Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the June 24th, 2025 Board of Education Business Meeting. Let's first welcome to M.C.P.S. Staff and viewers at home and my fellow board
members. Let's first stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Okay. Thank you everyone. I will now ask our board members to introduce themselves to establish a quorum for the very last time. At a board business meeting. Sivana.
Student. Member of the board. Good afternoon. Natalie Zimmerman representing district two. Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. Carla Silvestre, school board member at large. Good afternoon, Brenda Wolff. District five. Good afternoon,
Laura Stewart, district four. Good afternoon, Julie Yang. District three. All right. Can I can I also let's start with approval of the revised agenda. Is there a motion? So moved.
Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. It's unanimous. With those present, I want to say a few words to our board member panel. This is your last
board meeting. And truly, we're very grateful for your service. Student voice is so important for all of us. Although we have have heated debate this year on many of the issues. And but I so appreciate how you dive deep and
ask thoughtful questions and have been such a valuable thought partner for all of us. You represent your students very well. I'm going to open it up to other board members to see if they have things to like, you
know, I just want to say how much I appreciated your work and also just the way you came about, how you dug into an issue. It was from a fresh
perspective that I really appreciated. And I know you are going to be amazing. Whatever you decide to do from here on, and I hope you come by and visit every now and then. Thank you. O'Neill. I will miss you because
you sit across from me kind of at the table, and we look at each other and roll our eyes plenty of times, but you know, you have really you have really stressed the importance of the student voice. And I believe
that you will your your legacy will continue beyond this, because I've heard them come up and talk about what you have started and what you have brought forward, and how they intend to carry it forward. So I do believe we'll see you at the
change off, won't we? July 1st. Yeah. So that's great. I'll miss you, though. And you know that Doctor Taylor. Thank you, Madam President. I'll save the majority of my comments for the switch on July 1st. But I do
want to echo the board's sentiment and just say that you are a phenomenal student member of the board in a in a great representative of the student body. You are a great mentor to me and somebody who's taught me a great deal, not just about student leadership, but about
leadership in general and how we can work on issues collaboratively, solve problems together, and how we can leverage the mighty force that is our student leaders and student voices and advocates in M.C.P.S. And you will certainly
be missed. But my gosh, what a what a great footprint you have left for future jobs. Thank you. Yes, I also want to congratulate you on graduating M.C.P.S. And moving on to college, as you
should. And you know, our students and M.C.P.S. Are amazing and you are a great ambassador to them, a great representative, never afraid to speak up for what you believe in, does his homework inside and out, comes prepared, reviewed
the policy, ready to make the arguments in order to get his points across. Asks many questions. So the students of M.c.p.s have been well represented this year and I wish you all the best in college at UMD. You'll be sorely missed.
Thank you. I don't know what I could possibly say that hasn't already been said, but one of the things that really comes through is your passion for the work and that you really care about M.c.p.s. Itself, but also about speaking up for students and being that voice. And that
is what drives all of us to do this work. And I think it's why you're so excellent at it, and you'll be very much missed. And I've enjoyed sitting next to you very much, and I will miss that very much. But sincerest congratulations, and you are going to do all of the things
that you ever wanted to desire. I believe in that. Thank you. Panel. Thank you so much. We're now going to move to item number three. And Doctor Taylor any recognitions. Thank you. Madam President I have three resolutions for the board's
consideration. And I'll read a truncated statement of the resolution for the board's consideration one at a time. The first I'm recommending for the Board of Education to approve a recognition of the 2025 distinguished Hispanic scholars,
whereas the Hispanic Alliance for education recognizes Hispanic high school seniors who have been identified as distinguished Spanish scholar Hispanic scholars through academic excellence, community involvement, and leadership. And Whereas, the Hispanic Alliance
for education has awarded scholarships to distinguished Hispanic scholars from each of the 26 high schools in Montgomery County. At the Distinguished Hispanic Scholars Award ceremony on May 13th, 2025. And Whereas, the Montgomery County Board of
Education celebrates Montgomery County Public Schools for holding a high standard of academic excellence and recognizing the outstanding achievements of Hispanic American students. Now, therefore, be it resolved that on behalf of the Superintendent of Schools, staff members,
students and parents, and guardians of Montgomery County Public Schools, the members of the Montgomery County Board of Education congratulate the recipients of the 2025 Distinguished Hispanic Scholars Award. Move approval. Second,
there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. With those present. And we were at the award ceremonies, and it was a wonderful event. It was delightful. And I don't think that we have any present in the audience today, but if the
audience would join us in a rowdy round of applause in recognition of our scholars. The next resolution for consideration, the superintendent recommends that the Board of Education approve
the recognition of the Montgomery County Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, incorporated, whereas a as a sisterhood of college educated women. The Montgomery County, Maryland Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
incorporated, is devoted to enriching lives across Montgomery County with impactful, community centered programs. And Whereas since its founding in 1970, the chapter has guided has been guided by a vision of Montgomery County as a vibrant, inclusive place where
every resident can flourish at home, at work and at play. And whereas the chapter champions high quality education through strategic, results driven programs that uplifts students and communities alike. And Whereas the chapter offers
several annual scholarship opportunities, mentoring, literacy and Stem activities and service learning opportunities to the youth of Montgomery County. And Whereas, the Montgomery County, Maryland Alumnae Chapter of Scholarship Program was created to invest in
Montgomery County students whose talents and service efforts are making a meaningful impact in their community. And Whereas, by awarding $35,500 to 25 high school seniors in Montgomery County, Maryland, the Alumni
Chapter Scholarship Program uplifts promising students whose success will help shape a stronger and more vibrant community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Montgomery County Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools commend the Montgomery County,
Maryland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, incorporated for their steadfast support of educational excellence and for living and for living. The principle of lifting as we rise by helping our students reach their fullest
potential. Move approval. Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. With those present, let's give them a hearty round of applause. Yes, and please stand. If you are a member of
Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Yay! I know you and your sorrows are quite, quite thrilled. Thank you so much. Yes. Our last resolution for the board's consideration today. The
superintendent recommends the Board of Education approve the recognition of the Silver Spring, Maryland chapter of the links incorporated. Whereas, founded in 1972, the Silver Spring, Maryland chapter of the Links Incorporated has built a
lasting legacy of service connecting talented women in friendship and delivering impactful programs that strengthen and celebrate the Montgomery County community and in alignment with the national organization's mission. And Whereas, the mission of the Links Incorporated is to improve
the quality of life and to promote the well-being of African American students and underserved populations in Silver Spring and Montgomery County. And Whereas, the links incorporated champions the growth and development of youth through vibrant, transformative programs and culture, civic
life, education and health. And Whereas, the links incorporated scholarships empower Montgomery County public school students by offering essential financial assistance coupled with meaningfully show of community solidarity and encouragement.
And Whereas the Links Incorporated continually explores new avenues to serve the community, growing its offerings and championing innovative programs and services to youth, the arts, international trends and services, national trends and
services, and health and human services. And Whereas, the educational landscape shifts strong partnerships with organizations such as the Silver Spring, Maryland chapter of the Links Incorporated are essential to creating inclusive
environments that help students reach their full potential. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools proudly honor the superintendent. The Silver Spring, Maryland chapter of the links incorporated for their outstanding contributions and
unwavering service to Montgomery County students, families, and community. Move approval. Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Wonderful. Do we have
some link members here? We got one right here. Here. All right. You know, we have adopted two schools in Montgomery County that we are always here. Wonderful. Doctor Taylor, item four is one of my favorite items. As always, it brings a
lot of excitement and hope of for the system. Can we proceed on to recommended appointments? Thank you, Madam President. I have several recommended administrative appointments for the board's consideration this afternoon. And first we're going to begin. And when I call your
name, if you please stand up while I read some wonderful words about you. First for consideration is Mrs. Laura, a Marion for the position of Supervisor of Testing, Assessment and Data Management in the Division of Equity and Organizational Development. Mrs.
Marion has been employed with MCPs for 29 years as a teacher, resource teacher, team leader, assistant School administrator and most recently as the Assistant Principal at Doctor Martin Luther King Jr Middle School. She is eager to join the Division of Equity and
Organizational Development to support the strategic priorities of the school district and continuous improvement efforts of M.C.P.S. Huge shout outs to Mathias Marion and to Brandi Overton, her principal, who are here to support her. So thank
you. Move. Approval. Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. With those present. Congratulations.
Next for consideration is Mrs. Marie U. Gasaway for the position of principal of S Christa McAuliffe Elementary School. Joining her today is her husband, Jason, her son Ryan, her parents, Enrique and
Shirley, and her mother in law, Rita McKenna. Miss. Mrs. Gasaway has been employed with Montgomery County Public Schools for the last 16 years as a substitute teacher, teacher, reading specialist, resource teacher, assistant school
administrator and most recently as the assistant principal at Robert Frost Middle School. She is excited and honored to begin her work with the dedicated Christa McAuliffe school staff, the parents and community members to provide an engaging
learning experience for our youngest learners as they establish their foundation and educational journey. Move approval. Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand.
That's unanimous. Thank you everyone. Congratulations. You know, we just saw. Didn't we? Just see her on stage yesterday? We did just see her on stage yesterday. We had our annual administrative leadership
summit, and Marie was. Miss Gassaway was recognized as one of our leaders for exceptional work in her direct and clear connection to our core values. So congratulations to her. Next for consideration by the board
is Mr. Eric G. Stansell for the position of principal at Watkins Mill Elementary School. Joining him today is his wife, Melanie, his daughter, Brianna Holden, and his uncle, Jerome Jefferson. Mr. Stansell has been employed
with M.c.p.s for two years as an assistant principal at Seneca Valley High School. Prior to joining M.c.p.s. Mr. Stansell had more than 20 years of education experience as an educator and administrator, and an educational consultant. He looks forward to joining the
Watkins Mill Elementary School community and partnering with the staff and caregivers to support student growth and academic achievement. Shout outs to his parents, family members, and friends who are watching online from Delaware and across Maryland. Move approval. Second,
there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. With those present. Congratulations. Last for the board's consideration this afternoon is
Doctor Sheree W Slade for the position of principal at the Mecca Business Learning Institute charter school. Joining her today is her husband, Dante Slade, senior mother in law, Georgia Slade, and her son, Dante Slade. Junior
doctor Slade has worked in education for the last 25 years as an educator, administrator and as an educational consultant. She looks forward to working with the Mecca Business Learning Institute public charter School as the inaugural
principal and to support academic excellence, equitable student outcomes, and the creation of a thriving student centered school community. Shout outs to her daughters, Alexis Slade and Danielle Harley, who are watching online move approval. Second, there's a
motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Welcome to M.C.P.S. Thank you, Madam President. This concludes
administrative appointment recommendations for this afternoon. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Our item number five is public comment. Today. We have a full slate of people sign up. There are 20 public comments today. And I have some official
verbiage to read through. While the board encourages public input on policy, program and practices and will consider the comments received, it's not the board's practice during its business meetings to respond to questions, provide comment or
take action on the issues raised. This is a public meeting, and the board expects the conduct of all speakers and members of the audience to be within the bounds of proper etiquette, inappropriate personal remarks, rude retorts,
or other such behavior is out of order and will not be tolerated. Those who demonstrate disruptive or disrespectful behavior during public comments may be asked to leave the room. In addition, public comment is not the proper avenue to address specific
student or employee matters. Such matters should be directed through the complaint or appeal process. Each speakers have two minutes to deliver comments. When your name is called, press the button and speak clearly to
the microphone. A yellow light and a single B indicate you have 30s remaining, a red light and repeating beats signal that time has expired. Once you have finished speaking, press the same button to turn off the
microphone. We will do in-person testimony first, and then if we have any audio or video, then we'll play those last. When I call your name, please come to the front and sitting from left
to my right, I'm going to call the first six to come to the table. Daniel Lee, Bridget Howe, Joanne Stroud, Kimberly. Francisco. Corinne Seligman, and
Jinggang Jinggang. Daniel. You may begin. Good afternoon. Members of the board. My name is Daniel Lee. I'm a rising junior in the magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School,
and I'm here to share my concerns about the proposed expansion of the regional programs like IB and Smacks, and the possible shift away from countywide criteria based magnets. I understand the goal to give more students access to advanced academics, but I'm
worried this plan might actually weaken what makes programs like these so impactful? My peers and I agree that there are three key parts that makes Blair's magnet strong. The students, the teachers, and the curriculum. And all three will be heard with this proposal. First, the students. Blair brings together
a critical mass of like minded, motivated students. That community creates a culture of challenge and growth, and we push each other to do better. High achieving students in many ways also have special academic needs to. We need to be challenged. We need to feel like we belong, and without that,
many of us would stagnate, disengage, or struggle with mental health. Second, the teachers our magnet benefits from experienced and passionate teachers in the county, but there are limited resource if they are spread too thin. By starting lots of new programs, the quality of teaching will
inevitably drop and it takes years to build strong teams like Blair's third the curriculum. Yes, curriculum matters, but only when the students and teachers are there to support it. At Blair, we can have niche and rigorous electives like quantum physics and computer graphics, because there are
enough students who want and can handle them. Fragmenting the student population across multiple regional sites makes these courses less feasible to offer. For instance, five out of the seven current regional IB programs already cannot consistently offer the IB physics exam, whether that's due
to a lack of student interest or teachers. In the end, this plan risks trading quality for quantity. I urge you to think carefully about what we might lose if we spread our resources too thin. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Bridget
Howell. Hi, everyone. Bridget Howe I'm here today to talk about the program analysis and boundary study updates. These are enormous projects launched in a time crunch during a tumultuous time for M.c.p.s. They required skilled change management because they really matter to students, teachers,
families and communities. I believe the Community Project team for boundaries and the Opportunity Design team for programs were formed with good intentions. This was something new. You deserve credit for trying it. However, the execution has been challenging and the parameters of these groups were so tightly
constrained that the findings attributed to them can't reliably reflect community support. First, both committees required participants to sign NDAs. These projects are taxpayer funded based on data that shouldn't be kept secret, threatening volunteers with penalties created a power
imbalance and constrained participants to sharing individual feedback versus accurately reflecting their communities. Second, in both groups, members constantly suggested how to do outreach better. Over and over, use trusted messengers like principals. Hold info sessions in other languages, gather
location cluster data, and address gaps as they are seen. None of that happened and the survey results reflect that. For example, boundary and program options have been shared that significantly alter the DCC. While survey feedback from those clusters is very limited. Third,
in both groups, participants wanted accurate data, survey results, program outcomes, enrollment numbers, demographics, application numbers, etc. While some was shared, it was often delayed and some has never been shared without explanation. In short, when M.C.P.S. Suggests
significant changes, you need to show your work. We need to trust that recommendations are grounded in data benchmarking and best practice, not just vibes. What families want is access to rigorous academics across the system, including opportunities for special programs. For some learners, the
regional model could be a great way to deliver that, but committee members report feeling rushed that they're missing data to support the models and concern that the challenges of implementation are being glossed over in a rush for approval. Thank you. Thank you. John
Stroud. Good afternoon to the board. My name is John Stroud, and I am an elected member of the Garrett Park Town Council and also acting mayor of the town. Thank you for the opportunity to present to the Montgomery County Board of Education, and specifically to address the M.C.P.S. Woodward
Boundary Study. The town will make a more detailed submission at a later date. I appear before you this evening to urge the Board of Education, as you consider new boundaries, to prioritize maintaining established, cohesive communities, and to promote the stability of school assignments
consistently over time and geography. Garrett Park is 127 year old town of about 1000 residents, and although Strathmore Avenue crosses our town, it does not divide our community. Any school board that arbitrarily bifurcates the town along Strathmore will cause
significant disruption to the connections and relationships that form our foundation. Garrett Park has always worked closely with the WJ cluster, and their representatives have been very involved with the Woodward reopening for the last ten years, consistently supporting the reopening of Woodward as a comprehensive high school with
academic, extracurricular and programing options equivalent to all other M.c.p.s. High schools. The WJ cluster has also consistently advocated that all six cluster elementary schools, including Garrett Park Elementary School, feed into WJ or Woodward High Schools. I'm
also supportive of the recommendation. M.C.P.S. Include transportation studies to assess the full logistical impact of each boundary option. Scarce budget dollars should not go to additional transportation costs. My chief point is that it is
critical that the town of Garrett Park be treated as an undivided neighborhood, kept together with the larger community, which includes Garrett Park Estates and White Flint Park, and setting school boundaries. The strong social fabric that is developed between Garrett Park and our close
neighbors is essential to maintain so that we can continue to foster cohesive communities and build a strong high school environment. Thanks so much. Thank you. Kimberly Francisco. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Kim Francisco,
and I'm a parent of a rising second grader and incoming kindergartner at College Gardens Elementary. I represent a group of parents with children at College Gardens, and would like to offer feedback on the Crown High School Boundary study. As the ultimate decision makers, we urge you to prioritize educational continuity and
equitable access to specialized academic programing. Specialized academic programing is one quality which makes the current articulation unique for College gardens. Elementary. As the only elementary International Baccalaureate World School in the M.c.p.s system. This globally recognized program
fosters critical thinking, international mindedness, and interdisciplinary learning from an early age. Currently, college garden students continue on to Julius West Middle School, which is home to the IB Middle Years Program, and then to Richard Montgomery High School, which offers the IB Diploma Program.
