d welcome to the January 2026 board work session. My name is Grace Rivera-Oven from district one. I will begin by asking my board members please to introduce themselves. I will start on my left. Good morning, student members of the board. Good morning, Brenda Wolff,
district five. Good morning, Julie Yang. District three. Good morning. Buenos dias. Carla Silvestre, school board member at large. Good morning, Laura Stuart. District four. Thank you ladies. I will now ask you have one virtual. Oh,
we have one virtual. I'm so sorry, Miss Montoya. That's okay. Rita montoya, board member at large. Still home with the flu. Hope you're feeling better. It's really going around. I will now ask that we be read into closed session. I move that the board meet in closed session to
address topics listed in the posted resolution for today's closed session, and for the reasons and on the basis stated therein. Second, all in favor, please raise your hands. That is unanimous. Thank you ladies. We'll be going into closed
session. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hit it again.
Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. Welcome, everybody, to our January 8th, 2026 board work session. Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. And to our community watching at home. Welcome to our board members.
M.C.P.S. staff and members of our community who are joining us here today. And of course, those watching at home, including my mom, Graciela. Hola, mommy. Let us begin, please. The flag is in the back. We're going to be doing the
Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. All. Thank you. I will now ask board members to please introduce themselves. I will start on my right. Good afternoon. My name is Laura Stewart and I'm in district four. Good afternoon. Buenas
tardes. I'm Karla Silvestre, school board member at large. Good afternoon, Brenda Wolff, district five. Good afternoon, Natalie Zimmerman, representing district two. Good afternoon. And student member of the board.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Montoya, board member at large. Yes, yes I know. Thank you. Miss Montoya, could you introduce yourself, please? Thank you. Good afternoon. Rita montoya, board member at large. Hope you're feeling better. I know you're on the. Everybody's sick these days. Is there a
motion to approve the agenda? I move that the revised agenda be further revised to move the 2026 legislative session preview currently. Item 8.1 to immediately proceed. Tentative Action Policy BFA Policy Setting. Currently item 7.1. Is there a second? I second. All
those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Including with Miss Montoya. Thank you. So next we have a motion to approve items
3.2, which is a future closed resolution, and 3.3, which is report of previous closed session in block session. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion. And second. All those in favor, please
raise your hand. Thank you. The next item is on the agenda is recommended appointments by Doctor Taylor. Thank you, Madam President. I'm delighted to bring forward four names for consideration for administrative positions and M.C.P.S. When I call your name,
if you could please stand while I say a few nice things about you, and then the board will cast their vote, and I'll introduce the next person after that. First for consideration is Mr. Dale Graydon for the position of director of the
Department of Labor Relations and lead negotiator, and our Division of Human Resources and Talent Management. Joining him today are his children, Nathan and Haley. Mr. Graydon brings to M.C.P.S. more than 20 years of labor law experience in the public sector. He is thrilled
to be joining team M.C.P.S. and shares that both his personal values and professional values are M.C.P.S. values. Thank you. Is there a motion? Motion to approve? Is there a second? Second? All those in favor,
please raise your hand. And I don't see Miss Montoya, so I'm assuming I'm raising my hand as well. Thank you, Miss Montoya. That is unanimous. Congratulations. Next up, we
have a familiar face on team M.C.P.S. And one of our teammates in another department is kind of switching gears. Mrs. Ingrid Higgins for the position of supervisor in business program management and support in the Division of
Facilities Management and District Operations. Joining her today is her husband, Daniel, her children Madeline and Brian, her mother and her sister. Mrs. Higgins has been with M.C.P.S. for 18 years as a school secretary, a school
administrative secretary, a business, a school business administrator, and most recently as a management and budget specialist in the Department of Management and Budget. Mrs. Higgins looks forward to joining the Division of Facilities Management, where she will provide day to day operational support for human
capital management and financial activities. Shout outs to her father and oldest daughter, Kristen, who are watching online, and to her mentor Doctor Rubens for his guidance throughout her M.C.P.S. career. Okay, is there a motion? Motion a second. All
those in favor, please raise your hand. That is unanimous. We concluded with Mrs. Montoya. Congratulations. Got some fans
from both budget and facilities that are really there. And very excited for Mrs. Higgins. Our next person that I'm going to introduce is actually busy at work at Blair High School. So he won't be joining us today. But Mr. Peter Ostrander is up
for the position of supervisor in the Department of Academic Programs. Mr. Ostrander has been with M.C.P.S. for 30 years as a teacher, a coordinator, previously as a supervisor, and most recently the coordinator of magnet programs
at Blair High School. He looks forward to rejoining the team at Central Services in the Department of Academic Programs to lead our programs work. Is there a motion? Very excited motion to approve I second, there's a motion in a second.
All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Congratulations. Definitely adding strength to the team with Mr. Ostrander. And this next our final
recommendation is no exception. Mr. K Panda is up for the position of supervisor of Business Program Management and support in our Division of Technology Services. Mr. Panda brings to M.c.p.s. More than 20 years of leadership experience
across the federal and private sector organizations that he served. He looks forward to joining Team M.c.p.s. And is committed to supporting the school district's mission through strong enterprise technology, leadership, operational stability, and thoughtful modernization for
student services, educators and all stakeholders. We're so glad that you're here, sir. Is there a motion? Motion to approve? Second, all those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is also unanimous.
Congratulations. Thank you, Madam President. This concludes administrative appointment recommendations for today. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. We'll give folks a second to exit. And then we're going to be getting ready for public comments. We're going to start
with the associations. So if you I know Mr. I saw Mr. Steinberg if you can make it to the to the table anybody else representing an association that's okay. They all came out
for me. This is time for Happy New Year to you. Welcome. Good afternoon, President Rivera and members of the board and Superintendent Taylor. Happy New Year to all of you. And we
are excited that in 2026, we will begin and hopefully conclude bargaining over a successor agreement to our CBA. We recognize that this process will not be easy. Contract negotiations rarely are, but our union comes to the table committed as always, to good
faith bargaining, mutual respect, and a shared focus on outcomes. We believe the board and the educators of this district have far more common interests than differences. We all want stable schools, strong instruction, safe and supportive learning environments, and the ability to recruit and retain high
quality professionals who choose to build their careers. Here, a strong collective bargaining agreement helps achieve all of those things. Another one of our shared interests is time. Speed matters. Protracted negotiations drain energy, distract from our core mission,
and create uncertainty for staff and families alike. Competing bargaining efficiently well in advance of the FY 2028 budget submission serves everyone. It allows for responsible financial planning, avoids last minute crises
decisions, and demonstrates stability to the communities that we serve. Efficiency does not mean rushing or cutting corners. It means preparation, transparency, and a willingness to solve problems rather than posture. It means identifying early where our interests align and addressing those issues
first while working thoughtfully through areas of disagreement. We are pleased to see the board hire Mr. Graham today as lead negotiator for M.C.P.S. Our bargaining team has been assembled and we are ready to engage seriously and constructively. We ask the same
commitment from the board and the district administration. If we approach this process with urgency, respect and a focus on shared goals and values, we can reach an agreement that supports students, honors educators, and aligns with the district's fiscal responsibilities. We look
forward to beginning this work together. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Steinberg, and happy New Year to you as well. And your colleagues. Okay. That will be going to item number six. So I'm going to make some preliminary comments about
public comment. While the board encourages public input on policy, program and practices and will consider the comments received, it is not the board's practice during its public meetings to respond to questions, to provide comment or take any action on the issues raised. This is a public
meeting, and the board expects the conduct of all speakers and members of the audience to be within the bounds of proper etiquette. Inappropriate personal remarks, rude retorts, or other such behavior is out of order and will not be tolerated. Those who demonstrate disruptive or
disrespectful behavior during public comment may be asked to leave the room. In addition, public comment is not the proper avenue to address specific student or employee matters. Such matters should be directed through the complaint or appeals process. Each
speaker has two minutes to deliver comments. When your name is called, press the flat button and speak clearly into the microphone. A yellow light and single beep indicates that you have 30s remaining. A red light and repeating b
signals that time has expired. Once you have finished speaking, press the same button to turn off the microphone. Following live testimony, audio and video testimony will be played. Copies of testimonies are posted with the other materials
for this meeting on board docks. Thank you so much for listening. With that, we're going to start calling our first six speakers. If you hear your name, please come to the table. Mr. Joe Williams, Joshua Bailey
Pengelly, Jeremy Press, Daniel Ibarra, Aditya. Mr. Joe
Williams, you may start, please. My name is Joe Williams. I'm a member of the community and hold a PhD in education policy. Have spent 20 years researching and implementing policies that support high school student success. I am here to provide an expert critique of option H.
This proposal is a forced school closure that violates the mandates of M.C.P.S. policies. First decades of educational research show that high school stability is a primary driver of post-secondary success. Option
H dismantles Wootten's established institutional assets, its faculty, alumni networks, and community support to solve systemwide logistical constraints. Second option H violates your facilities planning policy, requiring
permanent solutions. It ignores visible new construction in the Gaithersburg and district. M.C.P.S. just released future school sites, which include five new elementary schools in the Wooton and Crown District. Therefore, you acknowledge the
need for more schools in the districts you are seeking to consolidate. This will whip students back and forth between districts and communities. Third, this option fails to provide objective criteria for why Wootton alone was selected for closure. Wootton is the
only high school in the area where Asian students are the majority, closing it e other schools remain intact raises an equity flag, particularly given the absence of any formal equity review of option H. Fourth, I implore you to defend how closing Wootton
creates cost savings when Crown will be over capacity in five years. At face value, it makes no transportation or financial sense to bus Damascus students into Wootton and simultaneously bus Wootton students to crown. This creates cross area travel instead of local circulation
and directly contradicts your stated goals of reducing transportation time, cost and risk. In conclusion, equity is not achieved by averaging damage or redistributing harm, severing the geographic continuity between school and community, and removing
walkability of the entire population. Dissolved social capital. Thank you, Mr. Bailey. You may continue. We have a lot of testimony today. Please
refrain from making. Please let people speak. Next, we have a full, full day. Mr. Mr. Bailey, could you please continue with your testimony? Good afternoon. On behalf of our family, our neighborhood and the Wootton community, we urge the board to reconsider the proposal to
permanently relocate Wootton High School under option H. This option conflicts with the boundary study, stated priorities and creates unnecessary long term financial and community risk stability. Option H does not provide stability. It creates uncertainty for the entire
Wootton cluster. It acts as a temporary fix while raising new questions about future boundary changes, especially when Crown High School reaches capacity in the next 5 to 10 years. Wootton serves a diverse population, including autistic students like my son, who have already endured significant disruption
during Covid. Removing their school, removing their community school would undermine their ability to learn, thrive and feel secure. Utilization. Option H is an inefficient use of county resources, the boundary study shows Wootton is optimally
utilized and projected to remain stable in the facility. Condition assessment recommends modernization, not abandonment, at a modest cost that is far lower than the holding school and transportation expenses created by option H. Geography. Wootton and Frost were built as a shared campus more than 50
years ago, allowing students to safely walk between schools and reducing reliance on cars. Today, over half of Wootton students live within the two mile walk zone and use the pedestrian connection between the schools to avoid the already gridlocked traffic on Scott Drive, Watts Branch
Bridge and Wootton Parkway. Removing this walkability would force hundreds of students into vehicles and busses, significantly increasing congestion, worsening safety risks, and undermining county climate goals. In addition, routes to Crown require merging onto I-270 during rush hour,
introducing new and unnecessary hazards for student drivers. For these reasons, we respectfully ask the board to keep Wootton High School permanently at its current location on Wootton Parkway and to preserve the Wootton Cluster. Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to working together to protect
Wootton and the community it serves. Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Mr. Pengelly, Mr. Pengelly, go ahead. Go ahead with Mr.
Pengelly. Is that you? Okay. Good afternoon, board members. I'm here to strongly oppose option H or any options that would move and ultimately close. Wootton High School. M.C.P.S. is citing declining enrollment projections to justify option H,
but projections carry uncertainty and risk. Crown High School itself shows a projection can quickly change. It was built to address overcrowding, but now M.C.P.S. states that overcrowding no longer exists. I urge the board not to make another irreversible decision solely
based on projections, and any responsible proposal requires risk and scenario analysis. If the projections are wrong, what is the contingency plan? Where is the risk? Transportation and long term cost analysis? If there is overcrowding, what is the cost to reopen Wootton and
also perform another boundary study? None has been presented at the same time. Gaithersburg and Rockville are growing, thousands of new housing units are planned and major employers like AstraZeneca are expanding and bringing jobs and families to the region. It's unclear how this long term growth was
reflected in enrollment projections. M.C.P.S. always talk about a meaningful community engagement, yet option H was introduced in the rushed, unjustified and nontransparent manner and has faced overwhelming community opposition. Our online petition
has gathered over 4000 signatures just over four weeks, including holiday seasons, and in December 16th Wootton Town Hall meeting. More than 500 people attended. Grace was also there and we see we see a 93% of the opposition. And these
are facts, not projections. So to conclude, projections can be wrong and cannot be used to justify dismantling a successful community high school given past projection errors, the lack of scenario analysis, the lack of transportation analysis, and overwhelming community
opposition, I urge the board to reject any proposal that moves Wootton High School. This is not only safe Wootton but also save Chrome. Thank you. Thank you Miss Elaine Mr. Myra. Mr.
Good afternoon, members of the board, Doctor Taylor and fellow attendees Albert Einstein said we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Please keep this quote in mind as I read about the repeatedly fractured community of Clarksburg. My name is Danny Bar, and I'm here today as an elementary school parent for
two different elementaries, Damascus and Wilson Williams. As a PTA president at Wilson Wims and as a cluster coordinator for Damascus. I echo the thoughts of all in our community when I say we care deeply about the impact these new boundary options will have on our students. Given all the hats that I wear, I have been paying close attention for a
while now. And let me tell you, I'm still perplexed. I know you are balancing many demands and reviewing countless maps, numbers, and projections, so I want to bring something forward that may have been easy to overlook, but is life altering to the families living it in all options presented, but especially E through H, the Clarksburg community, as well
as parts of Germantown and the surrounding areas, are fractured at the elementary and middle school levels. For example, Wilson Elementary School students who live in Clarksburg and are currently assigned to Halliwells are going to be assigned to Rocky Hill and then to Damascus High School. If this scenario plays out, Damascus High School would
end up pulling from three different middle schools. That creates a fractured incoming class and further complicates programing at the middle school level. While we wait to figure out the situation with the desperately needed Damascus High School rebuild and an elementary boundary study coming down the pipes, a tactical pause could be
implemented for the Clarksburg and Damascus clusters. I respectfully ask that you review how the new options affect the relationships between Holly Wells and Rocky Hill Middle schools, as well as Clarksburg and Damascus high schools, with a small intentional adjustment, M.C.P.S. can create articulation patterns,
hopefully straight ones or better yet, keep the elementary communities together and support predictable pathways for all students. Thank you very much, Mr. Perez. Your next. In one of Aesop's fables, a horse asks a man to help drive
away a stag grazing on the horse's pasture. The man agrees, but only on the condition that the horse accept a bridle. The stag is quickly run off by the pair, but the horse, now saddled, never runs free again. The problem was temporary. The solution was permanent. It shouldn't be difficult to
unravel the analogy here in requesting assistance from M.C.P.S. to fix the long overdue failing systems at Wooton, option H was proposed to permanently close Wootton and move the cluster to Crown. This permanent fix solves little. Our asks are simple keep Wootton on Wootton Parkway, keep the Wootton cluster
together. Address our failing systems. A special thank you to council member Stuart Zimmerman, Yang and Rivera-Oven for recently visiting Wootton to see for yourselves. Doctor Taylor as a fiduciary of two major budgets, you must find solutions to growing costs. Accordingly. There may be a
belief that option H is fiscally responsible, but our children are not dollar signs to balance on a ledger, and this solution will actually cost more transportation. Busses will now be required to for the entire Wooton cluster to get to the school. Moreover, if Wootton becomes a holding school, a perplexing thought.
Then busses will also be required to sit kids long distances into a neighborhood school. Litigation. Option H is a full closure of Wootton. The failure to follow regulatory and policy guidance on school closures will trigger litigation. M.C.P.S. should be very familiar with how quickly legal costs can add up and
based on how expensive our repeated open records requests have been, it might be a money losing prospect on discovery alone. Impact of Frost. Frost Middle School is so close that Wootton students were able to wave at their younger siblings during the December gas leak. Evacuations there were three.
Frost relies on Wootton facilities for track, gym and orchestra. Wootton students tutor Frost students. All shared services disappear and will cost money to shore that up. In honor of Wootton, players sue cycle earlier this year. Though our HVAC is poor and our plumbing is shoddy. If
you come to close Wootton, it's over my dead body. Mr. You're next. Good afternoon. My name is Aditi Shah. I'm a mother of two M.C.P.S. students in the Damascus cluster, one at Woodfield and one in the center
for Enrichment Studies at Clearspring. On Tuesday, our community held a Damascus cluster meeting to discuss the proposal to use Crown as a holding school during the rebuild of Damascus High School. What was clear is that there are strong and thoughtful viewpoints on both sides, each rooted in concern for our children. Some families, like
mine, support a holding school because it allows the rebuild to happen faster and keep students safe from remaining on an active construction site. We're not talking about hypothetical risks. We took a photo, which was in part of my testimony as we were walking out of asbestos. Just open and present our school. Other
families are deeply concerned about the distance to crown and real impacts that come with it. Long bus rides, new drivers on two Cevenini during rush hour and the effects of after school activities, athletics, jobs and family life. These concerns are valid in both scenarios. Onsite construction or holding school students, live sports and
family routines are affected. There's no option without disruption. What we all agreed on unanimously is this Damascus High School must be rebuilt. I'd like to briefly share a perspective from Kelly, a former teacher and PTA president in Damascus. She noted that despite its
condition, Damascus High School is the and home. To celebrate Damascus football games, cluster concerts and stages, some families support Crown because it shortens the rebuild from 4 to 3 years, allows the full use of the construction footprint as enrollment grows, and gives
confidence that the 75 year old patched together building is finally rebuilt to modern standards. What we ask of you today is partnership and urgency. If construction occurs on site, implement air quality monitoring immediately. If Crown is used, engage with us Damascus families now on
transportation and logistics. Please also clarify the tax impact concerns that the Crown community has raised, and ground your decision in accurate data and population growth. Our community is ready to work with you. Our children's safety depends on it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to be calling the
next speakers up. Please hear your name come up. Naureen. Kadir. Thomas. Eva. Demi, your.
You. Andrew Johnson back. Kate. Umberger. Three five and Brian
Rabin. Good afternoon, Miss Marie. Can you start, please? Thank you. Of course. Hi. My name is Doreen. I'm a parent in the Wootton community. I am
here to clearly state that we want Wootton to stay on Wootton Parkway, and I do not support option H. For a long time our concerns were unanswered. Now that the building is visibly failing, our school is finally being noticed. The moment did not come suddenly. It came after years of being overlooked.
Our community has been neglected. In December, I facilitated a community town hall where more than 500 people attended. 98% of those in attendance had opposed option H. Even in this large group, people and families were aligned. Discussion was constructive, but core
questions came up. Why would M.C.P.S. consider removing a school of excellence instead of fixing our building? The most urgent question that evening was why was Wootton repeatedly moved from the CIP? Shame on M.c.p.s for putting the communities in this position of
merging the CIP program and the boundary study. The CIP should address health and safety issues like mold, HVAC and aging infrastructure and boundaries. About enrollment. Combining the two has divided communities and turned facilities. Emergency into a budget exercise. Closing or
moving Wootton would create a permanent planning problem for M.c.p.s. It would destabilize feeder patterns, overcrowd nearby school. This is not responsible stewardship. Wootton is a community school and a school of excellence. Why would M.c.p.s. Close or relocate a high performing
school? Excellence should be protected, not punished. Option H is not a budget solution. It's a risky solution that trades proven success. Our children deserve strong walls, clean air, and thoughtful planning. I urge the board to reject option H. We oppose any
option that weakens the Wootton community, and we're committed to building allies to support collective, responsible problem solving. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Ryvell. Hello, my name
is Thomas. I am a professor in a father to a first grader and a three year old. Every day I walk my sons to and from their elementary school. In the future they will walk to Robert Frost and hopefully Wootton High School. We will be a part of M.C.P.S. for 15 more years, so the decisions you make on
these boundaries will have a big impact on me, my family and the diverse Wootton community in which we live. If option H is enacted, this walkable school in our community that we cherish will be completely uprooted. I hold here a sign that my seven year old made
that says Save Wootton and also says six seven because of course my son also asked me, daddy, why are people trying to close our high school in the middle of Hanukkah and Christmas? I didn't have a good answer for them because there isn't a good answer for option H. It got released over the
holidays with only five weeks of public input, while prior options received five plus months. It's been a fundamentally rushed and unfair process. But there is a bigger process. As many have said here before me. Option H effectively Slates Wootton for closure abandoning a well-performing high school like Wootton is a
risky and bad decision. Once the school closes or it becomes some quasi holding school, it's gone and it sets a terrible precedent for every other functioning M.C.P.S. school. Rather than provide repairs to fix your beloved school, M.C.P.S. will close it. In the past year, this region has
experienced a tremendous amount of political uncertainty, including layoffs, furloughs, and threats. So why in this climate, would M.C.P.S. want to choose a risky option like option H and close Wootton? It makes no sense. As a professor, I've studied politics in the U.S. and around the world. These are the kinds of opaque
and baffling decisions that create mistrust in institutions like M.C.P.S. But there is a better solution. You have the power to keep this thriving cluster of schools intact. You can keep Wootton High School on Wootton Parkway. Please reject option H, support Wootton Staying Wootton and let Crown be used by the Gaithersburg
community it was intended for. Thank you, thank you. Eva, you give me your two. Eva. Hi. I'm here today to express my serious concern regarding
option H. Instead of solving anything, it simply pushes burdens into multiple communities, leading to inefficient resource use and immense logistical challenges for families and schools. Traffic inefficiency is not an abstract cost. It means longer ride, later arrivals, higher
fatigue, and reduces readiness to learn a plan that cannot explain how students move safely and efficiently to and from school in both directions at peak hours is incomplete. This option ignores long term population growth. We must ask what happens when Crown High School reaches capacity? What
are the profound social and mental implications for these students? Currently, there are more questions than answers, and the solution presented with option H poses a risky, irreversible problem. If a functioning high school can permanently close for budget reasons. What does it say about
any aging schools? Maintaining stable peer groups and consistent staff is absolutely crucial for our children's social, emotional well-being and academic success. As a parent from Cold Spring, I've seen this frustration firsthand. Our community has been used as a balancing mechanism between classrooms for too long.
Despite being geographically closer to Churchill High School, we urge you to consider Cold Spring as an essential part of Potomac and future planning, and to support our community. Rather than shifting us to solve short term problems, we must also preserve the integrity of Crown High School for its intended beneficiaries.
The rollout feels misleading, introducing an option just before the holidays to close the third highest ranking school in Maryland gives the impression that this was the chosen option all along. The Wootton community will continue to fight for reasonable boundary options, attend every public hearing to advocate for
our schools, and pursue all legal and political avenues available to us. Low risk alternatives are out there. We must not rush this decision because you want an easy way out. We demand that you save Wootton. Thank you. Mr. Andrew.
