. Good afternoon everyone. Oh my gosh, we're so excited to see you today. Thank you so much for carving out just a little bit of your day to celebrate with us. We are starting something new this year that we haven't done before. For ages
and ages and ages and ages, the Board of Education has passed resolutions honoring and celebrating everything in Montgomery County. Special months. Special week. Special days. Special people. Special events. Special championships.
But we haven't really tied those to celebrations until this year. So we're very excited for you to be a part of some special recognitions and some celebrations. April is a very exciting month. It's a
month of profound reflection across the district. We're proud to celebrate during the week of April 19th through the 26th National Volunteer Week, where we recognize the dedicated organizations and individuals who selflessly make
contributions of their time and talents to serve as the vital heartbeat of M.c.p.s. We also celebrate during the week of April 24th through the 30th, which is this week National School Leadership Week, where
we celebrate and support our aspiring young leaders who are actively shaping the future of our community through their service, integrity and vision. And we also have some very special recognitions today because we have had a very
successful winter season, and we get to honor several state champions tonight. So to kick us off, it is my pleasure to introduce our board member, Julie Yang, who will begin this afternoon's presentations.
Julie. Good afternoon. So you are the highlight of our ten hour board meeting day. Okay, so let's savor this moment. Let's savor this moment. And good afternoon. I'm Julie Yang. Thank you for joining us for
such a meaningful event. And I'm honoring together with my colleagues, the volunteers. You know, we all talk about education being the team sport and and this is the spirit. The volunteers are such an
important part for us. Many of our board members, including Miss Wolff here, and I am excluding Miss Natalie. We started our journey with the school system, probably as a volunteer, as a parent or grandparent. And that's how we
started our journey with our school system. And here are two things in Montgomery County. Number one, in a few years, we will have more people 65 and
above than people 18 and under in Montgomery County. That's fact number one. So how do we as a society connect our generations? And another fact of Montgomery County is we have
an increasingly more demonstrated needs in our school systems. We all know we have over 40 or 45% of our students on farm. We have an increasing number of students that need. Services can benefit
of the wraparound services in our community. So one thing we keep thinking about and I think about is if this is a team sport, if you bring people in and when people see what
happened and can contribute, can connect when they understand and when they believe in what you do, you become strong partners in this work together to move us forward as a community. And one
of the organizations that's truly doing this meaningful work is empowering the ages. And they're sitting right here, and they are connecting these two populations together. And, and they are creating a
Montgomery County that where we all call this home and building this community together. Whether you have students in our system or not. So I want to highlight some of the wonderful people and the work they do.
Okay. So first, I want them to come up to the front. Okay. This organization, fantastic organization is led by Leah Bradley. Leah. Yes. All right. Okay. Okay. And they do this
work. They provide their their volunteers, their older adults are paired with students to provide mentorship, academic support, and meaningful connections. That impact can be felt across all of our schools, including Magruder High School,
which I see its principal sitting right there. And then how many Hugh Elementary School, Flower Hills Elementary School, a diamond elementary school principals right there where students not only benefit from
their help academically, but socially and emotionally. What this hasn't mentioned is I also know that they do financial literacy in our schools, and there are multiple schools in high schools that you do those classes. So thank you so much.
Now, I also want to highlight Principal Daniel Walter from Diamond Elementary School, with the record of more than 1400 hours of volunteer hours. Ooh.
And and the volunteer is Ulica Barrera lavada. Did I say that correct? Okay. Did I butcher that? Okay. Okay. And then also at Kensington Parkway Elementary School. Volunteer we want to highlight is Casey
Curry. It's Casey here. No, she cannot make it today. But she she is dynamite at at the Kensington Parkway now from Rockwood High School we have Sally Cameron. It's Sarah Sally
here. Okay. Okay. So and also Flower Valley Elementary School. We have viola linen. It's viola here. All right. Now here. All right. And then. So these are the people who have helped
enrich our students life support teachers and and the students. And then we have magruder's principal should come up, you know, and and I'm. And as a Flower Hill principal
and Harmony Hills, they are all here. Okay. The principals. Oh, Josh is right here. I didn't see you. Okay. That's Flower Hill and Harmony Hill, who's the principal of Harmony right there. Okay. All right. So come on up. Well, let's give them a
hearty round of applause. See? Oh, and then Gloria from the community school. So this is what it is. And okay, so Thomas and everyone. So this is what it is. I know I see other principal on the backs
sometimes. Truthfully, we understand it is more work for the administration and for the staff to when we have volunteers, right, you have to bring everybody on board. You have to coordinate with
everyone and show everyone the ropes in your classroom and in your school. So this is this is a joint effort. And we need to have a yes attitude to
collaboration because we know it enriches everyone's life on our campus. So thank you everyone. Do we need to do two
lines, two long? Okay. I'm sure that that was a good thing. One. Two. Three. Right here. Three.
Two. Thank you. And one more, one more. The best smile. Three, two. Okay. Thank you all. And
who better to present on National Student Leadership Week than our student member of the board, Anuva Malu. Okay. All right. I'm very excited for this week's celebration. So as
we celebrate National Student Leadership Week, I am honored to recognize the incredible student leaders across Montgomery County who serve as the heartbeat of our school community. This week is a powerful reflection of our Board of Education's core value of equity as we work to ensure that every student, regardless
of their background, has a platform to advocate for their peers and shape their own educational journey. Recognizing. Today we have my friends, Haley Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association president from Richard Montgomery High School. Please
come up here. Sandy, a senior from Rockville High School who is the administrator for two years of the special elections committee throughout Montgomery County. Krish, who is the first
vice president and a student at Poolesville High School for the Maryland Association of Student Councils. And finally, unfortunately, she cannot make it today. But Tracy, who is the
head of Students Fair as the vice president from Watkins Mill High School. Can we give them a huge round of applause? And a huge thanks to Miss Shella Cherry for leading our school district student
leadership programs. Miss rice for helping coordinate with many of our student section committees, and miss Dean, who I believe that I saw as well, who is the head of our Montgomery County Junior Council and so many other
student organizations. By stepping into leadership roles, my fellow students embody the value of excellence, proving that leadership isn't just about a title, it's about collaboration required to solve problems, and the respect shown
for the diverse hallways within our school system. To my peers, your courage to lead your commitment to service are not just preparing you for the future. They are making our schools better right now. Can we give them a huge round of applause? Okay. Photo time.
Photo time. Okay. You ready?
One. Two. Three. Three. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Vice president of the Board of Education, Brenda Wolff. Can I
get my eyes? So I don't know if you all have been following our meetings, but at this point, I've become quite the sports enthusiast. And today is my favorite kind of celebration.
Today, we take immense pride in celebrating our state championship athletic teams programs that didn't just win games but made history. Who knows? You know, my term is up in December and I am moving on to being a sportscaster. So
look for me. But today our athletic champions are something special. Some of them are even cementing legacy, bringing home the first ever state championship in any sport for their schools. So with that
being said, can I call all of our athletic champions, please? Come on up now. Well, yeah.
Well, I don't know. There's so many of you. You you get music. Yeah. Come on, come on, come on. Get the music going. We haven't got enough music together. Come
on, come on. Y'all gotta come in some. All right. Okay. We're
ready. Look at them. Don't they look great? Starting on the mats. Whitman coed wrestling went 17 to nothing and became three time state champions, dominating every bracket. They
stepped into Quince Orchard girls Wrestling made history with the first state title in program history, powered by a 21 second championship pin from Amira Abbey. I don't want to
mess up your name, Abbey. Abbadessa good. In a moment, they'll never forget. On the court, Whitman girls basketball went undefeated, sharing the ball, setting assists, records and showing what true team
basketball looks like. You go, girls. And Blake boys. Now you know Blake is in district five, which I represent. Blake boys
basketball broke through to win the school's first ever state championship in any sport. Finishing? Yep. Finishing 25 to 1 in delivering when it
mattered most. Leaving a legacy at their school to be standing right here, you all truly have to have the eye of the tiger because you didn't just compete. You wrestled for every point, passed for every bucket, and
fought for every possession. You didn't wait for moments. You made them. Congratulations to all of our champions. You didn't just make history. You said it. All right, come on. We
gotta try to figure out how to get all of us in one picture frame. To stand on top. So you think you're going to have the triple row here? Some kind of way nice and tight. Come on, I'm coming. I'm just trying to get our board tight like y'all
go to school together. Grace, can we actually can we get the younger ones here? And then you guys are all young. You have good news. Get on your knees up here. All right? Okay. We all need them. We all need them
more. We're going to stand down there. If I get down on my knees. Exactly, exactly. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody.
Sorry. Coaches. Coaches back here. Oh, okay. Well, behind them to find them. Right behind them. This way, this way. We're
staying with you adults. We're not gonna. No. Come on in here. Oh. All right, the first person. Now we're going in front of the table here. In the front. Yeah, exactly. It's exciting. It's
like a dance. Yeah, right. Yeah,
yeah. It's just. On three. Champion. Ready? One. Two. Three. No, I. Becky. 123. Go!
Okay. On three. M.C.P.S. champions. Okay. One. Two three. Champions again. Another one, another one. Three. Two one.
Champions. Thank you guys. Thank you Doctor Taylor. Hey
thank you guys for coming. We appreciate you student athletes for coming. Parents thank you for driving. And thank you for being a part of our celebrations today. Our board
meeting will start momentarily. Good afternoon. Buenas tardes
and welcome to the April 30th, 2026 Board business meeting. Welcome to our board members, M.c.p.s staff and members of our community who are joining us here today. And to those who are watching this meeting via live stream, like my mom, Graciela. Hola, mommy. Let us
begin, please, by standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. The flag is in the back. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. I'm now going to ask my colleagues to please introduce themselves. I'm going to start on my right. Good afternoon. Laura Stewart here from district four. Good afternoon.
Buenas tardes. Carla Silvestre school board member at large. Julie Yang, district three. Great to see everyone. Good afternoon. Brenda Wolff, district five. Good afternoon, Natalie Zimmerman. I represent district two. Good afternoon. A
student member. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Motion. Second, there is a motion and a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. And it
passes. Thank you very much, colleagues. Moving on to a really great part of the agenda that makes me smile. Okay, so this is appointments and Doctor Taylor, take it away. Thank you, Madam President. Tis the season.
We are beginning our annual sojourn to appoint outstanding administrators to serve Montgomery County and our school system. And I am so excited to make several introductions for the board's consideration today. When I call your name, if you could
please stand while I say some wonderful things about you and the board considers your appointment, they'll vote and we'll all get a chance to applaud and welcome our fantastic new leaders to the school system. First for consideration is Mr. Donald J. Conolly, director for the position of director in the
Department of Planning and Construction and the Division of Facilities Management. Joining him today are his parents, his wife and his two sons. Mr. Conolly, affectionately known as DJ to all of us, has been employed
with M.C.P.S. for 18 years as a substitute, a Paraeducator Resource conservation assistant planner, senior planner, team leader and most recently as the Acting Director of the Department of Planning and
Construction. He is looking forward to working closely with staff, students and school community partners to ensure that we provide a safe, high quality learning environment that is centered around student success and those who have gotten a chance to know Mr.
Conolly very well. He is intimately involved in our capital improvements plan development. Prior to beginning his career, he spent 13 years with M.c.p.s as a student attending Waters Landing Elementary School doctor Martin Luther King Jr Middle School
and Seneca Valley High School. Shout outs to his friends, coworkers, nieces, nephews, in-laws and outlaws who are watching online. Motion to approve. Second, there is a
motion. Sorry, there is a motion and a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. DJ. Congratulations. Congratulations. Doctor Taylor,
can I just add that he has little DJ one and little DJ two behind him? They're adorable. Yes. And the facilities squad is well represented with a cheering section today. Next for consideration is Doctor Augustine Kang for the position
of Supervisor of Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Environmental Education in the Department of Teaching and Academic Programs in the Division of Teaching and Learning. Joining him today is his amazing wife, Susan and Doctor Joshua Fine, his principal at Flower Hill Elementary School. Doctor Kang
has been employed with M.C.P.S. for 20 years as a teacher, science content specialist and most recently as the assistant principal at Flower Hill Elementary School. He looks forward to joining the outdoor education team to help elevate student and community
understanding of our impact on the environment and to help create current and future environmental stewards. Shout outs to Doctor Fine for guiding and developing him through his leadership journey at the Hill. Motion to approve. Second.
There is a motion to approve in a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That is unanimous. Congratulations, doctor Kim. I think the
facility team also cheered for this one. Yeah, how about that? That's it. Should be. We've got another doctor in the house. Next for consideration is a familiar face and an award winning leader. Oh. Next for consideration is another doctor
in the house and a familiar face to us. She is an award winning leader in the school system, doctor Lafayette Howard for the position of principal at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. Joining her today is her husband, Jermaine, her daughters Dakota and Brooklyn,
and Mr. John Taylor, her principal at Winston Churchill High School. Doctor Howard has been employed with M.C.P.S. for 24 years as a teacher, content specialist, staff development teacher and most recently as an assistant principal at Winston
Churchill High School. She is also the current Maryland Assistant Principal of the year for the entire state. She looks forward to joining the team at BCC and the Bethesda Chevy
Chase school community, and is committed to leading with vision, equity and excellence to support the growth and achievement of all students. Motion to approve. Second. There is a motion and a second. All those in favor, please
raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Congratulations, Doctor Howard. Congratulations. Right down the street from Doctor Lafayette. Howard's new
school is Miss Michelle Acima for the position of principal at Westbrook Elementary School. Joining her today is her mother, Irene, brother Michael and partner Joshua Reynolds. Miss Emma has been with M.C.P.S. for
15 years as a teacher, academic, interventionist, teacher, reading specialist and assistant principal, a coordinator, a principal intern and most recently as the acting principal at Westbrook Elementary School. She looks forward to continuing her work
with her amazing staff, families and students who consistently come together to create a positive impact on the lives of others and to ensure that every student in the Westbrook community receives the experience grounded in excellence, inclusion, and joy.
Shout outs to her principal developers and mentors, her wonderful director, Doctor Zarkin, and the Asomugha and Reynolds families in New York, along with her friends and family across the United States
and Nigeria. Motion to approve. Second. There is a motion and a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Congratulations, Mrs. Emma,
congratulations. And our last appointment for consideration today is Miss Diana Hayden for the position of principal at Takoma Park Elementary School. Joining her today is her husband, Roy Pittman. Her
daughter, Alicia Nash, her sisters, April Fennell and Quita Lockman Lockerman, her brother, Nicholas Fennell and her mother, Yolanda Hayden. Miss Hayden has been employed with M.c.p.s. For four years as an assistant principal and most recently a principal intern at
Takoma Park Elementary School. Maybe you're noticing a pattern, everybody. She is honored to continue her leadership journey as a Takoma Park dolphin and looks forward to to supporting the growth and success of her
school community. Shout outs to her sisters and to her son Antoine, who is watching from Atlanta. Special gratitude goes to the Highland View family that raised her, specifically Hannah Yim, Kelly, Mo and
Jasmine, and to her new family at Takoma Park Elementary School. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion, a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous.
Congratulations, Miss Hayden. Thank you, Madam President. This concludes administrative appointments for this meeting. Thank you so much, Doctor Taylor. As our folks move out
of the room, we're going to start our part of public comments. And if there are any members from our association, if they'd like to come forward, now would be the time. Okay.
Seeing none. Public comments is one of our opportunities to hear the views and receive the advice of community members. Board members will take your comments into consideration, but it is not our practice to take action at this time on
issues that are raised. We encourage public input on policy, program and practices. This is not the proper avenue to address specific student or employee matters, so we encourage everyone to utilize existing avenues of redress for
complaints. This is a public meeting and we expect 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 comments may be asked to leave the room. Please check our website for information about upcoming board meetings, hearings and work sessions, including any changes to our meeting start times. We have 15
people signed up to provide in person testimony. Each speaker will receive two minutes for comments. When your name is called, please approach the table. Speak clearly and directly into the microphone. Identify yourself and then 30s
prior to the expiration of a speaker's time, a yellow light will go on accompanied by a beep. A red light and a buzzer signals that your time has expired. Please push the button below the microphone to turn it on and begin speaking. Push the
button once more at the sound of the buzzer to turn it off. In addition to our in person speakers, today, we will have two people signed up to provide video and audio testimony. We will play the submissions once the in person testimonies have concluded. Copy of the testimonies can be found on
board docks where they are posted with the other materials of the meeting. We also have two additional speakers, I believe, and those will be called at the end of the video testimony. With that, I'm going to call your name. So please
come up to the table. Alana Applebaum, Aaron Atkinson. Emily Wang, Ethan Vadgama,
Julie Daniel and Danielle Ortiz. So we have two folks missing. So let me take is Alana
Applebaum here? There you are. Thank you. Is Aaron Atkinson here? Hello. Is Hanlin Wang? No. Ethan. Vadgama. Hello, Ethan.
