pediatrics on Monday, the AAP updates its 2002 guidelines for the treatment of lice infestation. The pediatricians group once again urges schools to abandon their strict no-nits policies, which require children to be free of nits, the empty casings left behind by lice once they hatch from their eggs, before they may return to school. Both the AAP and the National Association of School Nurses have long discouraged this policy because it is not proven to lower overall infestation rates and puts children who miss class at a disadvantage...

Read more HERE.

Tasers in School

This serves as follow-up to a previous post. There is a list of article links below involving tasers and their use in schools. Please review them and give me your thoughts. Officers, including the Juvenile Resource Officers in the schools, currently are armed with tasers. There is NOT a policy in place either with the Charles County Sheriff's Office or the Charles County Board of Education regarding the use of tasers on school grounds.

My opinion....if a juvenile warrants being tased and they aren't on school grounds, they will be tased. Are officers supposed to stop them and ask their age before tasing them? Some of these "juveniles" are bigger than I am.

• November 18, 2004 - http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/081104tasersinschools.htm
• January 13, 2006 - http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=3806891
• January 14, 2010 - www.chicagonow.com/.../should-cops-taser-kids-in-school.html
• February 7, 2007 - http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/cn020707.htm
• March 13, 2010 - www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9021323
• March 23, 2010 - http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2010-03-23/story/glynn-county-school-board-rejects-taser-proposal
• April 29, 2010 - www.charlotteobserver.com/.../deputy-uses-taser-on-teen-at-school.html
• June 11, 2010 - http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/orange_news/061110girl-shot-with-taser-during-school-fight
• OVERALL - http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/tasers.html

19 File to run for Board of Education

Let me know if you have ever heard of any of these people before. Some are complete strangers. Quite a few have come before the board for one thing or another and haven't gotten their way and are now running. Others are just...you've go to be kidding me :)

Jennifer Abell (incumbent)
Douglas Bonaro (anyone know this guy; Never heard of him before)
Patricia Bowie
Maura Cook (incumbent)
Barbara Cooksey-Feeney (Anyone know her; never heard of her before)
Paul Donato
Michael Green
Robert Harlan
Jason Henry Sr. (anyone know this guy; Never heard of him before)
Blaine Lessard (sounds familiar but can't place him)
Mike Lukas
Narain Mathur
Monifa Tarjamo
Shanetta Oliver (Anyone know her; never heard of her before)
Pamela Pederson (incumbent)
Sue Richards (Anyone know her; never heard of her before)
Donald Wade (incumbent) (I can't believe he is doing this)
Michael Wilson (anyone know this guy; Never heard of him before)
Roberta Wise (incumbent)

What to name the new high school? Weigh in before August.

A committee was comprised of county residents, staff, and students to review the submitted suggestions. The committee came before the board on June 28, 2010 and presented their unanimous top three suggestions in no particular order.

• Zekiah
• St. Charles
• Lagrange Point

Other suggestions submitted to the committee are listed below...

• Awossi
• Free State
• Freedom
• Greenway
• High Tech
• Orion
• Perihelion
• Piney Branch
• Piney Forest
• Piney
• Piney Tech
• The Stem

The Board unanimously decided that the new high school should be named after a location not a person and therefore the following submissions would be mute.

• Kris Romeo Bishundat
• Jane Bowie
• Cox/Williams
• Dr. John H. Cox
• Vicki A. Daniels
• George Calvert
• Robert A Heier
• Roy S. Johnson
• Walter Melvin "Johnny" Johnson
• Peter Welford Kendrick
• Lord Calvert
• Willie McCool
• Eleanor G. Robey
• Clarence T. Rodgers
• Robert D. Stetham
• Vietnam Veterans Suggestions (8 names submitted)

Two suggestions were submitted to the committee but were disqualified because they did not follow board policy stating that if a school is to be named after a person, the person must be deceased for five or more years.

• James E. Richmond
• Cecil Marshall

The Board will be voting on the name at the August Board Meeting. Please respond with your vote.

REMINDER: Board Work Session, 06/28/10

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

Call to order - 6 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Forum

Action Items

• AFSCME signing
• 2011 budget

Report

• School naming

Executive Session

Adjournment

Committee recommends names for new high school

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CHARLES COUNTY
AGENDA ITEM

SUBJECT
Naming of new high school off Piney Church Road in Sheffield Neighborhood in St. Charles.