Jason back. Good afternoon. My name is Andrew Jason and I'm here to urge you to reject option H, not as a matter of emotion, but because it fundamentally conflicts with M.C.P.S. own boundary change policy and site selection criteria in the FAA. First
option H fails the board's requirement to consider demographic characteristics and Long-Term Enrollment trends. M.C.P.S. policy requires that boundary decisions account for overall student population impacts, socioeconomic balance, and long term demographic indicators. Rather than creating stability and
diversity across schools, option H shifts enrollment risk forward, virtually guaranteeing future boundary disruptions when growth inevitably outpaces this new configuration. Second option H directly contradicts M.C.P.S. geographic and community based planning
principles. By removing a comprehensive high school from the city of Rockville, it fractures a well-established feeder pattern from Robert Frost Middle School, undermining continuity and community engagement. This is not community centered. Planning is geographic displacement. Third, option H undermines the policy goal of
long term stability and school assignments. Option H virtually ensures that families in Gaithersburg, Rockville and surrounding communities will face another round of redistricting when Crown reaches capacity, repeating the very cycle that created crisis. Finally, option H violates the
facility utilization and fiscal responsibility standards set by this board. M.C.P.S. policy requires efficient use of facilities and fiscally responsible planning that minimizes long term operating and capital costs. Option H is not fiscally responsible, it is
cost deferral. Disguises savings. In short, option H conflicts with every major factor. M.C.P.S. requires you to consider demographics, geography, stability, and facility utilization. It trades long term planning for short term convenience, destabilizes a high performing and deeply
integrated school community, and exposes taxpayers to higher costs over time. A responsible solution addresses safety concerns now, while preserving long term value. Thank you,
thank you. Mr. Hi, my name is Kate Amburgey. I'm a homeschooling mother of three children and have a master's in education from Towson. We are one of at least five homeschooling families who enrolled our children at Embley because it offered something
that no other. M.c.p.s school provides small class sizes, lessons in business and financial literacy, a uniform policy, and a school community centered on diversity and mindfulness. Embley does not take away from M.C.P.S. enrollment. It enhances it. It attracts parents and students
who might otherwise attend private schools or homeschool their children. It would be foolish for me to stand here and pretend that Embley has all gone according to plan. Embley and M.c.p.s have both made mistakes. There's no denying that I have read the news stories about Embley, published
with quotes from adults. Leaked letters from Doctor Taylor. But not one news story has featured the voice or experience of a student at Embley. No one has published the relief that students feel being in a school where they don't fear the violence they experience in M.c.p.s classrooms. No one has published about the
accomplishments of a student who left their M.C.P.S. Elementary school unable to write even a paragraph, but thanks to the teachers at Embley, can now write a full essay no one has published about the research, which shows that sudden school closures cause academic regression emotional distress, with the
strongest negative impacts on students with disabilities or anxiety. Do the children matter in all of this? Because the students at Embley are happy to be there, they are happy to have an alternative to M.c.p.s. They're happy to be in a school that feels safe. They are happy with their curriculum as they
dream of becoming future business leaders of America, of Maryland. But what will these future business leaders learn if you revoke the charter for their school that mistakes are punished rather than corrected, that you decided to revoke rather than revamp, that you crushed a dream before it even
had time to become a reality. Because, as in any startup, mistakes happen. Lessons are learned along the way. Please Board of Education, create more oversight and mentorship for Embley. Please work with Embley and M.c.p.s to develop a healthier working relationship
because developed, targeted goals will help Embley achieve and demonstrate solvency. Please do not revoke the charter. We do have the rest of your testimony. Appreciate that, Mr. Bryant. Reuben. Dr. Brian
Reuben, I want to begin by acknowledging that Superintendent Taylor and many members of the current Board of Education were not in leadership when several of the decisions that brought us here were made. But our current leaders must confront those decisions. Option H is a last minute, improvised poor solution, and attempt to throw something out there and see if
it sticks. That is not how to solve complex, long standing challenges. M.c.p.s. Is struggling to manage its most critical assets. Our school buildings, where more than 200,000 students and staff spend the majority of their days ten months a year, allowing facilities to deteriorate and then proposing irreversible decisions to close
schools because of that deterioration is not a solution. It is a consequence of mismanagement. While Wooten's condition is unacceptable, we know many other schools are in similar shape at some point. M.c.p.s. Learned that enrollment projections for Crown were significantly off, and that opening the facility as planned was no longer feasible. When did M.c.p.s
become aware of this? Was it before construction began? The alternative to building a high school crown was a park, a green space for the Crown community. Instead, we now have a $270 million school that cannot open. While multiple schools within a few miles are deteriorating. What was M.c.p.s? Long term plan for high school
capital projects. Once Woodward opens and the system no longer has a holding facility, this is not strategic planning. This is not responsible stewardship of public funds. It is time to confront the hard truths. Decades of deferred maintenance have created a two decade backlog of repairs, renovations and rebuilds, closing school
communities because buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair is not a strategy. We need a comprehensive, system wide plan, one that includes creative funding approaches, economies of scale, proactive maintenance, and modern technology to manage facilities more effectively. A task force dedicated to solving this
crisis is long overdue. We strongly oppose addressing Wooten's facility deterioration by uprooting our school that has been a pillar in the city of Rockville for 55 years and moving us from our shared property with our feeder middle school, cross the city of Rockville has been unequivocal and unanimous in its support for keeping Wootton, where it
belongs, on Wootton Parkway, a roadway named after the school itself. Wootton needs a renovation plan, not an eviction notice. Keep Wootton and Wootton Parkway thank you, thank you, thank you for your comment. I'm going to be
calling the next in person, Mr. Tyler Haynes, Mr. Van Raak and Mr. Alex Kotch, please come to the table. Okay. We will start
with Mr. Tyler Haynes. Thank you. Yes. Hello. My name is Tyler Haynes. I'm a resident of the Wound Cluster, and I have two daughters within the
student roster. I have over ten years of law enforcement experience, and I'm a current corporal within a local police department. I also have a bachelor's in secondary education. I'm here today to respectfully urge the board to reject option H and Kapunan High School in Rockville. As a permanent neighborhood school, I am I am okay with the passage
of any of the other options, even an option that would push my children to another school. A school is a keystone infrastructure. When you remove something as significant as a high school, you cause a drastic traumatic impact on the individual and community. This school year, Rockville City Police Department accepted full safety stewardship of the high
school and its feeder schools. Corporal has decades of experience as a school resource officer. I implore you to find any students, staff, or parent who dislikes Corporal Pascal. We all know Montgomery County Police is struggling with staffing, and while they are a great police department, they
cannot dedicate the attention Rcpd has been providing to Wootton. Rcpd loses its positive influence as soon as one leaves the city limits. Closing wound creates an overcrowded crown to be serviced by an understaffed department. Your teachers and their students deserve better. I want to raise a serious concern about population
projections and the implications it will have on traffic safety. No analysis has been presented showing that key corridors and intersections such as I-270. Shady Grove Road, Maryland, 28 Key West Avenue, Diamond Drive, or Research Boulevard can absorb these new traffic patterns without increasing delays, safety risk,
and missed instructional time. I've responded to multiple collisions involving student injury. Guess where I respond to at least two? Wootton M.C.P.S. previously recognized that traffic constraints and feeder continuity mattered in Churchill and wayside cases, and those considerations led to additional options being
explored, which should be treated with the same fairness and consistency. When option H introduces equal or greater transportation inefficiency and safety risk, I respectfully ask the board to say no to option H, preserve Wootton High School and Rockville. Please pursue solutions that genuinely expand capacity and safe accessible for all students, Rockville and
Gaithersburg denizens alike. Thank you for your time and service. Thank you, Mr. Case. Mr. Van Grack, good afternoon. I serve on the Rockville City Council, and I'm here to convey that the Rockville Mayor and
Council unanimously and strongly support keeping Wootton High School on Wootton Parkway. I am joined here today by Mayor Ashton and Councilmember Shaw. Have you heard from thousands? Wooten's location is critical and loved, but I'm not here today to speak
about sentiment. I'm here to provide my personal perspective about risk, responsibility, and budget stewardship. The proposal to permanently move Wootton students to Crown as being framed as an operational or budget solution. It is not
option H carries the greatest long term risk and budget problems. It is a careless shortcut based on incomplete data. Closing Wootton will not solve budget issues or overcrowding, it will simply push the problem to Gaithersburg ten years from now, while creating new operational
problems. In the present option, H will create a budget. Gut punch wants to move the students and again, when continued growth in Rockville and Gaithersburg will force MCPs to address high school capacity. But now, without a beautiful asset on Wootton
Parkway, M.C.P.S. already misjudged enrollment predictions when Crown was built. Oversize. Don't make a bigger mistake now with Wootton, students Crown will reach overcapacity soon. You've heard today. Also, precedent matters
if a fully utilized community school can be closed due to delayed renovations, then no school in this county is safe. I certainly hope that options I and J aren't close. Sherwood and Quince Orchard because of recent flooding. You know, long after enrollment charts and
budget cycles are forgotten, this decision will remain. Do not let this board's legacy be the permanent closure of a thriving community school. For a budget shortcut, reject option H and keep Wootton High
School on Wootton Parkway for. Mr. coach. Mr. coach. Good afternoon, members of the board and Superintendent Taylor. My name is Alex Coach and I'm a
Wootton cluster parent. I believe all students deserve a high quality public education. I agree with the principals in the board's facilities planning guidelines. That is why I urge you to reject option H. Option H was introduced late with an abbreviated timeline, and
shockingly suggests the permanent closure of Wootton High School. This would burden our county for years, disrupting and relocating students and requiring a new facility when enrollment does grow, I am told the board favors option H permanently closing a high school without
deep and transparent information gathering creates substantial risk, and a countywide budget and enrollment problem is not solved equitably. When the displacement and community disruption fall solely on Wootton closing, Wootton would rip the heart out of a
community that has grown around it for decades. A proposal like this must be accompanied by traffic studies, pedestrian safety analyzes and bus time modeling, especially for students forced to travel to a holding school away from major roadways. Option H would force
Damascus students to travel 45 minutes at peak traffic hours, with inexperienced drivers traveling on pedestrian heavy roadways, all while Wootton students com against that same traffic to Gaithersburg. Wootton High School should stay on Wootton Parkway next to Robert Frost, and our cluster
should stay together. Option H is under consideration because of decades of neglected repairs and this pattern is countywide. But the answer cannot be to uproot students from their community schools and place them in a dilapidated holding
school. This does not create student stability. It guarantees further disruption in any enrollment scenario. There is a better path forward that aligns with the board's principles. Please reject option H and thank you for your
time. Thank you. With that, we're going to have video testimony now from Chloe Zaydan, Catherine Fitzpatrick, Hank Wesner and Eugene Lee. Good
afternoon, my M.C.P.S. Board of Education. My name is Claire Brunswick. I am an eighth grade student at Forest Hill School. My family moved here from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have two brothers and a sister. We all have gone to my M.c.p.s. Schools and Gaithersburg our
entire lives. We really appreciate the excellent education here in the US and especially in the Montgomery County. But I have to say, unfortunately, the public schools in Gaithersburg are old and crowded. Ihave lived in crowded neighborhoods since 2014 and a mpdu because my
father worked in for Montgomery Parks. My family was so excited when the new Crown High School was being built on our street. It's only a short walk to our house when my sisters and I have always had to take the bus, we thought it was incredible
that a brand new school was being built just for us. Now we here, Crown High School could be instead used by other cities. We think that it's not fair to Gaithersburg and Crown. We live here and we really need this new school. Please do not change the original plan.
Please open Crown High School next year for families like mine. Thank you. Play the next video. Please say hi. I'm Metta and I'm a kindergartner at
Fields Road Elementary School. I live right across the street from downtown Crown and I can even walk there. I'm speaking on behalf of Fields Road because we want to go to Crown High School. We even made a
music video about it. Check it out. We were told. We were told that a school would be ours. Every kid, every boy dreaming big, wishing far. But the plans all disappeared in the dark. And the hanging. What would promise to a whole other part?
All I want to say is that they don't really care about us. All I want to say is that they don't really care about us. Big dreams, great scenes for the classrooms and hallways our days were featured would be.
But the talk secret locks move the ground under me. Now they're calling it a shift, but it's never did agree. All I want to say is that they don't really care about us. All I want to say is that they don't really care about us. Well, the
next one's coming with a heartbeat. Drumming with it like your time. I can take a school. I can lead a chorus. When they're gonna ignore us. Try moving borders I voice
won't go away. This land, our plans. They were made in our name. Every promise you gave us should be honored. The same you say temporary now. But the story's not straight. We deserve what we were promised. And we're not gonna wait. I'm
thinking what the future for us. Gaithersburg. We're strong. And you're not taking this from us. M.C.P.S. Show us the students who Gaithersburg that you care
about us. Us? Hello. My name is Catherine Fitzpatrick and I am thankful for this opportunity to speak this afternoon. I wanted to come in person, but my mom wouldn't let me skip school. I am a current fourth grader at Woodfield Elementary. My class would be one of the
classes affected by the construction of the new Damascus High School. While I don't want to go to a school that is far away, I don't want to go to a school that is on a construction site either. I learned that construction zones cause a lot of dust, and if my
friends who have allergies breathe that in, they could get sick. Using a different school like Crown would keep us away from the construction. Protect my friends and let our new school be built faster. My friends and I play sports, play
instruments, and are in many activities outside of school that involve our community, and we often use our high school for them. We know that our grown ups will make sure that our teams, bands, or groups
will still happen even if we use a holding school farther away from Damascus. I'm only ten years old and have a while before I get to high school, but I know a decision is being made about the future for Damascus students very soon. It
sounds like you have a tough job to do and our decision to make, but please remember, keeping students like me safe is really important. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Hank Wiessner. I am in second grade at Woodfield Elementary School in Damascus. I am really excited to go to Damascus High School. I play football for the Damascus Cougars. We won the Super Bowl
this year. We play home games at Damascus High School. I also go to the football camp in the summer at the high school with Coach Klotz. My mom told me that the grass football field
might be replaced with a plastic turf field when the new high school is built, which will hopefully be done by the time I'm there. A plastic field doesn't sound like a good idea
to me. Plastic gets really hot in the summer. I'm not sure if you have ever played football in full pads with the sun shining, but it's hot enough without the field making it even hotter. Also, NFL players
prefer grass and and so do I. I don't want to have long term issues and pain because of playing on plastic instead of grass. Please make sure that my
safety and health and my teammates safety and health are the top priority when making decisions about the future of the Damascus High School
football field. Go, Hornets! Can we play, please? Hi respectable members. I am a proud parent of a senior at Thomas Wootton High School. I am testifying today to express
my strong opposition to option H. First option H would move Wootton to Gaithersburg. This means an increased commute time and less productive, exhausting days for the kids. It is not a bad solution for established school number two. For many of
us who live in Rockville and North Potomac, Wootton is our home. It's not just a school, but also a community hub for the residents. It hosts lots of community activities for Wootton and adjacent communities. And from an academic point of view, it takes years to establish
academic excellence, which many alumni and parents are so proud of. The collaboration between Robert Frost Middle School, which is right next door to Thomas Wootton High School, has been the most important thing for academic excellence. So in my opinion, M.C.P.S. and the Board of Education should
consider this as top priority. Number three, the option H will actually be a merger Wootton and Crown, which means it will be introducing lots of uncertainties for both Rockville and Gaithersburg communities. Lastly, while it seems to be a money saving
solution for us, option H to close one school, the purpose of education, in my opinion, should be focusing on academic excellence and serving your community for taxpayers, which is us. And it will not save
money in the long term anyways because of the increased bus route and the cost of the budget. For the school children, I strongly oppose option H and please take actions and take these factors into
consideration and keep Wootton at Wootton Parkway, Rockwall. And please keep Crown for Cecil Gaithersburg. Thank you again for your time. Thank you. This concludes public comment. The board's next meeting to receive
public comment will be on Thursday, January 22nd. Online signups will be open on Thursday, January 15th, starting at 6 p.m. Excuse me? In addition to online signups, same day in-person signups are permitted when space allows with unallocated slots. Fill in
a first come, first serve basis. In-person sign ups will close 15 minutes before the start of the open session, or when all slots are filled. Additional information regarding upcoming meetings can be found on the board's website. With that, I will open up to see if any of
my colleagues have any comments. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out today, and I want to highlight Catherine and Hank and Zayden, the students that testified online, even though they couldn't be here in person, because I understand and I'm glad that you are in school for
that, and that video testimonies are equally as important and heard. And for Zayden and the other students that participated in that music video, I think you might have a career in it. So keep it up. It was very cute to see. Thank you, Miss Zimmermann. Thank you. I also want to thank so many of
our community members comingouts excite me to see so many folks like being here and being involved, and it's just a testament to how much education matters to our community and why I'm so proud to be a part of this community. Since we have heard a lot about
boundaries today, if you haven't already, please fill out the survey. It does close tomorrow. If you have some neighbors that haven't filled it out, encourage them to do so as well. Feedback is really valuable to us, and I also just generally look forward to further discussion and community engagement with
everyone as we move forward in this process. Thank you, Miss Silvestre. Yes, echoing my colleague's comments, thank everyone for being here today. We have an engaged community and that's a good thing. We are listening to every single testimony, taking all of your
perspectives into consideration as we make this very difficult decision in the next coming next few months. So thank you for being here. We're listening. I also want to say a quick thank you to everyone for coming out and advocating. Also, I want to share that I've
really enjoyed meeting some of you and on trips away from where I am in Silver Spring, up to Damascus, and to Crown Area and to Wootton. And I've actually really enjoyed a lot
of our conversations. I've learned a lot. So continue the advocacy. And yes, don't forget to fill out that survey. Thank you. I too, want to thank everyone for coming out today. I especially want to thank our students. And I understand that
you couldn't come today. I wouldn't allow it either. But you did a great job and we are listening. And we want you to know that no decisions have actually been made yet. I heard somebody say that a decision had been made. We are still listening and learning, so
thank you for coming with that. Thank you everybody for coming, for being engaged. It was a pleasure to meet some of you. Miss Rivera-Oven, Miss Montoya, sorry I keep forgetting your online. My apologies. Montoya, why don't you go? That's okay. I know I'm behind you. Go. You
are somewhere behind me. Okay? Why don't you go ahead and then I'll do my. I want to agree with all of the comments made by my colleagues here today. Literally every single one of them. I appreciate all of you for being there. I apologize for not being present. I still have the flu. I don't want to spread any germs. I know there
were a variety of community events in the evenings this week, and so I apologize for not being there as well. I am absolutely listening. And so I want us all to also think about the words that we say and the conduct that we have, because our children are also listening,
including my own children. And I want you to take a second to imagine how it might feel for a child to hear someone tell his mother and their colleagues that if they take a particular action as a part of their job, it will be over their dead body. So just remember, our children
are watching. These are recorded and archived meetings, and we need to behave in the ways that we want our children to behave. So thank you again, all of you for being there today. Thank you, Miss Montoya. I would like to concur with Mrs. Montoya's statement. I was
a little taken back. We those of us who do this kind of job, or those of us who decide to run for the Board of Education, we do it with good intentions. We do it because we were raised, many of us in this community. We were welcome as immigrants
in this community, and we want to give back. And I met some of you, many of you, I grew up in the city of Gaithersburg, as many of you know. So our intentions when we wake up are not to make people's lives miserable. I want you to
understand that we have good intentions. God knows we don't run for the money that is paid. This job pays or for the hours that we have to invest. We run because we care and we love our
community. And most importantly, we care. And we love our children because they are the future and we want them to do their best and be their best and most importantly, feel love. So I just want you to understand where we are coming from as well. So I just want to
say, I know because I met many of you how emotional this is to you as well. And we understand we have not made a decision, but we appreciate your involvement. We appreciate your caring. We appreciate, you know, the fact that you took time out
of your day to be here. So with that, I want to say thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being civil. Thank you for being cordial, because that is the example that we need to give our children and the future generation of board
members, council members and so on. So thank you for coming and again, happy New Year to you
all. It's too long.
To hear everything. You. Oh. Good guys.
Thank you. Sorry. I'm not sure. Thank you. For.
Asking.
I. We still have a meeting that we
need to do. If you can please leave the boardroom and have your conversations outside. I would really appreciate it. If you can have your conversations outside, please. I would
appreciate it because we still have business to conduct. Thank you so much. Before we continue,
I would like to briefly address a procedural matter at the beginning of the meeting. The board approved a motion by Ms. to revise the agenda to reorder the items from 8.1 2026
legislative session. I would like now like to confirm approval of today's agenda, as amended by Miss Miller's motion. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Is there a second? Second? Thank you very much. All those in favor, please raise your hand. Thank you, Miss Montoya. That is unanimous.
With those present, we will be moving to agenda item 8.1. The first discussion items this afternoon is a preview of the 2026 legislative session. I will turn it over to the board's legislative Affairs Coordinator, miss Patty
Ursprung. Welcome and happy New Year. Hello. Happy New Year, everyone. As president, Rivera said, I'm here to a preview of the upcoming legislative session. Just some important dates to start. The session starts January 14th, which is
this coming Wednesday and ends on April 30th. That or I'm sorry, April 13th. That is our 90 day sprint through our legislative session. The other very important date is March 23rd, which is a little more than two thirds of the way through the session. And that is the crossover date. That's
the date where legislation that's introduced in one house has to be at the other House in order to go all the way through the process. Before we look at what's coming up, I want to go through a little bit of what happened in the last month. There's been some changes and some shakeups. So in early
December, Delegate Adrian Jones, who had been the speaker of the House, announced that she was going to step back from that leadership role. She continues to represent Baltimore County, but she no longer has a leadership position. As a result, there was a special session that was convened on December 16th, and that was for
the purpose of appointing a new speaker of the House. At that time, the House of delegates unanimously elected Delegate Jocelyn Pena-melnyk, who represents Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties, as the new speaker of the House. As is
typically the case when there is new leadership, other changes follow. So for us, the thing we're watching most closely was committee chairmanships, the committee that the two committees that in the House that primarily address education bills is Ways
and Means and appropriations. Ways and means will address mostly policy matters and appropriations. Is is the funding source. So previously, Delegate Vanessa Atterberry, who represented Howard County, was the chair of Ways and Means. In December, she also announced that she was stepping down from
her role in the General Assembly. She is running to be the new the next county executive in Howard County, so she wanted to focus on her campaign. So there was a vacancy there that we know needed to be filled. As it turns out, the new speaker of
the House appointed delegate, Janelle Wilkins of Montgomery County, to be the new chair of that committee. She had previously served as the vice chair for the previous two years, and has been a member of that chair since 2017. The new vice chair is Delegate Jessica
Feldmark from Howard County. She did not have a leadership position in that committee. A subcommittee, yes, and she has been a member since 2019. So the leadership committee coming in there has a lot of experience, has been in the Ways and Means Committee for a long time, so is familiar with
the bills that come through to it. And we're confident that they're going to be a really strong leadership team for that. Committee for Appropriations delegate Ben Barnes, who had previously been the chair, remains the chair of that committee. But Delegate Anne Kaiser of Montgomery County has been named the vice chair, and she is a new appointment to
that position. So we are excited for that as well. Going back to the special session, the other thing that the General Assembly had to deal with at that time were veto overrides. The law requires
that any bills that were vetoed by the governor that are going to be considered to be overridden must occur at the next session, whether it be a regular session or a special session. So the end of last session, the governor vetoed just right around 30 bills. And
on December 16th, the General Assembly over road. About a dozen of the vetoes that he issued as it concerns school systems. There were two bills that had a veto override. One
was House Bill 56, and there was a cross cross-file Senate Bill 177, and that dealt with a local food purchasing program. This is about the bill that Delegate Charkoudian of Montgomery County brought, and it directs the Maryland State Department of Education to set
up a system or like a centralized platform that will assist local education agencies in procuring local foods. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt you. So I'm sorry. We're just trying to have clarification. What happened to it. So it was vetoed by the governor at the end of last session and vetoed
by the governor. And the General Assembly overrode that veto on at that session. So thank you. The goal of that legislation was to increase the availability of local food, local foods in schools, so that now has been overridden that
that bill is in effect, as I said, this was Delegate Charkoudian of Montgomery County, and she definitely has an interest in this area. She has a real goal of increasing local produce and other local local foods in our schools. And
in fact, she introduced a local bill in Montgomery County, bill for this upcoming session that that shares in that goal and would look to further that objective. The other bill that was vetoed and then the veto there was an override was House Bill 1316, and that was the
youth centric Technology and Social Media Resource Guide. This is a bill that was brought by Delegate Wolak of Montgomery County, and it requires the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to develop and publish a resource guide that will be
distributed to schools and students, and that will be has to be prepared by the beginning of the 2728 school year. So the the goal of this one is to create a guide that has information about online educational resources, but also other online just websites that
students typically use. And it will give information about those websites best practices about engaging with an online world. So to talk about the benefits and some of the hidden dangers of of using these websites so our students and
families can be just more educated online consumers. This also for delegate Wolak is an area where she has an intense interest. She is definitely concerned about student and staff mental health and well-being, and this
legislation was brought to to further highlight that and hope to have a resource that that students can use to be more aware of just the online world. These are both bills that we took no position on last year, but certainly didn't oppose in
any way. So we're happy that these had a veto override. So looking ahead now to the upcoming session, Pre-filed bills have not yet started populating, which I'm a little disappointed in, given that we're less than a week from the
session. I'm hoping by the end of the week, I'll start to see some bills come through that that we can start to review and get ahead of the game a little bit. There's no, you know, no surprise that the budget's going to be a big topic. We're facing what's estimated to be a $1.5 billion structural deficit.
The governor has already stated that tax increases are not going to be on the table. So that means we're looking at cuts. The budget. The governor's budget bill has to be presented by January 21st, which is one week into the session. So we'll definitely be keeping an eye on that. Largely,
we're going to be looking to make sure that there aren't any more cost shifts like there were last year in the budget bill. You might remember last year, the teacher pension costs were shifted from the state to the county, with, for us, a price tag of about $19.6 million to our county partners.