Julie. Daniel. Okay. And Daniel Ortiz is not here, I guess. Okay, so those are the folks. All right, miss Alana, if you can start, please. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Alana Applebaum, and I am a junior at Walt Whitman
High School and a member of the M.C.P.S. Student Climate Action Council. We are an M.C.P.S. sanctioned group of 18 council members and over 180 ambassadors working to advance sustainability initiatives and create a greener school system. In the three years since our inception, we've successfully
held town halls attended by over 150 students to gather input on student priorities, consulted student athletes, experts and government officials in writing a report recommending against the implementation of artificial turfs and constructed a comprehensive climate change action plan to hold M.c.p.s
accountable to its greenhouse gasmissions reduction goals. We would like to thank the board for allocating the CAC funding in the tentatively adopted operating budget for next school year. We plan to use these resources to launch student sustainability grants, which would allow students to carry out environmental
initiatives at their schools. We are also currently organizing a Student Sustainability Summit for May of this year to educate students on local environmental issues and connect them with ways to get involved, but we've had to limit its scope to our complete lack of funding this year, and this is the only event we're able to hold. We
urge the board to retain the position in next year's operating budget when it passes in June. The more funding that's designated to the council, the more student projects will be able to fund, and the more events will be able to plan to gather student input and spread awareness on local environmental issues. We've already proven our
effectiveness and efficiency, and we just need the resources to expand our impact. We also ask that this funding be annual and renewable, with the ability to partially carry over between fiscal years to support multi-phase project development and ensure continuity in programing. Thank you so much
for your inclusion of the CAC and the proposed budget and for your time today. Thank you so much, Miss Heron. Good afternoon, Doctor Taylor and members of the board. My name is Erin Atkinson and I am here testifying as to why regional magnet programs are not the
right solution to inequity in M.c.p.s. And in fact, only create more. Implementing a regional model for magnet programs would water down our current competitive programs, create something that M.c.p.s doesn't have the funds or resources to do in the proposed time period, and widen the
educational gap between zip codes and economic status. I'm a freshman in Richard Montgomery's IB program. To say that the program has changed my academic life is an understatement. Not only that, but the program has introduced me to so many like minded
German students across the county who encouraged me to become the best version of myself. However, if I had been just two years younger, this opportunity would be taken from me. I would be going to the region one magnet school. The county will be widening the
selection pool to 80 plus percentile and map. Watering down the programs and losing the competitive advanced rigor of our current magnet programs. Additionally, the level of teachers and classes will not compare to our current magnet programs at R M, Blair and
Poolesville. On top of that, adding 96 new programs throughout M.c.p.s and overseeing them all is simply unachievable. The change would cost at least $3.6 million in the first year of implementation, putting a
microscopic two year time limit without thoroughly planning or disclosing. Staffing. Funding and oversight means that each individual program will be left in the dark. The proposed model shifts a noble purpose of achieving equity in M.c.p.s. But does the opposite. There is
no proof that the model would significantly increase diversity, especially when limiting. Right now, M.c.p.s. High schools give students the free opportunity to attend high level magnet programs without paying, and give them a high quality education. Of course,
equity should be sought. Thank you. I still had a couple seconds. Okay, while this testimony might not change the outcome, please note that when student and community voices are left behind in your policies, we will continue to speak out. Thank you. Thank you
very much. Mr. Sean. Go ahead. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Board of Education members. My name is Ishaan and I'm a freshman at Richard Montgomery High School. I'm speaking today regarding the decision to
replace countywide magnet access with six regional magnet programs. For years, the Richard Montgomery IB program has brought together students from across Montgomery County. It created an environment where students from different neighborhoods, backgrounds, and perspectives learned together. Under this plan, many students
who are willing and qualified to attend Richard Montgomery will no longer have that chance simply because of where they live. The regional IB model has already been tested in Montgomery County. Seven years ago. M.c.p.s. Launched three regional IB programs today. All three are Under-enrolled. The
worst performing had only a 24% IB passing rate in 2024, while Richard Montgomery had a 99%. This doesn't show a minor gap, but emphasizes the failure of execution and the effects it had on real students. The public sees this. The
Washington Post reported that the IB program lacked resources and experienced teachers to replicate arms results. The teachers union called this approach the illusion of equity without real equity, basically saying programs created in name only. Now, instead of fixing what has failed, this board has
voted to repeat the same model six times simultaneously, with no public budget and no public staffing plan released today. Making arm regional means students across this county who are willing to travel, willing to work, and willing to compete for a spot, simply cannot
anymore. This is not expanding access that is restricting it. No student who comes after me should have to settle for a lesser program because of their zip code. I asked this board to pause implementation, release a full public plan, and meaningfully involve students,
families, and educators before moving forward. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Julie. Daniel. Good afternoon, Doctor Taylor and members of the board. My name is Julie Daniel and I'm a freshman at Richard Montgomery High School. This new decision regarding the implementation of
a regional model will significantly harm students and the county overall, because it weakens academic excellence in current programs, limits social interactions and sharing of perspectives between students, and is a principally premature and poorly planned execution. The current program, such as the Richard Montgomery IB
Magnet Program, which I attend, have been built and improved over several decades, curated with the best staff and curriculum to best meet the needs of high rigor IB students. Dismantling this program would not only undo years of hard work, but it would also diminish the high academic standards and performance in
Richard Montgomery and other competitive programs, such as the Poolesville Stem program. For example, Richard Montgomery students averaged 1350 on the SATs and an average of 31 on the acts, while Kennedy students average a 1060 and an act of 21. Bridging this
resource, staffing and educational gap cannot be done six times over in just two years. In seven weeks, I will finish my first year of the IB magnet program. I've met some of my closest friends from across the county through the program, and it's truly changed my outlook on academics and the real world. My classmates have
willingly left their home schools for better opportunities and challenges. That's what this program is worth to them. Why should we take this opportunity away from students who are willing to go the distance, especially when the regional programs are simply not equal? Additionally, this program is only effective in theory and will remain that way until data is given and
plans are made concrete. Many students within the IB program right now had no idea this was happening, and many were not asked for their input. Neither were parents. This plan has not been communicated or decided upon with the very people it impacts. No public budget has been released, nor has the
staffing plan. And so my question to you is, how will you manage all six openings and keep the programs running equally when it's never worked before? The bottom line is the new regional plan significantly undermines the hard work invested in our current programs and limits student opportunity to grow from diverse perspectives. Moreover,
this plan is poorly conceived and lacks the necessary data and planning regarding staff, students, and parents, which is simply unacceptable. Your time is up, sweetheart. Thank you. But we do have your testimony. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate you
coming. Thank you. We're going to be calling the next six speakers. If you hear your name, please come up to the table. Sandy. Lunk, Elise Berndt,
Narissa Johnson. Emily April, Regan Kelly and Karen McMillan.
Okay. If we can start with Miss Lank, please. Good afternoon. Members of the Board of Education and Doctor Taylor. My name is Sandy long, and I'm an eighth grade student at Shady Grove Middle School and an upcoming student in the Richard Montgomery IB program. A few
weeks ago, I asked a simple question regarding the regional magnet programs. How much will this new regional magnet plan cost? I was told there would be no additional cost, but respectfully, that does not reflect reality. Hiring specialized teachers, building new programs and launching six
magnets at once require significant investment. If M.c.p.s is already facing funding challenges, how can we ensure these programs will match the quality of what already exists? I completely support the goal of equity. It is undeniable that students across this county do not at all have the same access to the
same opportunities, but equity is not achieved. By removing access to successful programs, we should instead expand opportunities in underserved areas while maintaining what already works for students. Right now, this plan replaces a system that works with one that is unproven on a very short
timeline. Without a clear public plan for staffing, funding or implementation. Seven years ago, regional IB programs were added for the same goal. Those programs have struggled to achieve the same success as MMB due to staffing and funding issues. So I ask, what is different about this
time? As students, we can see the gaps that will only deepen if we move forward without adequate resources. We keep hearing this is a process, but a real process means providing a clear plan for students, teachers and parents alike. Since this plan is already approved, I ask establish measurable standards to ensure
that every program meets the same level of rigor and opportunity. Slow down and make sure this is done right. I know you've heard hundreds of student voices on this issue, but I ask, please take these words to heart. If we get this wrong, we risk deepening the inequities on a larger scale.
But if we get it right, we have the opportunity to truly strengthen education in this county. Thank you. Thank you so much, Miss Elise. Burnt. Good afternoon, members of the board and Doctor Taylor. My name is Alice Bear and I'm a ninth grader enrolled in the IB
program at Richard Montgomery High School. I'm here in direct opposition to the M.C.P.S. Regional Magnet program. Change. The IB program at Richard Montgomery has truly changed my life. I've met the most academically driven students, and their influence has made me
strive for a brighter future. Implementation of multiple regional magnet programs in M.c.p.s. Will drastically reduce the competitiveness and prestige of the program, therefore discouraging students from participating. The competitive countywide magnet programs are replicable, and
the level of excellence at these schools cannot be achieved in two years. With current funding, staffing and other issues surrounding the boundary study, equity and accessibility is fundamental to the success of M.c.p.s. However, this assigned regional magnet program is not the way to
achieve it. Richard Montgomery has been a competitive countywide IB program for decades, and regional M.c.p.s magnet programs dilute the excellence and high level of education embedded into these schools. Furthermore, there is no reliable, effective plan to implement the proposed changes
that has been publicly disclosed. It's unfeasible to replicate the high level of education that students receive at county wide magnet programs multiple times over. This decision to completely uproot the magnet program was a decision made for students, but
not with students. M.c.p.s prides itself on student involvement and listening to student concerns, but this decision completely demolishes all student insight and involvement. I know that this decision is irreversible, but I hope that in the future, the board is able to truly take
into account students perspectives. It's more than unfortunate that younger generations will not get the same opportunity that I was given. Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony, Miss Johnson. Good afternoon, members of the board and Doctor Taylor. My name is Narissa
Johnson and I am a longtime DCC parent. I'm here today to urge the board to support adopting the Amplify Desmos math curriculum for our K through eight students. With 18 years under my belt and as an M.c.p.s parent and seven more years to go, I'm here because I feel obligated to ensure that no
student has to deal with negative learning experiences that are the result of subpar curriculum. So why select amplify? It stands out in the way it's designed, especially in how the curriculum engages students in real thinking. Students aren't just memorizing procedures, they're explaining,
discussing, and making sense of math together. That kind of learning builds confidence and lasting understanding. As a parent, I appreciate a well-designed curriculum that promotes deep understanding and makes math seem fun and approachable. Just as importantly, amplify is designed to support all learners, including
multilingual learners, the visuals, structured discourse, and multiple entry points make math more accessible, not less. As an Im based curriculum, this makes extensive use of teachers existing experience and leverages best practices. As a parent, I support a curriculum that promotes accessibility.