OVERVIEW
The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) plans call for the opening of a high school by August 2013. At the present, no formal name has been given to the school. Charles County Board of Education policy stipulates schools shall have names of either deceased persons or places of significance to Charles County.

The Board appointed an eight-member advisory committee to review recommendations submitted by the public. Seven members actually served. The Board charged the committee to gather public input and offer three recommendations to the Board for naming the new high school.

The committee solicited names from the community both personally and through postings in the Maryland Independent, radio spots and on the school system Web site. It was also advertised on Channel 96. The committee reviewed 35 names for consideration.

The Committee suggests the following three names for consideration:

• Zekiah High School
• St. Charles High School
• La Grange Point High School

RECOMMENDATION/FUTURE DIRECTION
That the Board accept the naming report for the new high school and prepare for a vote at the August meeting.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 6/01/10

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, June 1st 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

Swearing-in of new Student Board member

Recognition

• Westlake High School coed indoor track team
• Maurice J. McDonough High School's unified track team
• Indian Head Elementary School's Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) team
• SMART team, Henry E. Lackey High School
• Alexander Smith, La Plata High School, Maryland 2010 Trigonometry Competition

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Superintendent's update - read report

Correspondence/Board member updates - None

Education Association of Charles County update - Read report

Deputy Superintendent Update - Graduation & Project graduation

Student Board Member update - Thank you's & introduction of new members

CIP update - See report; capacity for new high school approved at 1600; Gwynn Center renovation has been approved

Unfinished business - None

New business and future agenda items

• EACC negotiations

  Motion by Pedersen; Second by Wade
  (yes) unanimous

• AFSME negotiations

Motion by Bailey; Second by Pedersen
(yes) unanimous

• Award bid to Scheibel Construction for Phase 1 of new high school

Motion by Abell; Second by Pedersen
(yes) unanimous

Future agenda items

• Pedersen - nutrional values of lunches

Here there was a 90-minute recess so , a side note for your amusement and for me to see who actually reads these notes...right before the recess I received a frantic call from my 13 year old saying the downstairs ceiling was "leaking" and there was water everywhere. After answering all my questions we concluded that the AC unit in the attic of the second floor was leaking through the second floor ceiling onto the carpet and then trough the first floor ceiling and onto the hardwood. Needless to say a quick trip home was needed. After doing a quick change from my dress clothes, grabbing a ladder, flashlight, screw driver, and placing buckets out I hoisted myself into the attic (ladder was too short). Upon investigating, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Some insulation was absorbing condensation running down a section of a tape and leaking onto an area outside of the drain pan. So after removing some foil tape and wet insulation, problem solved.Clean-up is needed but that part can wait till after the meeting later tonight. Now I rushed and put the dress clothes back on, ran to Lowe's for more foil tape, and now I'm finishing the meeting with a very itchy fiberglass rash and cough. Why the heck do they put fiberglass in the insulation and what do you have to do to get it off? Life, as always, is never boring.

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

• Maryland Retired School Personnel Association book donation
• Students
• 2009-10 Student Liaisons
• Outstanding vice principal award
• Outstanding support staff awards
• Resolution Charles County Teacher of the Year Mark Howell, social studies teacher, Westlake High School
• Resolution Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award Jill Jowdy, physical education teacher, Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School
• Recognition of Charles County Teacher of the Year nominees Joy Thompson, reading teacher, Milton M. Somers Middle School; Mary Long, reading resource teacher, Higdon; and Jennifer Gimmel, prekindergarten teacher, Williams A. Diggs Elementary School
• Recognition of Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award nominees Richard Ivanac, art teacher, Somers; Linda McLaughlin, foreign language teacher, North Point High School; Jo Anne Shelak, elementary teacher, Diggs; and Gina Tallon, mathematics teacher, Westlake
• Employees' retirement resolution

Public Forum 6 p.m. - none

Action items

• Minutes

Motion by Carrington; Second by Wade
(yes) unanimous


• Personnel

Motion by Carrington; Second by Wade
(yes) unanimous


• Educational facilities master plan

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Carrington
(yes) unanimous

• Out-of-county tuition fees

Motion by Cook; Second by Pedersen
(yes) unanimous


• Policy 3910 (debt management); 4740 (severance); 4820 (general policies and procedures: duties and responsibilities); and policy series 6000