And the percentage, the payment percentage, responsibility for special education private placements were also was also shifted. Previously, it had been 70% by the state, 30% by locals. The budget bill last year shifted it so that this current fiscal year, it's now
6040, and then next year it goes to 5050. That had for for us for this year, a $3.6 million impact on our FY 26 budget. So we are going to keep a keen eye on the budget bill to make sure that there isn't
any more cost shifting that occurs that, you know, will harm our our bottom line. The, you know, the clear message has been sent to the delegates and the senators that bills with associated costs likely will not move. They're looking in
every way possible to minimize any financial damage this year. So with that being said, it looks like the blueprint for Maryland's future. They're probably not going to be on the table for another major renovation like they tried to
do last year, but little tweaks, little fixes are certainly on the table. Pais am, the public superintendents, Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland is looking to just
take a look at the funding formula and to have a hold harmless for enrollment shifts for enrollment drops. And those are two items that, you know, we would certainly support. And we see the need for for those changes. We've heard that there are going to be some possible
bills addressing special education issues, including the burden of proof in due process hearings and potentially cameras in special education classrooms and cell phone bill. You know, cell phone bans in schools might come back. We're also looking to see if what we
can do to adjust or address the availability of schools for available availability of funds for school construction. So those are some of the areas that we we believe there will be some some movement and some some conversation, but we'll
have to see what actually comes out. I would just like to update you. So you will recall we had four priority issues that we identified prior to this session. We do have sponsors for bills addressing three of the four, one being the flexibility in the payment
of AP and IB related costs, and using an income based approach to determine what percentage we pay versus what percentage of family might pay. That is, has been taken on by Senator King and Delegate Wilkins. Delegate Wilkins also sponsored that for
us last year. So we appreciate their willingness to to partner with us on on that bill. Delegate Wasserman has agreed to take on our bill. That would require the Maryland State Department of Education to do a regular review and update, if
needed, of graduation requirements, and then our bill requesting an adjustment to minimal minimum instructional time requirements. So right now it's 180 days or 1080 hours. And we're looking to have some
flexibility for it to be an end instead of an Or that is a local bill. So that is currently before our local delegation. There is an initial local bill hearing in December that I think went went well. And since that time I have had some conversations, along with
Superintendent Taylor, to with some of our delegation and and other members of the General Assembly to see how the bill can be tweaked to give it its best chance of passing. So I feel really good about the posture of that bill right now, and I'm hopeful that that will
make it all the way through this year. That bill for the delegation side was assigned to the education, Elections and Housing Committee, but has there's no meeting date yet where that's going to be discussed. Our statewide bills,
Delegate Wilkins and Delegate Waterman both pre-filed those bills. So they will be, you know, active and ready as soon as bills start populating. Senator King decided not to file, but she has it ready, so she's going to drop it day one of the session. So those bills should have a should have a
bill hearing within the first couple weeks of session. So we should know pretty soon, pretty quickly what the reception for those will be. And then our local bill has to go through its process with the delegation. But if the delegation votes to move it forward, it will come to the General Assembly as
Montgomery County Delegation bill. Just looking forward as we move forward in the session at our upcoming meetings, I will be coming to present bills with recommended positions, and I will ask the board to vote to establish the official adopted
position of the board. Those recommendations are developed with the input from staff from the impact, the impacted M.C.P.S. division or office, and then the superintendent and his cabinet. Recommended positions are going to be presented at work sessions and
business meetings. I know we have our new format where work sessions generally are non-action, just information items, but given the pace of the session, we can't take meetings off. So I'll be coming with action items at every meeting. And I do want to
remind you that not every bill on which the board will take a position requires a vote, because some of the positions are dictated by our platform. The platform positions are really important because they allow me to be engaged in the session at the pace that is required by the session. You
know, obviously there are bills that need to come before the board, and we need your input and and your action. But because of the timing of bill hearings and board meetings, sometimes that means that we can't submit testimony prior to a bill hearing or we we have to
do something filed late or have it ready in case it crosses over. And our platform allows us to be ahead of that. It allows us to make sure the testimony and our position is known by the committee and our members on the Ways and Means Committee prior to the bill
hearing, so that they can be a voice for us in those hearings. So those those platform positions are very important. But I will make sure that you are informed of what those were. So every meeting I will have a report that has not only the bills that we're asking you to
take action on, but it will also contain a list of the bills that fell under the platform, the section of the platform that dictated what the position would be, and then the position. So you will know what's happened in in the interim. So that is everything
I have for you today. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them. Otherwise I really need to get to work. Thank you. Know, we want you to get back to work. I think we're I think we're good. Except I think Miss Wolff has one question, right? Yeah. Just one. Because, you know, you were
going kind of fast. And I know what where we are on most things. But what did you say about our hours versus days, Bill. Yeah. So that one it's a a local delegation bill I know. So it had its initial hearing with the delegation in December,
as you know, because you testified. So nothing officially has happened since then. It will be it has been assigned to the appropriate committee with the delegation, but no meeting has happened yet to discuss it further within the committee. But since the time of the hearing, I have had
conversations with some of our delegates and then also some of the delegates who are on ways and means just to discuss the bill and determine if any amendments are reasonable to help it move forward. And we do think that we're going to
adjust some of the language to make it better, reflect the actual intention of the board, which was not to create a calendar that only complies with one of the minimal instructional time requirements, but to have the flexibility during the school year. If something happens, like last
year, that we had so many school closures that we had to add days at the end of the year that we don't have to do that as long as we have the hours met or days met. So we're looking to maybe adjust the language a little bit now, just to better reflect the intention of the of the board and the
superintendent and what the bill would accomplish. And it narrows it a little bit. So I think it it gives more confidence that it can't be abused in the future. Okay. So I know it's a local bill. So just help me out here. When we have a local bill, do we seek
support of other districts? I mean, have we reported this to mabe that we file this local bill, right? Yes. Is anybody else thought about joining us? So Howard County also has brought a local bill looking for the same flexibility there.
The bill that they brought mimics what has what passed last year for Anne Arundel County. And the language there is different from what we are looking to accomplish. You know, if the delegation decides to move forward with it and it comes out of the delegation as
a Montgomery County delegation bill. I would say, by and large, other school systems usually don't get involved in local bills. But in this case, and given my conversations, I think there are other counties that
are interested in having that same flexibility. So there might be some interest in other counties supporting this bill in hopes that it moves forward and then can can change the statewide requirement going, you know, going forward. That's why I asked, because I had
heard that others might be interested. I didn't know if any had contacted you. Not yet. I mean, Howard County. So if our bill goes forward, I think Howard County has an interest in adjusting their current proposed language to mimic ours because they they would rather
have the flexibility that we're seeking. Okay. But I do think that if we have success getting it out of our local delegation, that they'll probably will be others that are interested in in jumping on and seeing that it can go statewide. Thank you so much. Okay. And with that,
we will let you now get back to work. And we're sorry. I had a quick question. Oh, sorry, Miss Montoya. Thank you. And, Patty, can you please tell me again I'm sorry I missed the bill number for delegate Charkoudian bill on local food procurement.
Sure. That was House Bill 56. And then there was a cross file for that, which was Senate Bill 177. And then, of course, that was from last legislative session. Okay. And not right now, but I would like to know the impact on M.C.P.S. by that
bill. In terms of could you just give me a little more detail as to what you're looking for? Well, like, what is what is the practical impact of that bill being put through by the General Assembly? Right. If it's if it's local food procurement. Yeah, yeah. All right. I mean, I can tell you
there doesn't need to be any impact because it doesn't require us to do anything. It makes local purchasing local foods. The goal is to make it more available for local education agencies. So it would
depend on if we avail ourselves of the the opportunity. Yes, but one of the things that it does do is right now there's a 5% per the procurement requirements, there's a 5%. Not
bump, but a local farm can have a 5% increase over the other lowest bidder. And they it kind of eliminated. It's not considered in that moves up to 10%. So it allows the a local farm that maybe is a little
more has a more expensive product to still be considered the lowest bidder with a 10% jump. So they're trying to motivate that for us in that sense. If we if we choose to go with a local bidder, that's more expensive, but it would be at our at our choice. But okay.
Thank you. Speak to our food and nutrition folks and see you. Thank you so much. What that means. Okay. Now I think we can let you go back to work. Thank you. With that, we're going to be moving on to item 7.1. And this is a tentative action
policy, a policy setting the next this is the next item. So I will turn it over to the chair of the Policy Management Committee, Miss Wolff. Thank you, President Arvin. So on December 3rd, 2025, the board's Policy Management Committee
reviewed the draft amendments to policy b f a the proposed changes update and clarify the processes for developing the policies of the Board of Education and the implementing rules and regulations developed
by the Superintendent of Schools. Today, the Policy Management Committee is recommending that the board take tentative action on policy b f a so that it can be sent for public comment. At the time these changes were reviewed by the committee, Miss Yang was
serving as chair, so I would ask if she has any additional comments she'd like to add. Thank you, Miss Wolff. I really do want to thank the staff who work on this and the committee members. We all know that good governance requires sunlight
and and this policy clarifies roles between the board, the superintendent, and ensure the stakeholder know when and how they can engage for the amendment part. It really ensures that when regulations change or getting updated, that
the public isn't surprised. After the the fact that establish clear timeline for public comments require a public record of changes and responses. So that is what really big part of the amendment. So I will turn it
back to Miss Wolff. So thank you everyone for your work. Thank you. With that, I'll turn it over to the staff to walk us through the recommended revisions and processes used to develop the proposed language. Thank you, Miss Wolff. Good afternoon, Miss Wolff and board
members. Doctor Taylor, my name is Leslie Turner. I'm a legal director in the Division of Legal Services, and with me is miss Sally Davis, supervisor in the Division of Legal Services. So this conversation is a continuation of earlier discussions with the Policy
Management Committee at its September and December meetings. And we talked about the board setting the what with the policy and the superintendent setting the how through regulation. Today's discussion is step two of five steps in
the policy development process. The board is considering draft language moved forward by the committee and determining whether to send the draft out for 21 day public comment period, just as a reminder of the process. After the public
has an opportunity to comment, the committee and the full board will review those comments prior to final action. The major updates requested by the committee will be discussed as follows. First agenda setting. The committee requested adjustments to the
process of how the annual work plan is developed. Second, communications about policy and regulatory work. The Committee requested adjustments to how the policy Handbook is promoted to the public and third notice.
The committee sought updates to those portions of the policy that speak to the board's awareness of implementing regulations under development or revision. Sally. Thank you. My name is Sally Davis. As Miss Turner Percival mentioned, I am
going to touch on three major areas. And then of course, we'll have time for your discussion. So I do want to jump right in on page three at line 91, the committee's requested adjustments to the
work of the Policy Management Committee, which is driven by its annual work plan. So the language clarifies between 93 and 110, clarifies that the agenda is adopted by the committee with input from board
members, with advice from staff, and may include implementation reports as the board sees fit. I do want to move back then to page two starting at line 38.
There was a lot of discussion at this session at the committee's last meeting about this section. So starting at line 38, this section describes where the public can find all of the policy and regulation
documentation. So I do want you to note specifically from 39 to 42 that it states that this is where we keep the information, but the information is promoted through M.C.P.S. communications. So currently the tools we're
using for that are the Thursday things to know. The principal, Miriam Miranda, with an encouragement to all principals to include this information in their communication to their schools. And now through canvas.
Thank you to Miss Malu for her recommendation. We this is a way that she suggested we could get to secondary students, so we are posting notifications when there is some action that they may want to be aware of on
canvas and other technologies and other meetings. So line, I'll move on to the next point. Line 77 to 79. State that this is the public register that we use. It's kind of using the model of the Maryland Register or the Federal Register. That's
where we keep stuff, you know. So this is where we keep a record of all policies and regulations adopted, amended or rescinded. And we have that information available publicly
since the 2006 2007 school year. And every for every year, we have a summary of anything done during that year, and that's policies and regulations. I do not want the board or the public to leave this discussion
with the impression that it is up to the public to go find this stuff now, if they want to type in policy in our main search engine will get you there. I do want to emphasize that this is source material
that is regularly emphasized through multiple communication channels. The public comment page is promoted through M.C.P.S. communications and now on the board's web page as well. It's also promoted in any
meetings that take place during a period when a public when a policy is out for public comment. All right. My third point I would like to move to page eight on line 295. And I'm going to read these as they are
written. So these are in the implementation strategies section. The superintendents of schools shall develop and maintain a process for developing draft policies for consideration by the Committee as set forth in the policy that
shall include policy research and development and presentations to the board. The Superintendent of Schools shall develop rules or regulations to implement board policies and federal and state laws and monitoring reports, as applicable. The Superintendent
of Schools shall develop a timely process for notifying the board about regulations under development or revision. When the development or revision of a regulation follows the board's action on a policy, the Superintendent of
Schools shall take into consideration public comments collected about the policy prior to approval. Draft regulations shall lie on the table. This mimics the language in policy shall lie on the table for a minimum of ten
business days, with notification to the board and to the public. The Superintendent of Schools shall review all comments and shall have the discretion to revise and approve the draft as appropriate. And finally, the Superintendent of Schools shall
communicate the approved regulation along with any comments received to the board as items of information. So I think that takes care of. Let's see. We also wanted to clarify
that there are situations where the superintendent must move swiftly to revise and public publish regulations with deadlines that are beyond the superintendent's control or operational concerns that must
be addressed quickly. And with that, we are ready for your discussion. I'm sorry, can you tell me the last part you just said? When the superintendent has to move swiftly in certain, there are times times when, for example, where can I find that?
Let's see. I do not think we set a timeline for that. Okay. But for example, we implement in regulation federal law, state law, state regulations, and sometimes those things come out with really quick timelines
that we have to implement. So it would not be even a decision of the public. It's something we just have to do and we just need to move on it. So those are the kinds of situations when we're when we're doing compliance work that we do
sometimes need to move quite swiftly. So finish okay. So thank you. As chair of the Policy Management Committee I move that the board approve
policy BFA for tentative actions so that it can be sent out for public comment. I second that, but also want to know if we're able to ask clarification questions. It doesn't require a second because oh okay. Great. By the
chair. Thank you, thank you. And are we a last allowed to ask a clarifying question at this time? Yes I'm going to ask. That's next okay. Discussion okay. So we're going to move to discussion. All right Miss Montoya. Oh okay. Thank you I'm
for reference. I'm looking at page three of nine which is section two policy development. So first I just want to thank your department for all the work that goes into this. I know that when we go through these policies and looking at
all the technicalities and the grammar and the placement, it's a big lift. So I can see how much work went into this. When it comes to the policy development, I'm thinking of the community and how to make it accessible to them. And so I know we are going to have, you
know, the summary of changes, kind of like the register, and I appreciate all of that. One question that I've gotten in the past is, how can a community member propose a policy for review? And this could be an organization even not just, you know, a member of
the community. I was previously told that the chair of the committee sets the plan, and if it's not in the plan, then it's not going to be. Considered. I see that's not the case. And so
I want to know, how do we let the community know what actions they need to take? For a policy to be considered, whether it's as simple as contact your board member for your district, is
there just a way to kind of put that somewhere so that they know, and then it's just a clear path instead of having to email the board, for example, as a whole and trying to get that information, because what I don't want and what can happen sometimes for community members when they ask questions
like this is someone sends them a policy and says, here you go, it's in here. And there's so many sections to the policy. You know, Rita, I would I would suggest that you respond to the public comment as a board
member, you could send in a public comment and we could take a look at that in the policy committee. Right. And I understand that now, in spite of the misinformation that was previously given. But what I'm wanting to know is how do we make sure that the community
knows if there's a policy you think that needs to be reviewed and you're in district five, for example, you want to email Miss Wolff to tell her, and then she will move it for the policy for section two or whatever. Sure. I understand what you're saying. I think if you send in your comment when
it's out for public comment, we'll take that up in committee. Okay. We'll take that up in committee. I have a question, though, and I know I asked this when we were doing the policy, and I'm sure it's in here and I'm just not seeing it at the moment. But when we have
something out for public comment, where is the section that says how it's distributed? Distributed, how notification to the public is distributed? Because I thought we were going to try to put something in about texts, the that the
principals could text it out to their communities for those that use text, because maybe that's a way of reaching underserved communities, communities that don't otherwise have time to really read the bulletin. I hate to say that out loud, but they might not have Wi-Fi or they
might not have a lot of things. But most people have a cell phone, so Ms. Wolff I, I would I would categorize cell phone texts as a technique that
changes, you know, for example, in previous years we didn't have Thursday Things to know. We had a different method of putting out a communication to any parent who had signed up. We have had a variety of
different techniques that we could use. And to state that at the policy level, and then let's say the technique migrates. You know, there was a point where we said, oh, we're going to post this on this.
Well, not in this policy, but if there's a social media platform that's hot, and then, as we know, three years later, it won't be to lock us into a specific technique I think might become dated quickly. And
if I could just add one more part, Mr. Rivera, if you don't mind, when we tell the principals this is here, here's the link to the public comment page. Please communicate it to your communities using the mechanisms you use. We are
asking them to be sensitive to how their communities do communicate. Okay, so where is that in here? I just I might be missing it, but I remember we talked about it and I understand your concern about specificity. But where in here
is that communicated to the principals. We left it at the level of lines 39 and 40 shall be promoted in M.C.P.S. communications. And we did not specify the variety of techniques that was in my
talking points. That's what with all due respect, if we look at page four on Miss Montoya, Miss Wolff is not done yet. Yeah, it's to her point. Yeah. You want to speak? Go ahead. Rita. Yeah. Sorry. On page four, lowercase d, it talks about community
engagement and a wide variety of participation techniques. And in the section below it says and other technology appropriate for soliciting and gathering public input in a manner that strives to represent the interests of the
diverse community. And I can just attest, I know my principals send out policy public comment periods in a variety of ways, so I presume they've taken that idea, the essence of it, to mean you need to tailor it to your community. So maybe that just becomes a training point. Okay, that
works because I know that I don't think that that's happening at all of our schools. I know it's happening in my grandson's middle school, but I don't know that it's happening all over. So maybe we can get that message out to people that when we do have something out for public comment, make sure
you get it out however you communicate with your people. So thank you. And and I just can I just add something to that? You're the president. I want to interrupt you, but still, you know, there's still I, I just, you know, we have a
lot of new principals in the system. And I think this goes a lot, and I understand the vagueness of it. But there's a lot of new principals who might not yet know their community as well. And communication is of essence with communities who are not usually engaged. So. So
we know certain things. We know that everybody has cell phones pretty much. Right. We know that some communities might have Wi-Fi, some might not have, because we're still in an era where not every community has a Wi-Fi, or people have computers
or can even might be able to even know how to work a computer, because we have many children in our community, because we made so many assumptions, right? We assume everybody has computers, everybody has Wi-Fi, everybody is, you know, computer literacy. So we make sometimes a lot of
assumptions on our side. What I'm what I would like us is not to make assumptions and to make it clear that we sometimes might need to do the extra lifting, or we might have out of our comfort zone where, you know, we might have to do what's up, we might have to do texting because we have a lot
of grandparents that are, you know, caregivers of young people and, and people might not be as savvy as we assume in technology. So with that being said, I would like your committee to kind of look into
that, to ensure that that it is clear in order for us to do a better job when we're commuting with families. Thank you. I'm going to call for the I'm going to call for the vote. Oh, Miss Stewart, you have a comment?
Sorry, sorry. I wanted to say thank you for including the guidelines on regulation notice. I think that's very helpful. And I just have a quick question, because I notice in
that section it says rules or regulation. That's on line 295. There's also guidelines. So the
differences between rules regulations and guidelines. So can we is so is guidelines. Wouldn't be is not part of this. I'm just wanting to make clarification. A guideline is more like suggestion on how to
do something versus how to because do it. Yeah. Well I figured because the reason I'm asking is because guidelines have come up in the past from the community about when they change. So I just want to make sure that we're so the community knows what is
included in this. Okay? Okay. All right then I'm calling for the vote. If there's no further question, please. I didn't know if they just wanted to quickly go over the difference between rules, regulations and
guidelines. Sure. And I believe Miss Rivera Owens did answer what I would have said. So I was going to let that roll. But and Miss Yang will appreciate the discussion of verbs we had at the committee meeting. And so this was the sum of it.
Shall, will means you have to do it. And we know we can be accountable to doing it, or we should be held accountable to doing may means we're giving an individual an office, some role, the discretion to do something
or another. Guidelines are shoulds and you shouldn't. And these are things that that's about where we can say it. And I will say that some school districts publish policies that have a lot of should in them.
And it's like there's a lot of room in a should, you know, and we try not to do that. But but sometimes our teachers, our students, our practitioners are looking for these kinds of best practices. Here's what we hold up. As you know, the guideline
of what you should be doing. Thank you. That's helpful. It's helpful for all of us to be on the same page when it comes to those terminologies. So thank you so much. With that, I'm calling for the vote. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That is unanimous,
including with Miss Montoya. Thank you so much. We're going to be moving to 7.2, which is the next item on the agenda. This is also tentative action on new policy GCC background screening of MCPs employees,
candidates for MCPs employment contractors and volunteers. I will again turn it over to miss Wolff. Thank you. On December 3rd, 2025, the board's Policy Management Committee reviewed the proposed new policy. GCC
we're in alphabet soup. This new policy establishes requirements for fingerprint based checks of national and state crime information databases by Montgomery County Public Schools to fully comply
with federal and state law, and sets forth guiding principles for requiring additional measures beyond fingerprint based background checks to support the safety of all individuals on M.C.P.S.
property. The new policy applies to M.C.P.S. employees and candidates for employment, as well as contractors and volunteers, with different screening tools applicable depending on the status of the
person being screened. So today, the Policy Management Committee is recommending that the board take tentative action on policy G so that it can be sent for public comment. At the time, this new policy was reviewed by the committee, Miss Yang was
serving as chair, so I'll ask her if she has any additional comments to contribute. Thank you, Miss Wolff. This is a new policy for the school system, so I appreciate everyone's work. The staff and the committee
members work on this policy. Student safety is an optional. And so the compliance with the law is a negotiable. I think this is basically what we are doing. And so one thing I do
two things highlight is the policy sets a clear, consistent standard for everyone employee, contractor and volunteers. And also and the safety and equity go hand in hand in this policy
includes safeguards against discrimination while ensuring individuals working with students are properly vetted and trained. So I want to highlight those. And and some features are ongoing monitoring require mandated reporter
training and clear responsibility for contractors and volunteers. So I'm going to pass it to our staff for the presentation. Thank you, Miss Yang. Joining us at the table today is Doctor Renee McCall, acting chief of human resources and talent management. Miss
Wolff and Miss Yang went over the background of the policy. And so I'll just turn it right over to Sally to start. Thank you, thank you. I would like to reflect, for those of you who weren't at the committee meeting, a rather lively discussion initiated about why
didn't we have this before? Okay. Now, doctor McCall is going to get into the different categories of individuals who are subject to this policy, and that's where the guidance used
to reside. So the contractor addenda and contract, the procedures that were in the financial manual and the procurement manual, a regulation about that. We had the screening procedures for background and HR had its
procedures for employees and employee candidates. And the volunteer information was in a volunteer regulation, which was supported by an implementation memo and a variety of forms. It was here, and I can highlight a
few things, such as on page one, the related entries that give you an idea of where we had information, we had guidance, and we were thinking about it in the categories of those addressed by it. I will also
take you to the very last page of the policy, right at the bottom 101. These are the related sources. These are the federal and state laws that drive what we had to what we have to do. We were functioning
within a federal and state legal construct and implementing regulations with the overarching sense of it was in your the board's policy about preventing child abuse.
So that's where it was. We had compliance techniques. We had mandatory compliance training, and that's how it was being thought of. We were directed by this committee and the inspector general to have an umbrella. So what we are in the
process of doing is extracting the language from those kind of separate branches of the tree, making sure they all align, and doing that kind of review. So I took you to kind of the framework at the top and bottom of the document of what we were
functioning under and why we were asked to bring it all together in one umbrella. And we will continue to go through the process of kind of making sure all these pieces stay in alignment. And then I do want to highlight some of the
interrelated commitments that the board policies and other regulations already made, for example, and I'm back up on the first page in line five, the related entries ACA is our our commitment to nondiscrimination
and equity. CoA, RC are the procedures required per Maryland regulations regarding individuals convicted of offenses of offenses of a criminal nature when they're on M.C.P.S. property Gcra are the
procedures required, per Maryland regulations regarding employees to self report arrests, criminal charges and convictions. IRB is the volunteer regulation which has been recently updated. It's the district's procedures for
volunteers. And then, as I mentioned, GCHQ and GCHQ are the board policy and the implementing regulations for our commitments about child abuse prevention. Okay, the second part of the draft that I'm going to point out before I turn it over to doctor McCall.
Okay, I mentioned the federal, state and law. Okay. Now I'm going to turn it over to doctor McCall. Thank you Sally. Good afternoon everyone. I will be lifting up the remaining two sections of the policy, namely the positions as well as the
implementation strategies starting at line 25. The the first position statement identifies individuals who are subject to a background check requirement. And that includes current M.C.P.S. M.C.P.S. employees as well as M.C.P.S.
and employee candidates, contractors, their subcontractors, as well as independent contractors and volunteers who perform certain tasks. Moving down to line 38 is the second position statement that establishes five
components of safety measures, the first one being background clearances or background checks. That includes fingerprinting and ongoing monitoring by a federal program called Wrap Back that flags individuals who
are subject to certain kinds of arrests and prosecutions in the background. Check again also includes a verification conducted by a Child Protective Services to check for any reports that an individual might have related to child
neglect and or abuse. Additionally, we reach out to former employers of candidates were considering for employment at M.C.P.S. And then finally, we require mandated reporter training to recognize and report child abuse and neglect.