This specialized IB pathway is the only continuous pathway in Montgomery County. Nationally, fewer than 15% of IB schools in the U.S. Offer the full K through 12 continuum. We urge the board to preserve the K through 12 IB pathway. College Gardens Elementary is a school
made up of rich diversity, with 44% of students receiving free and reduced meals and 76% of the population being made up of students of color. This is not an argument based on elitism or reluctance to change. It is one based on maintaining equitable access to this loved and
specialized educational program. Additionally, our parents would encourage the board to prioritize geographical proximity, which fosters inter-school collaboration and optimizes transportation efficiencies while also ensuring climate consciousness. Lastly, we encourage the board to prioritize options that promote
the long term sustainability of our schools by balancing projected enrollment levels and avoid overutilization and crowding. This is a critical element in any boundary decision. A more detailed written statement has been provided and I thank you for
your time. Thank you. Karen. Good afternoon. I'm Karen Seligman, the parent of a rising freshman at Walter Johnson and a rising junior at Richard Montgomery's countywide International Baccalaureate magnet program. I'm also president of the IB, the IB
Foundation, a nonprofit supporting our magnet and IB diploma students, alumni, teachers, and families. I'm here today to speak in support of maintaining MHS IB program as a county wide magnet. International Baccalaureate, or IB is a globally recognized for
not only its coursework and humanities, but also sciences, math, and languages. M.C.P.S. Offers two IB pathways individual courses with optional exams, or the comprehensive IB Diploma Program, which demands rigorous coursework, high exam
scores, and a capstone project. Local IB schools allow students to take a la carte courses or enroll in the diploma program starting in junior year. By contrast, the comprehensive IB magnet programs offer a cohort model and accelerated coursework
in ninth and 10th grades, leading to the full IB diploma program in junior and senior years, the IB cohort at RM has provided my daughter with a true sense of belonging and a community of intellectually curious peers, proving its success extends beyond
academics. Many of her friends value the program so highly that they willingly endure commutes exceeding the preferred 15 to 20 minute drive. I imagine many of us would make the same choice for our dream jobs. With nearly 40 years of experience, offers a
robust, nationally recognized program with a demonstrated track record of success. In 2024, 98% of MHS diploma students earned the designation, significantly exceeding the global rate of 81%. Since their launch six years ago, the three
regional IB magnet programs have shown significant progress, but have not yet come close to achieving the same level of success as the countywide program. Details are in my supplemental materials. It takes time to establish, develop and expand these programs while replacing the countywide magnet
with six regional ones may appear to be the elegant and equitable solution, it would mean eliminating one of the most academically successful programs the county has ever created. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Diego. Hi dear members of Board of Education, President Yang and
Doctor Taylor. My name is Diego, a parent of an M.c.p.s student impacted by the Crown High School Boundary Study. I'm speaking today on behalf of a group of data scientists, a GIS expert, a lawyer, and a traffic engineer to raise serious concerns about the validity of
the boundary study report. First, the study relies on m.c.p.s. Capital improvement projection data, or the CIP data, which consistently overestimates high school enrollment by over 5000 students since the year 2020, a number exceeding Double Crown High
school capacity. Year to year fluctuations are also very large, consistently reaching 20%, potentially misaligning over 1300 students who should have not been impacted. Second, we found significant data inconsistencies throughout the report. For example, Poolesville
High School planning excludes 700 nonresident students from magnet programs, significantly underestimating its utilization. In another case, identical school assignments show enrollment differences of over 700 students, which is a clear
sign of flawed projection. We urge flow analytics to fulfill its contractual obligation, which they wrote in their contract with M.c.p.s to validate data thoroughly before releasing future plans. Thirdly, while transportation is listed
as a key factor, it was barely addressed. For example, all four options reassigned Wayside Elementary School to Woodlawn High School, funneling more traffic onto Fourth Road, which is the sixth most congested road in Maryland during peak hours. Lastly, these changes severely disrupt community cohesion. Half
or more middle schools are split in all scenarios, and about 30% of students will be impacted, which triple the 10% impact threshold used in the 2019 boundary study. In summary, we call on flawed analytics to correct data errors, conduct
proper validation, and address concerns about traffic and community cohesion in future plans. We also urge M.c.p.s and the BOE to reconsider the long term alignment of the study with student well-being and community integrity. I have copies of appendix with data here if. Feel
free to take one or check it online. Thank you. Thank you. If you have material, feel free to give it to our staff. The staff can help distribute. Thank you, thank you. I'm going to call the next six. To come forward. It
will be Ronnie Peel, Liz Kim Daniel press, Jinhua, Liu and Xiao Yin Li, and then it will be
Madeline Moroff. Ronnie Pugh. Please go ahead. Hi, I'm Rodney from Richmond, Montgomery going into the school year, M.C.P.S. Had been a lot like the Washington Commanders
for decades, resting on successes from the 80s and 90s Doctor Taylor. Last fall we thought you were Jayden Daniels, but this spring you're playing a little more like a Ron Rivera quarterback. We don't think you're getting good advice for the new grading policy. You should have listened to student leaders like Purnell and Sam
Ross and not blame students for grade inflation. We need to hold hold adults in our school system accountable for the ridiculously high GPAs, but don't fault students for getting better grades than you think they deserve. For the boundary study, we could tell data was wrong the
first day, and it took three weeks to get it corrected. Multiple document changes are very frustrating and confusing for the choice programs. MCPs staff has spent months talking about a regional concept and trying to justify it on the basis of transportation time, distance and cost. But now you
propose regions that stretch across the county, all but ignoring your original premise. M.C.P.S. Claims community engagement, but non-disclosure agreements are for keeping secrets, not the transparency that this superintendent and board have promised. You have a plan for choice programs or you
don't. If you have a plan, let's see the data and the details. If you don't have a plan, stop pretending you're going to figure one out in the next few months when you haven't figured it out in years. MCPs came up with regional IB program six years ago, and they're not yet comparable to our program. They don't even match the local IB
programs, and this isn't the fault of the staff and students at the regional programs. It's the fault of Central Office who thinks just putting an idea on paper creates equity and access. It doesn't. IB is not strictly a humanities program, yet central office approaches admissions as if it's only about language and social studies. IB is a
comprehensive liberal arts program with strong humanities, yes, but also science, math and many other subjects. I've been an RN parent for seven years. I don't think M.c.p.s. Has been to our school to have a dialog with our community once about the IB program. I don't think you are. The proposal that we hear more
today, you know, are Wheaton and WJ and Churchill parents aware that their kids might no longer go to Blair or M and most of the other clusters will be excluded too? You haven't told our cluster that kids might not be able to any longer go to Blair, to Poolesville, to Einstein and Whitman. We ask you to change
course. Thank you for listening. Good day. I'm Liz King. Back in 2016, I was a Walter Johnson cluster coordinator. Today I speak only for myself, but I can share some history and speak to commitments your predecessors
made with respect to Woodward High School. In 2016, after the Walter Johnson Roundtable, the cluster asked M.c.p.s. To reopen Woodward, but only if students in the cluster were sent to WJ or Woodward. All our nine
schools could support that approach, but more than half the schools would have opposed it without that condition. Fortunately, superintendent Jack Smith stated his intent that students removed from WJ would be sent to Woodward after a presentation about seat deficits
at WJ and the DCC schools, Doctor Smith said it makes sense to go forward to look at opening Woodward, filling it up with WJ cluster students to the degree that it will fill, and then using the available space as one part of an overall solution for all these schools. Then the
board voted to reopen Woodward to address overcrowding at WJ and other high schools as determined necessary. The vote came at the end of a discussion about opening Woodward, first and foremost for WJ, Mrs. O'Neill said it needs to be
clearly through all documents so that, you know, in 2023, when folks are divvying up who's going where. First and foremost, our intention was that Woodward was to relieve overcrowding at Walter Johnson. Doctor Smith responded, I would occur, I
would concur. It's smart to put it in the record. It's right around the corner from WJ. We certainly will make sure that the scope holds firm to that resolution. The board then immediately voted and it passed unanimously. I ask this board,
keep this commitment, keep the commitments that the 2016 Superintendent and Board made. That will be a great start to shaping a strong new Woodward High School for all its students. Thank you. Thank you.
Daniel Press. Good afternoon. My name is Daniel Press and I'm the parent of two children currently enrolled at Lakewood Elementary School. I sit here before you to speak on the Crown Boundary study and advocate for maintaining the current boundaries for Lakewood, and to keep all of Lakewood as part of the Wooton cluster. I'd like to
thank M.C.P.S. And the Board of Education for their tireless efforts and support of our children. This is emotional, frustrating work that opens itself to a great deal of criticism. Thank you for making the district a better place for our children. I'd like to focus on two of the four main pillars of the board's policy on
facilities planning, stability of schools over assignments over time, and facility utilization stability. The board should combine the Crown and Woodward boundary studies. This makes sense considering that five of the nine high school clusters from Woodward study share a significant border with at least
one of three Crown Study high school clusters, as well as offering several additional options to solve capacity issues. Separate studies also cuts against geographic concerns. One district one study utilization the new boundaries must take into account not only
new development, but the density of that new development. By the time Crown opens, there will be at least a thousand more families living within a walkable distance. 500 residential units alone are set to break ground at the Rio on just 43,000ft. The Discovery Hall project looks to add 168
residences less than a mile away from Crown, with other proposals not far behind. The land within a two mile radius of Crown is generally more geared toward high density, mixed use residential complexes. Conversely, the opposite is happening in the Wooton cluster. Development is slowing
generally, and due to zoning, the land is less conducive to high density residential living, meaning enrollment will stagnate or drop, especially compared to Crown. As such, it makes little sense to shake up Wooten's current ideal facility utilization. Crown will fill organically, especially with the
addition of magnet and special programs. There is no need for the Wooton cluster to both part ways with a current elementary school as well as absorb wayside as it does in every current option. This is a large, disruptive solution that lacks an underlying problem. Thank
you. Hi, good afternoon, Doctor Taylor and board members. My name is June O'Neill. I'm a parent and one of the Wooton cluster coordinators. I'm here to strongly oppose the boundary study options that would redistrict Woodlawn cluster. Woodlawn High School is
currently at 88% utilization, well within M.C.P.S. Target range of 80 to 100%. Redistricting. Woodlawn cluster students simply to fill seats in other schools is unnecessarily and deeply disruptive to our community. The boundary study
also fails to consider the long overdue and desperately needed Wooton High School rebuild the purpose of the new Crown High School, opening in 2027, is to is to relieve overcrowding at other nearby schools, not to break apart stable clusters like
Wooton redistricting. Wooton students would break simply passes and fractured student friendships, causing emotional stress and uncertainty for families who have long planned on attending. Wooton disrupt a stable, well-functioning clusters that is causing the
does not causing the capacity problem. The new Crown High School is centrally located in an easily accessible view. Multiple major highways. It is a perfect location to offer countywide special programs like magnet, IB, Stem, Career and
Technical Education or other academies to attract students from across the county by choice. We urge the board to preserve the current Wooton cluster feeder pattern focus boundary changes to addressing overcrowding where they exist,
create countywide programs at the high school instead of forcing stable communities to move next. Build a system that truly reflects the values of equity, inclusion and stability, not one that solves one problem by creating another. Thank you
for your time and commitment to our students. Thank you. Xiaoyin Lee. Good afternoon, president and members of the board. My name is Xiaoyin Lee and I am a parent from Stonemill Elementary. I join over 1500
families in strongly opposing any proposal that removes Stonemill Elementary School from the Wooton cluster, and I propose a better solution, making Cronkhite an accessible career and technical education hub while keeping our stone mill
community united at Wooton. Here is why. So first, safety must come. First. Redistricting US would force our children to cross MD 28 with no crosswalks. Walk 1.2 miles on muddy branch
with no sidewalks, and navigate Shady Grove Road, where crash risk is 42% higher. Current roads through our neighborhood are safe, with zero reported accidents in the past five years. So why replace safety
with danger? Second, CTE deserves better access. Current city hubs like Thomas Edison and Damascus said 15 to 20 miles away from most of the students and current sits within 15 miles
of nearly every M.c.p.s. High school. So this is our chance to finally bring equitable career tech access without disrupting neighborhood schools. Third, protect our communities stability. While single family
homes have options in my neighborhood, townhomes are systematically reassigned. This fractured our community for our special needs. Students who depend on wooten's proven programs and trusted staff. This forced transition violates
M.c.p.s. Core commitment to stability. Under the policy FAA. So today, we urge you to keep Stonehill in the Wooton cluster where we belong. Develop Crown as the equitable CTE hub our county needs and proven that
M.c.p.s can expand opportunities without sacrificing community stability. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Madeline Moravec. I share this story as one example of the impact of
split articulation. Last fall, my family made significant financial sacrifices to move from Alexandria to Kensington. We loved our life there, except for the quality of public education placing prime importance on maintaining our
social fabric, we undertook the search for a new home with the family of our daughter's best friend, who shared our concerns. After years of house hunting, we purchased homes a mile apart, both zoned for the highly regarded BCC cluster. Another
key element. Our daughter would be reunited at Silver Creek Middle with her oldest friend, who had also moved from Alexandria seeking better educational opportunities. Thus, we stretched our budget considerably. Given the higher home prices in this sought after zone, reasoning that it was an
investment worth making for our daughter and a place we could rebuild our village. Silver Creek has been phenomenal thanks to Doctor Orcutt and the team there. Yet, instead of ending the year on a celebratory note, we were dismayed to learn that according to the Woodward
boundary study options, we would no longer be zoned for BCC. Even more troubling, due to split articulation for Silver Creek, the village we've been constructing to help our kids thrive would be torn apart. We would no longer be zoned with
the family. We moved with, the friend we reunited with. Nor would any of my daughter's new friends be certain to follow the same articulation pattern. Having observed my daughter this year, I am acutely aware of what a delicate and slow process rebuilding one's community is.