That said, having a strong curriculum alone isn't enough. Successful implementation will require more than a day dedicated to teacher and leader training. In all new materials, teacher support must be continuous, and an appropriate amount of time must be allowed for planning. Ongoing progress
monitoring is also vital. Finally, there needs to be commitment to minimizing the variability in how a curriculum is implemented and taught at every school in our district. As a parent, I support what it takes to ensure that the curriculum is implemented successfully. If we adopt, amplify, and invest in
implementation, we have a real opportunity to significantly improve math outcomes for all students. As a parent, I support the selection of a high quality and thoughtful math curriculum that leads to significant gains in student achievement. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Good afternoon,
members of the board and Doctor Taylor. My name is Emily Apple, and I'm a parent of two elementary school students in the Clarksburg cluster. Professionally, I support districts and states with curriculum adoption and implementation, and I'm here to support the adoption of amplify Desmos math, both because it's a strong curriculum and because
we need to be clear about what it will take to implement it well. Amplify is a strong, coherent choice. It builds conceptual understanding and creates meaningful opportunities for students to think and talk about math. It also supports better special education students and multilingual learners through
visuals, structured discourse, and multiple entry points into the content. But we've also been here before. M.c.p.s. Has adopted new materials with strong intentions, but has struggled with implementation that didn't match the decisions. Ambition. We cannot repeat that pattern. A one day training for
teachers across K eight is simply not enough for a shift of this magnitude. Teachers need real time for unit level planning, working through the math, understanding the progression of ideas, and preparing for how students will engage with tasks they need to deepen their opportunities to
rehearse lessons, build confidence to facilitate discussion, discussion based classrooms with other teachers and content specialists. Leaders also need support. They need clarity on what strong implementation looks like, as well as the ability to observe classrooms, provide targeted
feedback, and support teachers in using the materials with both fidelity and integrity. At the system level, we need to be more proactive. We cannot wait a year or more to understand what's working or what's not. There must be ongoing progress monitoring not just of student
outcomes, but of implementation across classrooms, because even the strongest curriculum will not improve outcomes if it's not implemented well. We don't have a math curriculum problem in M.c.p.s. We have an implementation problem, and it's our opportunity to get that right. Amplify is a strong
choice. My ask is really simple move forward with adoption, but pair it with a clear, well resourced and accountable implementation plan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Powell. Miss Kelly, good afternoon. My name is Regan Kelly and I'm speaking on behalf of the MCPs PTA
Curriculum Committee. I'm a parent of two M.C.P.S. students, and I also work professionally with districts across the country on curriculum implementation, instructional coherence, and instructional improvement. I want to start by clearly stating amplify Desmos is the right decision. These math materials reflect what the research base tells us matters
a coherent progression of ideas, consistent engagement in reasoning and problem solving, and supports embedded directly into lessons to reach all students and give them access to grade level math. That matters. Because curriculum is not just a resource, it sets the floor of instruction across the system. And when that floor is strong and coherent and
level, we reduce the variability too many students experience in M.c.p.s from classroom to classroom and from school to school. But I want to be equally clear about something else. Selecting a strong curriculum is necessary, but it is not sufficient. With this vote tonight, we are not solving a curriculum problem. We are creating an opportunity
to solve or preempt an implementation problem. And we have many lessons learned from recent curriculum rollouts. The current plan includes a day of training this summer for teachers and leaders. I appreciate that leaders are learning alongside teachers. That really matters. But one day of training is not a strategy for implementation for
teachers. If we want different results in math, we need a different kind of support. Teachers need ongoing job embedded support to use these materials with integrity. Who will provide that when given that elementary leaders are limited to only two hours of supported planning per month,
when will the teachers do that? Planning school leaders need support and accountability, so they learn to observe, coach and build teacher practice aligned to their curriculum, not just manage schedules. When will that leader development happen and how will it be sustained? And the system must align around the curriculum as
a shared definition of grade level instruction and monitor how it's used, who will ensure that alignment and use implementation data to drive support? You're making a strong choice tonight. The question is whether our system is prepared to deliver on it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kelly. Mr. McMillan, good afternoon. My
name is Karen McMillan. I'm a parent of two elementary M.C.P.S. students. I'm a former math teacher, and I've spent the last ten years supporting teachers and school leaders across the country to adopt and implement math HQ. I am I'm here to speak in strong support
of adopting the amplify Desmos math curriculum. I want to start by acknowledging that M.c.p.s. Is already starting from a strong curriculum position. Eureka math and illustrative Math are both coherent, standards aligned curricula. They've set instructional foundation for
M.C.P.S. What makes Amplify Worth the transition is its design amplifies originally based on illustrative math, which should significantly support the transition for middle school students. Lessons are structured so that students are intentionally invited to
bring their own thinking. First lesson content is thought provoking and challenging, asking students to grapple with novel problems in ways that affirm that every student has something mathematical worth saying. In the end, students are positioned as contributors
to and creators of math conversations. Teachers have access to clear guidance on what student actions to look for, matched with usable suggestions for how to support, strengthen, and stretch student understanding. They are set up to establish true student
centered environments. All this, said, the board should also know that curriculum adoption is a multiyear journey, and the vote to adopt amplify is just the beginning. I encourage the board to start asking how M.c.p.s. Will support teachers and school leaders through
implementation. A curriculum as strong as amplify can only deliver on its potential. When the adults closest to students understand it deeply and have the time and coaching to use it well, I urge the board to move forward and to invest in that
implementation from day one. Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. I will be calling the next six speakers, if I can have Angela Chairman Greg Shaner. Karen Hamel, Rudy
Kadish, and I'm also going to call the two additional walking slots that we had room for Shivani Mishra and Rodney. I think it's peel. If we can
start with Miss Angela. Chairman, please. Good afternoon. I'm here to ask that you vote for building snow makeup days into spring break rather than starting the school year on August 20th. This decision was raised in mid-April. For months from August 20th, starting the
school year early may make sense. In future years, it may have made sense to change a few months ago, but it does not make sense to change now. Many families have already made plans for that week. Families may have trips planned. Other working parents, such as myself, already have camps planned for that week. That week in particular, has very few camps
available compared to other weeks. If school starts early, parents may have to choose to forego two days of the plans they likely made months ago. I hope the board does not assume that most parents in the county have the flexibility to make those changes easily. By contrast, building in snow
makeup days for spring break is not an unusual option. School districts nationwide do this and have for years, and by adding it to the calendar approximately one year in advance. This gives teachers, staff and parents time to plan on those few days potentially being used as snow makeup days. Even if a day or two is added
to winter break, that's still better advance notice than changing the August calendar around. This is unfortunately reminiscent of the recent boundary study decision, where the disfavored but recommended option was raised with a very short turnaround. The concerns raised by many Wooten and Magruder parents there in the
short time available, remain unresolved. Today's decision, thankfully, has a much more limited impact. It does not affect stability in the county as it relates to accounting for projected growth or safety as it relates to transportation studies or the lack thereof. I hope that today's decision
takes into account the survey results and other community input provided in the limited time available, and is backed by transparent rationale. Please vote to build a makeup date to spring break and not for an earlier start to the school year. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If we can go
to Mr. Greg Shaner, please. Good afternoon. My name is Greg Shaner. I'm the father of a current Walter Johnson High School gymnast and a fifth grader who hopes to be a high school gymnast three years from now. I'm here today to plead
with the board to reverse the decision to discontinue girls gymnastics. I played varsity tennis at Winston Churchill High School in the mid 80s, which was the best thing that happened to me at that age. If that was suddenly taken away from me out of the blue, I
would have been crushed. I desperately want to avoid that happening to my two girls and to her teammates, other county athletes and their coaches. I hate to say it, but we're here at this point because decisions were made early in the process in a unilateral way that lacked
transparency. It should be obvious to M.c.p.s athletics that gymnastics is an established sport with consistently increasing participation, solid infrastructure in place and overwhelming support. To me, it looks like eliminating
gymnastics was a predetermined outcome. The athletes, coaches and parents, those most affected by this were blindsided by the decision. Instead of jumping to the most extreme option, I think it makes sense to put our heads together to figure out what other options exist in a fair,
open and inclusive process. Furthermore, the decision to replace the decades long M.C.P.S. gymnastics program with stunt cheerleading is baffling and adding further insult. At a minimum, both should be able to coexist. If that's not possible, then
gymnastics should be reinstated. At that point, there can be a robust, stakeholder focused process put in place to openly debate the merits of stunt cheerleading. Continuing past its pilot season. I appreciate the board listening to me and the many others who have reached out to you. I hope the
board takes immediate action to reinstate girls gymnastics. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Skinner. Now we'll hear testimony from Miss Karen, and her testimony will be read by Miss Rudy. Katie. Katie. Thank
you. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, members of the Board of Education. And thank you for your time. My name is Rudy Kadish, and I'm here presenting in English the testimony of Karen Hamel, who speaks on behalf of the Community Aftercare program. We're here to request that you reinstate a
reliable transportation partnership partnership with M.C.P.S. and the community. We are here as M.c.p.s partners who share the same goal, giving our children the strongest possible education. Educational Foundation mode is much more than aftercare. It is education
that strengthens identity, builds confidence and cultivates youth leadership. Our families commit to this program for years. For over a decade, our partnership with M.C.P.S. Transportation made this possible, bringing students from over 20 Montgomery County Public
Schools to our sites and allowing us to serve over 100 families annually. When Ed was founded, M.c.p.s Transportation operated with a strong community partnership mindset, working creatively to make transportation accessible through rerouted busses and
shared routes. For example, existing busses were rerouted to add a stop at a school with more kids or a bus already stopping at a school with more students would transport them to Moorhead. In recent years, that approach has changed. Last July, we were told M.c.p.s. Is
no longer required to provide busses to promote programs like ours. The statement took us by surprise. This transportation arrangement was never a requirement, but rather a revenue generating service for which we paid and which served the broader community. Since
then, our requests have been routinely denied, even when busses already stop at our locations and have available space, the impact on our families has been significant. This is this is about equity. Without M.c.p.s transportation,
only families with substantial resources can participate. As it stands, we are now facing the decision to close one of our sites for the 2020 627 school year. We are asking M.c.p.s to reinstate. Sorry
your time is up, but we have your testimony. Thank you somucw go to Miss Kayla. Dare we have. Oh that's video. You're right baby girl. Thank you so much.
How about we go to you and give me your name? Yeah. Go ahead. Greetings, members of the board and Doctor Taylor. My name is Shivani Mishra and I'm a freshman at Richard Montgomery, who, alongside so many other brave students today, strongly
opposes your magnet decision. I want to start with a series of questions. Do you truly think this decision will serve the best interests of students? If that answer is yes, then why do most of them not know about it? Why is there no public disclosure of how you'll bridge
so many gaps in two years? What will 2027 be like for juniors in R MIB versus the freshman guinea pigs entering? How will the admissions process work? Richard Montgomery will be in region for cluster with Churchill Wootton and Rockville High School. Doesn't this mean
Julius West students will have an unfair advantage? And how is this equity? Will teachers have to rapidly move across the county? What will the metrics of success be at each program, and can you guarantee the same level of rigor and reward to students at regional magnets,
compared to one that's taken for decades to become this successful nationwide? And are you going to say it's fair to split siblings and that my sister in seventh grade won't have the opportunity to make countywide friends like I did? And finally, isn't the fact that there are so many
unanswered questions alarming where you could have kept R MIB as an option until gradually building up regional programs to the same level, and where you could have spent time funding enrichment programs, you disrupted what worked and reversed the very opportunity, equity and diversity this
county touts. I understand your intentions, but you must heavily improve their execution. It is a privilege to have this speaking opportunity today, which is why you must not let us go. Ignore the minute we exit these doors. Please do better, M.c.p.s. Our county's future depends on it. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Rodney Peele. Thanks. And I agree with the rich Montgomery students here. But today, again, I'm Rodney Peele. I'm here to testify about a letter I submitted with other rich Montgomery parents about
compacted math this afternoon, as well as the information I've received from the MCPs, PTA, Gifted Education Committee, math curriculum and delivery of compacted math are topics that have long interested me. Since I've been involved with PTA advocacy, we strongly support
M.c.p.s. Adoption of the amplified Desmos math, which is based on illustrative mathematics. We think this is a high quality curriculum that builds on deep understanding and reasoning. If it's implemented well with strong professional development and ongoing support, it has the potential to improve math outcomes. But for students who
are ready to learn at a faster pace and move beyond grade level standards, a strong curriculum by itself is not enough. It's. It's essential that M.c.p.s. Maintain compacted math beginning in fourth grade next year, and the following year. Acceleration options should begin in third
grade in line with new math acceleration guidance from MSD. As a reminder, Maryland law requires a continuum of gifted education services from pre-K through 12th grade and M.c.p.s. Board policy states that all students who are capable of doing so will be given the
opportunity to work above grade level. The new state guidance requires access to enrichment and acceleration as appropriate, and this includes annual evaluation for acceleration, readiness and automatic acceleration for students at the highest proficiency level. Despite M.C.P.S. claims,
families continue to consistently report that there's very little meaningful enrichment in grade level math. M.c.p.s will need to develop enrichment materials beyond what's offered in amplify, and provide coaching support and oversight for teachers. Going forward, the school system must provide a strong on grade level curriculum enrichment for
students who are ready to work more deeply with grade level content and access to acceleration for students who are ready to move beyond grade level standards beginning in the third grade. Thank you. Thank you so much. If we can, please have staff now go to video testimony that would
include Miss Kaya. And Andrea Caruthers. Good afternoon, members of the board and Doctor Taylor. My name is Kayla and I'm a freshman at Richard Montgomery High School. I'm speaking today because one of the many schools that are losing access to the AR MIB
program is Walter Johnson High School, my home school. It's crazy to think that if I'd been born just two years later, I would have fully lost access to one of the most established programs in the county. Aram hosted the first IB diploma program in M.C.P.S. as of 1987,
it's had decades to develop its curriculum, train experienced teachers and establish stronger resources things that the newer programs haven't yet had the time to create. This difference is reflected in the IB exam outcomes across the county, at 99% of students pass the IB
exam with a score of four or higher, whereas in one of the regionalized programs, 24% of students passed. At this rate. Regionalizing access to inexperienced magnets means students are no longer choosing between equal opportunities, and are instead being assigned to programs that will not offer the same level of outcomes.
Creating six brand new programs in such a short time span was projecting the inequality already being displayed on a larger scale. Beyond academics, ALM IB is also about the community it builds. The program brings together students from across the county, offering a range of
perspectives that extends beyond our local communities by shifting to more regionalized programs. The students that would have given you perspectives are limited by the location of their home. As a result, all the programs will become smaller, less diverse and limited, destroying the learning environment that our
students thrive off of. Expanding programs should mean expanding equal opportunities. However, right now this plan looks like it's about to do the opposite. The fact that so many students don't even know about these changes shows the lack of transparency and thorough consideration when making it. If these programs are truly
meant to benefit us, the students stop making decisions for us and start making them with us. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Andrea Caruthers Wilkerson, and I'm a parent at Rock Creek Forest Elementary, where I also serve as the NAACP
Parent Council's representative. And I'm also a parent at Chevy Chase elementary. I am also a 23 year veteran educator, having taught third through fifth grade and seventh grade math, and I've served both as a principal and district leader.
I am here in strong support of adopting the amplified Desmos math. I support this curriculum as both a parent and an educator because it builds deep mathematical understanding. Students are not just learning procedures, they are learning reason, explaining their
thinking, and engaging in meaningful mathematical discourse. Amplify offers engaging, problem based lessons that use visual models, real world contexts, digital tools, and hands on manipulatives to strengthen conceptual
understanding. Importantly, this curriculum is especially strong for black students and multilingual learners. It provides multiple entry points into rigorous content, structured opportunities for discussion, and visual supports that make high level math more
accessible. It also has a just in time scaffolding approach, which will offer critical opportunities rather than remediation, which will advance equity and grade level achievement. But curriculum alone does not drive success.
Implementation does. Teachers need strong professional development, collaborative planning time and ongoing support to bring this curriculum to life for diverse learners and to ensure is responsive to the needs of black and ML learners. If M.C.P.S. adopts, amplify and
commits to the implementation support, we have a real opportunity to improve outcomes, increase student confidence, and make math more accessible. Thank you very much. This concludes public comment, the board's next meeting to receive
public comment is on Thursday, May 7th. Online signups will open the evening of April 30th at 6 p.m. in addition to online signups, same day in-person signups are permitted when space allows, with unallocated slots filled on a first come, first served basis. In-person
sign ups will close 15 minutes before the start of the open session, when all slots are filled. Additional information regarding upcoming meetings can be found on the board's website. With that, I will open the floor to see if any of my colleagues have any comments.
Mr. All right. Thank you. First, I want to thank everyone for coming out and speaking, especially the students. We love it. Whenever we do have students come out and share their perspective. I just want to add on to that and invite all the students that came out today to come to one of my
small advisory council meetings. We discussed many things, including have a set department on boundary and program analysis, which I'm sure you guys can share a lot about and contribute to, as you guys all have wonderful, wonderful perspectives to bring to that. I know that we must monitor our
execution every step of the way with this process, and adapt when needed, and hold ourselves accountable to the community's feedback. So thank you and please keep it coming. Miss Montoya. Thank you. I just wanted to say good afternoon. I apologize for not being here earlier. Like many of you, I
have my own M.C.P.S. students, and I had to pick one up from school and get them home and get back here in time. So thank you for being here, Mr. Peel. I'm right there with you. With math, we want to make sure that kids who need challenge in math, even in early elementary grades, are able to access that. So I
know that we have some coursework now and we're hoping for some more enrichment. And my hope is that through whatever curriculum and instructional materials are adopted, that we'll be able to provide that for our elementary school students. I also wanted to make a request of board
staff to please email the students who testified today about the regional program model. If we could, please send them links to the board, docs, meeting slots, or agenda items where we had the really. They
were very lengthy, actually a few hundred pages, I believe, and I didn't even print them out. They were so lengthy where it had the kind of breakdown of the programing, staffing courses and all of that so that they can make sure they have access to that information.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Stewart. I too, want to thank all the students for coming out, especially. I know that it takes a lot of time to come out here, and you're very
busy. I'd like to ask a question that was asked by the Climate Action Council. It was nice to see them testify today. I know they've been doing a lot of work. We do have some money
for them in our budget. But the question was, can we partially carry over between fiscal years? I know that is a little tricky with their planning. I don't know if maybe we could, you know, just answer that question. No. Yeah, exactly. Yes. Okay.
So I just wanted to make that clear. So when you all are doing your planning, just know that we cannot carry over. So try to bake that into your own plans because I want to see you all as successful as possible. And I look forward to attending the summit. Thank you. Thank
you, Miss Stewart, miss Sylvester. Yeah. Also, for our students that testify, we are having quarterly updates on our program, our program work. So if we could get a date to them as well so that they could be a
part of those presentations, when we do, when the board gets an update on the implementation plan for the programs. Thank you for your advocacy, and I'll hold my questions on the calendar and the curriculum, because those are in our agenda coming up. So we'll be discussing that in detail. Thank you, Miss Yang. Yes,
thank you, everyone for coming in. I also look forward to the climate summit, and I have a question. I believe we talk about having gymnastics as a
presentation. It's coming to you at your June work session. So during the June work session. Okay. And then I will also hold my questions for the for the calendar and curriculum. Thank
you everyone. I would like to say to our young students that I'm just so glad that you're getting such a great education to advocate the way you are, but know that these decisions we do not take lightly. We did
our homework. This is not a really a part time job for many of us. This is really a full time job to be able to make the changes that we're making. But with that, I would also like to ask about the gymnastics if it's coming in June, would that
have any? I thought we were going to have it sooner than that. That's all. We tried to schedule for May 7th, but it looks like June is the next available date where we could get that into your calendar. Okay. All right. Well, maybe I
can talk to my colleagues and see if we can rearrange our calendar to be able to fit that into the May 7th, which would be next Thursday, May next week. Yeah, I would just join in that request. And I saw some other head nods. I think we've been asking for quite some time about this, and the more time
that goes on, it just gets a little concerning for me. All right, with that, thank you so much all for your testimony. We appreciate it. Moving on to item number eight. Are there any consent items that my colleagues would like to request to be pulled for
clarification? Miss Sylvester, item 8.8. And I just need to abstain from that one. There. Yeah, that's 8.8 to be pulled because Miss Sylvester has to
abstain from it. Okay. Is that all? Is there a motion then in a second to approve items taken out? 8.8 I guess. Right. So it will be 8.1 through 8.29 -8.8.