So together, these five safety measures help M.C.P.S. to screen and prepare individuals for responsibilities that may involve proximity to our students. The third position, starting on line 54, in this section, relates to the
overarching principles that guide and shape our screening, the first being Family Engagement, where M.C.P.S. seeks to remove barriers that may impede parent and guardian participation in their child's education. That includes
visiting and volunteering at their schools. Next is the expectation that information will be held confidential and released only to those individuals who are authorized to receive it. The third principle in this section is
related to the commitment of nondiscrimination, and that screening requirements will be implemented in a nondiscriminatory, nondiscriminatory manner. And then finally, the principle of ethical conduct, affirming that an individual who provides
false information or willfully fails to disclose required information may be subject to discipline up to and including termination or denial of employment. The final section, which is section C, is where the board directs the
superintendent to establish the specific procedures to carry out those commitments that I previously stated from section B, and so altogether sections A, B, and C of this policy establish the umbrella of
requirements, along with guiding principles related to the implementation of background screening and training and M.C.P.S. And with that, we will take your questions. So thank you. As chair of the Policy Management
Committee, I'm going to move that the board approve policy G for tentative action so that it can be sent out for public comment. Okay. This is my favorite part. Discussion. Is
there any discussion Miss Montoya? Anybody. With that? All those in favor, please raise your hands. And that will be a unanimous vote. Thank you so much. Thank you so much,
ladies. Thank you. Okay, now we're moving to the presentation of 8.2. And this would be Literacy strategies emerging multilingual learners and special education services.
Imagine that Madam President we get to talk about instruction. Finally. Yay very exciting opportunity today. I'm so thrilled that we bring our premier topic back to the board room. There's a lot of big
topics that the board has to to discuss and has to weigh in the coming months, but none more important than the teaching and learning of our students. Today, we're excited to share a mid-year literacy update and our response to student data
with intentional instructional adjustments for the remainder of the year and moving forward, including reevaluated expectations and strategic lifts for our emergent multilingual learners and students receiving special education services. This presentation highlights where
we are seeing progress and where the data tells us that we need to strengthen our tier one and grade level instruction, instructional expectations and adjustments will focus on how instruction is delivered and how students receive the support they need for core
instruction. Throughout this presentation, staff will share how they are strengthening accountability and support for our schools to ensure that all students have meaningful access to high quality literacy instruction and high quality curriculum materials. Before I turn it over to our our very
talented team, which spans across many different departments and many different divisions, working together to to make this a reality for our young people, I want to highlight how this is in response to a major question that the board asks routinely.
When we present student performance data. So now what? And that's the question. So now what? And this really strives to address the so now what question that often comes up when we collect beginning of
the year or mid-year data. The board often asks us, so what are you doing with that information? How do you make those adjustments? What are the meaningful levers that you're pulling to see performance improved as you close out the year? With that, it's my
pleasure to introduce our chief academic officer, Nikki Porter, our Chief of Student Support Services, Doctor Margaret Cage. They will be leading our presentation today. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Good afternoon, President Rivera-Oven and members of the board. If you
can go to the next slide, please. Today I am joined by across office partners representing curriculum, special education, multilingual education and school leadership and support. And together we are here to provide an update on the literacy upgrades
implemented this year. Share what early implementation and student data are telling us, and outline mid-year refinements we are making to strengthen outcomes. So this year we made deliberate improvements to our literacy approach with strong research
based curriculum at the center. As we reviewed early literacy data and conducted school level implementation reviews, it became clear that while the curriculum itself is strong, some adjustments to tier one instruction are necessary to
ensure we are realizing its full impact, specifically, with our multilingual learners and students receiving special education services. Our early observations suggest strong curriculum fidelity is effective for most of our students. However, there must
be more strategic flexibility with our emergent multilingual learners and students receiving services. This insight. These insights reflect the value of monitoring implementation early and responding proactively. Our focus is not on introducing new
initiatives, but rather on refining how tier one instruction is delivered within the existing framework. This includes more intentional lesson planning specifically for students receiving services, prioritizing the most critical
questions and tasks for our language learners, and keeping them in mind, and ensuring instruction during core literacy time is responsive to students language development and learning needs. In addition, we are emphasizing ongoing professional learning,
particularly around Carla in grades six through eight, so teachers are supported in making instructional decisions that are directly informed by student evidence. These refinements allow educators to exercise professional judgment
while staying aligned to curriculum intent. Importantly, these mid-year adjustments position us to respond in real time to what students need rather than waiting for end of year results. This is how we strengthen implementation, increase access, and stay
focused on improved literacy outcomes for our students. So if you go to the next slide, please, we want to just help understand how this aligns to the strategic plan. First. This aligns because we are monitoring Ela data that
supports goal one, ensuring high levels of academic achievement and growth, and goal two preparing our students for those post-secondary outcomes, strengthening our tier one literacy instruction will ensure that students can fully access grade level
content, reducing the need for more intensive interventions later and the instructional shifts the team will share reflect a system wide approach that uses data, professional learning, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure the
instructional decisions are aligned, equitable and sustainable across schools. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Doctor Brant. Next slide please. Good afternoon, President Rivera-Oven and members of the board, Doctor Taylor, if he were here as well.
Now we shift to the beginning of the year, literacy student outcomes serving as a snapshot of where students started the school year, consistent with the strategic plan baseline shared in December. These data serve as reference points for progress monitoring, rather
than as judgments of end of year performance. Looking at these outcomes allows us to establish a common understanding of current performance and sets the context for examining subgroup and grade level data in the slides that follow. Next slide
please. The dibels or dynamic Indicators of basic early literacy skills assessment data highlights beginning of the year literacy outcomes for our almost 10,000 kindergarten students. This data shows that the percentage of M.C.P.S.
kindergarten students performing at or above benchmark is higher than the national average, while remaining slightly below last year's beginning of the school year results. At the same time, the percentage of students performing well below benchmark
is lower than the national average and consistent with the prior school year. Taken together, these results indicate that students are entering kindergarten with levels of readiness similar to those of recent years, and that early literacy needs persist at
the start of instruction. This snapshot provides important context for understanding instructional demand in the earliest grade levels we serve. Next slide please. Here you'll see disaggregated Dibels assessment beginning of the
year kindergarten literacy outcomes for students receiving services. The data indicate that kindergarten emergent multilingual learners. And there are 2722 of them in our system. Currently, they have a higher proportion of students
identified as at risk compared to the overall population. In contrast, kindergarten students receiving special education services and their 1449 of them currently show a higher percentage of students meeting the benchmark at the beginning
of the year than in the prior school year. These patterns provide an early look at how different student service groups are entering literacy instruction, and underscore the importance of examining outcomes through a subgroup lens as part of the district
and individual schools ongoing progress monitoring. Next slide please. The Ela or English Language Arts Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, or Ncap as we call it, performance data for grades three through five are
presented here, providing a view of literacy outcomes across the upper elementary grades over the last two years. The data show variation in performance, with differences in proficiency rates that help illustrate where students are demonstrating stronger outcomes
and where challenges continue to persist. Reviewing Ncap results across grades three through five allows the district to examine patterns in literacy achievement beyond early screening measures, and provides important context for understanding how students are
performing on state assessments at the stage of their literacy development. In relation to the mastery of the grade level standards. I will now turn things over to Katherine Morales, Associate superintendent of the Department of Multilingual Education. Thank you. Good
afternoon. The Access All Access Test is an annual assessment for K to 12 emergent multilingual learners that measures their English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. And exiting means you have a better command of the academic
English language at grade level, as measured by Maryland College and Career readiness standards. As you can see, the total number of students exiting each year fluctuates slightly, while the percentage of students exiting appears to have declined. It is important to
note that data collected during and immediately following the pandemic are not directly comparable. However, an analysis of the 2022 to 2023 school year and beyond indicates a renewed upward trend. Exits peak in grades
four and five. Next slide please. When MLS exit, they do really well. This slide compares outcomes for three groups over time. Current MLS students who were never identified as MLS and exited
MLS across multiple years. Third grader MLS who exited outperformed their never ML peers, demonstrating strong academic outcomes after exiting Eld services. These results indicate that when students meet exit criteria, they are
well prepared to succeed without ongoing language services. Similar patterns have been identified at the upper elementary level. Overall, this trend reinforces the effectiveness of our Eld programing and exit criteria while illustrating the need to
strengthen instructional practices and monitoring to ensure more students successfully exit within expected timelines. The overall proficiency level of 4.5 is what Msde declare will probably be proficient on the MCAT
assessments. I'll turn it over back to Doctor Brant. Next slide please. Next, we shift to real time school data that captures the district's current structures and strategies supporting literacy achievement.
The information we present will provide a snapshot of how the district and our schools are organizing instructional time supports and services at this point in the school year, based on reported implementation and monitoring data. This information helps the district
understand how literacy supports are currently structured across schools, and establishes a baseline for monitoring, consistency, access, and alignment. As the school year progresses. The data represent what is in place now to support students literacy
needs at the school level. Next slide please. First we present beginning of the year data on the implementation of literacy supplemental instruction or interventions during the elementary focused instructional time or fit block.
We've told you I believe about the fit block a little bit in in past presentations, the expectation of a fit block is new this school year for all schools. We have some schools that have implemented it, but as an expectation for all schools and will be
continuously monitored throughout the school year. The chart on this slide shows how many students currently receive tier two and tier three literacy, supplemental instruction or intervention during fit time within the school day. The data indicate
the extent to which these structures are in place across elementary schools, offering a system wide snapshot of how additional instructional supports are being delivered and monitored at this point in the school year. This information establishes a baseline for monitoring the
consistency and reach of tiered literacy supports as the school year continues. Next slide please. This slide presents real time data on elementary literacy support provided through the cross-functional teams. Since the beginning of
the school year, cross-functional team instructional specialists have logged 457 Ela related instances of support totaling 898 hours of direct instructional assistance delivered to elementary schools.
These data reflect where instructional specialists are spending time supporting schools. It includes pacing, the use of instructional materials, student engagement, and inclusive practices for our emergent multilingual learners and students receiving special
education services. This snapshot provides a system wide view of how instructional support is currently being delivered across elementary schools. Through the use of the cross-functional team instructional specialists. Next slide please. This slide is
just a reminder of what LR are. Today's conversation is focused on LRE, in which students receiving special education services engage in tier one instruction with grade level peers. I will now turn things back to Katherine. Next slide please. The top table
illustrates how expected English language proficiency, or EOP growth, is determined based on a student's initial access proficiency level and the number of years they have been enrolled in an Eld program. Students are expected to make steady annual progress towards
proficiency, which is determined determined by Msde, with growth targets adjusted based on their proficiency level. The table at the bottom shows how years in the program are tracked prior to long term ML designation, emphasizing that students with higher
initial proficiency levels are expected to reach proficiency in fewer years. A student may be identified as long term ML if they do not meet expected growth targets within the outlined time frame. Despite ongoing Eld services. This
framework helps ensure consistent helps ensure consistency, transparency, and accountability in monitoring student progress while informing instructional decisions and targeted supports to accelerate language development and prevent long term ML designation where
possible. Next slide please. These are current students and how they perform on access in 2025. Last year first graders are this year's second graders. The data shows a range of growth across grades, with grades 2 to 5 demonstrating the
highest proportion of students meeting growth targets. Grades nine through 12 show the largest proportion of students not meeting growth targets, indicating a need for targeted support in high school, we see a high overall growth in grades 2 to 5. I'll turn it over to
Doctor Moran. Thank you, Miss Morales and Doctor Brant. Like Miss Porter shared earlier, these mid-year shifts and modifications are necessary traditionally in education and in M.c.p.s. We review data, reflect and engage in a lengthy study of a problem with the
intention of adopting solutions in preparation for the following school year. The time we have with our students is our most valuable resource, and we have to capitalize on each moment to provide them with the learning they need. The academic achievement data we reviewing with you today demonstrates that our students
need us to systematically alter some of our structures and effectively communicate them in the expectations and accountability associated with them. While we are beginning to see results trend in an upward trajectory, we must accelerate academic progress of all students, but specifically
historically marginalized students. To do so requires change and the development of a sense of urgency across the school system. While change is required, I want to be clear that we do see that school leaders are making shifts internally to their instructional programing in response to current data.
Examples of this work of elementary school leaders is changing the structures of ML instruction by previewing previewing key teachings in advance of the block to make curriculum more accessible, or our middle school leaders using the PDSA cycle to better plan
and implement lessons that are directly aligned to all students. Getting access to grade level standards. This is our examples of individual shifts, but we are in need of system wide shifts. Bottom line this data is not intended for analysis, but is system wide.
Call to action. In the following slides we will discuss shifts we will be making that represent this call to action. I will now turn it over to Miss Morales, who will share shifts to support accelerating the progress of emergent multilingual learners. Thank you. Eld services are delivered during tier one. Next
slide please. Thank you. Eld services are delivered during tier one instruction and can take place during the Literacy Block, providing foundational language development within core instruction, not as remediation. So all emergent multilingual learners are supported in accessing grade
level content. Last year, professional learning emphasized the functional language approach, which supports emergent multilingual learners by focusing on how language is used for academic purposes such as narrating, explaining, describing, and
arguing across content areas rather than on isolated grammar skills. With Eld standards correspond to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards, the academic language focus of the framework incorporates language arts,
mathematics, science and social studies. Intentional collaboration is essential for emergent multilingual learners. Eld and content teachers engage in purposeful co-planning and or co-teaching when applicable, focused on language and learning targets. Explicitly
addressing lesson language demands, which is what students must do with the language through culturally responsive strategies that build background knowledge and promote comprehension. Hence, unlearning discussion and academic conversations. These practices ensure emergent
multilingual learners develop both language and content knowledge, promoting equity and academic access. I'll turn it over to Doctor Cage. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam President. Madam Vice president, Doctor
Taylor and members of the board supporting students receiving special education services during tier one. Special education services may occur. Of course, as you've heard over my colleagues presentation during tier one instruction and
including the literacy block, national best practices support inclusive service delivery models where special education services are provided within the tier one curriculum whenever appropriate. This approach ensures students
maintain access to grade level content, have peer models and core literacy instruction, while receiving much needed supports. This is especially important for our language support for our Ell students.
I'm going to share with you a leadership look for strategy, which would include special education services being provided within the general Education curriculum. Curriculum. During tier one instruction, with students
actively engaged in grade level instruction rather than routinely being pulled out of the tier one instruction. Special education teacher schedules should include dedicated time for co-planning and or co-teaching, with a
focus on mastery of learning targets. Research also shows that co-planning between general and special education teachers lead to stronger alignment between IEP goals and grade level standards.
Dedicated collaboration time supports intentional scaffolding, accommodations, and instructional strategies that promote mastery rather than promoting compliance. A leadership look for strategy
here is evidence of scheduled and protected Co-planning time between general and special educators, with lesson plans reflecting alignment to learning targets and also including IEP goals. Flexible
grouping of students based on data and student needs. Best practice calls for data driven current data. Flexible grouping that responds to student progress and instructional needs, not just disability
labels. Groups should shift regularly based on formative data, ensuring students receive timely support without being isolated. A leadership look for strategy here is that students are grouped in flexibility
grouping based on current data and instructional need, with groupings changing over time and again not based off of disability status. Checking for understanding throughout the
lesson. Consistent checks for understanding are a high impact instructional practice recommended nationally for students with disabilities. Ongoing monitoring. Short cycle common formative assessments,
recall. Retell allows teachers to quickly identify misconceptions, adjust instruction, and provide reteaching within the tier one general Instruction classroom.
A leadership look for here is to ensure teachers regularly use formative checks like questioning student responses, quick student responses, quick assessments, short cycle Cfas
pre and post to monitor, understanding and adjust instruction in real time. Doctor Moran thank you Doctor Cage next slide please. The title of this slide is Levels
of Accountability. Each level of our school system shares accountability for the results our students achieve. A culture of shared accountability is essential to increase academic achievement. Results are not the responsibility of a principal or classroom teacher alone, but a representation of our collective responsibility.
These levels of accountability represent the strategies, urgency, and systematic levels that will impact the quality of teaching and learning, and thus results. There is evidence of positive momentum momentum in aligning best instructional practices, but this momentum must be built upon.
Communication is key to this momentum. We are maintaining a steady cadence of communication and expectations through principal PLCs, reading specialist meetings, and instructional leadership for school improvement sessions. So schools are hearing one clear instructional message. All members of our cross-functional
teams enhance this alignment by delivering consistent messages and support of instructional practices in the field. Each of these structures, and in particular the cross-functional teams, allows us to support the specific and unique needs of individual schools and therefore being flexible in
support. While we do not want a one size fits all approach, a standard of excellence with tier one instruction must be well defined across the system. The next component is the consistency with instructional feedback. As a school system, we frequently refer to tier one,
tier two and tier three instruction in high quality curriculum. As a system, we will be working with school and central office leaders to ensure that all have a clear definition of what tier one or effective first instruction looks like. In every one of our
classrooms, we will be finalizing the development of a system wide tier one instructional expectations and ensuring they understand that the support structures are there. They're for its implementation. In addition, we will be developing and
implementing a system wide tier one observational tool for administrators to inspect what we should expect. A common definition of the key components and feedback processes will provide the observational data to assess teaching and learning by school,
cluster and system, and provide the professional learning and resources to support every student getting access to high quality tier one instruction. This also provides a common language for instructional leaders within a school and across our system. When we talk about teaching and learning
regarding responsiveness, at the end of the first semester, we are conducting a focused review on MTS plans to assess how well tiered supports are working for students. This review helps us to determine what is working, where students need intensified support, and what needs to shift mid-year
based on actual student outcomes. Professional learning is embedded directly into PLCs, coaching cycles, and instructional meetings so we can immediately apply new strategies in classrooms. What we know from research is that job embedded professional learning is most effective. This approach moves us away
from one time training and towards continuous improvement that directly impacts daily instruction. Once again, a key component to this is the professional learning being delivered by cross-functional team instructional specialists as they continue to coach and enhance their presence in
classrooms. Modeling and co-teaching. As I shared in prior board meetings and from the CFT Data Doctor branch has shared, the CFT structure, builds internal capacity and ensures schools are not navigating these instructional shifts in isolation. We are now going to pause and open it up for discussion before we move
into updates on our secondary curriculum. So I turn it back to president. I almost called you doctor, president Rivera-Oven and the board for discussion. Appreciate it. Okay. Any I'm going to start to my
right. Miss Yang, do you have any questions? Sure I do. So first of all, thank you all for tremendous work and I appreciate this. The students that I know that we have
invested a lot to bring up the performance. So I do have questions because I appreciate hearing about all the interventions that we we do like tier one, tier two, tier
three. So for the data I'm looking at, it says that we have 9779 students in tier two and 5515 students in tier three. Literacy interventions. Slide
11. Right. So tremendous effort. And and so that that is like 15,000 students receiving tier two and tier three literacy intervention. Yet games, especially at the secondary
level, remain modest. And so my question is at what point do we reassess whether the intensity and the structure of this
interventions are sufficient? Thank you for that question, Miss Yang. So this is the first year of the expectation of all elementary schools having that fit, that focused instructional time for students. So while we
have implemented those instructional supports and interventions during the tier two or tier three time for students and tier two and tier three really is just a designation around the frequency of the intervention and the number of students in a group, as well as perhaps the supplement that's being provided. But this really is
the first year that we've had that expectation for all schools. It's also the first year that, well, last year we did monitor the plans, but not as consistently. And so we have a very solid structure in place to monitor those plans to look at progress monitoring. We're also really checking in with
schools about the progress monitoring that they're doing, the data that they're seeing around the students who are in these interventions and being provided the instructional supplement. So I agree with you that we're not seeing the shifts in data at the secondary level that we would expect to see, but this is the first year
that we have this very high expectation for our MTS, really process in the school system consistently. So. So massive intervention effort, modest gains. And you're telling me
because this is the first year really we're doing it. So at what point would you say will be the tipping point. What do you expect. So we are in the mid year. What will be you say if we do this six more months.
So what how do we define success. We are showing a lot of efforts. So how do we define the success. You know like what point, what percentage you are looking for. What is it that you are looking for that you
define? That's your success. So we would you know, when we look at our assessment cycle and really what we're talking about today is the co-planning and co-teaching. But also certainly this intervention piece, we would define success as a continuous improvement in our
district assessment data in our map, our data on those MCAT assessments. So we'll be looking at both our internal and external assessment measures to ensure that we are really seeing that return on the investment of the interventions and that instructional support that's
being provided to students. Because when you think about the number of interventions and the supplemental instruction, we're also talking about the number of teachers and the, you know, focus within a school that it's taking to really implement that fit time at a high level. And so certainly,
you know, we won't wait till the end of the school year. And we'll continue to at the end of this second marking period, look at the progress monitoring data within those instructional support and intervention plans. And then we'll expect, you know,
an increase in our additional assessments throughout the school year. And so that's certainly something that we'll be monitoring and working with school leaders to monitor as well, because it's one thing for us to do it as a system, but it's also really important that we build the capacity of leaders so that leaders can
also really lead that work at, at their school level as well. Miss Brant, thank you for your answer. I like what you said about you won't wait till the end of the year. You will continue to monitor. There are a lot of accountability
language, but we still lack a public target. What are we trying to hit? And I will urge the system to look at at what point will evaluate whether these interventions are working, what target we are working
towards. Hi Miss Yang, good to see you. So I just wanted to add, just so when we're looking at this data, this is the beginning of the year. Data in intervention research shows is a six to week period of time. So when we measured these students, they had not fully
received even an entire intervention. So one of your questions was when when would actually be now. So we're administering the Map assessments here. The Dibels assessments as students have received either, you know, one
cycle of a tier three intervention or two cycles of a tier three intervention. So we should see the impact of that intervention right now. Okay. So then we are waiting. I hope we won't wait too long for the data to come. Thank you. Thank you. That's good. Miss
Sylvester, thank you. Let me sit down. Thank you. This is this is the work. This is why we're here, right? To see progress in literacy and math for our students. But we're using a lot of education speak
here today MTS, tier one, tier two, tier three. I want to ask you to unpack it for the viewing public and for me, and take it down to the classroom level. What is happening? If
I'm a parent and I walk into a classroom in the elementary grades, how am I seeing this play out in action? What does what does what would the parents see? What would the principal see as you implement
these shifts in the the interventions that the students are getting, you have 26 students in the classroom. What does this look like in the classroom? So I can start when we talk about tier one
instruction, we're talking about on grade level instruction for all students. Standards based on the the grade level standards that are outlined. We're talking about the curriculum and the way it
is designed to be delivered to all of our students. When we are talking about tier two instruction, we're talking about maybe a particular skill that a student or group of students may be needing some additional support in. And
we're going to design some type of plan for them that gets toward that skill over a set number of weeks, as Doctor Moran indicated, and that we would progressonitor in some way. And then tier three is more intensive. And so it's
hopefully you see fewer students needing tier three intervention than you would a tier two. So more more intensive, we want to make sure that we have some type of evidence based intervention that we have. Purchased,
typically purchased for our schools to use, that we provide them, and then we provide some level of training for the for the schools to be able to implement it. So the teacher reviews her, his or her data for the first quarter and then
gets support in terms of where which interventions the students need. Yes. And oftentimes schools will come together with some type of data meeting or they'll have leadership time kind of determine based on the data which students may need, what
type of support. The fifth time is something new. Some schools started it last school year. This year we made it mandatory for all of our schools to develop within their master schedule, at least a 30 minute
block where students get what they need. It can be an intervention, it can be enrichment, but they are getting what they need in in math or literacy. Mostly. I think most schools are doing literacy at this point, but some mathematics and it is
based on the data. And so during that time, students who need additional support or intervention are getting it at that time. So it does actually help with less pulling out during the the the tier one
time, because every student is getting some type of intervention. So this is new for us as a school district to be doing it district wide at all of our elementary schools. So we do hope that as we see the next assessment cycle, some
gains with with the data and we is budget season. So we talk about special education positions. We talk about positions. So where are those positions in this strategy. So we want to ensure so all of our
special education or language development teachers have a very specific job. Their job is not to provide interventions. They are language development teachers that are providing the language, the academic language that go along with the content
that the general education teacher is providing or special education teacher is providing the services identified in their individualized plan, and so they can, depending on the service, provide that. During
tier one, it may mean plugging into the classroom and providing that language instruction alongside the content teacher. Or it could be pulling them to a side in a small group within that same block in the classroom, and depending on the student, it
could mean pulling them out. It doesn't have to be during the literacy block. It could be any time throughout the school day. So it really is a coordination between the teacher, the special educator or language teacher, the principal in terms
of the scheduling to determine what is best for the student and how that service should best be delivered. But it really it's a strong collaboration. And at a minimum, what we are asking is that teachers co-plan together to
make sure that general educators and E teachers have thought through the language that is going to be needed for students to be able to access grade level curriculum. What is the background knowledge that they need to have? So thinking through all the visuals and everything that is expected for
a student to be able to demonstrate understanding and mastery, and what is new about this? What? Well, what is, I think, a shift that we needed to make as we were implementing our Carla curriculum with
fidelity, we wanted to ensure that nothing was interrupted. And as a result, I think there was some confusion around what was to be happening with our Eld teachers and our special education teachers during that
instructional block, and we want to make sure we are very clear with our teachers that they can provide those services to students during that instructional block. And be clear what it looks like to to provide those services and to provide that that code
co-planning time. So it's it's like we're saying it's not a new initiative. It is going back and clarifying the expectations around co-teaching, co-planning and when services are being delivered. We were finding, as Miss Morales did,
some a lot of talking, researching, that teachers were ELT teachers were beginning to be interventionists and not sticking to their role as the Eld instructor. So we are going back to clarify what the
expectations are for those teachers in the classroom and also with the planning. Okay, I have more questions, but I'll wait for my next turn. And it's about accountability. Your slide. Yeah, we're going to go now to Mrs. Zimmerman, the teacher in the group. You forgot. Laura, I have a follow
up. Oh no, not you forgot Laura I'm going back and forth. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, thank you so much. I have a request for the next time we look at data. Just how we were looking at 3 to 5 for MCAT, I think it would be
helpful to do the same. Look at K to two for dibels just it's a better comparison. You know, if we're looking at both like three grade level bands, three grade level bands, then I also wanted to ask a little bit about the fit block. It seems
as though based on this presentation, that the intention is that the fit block, as we're talking about literacy, is devoted then entirely to literacy. Is that true? Is that the intention? Is that. Thank you for that question, Miss
Zimmerman. So it is it is today. We're focused on literacy during this presentation. I do believe that if we looked at the tier two and tier three plans that we're seeing through our MTS structure, we might see more that are literacy focused.