She and her classmates have just begun to lay the groundwork of a new ecosystem, which will hopefully sustain them for years to come. However, split articulation threatens to destroy it. Therefore, I urge you to adopt a single articulation plan for Qems
within the BCC cluster. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm going to call the next two in person public commenter to come forward, Sally McCarthy and Ale.
Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Sally McCarthy. Please proceed. Good afternoon, president Yang board members and Doctor Taylor.
I'm Sally McCarthy, and I'm here as the chair of the MCPs, PTA, CIP Committee. As we go ahead and review data for the boundary studies and look forward to the full CIP. I strongly encourage MCPs to take seriously the enrollment imbalances highlighted by the Planning
Board in its February report, as well as the data provided in the new FCI. We expect these data to undergird and drive decision making as M.c.p.s moves forward. I would also encourage MCPs staff and the board of Ed to investigate alternative models
of CIP financing, such as the P3 program established in Prince George's County four years ago. I now turn to say thank you to M.C.P.S. Staff, school leaders, teachers and students, and my colleague Karen back there, all of whom have actively
participated in and contributed to the launch and success of School Construction Impact Teams skits, as we come to call them, have instilled good organizational habits as they have improved communication, problem solving and community collaboration. At Poolesville High School, Sims Northwood at
Woodward and Greencastle Elementary School. Skits have also elevated the concerns about the existing infrastructure needs at older buildings as they undergo on site construction. This includes the hastening of the wear and tear, as is the case with the exterior facade
and the interior walls at Greencastle. These are in desperate need of cleaning and refresh as a result of this project. Finally, I want to acknowledge and support the testimony of the fellow volunteers who have expressed our concerns and requests about the current boundary study, specifically, the need for data
transparency, accuracy, and community engagement. Personally, I believe we should proceed with extra caution on any plan that is not accompanied by a projected budget for implementation. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Thank you. And then, Alex,
pl go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Alex Cinnamon. I'm the parent of two M.c.p.s students, including a rising fourth grader. And I'm speaking today about the changes to enriched English language arts instruction for grades four and five. I'll focus on two things the lack of transparency and
community input, and the model selection process, and the need for real accountability in delivering enrichment to advanced learners. M.c.p.s. Asked principals to choose between two enrichment models. Unfortunately, families were shut out of that process. We weren't informed, we weren't
consulted, and many parents only learned about the effort after principals finalized their decisions for next year. Those who did reach out to ask questions or offer input were ignored. For example, at our elementary school, which serves about 450 students from K to five, more than 120 parents
signed a petition to support in support of model one for enriched cohorts. The principal simply acknowledged receipt but never engaged in any dialog. These decisions that directly these decisions directly impact our children's education. My older daughter experienced both
models between fourth and fifth grades, and the differences were stark. M.C.P.S. Cannot allow school leaders to make such consequential choices behind closed doors. Again, I urge the board to have M.c.p.s require,
not encourage, stakeholder engagement. That includes parents before making decisions like these. Second, we need accountability. M.c.p.s must ensure advanced learners consistently receive meaningful enrichment, regardless of which
model applies. That means tracking student outcomes, analyzing data, and comparing results across models, schools, and quarters. And it also means sharing those results. We need to build enrichment expectations into principal evaluations as
well as teacher support systems. Transparency, parent involvement and accountability must be the standard. Please make sure that M.c.p.s delivers on all three. Thank you, thank you. There are two video testimony. Can TV
please proceed to play them? Hello. Montgomery County Board of Education, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Ethan Berkowitz, a rising seventh grader at Herbert Hoover Middle School, and I am a proud graduate of Wayside Elementary
School, where I founded the Green Team. Wayside is just two and a half miles from Winston Churchill High School. Moving us to another high school would add unnecessary stress on students, increased traffic, and harm the environment. Many of us already
walk, bike or scooter to Hoover, which neighbors Churchill, and taking busses would increase carbon emissions and traffic congestion. I've already built strong friendships with students from Potomac and Beverly Farms, and it would be devastating to
all of us to separate us. Hoover middle shares a campus with Churchill High, and some of us already take classes there. Moving us away from that community doesn't make sense. Furthermore, the infrastructure around our community can't
handle the increased traffic. Falls road is already near capacity and other routes are either unsafe or would disrupt local neighborhoods. Finally, despite estimates showing Churchill has overcapacity, the county data suggests that the
population is declining the wayside. PTA will present further data showing that moving students isn't necessary to address enrollment concerns. Please allow wayside students to
stay at Churchill High School. Thank you to Doctor Taylor and members of the Board of Education. My name is Diana Avram and I'm a parent of two children at M.C.P.S. I'm here to discuss MCPs implementation of enrichment within Ela next year.
Model one of CLA provides enrichment with a gifted, educated, trained teacher. This is similar to the ELC program, which has been effective in serving gifted and advanced learners. Model two combines all students in a heterogeneous classroom where teachers are
expected to support struggling students, as well as provide enrichment to advanced learners. Within the same lesson, I recently asked what guidance let principals receive when choosing between these models. The response I received from the board's ombudsperson indicated a
clear preference for model two. This is included in my written testimony. I subsequently asked Central Office for the data that supports this model, specifically regarding gifted students growth in heterogeneous classrooms. I was told there is
none. If no data is being collected or analyzed, how can we ensure gifted and advanced students are receiving meaningful enrichment? Past parent surveys show over 70% of families reported no enrichment under previous heterogeneous models, which is why the
community fought so hard for ELC opportunity in each school. MCPs own Future Ready plan promises that all students will have access to challenging and advanced learning opportunities that prepare them for high quality post-secondary outcomes.
Elementary Cohorted enrichment should not be limited to SES programs, which serve only a small portion of advanced students. We also need meaningful honors and accelerated English classes throughout middle and high school. If M.c.p.s. Is committed to high achievement and growth
for all students, it must cohort and accelerate its gifted and advanced learners. As this has been studied as the best way for these students to succeed, every child deserves the opportunity to be challenged and to reach their full potential. Thank you
everyone for the testimony. I really appreciate people coming in. We really have some major undertaking in our school district now, and I know there are staff here to capture your
your notes about the boundary and also the program analysis I trust. Okay. And I'm going to open to my colleagues for their comments or questions. I'm going to start from this side. Yes. I just want to again thank the
students for coming out. We had a student virtually and we had a student here in person. So I just wanted to say thank you guys for coming out, sharing your thoughts. I know we always, you know, pay very close attention to student feedback, the student information, and we'll take that all into consideration. But I just want
to give, give a shout out to you guys specifically for coming out sharing information. I know it's summer. A lot of students could be out here relaxing, but you guys chose to, you know, come up and speak and, you know, have your student voice be heard. And so I just want to say and
appreciate you guys for doing that. Mrs. Zimmerman, thank you. I want to echo similar sentiments to everyone that came out to testify today. It's really an important part of the work that we do, and I know that some of you have to take time off of work or make other arrangements to be able to get
here. We really appreciate that you're able to do that and come and share with us. So thank you for your feedback, Miss Silvestre. Yeah, thank you for coming to share your thoughts about the program analysis, the boundary analysis, the enriched
literacy curriculum. We are taking all of this in your testimony, helps us to understand the nuances that are happening at the school level, which are critically important in a project this big. So took lots of notes and this adds to
my data gathering so that we can look forward to the new versions of these these options in the fall, which I expect will have your input. Well, the collective input of everything that we're hearing about how to create
better options in the next iteration. We're not going to make everybody happy, but we this is part of the listening process so that we can put forward the best possible product for our children. So thank you for your testimony, Miss Wolff. I'm not going to
restate what my colleagues have already said. I just want to thank everybody for coming by. We do have some tough decisions ahead of us, and your input has been heard, has been recorded and will be taken into
consideration as we're making these decisions. Thank you. Mr. I too, want to thank all the advocates for coming out and parents speaking passionately about your school and the options that have been presented
so far. I do have one request. Bridget House talked about some data that was asked for and they they didn't get, so I wanted to know if we could. Have the
specifics that was asked for, and then to see if it's possible to get the data to the community project team, if just to see what's possible. And it would be good if we could have the ask on
paper and for the board to see what the ask was. I see my colleague Rita montoya has joined us online. Miss Montoya, you are on. Thank you so much. I want to apologize for not being present. Like many parents, I'm doing the summer camp trying to
figure out where the kids will go while we work shuffle. But I was listening to all of the comments while you were making them, even though I wasn't on the screen. And as always, I appreciate everyone taking the time to come and share your thoughts. It helps us to get perspective. So thank you so much. Do you have one more? I'm
sorry, I forgot to mention something which I've mentioned multiple times before from the dais, and I would like to know if we've had any of our outreach in other languages. I do believe
there is some interpretation at the original offerings, but I didn't know. I know there's office hours and people can call in, and if there's been any outreach to people or families
speaking different languages, thank you. As for me, I am. I'm very grateful for everyone's input along this process. I heard data mentioned many times today, and there are certain
data that I'm waiting for. Data on financial impact, data on transportation analysis data on staff resource mapping, data on
community feedback. So I think I understand this is a process, but I cannot underscore the importance for data driven decisions. My colleagues have and we have said many times, this not a process
that will make everyone happy. But if our decisions are based on data, then we have a better way to communicate with our community. So I really would like to highlight, elevate the
importance of data. And I also will repeat my question again to the school system. When we don't allow schools to make individual choices of how to do enrichment for math, why do we have a
different approach for reading? What drives our decision in in doing it one way or the other, between math and reading? So that concludes our public
comment. And the board's next business meeting is Thursday, July 10th. And I want to do a advertisement. We are going to talk about boundary studies and the program analysis today at
six 625, I believe, and I, I would like to encourage everyone to tune in for that presentation. During that time, our boards next business meeting will be July 10th and online sign up for public comment will
open on Thursday, July 2nd at 6 p.m. In addition to online sign up, same day, in-person sign up are permitted when space allows, with an allocated slots filled on a first come, first served basis in person. Sign ups will
close 15 minutes before the start of the open session, or when all slots are filled. Additional information regarding upcoming meetings can be found on the board's website. Thank you everyone. We're going to move to. The next item is
consent items. Are there any consent items the board members wish to pull, miss Montoya? I can't hear you. Thank you. My
apologies. I believe it's 6.6, and I apologize. I wasn't able to grab an agenda off the dais before. I had to had to leave to get him timely. It's the emergency procurement item. Okay. Any other item? 610 and
611, please. 610 and 611. Okay. So may I have item 6.1 to 6.5 and item 6.7 to 6.9, and item 6.12 to 6.19 moving block. Miss
Yang, can we for item 6.1 we have a revision. Do we want to? Yeah, just reference that. Can you tell me about the revision? Sure. So on item 6.1 which is expenditure authorizations to enter into contracts, there was
a duplicate item that had been included previously. And so we just have removed that item from the existing list. The updated list is at the dais and is posted to board docs. Just wanted to confirm for the board the complete list that was being approved. So the 6.1 is removed.