Do the math. Is there a motion and a second to approve those items. Move approval. Second there is a motion and a second. All those in favor please raise your hand. And that is
unanimous. Thank you very much. So just a point of clarification. How do we how do we vote on the item that we did not vote on for a motion? And second, call a motion. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Go ahead. I
move to approve item 8.8 second. Okay. There is a motion and a second for item 8.8. All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Except for Miss Sylvester. Oh, no, that's not unanimous. That is. I'm. I'm just going to call
it Miss Anuva. Miss Zimmerman, Miss Montoya, Miss Wolff, myself, Miss Yang, and Miss Stewart. Okay. Thank you very much. Just to be clear, Rivera-Oven, can we just get Miss Sylvester's vote for the record? For the record, I abstain. Thank you. And there's
an abstention by Miss Sylvester. Okay, great. Madam president, we have just a few announcements as tied to the board's recently adopted consent agenda. There were several items that were recognitions. This is a very popular month for recognitions
coming up. May is a. May is a month of celebration in the school system. First, the board designated May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, where we'll be celebrating the rich culture and contributions of of lasting impact of Asian American and
Pacific Islanders in our community. Second, the board designated may as Jewish American Heritage Month, recognizing the history, contributions, and resilience of Jewish Americans and encouraging learning and reflection across our school communities. Third, the board
proclaimed School Principal Day on Friday tomorrow, honoring the leadership and dedication of our principals. Fourth, the board recognized Teacher Appreciation Week. It's like our Super Bowl Week next week, which celebrates the commitment
and impact of our fabulous educators who support students every single day. Fifth, the board approved Pupil Personnel Worker Week, highlighting the important role these professionals play in supporting attendance, student wellness, and connections
between schools and families. Six The board honored the M.C.P.S. counselors of the year, which we have several. Recognizing outstanding school counselors whose leadership, dedication, support and student achievement and well-being at
post-secondary readiness is their top priority. Finally, the board recognized our higher education partnerships, celebrating more than a thousand employees engaged in the pursuit of advanced degrees and certifications. We are a learning organization, and we
love it when our leaders and our teammates are learning and advancing their their careers through advanced degrees as well. These resolutions, which the Board of Education has approved, will be celebrated by the Board of Education on May 21st at their next business
meeting. Thank you all so much. Thank you very much, Doctor Taylor. Moving on. So now we are moving into item number 9.1. This is recommendation to revoke the MECCA Business
Learning Institute charter. Madam president we do have a resolution for the board's consideration and for your consideration. I am happy to
read the last resolve for your consideration resolved, that the Board of Education hereby adopts the superintendent's recommendation to revoke the Meca Business Learning Institute's charter. Sorry, doctor, I don't mean to interrupt, but I think first we're going to hear from Monica and Patty, and then you can do
the resolution. Absolutely. Is that okay? Go for it. There we go. All right. Good evening, President Rivera-Oven, Doctor Taylor and members of the board. I am Patty Ursprung here with Doctor Monica Hendrick. And we
are basically here. In the event you have any questions regarding the timeline or the applicable process as you discuss and consider this agenda item with regard to the timeline, I would like to highlight a few key dates as it concerns the superintendent's recommendation to revoke the Meca Business Learning
Institute or Charter. On November 14th, 2025, the superintendent issued a notice of noncompliance, and this was stemming from M.C.P.S. determination that I failed to comply with the requirements of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act and or section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, and included in that communication was Doctor Taylor's intent to recommend revocation. If the deficiencies were not corrected at the board's business meeting on December 11th, 2025, the superintendent made his official request and recommendation to the board to
revoke Ms. charter. On February 19th, 2026, the board issued a notice of its intent to revoke the charter with the opportunity for me to propose an alternative to revocation. On March 10th, I submitted that
alternative proposal and in a memorandum to the board dated March 24th, 2026, the superintendent requested that the board reject the alternative proposal and continue with the revocation at the board's April 16th, 2026 work session, which was our last meeting, the board
provided another opportunity for me and M.c.p.s to present a status update on Embolize efforts to cure the areas of deficiency noted by M.c.p.s. And that brings us to today, April 30th. At this time, the board is scheduled to take action on the superintendent's
recommendation. With that, I will turn it back over to President Rivera-Oven. And again, Monica and I will be available to address any procedural questions you may have. Thank you so much to both of you. Thank you. I will ask now. Doctor Taylor, to share any final remarks regarding the
recommendation, and then please read the results in the resolution on the table for the board's consideration. Thank you, Madam President. I think I'm all remarked out. I'm just going to read the resolution for the board's consideration. And the last resolved. Is that resolved that the Board of Education hereby adopts the
superintendent's recommendation to revoke the Meca Business Learning Institute's Charter, effective June 30th, 2026, pursuant to the Meca Business Learning Institute Charter School Charter Agreement,
article 26 point B. Okay. Mike. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Is there a motion and a second motion? Second, there is a motion and a second. All those
in favor, please raise your hand. I'm so sorry. That's right. There is a motion a second. We will now proceed to discussion. Sorry. I'm trying to, like, move this along here as board members may have questions. I need responses from M.C.P.S. I will ask that the appropriate representatives
come forward. And if there's no no representatives. Is there anyone here from the. Questions? Okay. Anybody has any questions?
Okay, I have discussion. Oh, Miss Wolff. Yes. As I have continued to say, I do not believe that the superintendent has submitted sufficient
evidence to support the revocation of charter. I understand there are a number of concerns from adequate and appropriate staffing to financial sustainability. However, under the charter
there is to be an entire evaluation framework. The M.C.P.S. is to complete by May 30th of each fiscal year. We haven't even made it to May 1st, and the only issue really brought forward to justify
revocation of special education compliance. Even with that, M.C.P.S. is found, the majority of the violations to have been cured of the six possible grounds for revocation. The school system has hung its hat
on one. Failure to abide by all legal requirements, including those governing the provisions of services to any student with a disability after notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure. Yet the majority of these IEP violations appear to have been
resolved. I still believe that placing MBLE under a remediation plan with close monitoring and realistic metrics would provide a fair process. If, with MBLIS understanding the board's
intent to revoke and given the data collected through the remediation process MBLI cannot meet standard, the board would have a strong foundation for revocation. I struggle with this as a matter of due process, I really do. I believe there
are concerns. I also believe that under the charter agreement, there is a framework to systematically evaluate these concerns. So that's kind of where I am on this. Thank
you. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Wolff. I'm sorry, may I thank you, Miss Montoya. So my understanding is that the for the current ten students at issue, which is the ten
students that are left under this charge of lack of compliance with IEP, their IEPs, or the provision of services, is that actually those are not in compliance even now. And so
I'm not sure that it's challenging, right? Because MBLI is saying, well, we did comply. My understanding from M.C.P.S. is that they are not fully in compliance. And so it's challenging for me to say that, well, they've been cured.
The issue at this point. So we have Doctor Cage and Miss Seabrook who are going to come up. Thank you so much for respond to that. Good afternoon.
I'm Robin Seabrook, chief legal officer for M.C.P.S. It is Miss Montoya. I will yield to Doctor Cage, but it is my understanding that 100% compliance has not been met on the IEPs. And so the chart that
was provided to you from the Department of Special Education, that was put together by the Director of Special Education, outlined areas of noncompliance that still exist, and some of those IEPs and some of the student specific information is
still not still has not been brought into compliance. I'll let Doctor Cage go into specifics. Good afternoon, Madam President, Vice President and members of the board. I have in front of me the spreadsheet that was shared
with you. It is accurate to say that one of the piece is being worked on right now. It is not fully compliant, but all of the other nine IEPs, as it states in the document you received, are still non-compliant and
have been non-compliant since November of 2025. Okay. Is there any more discussion? No
thank you. I just want to remark that I think that I said that they were not fully in compliance. I don't think that I said that they were in compliance and that this is a concern that we're still raising. What I said is I believe it's an issue of due
process and that we have schools that are in noncompliance, and they have been in noncompliance for several years. And we know that this continues to be a problem with staffing and a lot of other issues. And I think that it is only fair to give them at
least a full year to come into compliance, which would have been the May evaluation. Thank you, Miss Sylvester. Doctor cage, in a typical school, how long does it take for an IEP?
If if the principal or an administrator notices that it's not in compliance, how. What's a reasonable time frame for it to be. Back in compliance? So every situation is different. So we can't call it typical at
this time. However, when we are made aware and the level of technical assistance and support that we provided MBLI on understanding their struggles and understanding the noncompliance with not just the IEPs, but service delivery,
having the right staff to deliver the services and everything else. We were going in weekly to work with them and there was no movement. So I could say in some of our M.c.p.s. Schools, miss Wolff is exactly correct. We have some
issues. However, when we apply the level of technical assistance with ten IEPs in 48 hours, we can update these IEPs and bring them into compliance and be working in other areas to ensure that the service delivery is actually happening.
Thank you. Miss Stewart. I'm I'm wondering how much time did you give the school technical assistance? Do you have that record as far as the hours, we do have billable hours that we
can share with the board since you've requested it, but I can tell you, I've been at every level. I've been in the school, I've been in the district, I've been at the state, and I'm back at the district. Whenever we find a noncompliance issue and
we provide technical assistance, it is still up to the school to make the corrections. So when we went in and we specifically identified as early as September of last year, specific areas by student, there was a report that was
given to them with specific things, as if, I may quote, ensure that the the parent notification says blah, blah, blah. And there was no action
taken by MBLI to update any of the IEPs. Every single time we went in. Thank you. I do believe also that in the documentation you received, and this has been a long process. So it probably was a few months ago, Doctor Cage did put
together a timeline, and I think the technical assistance actually started before school began. Right. So in terms of in terms of months and time, and then the actual corrective action from Doctor Cage didn't come until late fall end of
year, but the technical assistance began before school started. Thank you. And just to add to that, any time we did give them a finding, we were met with some type of rebuttal that everything was fixed. And
upon our next visit, that was not so. Okay. I just have one question, though. Are they making some progress? Because it looks as though they're
making some progress. They're not in compliance, but neither are we on a lot of things. But are they making progress? Yes, Miss Wolff, thank you. Okay. Everybody said their piece, so I'm going to quickly say mine. I don't want to, you know,
repeat everything my my colleague said. But I do concur with Miss Wolff. I think the the fact, the timing of when they moved, when they got, you know, everything together and
so on. I don't want to say, you know, we need to have give them grace, period. But do not you know, I know my name is Grace too, but so no pun intended, but it's I do agree with my
colleague. I think if they are making progress and so on, I just have a really hard time right now and, and, and supporting the recommendation that we currently had. With that being said, let's, let's,
we're going to move on. So I will ask. There is a motion and there is a second. And all those in favor for the recommendation of the
superintendent to revoke. MECCA. Please raise your hand. That would be me and Miss Zimmerman, Miss Montoya, Miss Yang, Miss Sylvester and Miss Stewart. The motion carries no. All opposed?
That would be. Yes, Miss Wolff, so that would be Miss Wolff and Miss Rivera-Oven. All right. So with that. The next item on the
agenda would be. That Mecca Business Learning Institutechar? There's a solution plan. The board, having adopted the superintendent's recommendation to revoke and realize. Charter effective June 30th, 2026, the
board will now consider the superintendent's proposal. Plan for the solution, and then I will turn it back to Doctor Taylor. Thank you, Madam President. As one of the covenants in the charter agreement is that there needs to be a disillusionment plan that's followed and presented
to the board for consideration as a as in conjunction with any decision to revoke the charter. We do have that that board attached for your consideration in draft form for your adoption
or direction with revision, I'll read the two resolves for your consideration. Resolved that the Board of Education hereby adopts the superintendent's proposed plan for disillusionment of the Mecca Business Learning Institute Charter School, and be it further resolved that the superintendent shall provide
regular status updates to the Board of Education regarding the disillusionment process through June 30th of 2026, or until the process has been fully concluded. Thank you. Is there a motion and a second
motion? Second, there is a motion and a second to approve the resolution. Is there any discussion? I'm just going to say I feel this is a little bit
premature without no more discussion. Then all those in favor, please raise your hand. That will be Miss Miss Zimmerman, Miss Montoya, Miss Yang, Miss Sylvester, and Miss Stewart. And the motion carries.
All those opposed. So I always forget about us, miss. That would be me and Miss Wolff. Okay. Moving on. We're going to
move now to item 11.1. And this would be the math curriculum. So the next two items actually is going to be 11.1 and 12.1 math curriculum approval. And 12.1 Is a curriculum
development approval. I understand these are covered by one presentation, but there will be separate resolutions to approve. So two votes will be required by my colleagues. And with that I will turn it over again to Doctor Taylor. Thank you, Madam President. And I got to tell you, it's really
exciting to have testimony on curriculum and excited testimony on curriculum. And it brings us back to our core mission of teaching and learning. And our our team is really excited to talk to you about this for years and years
and years and years and years. M.c.p.s. Has been world renowned for writing its own curriculum, and in that process, we've identified some gaps and having a purchase curriculum helps to close some of those gaps. As long as that purchase
curriculum is of high quality in alignment with regulation. IFARA curriculum. We are proud to bring forward a math curriculum recommendation and a plan for curriculum development to select courses for the board approval. At its core, this
work is a simple but important idea that a strong curriculum drives strong student outcomes, and that is part of the equation. Today, we are presenting recommendations in two key areas for your consideration. First, we're
recommending externally developed comprehensive mathematics curriculum designed to provide a coherent and rigorous learning experience for pre-K through integrated algebra two courses in M.c.p.s. Now we are at an important
moment in mathematics for M.c.p.s. An inflection point, really in the state with updated Maryland standards and expiring curriculum contracts, we have a timely opportunity to strengthen and better align instruction, ensuring that it
is clear, consistent and rigorous for both teachers and students. Second, we are going to be bringing forward a plan to develop new curriculum for selected courses in in fine arts, world languages, health and physical education, and the
humanities. This work is focused on ensuring alignment with standards, relevance, and strong student experiences across content areas. We're excited about that prospect as well. Whether the curriculum is developed externally or created within M.c.p.s. Our commitment
is the same rigorous standards, aligned instruction, strong support for all learners, high quality user friendly materials for teachers, and clear communication and support for families. It's my pleasure to now turn things over to our
Chief Academic Officer, Mrs. Nicki Porter, who will introduce the rest of the team and lead us through today's presentation. Thank you very much, Doctor Taylor. Good evening, President Rivera-Oven and members of the board. I have with me, Doctor Brandt and Doctor Hewlett, directors and
curriculum, and they will be helping to do the presentation today. And then Miss Sheila Berlinger, who is our elementary math supervisor who will be here to support with questions. As stated, we are here today to come with two
distinct requests for approval around curriculum. The board is tasked with oversight of curriculum at every stage, from development to all the way to final selection. I do want to share. There's a difference in
the approval process with curriculum that we are seeking to purchase, compared to curriculum that we develop internally. And I'm going to share a little bit about that. But first, we are seeking your
approval with the adoption of external material for mathematics and pre-K all the way to integrated algebra two. The curriculum was selected with strict alignment with the procurement laws and formal request for proposal process.
That includes extensive engagement with both staff and community, and the curriculum does require approval from the board, and we are coming with a bundle of both curriculum and the instructi materials that schools will use to
support their students. So that is one approval. And then we are also coming to you to request approval for to begin implementation or begin the development of curriculum. And we do that anytime standards
change or we w to provide upgrades to our curriculum, we come to you on the front end to ask for your approval to begin the process, and then we will come back to you when it's completed to ask your approval to implement. And so we're
coming to you around fine arts, world languages, health, physical education, and humanities. And we would like to acknowledge, I know that you've gotten some comments from some community members about our process. We have six
different policies or regulations around curriculum. And as early as 1986. And so we know that some of the language in those documents are conflicting. And we recognize that, and we are committed to
updating those policies and regulations with you all and bring them to alignment so that they are more current with our procurement laws and our external curriculum processes. So if you will go to the next
slide, please go one more. We just want to again, before we get started, share with you that this is an alignment with strategic goal. Number one, strong aligned curriculum is foundational to ensuring all of our students demonstrate high
levels of academic achievement. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Stephanie Brandt, who will talk you through the first, which is the curriculum that we would like to purchase the external curriculum. Great. Thank you,
Miss Porter. You can go to the next slide, please. And then actually the next slide. At this point, I'm going to shift our focus to mathematics, where we present a comprehensive recommendation for curriculum selection. As you'll hear, this
recommendation is grounded in a thorough review process that engaged educators, leaders, caregivers and community members. Our goal is to strengthen student learning in mathematics across the entire pre-K through Integrated Algebra two experience,
ensuring rigorous and engaging instruction for all students and ultimately improving student achievement and long term mathematics outcomes. Next slide please. To arrive at this
recommendation, we conducted a comprehensive and inclusive selection process with a portion of representation identified by MCE, a stakeholder. Groups invited to review the products included school administrators, teacher leaders, teachers and support
staff, central office administrators and instructional specialists, parents, students, and representatives from organizations such as the MCPs, PTA, NAACP, the Black and Brown Coalition, Poder Pride Alliance,
and Identity. As seen on this slide, we engaged 164 participants. The process included four rounds, an initial review round by our pre-K to 12 math team. Of all proposals to confirm they were
complete. Next, a Central office review of the proposals that moved forward. The second round included ensuring that proposals addressed every aspect of the M.C.P.S. request that was made. This required evaluation by the Departments of Curriculum Development,
Special Education and Multilingual Education, as well as by our technology, legal and data management teams. The third round then expanded the reviewers to include representation from schools, the community and caregivers.