Last year, we completed an RFP for pre-K to 12 literacy interventions. So we have a number of interventions that can be implemented for students who need that level of support. At this time. We're currently considering the same thing for some math interventions. And so I do believe that we'll see
more that our literacy focused, however, fit time can be used for math as well. So it really is a decision that's made at the school level. And like, you know, Mrs. Porter shared, it really is the opportunity of the principal to ensure that there's that process where they're talking about data, they're looking at what their
students need outside of that tier one time and really developing a plan and then continuously monitoring what the data shows, how students are performing, and really being flexible in their thinking around what to do next for different student groups. Sure. And I it sounds as though
we have a lot of students that need that literacy support. I also know we have a lot of students that need that math support. So it might be something that we consider structurally that students perhaps need 30 minutes that are literacy focused, 30 minutes that are math focused. And I would really, as we see
that our ML students that once they exit that support, that they are flourishing. What part of what that tells us is that that small group, targeted instruction, or the co-teaching model is really effective for students. And since we're seeing that value there, I just
feel like as we look to invest, that might be something that we continue to invest in. I also want to follow up and pull the thread a little bit on fit time a little more. I'm curious when we expect interventions to
begin at schools because as I'm hearing that we should be getting data back now, if I count back six weeks from now, then that means that our intervention started pretty late and time is really essential in this, and not every intervention can last only six weeks. You know, some of them need 8 or 10 weeks. So
I'm I'm wondering, do we have guidance on that that we give to schools. Is there an expectation. Could we give them one. Yeah. We do have guidance on the implementation of interventions. And we definitely have been doing them longer than a six week period. Many students have had two of those six week cycles. And or
just like you mentioned, they need eight weeks. They need ten weeks, sometimes 12 weeks within an intervention. So, you know, we do, you know, focus on providing the assessment and then analyzing the data beginning the school year. And we get into interventions as soon as we can. I know there are currently principals who
even look at the interventions that were provided at the end of the school year like that last six weeks. Use that data to get started while they're assessing at the beginning of the school year. Wonderful. And if that's a model that could be pushed across our schools and keep continually showing up,
just I have heard from other classroom teachers that, you know, getting kids into the interventions that they need is just really essential to their growth. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Zimmerman. Miss Montoya. Thank you. I want to give a
shout out for fit time. It was called when when my kids first started doing it, which was what I need. Apparently one of my children was in the pilot and I didn't know it, but we would get these quarterly check ins to show us what was being done, what your child
specifically was doing during that time. They would get enrichment. If that's what they needed, they would get support if that's what they needed, the corresponding scores. It was really great. So shout out to Rosemary Hills Elementary. So I do understand the concerns for
Miss Yang about kind of checking in and monitoring and making sure things are working, but I do want to just encourage all of us to allow time for it to work. I know it takes a lot of coordination of logistics and seeing where the children are at to be able to know what they need during that time and
then scheduling. And so I think it might be worth the wait a bit. My questions have to go to making sure that we have the resources to properly implement this program, because we talk about co-planning, which seems very important. And so I want
to make sure that our teachers have time to do that. And then also the staff just generally to make sure that we have staffing available to implement the interventions or the strategies. Thank you for your
insight. You know, we are working really closely and I appreciate the the reinforcement that you put on the time that's needed for the fit time and the results that we anticipate seeing. I appreciate that you mentioned kind of that logistical piece. We started working with principals last school year
really around this time, because there was a huge shift needed even in their master schedule. So when they consider their master schedule, they had to find a place for that fit time, and then they had to consider their staffing as well. So just like you spoke to, we've been really intentional with the support we provided to principals and the
collaboration that we provided to ensure that they not only have that time in their master schedule that's dedicated to, you know, really what students need, and then also the materials that they need and the staffing. So we've worked really closely. Our Ela
cross-functional team, instructiona specialists, are focused at the elementary level currently, and they're really supporting the process as well. Thank you very much. Mr. Thank you. I actually have a follow
up question about was slide 17 and 18, the first expectation that services are that are tier one instruction that may occur
during the literacy block. Is that how do we envision that happening? I know you did talk about some of it, the choices, but do you see more of that being push ins or pull outs?
And what? And we talked about co-teaching and. I'm just curious what what would we expect to see. Sure. So nationally, best practices indicate a combination of both
pushing or pull out service delivery models across our schools in M.c.p.s. We have a combination of both, depending on the number of students, the needs and what the data indicates. So ideally, we want moving forward our teachers to continue to collaborate and co-plan to ensure that our
students have access to grade level content in the classroom and if needed, and they need to be pulled out. And that's also an option as well. But nationally, both models are accepted, and typically it is a combination of both. And so do
we expect to see a big change as to what's happening today. Because yeah, I'm just trying to understand if we expect to see a change. So as far as the planning for the teachers, yes, we're going to have to be very strategic moving forward to
ensure that that time for teachers is protected so that they can co-plan together and collaborate with whether it's the grade level or content area. And in addition to that, with other service providers, whether those are duly, you know, coded students that may also need other additional
supports. And will we be tracking the change so we know if it made a difference? Yes, absolutely. So every change in education that we make, it's always measured by the impact. Right. So we want to see that what we implemented it's being returned to us. So yes we will have to develop a system so
that we can track the implementation and the impact on our students outcomes and growth. Okay. That's very useful. And we talked about goals actually in the Strategic Planning Committee, I think we will be talking about goals.
And so anyway, that's all. So I just like to help paint a picture with what my colleagues have been saying and kind of sum it all up of what it would actually look like. And I tried to do that a little bit on slide 18 when I came in with
the leadership look for strategies. So just if you can imagine walking into a classroom, even walking into a school from the very entrance, it should be a feeling of inclusivity. It should be very
welcoming. We know that kids are at the core here. So when you walk into a classroom, especially as a former principal, I wanted to ensure that there were clear expectations set across the board. I see that standards are
noted. I see that kids are not putting on a show that they actually do this every day, so I can see them moving about in the classroom in ways that I know. The teacher has taken time to set those expectations for learning. I also see the
adults in the classroom, whether it's Paris, whether it's inclusion teachers, l support, whomever is in that classroom. At that time. They also have had an expectation set for learning as well. You would see, as the instruction
goes forward, that I should not be able to tell who the special education student is versus who the student is versus who the educator education student is. And also, I shouldn't be able to tell who's the special education teacher para or the
general education teacher because of that planning, that strategic planning and everybody having a piece in it, we should also have universal design for learning, which is huge in research. So what that looks like from the eyes, from
the lens of looking and walking in is students have choice, right? You see students engaged in various activities which also builds relationships for students because within that tier one, tier three and tier two model, which is the
response to intervention model, there should be variation and differentiation in the learning within the classroom. All students cannot sit and all students shouldn't be sitting. When you walk into a classroom, there should be students that are learning independently,
which we have planned for differentiation through flexible grouping where they actually have extension or enrichment activities, which I believe Miss Montague spoke of. We should also have those that is working directly with a
teacher or a para. So remember, I'm painting a picture as you're walking into this classroom, you're seeing these things happen. You should see peer grouping where students are working with each other. And how we plan for that as a teacher is we actually plan these different stations as
what they call we're called in my time for our students before they walk in, and they're not geared towards a certain functioning level for our students because remember, tier one instruction, all of our students should be engaged and
also exposed to the general education standards. So all of our students, no matter what, should be receiving the same standards. The other piece to that is you would see high student engagement because the students know they belong there.
They want to be there. So you will see this in the classroom and you will walk away saying, oh my, you know, they are truly learning. And I can tell that they do this every day. You would also see high levels of vocabulary use, and that is
from teacher to student and from student to student and from student to teacher. So we're talking about our lesson in ways where we are remembering to include our vocabulary for the week. We don't do spelling words anymore, but those used to be a part of the vocabulary words as well.
Assistive technology is a huge piece for our students as well, so you would see use of assistive technology where students know when they need it, and assistive technology could be as small as a calculator, right? They know when they need it, they know where to get it because those routines have
been established. And you would definitely know by the culture in that classroom that that instruction was informed by current cycles of data. So hopefully I painted or help you see everything that we've been trying to say today. That
actually sounds transformative, I love it. Thank you so much. And I just want to say universal design. I've been learning about that myself. I've been reading some articles
about using math vocabulary, for instance, and teachers using that and having a good success that kids actually do better when they're learning and hearing this vocabulary. So all of this is really important,
especially our boys. Having them sit all day sometimes doesn't work. I'm just saying, as a mom of boys, so I want to thank you for thinking all this through and for the complete answer. And I thank both of you,
because that was a wonderful answer. Ms. Wolff. Thank you. We've covered a lot so far. I have a question about this slide. It's no number on my copy. So this one early in the
presentation, what I'm trying to understand is the ML students are doing they're outperforming the students who are never ML. So I want to know what you are doing for them that you aren't doing for the
students who are never ML so that they could advance to that level. What's the difference in what's being provided to? So the students have been providing with Eld services and of course, access to grade level content. So as they
acquire the language, they outperform our never ML counterparts. Of course, when they are being provided with Eld services, they're receiving targeted instruction practice.
They can have oversee conversations with peers. They get time to practice their writing with a particular focus. For any of those of you that have been able to look at the access assessment, it's a very
challenging test for all students, not just for ML. And once they've reached the proficiency level on that assessment, they are actually apart or above the non ML
students in in the county. I understand that, but what I'm trying to get to here is if that strategy works for them to succeed and move ahead, why isn't that same sort of strategy being applied to? I don't want to call them regular
kids, but I never ML and that actually is what we are saying. If if this strategy is good for ML and for all. Good for everybody. And it's not the the assessment focuses on reading,
writing, speaking and listening. And so we want our general education teachers to be considering the strategies during their planning that will obviously address the needs of our English learners. But for
all students reading, writing, speaking, listening, do you have visuals? What is the academic vocabulary? What background knowledge do you need to have? All of these things that those students need, all of our students need. And we believe that when we can address that, we're going to see growth for our district. So
you believe that when you do that, you will see improvements in the next the next go round of data. Okay. My my second question is for Doctor Cage. The, the, the strategy that you talked about or what you would
say the visualization when you go to a school. I've been to several schools this year and I haven't exactly seen that. And I'm wondering, you know, the the different groupings, I haven't seen it. And I'm wondering about the PLCs in the
schools because I know over in district five, I think we have a lot of new educators. And I'm wondering, well, then, if a lot of them are new, I'm assuming that the PLC has a a seasoned
special educator. I'm getting a disconnect. They're they're not getting what they need in order to be able to do this. And it seems to me that the training is needs to be beefed up. So so thank you for that statement.
Very honestly, I have to agree with you. I do know that there are trainings going forward. We do meet with our resources, which are not at every level, which we are working on implementing for our next budget season. However, right
now, getting into those PLCs and training our cross-functional teams, because that's our reach into our schools right now to ensure that they are providing in PLCs the level of training and understanding for ability, grouping and tearing. I have to
be honest with you, because we haven't truly focused in these areas in ensuring accountability with our teaching strategies, which is why we're here today to ensure that we are making those things more streamlined and
understanding and putting a focus there, that you will start to see those shifts. I wanted to paint a picture for you of what it should look like, because that that was the question and what it will look like as we continue to move forward as a team here. But I
am going to just tell you about the yellow car syndrome, which is something that I came across, an article I read, the Yellow Car Syndrome was about where you're driving around all the time and you never, ever, ever pay attention to the color of
cars. So if you intentionally get up one morning and you say, I'm a count, every yellow car that I encounter along my way to work, you would then realize that there was so many yellow cars that you pass by every day, because you started to focus
your attention there. So this is what we're doing. Starting to focus our attention on M.C.P.S. more tearing instruction. And we're beginning with our tier one. Okay. Thank you for that. I would really like you to visit some of the schools with me that I have concerns about over
in district five. I would love to thank you. Thank you doctor, I'm going to go next. Do you want to look at slide 17 and 18 and even 19 just to understand that as, as a, as a as an ML former student myself, this is,
this is very close to my heart and concerning, as you know, for the last few years. So I just want to understand because we are a big system. So implementation has been a
challenge before. And then we say on paper this is what we're going to do. And then we derail. So I want to ensure that I want assurance that we're going to
stick to the script so we can get the results that we need. As Miss Montoya had asked, do we do we have what we need in order to do the implementation? Because as a student who started in tier, you know, the lowest level, it was very
common practice to take us out of class, give us less meaningful, rigorous material, because at that time it was seen as we're helping the student instead of challenging the student. So I want to know, you know, that especially with
our ML and special education, because I don't want to for us to call it tier one if it's not going to be a tier one. I want us to be, you know, truthful about what we're going to be doing. So if that includes support and access to instruction, what does that
look like? Does that look like that we need more special education with Eld Sped educators. When we look at our reading specialists, I'm hearing through the grapevine that sometimes they're not included when they are actually
putting together a plan of teaching, that they are left out in certain instances. That is concerning to me because it's reading specialist, especially in schools where we see, you know, the reading, they should be included from day one. They should be part of
that team from the get go. So for me, I think this is a great intervention. I think it looks really great on paper. But and, you know, I respect you greatly and, and and I was the happiest
person when you, when you came on board. But this is a big system. It is a big system. And like Miss Wolff said that the lack of uniformity sometimes get us into trouble. And being
true to applying what we said we're going to do. So I want to have some assurance. You know, I'm not saying we don't have good intentions. You know, it's I know we do, but I just want
to have a very concise idea and ensure that the practices that we're going to do are going to be in every school and are going to have the support that the teachers need, that are reading. Specialists are going to be part of the planning, that they're going to be included. We have so many
resources, and sometimes I feel that we are not putting them together for the best interest. And so, so please help me out. I think in paper this looks amazing. But I think we have a
lot of groundwork to do. And I know sometimes, you know, some schools are like, well, we might want to do because this is a special situation. We might want to do that and we start derailing from it. So I just want to know the checks and balances and how we're going to ensure. And I know, I
know this, we're at the beginning, so I get that. But I want to ensure that we stay on track. So I would love the opportunity to respond to that. So let's talk a little bit about uniformity. And I think it goes kind of across multiple questions from, you know, Miss
Wolff to the description of what happens in a classroom if you go out to any school and you look at essentially like their core values or their organizational structure, you will see the words good first instruction. If you have a
conversation with someone about a at a school, about what is good first instruction, and you travel from school to school, you will commonly get very different answers. But there really is only one answer and it's grounded in research. And so in terms of uniformity, and
I alluded to this in terms of a observational tool and a set of specifically standards. And we talk a lot about standards. And we talk a lot about standards. When we talk about kids, there needs to be a standard set across all of our classrooms that the components of first
good instruction, which is tier one instruction, is well defined so that every teacher principal understands what are those components and that it's observed consistently. And we're collecting observational data across our entire system that we can disaggregate and
look at by school, by cluster, and make decisions about the quality of our teaching and learning so that we can change professional learning, how we need to we can deploy supports more efficiently, but we have not system wide collect observational data. We have not
done that in in as long as I can remember. So if you were to say, give me an assessment of the quality of teaching and learning across all of M.c.p.s. By implementing a tool like this, we would be able to provide you with that information correlated to the
academic achievement. So I think it's really basic, and we have a tendency to make things very complex. You define what are the expectations you want to see in every single classroom. And you design a measurement and evaluation system where you go in and
inspect if you see them or not, and you provide the feedback and you provide the support, so you do see them. But at the very minimum, everybody needs to know what the expectation is across all 211 schools. And that is what needs to happen here in like in the next couple
of weeks. And so like when I talked about the urgency at the beginning, there is a high level of urgency around this, and I think we can all feel it as we're talking about this academic achievement data. But we got to have a standard for how we teach. We can't have a standard alone for how students
learn. Thank you, Mr. Ryan. And I would just add to that, because I feel the pressure and the eyes coming at me. It's good pressure. I actually had a meeting this morning with some
supervisors and directors in DSS, and one of the things that I left them with was in order to change a culture, it has to start with us. And when I say us, I mean the people that are sitting at this table and the people that we lead in our
respective offices, we have a lot of mindset work to do here, and we have to be able as leaders. And that's you guys sitting there. That's us, that's Doctor Taylor. We have to be able to have the
opportunity to participate alongside our people in the school and have them feel comfortable enough to understand that we are leading them in the right direction. I also shared with someone this
morning an old technique called rigor, relevance and relationships. So I'm kind of dating myself. But it goes back to the old cliche of people don't care what you know until they know that you care. And they also have to see a united
front from the people that are sitting at this table to be able to understand that this is the movement, this is where we're going, because we all are focused on doing what's best for kids, bringing back into our vision or our in our mind.
The arrows that Doctor Taylor puts up all the time on his presentations. We can't continue to go different directions to ensure that our results are positive overall. So I do believe that we're all
committed to ensuring that you see process progress in our process and that we have a whole new sense of what this looks like and will not falter or bend at our knees. Thank you.
We're going to do a quick question, please. No, no, no commentaries. And that goes even for me. I know, Miss Wilson, Miss Yang, I felt your eyes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank
you, Doctor Cage, for speaking so eloquently about setting the culture for our school system. I appreciate that very much. And I also want to celebrate our success on slide nine, which shows grade three, grade, third grade, exited ML, you
know, outperform. Right. So great celebration. My question is can we have some data for slide 14. Slide 14 shows a multi-year pipeline into long term ML designation up to 5 to
6 years. Right. How many students are we talking about? Like what percentage of students are we talking about? That becomes long term ML and then if they are and what what
have we identified? I think I asked this question before. I'm still looking for the answer that what what is preventing them from existing exiting and when should we see. So this is not say this is the beginning
of the year data. This is multi-year data that we see the number declined. Can I tack on to to Julie's question. You know, you always give us percentages. I need actual numbers. So that chart I was
showing you, I would like the actual number of kids that exited the actual number of never. ML yes. Thank you so much. I will be able to provide numbers and send them your way so that you can look at the breakdown. Thank you, thank you including the long. So you will
be getting back to us with that information. Yes. Also correct. Thank you. Strategies. Things we're doing that will will really move the needle because they're in the program for six years, 5 to 6 years. And also I think we have asked prior, at
least I know I had asked how many Ashley were where. So there's ML students who are born here, and there's ML students who come. Right. And I think we had asked to have those numbers broken down as
well. And, and the longitude of how long they are. So thank you, Miss Sylvester. So back to the school accountability. So back
to the school level. And you said accountability is at all levels. I'm guessing that the principal started the school year saying some of these leadership messages in terms of what good first instruction looks like, what he or she is
going to be looking for. They have their data, and now they're having to make shifts and arrangements. What is the role of the cross-functional team? I know you covered it in the opening, but so we're mid-year. How are you holding
the different levels accountable at mid-year? What supports not accountable, but just also supports? How is the cross-functional team helping the principal to hold her team accountable and support her team, his or her team? So I
would I would very similarly define the support structure that we have to the tiers that the same way we support students, right. So tier three schools would receive the most intensive support in terms of frequency from a CFT team. That is more of a wraparound where you need support with ML, you
need support with special education, you need support with equity. So you have a more wraparound approach for those tier three schools. Tier one schools essentially are schools that the strategy might be kind of a consult. And your your the CFT is available for them based
upon their need or based upon an assessment that's done by a director or one of my colleagues here where they want to deploy support to it. And tier two is something that is targeted. So we might have the ML specialists there working with the team three days a week,
but they're entirely focused on supporting and growing their Eld program. So that's the way that we've tiered the schools based off of data. We're coming up and to kind of go back. Right. So one of the things that is important is with any
intervention is that it doesn't remain the same, right? If you have the same intervention in place for a long period of time, it is not working. Students and schools should graduate from interventions. They should move out of tier three and move to tier two. And you should deploy
your resources based upon the data. We're coming up to probably the most pivotal point of the school year, because we're going to get a lot of data that will help us to make decisions about how we support schools. So that's right where we are right now, our tier three schools, we have not
moved schools that were identified as tier three. We've only moved one of those schools out of tier three, similar to the around how long an intervention takes, right? We've altered it through our meetings and our collaboration together and made changes. But this data that we're about to
get is going to tell us a lot about the impact of CFT and in terms of the principal support and the supervision and accountability. I think what we've really tried hard to do, and I've really appreciated this about Doctor Taylor's vision around CFT, is that
they're not coming in as supervisory. We've made it really tried to be intentional in making sure that teachers feel that they have someone that they can trust, they can be vulnerable with, they can have them in their classroom. A mistake or an error can happen.
They can receive feedback from that person. The accountability piece is really coming from the the director to the principal. So that's the structure that we have in place. I'm actually very excited to get the data that we're about to get for for a lot of different reasons. I
anticipate a lot of growth. And I also anticipate, you know, our ability to sit down across offices, as Doctor Cage described, to determine how we're going to change, deploying these resources and change, essentially the school intervention. I would like to
hear you talk about tier three schools coming off that category, and that you're looking at the whole system in terms of tiers and differentiating resources where they're most needed. Thank you. And I think to go back and Miss Silvestre, you talk about this
a lot around the system of schools versus a school system. We, we we have to really standardize a lot of we have to standardize, for instance, that's that that what we should see in a classroom. Because what happens is when you don't
have a standard for what you expect around the delivery of instruction, then it creates inequities from just one side of the street to the other. And so leaving that up to chance, we cannot do. And so it is, it is it is going to be a
significant change because we have allowed a great deal of autonomy around the measurement of what high quality tier one instruction is. And and we that's a that's a major shift
that we're going to make non-negotiables. Thank you. Last Miss Zimmermann. Thank you I'm used to being last with the last name. Okay. I just want to
go to slides 25 and 26. When we were talking about like learning walk and the data from that part of my, my curiosity is if we could also explore, especially as I'm looking here and I'm seeing Zimmerman, I think we have we're not there
yet. We still have a little bit more like we're done with this part. I'm so sorry. That's okay. So we're going to let them finish their presentation and then you'll be the first. How about that? I love this for me. You'll be the first to go I'm
sorry. Yes. I'm sorry. Miss, do you have a question? Yes. It's just a quick request based on a prior question for the numbers and not just the statistics. When it comes to the data presentation presented on the slides for the benefit of the
public. If that information could just be added to the relevant slides. And then the slide deck reposted as a revised copy on board docs, then we would we would be able to access it. The public can access it. Okay. Thank you. Noted. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Okay. If you guys can continue. Thank you. If we could go to the secondary literacy update slide please. It's a couple right before that. Two more. You can stay there. That's
great. Yeah. So as we shift to a focus on secondary Ela we want to start with our most recent map, our data, which will serve as our baseline for year one of core knowledge language arts, which is that Carla curriculum. From this we
can see that we are showing increases in the percentage of students meeting the performance expectation. And with continued Carla implementation at the secondary level, we expect to see larger increases. Next slide please.
On this side we can see the same data broken down by student group as we will continue to discuss emergent multilingual learners and students receiving special education services demonstrate the greatest need for support. We also note the persistent disproportionality by race,
which again, we aim to reduce through strong tier one instruction aligned with the curriculum. Next slide please. As a reminder, we adopted the curriculum for grades 6 to 8 in May of last school year. So this is the first year of
implementation, which means we are monitoring instruction, providing ongoing professional learning, and working directly with PLCs to support planning. I will now turn things over to Miss Jackie Lightsey, secondary Ela supervisor. Next slide please. Thank you, Doctor Brant.
Good afternoon. As part of our year one implementation of CLA, we are conducting learning walks, which are essentially classroom observations in partnership with the New teacher project known as Tntp. And we're using our collaboratively developed observation tool to identify patterns of strength and areas
of need and instruction. With our new curriculum, we conducted round one of our learning walks, round one of three in October, and that included visits to 65 classrooms and debriefs with each of those school teams. 20 of the lessons we observed were writing focused and 45 were
reading focused, and through these observations, we were able to get a really strong sense of where teachers and leaders may need more support and where they're excelling in ways that we might be able to leverage across the district. And we want to take the opportunity today to share some of those key takeaways so far.