Motion by Carrington; Second by Pedersen

(yes) unanimous

• 3320 (expenditure: purchasing procedures)

Motion by Cook; Second by Pedersen

(yes) Abell, Cook, Carrington, Pedersen, Wade, Wise

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board Meeting, 06/01/10

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, June 1, 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. Program schedules for Channel 96 are available on the Charles County Public Schools Web site at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

Pledge of Allegiance La Plata High School's JROTC unit

Swearing-in of new Student Board member

Recognition

• Westlake High School coed indoor track team
• Maurice J. McDonough High School's unified track team
• Indian Head Elementary School's Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) team
• SMART team, Henry E. Lackey High School
• Alexander Smith, La Plata High School, Maryland 2010 Trigonometry Competition

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Superintendent's update

Action item

• EACC/AFSME contract and signing

Correspondence/Board member updates

Education Association of Charles County update

Student Board Member update

CIP update

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

• Maryland Retired School Personnel Association book donation
• Students
• 2009-10 Student Liaisons
• Outstanding vice principal award
• Outstanding support staff awards
• Resolution Charles County Teacher of the Year Mark Howell, social studies teacher, Westlake High School
• Resolution Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award Jill Jowdy, physical education teacher, Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School
• Recognition of Charles County Teacher of the Year nominees Joy Thompson, reading teacher, Milton M. Somers Middle School; Mary Long, reading resource teacher, Higdon; and Jennifer Gimmel, prekindergarten teacher, Williams A. Diggs Elementary School
• Recognition of Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award nominees Richard Ivanac, art teacher, Somers; Linda McLaughlin, foreign language teacher, North Point High School; Jo Anne Shelak, elementary teacher, Diggs; and Gina Tallon, mathematics teacher, Westlake
• Employees' retirement resolution

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• Educational facilities master plan
• FY 2011 budget
• Out-of-county tuition fees
• Policy 3910 (debt management); 4740 (severance); 3320 (expenditure: purchasing procedures): 4820 (general policies and procedures: duties and responsibilities); and policy series 6000

Adjournment

Maryland endorses core standards for public schools

By Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Maryland on Tuesday became one of the first states to endorse academic standards that are part of a movement to unify reading and math instruction across the nation, a move that would affect every public school student in the state and require new teacher training and standardized tests.

The new common standards for math and reading, developed by a state-led coalition with encouragement from President Obama, are part of national efforts to improve public education. Current standards and tests are a patchwork of varying quality.

The reforms mean that Maryland's 844,000 students would study the same topics in the same year as peers in other states that sign on to the standards. The changes come alongside others that will tie student performance to teacher evaluations and toughen graduation requirements in math and science -- all part of Maryland's effort to win as much as $250 million in federal Race to the Top education grants.

Read more HERE.

Executive Session Meeting, May 24, 2010

The Board of Education will be meeting in executive session at 6:00 p.m. tonight, May 24, 2010 to perform the superintendents annual evaluation.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 5/11/10

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, May 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.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

• Pledge of Allegiance, Thomas Stone High School's JROTC unit

Reports of officers boards/committees

Superintendent's update

• Read report

Correspondence/Board member updates

• Pedersen - mentioned various system-wide events
• Carrington - Gale-Bailey's spring concert
• Wade - kudos to Richmond on forging forward and swaying state officials to approve the high school at 1600 student capacity.
• Wise - North Point High School Engineering Projects

Education Association of Charles County update

• Read Report

Student Board member update

• Read report
• Thank you to all board members and staff

CIP update

• Read Report
• Lights at North Point complete and adjusted
• Gwynn Center Renovation
• All Day Kindergarten renovations

Educational Facilities Master Plan

• Read report

Instruction Update - Title I Parent Involvement Update

• Read report and power point presentation

FY 2011 Budget

• Read report

Out-of-County Tuition Fees

• See report

Policy: 3910 (debt management); 4740 (severance); 3320 (Expenditure: Purchasing Procedures); 4820 (General Policies and Procedures: Duties and Responsibilities) and Policy Series 6000

• Bailey - proposed change to Policy 3320. "THE SUPERINTENDENT SHALL OBTAIN BOARD APPROVAL PRIOR TO EXECUTION OF ALL CONTRACTS SUBJECT TO THE PROCUREMENT LAWS OF THE EDUCATION ARTICLE."