So. So 6.1 I just wanted to pull off the consent agenda so that that could be explained prior to the vote occurring. Oh okay. So then I would need to restate. So we will have pull 6.1, 6.6 6.10 and 6.11. Then can I have all
the rest of the items moving block. Can I can I just follow up with a quick question before I make that motion? So just just to be clear, the numbers of the contracts that we're pulling or the consent items that we're pulling are still the same. We're just we've just removed the 0.1 or I mean, I just want
to make sure that we're pulling the right ones and we're not accidentally approving something in relation to something else, but. Correct. So if we pull 6.1 from consent items, now, when we get to that separately, we will clarify which specific contract within the total list of items
on 6.1 that is being revised. Correct? Okay. I think that clarifies it for me. Thank you. All right. So Montoya has her hand up. We are pulling item 6.1, 6.66.1 and 6.11. Can I have
the rest of the items move in? Blocked. So moved. Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. With those present. Welcome, Miss Rivera. Evans. It was a long way
to get here, I understand. Thank you. Glad to be here in one piece. So, 6.1, can you tell us about it? Yes. So the list that the board has before it, that includes all of the standard
expenditure authorizations. Just we have a last minute adjustment to remove item 4920 3.1 from the original list. So the revised list with that item excluded has been provided to you for the
final vote and also has been updated to board docs. So we do need to vote for this item today. Correct? So okay, so what you will vote for now for item 6.1 is, is the standard list that you now have in front of you. That list just no longer includes the one item that was
pulled 4920 3.1. Thank you for that clarification. Is there a motion so moved? Second, there's a motion and a second. All in favor of item 6.1. Please raise
your hand. That is seven. That's seven in favor okay. And opposed. And abstain. And I'm just a little unclear about what's happening. And I think because I can't see the stuff in
front of me. So I think it's best just for me to abstain. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Item 6.6. Miss Montoya, what's your question about item 6.6? Thank you. So item 6.6 regards. An
emergency request for an emergency procurement for HVAC.
To mobilize. So situation was brought to the next available board meeting as per the process. My understanding is that after April 12th, there was a board meeting on May 8th. And so it seems like we might have
some processes to tighten up to make sure that these emergency procurements come to us at the next available board meeting for the process. Is there an explanation? Please go ahead. Introduce yourself first. Good afternoon. Yvonne Alfonso
Windsor Chief Financial Officer So yes, there was a board meeting after the April after the paperwork came through. Unfortunately, you know, we didn't bring it to the next board meeting because the additional paperwork and the additional follow ups were not completed. But we will make sure
that does not happen again and that we bring it to the next available board meeting. Thank you. Any other further questions? On 6.6? I just so it was an emergency. Procurement.
So it's been paid know how does that work when you you have to do something because the roof is falling into a school and have to send people to fix it, but then the board is approving it today, months later. So that we've been billed and haven't
been able to pay. Is that how it works? Or so the work was? The quotes were requested. The work has begun. It hasn't been completed yet. We haven't paid for it. But in order for us to create a Po, a purchase order and move forward with it, we need we needed to do the emergency procurement. So it was
in order to do the process of creating a purchase order for the vendor to start the work. Okay. Thank you. And where does the money come from for emergencies like this? In in the budget? Well, both of this came out of the capital budget. So it
is budgeted for you know. Well there's a there's a pot of money for unprecedented emergencies. Is that. Well in all our, in our budgets, we always identified emergencies. And then we have to say funding in other areas in order to address the emergencies that come up. You said you have
to take funding from other areas to address emergencies. And I'll let is there anything you want to add? Yeah, I know that. And what Miss Alfonso Windsor said is correct. And in this case, this came out of our capital portion of the sustainability budget because it was related to
the HVAC system and the sustainability piece, because it was an energy efficiency as well as, you know, building a the controls for the HVAC system, which was related to the sustainability. So can you say again, it came out of which the sustainability capital budget.
Okay. But it is it was to cover something else that we're not able to do anymore. This was available funding that was not tied to any current project, but it was reserved for projects that are related to sustainability. And these match that the purpose of that fund.
So to answer your question, Miss Silvestri, and to Miss Montoya's question is why on earth does this now come before the board when it's something that clearly is an an event that occurs and needs to be responded to in the moment? We have limits on purchasing authority, and we do
have process to follow. And this is one of those things where we can transparently spend public money by following a process and bringing it before the board for review and for, for, for appropriation for this purpose.
So it is a mechanism by which we can communicate with the public how we're spending the public's money. Yeah. I think my question was more about I assume that every dollar is allocated for in both CIP and operating. And so
when we do have an emergency, I understood that you take it from something else that you was already you planned to spend on. But I'm not understanding this sustainability part that you just mentioned. So every project on the capital side has some
contingency. And this is both in practice and also a requirement for a lot of our capital projects, that we have a contingency portion for every project. The good news is, is that we do not spend our contingency on every project. And there is some of that
required contingency that stays in the capital budget that goes unspent, and we roll that over to other projects, either through the budget process and the CIP project, or from time to time we have emergencies and we allocate it through that. But this is a budget issue that the
board confronted this year and, and even allocated as part of your operating budget, some ongoing maintenance pay as you go maintenance support to address similar issues. Although not of this magnitude, in trying to fix things in real time,
because that that is an issue with our aging infrastructure. Okay. Thank you. That's very helpful. Miss Rivera. Evans. So, Doctor Taylor, so that we're really, really clear, there is a little bit of cushion left from
projects that you already put a little bit of cushion in there for contingency that we're able to use. So like the other day when we had that horrible storm, we had a tree fall on one of our schools. So probably the insurance is going to pay, but they're going to pay out.
They're they're good, you know, a very slow pace. Right. So but we would need to pay that upfront to make sure, because there were eight classrooms that were affected. So then with that money then come from this cushion that we have and then we
replenish once we get the funding from the insurance. Yeah. And before anyone gets really excited about this fantastic cushion that we've got, I, I was like, how good is this cushion? We are required. We are required to have contingency with our projects.
So it is a small margin that we have to operate from. So I'm glad you brought that up. And you also brought up something that that often doesn't get a ton of attention. So this is really fortuitous conversation. Just talk about insurance and that sometimes we do do make claims to our insurance, much
like a homeowner would make a claim to their insurance as well. But I'll defer to Mr. Mamoon, our chief operations officer, to tell you exactly how we're solving the Westland Tree Father's Day event. So there is
a difference between the work that is under 6.6, because these are capital eligible funds, because these are longer term investment, even though they were done under an emergency procurement, we were able to use capital dollars for it. For something like Westland, we
would have to use their emergency funds built into our maintenance budget. We would use that to pay for this. While we are waiting for that insurance reimbursement. So we do have an emergency fund. There are contractual funds that are
allocated to deal with emergencies, whether it's related to HVAC, because we have to call contractors when there is an emergency or like a tree clearing. So when things like this happens, we will have to call a contractor. We'll be paying out of that fund, and then we'll wait for the
reimbursement from the from the insurance company. So it would have been an HVAC situation. It would have come from the cushion. But since it wasn't an HVAC situation, it was Mother Nature situation. It would come from the other cushion. Well, we have quite a few cushions. So in
the I mean we have to have contractual services on our maintenance side just to be able to deal with this. Whether it's a snow emergency, we have to call contractors, whether it's an emergency related to HVAC. In most cases, the HVAC work that we do under the maintenance does
not fall under the capital improvement because we're talking about replacing a pump instead of replacing an entire chiller unit, which would be a capital investment. We can, you know, tap into a different set of funds in that case. But here for the emergency procurement, because it's a longer term investment, we were able to use
the capital funds versus the tree damage that happened at Westland. Okay. Thank you for that explanation. I think it's important for people at home to kind of understand the mechanisms because they can get very confusing. So I don't want people to think we have an amazing cushion and but we
really don't. Okay. Just just to be clear. All right. Thank you. If there's no more questions, may I have a motion for 6.6. So moved. Second there's a motion and a second. All in favor please raise your hand. That's
unanimous. Thank you. Oh, that's. Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you so much. Okay, miss Silvestre, what's your question for 66.1 and 6.11? Yes. Thank you. We have Highland View
Elementary School Addition project update and Silver Spring International Middle School addition project update. So I just wanted you to share with the community the details of that project update. Thank you. Yeah, sure. So I'll start with
Highland View which is 6.10. We when this project was originally planned a few years ago, there was originally a budget established for this project for $15.1 million. The scope included increasing the capacity from current state capacity of
338 to about 500. I'm sorry, 331 to 528 students are roughly 198 seats were going to be added. It was also going to help us address an Ada challenge that we have with access to the playground. However, what was not planned into the original
budget is there are structural issues with that building specifically that even though, you know, this project planned to expand the capacity of the building, the current core spaces in the building, including the multi-purpose
room, is very much undersized. So as we develop the drawings and were able to get a proper estimate for the project, the project, you know, the estimate came in, you know, significantly higher than the construction
budget. And at the same time, it you know, that budget is not addressing the other issues that the building has because it is an existing building. I believe last time it was renovated was back in 1994. So there are existing systems in the building that are in need for
replacement, as well as the need for improving the, you know, core spaces in the building. That's why our recommendation at this point is to pause this project, because the current budget does not support not only the addition it does not allow
us to address, because it was not properly planned when the project budget was established, when this was originally, you know, established a couple of years ago, we would like to take an opportunity to go back and look at the needs of the, of the building and, and, and come back
with us, you know, and make a recommendation during the CIP presentation later this year. Thank you. And for, for the Silver Springs, which is 6.11, it's a similar situation. We
started out with a project that originally had a scope for adding the, you know, new gymnasium, as well as looking at some existing spaces in the building, which was to expand
the current linkages to learning spaces in the building, as well as adding two new science labs inside the building. And we issued a contract for the gymnasium with an estimate in that contract to do the work for
the linkages to learning and the science labs. However, we had to take a step back during the project, understanding that building was built over several decades. And for us to put those places inside the building, the linkages as the science labs, we
had to do some thorough testing to go through several sections of the existing building in order to, you know, determine how we were going to provide that solution because of the new code requirements for HVAC to bring in fresh air from the
outside. And when we did that, we had to wait till last summer in order to do some testing. That involved removing hazardous material while the building was unoccupied. And when we were able to assess the condition properly, we realized that the current budget for the
construction that was approved is not sufficient for us to be able to complete those science labs, and the linkages to learning and similar to Highland View, when this project was originally planned, it did not take into account a lot of the
existing challenges with that building, including the HVAC system. Not in the addition, but obviously in the existing building. The restrooms are needing upgrades. There are locker rooms that we need to upgrade, as well as building lighting and other systems.
There's a historic portion of the building that also needs a roof replacement. So this current budget is not going to support beyond just finishing up the gymnasium addition. We will not be able to complete the linkages to learning as well as
the science labs. And so we wanted to our recommendation is to complete this addition of the gymnasium and pause for us to, you know, because we don't have the budget, we wanted to take the opportunity to, you know, go back through the CIP cycle and
look at all the needs that the building has in order for us to, you know, put that recommendation into the next IP. Thank you. And I just urge you to keep the community school communities up to date on what what is happening and the implications. I know they've been following these
construction projects over the years. Yes. Thank you. We did have a meeting with the principal as well as the PTA leadership for both these schools. And we have, you know, informed them as well as we have sent out a community information out. And we're happy to, you know, and we're getting, you
know, we have received more additional questions, and we're responding to the community concerns. Thank you. Thank you. And then if there's no more questions, oh, there's more questions. Go ahead. Also. Oh on this side I wonder we have
questions. Go left and go right okay. So and I think this is this is a topic for later for a bigger conversation about the way we do vettings of existing buildings that are very
challenging and to look to the future, because I'm very troubled by the fact that we're putting band aids, but they're very expensive band aids. They're not your regular, you know, Paw Patrol band. These are like expensive band aids. And it
just keeps adding up. And for Highland, how are we now fixing the accessibility to the playground? Because that is not that's not a small thing in my opinion. It is something that.
Put it this way. No, schools should not be in a position where there is no access for children with disabilities. None of our schools should have that issue. So one, how are we addressing that issue with Highland? But then looking at
Silver Spring International Middle School, I've been to the school many times. I just wish we could have, you know, a really frank conversation long term. We give fixing here and there and it's a few million
here and there, you know, and Doctor Taylor, maybe this is a conversation for us to have because we have other schools in this, in this position that if we just keep fixing a little bit here and a little bit there or
fixing the roof, we're talking millions and millions of dollars. So I'm just wondering when we do the vetting, what does that look like? You know, should we do a vetting of the whole structure. So that way we don't put millions of dollars in
a part of a building. And then when we we're, you know, we invest all that money, we're like, oops. Now this side of the building doesn't have the infrastructure to do any additions. So what are we going to do then? Right. So I just
want to have a whole picture because when we when we vote for these additions, we vote in good faith that the experts I'm not an architect, but the experts and the people that know actually do a true vetting of these infrastructures. And I
just feel like sometimes we're just keep adding or we cannot complete things that we say we're going to complete because we just run out of money. And at what point do we need to ♪say, you know, money's only going to fix it temporarily for a year or two, but then we're going to be
back to square one again in a year or two years, where we're going to be spending the same amount, and then we're going to be back again in two years. So that's something worse. And it just keeps adding up versus saying, okay, do we need to start from scratch? And what does that look like? I'll let
Doctor Taylor or you answer, yeah. So as as far as looking at our buildings, what we have started doing, which, you know, some of the things that you know, was not done in the past
few years. We are looking at any projects that are in the, in our CIP as a, as an upcoming project or a future project. We're starting out with a feasibility study, which allows us to look at all the issues with the building, whether it's, you
know, we need to add more seats, whether we need to renovate or we need to renovate and do additions. It does two things. It it answers the questions that you're asking. It allows us to know that all the infrastructure problems up front before we are taking on, on or putting it
actual budget in the CIP. Also, doing that feasibility allows us to get that cost estimate up front. So when we're, you know, bringing the CIP to the to the board for review, you know, that CIP is going to be informed with those cost estimates in there.
And we know, you know, what it's going to, you know, require us to, you know, implement those solutions. So that's one way to be able to make sure that we're, you know, we're bringing full projects in front of the board and up front, bringing those
costs based on those studies so that the board can, you know, look at, look at the request and make a decision at that point. But, you know, going forward, that would be our, you know, our approach to make sure that we're starting out every one of our major capital projects with a
feasibility study that looks at all the different options. Thank you. Mr. Thank you for digging into this, because both of these projects have been proposed in different ways for many, many
years. And so here we are again. But this time, one of the projects we've already invested millions of dollars into it. So I first want to talk about Highland View. There was something in the background that
mentioned that the scope of the addition project is not eligible for state funding, as nearby elementary schools currently have available capacity. And so I know we're now going to. Put
the capacity project. We're we're we're going to vote whether or not I guess we probably will be putting that on hold and looking at it the next CIP. But can you explain the
rules for state funding as far as capacity and which schools do you know which schools had capacity nearby? So I will have to get back to you on the nearby schools. So I will provide that
information. So when we present a project to the state and if it is a capacity project, so the state could look at it, if it's a renovation project, if we're renovating a building that has systems that are more than 16 years old, then the state will
participate. And if the state hasn't participated, you know, because that 16 years is the state's limit for funding. So if they funded, say, the replacement of the roof and if it's been more than 16 years, they will reconsider. When we go back to the state and say we need to replace the roofing for
Highland View, they will participate at their participation rate of 50%. So we could potentially get up to 50% of that, you know, replacing that roof or whether it's an HVAC system. So that's the state's formula for doing renovation is they look at the
age and 16 years is that number that if you know, if it's more than 16 years old, then the state will pay for it. When it comes to capacity projects, the state requires us to list surrounding schools. And then in that state's calculation sheet,
we have to also also show what the available capacity of the surrounding elementary schools are, and if those surrounding schools have a capacity that exceeds what we're asking to add, then the state will will usually not fund that project. I
believe that we have submitted for Highland View in the past, and their response was that you could do a noncapital solution to the Highland view. If you know capacity is your only challenge, which is why this? Because this project was strictly just for an addition.