In this round, all participants reviewed instructional materials, both print and digital. These materials were available for review during the week and on weekends to accommodate all community members. For the fourth round, vendors were invited to give
presentations that continue to include all stakeholders from schools, as well as community members and caregivers. Finally, extensive interviews were conducted to delve further into M.C.P.S. specific needs and how potential partners could meet
those needs. Overall, two of the four review rounds provided opportunities for all stakeholders to participate. Throughout the process. We ensure diverse representation and meaningful opportunities for feedback. This was a
thorough and transparent effort to identify the strongest mathematics instructional curriculum for our teachers and our students. Next slide please. Based on the selection process, we are recommending amplify Desmos mathematics. What makes
amplify Desmos stand out above the others. This program provides rigorous Maryland standards aligned instruction and is designed to support all learners, educators, and caregivers. What makes this curriculum transformative is its design, which you heard a
little bit about tonight. It positions students as active creators and contributors to mathematical conversations. Lessons are sequenced to invite students own thinking. First, build on their understanding and use thought provoking, real world problems that affirm
every student and their voice in the math work. Furthermore, as an illustrative math, which is our current secondary curriculum based curriculum, it leverages the deep instructional experience many of our teachers already have.
It also inherently supports students receiving special education services and emergent multilingual learners through rich visuals, structured discourse, and multiple entry points into the content, making rigorous math more accessible
for all. To meet the diverse needs of students. With M.C.P.S. every single lesson includes opportunities to support, strengthen, and stretch students instruction. The model of support, strengthen and stretch builds foundational learning to
address gaps. Provides reinforcement for the grade level and offers enrichment all prepared to use. This curriculum strikes a strong balance between conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, which is critical for
a long term success in math. What teachers need is right there, which is a significant improvement for our teachers. Amplify Desmos math includes embedded supports for differentiation, language development, enrichment, and
acceleration, as well as aligned assessments to monitor student progress. The Msde math policy will expect expanded, accelerated opportunities to best meet the needs of students without skipping content.
Amplify Desmos math will provide support and resources to allow for. This will bring more information forward at next week's board meeting about just that. Lastly, this curriculum offers a thoughtful balance of digital and print
resources appropriate to the student's developmental age. The digital platform is unique to amplify Desmos during instruction. Math concepts are contextualized through interactive visuals of graphs, sliders, and models. When
students are using the platform on their digital device, the teacher can actually monitor their responses and elevate their thinking by sharing their screens. The guidance on using the materials and platform is clear and very well organized
for teachers. Next slide please. The implementation timeline is driven by the state's expectation for the rollout of the new mathematics courses in the 2026 2027 school year, we will launch the new pre-K
through algebra one curriculum beginning in 2027 2028. School year, we will transition to integrated algebra two in alignment with the state requirement that takes effect that year in 2028 2029, we would then introduce integrated algebra two. This sequence
ensures we are fully aligned with Maryland's timeline, while also allowing us to prepare educators and support students through each transition point. Next slide please. Professional
learning is a key component of successful curriculum implementation. Amplify Desmos math will partner with M.c.p.s to provide comprehensive support for both teachers and instructional leaders. This will include early previews for leaders, mandatory one day
grade banded summer training sessions for all teachers, including English language development teachers and special educators. So they really have time to let things marinate and receive support during pre-service before students arrive in their classrooms, and they'll have
access to ongoing coaching throughout the school year. In addition, all educators will have access to on demand professional learning library with videos and resources. This is designed as a multiyear effort to ensure sustained support and continuous
improvement. We've heard the community's feedback clearly this evening. Adopting a strong curriculum is necessary but not sufficient. This is also an opportunity to solve an implementation problem by resetting expectations for a
consistent, rigorous, system wide grade level math that's aligned to our commitment to strong tier one instruction. To deliver on this commitment, we must go beyond the summer training. We will provide ongoing job embedded support through our cross-functional
team, instructional specialists, and amplify Desmos to ensure teachers have what they need to work through the math progressions and the lessons, building confidence in facilitating discussion based classrooms. We will also provide intentional leadership
development for principals and instructional leaders. This training will focus on how to observe, coach and build teacher practice aligned to the curriculum design, moving beyond just managing schedules and the operational needs of instruction. Finally, this
curriculum will serve as a shared definition of rigorous grade level instruction for all students. This is critical for reducing the variability that too many of our students currently experience, from classroom to classroom or even school to school, we are committed to including ongoing
progress, monitoring of implementation across classrooms, not just student outcomes. This data will be collected, analyzed, and used immediately and continuously to inform where additional support is needed to ensure the
materials are used with integrity. Next slide please. We recognize the importance of supporting families throughout this transition. To that end, Amplify Desmos provides a caregiver hub that includes
daily lesson videos, summaries, and practice problems with answers in both English and Spanish. In the next few months, we will host community meetings in partnership with schools and amplify Desmos to provide caregivers with more information. Ultimately, these
resources are intended to make learning more transparent and to help families feel more connected to what students are experiencing in their classrooms each day. Next slide please. As I mentioned on the previous slide, we are really
focused on making sure families feel connected to and supported in their child's mathematics. Learning the Caregiver Hub gives families a clear window into what's happening in classrooms each day. As pictured, this includes short lesson videos, easy to follow
summaries, and a daily practice problem with the answer key so families can engage in both English and Spanish. The goal here is not to add more to families plate, but to make learning more transparent and accessible so they can better understand the math their children are experiencing, and
feel more confident to support them at home. I will now pause for questions. Thank you very much for that presentation, Miss Yang. Oh, wow. Okay. Thank you so much. I was fast, I want
this time. Okay. I am very happy to see slide number ten that it has daily video, daily summary, daily practice problems with answer. Does that go all the way? Oh my God.
Goodness. Okay, so you can really really. Okay. That's wonderful. Now I have two questions. I'm just going to say all of them. Once you talk
about the digital platform to use in the classroom, we are this curriculum we are adopting for young learners from kindergarten and on in
elementary school. And I am concerned of how much, you know, we dependent we are dependent on, you know, computers for very long learners. So I would like you to talk about the
technology used for, for our young learners. And how is it different from the maybe upper elementary grade? And then you talk about rolling this out and have professional development,
which is wonderful. Can you also explain how would you know? How do you evaluate whether this is working, whether your professional development is working or whether this curriculum is working? What
metrics and what are the timelines that you look at evaluation. Thank you. Thank you for those questions. I'm going to turn it over to Sheila to answer the first digital platform question, and then I'll get back to you about professional learning. Good afternoon, and thank you for
that question about technology because it's really important. What's wonderful about Amplify Desmos is that it prepares instructional materials and provides recommendations for teacher teaching that's
appropriate to the children that are sitting in front of them. In your K to two classroom, you should see little to no screens. The students won't be on devices. The teachers are using the digital resources in their preparation. They may be using items that they're projecting
on screens, but students are. Students are progressing through their learning, starting with manipulatives into the pictures and then into the abstract. They're actually doing the math at the table, talking with their teammates, using document cameras. They're
not on they're not on devices. As they get older, there are more digital tools that become more available to them. And even once they get to the secondary level in middle school, at most, they would use a screen 50% of the time. And
that's because the Desmos technology tools that are integrated into the learning really provide true to life experiences related to applying the mathematics in real life situations. But those littles, they're not using their screens
at all. There's a little bit of opportunity in the middle, and then there's a little bit more opportunity when you get to middle school. So K to two sounds great. The secondary, if digital tool takes 50% of the
time, that can take away discussion and instruction time. So I have to at most, at most, at most they'd be using it 50% of the time, but they wouldn't necessarily be using it alone. So what is the scenario or the
context or the challenge that has been provided for the group of students to engage in so that they're having those mathematical discussions? As we rolled it out, we are rolling out to all grades at the same time. Okay. And then what
guidelines would you provide to the teachers in terms of these digital usage? I think you have to I think you'd want to encourage the teachers to make the same informed decisions about the use of a digital tool, in the same way that they'd be
using any other instructional tool. When you're having a collaborative discussion about the best way to enter the mathematical discussion, is it better to use something tangible and tactile, or do you have to use something digital to bring it to life? I don't
want to go down the rabbit hole, but if this is something that you know, all of us are very aware of how much we are on screen, that it can be a particular area that we pay attention to, have meaningful
conversation with the educators. Okay. Thank you, Miss Yang, Miss Sylvester. Oh, I'm sorry, are we still. I was just going to go ahead and answer the second question. Oh, I'm so sorry. No problem. What was the second question? So you had asked about? Well, the initial
professional learning, which will then support the curriculum implementation. So just to, you know, the professional learning that happens over the summer will build the capacity of our teachers. We'll be simultaneously working with leaders to build their capacity around the understanding of the
curriculum, but also really align it to the tier one instructional focus that we will have this summer with leaders. When we think about the implementation and really monitoring implementation, it will then be the cross-functional instructional
specialists really, you know, connecting. They know the pedagogy of M.C.P.S. connecting with amplifying, amplify, Desmos math, who know the content to develop, really going into classrooms, doing observations around what implementation looks like. We've learned a lot this year
in the implementation of our secondary Carla literacy curriculum, where we have teams going in and observing instruction, and then identifying trends and patterns. We are using that information to inform professional learning, providing that to leaders and
to teachers, making sure they get exactly what they need, and then going back in and looking for those same elements in the instruction. And we're able to then compare what we saw the first round and then that second round. So we'll be doing something very similar again
with our cross functional instructional, you know, specialists as well as, of course, the pre-K 12 math team. But we're going to also rely on amplify Desmos who understand the content. So we understand the pedagogy of M.C.P.S. They understand the content and pedagogy as well. But we'll
really be partnering together to create an implementation plan that really monitors, you know, what we're seeing in classrooms, how we can inform them. And then ultimately, you know, certainly student data as well. How long is that process? Can I can, can, can we move on
a little bit to the others? And we can always come back or they can always write to you, but we don't have infinite time for all the questions. So I'm going to I'm going to go to Miss Sylvester. Yeah. Similar question around implementation, right. I think we heard
testimony today about the curriculum is great. They love it. But how we implement it is just as important. And I loved hearing about the professional development days, the embedded coaching. And I think, I don't know if you mentioned planning
time, but that's always critical as well. And as we are looking at budget season, I just wanted to make sure as we think about our budget, obviously this is incredibly important because we know we need to successfully roll this out. And also our students
desperately need it. So the professional learning that happens in the summer, that's a huge budget item that we need to make sure that we protect the coaching. Tell me more about who's doing the coaching and any other costs that we need to be aware of as we work
through our budget in the next couple of months? Thank you for that question. You'll notice in the memo that there are two costs to implementing this curriculum. There's the cost of the actual curriculum itself, and then there is a professional development cost. That professional development
cost is for 12 coaches from amplify, who will come in and work side by side with our instructional specialists, with our principals, with our teachers, but also provide the professional learning. They're the ones that amplify would send to us if we were paying
amplify, you know, to provide professional learning. And so if we're able to engage with them for the entire year, then we can, you know, get that launch training that, you know, is established for the summer. They also provide ongoing professional learning to both
instructional leaders in the buildings, but also to principals as well. And so that is that line item that's there. And the memo around professional development is for the coaches. Okay. Thank you. Anything else that we need to just we always want to train the trainer, right? Because we
don't want to have to be spending this every single year. We want our staff to have the capacity to then do the coaching in the future. Thank you. And I will hope I don't know where our coach, our math coaches are in this, but I will hope the math coaches who are, you know, are they going to be
trained also on, on this curriculum? Yeah, well, our pre-K to 12 math instructional specialist. Absolutely. But then also the cross functional team, instructional specialists that are out in schools each and every day, they're the ones that are, you know, I mean, they're going to sit side by side. They'll be coaching,
they'll be providing that right then and there. Professional learning that is, you know, much more unique to just the large professional learning that we do for all teachers. I'm going to go to our former teacher on our board, Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. But to be clear, I'm always going to be
an educator at heart. So I am curious, what are some of the feedback that you've gotten about this curriculum that kind of showcase? What are some of the potential downsides or pitfalls of, of this curriculum
that we've heard feedback wise? Thank you for that question. I'm going to allow Sheila to answer that. Thanks. I think out of the gate, one of the first challenges that we're going to face is really getting teachers and leaders oriented.