Motion by Bailey; Second by Pedersen
(yes) Abell, Bailey (no) Carrington, Cook, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

Unfinished business

• Pedersen - What Counts in Education Committee is working on consolidating responses before publishing on the web-site. Proposes all responses go out to those invited to attend the event, a letter to the editor, and the possibility of encouraging PTO and PTSO Presidents to hold similar meetings.

New business and future agenda items

• Wise - Pedersen reappointed to Blue Ribbon Commission
• Bailey - Staff provide list of requirements for different recognitions given at graduation.

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Employees
• Ruth Ann Hall Awards

Public Forum 6 p.m.

• None

Action items

• Minutes

Motion by Carrington; Second by Pedersen
(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen


• Personnel

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Carrington

(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

• Policy #6411.21 Physical Education and Athletic Programs for Students with Disabilities

Motion by Abell; Second by Pedersen

(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

Adjournment

Police Tasers and their use ...on our students, our BABIES?

This is a topic that was recently brought to my attention by a parent. Does CCPS have a policy on the use of Tasers on students (by law enforcement, of course). My answer, "No, we do not." Next question was whether CCSO has a policy on the use of Tasers on students? Answer...no, it does not. Here is the statement I received from CCSO:

"To date there have been no Taser deployments in the schools against students. The Use of Force Continuum is the same for all persons. The only variances for the Taser are for age, weight and known medical conditions. Please remember that the Taser is an intermediate weapon that has through study been proven to reduce injury to both the officer and violator in a physical confrontation as well as avoiding the use of deadly force where if the Taser was not available the officer would have been forced to fire their pistol. The use of the properly deployed Taser has been proven to bring an immediate resolution to dangerous confrontations. As an entity we conduct an extensive basic Taser User Course, as well as a mandatory yearly re-certification, with the system to include practical exercises, legal updates, manufacturer updates and following a policy review a written test. I would invite any interested party upon completion of a written waiver to attend the course and experience an exposure. The exposure breaks no bones, leaves no scars and knowledge of the Tasers presence and existence deters resistance. Please let me know if there is any other questions."

With that being said....how do you feel? Give me your opinions. Do we need a policy? If so, provide me with wording so we can discuss the pros and cons.

As with all policy, I believe in doing my homework thoroughly; therefore, I will, in the near future, allow CCSO to Taser ME. Why, you might ask? Because I want to see how bad it really is BEFORE one of our students is hit with it.

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting 5/11/10

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, May 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 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. Program schedules are available at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

• Pledge of Allegiance, Thomas Stone High School's JROTC unit

Reports of officers/boards/committees

Superintendent's update
Correspondence/Board member updates
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board member update
CIP update
Educational Facilities Master Plan Update
Title I parent progress update
FY 2011 budget update
Out-of-county tuition fees
Policy Updates 3910 (debt management); 4740 (severance); 3320 (expenditure: purchasing procedures); 4820 (general policies and procedures: duties and responsibilities); and series 6000

Unfinished Business

New business and future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

• Ruth Ann Hall award winners, presented by EACC
• Students
• Employees

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• Policy 6411.21: Physical education and athletic programs for students with disabilities

Adjournment

About those school lunches...

From Jamie Oliver to Rear Admirals, the quality of school lunch offerings is under ever-increasing scrutiny. Some current blurbs:

Jamie Oliver improves Huntington, W.Va.’s eating habits

By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

It's happy-ending time for Huntington, W.Va.: Six-year-olds can now distinguish between tomatoes and potatoes. Cooks are tossing apple-cucumber salads with honey dressing for the lunch line. College students and parents are learning to make omelets and soups in free cooking classes. And Jamie Oliver, the crusading British chef who arrived last fall to help change habits in "the unhealthiest town in America," has apparently won the hearts, minds -- and stomachs -- of the locals.

With the finale of his ABC program this Friday, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" has officially been televised. But can the six-part, prime-time series help a real revolution take root?

There is progress!

Report says school food making kids unfit to serve

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 20, 2010; 9:30 PM

WASHINGTON -- Too fat to fight? Many American children are so overweight from being fed french fries, pizza and other unhealthy foods at school lunchrooms that they cannot handle the physical rigors of being in the military, a group of retired officers say in a new report.

National security is threatened by the sharp rise in obesity rates for young people over the last 15 years, the group Mission: Readiness contends. Weight problems are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected, the group says, and thus jeopardize the military's ability to fill its ranks.