Next slide please. So looking at the data from the reading lessons, we can see that overwhelmingly our teachers are utilizing the curriculum with 96% of lessons demonstrating direct alignment. And this is a really significant first step and a strong indication that our schools are recognizing the
importance of delivering consistent tier one instruction in alignment with the curriculum. In our reading lessons, one pattern we noted was that the structures to engage students in text based discourse could be strengthened. We also saw evidence that teachers may benefit from some support around how to ensure
they're prioritizing the most critical questions and tasks within each lesson, how they provide support for students to access the full rigor and depth of each lesson, and also how they're consistently requiring students to provide textual evidence. Next slide. Similarly,
in our writing lessons, we noted strong adherence to the curriculum with 95% alignment, and we also similarly saw the need for more consistent discourse practices and prioritizing the most critical aspects of each lesson. Overall, we noted that students were engaging and persisting in the writing process and receiving
meaningful feedback on their work. Next slide please. So we've unpacked this learning walk data with our middle school Ela leaders, and we've been providing resources and professional learning directly aligned with those areas of need that we spoke to in those
monthly content specialist meetings, as well as in our unit launch sessions, which are occurring six times throughout the year. This year, directly with teachers. We're also continuing to work collaboratively across Ela and Eld to provide more resources to support students, particularly our Imls, at
levels one and two when it comes to accessing the grade level curriculum. This is just one example of the resources that we've provided, and it's our lesson planning template. And this template models how teachers might go about selecting the most critical questions and tasks within a lesson, and it also builds in
prompts to ensure that their teachers are thinking about the scaffolds and supports that students will need, particularly for Emls and students receiving special education services. We provided fully developed model lessons using this template, and we're continuing to make refinements to it as we receive feedback from teachers and as we're
going into classrooms and identifying more needs for how this resource can be even more useful. And so, again, we're looking forward to measuring the impact of all of these efforts when we visit classrooms again upcoming in February and our third round in April. So at this time, I will turn the presentation back over
to Miss Porter. That concludes our presentation. Any more questions for us around secondary? Thank you very much. And I'm going to call on Miss Zimmerman to be first over to. How exciting for me, the first.
Yes. So I actually wanted to ask about the data that we're looking at and relating it with our Wida access testing, especially as we're looking at student discourse being such a low percentage. But the like
focus time on text is a significantly higher percentage. My thought is that with each of the domains that they're focused on right reading, writing, listening, speaking, that we might see some correlation there and that that might be something else for us
to pursue. And as we've looked at other data, we know that what's benefiting our MLS could benefit all students. But I also wanted to speak to the beautiful portrait of a classroom that Doctor Cage gave
for us. And I just want to add that part of what is indispensable and essential and requisite to this vision is the planning time. And we know that there's been some changes to
how we conduct our planning time, and I think that could be another element that we see going forward is some improvement there. But that's that's just something else that is so important to that. Is that planning time? Thank you, Miss Anova. Hi. I wanted to say
earlier, thank you so much for all the work that you've been doing. Everyone has been answering all of my questions, so I didn't have any up until now. I am curious just because it hasn't been noted at the secondary level, has there been any student engagement of any sort explaining what they think supports them the best,
especially after they enter into high school? Anything along the lines of that? I mean, so outside of the of the standard student surveys, nothing specifically around like, you know, CLA or literacy,
but I think that that is a wonderful suggestion that we can certainly take back and work with our student leadership around collecting some perceptual data. All right. Thank you so much. And the second thing is just about map R and map M. It's just a general comment and an administrative thing as well. A
lot of students have mentioned to me that they feel like their scores are negatively impacted when they have to take both tests on the same day, especially back to back. I noticed this varies at some schools, and so if that's something that can be looked at and changed in the future, yeah,
100% that that is an absolutely not a practice we endorse. So thank you. That's received a lot of angry emails about it before. So thank you so much. I would like any of you to take that test back to back sitting up there. Oh, Miss Yang yeah.
Thank you. Now before I ask my question, can you give me a quick yes or no? So special education students and ML students are included in our tier one whole group instruction, right? Yes. So that's our practice okay. Good.
Okay. So my question will be then I believe in continuous improvement in everything we do. And Doctor Moran just mentioned that we need to standardize our expectation. And you know slide
25 highlighted you know if tier one is our goal to like for rigorous instruction that will move the needle for our improvement, then we need some standardization here. Then can
you tell me what how are you doing the standardization. And one when you do February and April walk. What is the mark you want to hit? So so I'll
start. So we currently are right now working cross office and actually have already worked cross office prior to this. And a lot of the things that you that were shared today, the the leadership look for the practices for Eld are incorporated into what defines good tier one instruction. The
other part is that we are a school system that still utilizes skillful teacher. And so there needs also to be a bringing that back to the forefront around that framework and ensuring that we're utilizing that common language in that standardized tool,
which and again, like it's not good first instruction is not left up to interpretation. I mean, it is it is defined by research. It's not a, you know, it's not a not a not a feeling that one gets. ♪I mean, there are key components. So working together across office, working
with our principals to ensure that they are a part of that process. But as you said earlier, there are non-negotiables. There are non-negotiables to what should be happening in a classroom. And and those need to be
communicated and monitored and evaluated by us. And I and I also do think teachers need support and and need resources. You know, planning time is a resource we have to provide.
Co-teaching is a resource we have to provide. So so sounds like we do need to have some kind of target. If we say, hey, tier one is what will be, you know. That. Move the needle,
carry the water for us. Then let's set some target goals. I will highly encourage we do that. And I think back to miss Miss Zimmerman's point. I do think now is a great time to have conversations around what what teachers are getting out
of that, that planning time, what they need in that space that they may not be receiving. There are models out there that are that are that are great for that. But this is not easy. This is very complex. Hard work requires a great deal of
preparation, collaboration and resources to do effectively. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Moran. Miss Montoya. Thank you. I'm looking at the slide titled
Secondary Math R data. And I think maybe some of the slide page numbers got cut off. So just as a technical issue, if we can make sure that those are included for better reference, first, can someone tell me
what's r s E stands for students receiving special education Services. Fantastic. Thank you. So when I'm looking at this data chart. By and
large it looks like the sixth graders outperform the seventh and eighth graders both years generally. And I'm thinking about kind of an extension of
what Miss Wolff asked earlier. Is there something that we're doing for them, not consciously or intentionally, that we're trying to provide certain things for some kids or another, but is there something that they're getting that they would have been last year's fifth
graders, that last year's sixth and seventh graders did not get? And as the mom of a last year's fifth grader, I know that that was the first year that Carla was required in elementaries. And so I'm just wondering if
that may account for some of that, or if you have other ideas about that. Thank you for that comment. I completely agree with you. I immediately, as you, you know, started sharing thought about the curriculum implementation of Carla. However, I also think
it's important for us to consider the amount of time that students spend in literacy and then how we expect teachers to collaborate at the secondary level across content areas, because the the actual period then of just English content for sixth grade students. And
this is the beginning of the school year. So they're coming right out of that fifth grade block of two hours of literacy instruction. And then in sixth, seventh and eighth grade, they move to more of that period content. So I do believe that that gives us a little bit of data, if we interpret it that way, to consider how those teachers are collaborating to
ensure that there are elements of literacy across the curricular content courses at the secondary level. So that's great insight. But I did also think of Carla as well. Okay. Thank you, Miss Sylvester. Yeah.
Just wanted to thank you for the work. I've been on this board for seven years, and we've often talked about the system of schools and school system and consistency and implementation. It sounds like we are doing a better job of
establishing the systems and the structures, so that we do have more cohesion across schools. And so I'm optimistic. And so let's go. Let's go get it. I have 11 months left on this board and I want to see
significant progress before I see it. So that's right. Thank you for for your hard work. And we have a lot of work to do. But I'm feeling optimistic. Thank you. Well with that thank you team. Appreciate you. Thank
you for the presentation. We look forward to having updates and seeing this played out and work out. So we appreciate you. Okay we're moving on to 8.3. So the next item on the agenda is a discussion of the
superintendent's recommendation to revoke a Business Learning Institute charter. The board will not be taking action today on the superintendent's recommendation. We will begin with a presentation from M.C.P.S. administration, followed by a presentation from Charter School Leadership.
Doctor Taylor, thank you so much, Madam President. We certainly have a lot going on in M.c.p.s. And I swear it's never our intention to add unnecessary items to already busy board meeting agendas. We already have enough to do so.
Introducing new disruptions. We should try to reduce those where wherever possible, though, there's likely going to be some disagreement on the next item before the board. I'm convinced that there is unilateral agreement on. One thing in this room is that no one wants this
next item to be an item for discussion, or even on the agenda at all. Yet we're here, and it's supremely regrettable that we're here. It is. To that end, I'm grateful that our partners from MLI are here too.
Thank you so much for coming and being a part of our conversation today. It's absolutely critical that you're here as partners in education of young people. We should be focused on continuous improvement. So whether you're with MLI or M.c.p.s. That's a that's a part of the mix, is
that we we learn from things that go well and we learn from things that don't go well. Mistakes and bumps in the roads happen along the way. It's all a part of the process, and that's okay. That's what learning is all about. But we're not here to discuss just mistakes. To that end, I also
have the responsibility for all M.c.p.s students. Not just some or not just most, but all. And as far as accountability goes, the board has rightfully pressed me to have systems of accountability for all corners of the school system, not just
some. To that end, I'll turn things over to our Chief of Legal Services, Robin Seabrook, and our Chief of Specialized support services, Doctor Margaret Cage. Good afternoon. Thank you, Doctor Taylor, and good afternoon to the members
of the board. I will kick it off. I'm Robin Seabrook. I am the chief legal officer for M.c.p.s. We're here today to outline the issues underlying the superintendent's December 8th recommendation to the board for revocation of charter. But
I'd like to start with a brief reminder about how we got here. If you recall, the superintendent issued a notice of noncompliance letter to Embley on November 14th regarding violations of special
education law, policy and provisions of charter agreement. The letter is really an escalation of a history of ongoing issues of noncompliance. After technical assistance from
M.c.p.s staff. That notice directed Embley to submit a corrective action plan within 15 calendar days of the notice, and warned that failure to submit that corrective action may result in the
superintendent's request that the board revoke the charter. When Embley failed to submit that corrective action by the deadline set by Doctor Taylor, then Doctor Taylor issued the letter to the board on December
8th, recommending revocation of charter. Let's go to the first slide. So the superintendent's December 8th recommendation is primarily based on failure to
comply with special education law and policy and relevant provisions of charter agreement. Today, you'll hear about long standing and ongoing issues in this area, not only with respect to service provision for students with IEPs and 504
plans, but also with respect to things like special education staffing. You'll also hear from my colleagues about ongoing operational issues in areas such as finance, facilities and transportation as M.c.p.s. Has
identified these issues over time. Embley has continuously received notice of these concerns and opportunities to correct these deficiencies. So you'll hear about technical assistance provided by M.c.p.s. Even in instances where, as
Doctor Taylor's letter from November 14th notes, accountability for these core operational obligations really rests with Embley. So before I pass it off to my colleagues to discuss the substantive issues, I'll briefly walk you through
the legal and policy framework related to charter school revocation generally. So let's start with the next slide. All right. So what you see here is the education code education
article of the Maryland Code. And this is what boards are. Local boards are required to do with respect to charter school policy. And you'll notice that a local board is to develop its own process with respect to
revocation of a charter. Next slide. The board. This board developed policy CFB charter schools and grant that grants the superintendent the authority to oversee charter
school operations and to recommend revocation for any of the reasons listed there. In this case, the reasons in Doctor Taylor's recommendation
really lean on number two. The violations of provisions of the charter. Next slide. Here is what the charter agreement says
about reasons for revocation. The list, the actual and the actual agreement. The list is a little bit more expansive. It's really provides six reasons, but these are the three reasons that the superintendent is leaning on for his recommendation for revocation.
And so you'll see, number two is failure to abide by the agreement. And number three has to do with failure to abide by legal requirements. Next slide.
Okay. As I stated, the primary basis for the superintendent's recommendation are violations of state and federal special education laws as well as provisions of the charter and as required by the charter agreement. Even prior to the
superintendent's November 14th letter M.c.p.s. Has has provided notice and opportunities to correct these issues to Embley. And so I'm going to pause here and I'm going to turn it over to Doctor
Cage, who will start with outlining the specific areas of noncompliance in special education. Thank you, Miss Seabrook, for that opening. Members of the board, I want to briefly walk you through a
sequence of M.C.P.S. engagement with the Meca Business Learning Institute prior to the schools opening. This context is important as it speaks directly to when M.c.p.s. Office of Special Education became involved, the nature of support
that was provided and the expectations that were communicated in advance of the opening. Based on the records I have been able to ascertain beginning in November of 2024,
M.C.P.S. Office of Special Education initiated formal outreach to and engaged in coordinated Cross-departmental planning focused on special education implementation. Over the months that followed and
through the summer of 2025, M.C.P.S. provided sustained technical assistance, written guidance, and repeated opportunities for consultation. During this period. Foreseeable implementation risk were
identified very early and expectations under the individuals with Disabilities Education Act were clearly communicated prior to student enrollment. I will now summarize that engagement month by month to highlight the
actions. M.c.p.s. Office of Special Education took leading into 2025 2026 school year and to clarify the foundation for the founding for the findings that followed. November 20th
24th. Excuse me, November of 2024 M.c.p.s. Initiated formal engagement with emboli by issuing an official calendar invitation for an introductory meeting with Emboli leadership.
This outreach established early communication and included participation from special education, from compliance, from fiscal services, instructional leadership as well. The communication reflected M.C.P.S. intent to provide coordinated,
cross-functional support from the outset of embolism charter planning process. December 2024 M.c.p.s. Met with Emboli leadership to provide technical assistance related to special
education and related services and preparation for Embolize planned FY 26 opening. Following this meeting, the Office of Special Education of M.C.P.S. committed to ongoing monthly check in meetings to
support planning and implementation. The Office of Special Education, through M.C.P.S. also provided explicit guidance regarding anticipated enrollment of students with IEPs. The importance of the
early IEP review, and the risk associated with delayed hiring of special educators and paraeducators. During this period, the Office of Special Education initiated internal coordination regarding specialized transportation to
ensure that any guidance provided to emboli would be legally sound and operationally consistent. January through March of 2025. M.c.p.s. And the Office of Special Education
continued structured engagement with emboli through planned monthly support meetings. These meetings maintain cross-departmental coordination and reinforce expectations again related to ID compliance,
staffing readiness and service delivery planning. In advance of the schools opening April 2025, as part of the established monthly support structure, M.C.P.S. provided emboli with written special
education service descriptions during an Office of Special Education Support meeting. The documentation was linked within official meeting notes to support ongoing reference and
ID aligned service planning, reflecting and continued proactive technical assistance. May through the summer of 2025, M.C.P.S. pre-opening support and guidance remained ongoing
as emboli prepared to open for the 2025 2026 school year. By this point, emboli had received sustained technical assistance, written guidance and repeated opportunities for consultation
related to special education, service delivery, staffing and compliance expectations. Prior to student enrollment. The first bullet here under Special Education Services Services. Failure to implement the IEP as
written from August 2025 through December 2025. Emboli failed to implement students IEPs as written, constituting procedural violations under under the individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
under 34 CFR 300.3 .32 3C2. Each public agency must ensure that all teachers an service providers are informed of and carry out their specific responsibilities related to
implementing a child's IEP. When services documented in an IEP, such as specifically designed instruction related services or accommodations, are not delivered exactly as written, the failure
constitutes a procedural violation upon enrollment in any school. Those schools are required by law to provide fape immediately implement the
existing IEP, or provide comparable services without delay. Begin services without waiting on an IEP meeting. Best practice requires that within the first 10 to 30 school days,
the IEP team must review the existing IEP and either adopt it as written or revise it with required parental participation and consent. On September 8th,
2025, M.C.P.S. provided targeted support through the Cross Functional Team. Special Education Coordinator for the Gaithersburg cluster. This included a 2.5 hour on site review of IEP service hours for
29 students with IEPs, all of whom were reviewed to ensure legal compliance. Any delay in implementation was explicitly identified as a violation. Bullet number two failure to
provide services in a timely manner. Emboli also failed to provide special education and related services in a timely manner, compounding the implementation failures. Pursuant to 34 CFR Special
Education and related services must be made available to a child as soon as possible. Following the development of an IEP, delays in service delivery, regardless of intent or
procedural violations, despite MCPs intervention, service delays persisted. As a result, on September 23rd, 2025, M.C.P.S. issued 29 individual
letters to families documenting delays in the implementation of IEP services. Each letter cited the relevant federal regulations and explicitly identified failures to implement IEPs as written, and
failures to provide services in a timely manner. Subsequent monitoring revealed continued deficiencies. On November 21st, 2025, MCPs conducted an IEP
audit of 16 students. The remaining students had withdrawn and returned to their feeder schools within M.C.P.S. The audit identified widespread noncompliance across multiple
domains. The audit identified systemic procedural violations, including service delivery models. Out of compliance, four out of 16 missing or inaccurate
delivery method frequency minutes, and also group size progress monitoring out of compliance seven out of 16 lack of measurable data mastery
criteria or goal specific documentation was available. Pleasant present level of academic functioning statements were out of compliance 12 out of 16 outdated data, missing academic areas and parent input
was also noncompliance. Procedural safeguards and IEP integrity out of compliance seven out of 16 missing safeguards documentation. Unsupported goal closures, and
one complete IEP file missing for a student. Denial of fate due to non-implementation of services, which is the next bullet. The cumulative effect of IEP non implementation and
delayed service delivery resulted in a denial of fate rising from procedural violations to substantive violations under 34 CFR 321
1412. A free, appropriate public education must be available to all eligible students when students outlined in an IEP, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy,
special designed instruction interventions when they are not provided. Students have been denied fape. Idea further establishes that procedural violations constitute
noncompliance when it impedes a student's right to fape, it significantly hinders parental participation, or it results in the loss of educational benefit. The November 21st audit
findings demonstrated systemic failures that directly jeopardize students access to fape. Corrective actions were issued at both the student specific and school wide levels, requiring immediate remediation
and implementation of a tracking system. A follow up visit on December 5th, 2025 confirmed that sufficient corrective action had not yet
been demonstrated. Classroom observations revealed persistent instructional and compliance issues, including limited student engagement, loss of instructional time, incomplete service logs,
missing documentation, and delayed IEP meetings. As a result, M.C.P.S. recommended a 30 day window for IEP corrections and a 60 day timeline for eligibility
related follow up, along with implementation of continuous monitoring to ensure sustained compliance. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a systemic failure to comply with the individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Comar 13 point zero, 5.01.06. Ida requires that students with
disabilities receive a free, appropriate public education through the timely and faithful implementation of their IEPs, while section 504 prohibits discrimination and mandates equal access to educational
programs and services. Comar 13, a .05.01.06, further establishes Maryland's requirements for the identification, provision, and documentation of special education services. The
documented failures to implement IEPs as written provide services without delay, and maintain legally compliant IEP documentation. Represent violations across all three frameworks, and collectively
undermine the district's obligation to ensure consistent access, educational benefit, and procedural procedural protections for our students with disabilities. I will now turn it back over to Miss
Seabrook. Thank you, Doctor Cage. The second issue that you noticed in Doctor Taylor's December 8th letter had to do with student privacy. But as I said, the primary issue here is regarding compliance with
special education law and policy. The second issue appeared because just days before the December 8th letter was written, there was a, as far as we know, a one time breach of confidentiality of confidential student data. When
certain pieces of student data were released to the media. And while release of personally identifiable student information without parental consent is a serious violation of state, federal, state, and federal law and a breach of the agreement, Embley did
immediately acknowledge that the inadvertent release they acknowledged the release and provided assurances that it would safeguard student data moving forward. And so M.C.P.S. does recognize that this this type of error can and does
occur. And we're hopeful that the safeguards that Embley has put into place will prevent any further incidents such as these. And so now we're going to move on to other areas of concern.
Next slide. That impact the operational vulnerability of Embley that M.c.p.s. Has consistently notified Embley about and has provided both technical assistance and opportunities to cure. So I'm
going to turn it over to the team. And I'll start with Doctor Donna Redmond Jones, although we're a little bit out of order, but I'll just go down the line here and start with staffing as our first area of technical assistance and concern. Good afternoon, Miss
Rivera-Oven and members of the Board of Education. So I'm the Associate Superintendent in the Division of School Leadership and Improvement. And our division supervises the principal of the Meca Business Learning Institute. I worked
with the founders to initially facilitate the principal hiring process, and I continue to collaborate with the director to support the principal. There are caring, committed and hard working staff members who
support, teach and lead at Embley. However, significant operational, organizational and communication deficiencies are creating barriers for the school staff to realize the vision for students. This is
occurring despite technical assistance from many divisions, including Ours, Human resources and the charter School liaison. A pattern of last minute decisions and actions occur. Even though we consistently communicate timelines. For
example, delays in implementing the staffing plan severely limited the time the principal and assistant principal had to plan for the opening of a new school, crippling the school leaders ability to hire teachers, counselors, and supporting services
professionals in time for the start of school. The initial meeting to share information to support founders. With the launch of principal search process. I had that on November 7th, 2024. Yet the principal
vacancy was not advertised until May 1st, 2025. The AP position was not advertised until May 9th, 2025, six months after our initial meeting. The principal began on July 1st. By contrast, when a new middle
school typically opens, the principal is hired a full semester prior to the first day of school. As a result of the delay to hire, our students opened the year being taught by substitutes in core academic areas. By the end of the first
quarter in late October, due to a sharp decline in enrollment from approximately 257 students to 139 students, and due to fiscal constraints, Embley reduced their staffing, eliminating six full time teaching positions and reducing
five additional positions from full to part time, resulting in 11 full time staff members needing to be placed in vacancies elsewhere in the district. In several cases, there were no vacancies that were a match to these teachers.