This the structure and organization of all of the digital resources that amplify Desmos provides, that are actually strengths may feel overwhelming in the beginning. So I think it's going to take some time to help folks really figure out how to use everything that's there. So
that's probably one of our biggest challenges. Second, it's going to be making sure that they know how, which resources are intended for the students, matching the resources to the student need in the classroom, and then really becoming acclimated as to how to use the progress
monitoring tools. Again, I think all of these are just elements of change and considerations. As adults are learning a new environment, new tools, new resources. And in the beginning they're going to be a little bit harder, but they'll get easier over time. Great. And I think related to
that and seems like we share an educator brain because my next thought with that is, what are some of the I know we talked about some of the supports for implementation, but I think about that transition specifically, like, what are some things we do to plan to support that transition as well
as things like, how might our pacing guides look different? Like kind of what can we expect for our educators stepping into that? So some of the tools that we've had positive feedback over the years are ones that we're going to want to continue, that are integrated with the
structures and processes and language of amplify Desmos. So take pacing guides. We've had them by grade level and by module as well as day by day. And we anticipate continuing and providing those as well. We
expect to begin to partner with amplify Desmos in the in the coming days and weeks so that we can begin cultivating those tools and resources. Now as we get acclimated to their orientation and their platform, and then we're able to put all of those pieces together. So
again, that that access to the materials that teachers have favorably looked upon, that we know they wait for every year we're going to continue to do. And then we're, we expect that as we get better at being able to navigate the platform and
point folks in those directions, we'll be able to modify support documents such as how to prepare to teach. Where do I start? Where do I go next? Great. Thank you, Miss Stewart. So just one more follow up question about the
implementation. Can you highlight what strategies are different than what we've used in the past during new curriculum rollout? Because that is something we've heard from our advocates. So I just wanted to what's the main differences do you see in this
particular implementation? So I'm, I'm excited for this rollout because I think we have a really good shot at really bringing everybody in for in-person training to get them started. That was a space that was intended six and eight
years ago as we purchased our first curricula. And then we got a little derailed with that thing called Covid, but a full day of in-person learning that is tailored to meet the culture and climate and teachers of M.C.P.S. getting them oriented
to amplify Desmos as we partner with them to tailor their training. So the teachers get time to really unpack that first unit and spend time this summer preparing that first unit. So when they're walking into classroom on the first day of school, they know what they're going to teach and then have time in between to use
Stephanie's word to let it marinate. I think that's going to be that's going to be a game changer. Just just starting with the in person. Learning out of the gate is going to make a difference. Would you like to add anything? Well, and to add on to that, I would just add on that, you know, we have the job embedded coaching
that's happening right now with our cross-functional team, instructional specialists. They are in schools, in classrooms every day. And that is certainly not something we had when we lifted Eureka Math. And only one more question. You mentioned that there will be manipulatives for the
especially younger students. I find that so important because that hands on learning, when you're in those ages, helps make that mind real world connection, right? So access to
those might be something even parents would want, maybe even outside the classroom. So have we thought about having access maybe at libraries, anything like that partners so that there could be more access for
families. No, but that's a great idea. We like that very much. Thank you. I think I got that idea from another district. Okay. Well, we we take note and we are very excited about all of the caregiver access opportunities. We do plan to do
a lot of work with our families over the upcoming months. And so that is something that we will keep in mind as well, how we make that happen for families. Thank you, Miss Montoya. Thank you. I have two young kids, so I have a lot of
really practical concerns. I share Miss Yang, and I think there was a few other people nodding at the time about the tech concerns. I have a fourth and sixth grader at this point. I can't see why they would ever need to have a Chromebook or a computer to do what I see them doing, right. We're not looking
at like cold dimensional shapes or something where it might look better on the computer than if, well, I argue it would look better in your hand, but. Right. So I just, I do share that. And I know it's a concern shared by many in the community. We want our kids to learn how to use technology, of course, but there's also a balance
there, especially because we know and I don't have the studies in front of me, but there are scientific studies that show the hand brain connection, right? When you write something down, you're more likely to retain that than if you're typing it. ET cetera. So I just want us to always be mindful of that. But my I have
a question about space on the paper. So sometimes my kids have come home and there's like so many items on the paper that they're already overwhelmed before we even get the pencil out, or there's not enough space to even do the work to figure it out. So they're trying to smash it. And now the
numbers are smashing in. And, you know, of course you can tell your kids, okay, let's get some paper. But who wants to have extra paper when the other kids are doing it on a sheet? Right. So I just want us to be mindful of those things, especially because we do use a lot of tech now, and a lot of
kids don't write as legibly as maybe they did even just a decade ago, or write small enough. So we can't simultaneously be pushing them onto computers for everything and then say, here, now write and fit it into all the space, right? So I just want us to be mindful of these practical elements. The same concern I
have about language demands. Math is so much reading now and vocabulary. Everything is in a word, problem. And I get it because life is basically word problems, right? So I understand, but then we're also creating this whole other hurdle for so many of our
students. And it doesn't necessarily have to do with whether or not you can speak English, right? There's just so many issues there. So I just want us to figure out how we're going to address these concerns, because obviously workbooks look the way they look, and there's only so much we can do
about that. But these are very practical things that we see at home, including how are we going to provide parent and caregiver access for families that do not have consistent technology? Right. I know I actually went to review all of the materials because we are a
math family. And so I know even when my kids were even just a little bit younger, they would come home with like packages of manipulatives, right? We would send that home or when they were learning hundredths and tenths, right? We got all these tiny little things because they're all over the house. But you know, all these little
squares and hundreds of blocks and whatnot. So again, I can appreciate perhaps in some ways the ease of technology. And I don't know, maybe it's cheaper too. I'm not sure these days. Right. But it is really important for our kids and families to have access to those things on a consistent
basis, because parents and families absolutely want to help their children at home, and that is always where we should operate from. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wolff. Yeah, thank you for the presentation. I want to be sure I understand
the implementation and I've heard it. I know I'm a little bit tired now, but I wanted to be sure this one day of training for teachers in the summer is that what am I understanding that correctly? I'm not sure how that is going
to be enough training. Correct. You also mentioned the cross functional team coaches. Now when are they getting their training? If they're going to be coaches for the training that the teachers are going to have on this one day, and I might have missed it, I'll be
honest, but if you could just go over that again, because I'm a little uncomfortable about the level of training that we're thinking about. I'm really glad that you asked that question. So the cross functional instructional specialists, as well as the instructional specialists from our pre-K to 12 mathematics
department, will, will start training immediately. And we will start working with amplify Desmos. They will be, you know, positioned in a way in which they can support teachers. So the teachers, yes, will have the one day training. The one day training is really to
acclimate to the platform to better understand the structure of the actual math blocks itself. But then teachers will have the support during pre-service, you know, and really have that, you know, like Sheila mentioned, having that unit planned out, you know,
going into, you know, the their first day with students, we'll work really closely with amplify Desmos to create a professional learning session for our teachers where they do, you know, experience the platform, all the resources, but also start that planning. It'll be really important that
our cross functional team, instructional specialists, as well as our entire pre-K to 12 math team, really be trained first and have a solid understanding. And then, you know, partner with the amplify Desmos coaches, you know, our, our vision for the one day training really is someone from
M.C.P.S. someone from amplify, Desmos, you know, working shoulder to shoulder and providing the professional learning to grade banded groups of teachers. You know, we, we will include special educators, we will include English language development teachers. So we'll be really thoughtful
and intentional around the way in which that professional learning happens, but then also will support leaders so that when teachers are in classrooms and getting ready during pre-service for that first day of school, they'll have the support of their math leader, of the content specialists of the resource teacher to really
continue their professional learning and, you know, give them the opportunity that they need to be successful in that first day of school. It is a lot. I know it's really complex. No, I hear you. Yeah. And like, like my fellow board member, I have a degree in math, and I
can't imagine going in for that one day of training and then school opening the next week. And you saying, here, go for it. So it would help me to see this if I saw a professional development plan, you know, a
plan that included more days when they're going to get further training. I just am a little uncomfortable with the implementation. And as we know, that is the real key to making this work. We need consistency across our schools and fidelity.
We can provide you a professional development plan timeline that starts with our internal folks. This for the next few weeks, starting through the summer and all throughout the school year, and how we're going to be working with teachers, because I'm very
concerned about the classroom teacher. Let me clarify something, because I think that this is getting lost in the one, because everybody's lights went on suddenly. Think of the one day training as the initial engagement with this. There's,
there's no way that this can be one and done. Professional learning. And the secret to this is is more on the job embedded side. We learned a lot from the CKLA implementation, both positive and some areas to
grow. There's definitely a footprint of providing some exposure. And then the follow up piece, we heard about that even in testimony, how important that follow up component is. But but think of the, the one day summer engagement as like a starting
place and an opportunity to get acclimated and almost like an acclimation day before diving into the day to day rigors of what to expect on a more consistent level, I think that is that's very important. It's
the diving in day to day that I'm concerned about. Are they not diving before the school starts or we're not diving until after school starts? We have a pre-service week that that can be utilized for that as well, but can be a start. They've got to start somewhere and, and starting somewhere
with it doesn't make a ton of sense for us to do like a week long, like effectively, like everything all at once. That, that hasn't been effective for us in the past. And if anything, it's overwhelmed people and the feedback that we've gotten from teachers when we've done that
has not been very positive. And so we we d need to slow roll some elements of it to get people acclimated to, to, to the new platform. It's, it's very different. It's rigorous, it's hard, and it's going to raise expectations and we need
to start somewhere. Okay. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. So I have not asked my question yet. And following a little bit on that, I'm getting a little anxiety. But at the end of the day, you guys in front of us are the experts. And you're telling us
that this is the best practice to be able to implement based on the feedback that you got from teachers? Did I hear that correctly? Okay, so we're not in the classroom and I am going
to trust you blindly that what you're telling me is going to work. Because if it do that either. Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, we have to you guys are the ones who are going to be driving the bus in a sense. And we're going to be approving
this curriculum with the understanding that you guys have all your ducks in a row and that, you know, we understand that there might be a little bumps on the road. I mean, with everything, anything new that but, you know, let's say, you know, you have quite a few of those teachers who miss
the implementation. I would hope that there is a way for them to be able then to retake or, you know, to have a make up day. But those are all those things are in your area of expertise. What I do want to
say is that I do have some concerns about the family engagement. I don't see a plan for it. You say you're going to do it. I would like to hear a little bit about the partnership that you have with the Division of Community and Family Engagement. What is a
time like look like that on that? Because I think it was Miss Montoya and a couple of us feel not every family has website access. Not every family has as an engaged. You have moms who work two, three jobs and they're single moms
and so on. And we want everybody to be able to have access to this. And honestly, I don't know, even if I went into this decimal thing today with the math our kids are taking, if I will be able to help my child with some of these math,
it's like beyond me the way math is not done the way it used to be when I was a child. Okay, so I just want to see what that plan is because I know we have heard from other organizations, the Black and Brown Coalition and others, that even the report card when it comes to math and so on, is
sometimes when is my child doing well? Is he in the middle? Is he like, so I just want to hear what you have on that. So there are some huge wins and I'll let the team elaborate here. But one of the the benefits of the the materials
provided by amplify Desmos is that some of the the video content and even daily summaries. And the problems can be accessed via mobile phone, not just through a computer per se. So they're, they're
formatted in a way that there's even a mobile access. So our saturation with mobile phones is a lot more thorough than the saturation with just internet devices and computers at home. So there's some other things if you all want to elaborate. Yes.
So we mobile phones, we also are able to provide families with paper pencil packets as well. They're not called packets, but paper pencil resources that they can use at home to support their children if they need to, to do that. So we can have that available. And
then we can provide you a plan to involve the family engagement office so that we are having some face to face engagement with families who would prefer that method of communication. We could certainly provide you that as well. Yeah. And I will hope you have other options to do some
some of this also online or on Zoom for those families that cannot that's already planned for. Okay, that would be great because I'm just thinking even just to, to kind of to get in into the space, you know, where do you click, where do you go? How do you access just these basic steps, I think would be
very helpful for a lot of families. Miss Yang yes, I'm just reflecting back on the Ela, our reading curriculum implementation after, I believe
a year and a two year. We have an implementation, preliminary evaluation, and after two years we have implementation. I think that is very important. So I'm thinking Doctor Addison I'm channeling her that please have
that for us. I think that's more we don't see the day to day. That's to help us see how this is going tangible. Okay so and last is a comment. I think it's not directly related. It's not about the curriculum
adoption, but families want to know. Now the state has a new math standard expectation. How are we going to plan out the math pathway? I'm getting a lot
of questions from compacted math families. When would you tell us what's going to happen? You actually want to come back next week on Thursday to the next board meeting to share with you our plan for how we're going to accelerate students
with this curriculum. Okay, that's all right. So I look forward to that, and I hope your presentation will include the whole pathway and whether you will be cohorted criteria or non criteria. Okay. Thank
you, Miss Montoya. Thank you so much. Can you tell us a little bit about the scarf? And I'm going to say this wrong because I'm not an educator. Basically, how teachers will be able to serve their students who are multilingual learners or
perhaps receiving specialized education services. I think it's scaffolding. Is that the right term? So this is one of the really exciting features that I've noticed across many of the products, honestly, that we reviewed this go round. For
those of you unaware, eight years ago when we did the search, this is this is my second time on this rodeo. And, and what's really exciting is that every single lesson has built into it at least three resources for teachers to
select or integrate that match the grade level learning and that day's learning objective. They have what's called a support, which is a foundational resource. So it'll go backward into previous skills. They have a strengthen, which is additional ways to
deepen the learning of that grade level piece. And then they have a stretch to take kids into an extension or into the next grade level. In addition, stretch be Mr. Peele is not here, but he was talking about kids who are on grade level, but they still need a
little bit of a challenge or a little bit. Okay, great. And then in case you're watching at home, Mr. Peele, great. Thank you for making that connection. In addition, it has daily language objectives so that as the teachers are preparing their instruction, they're thinking about the math and the
language simultaneously. And an entire bank of language routines, math, language routines like vocabulary words, like vocabulary words, for example, or what do you mean, how to use them, how to have the kids talk to each other, what the conversation
structures should look like and sound like that match, whatever that math is. So that way they get practice talking and then practice writing. Okay. And so I think that sounds great, but I guess I'm wondering for our
students who could be in any level of math, but they don't have a strong command of the English language. And we know that there's just I mean, it's basically word problems these days. How do we help them get over that, that language barrier? Because they may be
excellent at math. Once you pull the numbers out, that's where some of these tools around the language objectives and language routines are really designed to do exactly what you're asking so that the students learn how to contextualize and
decontextualize what the math is asking for. Like, what is this on the paper asking me to do? And how do I figure it out? And how do I grapple with it with reasonable challenge, with a, with another student in the class or on my own and then get feedback from my teacher. Okay.
Because I'm just wondering too, then from thinking about the at home piece, right? If you have perhaps a parent or a caregiver who doesn't speak English, are they going to be able to help their student at home? I know you mentioned some things in Spanish, which is fantastic, but we have so many other
languages that are spoken in our school system. So I don't want us to just get in this binary thinking that we only need English and Spanish. So we we only have Spanish at this time is the other language. So we will have to think through how we provide additional
supports for families who speak other languages. But I do want to say, because you are correct, this is a language heavy language rich curriculum, which is what we need as we see that that's what students are exposed to when they take state assessments and things of that
nature. Our ML department is focused, as we've been working with our administrators, we shared with them that our focus for next school year will be on language objectives and how you take what students are supposed to know and be able to do, and
all the language that goes around along with it, how they plan for that so that students can break that language apart and really understand and still maintain that grade level expectation. So that is actually our focus for next school year for our ML s, and
we'll be working with our professional learning office to support this as we move forward. Okay. And then just last thread on the language challenge, even for students who do speak English, sometimes the word problems are just a context
that you don't know, if you ask me how many yachts are in the whatever. And I don't know what a yacht is, because I didn't grow up in a space where we talked about yachts. I have no idea what you're talking about. So I just I, you know, again, I didn't see every single page in this, in this, these instructional materials, but
just for, I guess, our educators who are in the classroom to be mindful of that, that you might have a student that just hasn't had that experience. Right. And that could be in any testing situation. Thank you for my colleagues. I still have the lights on. Please let this be a
new question. No more comments. If it's a question, you go, there's no question. We still have a very long agenda because we still have to. We still have to discuss curriculum development of 12.1. So Miss Sylvester, question? No comment.
Question. And Miss Montoya kind of touched on this. I think with Eureka Math, we had feedback from teachers about lack of cultural sensitivity or awareness. So can you talk
about how this curriculum is different from that? Does this ring a bell, like maybe just the yacht example that maybe some students don't know have experiences in terms of what a yacht and what that would do to understanding a word problem. Or some students think football,
you play soccer in their countries. You don't play with that you use when talking about word problems that were not reflective of our community. Thank you for that. Question. One the tool we were using. You're right about the I'm
going to call it the flatness of Eureka and some of the challenges that we were facing with the the cultural context or lack of lack of students being able to see themselves or relate to what it was they were engaging with. There's an
aspect of the rubric that the state requires as you're evaluating new instructional materials, because they want a degree of high quality instructional materials where you're literally looking at these materials explicitly for whether or not a variety of students and a variety of
communities are going to see themselves in the materials. And that surfaced much better here than in many of the other products. That's another reason that amplify Desmos rose to the top of the pile pretty quickly in terms of names of students, the images they're using, the
context of the problems in which the students are engaging with mathematics just gave such a cast, such a wider net than we had seen, than we definitely saw in Eureka. But then we saw in most of the materials that were that were brought our way.
And so that was absolutely one of the critical aspects that we were looking for, that that list of 164 people that were looking at the instructional materials, some of them had that part of the rubric explicitly and the feedback. That was pretty good. Thank you, Miss Stewart. I didn't get to
the screen question before, so I just wanted to close that up. So I visited some algebra and geometry classes, both in middle school and high school, and I saw our practices were all over the place. Sometimes kids were like hiding behind a
screen and not really doing much at all. Other times I saw screen being used with discussions, and other times I saw zero screens in a ninth grade ML class, but decent engagement. And so when I if I visit after this gets
implemented, will I see those math discussions more happening equitably across different ages and stages? You know, for instance, within algebra curriculum, I think you will and I think you will for two reasons. I think you're going
to see it because we're we as a district are moving forward with a much more unified approach to what our expectations are going to be for what's happening in the classroom. That's number one. And number two, that is a that is a strong consideration for why the state is moving to the integrated model of algebra and
geometry as well. So I think by putting the confluence of those two events together, you will see significantly more interaction among and across students as they're interacting with the math. It is my understanding that having these math discussions and using that language that you talk about is
what really builds the skills. Absolutely. And they have to be able to speak it before they're going to be able to write it. Thank you, Miss Zimmerman. And that will be the last question for this. Thank you. My question is also related to the technology and the use. My
understanding is that we're using it sparingly and it is to inform next steps in instruction. But I'm wondering about our student data and how that's utilized and ensuring that that stays internal and that it's not utilized by
amplify additionally. Thank you for that question. We'll we'll work through all of our data privacy when we develop the contract. But they're aware of that even when they did, you know, submit their proposal. Great. Absolutely. Related to that as well, I'm thinking
about our educator screen time to especially when it comes to things like the caregiver guides and things. In doing that work with amplify, I'd really like to encourage not adding additional things to our educator plates. So things like
making sure that's something automated so it's not something else to do at the end of your school day. So just something else to keep top of mind for you. Sorry, can I just ask what you mean? Like getting the guide to the parents? Is that what you mean? My practical thought is that if you teach a lesson one day one that it's
possible that, you know, then there's a fire drill and we don't get to the end of lesson one and all of the things. But if we're asking our educators to release that at the end of the day, that something else for them to take care of. And when that goes home, that I'm asking for us to think about,
how can we automate that? So it's not something at the end of your release. I'm sorry, I'm just not to release the you guys are talking in school, in school talk. Can you help us out? So on, on the slide that's visible right now, some of the caregiver information daily video summary, what not to
think through how we might communicate with parents on a more global and more scripted. Okay. And that's what I was wondering. Like, for example, you know, the fourth grade math teacher shouldn't have to then get on there after school and send out this every day. Right. Exactly. And I agree. Okay.