Read more HERE.

Notes from the Board of Education Meeting, 4/20/10

The Board Meeting on Tuesday, April 20th will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

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

Reports of officers boards/committees

Superintendent's update

• Read report

Correspondence/Board member updates

• Wade - kudos to board members attending national conferences
• Cook - spoke on sessions attended at conference
• Pedersen - spoke on sessions attended at conference
• Carrington - ditto
• Wise - attended conference in Colorado Springs

Education Association of Charles County update

• Read Report

Student Board member update

• Read report

CIP update

• Read Report
• One Room School House - Edward L. Sanders, wife and son attended and spoke of the donation of the school house to CCPS. It has been relocated to the Davis Middle School Site.
• New High School - reviewed design & floor plan. Budget is $59,580,000 without pool. Pool would cost $6.2M. Bidding to start soon & bidding is very competitive. Possible for budget to include pool. Still planning on 1600 seat HS (school will open overcrowded)...state wants 1300; building designed for plan to cut back, but would delay planned opening of 2013.

Instruction Update

• Career & Technology - See Report

Budget Update

• See Report

Legislative Update

• Maintenance of Effort bills did NOT pass
• Labor Relations Board PASSED (mediators b/n boards and unions)
• Race to the Top PASSED
• Policy on Gangs and violence PASSED
• Youth Crisis hotline PASSED
• Parents of Multiple Births student placement PASSED
• Ethics - Conflict of Interest Policy PASSED
• Virtual Schools PASSED
• Transfer of Pension committee

Draft policy update 6411.11 Physical education and athletic programs for students with disabilities

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

• Request from Michelle Obama to have one member from every Board to be on the Let's Move committee

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

Public Forum 6 p.m.

• Latrina Carr - concern about implementation of topics discussed at the What Counts Forums? Wants to see topics implemented. Concerned about communication between parents and teachers and the lack thereof. Has asked on numerous occasions for responses from teachers. Needs attention.

Action items

• Minutes

Motion by Carrington; Second by Cook
(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

• Personnel

Motion by Carrington; Second by Pedersen

(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

• Revision to Superintendent's Contract

Motion by Wade; Second by Pedersen
(yes) Carrington, Cook, Wise, Wade, Pedersen: (no) Bailey: (abstain) Abell

• SY2011 - 2012Calendar

Motion by Pedersen; Second by Wade
(yes) Abell, Carrington, Cook, Bailey, Wise, Wade, Pedersen

Adjournment

REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 4/20/10

The Board of Education's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, April 20, 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. Program schedules are available at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.

Executive session 12 p.m.

Call to order 1 p.m.

• Pledge of Allegiance, Maurice J. McDonough’s JROTC Unit

Reports of officers/boards/committees

• Superintendent’s update
• Correspondence/Board members updates
• EACC update
• Student Board member update
• Deputy Superintendent’s update
• CIP update
• Oral update on high school project 2013
• Instruction update – Career & Technology Education
• Budget
• Legislative update
• Draft Policy update – Policy #6411.21 - PE & Athletic Programs for Students with Disabilities

Unfinished business

New business and future agenda items

Recognition 4:30 p.m.

• Students
• Employees
• Teacher Appreciation Week
• Administrative Professionals’ Week
• Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week
• National PE & Sport Week
• Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leader

Public Forum 6 p.m.

Action items

• Minutes
• Personnel
• SY 2011-2012 Calendar

Adjournment

Study of space becoming a victim of school budget cuts

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 2, 2010

The David M. Brown Planetarium opened a few months after the United States put a man on the moon. More than 40 years later, little has changed in the weathered white dome that marks the entrance to the Arlington County school system's headquarters. Students sit in the same faded electric blue stadium seats and stare up at a stellar showcase provided by 16 slide projectors, two laserdisc players and the original Spitz A4 star projector.

School officials estimate that it would cost $500,000 to make the facility, named for an Arlington graduate killed in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster, state of the art again. Instead, Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy has proposed closing the dome and converting it to standard classrooms. His proposal follows a decision last year by the Fairfax County School Board to cut funding for elementary field trips to the nine planetariums there.

More than 500 planetariums were built in the heat of the space race, many of them proud additions to public schools made possible by federal funding. Today, school boards across the country are debating whether the costs of maintaining or updating the aging domes are worth it for a generation of students shaped more by the Information Age than the Space Age. Read more HERE.