The state's response to our capital request was that they're not going to participate. Thank you. So they want us to look at available capacity and consider boundary adjustments. Correct? Okay. And as far as the issues
that still are, there will I will be looking at that at the next CIP to see if there's any kind of improvements that would be presented to us. Yes, yes. Okay. And as and now back to
Silver Spring International. Will facilities continue your team continue to work with the Sims community on shorter term improvements, along with longer term plans in the upcoming CIP?
Due to the complexity of the building. And in other words, will we look at something past the status quo? And I do understand that we already built the gym. I get that I would love
to see some kind of review of how that was prioritized in the funding, and not some of these other issues. In the main part of the building where there's like what I consider livability
issues, and I would just like to see a review of the decision making process. So if we determine maybe the money could have been used better in different ways, and this is
where I'm getting at. Thank you. So you are asking for a review process of how the decision I believe that's before Mr. Mamoon joined us those decisions. So maybe he would need to take some time to, to gather those
information, just just to end. I don't think it's necessarily acceptable to say, okay, you're going to have to live with the building as is for the next 5 to 10 years. It takes a while to get an even more major capital project or to look at other
buildings. ET cetera. And I'm not saying I don't know what the solution is, but I would like to us to at least review some targeted solutions to make it better for kids in the next 5 to
10 years. Thank you. Yeah. To answer very quickly your question about some immediate needs. We have had a meeting with the school principal as well as their the PTSA leadership, and we did talk about certain immediate things
that we could do to improve. There were some concerns about some hallway lighting. We're going to look into that. There were some concerns about some plumbing fixtures in restrooms. So yeah, we were we are working with with the school and the community to understand there
are certain quick things that we could do as part of improving the immediate, you know, some of the immediate concerns that they have. And then while we consider a larger scope for the CIP,
thank you, thank you. If there's no further questions, can I get a motion for 6.1 and 6.11? So moved second. Okay. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand.
That's unanimous. Thank you everyone, and thank you for the team for bringing this to our attention. And it's so our next item is item 7.1 Safety and
Security update. Very exciting. Thank you, Madam President. It was made abundantly clear to me at the onset of my tenure a year ago with M.C.P.S, both in community meetings and also by the board. The importance of
safety and security in our schools. And I'm delighted to bring forward our team for the third installment on our safety and security update, the collaborative efforts of our teams to coordinate safety plans
and strategies that impact individual facilities within their communities are crucial to the positive outcomes and providing a sense of security for our schools through the use of data. Today's discussion will reflect what we've learned this year and the direction in which we are moving to strengthen our
safety across M.c.p.s. There is some encouraging data that I am excited that we get to share today. By dedicating our attention to these critical areas, we can reaffirm our unwavering commitment to fostering a safe environment for all students and adults who
enter our campuses. And with that, I turn things over to Mr. Marcus Jones and Doctor Peter Moran, who will share details about how our district is moving forward with safety and security. Thank you. And good afternoon to the to the board
and to Doctor Taylor. It's a pleasure for us to be with you today to discuss our safety and security update for this past school year, and we have interesting information to share. First and foremost, I
just want to remind the board of this visionary statement that was prepared and really that we have focused again on the second paragraph, I think, which is vitally important on a comprehensive and balanced
approach that emphasizes the prevention, the intervention and consistency across our entire district. And that has been really the focus of many of the operations in which we have held steadfast with throughout this particular school year. Again,
this is the third and the final safety security update to the board. And also coming up on the completion of my first year in this role, you will hear in this presentation what has occurred this year. We've delivered on
promised initiatives, including working with schools on the student ID program, catching up on broken technology, about the 966 student infractions that impact school safety, giving the
board a closer look into the incidents that happened across the district and at the school level this year. Fighting knives and other weapons and drugs and controlled dangerous substances were our highest across the
district. A clear picture is also going to be explained. Of the 124 student arrests for incidents that occurred on campus, and we want to make sure that we clarify the difference between full custody of these
particular offenses, as well as the referrals that are provided to the Department of Juvenile Services in order to rectify these particular incidents. We also in this presentation, we want to discuss how we plan to
create a safe, safer learning environment in FY 26 through consistency, high expectations, and more coordinated efforts, including the Student Student Code of Conduct Technology and a
National Emergency Response Protocol. As I conclude the end of my first year, it was important for me to learn M.C.P.S. What's working and what needed to be done to really support Doctor Taylor's focus on
creating a safe learning environment. I knew entering this role, collaboration with all offices, especially Doctor Moran's and Doctor Phil's teams and across agencies, Montgomery County Police and our other law
enforcement and public safety partners, Street Outreach Network, Maryland Center for Safe Schools was going to be a critical, was going to be critical to lay a foundation for the safety and security work in this district. You will hear
that as a theme in my update, but also throughout this discussion. This has made a difference in our work this year, in collaboration with Doctor Moran's team, we completed school safety walks at
all of our high schools, and we are currently visiting our middle schools to gain a baseline of safety practices and a true understanding of district wide needs. Later in this
presentation, I will share more information about the learnings from this process and what we will do to address the challenges. We also implemented some consistent practices across the district to increase predictability and make safe,
safer learning environments. This includes, again, all high schools have fully implemented the student and staff IDs, which include wearing and checking for them. Now there are processes in place at our schools. What I would like to see is to still
see a more consistent model for the district, from the best practices for student IDs. Next will be our Halo smart sensors have been installed in our active in all high school restrooms, creating a deterrent
to vaping. And these locations and also signaling if there is a large commotion. Though in the first few months of implement implementation, student awareness has been increased and an enhanced focus has been placed on restrooms by all
staff. In discussion with our high school principals and security assistance. The biggest challenge so far is the larger number of false notifications. We are working with our vendor to determine how to balance device effectiveness and more
accurate notifications to decrease this response for the coming school year, we have cleared an estimated 85% of a significant backlog of security related technology requests for
new or broken items from multiple years that we worked in conjunction with technology and school administrators to ensure that these items were complete, are close to completion. We strengthen emergency response
protocols based on what we learned throughout the year. On April 3rd, all administrators participated in mandatory training to support the consistency of protocols and provide enhancements to processes. Two key upgrades
focused on communication, providing principals the autonomy to activate a shelter in place or lockdown. Standardized use of the remind app to communicate with students, parents and faculty, and communications will support.
I'm Sorry comms will support communication efforts to allow the school staff time to focus on the safety of the site and managing the incident. I'm sorry
I missed a couple of slides there. I want to go back. Let's go back. There we go. Okay. Sorry about that. A large focus of my first year again was gained. To gain was to gain an
accurate baseline of the district's safety practices and needs to develop a direction forward and make our schools safe. To do this in collaboration with Doctor Doctor Moran, we completed the secondary school safety walks.
This was important to see again what is happening in our schools and to learn from principals and security staff the best practices and challenges. We visited the schools. We talked and walked with the principals and their security staff. What
we learned from the high schools is that overall, there is a very strong collaboration between administrators and security staff, and security teams are active and not just reactive. Though each school is unique, our approach again should be
consistent across our schools. The board has asked for a more accurate and transparent data about student arrests in collaboration with Montgomery County Police. We did this this
year. The data is more accurate. The data is more accurate. Identification of our students race and gender. And I want to thank the Montgomery County Police Department for this information and providing a deeper analysis. The data on the
slide show shows 120, I'm sorry, 124 total arrests for offenses that occurred on school property. We have included the full custody arrest and the referrals. Whereas in the past
the report to the board only included the full custody arrest on campus. So the difference is, as you can note, is that, again, that the full custody arrest notes that it's a student that's physically taken into police custody. And this is done also
within the realms of the memorandum of understanding that we have with the police department, the referrals. That is, again, the Department of Juvenile Services. These are reports where police does not have the power to make an arrest, but has enough probable
cause to charge a student with an offense that occurred on campus. Those cases are then sent to through the police department to the Department of Juvenile Services, which at that point makes a decision on whether cases should be sent to
a diversion program. Are those cases are sent to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office for prosecution. That data is not kept within M.C.P.S. Security. Though police also
provided this. Provided this data, we double checked as their reporting standard about race and ethnicity. Ethnicity. Sorry I got tongue tied a little bit. Does not align with how MCPs identifies it in synergy. So for
example, Montgomery County Police does not treat Hispanic Latino as a race and ethnicity. They did this through their reporting figures. It is they do it through the FBI standards. So
again it is usually it is a it's white and it's black. And if it is of Latino descent, those those are then deciphered out from that perspective okay.
Again this shows the physical arrest numbers. You can see in 2022 to 23 that the numbers were 57 going into 23 to 24, the numbers decreased to 14. These are again in custody arrests.
And then this particular school year, as of the May 21st date of 2025, we have seven physical arrests for this current school year. Okay. Looking ahead, we
want to talk about again next year. We will fully adopt a standard, the standard response protocol from the I love You Guys Foundation. This is a nationally recognized model designed to enhance school
safety and crisis response. This model also includes parent child reunification. This model is easier to understand and provides clear, consistent language for students, staff,
first responders, and parents during emergencies. All school based administrators will be trained at the August Ans. All school staff will be trained during pre-service week, and families will receive information at the start of the
year. All schools will receive correspondence signage to display throughout their building and literature to explain to families that will be in multiple languages. And from
my safety walks, discussion with principals and overall assessment of M.C.P.S. School safety needs. There are two major initiatives for next year that will standardize school safety. One will be mandatory training for our security staff.