Certification areas. Our middle school students had to adjust in October to new schedules and different teachers for the start of the second quarter, as classes were collapsed and combined. The charter agreement promises a creative arts curriculum, but librarian and
music teacher reductions have left students without access to either impeding students ability to experience a well-rounded curriculum. There is no longer an IT support specialist at the school to problem solve technical issues or problems with internet
connectivity. For the first quarter of the school year, a teacher certified in PE and health and hired to teach that initially was reassigned to teach in this signature business classes for roughly half of the students. Although
a part of Wnbl's staffing plan, a school psychologist was never hired, leading to the compliance issues that have already been shared. As of today, 94 students are enrolled at Embley. In addition to the
need for positive relationships and a sense of belonging in school, our middle schoolers require predictability within their school environment, disrupted access to music, electives and media, teacher changes and unreliable
transportation are destabilizing and serve to dismantle the predictability students need for their well-being and academic success. I'll pass it to Mr. Mahmoud. Good afternoon, Adnan Mahmoud,
chief of operations for M.c.p.s. Since the Board of Education approved the charter in fall of 2020 for multiple divisions within M.C.P.S. district, operations have provided sustained technical assistance to support the school's planning, compliance and readiness to open. And we have
ran into a lot of challenges that we have tried to help with. The support began immediately following approval and continued through the present with the goal of helping the charter school understand the requirements, navigate regulatory processes and
address operational challenges. As they rose, we're going to briefly highlight talk about the transportation as well as facilities, divisions, the technical assistance we provided with for transportation. M.c.p.s. Engaged with the charter school
as early as October 2024 regarding transportation services. While transportation is not required for charter schools, M.C.P.S. proactively offered technical assistance to review policies, explain regulatory requirements, and promote safe practices. Should
transportation be offered as an optional service? Throughout the spring of 2025, M.C.P.S. reiterated its availability to support transportation planning. Although the school indicated at one point that it had no questions, M.C.P.S. continued to monitor developments and
remain available in late June and early July of 2025, as it became clear the school was experiencing difficulty securing transportation, M.C.P.S. offered a potential option to provide transportation for special education students, contingent
on alignment with the district prescribed schedule. Clear timelines and expectations were communicated to me at that time. In late summer 2025, shortly before the start of the school year, the school made several last minute efforts to establish transportation
independently. M.C.P.S. staff then engaged in approximately ten meetings and extensive correspondence to review and vet proposed vendors for yellow bus and van service, including work that extended beyond the first day of school. During the process, multiple vendors were
found to be non-compliant with federal, state, and local transportation requirements, including licensing and driver qualification issues. M.C.P.S. communicated these concerns to ensure student safety and compliance. M.C.P.S. continued providing technical assistance
in transportation until a vendor offering van services was identified. However, due to cost considerations, transportation services were later discontinued and the school subsequently now is relocated in Germantown. We
also were helping with ongoing facility readiness issues throughout the last year for facilities technical assistance. M.C.P.S. Facilities Management began supporting the charter school in fall of 2024,
immediately following the board approval, to help ensure that their Germantown facility would be ready for a planned summer 2025 opening, M.C.P.S. held its first coordination meeting with the school and the developer on October 23rd of 2024. Shortly
thereafter, M.c.p.s. Identified that updated construction drawings differed significantly from the final facility plan that was previously approved. Approved by the Board of Education beginning in early November of 2024, M.C.P.S. proactively coordinated with the Maryland State Department
of Education regarding required submissions and approval process. M.C.P.S. also supported interagency coordination with Maryland-national Capital Park and Planning Commission, or NCPC, and Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services to assist with
permitting and review process between January and April of 2025. Throughout the fall of 2024 and early 2025, M.C.P.S. repeatedly requested a construction schedule. To to
support planning and oversight. A schedule was not provided until until early March of 2025. That schedule projected an August 25th completion of first phase of the Germantown facility. However, this facility did not receive a certificate of occupancy from
the county until earlier this week in January. As construction timelines shifted, the school requested assistance from for identifying holding facilities. M.C.P.S. promptly conducted a walkthrough of the former Rock terrace facility and later the Radnor Holding
Center, and we completed condition assessments, prepared lease documentation, and performed necessary work to help the school occupy Radnor in August of last year. From mid-October 2025 through early January of 2026, M.C.P.S. attended weekly construction
progress meetings with the school and the contractor to support completion and readiness of the Germantown facility. I'll now pass it over to Mr. Lewis for to talk about technology assistance. Good afternoon. Board. My name is Dominique Lewis. I'm also
called Nick. I'm the director for infrastructure and cybersecurity and sorry, cybersecurity and technology infrastructure. My team is responsible for the M.C.P.S. network, the user accounts, the help desk support, and just
basically making sure that Embley will be able to utilize the technology that all of M.C.P.S. uses. My team is also responsible for the local It's staff. Those are the help desk
or those are the individuals that are at the school to provide technical support on a regular basis to assist in, to get stood up and going. My team provided network equipment and
phone system support with very short notice, and we were able to stand up the Radnor Center, make sure that there's connectivity for all of the systems that were being installed, also to other parts of the Division of Technology
Services assisted in making sure that the synergy was set up correctly, making sure that printing was set up. They provided training to different staff members and making sure that Embly had access to the
vendors that M.C.P.S. uses so that they could take advantage of the same cost savings that M.C.P.S. uses or has over the past year. So or so far, we've
been working with the facilities team and trying to get the Goldenrod Lane ready to go from a network and security perspective at that location. My team has been working directly with the construction contractors to ensure that the
county provided network connection is extended to that location. That was a big undertaking. That was a little it took a little bit to get that done. Network equipment has been deployed to the new location, including wireless
access points being installed and set up. But one of the problems that we ran into is that on the first day, there were some issues because we did not know what network configuration was needed for that new environment. Normally,
we would have time to go in, make sure that the environment is set up and ready to go, but unfortunately we didn't have that time. And so we had some tickets on the very first day of back to school. And we also had an issue with phone support
because the phones, even though they were transported over, weren't necessarily configured correctly. As was mentioned before, we there was a local, its staff member that was on location and that individual,
due to the reduction in hours, was moved to a different location. And so since November, we've not had a local I.T support member. And M.C.P.S. the way that we take care of our Chromebooks and our devices
is that local. It's support person is the front line person. They're the person who finds out when a Chromebook is broken, and they are also the person that fixes that Chromebook. And right now, we do not have good
visibility on the status of the technology that's being used by emboli. So overall, we've attempted to support and provide support. And most recently, when we did find out that the Its was no longer
there, we provided we offered assistance. And starting in November to provide that assistance on an hourly basis. And unfortunately, that support has not been accepted. So right now we have some open tickets
and we are continuing to wait for those to be addressed. Good afternoon. Jeannie Franklin, director, Consortia and Application Program Services. So the support that we've been
providing, my team has been around the admission and the choice timeline. And so just a little bit background, in the fall of 2024, when the board approved the charter in late September, we immediately reached out to Embly to welcome
them and then to also begin discussing the admission process and the timeline. M.C.P.S. had already kicked off its admission timeline for middle school programs, so our collaboration with Embly included sharing and building their timeline for admission for the current year, connecting them with the
communications team to build a website, sharing key resources such as sample information, fliers, building frequently asked questions, and then having ongoing discussions about the trends of retention and filling vacancies through
the admission process. As you may be aware, for Embly, they had great family and student interests. I believe their applications toppled over 500, and so filling those initial seats looked very promising. One critical element that drives our admission calendar
is our staffing calendar. And so once the admission season is over, we recognize that students may have multiple middle school offers, such as Mlis program, the Middle School Magnet Consortium, the Humanities and Communication Magnet, the math, science, and Computer Science Magnet. The
goal was ensure that with the multiple offers that students would have all of that information around the same time, and then we could get students to accept or decline and get students pointed to schools so that middle schools could have the information they needed for student enrollment
and staffing. So we completed our first enrollment year with admission, and that was rather stable. And so now we're in our second admission year with Mlai. And as we were preparing for admissions season, we reached
out to them to let them know that their website had to be updated to receive this year's students for the admission process. So they recently kicked off their admission season in December, and we have concluded our admission season
in early November, so we are not aligned on the timeline. However, we are looking to build that timeline in which their students need to be identified and accepted prior to staffing. This is the only
way. This is the most optimal way for middle schools to be able to have the student enrollment information, so that we can get students pointed with next, next year's school numbers. So that's where we are with admissions and choice timeline. Good afternoon.
Members of the board. Yvonne Alfonso Windsor Chief Financial Officer I will touch upon through my information part upon some of the topics that my colleagues have reported on, because finance obviously touches upon multiple areas. Is
currently funding funded mostly or majority through the per pupil allocation that M.C.P.S. provides, and that's based on the official enrollment for M.c.p.s or for Embley, similar to M.c.p.s. Where salaries and benefits make 90% of the budget
and the rest 10% is for other costs. The current expenditures and I want to emphasize current is 85% is towards salaries and benefits, and about 15% is for other costs. And that is the proportion that we disburse to to Embley for them to use, you
know, as, as they need the portion for salary and benefits. M.c.p.s. Holds and keeping keeps you know in in our, in our books because we want to make sure that our staff is paid and their benefits are taken care of. The plan was to
disburse to the 15% or the non position funding through a through a 12 month disbursement, but because the September 30th enrollment was significantly lower than what they were projecting to be enrolled at in
July, that disbursement was completed by the end of September. So as of September, M.c.p.s has not dispersed any more funding to to Embley. And at this point there's no more funding to be disbursed to them. We communicated this in writing
in September when that when the official enrollment was finalized. And at that point Embley took action because at that point their expenses significantly exceeded their revenue. That's when they took a look at their staffing, and
they either eliminated or reduced positions. And those positions the staff were allocated or placed in other schools during the month of September. I also want to emphasize that although our financial obligation to them is
due to the Is as of the official enrollment of 186 students on September 30th, they're currently below that. There are about 136 students at this point, but they are still receiving funding for 186. The
the lack of differentiated funding and resources, relying on M.C.P.S. per pupil allocation, obviously can have a significant impact on their operations because they're not going to get any they're not due for any more funding from us. Currently, there is a delay in the payment for the rent for
the month of December. We have not received that yet. And then by tomorrow they will receive the invoice for the January rent for the Retina Center. The the charter agreement indicates that Embley will provide to
M.c.p.s financial statements, cash disbursements, any kind of financial information that M.C.P.S. request every quarter. They did provide the first quarter financial statements on November 12th, upon request on November 11th, there were
technically due to submitted by October 31st, but they did submit it as soon as we requested it or sent a reminder to them that that was due the second quarter. Financial statements are due by January 31st, within which is within 30 days of the end of the quarter. Additionally, once finalized,
Embley will need to provide an updated lease payment schedule for the new facility at goldenrod, since once they move into into that facility, we have provided financial support or guidance to Embley since
they applied for for the charter in M.C.P.S. and we continue to do that, do that through last year and into this year. This year we've held a approximately eight individual meetings with Embley. The Division of Financial Management staff held about
eight individual meetings with Embley about the disbursement, allocation, the financial data reporting and so on. Additionally, we have attended the larger group meeting with Embley to provide any sort of support and guidance and answer any questions that they might have, and we will continue to
do so as needed. Thank you. Okay, I'll wrap it up from here. So just again, the November 14th notice from the superintendent, as well as the recommendation dated December 8th, you see, as a culmination
of notice, technical assistance and the opportunity to cure these issues over time. And so just a reminder to the board, again, under your policy, CFB, you have the authority to revoke a charter when the
school has violated any provisions of its agreement. You also have the authority to revoke a charter under the charter agreement, when there is a failure to abide by terms of the agreement after notice and opportunity to cure and
failure to abide by or failure to abide by legal requirements, including requirements under special education law. Next steps for the board. Again, the superintendent is recommending that this item be added to the
January 26th board business 22nd I mean sorry, sorry 22nd January 22nd, 2026 Board of Education Business Meeting agenda for action and a vote. And at that time, the board's
charge would be to determine whether, under your authority, you choose to take that direction and uphold the superintendent's recommendation. And I'll turn it back over to President Rivera-Oven. Thank you very much for the presentation. I'm going to see
if my colleagues have any questions. Seeing none. Thank you so much. Then we'll ask the folks from from Mecca to please
come forward to a table. We'll do introductions to. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies, if you could
please introduce yourselves. Appreciate it. Good afternoon.
Members of the board. My name is Doctor Shari Slade. I serve as the principal of Embley, and I bring deep experience. And I have deep experience in the field of education. Before we talk about the steps that we have taken, I want to center us
on students. Our students are making progress and gaining confidence, stability and growth over the last few months. As a new school in your only board authorized charter, Embley has built new structures from the ground up. While I am
new to M.C.P.S. the work has been a shared experience at the at the school level. Grounded and true collaborative partnership with families and with district teams and the M.C.P.S. staff who presented today earlier can attest to the
progress we've made together as we work together in December and in December. IEP meeting, a parent paused to sincerely thank our team for the care, consistency and follow through they were seeing because of our
collective effort, Embley M.C.P.S. students are making progress and showing up with confidence, stability and growth. I'm here to bear witness to that progress because our students are the beneficiaries of the great work
taking place, and they deserve the time to continue. Our presentation today is entitled Ensuring the Continuity Continuity of Montgomery County's only public charter school, the Mecca Business
Learning Institute. Embley is a lawfully authorized Maryland public charter school serving M.c.p.s students. Embley reflects years of hard work, diligence, and careful preparations by its founders, the school team, and at large
community of families and supporters who advocated for its establishment in Montgomery County and continue to stand behind the school's mission. I'd like to briefly introduce the team here this evening. To
my right, I have Jensen Hedlund. She's the ritzy and resource teacher. We have Tracy Cooper, the chief academic officer and Princess Louse, marketing and communications consultant, and we have Lashandra. Graham serves as the chief academic
officer. Our presentation is focused on continuity, continuity of education, continuity of services, and continuity for the students and families currently enrolled. We want to walk through the documented record so the board
can assess whether the current escalation posture aligns with verified facts, due process, and the responsibility to protect students and their families from unwarranted education disruption. Next
slide please. This slide outlines the goals of today's presentation. First, we would like to clarify the factual record before the board. Second, we would like to ensure that any decisions are grounded in verified findings, documented
evidence and due process. And third, we want to support the preservation of educational continuity for students and families who remain enrolled, attending school daily, and receiving instruction and
services. Next slide please. This slide introduces NBL's operational timeline Emily is a newly operated public charter school operating within M.c.p.s. As a new school, Embley did not
begin with long established routines, systems, mature compliance cycles, or fully operational funding pathways already in place. Like any startup school, NBL's first three months involve building
processes while simultaneously delivering daily instruction and student services. That context matters. The standard approach to oversight. Oh, excuse me, that contact matters because the standard approach to oversight, especially for a
new school, is typically progressive. Identify concerns, provide clear expectations, allow a reasonable window to implement corrections, and then verify through monitoring. Next slide please. With NBL's
operational and context context established, our presentation now turns to the specific claims that have been raised in a discussion on whether each claim is supported by the documented record. Next slide
please. Good afternoon. Members of the oops sorry. Good afternoon members of the board. My name is Jensen Hedlund and I am the resource teacher of for Special Education at Embley. I bring 20 years of experience in special education. All of those
years being served in Maryland schools. This slide addresses the claim that Embley committed a special education material violation. The record shows that prior to November 7th, 2025, only general concerns
were raised without student specific details or actionable corrective requirements. November 7th, 2025 marks the first written notice identifying specific concerns on November 21st, 2025, M.c.p.s.
Conducted the official Special Education Audit on December 1st, 2025. M.c.p.s. Issued the first formal writing written findings requiring corrective action. Embley submitted its Corrective
Action Plan on December 12th, 2025. The slide also reflects that Embley had a staffed Special Populations team in place from the opening, and that special education and academic services were provided
from day one. The slide then identifies what did not occur in the process. There was no verified finding of a material violation prior to December 1st. There was no formal meeting to
establish clear expectations or corrective steps before escalation. There was no reasonable window to demonstrate sustained implementation after issues were identified and there was
no completed monitoring cycle. Validating failure after corrective actions. Finally, the slide highlights a governance dependency. Compliance verification requires both clear expectations and a functioning
funding mechanism. At the time escalation occurred, the operational process for federal special education funds had not been fully established for Embley, based on the documented timeline and record presented on this slide, the evidence
does not support a finding of a special education material violation. Next slide please. This slide reviews the claim that Embley failed to implement required corrective actions, as
reflected in the documented record and timeline already shown. Once formal findings were issued, Embley responded promptly and in writing. On November 14th, 2025, Embley submitted corrections and
clarifications, and on December 12th, 2025, Embley submitted its Corrective Action Plan and began implementation across this timeline. The record reflects that each time specific concerns were
communicated, Embley responded in writing and took corrective steps. Once formal findings were issued. Based on the documented sequence shown here, the evidence does not support a conclusion that Embley failed to implement required
corrective actions. This slide also notes a sequencing concern related to the notice itself. On November 15th, 2025. Notice of noncompliance from the superintendent required a corrective action plan
addressing compliance and alleged deficiencies under Maryland law, but it did not identify verified findings or audit results to support corrective action plan development. At that time. The
notice also included financial deficiency requirements. Despite M.C.P.S. not yet operationalizing federal special education funding. For Embley, that sequencing is relevant when assessing fairness, feasibility and
proportional oversight. Next slide please. This slide addresses claims related to student student services and free appropriate public education. Also known as Fape, the record shows that students
received instruction and special education service hours from the start of the school year. Identified issues were primarily documentation and compliance process gaps in the IEPs that were received from the sending schools. The issues
were not related to a cessation of instruction or services by Embley. There is no documented finding that Embley denied students access to education on a school wide basis. There were no due process determinations,
concluding that Embley denied Fape based on the documented record, a school wide failure to meet student service obligations is not supported. Next slide please. Thank you
miss. Thank you Miss Hudson and good afternoon, board members. My name is Tracy Cooper and I'm the chief academic officer for Embley. This slide addresses transportation oversight.
Embley requested transportation support through M.C.P.S. and was advised that the district transportation was not available. In response, Embley established and maintained and managed its own transportation operations. Transportation was
operational throughout fall 2025 with defined routes, supervision and communication protocols. Adjustments were made whenever concerns were identified. There is no documented finding of transportation related safety failures warranting escalation
toward closure. Next slide please. This slide addresses an alleged violation of student privacy rights. The record reflects a single isolated disclosure incident affecting
fewer than 20 families. Embley acknowledged the incident and took immediate corrective action, including mitigation and process adjustments. There is no documented finding of systemic violations, malicious intent or irreparable harm. The slide also notes that M.C.P.S.
issued notifications schoolwide twice, expanding awareness beyond the scope of the incident. Next slide please. This slide addresses claims of
endangerment. Embley remained open and operational. Students continued receiving daily instruction services and transportation. No emergency order or directive requiring immediate cessation of operations was issued. The
record does not reflect findings of immediate or ongoing risks requiring emergency intervention. Next slide please. This slide outlines the principles of fair
oversight. Oversight should be progressive, corrective and supportive, particularly for a newly opened public charter school. When issues are addressed and corrected, they should be treated as resolved with follow up monitoring. The
record reflects escalation occurring without consistent acknowledgment of embolized documented responses and corrective actions. Next slide please. This slide outlines
Bailey's request. First, we would love a clearly written statement of expectations tied to verified findings. A reasonable corrective implementation window with monitoring checkpoints, a single point of coordination to
prevent conflicting directives, clarification of findings and support pathways, and confirmation that Embley may continue operating while corrective actions are completed. These requests are focused on continuity,
stability, and accountability. Next slide. This slides addresses due process. Embley has responded in writing every time. Due process requires clear notice of verified
findings, written expectations, reasonable timelines, consistent communication, and proportional escalation. It also requires an opportunity to be heard before actions that disrupt students or parts of the school community. Next
slide please. This slide addresses closure directly. Closure is the most disruptive action an authorizer can take before closure is considered. Embley respectfully requests
clarity on what findings remain open, what evidence shows continuing problems after correction, and what corrective timeline would be deemed sufficient. This slide concludes with questions for the board regarding whether
closure or continued oversight is supported by the documented record. I'm going to turn it over to Doctor Slade for our looking forward. Thank you. Next slide please. The final
slide looks forward. Embley will continue. Will excuse me. Embley will continue operating safely and lawfully while implementing corrective actions and documenting progress. We request clear expectations, timelines and verified post
correction monitoring before further escalation. Embley and I remain committed to collaboration, transparency and continuity for students and families. And now we're going
to transition to the closing statement. I pass it to Miss Princess. Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Members of the board, superintendent Taylor, we've walked through the record, the timeline and the claims that
have been raised. What remains is the human and institutional consequences of what the board is being asked to consider. We have intentionally grounded this presentation in documentation, timelines and
process because that is how public accountability should work. At the same time, decisions about school school continuity affect real students, real families, and real
educators. With this in mind, we would like to conclude with the prepared statement Embley time to succeed. Everything we do at the Mecca Business Learning Institute is fundamentally about putting students, the school and the
school community first. We believe that Mecca M.C.P.S. the superintendent and the board share a commitment to centering students as a top priority. That is a lot of what we've heard here all afternoon. With
that shared priority as our foundation, it is important to say clearly, Embley is a result of years of planning, community engagement, financial sacrifice and good faith collaboration by its founders, board members and
now by its staff, many of whom left stable positions to help bring this school to life in real time. Families place their trust in us and us. I'll say the collective us in making good decisions for students and
families, educators, educators committed their time and expertise. Students showed up ready to learn and to benefit from Bailey's mission of business leadership and service.
From the beginning, Embley has acted in good faith at every stage. We have worked with, M.C.P.S. responded promptly to concerns, submitted documentation, corrected issues when identified, and sought
clarity when expectations were unclear. We have operated within a framework established by the district because, as a public charter school in Montgomery County, Embley does not have control or access to funding systems, compliance
pathways or district managed processes. That point matters. What the record reflects is continuous effort, cooperation and responsiveness, never abandonment, disregard or
disengagement or or endangerment of students. At no point has Embley refused to comply, failed to respond, and Dyson disengaged from oversight.
We respectfully submit that closure, particularly at this early stage, three three months into a school's founding and starting, is neither proportionate nor supported by the record presented today.
Students, schools are built, schools are not built, stabilized, evaluated and dismantled in a number of weeks or months. Public charter schools should not be held to a standard that no district
school would be held to, or would be, or would be applied to a new a new district, program, or facility. We've just gotten into our beautiful new facility, Embl. Embl
remains committed to serving students safely and lawfully continuing corrective action where required, and working transparently with M.C.P.S. as our authorizer. I'm almost done.
We are not asking the board to overlook challenges. We are asking for what is fair, what is due, and what is in the best interest of students, families and the people who believe in this school going forward.
Embley is not just a concept any longer, it is a promise being fulfilled every day by dedicated educators and determined students and families. We respectfully ask that the board honor the years of work, the trust of our
families, and the future of our students by granting Embley what every public school deserves. The time to demonstrate, the time to stabilize, and the time to
succeed. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues to see if any of you have any any questions at this point. Miss?
Miss Montoya, thank you. I just have a request for information. I know that it was indicated that the admissions window perhaps just opened in December for Melia Embley. Sorry. I'm
wondering if we have any numbers as to applicant numbers for the next school year. Hi. Lashandra Graham, CEO. So our window opened in October, not in December, and we are nearing 300 applications for next fall,
but our window has been open since October. Thank you. And one last clarification. Currently how many students are enrolled today? The district responded today and mentioned
approximately 94 students. I would like your response so I don't I don't check the data on a day to day basis. But what we last had at nine September 30th, which was the official count, was 186 students. However, a lot of what we've experienced, and just so you all know, is
that the temporary location was was a hardship. We tried to make it work for our families through transportation, through support, however, but that's where we are. So we've transitioned now it looks like we have. According to the district number, today, less than 100 students at the new facility. But we do have interest planned for the fall.
I appreciate so you're so you're not sure how many students are currently today? I did not check that this morning. No, ma'am, I did not. Thank you very much. Well, with that, appreciate all of you coming. Doctor sleigh can speak to that. I'm so sorry, Miss Sylvester.
Just a second, Miss Sylvester. I just wanted to answer your question about the number of students. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said no. Go ahead. Yes. Yes, ma'am. So we have about 95 students today. Thank you very much. Yes. Sylvester.
Yeah. I was looking through all of the attachments, all the attachments in your record, and just everything specific to special education is it's labeled clearly. So I can go back and read every attachment
it related to special education. Is that correct? So the what you're talking about, I believe is what the district attached to the revocation documentation, however, that paints a partial picture of the engagement that we've had. It's not necessarily a full picture, but they did
provide attachments I believe email correspondences. But that's not necessarily everything that occurred. But that is what they presented. Those are not necessarily our attachments. That was from the district okay. So none of your attachments are included in the record. Is that correct? They they included, I guess, what they received from us. Okay.
But it does not necessarily equate to everything that necessarily we asked of the district or request that we make. I would like to see, as a follow up for the statements that were made about the special education record that you are submitting to back up
what you are saying, we can definitely provide. Sorry, I'm just trying to clarify. There was one that is the response to the audit. So we do have records that we submitted and updated as to where we are in the process of making all of
those corrective actions that the that they had stated that we needed to do. So it was updated. Okay. So it's the one 726 the title is the response
to the M.C.P.S. Special Education Audit updated on December 9th, 2025. And then do we have that January 7th, 2026? We can we can definitely compile all of our copy here in my hand if we yeah, we can
definitely compile all our responses which would include the school's response, their kind of review, them, the meeting video, and just everything you've stated to review your evidence of what you've stated. Yes. And like I said, we we recently updated it
on the seventh with all of the items that have been completed or where they are in the process of being completed. At this time. The information that we received for Corrective Action Plan, we are looking to
have all of those corrective actions done by the end of January. Thank you. My other follow I think it is my other. Can I tack on to that real quick? Carla I'm sorry. Just so we don't have to go back, they
mentioned updating something on January 7th, which was yesterday. So did you bring copies for us? Yes, they have them. Okay, great. Just so I can get an electronic later. Thank you. Just just to be clear, what we're talking about is we submitted our corrective action plan, which spoke to
what was documented to us December 1st. The school is talking about since that time, we began implementation immediately. And so the school is reporting on what Jansen is reporting on, is the activities to date to satisfy the corrective action plan. We had a number of benchmarks and timelines that we had identified in the corrective
action plan. She was attesting to the fact that we're nearly complete with the items that we had identified for completion in our corrective action plan, but we can summarize all that, get all of that compiled, and get a document over that shows all of the information that we've submitted. In addition to
that, around special education. Thank you. Another follow up that I'd like to see is your financial plan for the rest of the year. So you have 90 some
students. So I'm just wanting you to see how you're going to make this work for the next six months. So if you could send something that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. We can do that, Miss Yang. Yeah, I just need a clarifying I just have a clarification question
right now. You are on a lease and when does that lease expire and what come after that lease expires? Are you talking about a new building? So so you are you are no longer in the M.C.P.S. space. We transition out of the lease with M.C.P.S.
and the permanent facility of this school year, December, December. Over the winter break, transition moved into a new lease and that you are at your new place and that is not on the lease. It is a it's a combination. It's basically a what we call a lease to own,
where we partner with civic builders, who is our facility developer. And at the end of our lease term, we own the space. And when would that be? How long is this? 25 years, I believe it might be for our for our lease there, but we also have long term plans to renovate the facility again for
the high school as the children grow in the grades. So we anticipated a basically a what is it, a basic a buyout of the current lease in order to get the new financing to move forward with the implementation of the high school portion of the building. So we anticipate that at least would be changing
in the next year or so as we make the plans for the high school. So when you submit the plan for the financial plan, as Miss Sylvester requested, that portion will be, you know how much you are paying for the
facility will be included and as well as the timeline. Yep. Okay. Thank you, thank you. And just one just last follow. Since you knew the numbers out of the 94 you said or 96, 90,
95, 90. Sorry, my my brain starting to. I've been here too long. I've been here all day. Out of those, how many kids, how many of those have IEPs? So we have 16 students with IEPs. How many? 16 one 616. Yes. All right. Thank you so much. I
think that's all we have. Clarification the board real quick. Very quick. It is very quick. Are you providing transportation today I bless you. We've paused our
transportation okay. Thank you. And is there plans in the future? I mean, because you. Anyway, I just wanted to know because you said you have these applicants and so and we've we've changed our information to our families to let them
know that given the constraints that we even do it this year, that we have, we're not advertising transportation as being active for the fall. If we are able to change that position, we can address it later. But as of right now, we are no longer offering transportation as a cost preventative measure. Thank you.