Thank you. All right. I appreciate the presentation. Thank you. And I'm going to ask for the second minute for the result. We can we've got this in two parts, but it may be good to get this one done and then move on. Yeah, I think if
we can vote on this one. And then we were on the second one, I kind of so I got it. If you want are you can. Thank you. Chief resolved that the Board of Education approved the
adoption of amplified Desmos mathematics for pre-K through Integrated Algebra two. And may it further be resolved that the president of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools, be authorized to negotiate and execute agreements in an amount not to exceed 29 million in the first
three years for the purchase of required instructional materials, professional learning services and support of amplified Desmos mathematics implementation. May it further be resolved that the Superintendent of Schools be authorized to execute all other documents and grant any approvals necessary for this
transaction. Thank you. Doctor Taylor, is there a motion? Motion. Second, there is a motion and a second to approve the math curriculum. All those in favor, please raise your hand. No discussion. Oh, do we have discussion? We didn't we
just discussion from the policy committee. Oh that's right. Discussion from the policy committee. Miss, I appreciate that there may be a need to address through policy processes around curriculum development that may conflict
with each other as the systems approach to curriculum development has changed over the years. As Chair of Policy Management Committee, I intend for our work plan for the 2627 school year to include review
of the curriculum development suite of policies. I understand it's like 6 or 7 different policies that we need to bring under one umbrella so that we can understand them. And it makes sense so that we're ensuring that these processes
are appropriately aligned with the board's policy objectives. Thank you so much to our Vice President, Miss Wolff. Are there any additional comments? Okay. Seeing none. All those in favor of the math curriculum
for approval resolution, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. And it passes. Thank you very much. Okay. Part two, as the as the board is well aware, one of your most important duties as board members is to review and
approve curriculum for our schools. This is a very different look than than what you just the process you just went through. This is the curriculum development side of our curriculum approval process, and our chief academic officer
and team will walk you through what we have. Hewlett. Thank you. Good evening. I'm here today to bring forth the request for the board to begin revising curriculum across four content areas. Next slide
please. I'm good. As we can see on the slide, we have a plan to revise curriculum for Ela and humanities, general music, health and physical education
and world languages. Each of these areas require revisions in order to fulfill our commitment to providing standards aligned, culturally responsive, and rigorous curriculum. It's important to
note that the Magnet English Language Arts curriculum will be for the two magnet programs at eastern and MLK, our general music grades six through eight curriculum is more than five years old, so it is due for a
revision. Our. So is our French one and Spanish Literacy grade six through 12 curriculum. Our health and physical education grades pre-K through 12 just has to go under revision because of state. New state
standards approved in February and March of this year from MSD. So we have to bring our curriculum into alignment with what MSD is asking us too. So that's what we're here for. We're asking for permission to get started with writing, and
once we write said curriculum, we will come back for approval to implement. Per the implementation plan outlined on the slide. Okay. Any questions? Questions? Do we have any
questions from anyone? They have a result. Question. Question. Sorry. Do we do discussion before the result or after? Have you read the results? We have a motion and then open that for discussion.
Yes. So Mr. hold on for a second. So we're going to have Miss Nikki Porter read the result. Okay. Resolved that the Montgomery County Board of Education approves the initiation of the development and revision of curriculum frameworks in six through eight
music, French one and Spanish literacy, pre-K through 12, health education, pre-K through 12. Physical education and magnet English language Arts and Humanities. And be it further resolved that the staff in the Division of Teaching and Learning will return to the
Board of Education with final curriculum frameworks and implementation plans for the reference content areas prior to system wide implementation. Thank you. Is there a motion? Motion. Second, there is a motion. A second. Is there any discussion? Miss Stewart, I
have a question. It's not about a curriculum on here, but when will we be looking at science curriculum. So our science curriculum is currently going through an evaluation. So I would imagine very soon once we
finish said evaluation. And we know that our curriculum needs to be updated. So I imagine when we come again in the fall, we will be asking for permission to write for science that we will. It's going to be somewhere around that timeline.
But science is coming. Okay. I look, I look forward to that. Thank you. I have a quick question. And it's is there any reason why we're doing our own curriculum? And. I, and I have
to tell you from from past experience, I don't know how long we have not reviewed these, but from, from as a parent, from former students. And I'm talking specifically the ones that I, you know, the Spanish literacy six through 12, for example, I'm just very leery
because I'm going to tell you, we don't have a very good track on some of it compared to other counties. And I would like to know why we do our own curriculum, because just in the past we have not done very well
in that area. And there is plethora of other counties that use curriculum that they get that they you know, that that in my opinion. I'm sorry, do an incredible job with with these areas. And I just would like an
answer for that. So for the curriculum that you suggested, I know that and we have Miss Vandenplas in the audience, I, I don't want to misspeak. I think what we are doing is ensuring that we are aligning
our curriculum, writing to the resource that we purchased to provide some supports for our teachers. So it is coming up with a scope and sequence. The guide daily, a daily plan to support the resources that we
are providing to our schools as well. Miss Vandenplas, hello. Good evening everyone. I'm Francoise Vanden Plas, pre-K 12 world languages supervisor. Our Spanish literacy course is a precursor to our SS course
suite. Right. So I actually think that we are probably one of the few counties in Maryland to have a Spanish literacy course. So I think that this is something that we really need to be proud of. We are also one of the few counties that have a series of courses SS S one, S,
S, s two and SS S three. So we there are not many resources out there. It's not a package deal because the course is a six through 12 course. Finding a textbook or a curriculum that
is available and adequate for kids in grades six through grade 12 is very challenging. So we have a textbook and then we M.C.P.S. it and we like to do that. And, and I guess my issue with that is the
implementation of it then gets muddy across the district. Whenever we have our own curriculum. And I'll just speak from personal experience, kid, you know, same age, taking the same class at a different high
school, not the same standards, not the same curriculum, sometimes not even the same material. So I guess my issue is how are we going to ensure that this is standardized across the district. So we actually have some professional
learning scheduled for this summer. This is also going to be a topic of discussion with our local world languages, resource teacher and content specialists on how to ensure that we have a tight implementation. We are also
writing a standard operating protocol. Oh, you are okay. We are. The last question is, have we looked at. I know you said it's challenging and there's a lot of things in life that are challenging, but I want to see,
have we actually looked at curriculums that could fit this? And, and if listen, if you can say to me board member Rivera, but the cost is so significant that we rather do this, I understand. But if if we
haven't, I do have an issue with that. No, we have we have looked at what is available out there. We actually, when we created our Spanish literacy course a couple of years ago, we looked at a curriculum from New York and looked at what they were doing and were
inspired. And again, M.C.P.S. did. The funding is an issue as well in world languages, right? World languages is not funded at the same level as other content areas. So we have to make do with what we are allocated. And sometimes that's
again challenging. Okay. Thank you so much for your honesty. I really appreciate that, Miss Montoya. Thank you. I would like to speak to the health curriculum, because I received a very well written email from a student at Walt Whitman High
School, Tabitha Rojas. And she was asking, well, she was actually letting me know about the challenges for teenagers these days with social media and digital, just being digitally literate. And so Miss Rojas has a wonderful idea, which I agree with. Is it
possible for us to include digital literacy and those aspects in the curriculum? And, you know, I know sometimes, at least in elementary, when my kids go to media, they learn like an elementary level of kind of some of that, which is fantastic. But I am, you know,
this is obviously a huge mental health concern. There are books and things written about it. So I'm just wondering if that is a possibility. So as we're we are working to rewrite and, you
know, move standards, etc. that is definitely something that we can consider. We have doctor Grant joining us at the table to talk a little more about that. Good evening everybody. How's it going. Good. Tell me something good, doctor Grant. I will tell you something good. As we have dinner together.
We're going to have a collective intelligence mindfulness nourishment here. I'm so excited that you asked that question. It's a huge issue. And just even how. Predators are even leveraging
social media and digital spaces against our youth is horrendous. As a result, we've had digital literacy in our curriculum for a long time. Pre K through 12. We leverage the media team as
well as a partner with common sense education resources that are built through the pre K through 12. In addition to that, we have explicitly embedded content and curriculum with our
health literacy skills. And so we have like content for standard one. Then we have like accessing valid and reliable information. And then we have analyzing influences. So that's two of them as well as interpersonal communication. Where does that live though that lives in the health
curriculum or does it live in, you know, because again, I think after elementary, we don't have media special anymore, right? So actually the digital citizenship goes through three content areas. Well, many I'm going to shout out Ela social studies. Anytime
students are researching online, then they take that component when they're researching projects and papers for valid and reliable information. As you know, in the current climate, there's a lot of humanity. Global humanities, for example, I know has some
lessons in that for the sixth graders. Exactly. So it goes across social studies explicitly. It is. You'll find it in the attachment from this item today if you go to PE and health are combined in one PDF for what the State Department is requiring. And if you search
that document for analyzing influences and accessing valid and reliable information, you'll find that in addition, in standard one, there'll be subcomponents and outcomes that specifically address those as well. And I'm happy to talk further to you. Yeah. Thank you. And maybe I'll just follow up with you. I just I think it is
important to frame this to our youth as a health issue, as a public. I mean, it's a public health issue crisis in my opinion. So I just really appreciated Miss Rojas kind of injecting that into the conversation. And any time a student reaches out, please send them to me. Oh, fantastic. Usually students reach out. Then I engage with them one on
one at their school or via Zoom, and I pull them into our advocacy platforms. Our school health council, our student led school health council and other advocacy projects in ways to like uplift public health from their their seat. Oh thank you. I didn't even realize we had
some of those options. So I just really appreciate maybe we'll have to learn a little bit more about health. And anytime somebody, any stakeholder reaches out. Okay, just a quick question about music. What is general music mean? Is that band chorus, like, what are we talking about here? Oh. Oh, me oh, yes. Sure. I
thought I saw you back there trying to hide from me. No, I'm just wondering because there's so music is a lot of things, right? So I want to make sure that the community can understand when we talk about the curriculum, can you be. And
if you can be brief, introduce yourself, please. I will and I will be brief. Doctor Randy Rumpf, supervisor, pre-K 12 Visual and Performing Arts, aka Fine Arts. So the difference with general music is it is more or less a nonperformance based, non ensemble based opportunity for students at our
middle school level. It tends to get into focusing on five of the main musical elements, whereas in high school general music tends to gear you towards more guitar and piano. However, down the road we hopefully will address those as well, so
they're not so much performance based and can access increase access for students who are not performers. Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And just Miss Stewart, your question. Yes. Back to health. When was the last time we updated our
health curriculum? A long time ago. No. Oh, okay. Well, I'm just sorry I wasn't on my mic. Wasn't on. Oh, no. Please. Yes. Actually, in 2020, the last msde update to the framework,
in a sense, yes, it was six years ago, but ongoing. So we take a at least a year to develop. And then we have our curriculum rollout plan that's been going on. So right now this summer, grade three is, is retrieving a refresh reboot as
well. And then K-2 next year as well. As, you know, we had health A and health B rolled out recently aligned to the MSD 2020 health education curriculum. So it's it's in pace with the relative guidance from the State Department
around five years. The reason I ask is because we've had a lot of change in laws, even since 2020, about what is accessible in families. For instance, now you can get marijuana gummies
and there's more access to vapes with THC, etc. So I don't know, are we aligning our curriculum to have more education for our kids because it's just out in the community now and sometimes it comes into our schools? Yeah, I think I
can help because my sixth grader learned all about that this year in health. I did not know for that advertisement. That was an unpaid advertisement. Was that sixth grade? So are we planning on going younger than sixth grade? Yes, it's an elementary on concept. So the State
Department has the topics on the skills are through pre-K through 12. But the actual topics like alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, marijuana, those are those topics are in elementary school. Any time there's a legislative mandate or update the Maryland School Health
Council that I serve on that I also co-run the Montgomery County School Health Council with Kerry Dwyer from HHS. Anytime there's a legislative update, anytime there's any change that would impact a health topic, we're on it. We
sit on over 20 subject matter expert stakeholder groups and councils, and then we also have our lesson drafts vetted through HHS or subject matter experts to make sure they're updated. So even if it's not a Msde update, if it's like when
cannabis became legal in the state of Maryland, we updated our curriculum to show alignment. So doctor Grant, I'm not going to I don't want to cut you off, but in the interest of time, I want to point out that this is the the approval of this resolution is
to cut them loose, to develop this work, not to dive into the topic. Correct. So correct. I just get excited. So we we will definitely have to come back. When you look at the curriculum that that has been developed for approval and go into detail to make sure that all the
discrete topics have been covered. Understood, I appreciate that. And when you do that, please get rid of some of those 1990 videos that the kids complain so much about. There should not be in there. Okay, good good good, good. You agree with me, although some
good music and you know, if you're going to do that, do the 80s. But yeah, when the VHS tapes went, so did the the video. If so, if we can actually then read the resolve,
that would be great. We did know. I read it now for 12.4, 12.1. Can we? Okay, so it was all in there so we can just vote. Okay. Then there is is there a motion? Yes. And a second. Okay. All those in favor, please raise your hand.
And that is unanimous. Thank you so much. Okay, then we're moving on. 13.1 fiscal year proposed meal prices. I know, I know, Madam President. This is
this is not the most fantastic topic to bring to the board for consideration, and especially in fiscally challenging times. After over a decade break in raising meal prices, we are coming back to you for consideration for next school
year and putting forth a recommendation to help put us on the path to getting back up to to par with what the USDA expects for our meal prices. The Department of Food and Nutrition Services provides
breakfast and lunch to Montgomery County Public Schools students and operates an enterprise fund taking no funds from our operating budget to ensure continuity of nutritious meals for Montgomery County students, and that the Department of Food and Nutrition Services continues to
operate as that enterprise fund. A meal price increase is absolutely critical. In order to maintain that status, it's important to note that a meal price increase only would apply to students who do not receive free, free priced meals. We
will continue to use a multi-layered approach, optimizing the use of federal and state programs to offer free meals to qualified students and qualified community eligible schools. The last meal price increase
occurred in fiscal 2015. So over a decade ago, and it was a five cent increase to our meal price. We have the lowest meal price in the region presently right now, well below the industry expectations. Increases in labor and food
costs have resulted in a 53% increase to the Department of Food and Nutrition Services expenses in fiscal year 20 since 2015. So we have a lot of ground to make up. So therefore I'm recommending a 30 cent
increase for this upcoming school year to both breakfast and lunch. This increase equates to roughly $2 million in projected revenue, and is necessary to start the process of bridging the revenue gap and
to avoid a structural deficit and to stabilize our food and nutrition department enterprise fund. So there's not a presentation. And because we we've already done that at your at your work session, the
resolved is very simple for your consideration. And we do have staff here to answer questions. The resolved that the meal prices for fiscal year 27 will be $1.60 for breakfast and $2.85 for an elementary
school lunch, and $3.10 for a secondary school lunch. Thank you, Miss Wolff. Yeah, we need to have. Motion motion first and discussion motion second.