It is really important to me that our security assistance don't just have technical training, such as CPR and de-escalation practices, but that they are able to apply it in effectively navigate the nuances that occur in the
schools. Our security must have a professional development track that will increase consistency in practices across all schools. Give them a level of confidence to be proactive and make decisions on the spot and in the best interest of safety for the
learning environment. Next year, there will be two forms of mandatory training for security assistance. I believe these training structures will make a difference. First, we are implementing a two day
onboarding program for any new security assistant, our security assistant changing to a different school day one will include review of emergency preparedness, the cell phone
policy, legal guidelines, and collaboration with the CEOs. Day two will be on the job training at a school with other security assistants, cluster coordinators, and a panel discussion with their peers. The
second form of mandatory training will be quarterly hands on learning opportunities by cluster. The security assistance from a cluster will come together once a quarter to walk through a school, do peer
reflection, and learn coverage and practice. They will also share information about the what is occurring in their particular clusters at other schools that also may impact their school and the school population. Again,
this will be led by our Cluster Security coordinators, who also who are members of the cross-functional teams and will know specifically the needs of each school team and the trends in the cluster. The second is a
strategic and predictable approach to technology infrastructure. While we were able to clear the backlog of requests and needs and were able to outfit all elementary schools with cameras within the last three years, along with looking
into other countermeasures, countermeasures to support our schools, building infrastructure through a multi year modernization plan aligned with industry standards. This approach will allow will also
allow MCPs to have a long range fiscal outlook on the cost and the upkeep, and determine if funds are associated with the operating capital improvement or grant funds. At this time, I
will pass it to Doctor Moran, who will talk more specifically about student infractions that impact student safety. All right. Thank you, Chief Jones. All right, so we showed the board a similar chart in January
when we did our mid-year check in with you regarding serious incidents. So this chart shows the top student infractions that disrupt the school operations. I want to just make sure that you recognize it does not include all infractions like cutting class disruption, inappropriate
use of personal devices, or incidents that require medical attention, or medical emergencies that do not directly impact school safety. I want to provide some context also regarding serious incidents or infractions that impact the school safety and specifically
just pull the language right from our policy, right? A serious incident is any event on school property or during a school related activity that poses a significant concern to safety, health, security or discipline and may involve an emergency response, police
involvement or impact normal school operations. So right here on this slide we are looking at specific serious incidents that account for the top five infractions impacting school safety. These incidents are possession of a knife bomb threats, fighting or attack on
others, drugs or controlled substances, and trespassing. For these specific infractions. There were 1069 during the 2023 or 2023 2024 school year, decreasing to 966 infractions
this school year, with over 160,000 students attending Montgomery County Public Schools. I think it's important to consider the low number of these infractions. We have students, for the most part, that are doing a fantastic job making great choices every day
at school. Trends within the data are similar to last year. It's important to highlight that these specific infractions here have been an overall decrease of nearly 100 from last year to this year, notably a reduction in the number of serious fights and attacks. While we saw a
slight increase in false alarm or bomb threats. I want to be clear again that this data does not include all fights that occur in our school system. Serious fights, according to our policy, are categorized as those that result in physical injury, require police intervention, or
are significant disruption to school operations. In accordance with the memorandum of understanding that we have with the Montgomery County Police Department. If a physical attack on another student or adult that requires a medical attention outside of the school health room, schools are required to
engage with our police partners. This engagement and level of injury are the key factors in defining a serious fight. Can you help me out, Marcus? Go to the next slide. Thanks. A little far reach for me. All right, all right. So this next slide provides a breakdown of the type
of student infractions by school level elementary, middle and high. Right here we're looking at elementary schools the most that that significantly impact daily operations and overall school climate. The infractions presented in this pie chart don't just reflect student
misbehavior, they represent real disruptions to teaching and learning and often require adult intervention, behavioral support, or even external resources. The most prevalent infraction here is physical aggression. This is not unexpected developmentally, but when left unaddressed, it
escalates into patterns. And as I shared, we are focused on prevention and high expectations for our students. As we discussed in a previous presentation and discussion, other concerns like disruption impact the learning environment for all students, often prompting the need for team
based interventions or support from behavioral specialists. Next slide. So here we're looking at middle school. All right. So we see some concerning data here with our middle schools. Middle schools. The data shows rising trends in
disrespect fighting and knives and weapons. We see an increase in fighting and weapons related incidents, particularly knives or other objects. This level often presents higher behavioral volatility, meaning our middle schools need robust restorative structures, consistent routines,
and proactive student support teams. I will say, you know, the connect with with Doctor Taylor said about our our school Leadership Academy, our summer leadership Academy. This was a significant piece of discussion today about restorative approaches, specifically at the
middle school level. Middle school is a critical time for us to identify development developmentally and of course, boundary testing from our students. So consistent structures are especially important here. If we go to the next slide Marcus thank you. All
right. So now we get to high schools and high schools. The most serious infractions emerged. Threats weapons possession, drug related behavior and physical altercation. These are the types of incidents that most often meet the threshold of a serious incident, as defined by our
policy in Montgomery County Public Schools and with our memorandum of understanding with Montgomery County Police Department. They often involve interventions and support and disrupt normal school operations. All this data, as well as the data Chief Jones shared, helped drive decisions around where to place additional security, deploy
cross-functional teams, and provide mental health and behavioral support needed for our schools. We go to the next slide. So a major next step is the revised Student Code of Conduct. As we've discussed previously, launching in the
2025 2026 school year, the revisions are to clarify behavioral categories and definitions, prioritize preventative and restorative practices, and provide a revised response matrix and standardized investigative process across all 211 schools. I'm happy to report
that all of our administrators, principals, assistant principals, assistant school administrators, central office staff all received this training over the past two days, and it was actually very well received. A lot of great questions, went through scenarios with all of our principals to really process through and talk about best
practices. And a lot of these incidents, these revisions reaffirm our commitment to safe, equitable learning environments, clear behavioral expectations, and strong partnerships between schools, students, and families. We will focus on restorative approaches. Like I shared last
month, this is not just a practice, it is a mindset. Our our updates move it from a strategy to a central component of our disciplinary approach and the operating budget. You will see the new Office of Student Conduct and Appeals. The addition will support our system accountability by ensuring school based actions are
reviewed with fidelity to policy and legal guidelines. When applied with fidelity restorative approaches rebuild trust, promote accountability, and repair harm in a way that punitive measures often cannot. We are investing in ongoing professional development to ensure staff are equipped to
lead restorative conversations, to help students take meaningful ownership of their actions. Again, not calling in a squad of people to help. But as Doctor Taylor has talked about teaching people to fish, teaching restorative approaches so that they become a natural part of every school's culture, all
school based staff will receive training on the updated student Code of Conduct, including restorative practices, practices and tiered behavior responses as part of the required annual compliance modules. Just as I said, they did receive training today from all of our
principals. Schools will embed discussions of the new behavior expectations during student orientations the first week of school. We are making it a mandated expectation across all of our schools that this information is covered with every single student the first week of school, not the second
week of school. The first week of school. Really trying to make it a digestible information as well. Not going through that elaborate document, but pulling out the main ideas main changes to ensure that everyone walks away with exactly the same information again. Homeroom
Lessons Advisory is also an opportunity to do this to ensure students understand their rights, their responsibilities and potential consequences. Families will receive information through multiple platforms including printed guides, school newsletters, websites and community info sessions to reinforce a shared
understanding and partnership in student success. As we look forward to FY 26, we're expanding our commitment to school safety through full implementation of the Standard Response Protocol at every school, which we introduced to our principals today. So we're we're using our runway very intelligently to begin those
conversations before we even flip over, so that they have that information to begin to talk with their instructional leadership teams and staff about revised student code of conduct with new training for all staff, additional training for security assistants and administrators on restorative approaches and incident de-escalation and
enhanced monitoring through our new Student Conduct and Appeals Office. Lastly, I just want to say our cross-functional teams will support implementation, gather school based feedback, and help problem solve in real time. We have made important progress, but true safety means
every single student feels seen, supported and ready to learn. Our shared responsibility is to continue aligning our practices, policies, and people toward that goal. Next slide. All right. So
we'll turn it back over to you, Madam President for questions. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and I appreciate that this year's effort of having this conversation multiple times to keep the public and the board informed
and for us to adjust and, and improve our safety and security. I'm going to turn it to board members for questions and comment. I will appreciate my colleagues keep their comments brief and get to the questions.
We'll go one for the first round. I'm going to start from this side. All right. Thank you. I just want to start by saying that and commending all the great work that you guys have done, especially when it comes to the standard response protocol, the Student Code of conduct, the safety walks and the clearing of the tech
backlogs. I really, really do want to shout that out because that is some amazing work that, you know, maybe doesn't always get the praise that it deserves to get, because that is very critical work to some of this stuff. So this is a question I ask very often. And so just just in full transparency, this is
going to be a clip I'm going to put on my Instagram right for all the students to see. So how are we planning on ensuring that every bathroom will be open next year. And if they are closed, how will there be clear communication as to why? So
first let me just say appreciate all of the partnership this year. You've been fantastic. We're we're really going to miss you was prepared for this question. So first off I would say that we following the pandemic we formed some some
habits that I would say were not conducive to student well-being, their health. Right. We looked for easy answers to problems, one of which is locking bathrooms, the bathrooms locked, students can't access it. And so we've had to retrain some bad habits that were established
over a number of years. And one of the ways that we've had to retrain, that is we try we I think we believed that we could untrain people through the delivery of just an expectation. Right. And what we found is clear variance across schools of
where they were with that practice. Some principals wasn't a practice. They really applied at all. It didn't feel like it was needed. Some schools. It was one that was ingrained in their school culture. So during the security walks that we conducted, and really what we're talking about is more middle and
high schools not talking about elementary schools. It was a main point of discussion during those walks, and also was a main monitoring piece because we had the opportunity to engage in real time data collection where we would see a bathroom potentially locked, have a discussion about why we're
moving to a place where it's just not an option to be used at all. And moving more to, I thin, some some tough love around that it it's a mandate. It's not something that we can do anymore. It also sends a very a
very distinct message to students, as you've shared with me and as students have shared with me, is that if you're locking bathrooms, it makes me actually feel unsafe because I go to school in a place where the answer is to lock bathrooms because unsafe behavior will be will happen there. So I think at
the beginning of the year, you know, there was some reflection that needed to happen around the delivery of an expectation that, you know, doesn't change behavior instantly. And we've had to change behavior over time. And I think we're at a much better place than we were at the beginning of the year
than we are at the end of the year, but certainly not where we want to be for all 25 of our high schools, all 40 of our middle schools. Okay. Got it. So again, just going back to the students, you know, I'm going to clip this for on Instagram. But you can expect your bathrooms to
stay open next year. That is the expectation given by M.C.P.S. Right here right now. I have more questions, but I'll save them for later. Thank you, Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. I wanted to say as well that some of the data that we're looking at is really promising. It's great to
see a reduction of arrests, and it's also great to see a reduction in our safety impacting infractions. I do still have some remaining questions. How do we envision any potential changes in this
data in the upcoming years, with the changes to our code of conduct? That's a great. So that's a great question. I'll be happy to take that one. So I think it's I think it's again, school dependent. I think when
you raise expectations there are there are and it's well communicated and supported. We'll we'll have places where we'll see a decrease in violations of the student code of conduct and specifically the infractions that were listed there. I think when you have stronger communication and partnership with families and
you're using restorative approaches, not as a hey, please help me, central services coming in, but it's part of a culture, you know, within the school you'll see a decrease in violations to the student code of conduct. One thing that was very well received that we just covered with principals was the
intake process for when a student is suspended, which is a proven strategy across, you know, research with schools, but also research with police when you engage with a person and have not just a restorative conversation, but a conversation with the family unit and about
what supports and resources are available, you won't see a repeated behavior making that a requirement for any suspension, whether it's a half a day suspension, a three day suspension, that every student will go through that process. And we provided like a very
clear checklist that they will complete, will be on synergy. I think you'll see a decline as a result of having those processes in place. I think immediately, maybe in the fall when we come back, we may see we may see data climb in some places because I think, you know, anytime you
raise expectations, that's something that we have to anticipate in some places as well. I do think that as we come back there and I know this is a soft data point, but I almost I feel like it's connected to everything that we do in Montgomery County public
schools. There is a relationship movement in our school system. I feel like right now. Right. I feel like there is a fundamental just focus on the quality of relationships that principals are have with teachers, teachers have with students, you know, staff have with families,
central services has with principals, with teachers. I think those relationships will result in a decrease in just negative behavior. I really strongly believe that. So I know that's not a necessarily a research based thing that's going to lead to, you know, any
specific data point. But but I do feel like when you have a positive school culture that is being created and modeled in places like in Essential services, and people see that and feel supported, it does have a trickle down effect and decrease negative behaviors. I actually want to push back on
you a little bit in that there is data that supports that. Students don't learn from people they don't like, of course. So it's true. Of course. So I think there is some good data that would support us in that regard. I would also encourage us that if we're expecting, you know,
there's the potential that we could see data climb, that of course, we're going to put more supports into our schools as the year begins. But that that might be an area that we really add some extra focus. And I think what I was trying to get at to is that, yes, the student to
teacher relationship 100%, but adult to adult relationships matter as well and also impact what experiences students have within their classrooms. So those healthy and positive relationships within a school, central services with schools in schools, I think will result in seeing a decrease as well.
Great. Thank you. All right, Miss Silvestri? Yes, chief Jones and Doctor Moran, I've heard you both talk about that. You'd like to see the safety practices in the school system be more
consistently implemented across the board. You've done all this great work this year. How will you monitor consistent implementation of these safety practices throughout the school
system? Thank you. I you know, I think it's a very interesting I mean, it's a great question because the reality is, is that when we look at the different and I'll give example of, for example, the ID program as an
example, what we've seen is that some schools just utilize it in a different some is just about having it visible, and you show it when you walk into school first thing in the morning and you have it visible throughout the school day, and that's the end of it. Versus you have other
you have a particular school, for example, who utilizes it in a in another way, in an additional way that they utilize it, that it runs through their synergy program, that through for digital hall passes. So and
they are able to monitor the students that are often your frequent hall walkers, right. In order to be able to signal to your teachers and your staff about someone who's who's probably been to the restroom a lot today, right? And is a
common person that commits this, commits who wants to go out and walk the halls continuously throughout a school day and you see a pattern of behavior. So what we like again, when we think about this holistically is to really kind of start putting
together these best practices to really show the schools that aren't utilizing these types of approaches that could benefit them, because we see some schools where they have higher numbers, for example, of that type of those type of actions,
and then they have higher serious incident numbers. That to me is correlated with that. The fact that you've got students that aren't in class, but who are out in the halls doing something that they probably shouldn't be doing. So just an example of some some
patterns of where we're trying to go, but that would be just one example. So I've got three things that I'll add to that list. Mr. Jones has the expectation that his security cluster coordinators are doing regular supervisory visits in
each cluster as part of their cross-functional team work, and they are monitoring for fidelity. The second thing that I would say that is going to be an expectation is that we actually audit events and that we look at the actions that take
place in an event, whether it's a disciplinary event or whether it's a police interaction or whether it's a safety event. And we look at the actions of the event and audit the actual event. And then the third thing is more centrally is, is to have some situation planning. This is
commonly referred to as tabletop exercises. This is something that Mr. Jones tried to get us engaged in this year. And we have commitments to make sure that that that's a part of our process. I think having that
common language and that that set expectation, I think is a good starting place. But to your point, the fidelity between schools is absolutely what the board should be expecting. This was mentioned briefly in
passing, but I think is worthy to illuminate. We'll be sharing a report of monthly disciplinary events with the board and attached to board docs each month so that you can see by school the number of
disciplinary infractions broken out by reporting category, race, ethnicity, and some of the other targeted areas that we're looking at. And so the community can follow along this journey with us and hold us accountable. We should be looking for spikes and increases in specific areas
that concern us, where communication is not particularly great, and that's a flag for us, or where support isn't as thorough as it probably should be. Or if there are environmental factors that we need to shore up and be sensitive to. Doctor Taylor, how many coordinators we have? 13.
One for each regional cross functional team.thing to add? Doctor Moran? Thank you, Miss Rivera-Oven. Thank you. Glad to see you up and walking so well. Yes. Thank you. Welcome
back. I, I actually have a question but it's not on your presentation. But it is something that I actually had reached out and we've been playing phone tag and it's really keeping me up at night. And I just would like an answer.
This is related to House Bill 472 and House Bill 472. For those folks at home are the very specific labeling that matches
the school grounds, and it has to be compatible with law enforcement, but it even goes a little bit further than that is, it has to be true north, because a lot of our maps when law enforcement and you know this, why am I even telling you, you
you should be telling me. And but it's really specific to each school. So. And I'll tell you why this is keeping me up at night. We do a lot of changes in schools. We're constantly modifying. Sometimes we make
classrooms out of closets. I've seen it done in quite a few schools. We put additions to schools, we add walls, we add libraries. We change sometimes where hvacs go and whatever, whatever. We add a new addition
to schools, so they're not. So one of the things that's keeping me up late at night is the fact that. And, and this is a bill that I actually supported and, and gave testimony and it was
related. Marcus, I don't know if you remember back when we had the school shooting at McGruder High School, and one of the things was that they had a very antiquated map of the school, and it made things difficult for law enforcement. So I had heard
through the grapevine that we actually were vetting, and I heard you doing these walkthroughs. So one of the things I was thinking is, are you doing the walkthroughs with that intention of having this as part of it? Because that would have made a lot of sense. But that's okay if it didn't happen.