Can I just can I just add to that, though? I think a big part of the transportation was the fact that we were in a temporary facility that was quite far away from where, where, where students and families were coming from. So now that we are in the permanent facility, I think
it's closer to where people actually are living. So it's it eases the process for them. Also, were you not in Germantown? We were in Bethesda originally, and then we moved to Germantown this week. And interestingly, a lot of the
decline in our population is related to transportation. When we had to pause it and the families, we had over 120 families to bring their children from the Germantown area or other areas, Silver Spring to Bethesda every day, and the students and the
families that could not do that, they transferred back to their home schools. And we have tons of emails that say, you know, gosh, we wish, you know, the transportation was available for us. So that was the big constraint. Thank you, Miss Montoya. Thank you. And this is kind of a technical question to
be answered by whomever knows if monies were dispersed for 186 students, but now today, there's about half that amount. And those students have been who dis enrolled, if that's the
proper term, have been reabsorbed in their local M.c.p.s. School. Is that money prorated and brought back to M.C.P.S. So we can now support those students. Miss, could you come up please? So that way we
can hear you because I believe the answer is no. But I don't want to speak out of order. Thank you. If you could just
state your name. Good afternoon, Yvonne Alfonso Windsor Chief Financial Officer No, we are funding emboli at the official enrollment of 186 per state requirements. So the funding that they're receiving is based on 186 students. Okay. Thank
you so much for clarifying that. Okay. With that. Thank you so much for being here. The board appreciates the information that we receive from the administration and from the charter school leadership. During today's presentation. Our final action by the board
will be scheduled later on, I believe, on January 22nd. Thank you so much. We'll be moving to item 8.4. This is the summer school 2026. All right, Madam
President, switching gears, you may have noticed in the operating budget proposal for FY 27 that there was a line for enhancing our summer programs. Summer programs were very robust just a few years ago, tied to the pandemic and
learning loss. We also received a sizable contribution from the federal government with Esser dollars to offset some of the expense tied to summer school, but since the Esser dollars have gone away, so have a lot of our summer school dreams of
making a truly inspirational summer program and bridging some of the summer learning loss that many of our students experience, as well as some of the credit recovery opportunities that some of our students can get from summer school. We've learned a lot.
We've seen a lot, too, and we have refined some of our practices and refined some of our strategies to make some suggestions on how we might offer a way more robust summer program for some of our
students, and even some of our middle school students for the first time in a while. So, without further ado, it's my pleasure to reintroduce our Chief Academic Officer, Nikki Porter, who will talk to us and lead today's conversation about
ignite, our summer school program for 2026. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Good afternoon again. We are excited to offer a robust, engaging slate of summer programs for students at all levels. Summer 2026 will mark a significant shift from
recent years, with high school credit bearing courses offered primarily in person at six regional sites. While a limited number of courses will continue to be available online for flexibility. And we will explain how we came to that
decision. Throughout the presentation, high school students may earn a regional credit, replace grades, or retake courses. Middle school students, as Doctor Taylor mentioned, will be introduced to a new program, ignite Summer Academy, which will prepare
them for a year ahead through engaging, project based learning in mathematics and literacy while fostering student engagement and academic confidence. M.C.P.S. will continue to provide federally mandated and grant funded programs to qualify students at
no cost to families. The superintendent recommends that the Board of Education receive this information for discussion and approval of tuition fees for the middle and high school programs. Next slide. This is the slide I was supposed to be
on. So if you go to the next slide, please. The Summer school 2026 proposal directly aligns to the strategic plan by advancing goal one, providing targeted instruction and learning opportunities that support academic achievement
and growth for all students, and goal Tool goal two by helping students earn credits, stay on track for graduation, and build the skills necessary for successful post-secondary outcomes, the Summer programs are structured in alignment
with our strategic plan, as well as the board's priority to improve student achievement. The planning to this point has included accommodating a proposed four day week for the summer, and we will be sharing an overview of the planning for
this summer. The participation from last school year, so that you can see what data we use to make our decisions, and forecast enhancements for future summer programs. At this time, I'm going to pass it over to Doctor Lashley, director of our summer school. Good
afternoon, Doctor Taylor, president Rivera-Oven and members of the board. The following data is being presented in reference to the course count, not individual students. Last summer, high school summer school was offered at one in-person site and virtually, with virtual
participation far exceeding in-person enrollment. A total of 15,536 virtual courses were taken, compared to 1157 in-person courses serving 5984 virtual students and 822
in-person students. While virtual programing enrolled significantly more students in in-person, more students in-person programs demonstrated stronger academic outcomes. In-person courses had lower failure rates, 16% versus 27%,
and higher proportions of students earning passing grades, including comparable rates of Aids and stronger B and C outcomes across both delivery models. The primary reason students enrolled in summer school was course failure, with repeat due to failure. Courses representing the larger share
of enrollment 8962 virtual and 777 in-person. Original credit and grade improvement courses accounted for a smaller portion of participation. Despite lower enrollment, in-person summer school produce higher success rates, suggesting that structured face to face
learning environments may provide greater academic support for students most at risk. Next slide please. For summer 2026, M.C.P.S. is expanding in-person summer
school opportunities, as Doctor Taylor shared to better support student engagement, academic progress, and access to instruction. We recognize that any shift in program design requires clear communication. Ongoing refinement. As with previous summer school adjustments, we remain
committed to monitoring enrollment, access and outcomes. Adjusting supports were needed and continuing to dialog with families, counselors, and school leaders. 2026 High School Summer school will be offered at six regional sites, with additional local school
programs supporting credit and credit recovery based on student need. While the focus is in-person, virtual options will remain available for three courses to provide flexibility where appropriate. The six region in-person summer school model is a strategic move
forward to ensure that students who most need summer learning receive high quality instruction, meaningful support, and the strongest chance for success. M.C.P.S. will also launch Ignite Middle School Academy at six sites serving rising students in grades six
through eight. Students will engage in fun, project based learning in mathematics and literacy to prepare for the upcoming school year. Extended school year services will continue to support students with disabilities in meeting their individualized educational program goals.
Early Childhood Title one and additional targeted support and improvement programs will provide targeted summer learning to help students maintain and strengthen progress in core academic areas. Next slide please. The goal of
M.C.P.S. summer school programing is to provide responsive and innovative learning opportunities that reflect stakeholder feedback and meet the diverse academic and developmental needs of all learners through a combination of in-person and virtual options, targeted supports, and creative instructional
approaches. Summer programing is designed to engage students, accelerate learning, and ensure equitable access to meaningful educational experiences in five weeks. Next slide please. Here you'll see the proposed
structure and access points for in-person and virtual middle and high school summer learning programs with a focus on flexibility, equity, and student access. Our high school regional program will operate in two sessions. Session one starting July 7th ending July
21st. Session two starting July 23rd ending August 6th. It will operate Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Our graduate our summer graduation is tentatively scheduled for August 12th for eligible students. In addition to regional options, our high
schools can offer local school programs and offer school design flexible credit bearing options that will vary in offerings, times and delivery. Schools will be able to apply to run a local school program in March. These courses will incur the same fee. High school virtual options will be offered
are Health Foundations of Computer Science and Foundations of Educational Technology. For Ignite Middle School Academy, we will run one session from July 7th through August 8th, August 6th, Monday through Thursday. Those students will report from 9
a.m. to 12 p.m. M.C.P.S. Transportation will be provided. However, as in the case during the regular school year, some students may choose to use public transportation to attend. Transportation and access will be supported through central bus stops for middle school and regional high school programs,
as well as free public transportation and when selecting program locations, care was taken to ensure that there were easily accessible for students who rely on public transportation. Additionally, meals will be provided for all
students. Next slide please. This chart shows a historical perspective of the fees for high school summer school in 2023. Summer school was supported by elementary secondary school emergency relief funds, Esser funds and
therefore did not generate revenue. In 2024, program revenue exceeded expenses. Last year, M.C.P.S. provided summer school at no cost to students who have failed a course, resulting in reduced revenue. Looking ahead, M.C.P.S. will
remain current fee levels and will not increase costs in order to continue supporting families, while also continuing to offer summer school at no cost to students who have failed a course. Next slide se. Fees will be charged
per course consistent with past practices. We are proposing that this year's new Ignite Middle School Academy include the following fees. Full tuition for the five weeks $100 tuition waiver $140 and tuition
waiver $228. Now, I'd like to turn it over to Miss Erica Williams, director of Department of Special Education, pre-kindergarten. Thank you, Doctor Lashley. Good afternoon to the board. I'm here with Doctor Margaret Cage this afternoon to share information
with you about extended school year. Extended school year is a federally mandated special education service is provided to eligible students with disabilities to maintain critical skills and prevent regression on IEP goals. During
extended breaks. Eligibility is determined individually by each student's IEP team based on documented need, easy dates and daily hours were intentionally developed in coordination with other MCPs summer programs to
ensure alignment and minimize conflicts for families. The four day week model Monday through Thursday mirrors other summer offerings supporting consistency and transportation, staffing and facilities use.
Proposed dates are July 7th through August 6th. Anticipated hours are 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at all SC sites. The shortened, consistent daily schedule is designed to meet student needs
while supporting operational efficiency. Proposed Esy locations include approximately 40 elementary schools, eight middle schools, and eight high schools distributed throughout the county to promote geographic access. Site
selection was developn collaboration with other summer programs to maximize building use and to reduce transportation complexity. Families can is provided at no cost to families.
Transportation is provided, ensuring that eligible students across the county have access. Our families can expect clear communicationbout the eligibility, the placement and transportation once IEP
determinations are finalized. Esy reflects M.C.P.S. continued commitment to meeting federal requirements while supporting students with disabilities and maintaining progress over the summer. At this time, I will turn it over to Miss Michelle
Owens. Thank you, Miss Williams. Good afternoon. Or maybe good evening board. My name is Michelle Owens and I serve as the director for the the department. Excuse me. Of early childhood federal and special programs, starting with our
early learners. We are excited to share that our Head Start summer program is returning for 2026. It's funded through the state supplemental grant from MSD. This is known as the Ulysses Currie Head Start Grant,
and it is intended to increase access to high quality early care and education services and to promote continuous improvement towards school readiness by offering summer programing to 120 rising kindergarten students who
attended M.C.P.S. early childhood programs. This year, we are returning to a two site model welcoming 60 students at each of our early learning. At our early learning centers, and this creates more opportunities
for our youngest learners. The program will operate for a full day, and it will operate four days a week for 20 days. And this is what's outlined within the grant application. Students will have access to a
consistent and immersive experience throughout the summer, and our focus remains on providing hands on, high quality instruction in literacy, mathematics, science and social foundations so students stay curious, confident and connected to learning to
support participation. Meals and transportation are provided at no cost. I'll transition to the right side of the slide and talk a bit about our long standing early excuse me,
extended learning opportunities. Our title one team is very excited to share that L.o. will celebrate its 25th year of existence this summer. High quality summer learning programs like L.o. Sail have
been shown to mitigate summer learning loss, accelerate academic progress, and support social emotional development. Research organizations such as Rand emphasize that well-designed summer programs are a promising strategy to
narrow opportunity gaps. Our program will be funded through the title one grant and will be offered to all elementary students enrolled in title one schools. It will also be offered to identified students in additional targeted support
and improvement elementary schools. The program will follow the four day per week structure for four weeks, with a 5.5 hour student day. Our goal is to engage students in hands on and high quality learning experiences in
literacy, mathematics, science and social studies, as well as well-being. Breakfast, lunch and transportation will be provided. Next slide please, for our middle school students enrolled in title one schools,
we have agreed to ensure that they are invited to participate in the Ignite Middle School Academy. Fees for students will be assumed through the title one grant. In addition, students in the identified Atsi student group at middle schools
will also be invited to participate in the Ignite Middle School Academy, and the student fees will be covered through the title one part A School Improvement Grant. With that, I will hand the presentation back over to
Doctor Lashley. Thank you. Our communication timeline shows how information this year is significantly earlier being shared than previous years, giving schools and families more time to plan and make informed decisions. This plan
will ensure families and schools are informed, early and supported throughout the process, and we have started already to build awareness, engagement and smooth registration processes earlier than ever. In December and
November, we shared the proposal in its drafting of drafts of the forms with our lead, our school leaders, and we also use feedback from data collected from our resource counselors at the end of 2025. This plan shows as a highlight that in December, we are able
to update our website and share some logistical information. January move more. In this month we're going to have more outreach and engagement. We've already scheduled several virtual meetings with our school leaders and staff, and we will continue to extend that
to advocacy groups and engage our schools in the support of the registration process. In March, we will begin registration for our middle school, Ignite Academy, and our high school summer school. And in the spring, we'll have ongoing support through
multiple venues. One of them that we're excited about is a school summer school hotline. Our commitment is to make summer learning opportunities accessible and easy to navigate for all families through a health form and a telephone hotline. Moving on for the
summer programing, I will now turn it over to Mrs. Nikki Porter, our Chief Academic Officer. Thank you. So in closing, our program does include a combination of tuition based and no cost offerings. The tuition tuition based programs, which require
board approval of fees, include high school credit bearing courses offered primarily in person, with limited virtual options, and the Ignite Middle School Academy and select local programs. So at this time, we're going to open it up for
any questions that you have with the hopes of approval at the next meeting. Thank you, Miss Porter. Before we jump into questions, I want to illuminate a couple of things because I think it's really important. I'm very excited. I am I am beyond thrilled with this team and the work that
they've put into summer programing, because I think it's absolutely essential to improving student outcomes for the following school year. And this is going to be a critical component to our strategy to really elevating literacy and mathematics, assuaging the
summer learning loss and being really hyper focused in a couple of critical areas is going to make a huge difference. I know that it looks weird because we use data to drive some decisions. That seems a little out of place, but but it is actually pointing us in some
really clear directions. It's pointing us away from virtual learning at the high school level for credit classes very clearly, and pointing us to in person. And that also necessitates a couple of really significant shifts from previous years. Over the last couple of years, we've done
summer school at one high school location, and it's been virtual primarily. Well, candidly, that's not going to work if we're going to have a lot of in-person instruction. So having regional sites is going to make a huge and
significant difference in terms of our students ability to access summer programing. The second really significant shift that I'm really proud of is having a an exciting programmatic offering for middle school students and something that dovetails not
only the the joy that comes from summer learning or that can come from summer learning when there is a project based exciting opportunity, but something that also strengthens some of the skill deficiencies that we know we're experiencing. For us, this is absolutely
essential because when we look at student performance outcomes, we see that middle school is the place where we need to do the most work, not just in preparation for high school, not just in preparation for post-secondary. But we know that that transition from
elementary school to middle school and then the middle school years, there's a huge social focus. But we need to to pull back more toward the academic space. So we are beyond excited about this. It does have some other twists that are going to be an adjustment for our community,
like going from a five day week to a four day week. There are some changes there that does help substantially, and we didn't get into too much of the weeds. But as I'm sure you can imagine, this won't be hard for you to imagine that our best attendance days for both the
adults and the students in summer were not Fridays, and so we can plan ahead with that and give our kids a break and give our adults a break to incentivize summer teaching roles and summer leadership roles and summer support roles,
as well as our students in so that they don't miss something when they don't show up. We want to we want to align with the probability of them actually being there and and making sure that our instruction dovetails
accordingly. So we have put a lot into this and we're very excited about it. And I know that they're ready to answer all the tough questions. So thank you so much. Thank you Doctor Taylor I'm going to open up Mr. All right. Thank you so much. I am beyond excited to see this presentation. I have
mentioned this countless times to Doctor Taylor, and so many other students have brought it up to me as well. I took full advantage of our summer courses a lot throughout high school, so I'm very glad to see what's going on. I just wanted to get some clarification on a few numbers. So for the numbers regarding summer 2025 high
school results, do those include students that took multiple courses in it, or is it just one course? It did include students that took multiple courses okay. But they're counted as like one person though, right. And then
okay. And along with that, I know you briefly mentioned the courses that would be given in person. Could you reiterate that? And share too much about the in-person courses? But we're going to be providing,
you know, close to I don't have a complete number, about 32 courses in person on site. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Zimmerman. Thank you. I am also really excited about this. I hear often from community
members about more summer school offerings and especially the element of meals being provided for students and how essential that is. So this is really great news. I do have a question that especially since
we're looking to approve like a to do a fee approval, I would like to hear a little bit more about what metrics we're going to use to measure the return on our investment for these programs. So if we have some more information on that or kind of what we expect student
outcomes to be, that would be great. Yeah. I'll start with high school is really easy. Did the student pass. And by that measurement alone, looking at last year's results, we did not have a high return on investment. Looking at the the
middle school opportunities, I think that they're under development in terms of like how we can report back to parents so that they have a better understanding of their child's skill development, almost like a report card to a certain degree. But I'll let the team elaborate on some of the other things that we've
been using to measure student success. Great. I was going to say the same about passing and also attendance and and completion. I mean, that is huge. And oftentimes when they are virtual, they just stop
showing. Great. So that's going to be important okay. Thank you. And of course for special education the IEP is utilized for extended school year. And looking at the individual goals of students and the progression that they make with those goals.
Thank you, thank you and miss I'm sorry. Still title one for our title one schools. We have a pre and a post assessment that we give to students in the elementary grades. Miss Montoya.
Thank you so much. And this might be a question where you need to follow up. So I understand of the virtual courses taken in 2025. I'd like to know how many were health and tell me if I got the course
name wrong please. Doctor Taylor, Foundations of Computer Science or Foundations of Educational Technology, are those correct? Yes. Those are the three that we'll be offering virtually in 2026. Right. So I'd like to know the number of those. And this is
why I'm asking. I'm thinking of the program model, which we're going to have more conversations about. And I remember in looking at those models, there's what some could call some assumptions built into some of the ability for
students to engage with those programs. You took your world language in middle school, or health must be taken during summer because it's not shown on this planned out schedule for a student's high school program. And so what I'm
getting at is I'm wondering if charging for these courses creates an access problem to the programs in our program model, because taking those courses during the summer allows space, perhaps for this
additional elective in law and justice program or Stem program. Do you see where I'm coming from? Totally. And and I, I actually think you've stimulated some thought around what potential courses we could
offer in the future in terms of prerequisites that kids might want to explore and kind of knock out if they, you know, didn't quite meet the mark for something, but then might try for something in the future. I think that that's the importance of the the sliding
scale for fees. And I think that that absolutely comes into play and, and is something we should be relying on and looking at. And this is why it comes to the board, is for you to review and say, does this seem reasonable or not? Because
that's what I'm wondering. Also with the and let me just say, I think I've said several times in meetings before, I'm not the biggest fan of virtual courses. I think that creates problems for children otherwise. But I
do want to make sure that we're giving kids the opportunity to, like you said, knock out some of these courses that potentially could go okay online so that they can free up that space to take courses during the academic year. And
to then further avail themselves of some of the wonderful opportunities that we have. Yeah. Great idea, Miss Montoya. Miss Yang. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. I am very excited about the middle school program. I think that is a
great improvement. Now since it's the first time we hear about it, I'm wondering that this is not just it's not an easy program, right? No. Okay. So is it by invitation only or
is it by how do you select who can participate and how many do you envision we serve in your six different regions? We are going to be using data and we are going to be inviting
families. However, we will open it to all who are interested. So it's it's a it's a yes. And we will definitely be inviting families based on the where schools and looking at the central data say, we really
would strongly encourage you to be a part of this summer program, but we are also going to open it to all of our families. So that was my follow up question. So do you have a cap like in one region? Okay. Every region is to answer that question. It's a cap. Some
regions have, you know, like I'm just welcome. Welcome to Team Abundance, Miss Yang okay. We've been we've been saving a seat for you. We are we want to make sure that the doors for summer learning are kicked wide open. And in particular at the
middle school level, because there's more than enough room for for academic achievement improvement. But this also dovetails nicely with the philosophy driving some of the program recommendations that will bring forward to the board in terms of not having seat
maximums, but rather having seat minimums and really trying to launch programs and opportunities for for learning based on if we can make a section and if we can make a section, what's the next threshold for us to make another section? And if we can
make another section, what's the next threshold for us making a third or fourth or fifth and so forth and so on. So as as many students are interested, we want to to be able to fulfill that need and, and really kind of treat this like supply and demand and try to find that equilibrium of
meeting that demand with an adequate supply of great opportunities. That is wonderful news for our middle school students and families. Last question is going back to Miss Montoya mentioned there
are three courses for limited virtual for summer virtual option. Are those the only ones for virtual options? Yes, those would be the only offerings. Okay, so I, I used to work in high schools. I know a lot of
students use summer for credit recovery or or great, great replacement. Right. And and we also live in a county that's very diverse that people go away for extended amount of
times. How are we structuring courses? If you require families to be in person? I can see that can be some hardship for some families. So how are we scheduling? How many courses can they take in one summer,
one session? And if a course is session one and session B, you know, a semester, B semester all need to be retake in order to graduate. How does that work? I can see that this can create hardship for some families. I
do agree, as a parent of high schoolers who travel in the summer, I'm looking at a lot of different options. Currently, our students have access to online pathways to graduation to take courses for free. Currently. Now for semester two, we're enrolling actively. So I'm going to be taking
advantage of that for my own child to get health done during the spring so that it doesn't interrupt our travel. So we're hoping to maybe be informative to provide what's already happening now so that our families who do have the opportunity to travel, have an opportunity to take advantage
of current offerings that will not be a part of the five week summer program. So just one way to try to mitigate some of those things is taking advantage of some of the options we have. What we noticed as one of the contributing factors to not completing or low performance
was students were overextending themselves by taking so many different courses each session, last session. So now that they have, they can take one course, one session, another course, another session. The next session, they're able to have a deeper learning experience
during that time and render more success so that they're not overextending themselves. And they may be in sometimes not even intentionally, not following through with completion. Thank you for that answer. I know that some
pathways are not available online, so the fail data is 30% 30. So there are about 70% or 65% students who do pass who do pass. So who do complete who do
complete the the course. So I do I'm open to trying new ways, but I can see that this is a in a lot of sense that there is a big portion of population will
find this very limited option for summer. Thank you, Miss Yang. Mr. Silvestre. Thank you. Mr. Yeah, I can't do it. I
checked the budget spreadsheet and this is going to cost a 1,822,000 additional dollars. So that's still depending on what we get. But I take it this is a priority and we'll find the money somehow. We've done
summer school before. Right. So I was looking at our program evaluation also. So I hope that we are taking our learnings from our past experiences with summer school so that we're getting the biggest bang for the buck. The program
evaluation did show positive results for students that attended. So just remind us to make sure that we're looking at what we learned from that experience was great in visiting summer school programs in the past. I know attendance
can be an issue, so I hope that the four day week helps us to drive attendance. But if they're not in, if they're not coming regularly, then this is a lot of effort for not a lot of results. So. And
transportation will be provided to every student. Is that correct? Correct. Yes. Okay. And I know another best practice from for elementary school students is pairing our. Because our summer school only
goes until half a day midday. Can you remind me for our title one program? Yes, it's half a day, but this year we are making up for the one day. The four day week. We're extending
our day by an hour, so the day will be 5.5 hours. And I think what you might be getting to is if we have a compliment in the afternoon, you can read my mind. Yes. So we are working with the Department of Recreation, as we
do every year, to have selected sites with an extended time. We're also working with the cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg, and then some select community schools may
decide to use additional funds to extend their day as well. So there are options to make this a full day offering for many schools. And I think that that's has been shown to be a best practice in terms of attendance, so the kids can come and do their learning in
the morning and then do something work related in the afternoon, something fun. Otherwise, they'll go to basketball camp instead of coming to our summer school program. So thank you very much. Thank you. Look forward to it. I appreciate that we are. I
know, Miss Montoya, but I'm going to say what I before I forget because my brain's just now I forgot. Go ahead. Just that was that was that was short. I'm sorry, but if you do remember, please feel free to interrupt me. Sure. Go ahead. I
know that by and large, at the middle school and elementary school level, we're looking to provide support services for students. But I'm wondering if there's also an opportunity to provide and perhaps, I mean, at the middle school level, maybe
even for credit, the same way we have for high school students some sort of courses or enrichment. I personally have kids that don't like g to summer camp, but they need to do something. And so I'm just wondering if these are opportunities, especially for middle school. Again, with the regional program model in mind that, you know, I don't want my
child to choose between taking a language and an elective or various things. Yeah. She's right. No, you're right, there are kids who actually enjoy going to school, even if we like Mathnasium. I miss Mr.
First of all, I am super excited about the middle school program. Greatly needed and I was at one of the conferences and heard about another district that did something similar and they had really good results. So I'm looking
forward to see if we show positive results after our first year. I do want to point out that I was looking at slide four with the results, and in
person I just did a quick calculation. It looked like about 16% in person. Had no grade due to failure. Yes. And
then virtual had 27.35%. Okay. Yes. So anyway, I just, you know, looking forward to having more in person. But I also know that some kids can do virtual
as well. And so happy that the intro to tech courses will still be virtual, because so many do take it, because if they have a program, they don't have room to do it. And also, some of our kids want to take
Java. They don't want to take it. You know, they want to take principles of computer science. They want to take Java. And so they'll knock this out. And I would like to see what other courses are very popular done virtually, where maybe it
showed a better success rate. So if we can just see if there's any other courses that kids seem to be successful and that are popular to take in the summer, thank you. With that, if I remember, I will actually
write you ladies and I will ask my question and everybody else can do the same. So with that, thank you so much. Appreciate your presentation. Thank you for saying this late. Colleagues, that we have come to the end of our agenda. Hello.
Motion to adjourn. Motion, motion to adjourn. I second that. All those in favor? That's unanimous. We'll see you
all on January 22nd. Thank you
so much.