Notes from Board of Education Meeting, October 8, 2013

The Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, October 8 will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.

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

Executive session – 12 p.m.

Call to order – 1 p.m. - Pledge of Allegiance – Westlake High School’s NJROTC Unit

Superintendent’s update - see report

Correspondence/Board member updates

• Pedersen - County fair exhibit was exceptional, thank you to staff; college fair was very well attended and thank you to parent volunteers; MABE conference, networking session was an excellent opportunity, other counties speak with their commissioners more than we are able to; school safety session was also excellent.
• Cook - MABE conference, parnterships with community college and school systems
• Wise - MABE conference, Students Leading Students program in Calvert County - we should look at, Superintendents Evaluation session by Anne Arundel County
• Abell - Requests board/staff meeting with CSM board/staff to discuss and see a presentation on a program called Middle College allowing students to graduate not only with a high school diploma but also an associates degree.

Education Association of Charles County (EACC) update - See report

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME) update - See report

Student Board Member update - See report

School Administration update - See report

CIP update - See report; adding request for elementary and middle school property; condensing other CIP requests

• Abell & Pedersen concur based on APFO Committee meeting
• Abell - requests that CCBoE staff stop altering our plans and requests before the Commissioners can review them;  there have been instances where local government staff do a preliminary review, and direct CCBoE staff to remove items before the Commissioners' review.  The Commissioners never see the initial requests; we should submit as we see fit.

School bus red light camera program - See report

• American Traffic Solutions representative presented mind-blowing statistics of traffic violations involving motorists neglecting school bus lights and signs.

Bridge to Excellence/Race to the Top (RTTT); Principal and teacher evaluations - See report

FY2013 Independent financial audit - See report; Clean audit report

Human resources update - Employee Recruitment and Retention - See report

2014 Legislative positions - See report

Unfinished Business

• Abell - Update on progress of Health Curriculum Review; in progress of selecting members
• Pedersen - APFO Committee update, thanks to staff

New business - none

Future agenda items - none

Recognition - 4:30 p.m.

• Students:

Sahana Venkatesh, 5^th grade; Gale-Bailey Elementary School; Personal Responsibility; Principal: Toni Melton-Trainor

John (Jack) Glassman, 5^th grade; Mary H. Matula Elementary School; Academic Achievement; Principal: Carrie Richardson

Gregory Griffith, 5^th grade; Arthur Middleton Elementary School; Academic Achievement, Principal: Sabrina Robinson-Taylor

Theodore (Teddy) Hoxie, 8^th grade, Milton Somers Middle School; Career Readiness; Principal: Stephanie Wesolowski

Bridget Cunningham, 12^th grade, Maurice J. McDonough High School; Personal Responsibility; Principal: Bradley Snow

• Employees:

Patricia Graff, first grade teacher, Gale-Bailey
Stephanie Sullivan, first grade teacher, Matula
Sandra Peed, kindergarten teacher, Middleton
Ernestine Swann, guidance secretary, Somers
Vonda Hicks, math teacher, McDonough

Resolutions:

American Education; Accepting: Amit Patel, Student Member of the Board and student liaisons; Elizabeth Brown, EACC; William McLaughlin, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

American Freedom Week; Accepting: Gunnery Sergeant Clive Bailey, USMC, instructor, La Plata; Cadet Henry Giroux, senior, La Plata; Cadet Brandon Lee, junior, La Plata

Public Forum – 6 p.m.

• Yvonne Jones - Has a sophomore at Westlake - According to manager, CCPS did not provide Books A Million with a reading list this year.  As a member of the Westlake Advocates,  Commissoners discussed on 10/1 for new liquor store locations to contact Board of Education.
• Elton Stokes - grandchildren at JP Ryon and Gustavus Brown; community relations portion of the website, referred to Katie O'Malley Simpson

Action items

• Minutes

Motion to accept the Minutes from 9/10/13 by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes= Abell, Cook, Pedersen, Wise

Absent=Bowie, Lukas, Wade

• Personnel

Motion to accept Personnel by Abell; Second by Cook

Yes= Abell, Cook, Pedersen, Wise

Absent=Bowie, Lukas, Wade

• FY 2014 Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

Motion to accept the Comprehensive Maintenance Plan by Cook; Second by Pedersen

Yes= Abell, Cook, Pedersen, Wise

Absent=Bowie, Lukas, Wade

Adjournment