But I'm just saying it would have made a lot of sense with the high schools, and I don't know where we are with the middle schools. Are we done with the middle schools? We're still working in the middle schools. And then I didn't hear anything about elementary schools. Are we going to do the same thing for elementary schools? So we're
going to do that in a different kind of a way. But we there will be focused with our cluster security coordinators and the teams to do those. And okay, right. So we have 213 now we have two 211 schools, but almost 230, but almost 230 campuses
that we monitor, which is quite a bit so. And even for special schools or our temporary schools. Yeah, I, I want to know where we are with that because I think that it's so important, especially in today's day. I'm
looking at, you know, the increase. I'm really concerned about the bringing of weapons on campus. I'm really concerned about the elementary number. I didn't hear anybody say anything but questions about. So my question is and then I'll talk about elementary with the
compatibility with the high school. But my question is where are we? Because I feel like we're dragging our feet on this issue. Right. And I really, really, really want the system to put a little bit of a little
bit like, let's speed it up, because you just never know what tomorrow brings. Absolutely. I totally agree with you. Under the under the House bill and what I even before I was even made aware that this House bill
had passed, I was made aware of the lack of digital mapping for this district and have been working with my staff to make this a priority. So this is the number one priority for us
getting through this summer. In fact, I have pending meetings in the coming weeks with potential vendors because we want to make sure we're buying the right actual product, because digital
mapping is very important in the realm of public safety across the board for all of our public safety needs, but also to work hand in hand with, with with Mr. Moon and his staff, because
there are significant issues that relate to facilities that are part of this entire plan. As you look and you just you noted about the changes right within our buildings, on our campuses, with with additions, when we
have the modular classrooms that are out there, they also need to be included in these plans. So we have had extensive conversations with people that are in this business to really understand the dynamics that go
with and the assurances, right, that and timelines about how quickly we can get this uploaded into our system, and not only for our system to have it as the district, but to share it as required by law, and to work
with public safety partners so that when you have police, you have fire and other emergency management responding to your schools. They are able to have accessibility to know where those problems are. For example, where is the gas shut off of the
building? Where is where are in your building, right. Fire extinguishers. Those things are vitally important. And we've we've gotten assurances from many of the vendors that they have the capabilities to have that digital mapping. And it can
be clarified for each floor of your building. And because we have very unique schools, and it requires a lot of work that goes into that. So I will tell the board to expect to see a funding
request for this coming very soon into the early fall, for us to really to solidify this, because we again deem this as a high priority. Okay. Thank you and Miss Wolff, thank you for
this. I think there's a good news story here. I'm not quite sure, but I think so. The numbers look good. I have just a comment on what Doctor Taylor said. Are are we seeing a
decline in every school, and if not, what are we doing to reduce the incidence in the schools that we're not seeing a decline in? That's just a tack on to what he said. That's not my question. But so that's the information that I that's not my
one question. Now, my question is more of a comment. I'm still getting reports that many of our black students don't feel safe in our schools. I understand that some of that is more of a
climate issue, but are we talking to the kids? What are they saying? Have you met directly with them to see what it is that disturbs them? So from what has been relayed to me and talking to many members of
my staff, and to also talk to many principals, it's been very interesting to hear about the impact of the external environment of our schools, about things that are happening in our community that also come and impact within the walls of
our school and on campus. And those things are, you know, are fluent. They they go both ways. So what sometimes happens in schools then gets continued out into the community. And I think this boils down to, again, that
we find way too many times that information that we have to find those individuals who are the trusted adults that that these students can go to in order to be able and, you know, whether it's staff, whether it's
security, whoever that may be, in order to make sure that they are made aware of what is actually occurring, in order to best protect them. Okay. Let me just say this. The staff feel the same way as the students, and I'm sure that, you know, a
lot of the community feeling or what's going on in the world is impacting the schools, but we have to be able to do something about it because there is a feeling of being unsafe in our schools. And lastly, can I just
say on on these pie charts, can we get actual numbers? Yeah, instead of percentages. I mean, you could put the percentages, but it would help me to know the actual numbers. Yeah. For elementary, middle and high schools, you know, we don't have
I believe we absolutely can do that, Miss Wolff. I believe they're also in the in the memo that went to you with, with the actual numbers listed in there. Miss Wolff, do you mind if I just respond also to the, to the question for, for Chief Jones. So I want to just say I think so
this is something that we've had conversations with principals about frequently. And it's been principal initiated as well, which I, which I appreciate about the feelings of, of safety for our black students. And I think, you know, there's if you don't feel safe, you're not you're not safe. Right. So the
perception that you're not feeling safe, I think what we really need to do is our climate data has our survey is closed. We pushed a to get a significant return that was student specific as well. It's disaggregated by
race. I think we'll be able to pinpoint specific schools love to come back and present that data to the board and share that with you. But I think it's similar to your first question about places where we've seen decline, in places where we've seen increase. And I've shared this with academic data, two
places, schools that are similar, where black students are feeling safe. We need to have conversations with what are the things that are happening in those schools that are that are giving students those feelings versus a place that looks very similar, where they're not feeling safe and start having some real conversations about
what are the practices being implemented in one school, and really using that student voice data as an accountability tool to make to make change. Okay. Thank you. I have some more questions. Sure. We'll go back for another round. I appreciate so far people are trying to keep
it brief because I know this is an important topic. And so the briefer you are, the more time then we can do more rounds. Okay. So Mr. I would also like to see by school so we can see the hot spots, and we can also
see where we're winning. Right? So anyway, speaking of that, on page ten, this was a very useful chart. So I did arrows downwhere
we had more incidents. And really all of our categories actually went down except for the false alarm bomb threat. I think that's indicative of progress. And actually the knives and fighting if you add
those together. We were 16% down. And I think that's significant. We can do better. But that's I would love to see if there's places where we did better than others. And I also
would like to see, because this is, you know, when you talk about kids not feeling safe, I think guns add if they know there's guns around specifically, it makes you
really feel unsafe. And I don't see that broken out anywhere. So I don't know if that's something we can do because we have knives and other weapons. So we could with what we what we did is we took the top five infractions
that make up the majority of serious incidents and listed them here. Guns would not be one of them, but we certainly can provide that information as well. It's a something that we want to see. We are making progress there too, because I talked to our chief of police
and he seemed to be concerned about the proliferation of guns with our juveniles, and that's my last ask, is that we mentioned what's going on in the community does come in to schools and the other way around. I would love to see some
data on juvenile crime statistics beyond the school building in our community as well. And because again, it's hard to have that direct that there's not really a wall
between the two. Right. And I just want to say, wow, we went from 57 arrests in 2022, 23 to 7 and 2425 in our schools. So
again, I hope that it's just because they're moved that that the community, hopefully that's reflective in the community itself. So yeah. Okay. Miss Montoya. Thank you so much.
Thank you both for all of this great information and all the hard work that you've put in this year. I think we obviously see it in the data. I guess the question I have kind of goes to something that Miss Wolff said about the feeling of safety, because even though I see this
data and I'm happy to see it, safety is still one of the main things that I hear about from parents of children of all ages. And so a couple of things I'm wondering if we need to make sure that the community knows about this data. Right? I know
elementary school kids who are afraid to go to middle school because they're hearing all of these stories about these awful things, and they're just afraid, terrified. But those aren't accurate. Right. And so I think part of it is, how do we get this information out to the community? So they're getting an accurate representation of what's going on in our schools.
But also I recognize, too, that we're looking at a specific type of incident and the arrests and things. But perhaps there's more that goes into feeling safe, right? Bullying, unkindness and those kinds of things. Because I the one thing I noticed from
your some of your slides is that when you look at the 13 to 15 year olds, they constitute 78 of the 122 arrests. Right? They're basically almost all of them that that group. And they're mostly male, I believe. And then when you look at the knives and
weapons at all three levels, it's about a third of the incidents, including elementary. Now, I know sometimes there might be, you know, the kid who put his Cub Scout pocket knife in his backpack and forgot about it. But I think the question I have when I see those is, why do the kids feel like they need to
bring that to school? And it maybe it has nothing to do with the school environment. Maybe it's because they have to walk home. Or maybe, you know, for a variety of reasons. And so I just want to I know you mentioned restorative justice and kind of streamlining the process of this. I think you called it intake, right, when
there's an incident. But I just want to make sure that we're asking those questions. You know, of course, if there needs to be a serious incident report or other things that need to happen, but I'm always interested to know, well, why did that child feel like they had to bring that to school to begin with? Are they feeling unsafe such that they felt like
they had to bring something? And do they feel the adults there are not protecting them or keeping them safe, such that they have to take care of it themselves? So I guess my question for you for the year is why do the kids feel like they need to bring knives and weapons
to school? And how do we then define in a different way what safety means, so that it's in alignment with what the kids need to feel when they're there? Is it possible to do that, or are we talking about two different things? Well, I would first, I think this is a this is
twofold. And I think you've answered it partly that there are some kids who feel as if they need to bring a knife to school to protect themselves in some environments that they maybe it's because of them
outside of the school environment that they feel like that is that is something that they need to do. Some of this has been, I don't want to say necessarily it's culturally embedded, but there are those
that, again, are part of an environment that this is somewhat of. It's not outside of their norms, which means it's sort of embedded in their, you know, maybe a mindset of their
friends or their family that these are protective items that they must have because of things that have occurred to them in the past or occurred to a family member in the past. That's not uncommon that we often hear. And
there are conversations that are generally had that I know that staff and security teams have with our students. As to the why, you know, why do they have a knife? And you will often sometimes you may hear that that I'm here because I'm being
bullied, I'm being harassed, and I feel as if, you know, and again, I'll take this back to my experience as the chief of police that we often would hear from young people that because that was an underlying question that we often had about kids who
carried guns, and we would ask the question as to, why are you in possession of a gun? Why do you feel the need to carry a gun? And their response in that regard would often be because we know that others, other kids
have guns, and I'm protecting and I this is a matter of protection for me. And so this is something I think we as a society have to really wrap our heads around. Right. And even i, in the basis of keeping our students safe and to really
educate them about other safety measures that could be put into place. And it's something that I think is a deeper discussion in reality, because I know that this is a societal issue, that that again, I don't see this as a major issue within our school
district, but I think it's something that we need to pay attention to and that we need to find ways to address it and to make sure that our students do feel safe, that come into the schools are a safe environment and that they, you know, that we make sure that they understand
that that's not a permissible act, that you can bring a knife to school because there are times that they're going to be at other places in our society than knives are also not allowed. You know that their interactions with others are going to be. They could put them
in potential trouble with law enforcement or the others if they actually do carry these types of weapons. So I think it stands for a greater discussion. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chief Jones. And as someone who grew up, sometimes in some unsafe neighborhoods, I can really appreciate that sometimes
our surroundings make us feel like we need to take protective measures. But as you stated, I think it's also really important because our kids live in the greater society and in some places you cannot take these things. And so to reiterate that at the schools we don't allow weapons, but we also then as the adults need to do what we need
to do to make sure that our kids are feeling safe in these spaces. And I do have one more question for an explanation for the community, but I can wait for the next round if you would like. Miss Yang. Yes, please. I'm going to go for the second round. I'm going to start from this side. Mr. Actually, please
keep it brief. I think I've actually asked all my questions. All your questions? Thank you, Miss Wolff. I think we already had the question about the impact of the code of conduct changes. My question is about cell phone changes. I noticed
this year I didn't see as many incidents recorded on social media. Do you think that the cell phone policy has started to have an impact, particularly where we were doing the pilots this year? I'm going to be
honest with you. I don't know that there could be any correlation between that. I think some of it has just been that, you know, have students returning to school, becoming more, you know, understanding the structure of school more the
expectations. But I don't think that there could be that we could have any correlation between those two things at this moment. Okay. I'm going to look at this site. Miss Rivera-Oven, you made it. Go ahead. I. I'm
really concerned about the data with with elementary schools and caring. So I just want to say. To echo Mrs. Montoya's feelings, someone who also grew up in an area that was not very safe. I
know of young people, parents call me all the time that they're being their kids are being recruited for gangs. So when they walk home, they don't feel very safe. So for, for future reference, if you could maybe with a presentation,
define what on campus, on campus means. Like when there's an infraction. What does that mean? Because many instances right across the street, kids get robbed, but they're across the street from from the school. Is that on campus? So if you could
do that, that would be great. I do have some questions about the policies of when. And I think I'm not sure if I shared it with you, Marcus, but I was at a school and there was a lack of
female security folks at the school, and that created a situation. And it's a big school where immediately the young women at the school knew that the security ladies were on
medical leave, both of them, and they were the only ones. So they gather a lot in the girls bathrooms. And so I just want to know what the policies are. I would like to know the makeup of who are our security officers
are by by gender and even demographically, because at this school it was a it's about majority Hispanic school. There was only one security officer who spoke Spanish. And apparently that becomes an issue when they need to talk to parents. Not so much the kids,
but they have a large male population also, but mainly their parents. So I would like to know what are we doing when it comes to recruitment when it comes to training. So I'll just briefly respond and as we again,
we will be recruiting pretty heavily and trying to utilize many resources as possible to help us recruit, particularly for females and other minority candidates that can help fill
the voids, particularly if they speak multiple languages. But I also want to just remind the board that the processes of security assistance that work at our schools are are hired via
our principals and who are managed by our principals. And the panels that are established through. Oh, is again is a processes of the principals
directing those processes, but also assisted by our security staff. We have really listened and tried to work with many of our principals who have who have demanded at times that they wanted if they had an all male security team wanted
specifically, they wanted a female. They wanted a Spanish speaking individual to assist them on their teams. And we've tried to work with them. We, you know, again, we don't have sort of the we don't have a bench. You might say we don't have spare security assistance to
fill voids. But I think it's important for us in our, in our recruitment to really look at diversity and to try to fill those voids and to provide a pool of applicants to our principals as they make these decisions in the coming months.
Thank you very quickly. My numbers are not adding up. I'm a little bit off from your chart on number six to page number seven. Am I seeing that maybe there was a black student that
was supposed to be on the chart on page six? This is in response to the custody. The custody? Yeah. There were no black students arrested for this particular school year. Okay. But yet in 2024, in the chart on
page seven, it says there's one. Am I wrong? 2324. Okay. Yes, you are right. But again it it could. This is where again. Well yeah I don't know how we got
that. It might be it should have been in the multiracial category but I'll double check okay. Okay. That's all. Thank you, Miss Silvestre. Yeah I apologize, I didn't understand the Hispanic data. You said that the police department follows the FBI, which uses race only.