Just ask for a motion. Thank you. Is there a motion? Motion and a second? Second? There's a motion a second. Discussion, Miss Wolff. Yeah. I move that we postpone consideration on this resolution until the May
21st business meeting to allow the board to have a better sense of the economic conditions in fiscal realities of the operating budget for the 2627 school year. I will second that motion. The problem is,
I'm sorry, just process wise, there's two motions currently on the table. That's what I was trying to say. So this would be a substitute motion that you're offering. Substitute someone other than the president has to second it second. Correct. You know this is close to my heart.
So second, I second, miss Miss Wolf's motion. Thank you, Miss Montoya. So now there is that motion that first and it's been second to postpone to postpone this resolution until the May
21st meeting. Correct. Is there discussion there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Thank you, Madam President. All right. Moving on
for 14.1 fun topics. Okay. School year calendar proposed amendments for 2026 2020 227. So we did have some really awesome, exciting instructional conversations earlier in the
evening. We have shifted to the operational pieces. And I would I would actually classify this as a positive step in the right direction in adjusting to state expectations that were late coming, and also taking an
opportunity to hear from our community and to make some adjustments. We brought those changes in state regulation to the board for your consideration. At your last work session, we made a recommendation to get something out to the community to solicit
some feedback. Our friends and residents and neighbors were not shy in providing that feedback. And as a result of that, we've made some modifications to this recommendation. And one of the more significant modifications
was to start at our original start time, taking the feedback from our community. So today I'm bringing a recommend, a recommendation for amendments to the 2026 2027 school year. Following the inclement weather
and emergency closures experienced this past January and February, the Maryland State Board of Education issued updated guidance and requirements requiring additional review of our next year's school calendar. On April 16th, the Maryland State
Board of Education shared with all of our local education agencies these updated requirements for next school year and also ruled on waiver requests at the state board level. These updated requirements include several things, and it's important to
enumerate them because it's a lot. Six total inclement weather and natural disaster makeup days are required if the local education agency like Montgomery County Public Schools, does not have an
approved virtual plan, and three are required if the local education agency has a virtual education plan. And it's important to note that those three days need to incorporate days that are already in the school year. So that's a big
shift. Yes. As you know, you have an approved virtual plan which reduces our burden somewhat. The last day of school, inclusive of all inclement weather days. So this includes potential makeup days as well. Must be scheduled
prior to the Juneteenth holiday, which is observed on June 18th in 2027. In our next year's school calendar, calendars must also include makeup days within the spring semester, so this is
a challenge for what we have done historically. As many of our professional learning and non-instructional days have fallen on days that are also religious observances for some of our residents, and now that
is required to be as part of our snow makeup day and civic disaster makeup days. The Montgomery County Public Schools 2026 2027 Inclement Weather Virtual Learning Plan was adopted by the board at your business meeting on March
26th, and as a result, three inclement weather days and natural civic disaster makeup days are required. At the April 16th, 2026 board work session, which is just a couple of weeks ago, we discussed proposed
modifications to the school calendar, focusing on an option that would begin much, much earlier in August. We have revised that based on community survey feedback and from the thoughts that have been shared by staff families from around the county. The members of the
calendar committee were also reconvened in order to provide additional feedback, we would like to share a special thank you for for them for serving on that, that important committee, and also thank our student member of the board, Anuva
Maloo, who also solicited feedback from students via social media. That was incredibly helpful because that feedback all aligned with the rest of the community feedback that we received this revised
recommendation for the 2026 2027 calendar is reflective of feedback received and maintains compliance with the most recent guidance from the state. It adds instructional days in two marking periods. It complies
with state requirements regarding identified makeup days in the spring semester, and it ends the school year on June 11th with additional identified make potential makeup days prior to the Juneteenth holiday, as outlined
by MSD requirements. I just want to conclude by saying there is no perfect calendar, and there there are options that that we can and should continue to explore. One of those options. And one of the
things that surfaced in feedback was the idea of looking at an earlier start, but not one with such short notice. We absolutely appreciate that. And we thank our, our, our public for being so, so clear with their feedback on that regard that
there may be interest in that in the future. But for this upcoming year, we agree that that that it's a little too late to make those kind of changes. So we will read the resolved to kick us off and to
get us moving on your discussion and any questions the board may have resolved that the Board of Education approve the amendments to the adopted 2026 2027 school year calendar and contingency plan for Montgomery County Public Schools, as reflected in
attachment A, which is on our screen right now. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Is there a motion motion? There's a motion second and a second to approve the resolution to table. Is
there any discussion. Oh wow. There's a lot of discussion. Okay guys this is what we're going to do short and brief and to the point. Okay. No storytelling. No. When you were little, nothing. None of the short and to the point. Okay.
All right. We're going to start with Miss Sylvester. One, two, three questions. Oh, no. I could have asked my questions by now. No. You go. Miss Sylvester one. Doctor Taylor or Miss McGuire. Could you explain
the use of the virtual days in the calendar when. And I mean, it's not part of the plan, but it's a tool in the toolkit. Can you talk more about that? That's right. Thank you, Miss Silvestre. So the board, as we've said, is required to have a virtual plan. And and you did
approve that. And so the virtual plan really would come into play as an additional tool if there were, for example, an anticipated large number of days that might come up, we could plan for that and use that as a way to offset some
potential future days. We are still required to have the days identified in the spring semester, and the number of three days and potential potential days to extend the year. So it can't replace those. It does reduce the requirement
from 6 to 3, but I think it is the kind of plan that would need to be used in a way where there was a closure that we could anticipate. With enough time for families and staff and students to have the materials and the anticipation to be prepared for the virtual learning. So it can't be used
instead of the snow days. So what is the good of it is not for the calendar purposes. It's just so that the kids continue to get some kind of instruction. And so again, if we dial back to, I think if we if you had a couple of one off snow days,
then that's then then that might not be an occasion for the virtual plan. I think if, if, which hopefully we don't have the same kind of snow create experience in a future year where we anticipated that there would be multiple days
off, that's one where we could plan ahead and say, okay, these days we may call virtual. So we would anticipate that and therefore we would have fewer days to make up because the virtual days would be in place of those that might have been taken off. Does that make sense?
Okay, I think so. Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. I have heard some community discussion about transition day, and I see that we've preserved it in this iteration of the calendar. Can we hear a little bit more about why we've chosen to keep it?
Absolutely. We learned a lot from our first transition day last year, and the feedback for those that participated was strong. In particular, our parents of our kindergartner sixth graders and ninth graders. We have a lot of exciting things that we are thrilled to
to add to this year's transition day. I think as a majority of our community has that experience. I think as they know more about it and learn more about it, they they will probably feel differently about it. But for our transitioning grades, it was a
huge success for us. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Yang. Yes. So this is interesting. New year with the state setting some guidelines. I am looking at the
Thanksgiving week. That is the week we have two half days and then we have some days off. I have been in the system a little bit longer, and I seem to remember in the past we
don't always have the day off or you will be half day, right pre-pandemic. So as we go forward, can you share a bit about the attendance for that
week and any thinking for future years of how to best use that week for instructional purposes? So thank you. And as you said, we've taken a different approach in, in different iterations to that week. Part of the half, the
early release days on the Monday and Tuesday of that week are associated with parent teacher conferences. And it has been a long standing practice to have some early release days for those conferences at one time. Those occurred earlier in November than it was determined
to to move them to that week as a potential way to have more flexibility for families as well as, again, potentially less disruption to the instructional program. So that practice of the early release days with the parent teacher
conferences then just becomes a little bit of a question of, of where we would place those. To your point, though, that certainly is a week where we know often families do make different choices related to their travel. And so again, balancing all those things together, this is the approach
that we have now certainly can look at that in terms of what's the right approach to balance that in the future. Miss Stewart? So first of all, I want to thank everyone for all
the extra work that this took to get this together. I know it was all very last minute, and I want to thank our community for responding to us robustly, and I hope they see that we did actually listen and try to come
up with something. So that my comment is or question is about the we changed the which day we protected as far as the AEDs go.
And so the day on, I believe April 12th marks the end of Ramadan. And then there is also the 17th. That's also a makeup day. And I just wanted to
elevate that. I did hear that both holidays are very important, but that the. I don't know what you heard from the community as far as these particular days. So if I could just clarify that April date, April 12th is actually
associated with the the quarter marking period, the other March 9th, the March 9th state is aligned with the tour. And as you can see, that day has not been identified as a makeup day. The May 17th is aligned with
Eid al-Adha. And we did indicate that that could be a makeup day. Again, as was said, there really are no perfect options. And as we've discussed, you know, one of the things we were able to do was put three additional instructional days in the first two marking
periods, which certainly is beneficial from an instructional standpoint and helps us not start as early. And it also helps us end a little earlier, which which again, may set us up for the next year. But there is a requirement from the state that we have makeup days identified
in the second semester. And those are just very challenging to identify. I'd also like to point out that April 22nd is also a makeup day, which was originally for Passover. And again, none of this is a perfect solution. And I would
encourage us to convene an even larger group of community members in preparation for the next calendar so we can have these discussions up front, and we're not going off the back end and having to make these
hard decisions. That's more reactionary. So not all not our fault, but it's just something to look forward to next year. Miss Montoya, thank you. I will not be supporting this calendar, but I did want to be clear
about why. Because it's not that I have an opposition to the original start date of the school year, because I don't want families missing out on money and things like that. That totally resonates with me. Teachers, we have things planned. Totally understandable. So that part's fine with me. My concern is actually all of
these extended release days. So in that week in November, you have three that no matter how hard our schools try, like those are just not meaningful days of instruction. And if the goal here, I know I send my kids to school to learn. So when we have three days in a
row of, of early release and I'm sorry I said extended of early release in a row, there's not much going on, but of course I'm going to send my kids to school because they also don't want to miss a day of school, etc. And then we have another one on December 23rd, which is also an early
release. And again, the same thing. Now this these days also create a lot of challenges for families and parents and caregivers. And as someone who missed the beginning of this meeting, because I had to run home to pick up my son from school and get him home and then get back here to work.
Childcare is expensive. It is lacking, especially as your children get a little bit older, because people think that they hit a certain grade and now they can just watch themselves, which is not true for all children. And so it creates a lot of challenges and a lot of missed work. And that still disproportionately also falls
on mothers. So I have a really challenge with the way that we are creating hurdles for families, especially. We talk about low enrollment and well, it's really hard to be a parent these days. And I just feel
like as a school system, we should try our best to not add to that. I also have to say, and there was a big discussion about this at the board table, because the Latino community celebrates their holiday in December. On December 24th, it's Noche Buena, and we are a
third of the school system. As students and families. We have many staff throughout our school system in all areas and levels. And I mean, I just feel like Grace and I fought really hard for that this year because you cannot travel to see your
family. You cannot prepare the meals we make take a long time. And so the idea that, well, we were looking at the community feedback, okay, but we often say here at this table that even if you don't make it to the board room or the board inbox. ET cetera. That we are
still going to consider your concerns and the things that your community needs. And so I don't feel like we did that here. And while I will try my best to make sure that we submit those surveys next time, that should not be what determines that. We then lose a day that we fought really hard
for, for our culture and our communities. So I cannot support this recommendation. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Okay, call for the vote. One thing in the future, can we do two years in a row and not do
year by year? Can we do that? I think that will help families plan way ahead. That would be great. We, we, we at one point we agreed to do that. We have been we sidetracked. Thank you, Miss Yang. Okay, there's a
motion and a second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That would be Mr. Ms. Silvestre and Miss Yang, myself, Miss Wolff, Miss Zimmerman and Miss Anubha, all those against.
That'll be Miss Montoya and the motion carries. Thank you so much. Final action policy G cc background screening of M.C.P.S. employees. Candidates for M.c.p.s employment contractors for M.c.p.s and
volunteers. I will turn it over to Vice President Wolff. As chair of the Policy Management Committee. Miss Wolff. Thank you, President Rivera-Oven. On April 16th, the board received a presentation on policy GCC
background screening of M.C.P.S. employees. Candidates for M.c.p.s. Employment contractors and volunteers. This is a new policy that establishes requirements for fingerprinting and other manners of background checks
for employees, prospective employees and individuals who will otherwise work in schools or on school grounds. During the discussion that followed the presentation, the board requested updates to the policy to address the availability of
reduced or no cost fingerprinting in certain situations. Additional language was added to the policy, which will now be recommended for full board approval. Before we take the vote on this item, I will ask staff to come forward
and identify the changes since the last meeting. Good evening, members of the board, and thank you, Miss Wolff. Today we are before the board to review updates to policy GCC in response to public comments
received and concerns expressed by the board. And so we're going to review those comments for the board's adoption. I'll turn it over to Doctor Renee McCall, chief of the Division of Human Resources and Talent Management. Thank you, Leslie,
and good evening, everyone. A couple of weeks ago, as Miss Wolff mentioned, we provided an overview of the feedback from the community as it relates to policy GCC we wanted to just remind everyone of the background screening requirements for volunteers,
and if you just draw your attention to the right side of the slide, only those volunteers with unsupervised access to our students are required to do background screening, which involves fingerprinting. So much of the feedback from the community was
was related to the barrier of costs. And so we developed a procedure here that outlines exactly the process we're going through as families who are, again, experiencing some financial hardship, to provide
an opportunity for those fees to be either reduced or eliminated. And as a result of that, we have added links to our volunteer web page, as well as the background screening web page. That again, includes a form for families to fill out,
and we will assess those needs on a case by case basis. And then language was added to policy G, C, C, and all of that can be seen on the screen here. And with that I'll hand it back to the board. Thank you. Do any board members have any
additional questions regarding the policy draft? Okay. If there are no additional comments or questions, I will ask Miss Turner Percival to
read the results. Resolved that the Board of Education adopts Board of Education policy. GCC background screening of M.C.P.S. employees. Candidates for M.c.p.s employment
contractors and volunteers as updated in the response to public comments. Thank you. As chair of the Policy Management Committee, I move that the board grant final approval to policy GCC background screening of M.C.P.S. employees.
Candidates for M.C.P.S. employment contractors and volunteers. Thank you so much, Vice President Wolff. The motion of the chair on the committee's recommendation note. Second is required. Is there any discussion? Miss Montoya,
can I just make a slight request? Can we please, because the parents are not watching this, especially not at this time. I would not be watching it. No offense if I was home with my kids right now, but the idea of when they need to pay or not, even though it's been said many times, we had a slide
show presentation, I remember it, it still comes up. And so is it possible to provide this information to just another like the PTAS? Because if maybe we're hopefully talking about it at open house and then the PTA can send it out to. And you know what I mean, the more
times the better. Thank you. I appreciate that feedback. And we'll definitely take it back to our volunteer liaisons, and they'll share that information more broadly. The only thing that I want to say is that I just want to make sure that our implementation of this policy
is aligned with our equity policy as well, and access. And I just want us to be very cautious that we're not implementing things in a very overzealous way with with communities that, for example,
might have a refugee status. So they don't have a Social Security. So they if, you know, they go for a for a fingerprinting, they're not going to have a Social Security. So if we're going to require that, that is, to me really not a good use of our equity policy. Or you might have a family on
TPS who also might not have a Social Security, but they have a work permit, they have an ITN number. And those should be considered as valid ways to be able to for us to fingerprint folks. Because if we're not considering those factors, we
are creating barriers that are unnecessary for our children to have their family or loved ones, because it might not be always a mom or a dad. It could be an older brother who graduated from M.C.P.S. who might be able to go and accompany a minor on a field trip. So if we can,
please be very much grounded on those things, I would really appreciate it because I did get some comments from community members that that was a barrier lately, and I'm needless to say, I was very unhappy to hear that.
So hopefully that is just miscommunication. But if we can work on that, that would be appreciated. Miss Wolff is that do I give it back to you? No, I already are you done? Okay. Okay. Well, thank you very much for the vote. Yeah, no, thank you very much for all of you to
work on it. So I'm going to take the vote. If there's no further discussion. There is. There is a vote on it. And a second. So all those in favor, please raise your hand. And that is unanimous with those
present. Thank you very much. Oh, is this it? I'm so excited. Okay. I can read these information reports to you guys out loud, if that's okay. Doctor Taylor, you're so nice. But you know what? No. Yes.
Send it in an email to us. So these are for information only so no action is required. So then we're going to go to item number 17. Is there a motion motion to adjourn. Second second third. Okay. There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor please raise your hand. Thank you very much to everybody and to your colleagues and the people at home who are watching. Have a
blessed evening.