Yes. Could you explain briefly how we get to the Hispanic numbers? This is the this is my understanding is the numbers that these are the M.C.P.S. Numbers because we are able to decipher based upon the way we
gather data under Hispanic Latino population, that this is the numbers that we that that we were able to come up with based upon what working with the police and trying to figure it out. Because again, remember, I noted in the police, even in the police information, though, they
don't put it in their data sets. They also will note whether an individual who's arrested is of Hispanic descent. They do know that they do. They note that as a note that it's so it's a sort of a side box that they check, but it's not in their overall
data numbers. Thank you. This is something the board has asked for over a number of years. I'm glad to see it here. Yeah. Miss Zimmerman, thank you. I would like a little bit more information on the ID policy for
students and how we're implementing it with fidelity, especially because students and staff have let us know that the lanyards and the badge holder, I think they lack the structural integrity to withstand an entire year of high school. And I would
then suppose that a security assistance best tool that they could keep is Scotch tape to put them back together. So what are we thinking in those regards? Like is it working well in that area? I'm imagining a lot of
frustration as as well implementation. Yeah. We've spoken to many of the different schools. Right. That again and that's one of the questions we'll, we have engaged them in at the high school level is to say what happens should a
student lose their lanyard. Right. The, the, the case itself is actually damaged. That protects the ID all of the like. And that is a matter of sort of inconsistency across the board
about really trying to figure out what is the best practice. Right? Because again, cost is a factor of replacement. Right. And again, it comes to the question about what is the better mechanism to utilize for
identification purposes. And I think those are the things that we still must overall provide an assessment. Looking at moving this forward, because it is you know, again, I agree with you. I mean, I think anyone who wears
an ID on a daily basis, such as I had to replace my plastic covering just a few weeks ago. Right. And I've been here for less than a year officially. But but it is the wear and tear. And that's something I think that we have to really consider that.
What is a better process or a product that we could provide that would be more durable? Okay, great. I look forward to seeing that assessment and hearing more about it, because it is something that we hear about as well. Okay. Miss Serrano. Yes. Thank you. So I'm
just going to have a quick comment to add on to that, especially when it comes to replacing IDs, the lanyards and stuff. I also know different schools have different costs associated with it. That becomes an equity issue for me as well when we're talking about, you know, when you go to school, maybe you forgot your forgot your lanyard or forgot your ID,
and now you have to spend five, ten, $15 on a replacement, like one day ID until you bring back your ID like, because that's why I'm hearing from students during the school year. And that was some of the information I was getting back. So, you know, looking to tighten up some of those processes is something I mentioned before, but just kind
of want to clear that up. And then I'm going to go to a kind of a separate question, a little bit of a different track, and then go back to some of the work that we started at the beginning of this school year in regards to security personnel and Narcan being carried on their person. So I'm just going to ask for,
you know, a final sort of check in for the year. Can we confirm that all four security personnel now carry Narcan on their person? So I think that's an interesting point. But I, I as coming from the police department and understanding really about the more
effectiveness use of Narcan, we have always no police officer carries Narcan on their person. They carried in their police vehicle. It's with them, but nobody cares it on their person. And there's a there's a lot of reasons why to include that. All
Narcan kits have expiration dates that need to be rechecked and the like. I think the better practice is for us to, to really make sure security personnel knows where Narcan is available in their schools. So just like you have an AED, right. And what
we've done is, you know, at the end the AED kits, many of the Narcan kits may be utilized, can be placed there for accessibility in the need of an emergency. So knowing exactly where Narcan kits are, we find to be more effective than to
have it on a security assistant who really doesn't have a lot of doesn't have a tool belt, right, and doesn't really have the capability to have that type of equipment to carry around with them. But again, I think the accessibility of the teams
working together, knowing exactly where and staff, because there's more than, you know, just the you have your, your, your medical staff at schools, which are nurses. And to have the Narcan available in multiple locations, particularly in your
larger schools, I think it would be a lot more efficient. And that's what we really implemented across the board to make sure that they're in the designated areas. And the security team members know where those areas are. Okay. Got it. So what you're what you're kind of telling me is that instead of
having them, which it used to be kind of like all in the central office or, or all in the main office or the nurse's office, now you've put them with the AEDs across the school, kind of in those areas. And most of the schools. That's correct. Yes. Okay. Yes. And put them in areas where, again, it may not
necessarily be exactly where the aides are, but the teams have made where they've made the decisions, where they find to be more strategically. Located, that is easily accessible in the event of an emergency based upon the building layout. Okay. Got
it. Because, I mean, that hasn't been my understanding until now. My understanding was that we at the beginning of the year, we were shifting to it on person basis for Narcan. But if you're saying that it's more effective to have them in distributed locations around the school, you know, I'll trust your judgment
on that. You're the security expert here. So I just want to say thank you again for that. Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that, Miss Montoya. Thank you. Just for the benefit of the community. Real quick, add is automated external
defibrillator. So right when you need to use that for your heart. So that's the locations that it sounds like you're saying that some of them are at, but also for the benefit of the community. Chief Jones, earlier you guys just mentioned the standard response protocol and that we're using the standard
response protocol from the I love you Guys Foundation. And just so for the benefit of the community, so that they know where we get these types of things from, that we're not just, you know, pulling them from some random place. Are you able to just in like 1 or 2 sentences, say, what the I love
you guys foundation is or perhaps Doctor Taylor, whomever feels more comfortable. Absolutely. Yeah. I love you guys. Foundation came from a group of community members from Sandy hook, and they thought it would be in the nation's best interest to adopt a protocol and
to do some research on best practices for how to handle an emergency and how to have standard operating procedures in the event of an emergency, and also for general safety in schools. And so they committed a bunch of resources and committed
a bunch of research to that effort and came up with the Standard response protocol, which has been adopted by, I believe, nearly half of the school districts in the country. Thank you so much. And if anyone's interested in the community, there's a website that has lots of information
about the foundation. It's I love you guys. Thanks again, Miss Wolff. Yeah, I just have one question on slide number 11. It's elementary school. What what is the false alarm bomb
threat that somebody in K through five is doing? So it might not be that it's a student at a specifically at a elementary school. It's that a bomb a bomb threat was called into that school reported as a serious incident. Okay. So the trespassing means it could have
been anybody. Yeah, it could have been an adult during the day. All right. Good question. Miss Rivera-Oven. So we have data on the students and so on. Do we have any data on adults
being arrested on school grounds? So it is a discussion that we just recently had about separating our data that I think it's important when we talk about incidents that impact
safety, as we've we have spoken about here this afternoon is that we don't have that data, but we should have that data that we should separate. Should we have I, a parent, trespassing that requires police response.
Right. Or charges and anything that might be related to a staff to separate that from student data. So that's something that Doctor Moran and I have spoken to our our teams about, that we're going to find a way to be
able to separate that data. So when we come back to report on this data in the near future, we're more consistent and you all will be able to see that more clearly defined. And, Marcus, the other data that I think I would like to see is also. The number of staff,
including your staff, who get hurt and have to go on leave because of these types of incidents, whether it is with students or like you said, there is, I hear in my district, incidents with parents who get very volatile and then a security guard gets injured. So
I would like to see also that data if we have it. If we don't, I think we should start keeping it. But I think it's important to see our staff. You know who you know if they're getting hurt by, by these incidents. So they
have to take medical leave. The same along with your staff. Miss Silvestre, quick question. Quick answer. I hope in previous years we've had some trouble filling our security assistant positions, and that's become a safety problem. How do we do
this year in terms of vacancies? I think well, for me this is the first year I've dealt with it, but I thought we did it pretty well. Being able to fill the positions that were were vacant. And we did have a need for a
temporary part time security assistance that was, you know, was a greater need because of some incidents that occurred throughout the school year. And we were able to fill the void for most of those positions as well. Yeah. I would just add, it was, you know, from the from the
principal's perspective, school perspective, it was significantly better. In previous years, we've been we've been plugging and trying to play with all different kinds of variations of getting people out, not having enough people. It was definitely improved significantly. Great. Thank you, Mrs. Zimmerman. Thank you.
Another question that I hear a lot is about how we assign security support to our schools. I have the. I have it up in front of me and it says for, you know, middle school or high
school, you know, x number of FTEs per school, unless school factors warrant a higher, a lower or higher allocation. Additionally, each school supported by a cluster security coordinator. And then it gives some other things right. School type school enrollment square footage are the primary quantifiable factors in determining the allocation and
addition. Serious incident data and special programs will be considered when allocating outside of the standard. Can you expand upon that a little bit more? Yes. So actually, I was trying to find some notes that I had in response to this. We also
are, you know, we look at in addition to those, those categories, we also look at size of school. That is we look at the degree of the specialty special programs that they may
have at their schools that may need a more needed security component. And we also look at the location of the school as well, or what are some of the needs or impacts of what's happening in the communities as well. Miss Zimmerman, I would
just add, I think one of the most significant things from the walkthroughs and today we were at Seneca Valley. And for anyone that's been at Seneca Valley, you literally have a line of sight that is unbelievable, right? If you go to a Kennedy High School, your line of sight in terms of just visibility and
what you can actually supervise is much different. So I think when we're looking at the just components of a school building, what is school security look like? You're going to need to have a larger, you know, number of folks in a building where you just don't have great line of sight. So that's just an example
of how the, the, the dynamics of a building can play in terms of the number of allocations. For sure, if someone wanted to advocate for a specific building or area to have additional FTEs, what would you suggest would be the best process in them doing so? I would say probably reach
out to either one of us, but the principals I will. I mean, there may be no better advocates in this entire state than the principal of a school in terms of what they need. So I'm going to chime in there really quick and, and say that that I would
strongly discourage advocacy as a means of securing additional staffing. And the reason behind that is that I don't want to ever have our buildings staffed because of the political ability
of advocates to influence how we apply our resources. And so I although I appreciate the sentiment of making sure that we're aware of some unknowns, and I think that that that is important to communicate, I
would strongly encourage folks that that advocacy for additional staffing needs to be driven by other data points that are quantifiable and that can be tied to a quantifiable point. And that that actually might be a weakness of ours is that we
may have applied resources inequitably, because people were good at making an argument, and not necessarily because the facts required us to place people in specific areas. Thank you for that additional information, because it is
something that comes to all of us often. Mr. Silvana. Yes. Thank you. So I'm going to roll around and I have one one short question, one a little bit more complicated question. So in in one of our first slides we talk
about smart sensors. Right. So can we just explain for the community what a smart sensor is. I mean it says. Clear a backlog of technology requests, installed smart sensors at all high schools and installed exterior cameras at middle schools. Yes. The smart sensors
are your vape sensors. All right. Right. So I just want to clear that up for the community. And then the follow up question is, I mean, we're looking at the data in the memo and it's saying again, a lot of the information about the vape detectors being like their usefulness, their,
you know, their, you know, the false alarms that they generate. So I just want one's a comment once, once a question. So my first comment is the money that we use to spend on these vape detectors was very specifically from a settlement that we had to
that we almost basically had to spend the money on vape detectors. Is that correct? Yes. And then so the follow up sort of question is, has the process been created to ensure vape detectors can be used more effectively, or are we standardizing some, some operating procedures to kind of
use alongside this? Because I know we had our pilot out for a while and some of our schools and now we're in in sort of the implementation phase where it's in in all of our schools, all of our high schools, high schools, all of our high schools, I believe. And so then how are we ensuring that they're actually
being used, like at least somewhat effectively? So it's a great question. So one of the things I've tasked my team with is in working in and we've been we had the benefit of having an IT specialist assigned to, to
the safety and security team. And so we have worked with our vendor to look at the dashboard for each school where we have the vape sensors installed, which are all of our high schools. And the vape sensors are in all of the bathrooms.
And, you know, we have been again, they have been installed since the beginning of April. And we went live April 1st in order to start capturing the data. And then all of the high schools were not there were just
a handful of high schools that were that did not have the vape sensors installed at the time we went live, but they were live by the no later than the end of April. So they've been so we've really had probably less than, you know, 75 days to actually
capture data in order to, to make a true assessment. But one of the things we've been working with the vendor is about the sensitivity of the vapes, right? When it comes to the actual alarms. Now, the other again,
one of the things I noted in the presentation, one of the features of the vape sensors, also has a, they call it a no. I'm gonna get this term wrong, but it's sort of an aggressive
they know that when there's a noise component that when there's loud commotion, as an example, I think they call it an aggressor sensor that basically like when there's a lot of noise that might attribute to a confrontation in the bathroom,
that we have fights often in our bathrooms that will also send send off the silent alarm to the administrative team security teams that then they can then respond to actually to actually see what is actually occurring. So those the feedback that we've
got has been very positive from that standpoint. And we've had some, you know, some alerts that have been to the point that individuals were actually vaping in the bathroom that confirmed the vape sensors actually working. So again, but we need
to again, continue to capture the data through the dashboard, which we are doing, and we'll continue to do, and we'll be able to report back to the board about how effective the vape sensors are, because it goes into a greater discussion about whether or not we should expand
this, because I can tell you during the middle school walkthroughs, I've had middle school principals that tell me that vaping is very much a problem in their schools. So I just I just point that out. Not that that's across every middle school, but I've seen, I would
say the vast majority that I've visited thus far have given me that feedback. Thank you. Thank you so much. I know that this is a topic of great interest to the board members and to the public, but in the interest of time, if you have any more questions,
please email Julie. There's one more thing I really feel like I need to bring up, because it was in a past presentation and we've gotten a lot of questions about it, and it's not in this presentation. And that is, are we doing a weapons detection
pilot? Yes or no? The answer is no. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Okay. That concludes our item number seven for the discussion.
And we're going to take a brief recess of 20 minutes. And we'll be back here. At 10 to 7. Will be back here 10 to 7. And so I
know that the next topic is of great interest to the community. So I will appreciate coming back here on time. 15 minutes, 20 minutes. So then it's 555 555
sorry. 555 655 655. And then and then we'll be back. Thank you
everyone. Hi everybody. Welcome back to
our June 24th, 2025 board business meeting. We are going to go right to item 9.1 Secondary Program Analysis and Boundary Study Community Engagement Plan update. So recap
a little bit. The board has expectation that boundary studies and program analysis will keep our community informed. And then communication is important. Community engagement is important. So part
of our standard agenda is now every month the team will bring update to the board. So today is part of that update. So Doctor Taylor will give it to you to start the presentation. Thank you Madam President. And yes,
just as a reminder, there are no decision points for the board tonight. This is just an information presentation and an opportunity for the team to update both the community and the board as to some of the progress and to lay out
additional work that needs to be performed. Today's presentation will provide an update on two important efforts the boundary study, community engagement and the secondary program analysis. We will begin with a brief update on the boundary studies engagement. Most of today's
presentation will focus on where we are in the secondary program analysis. Our team will walk through the latest progress on developing regional program opportunities and introduce a proposed model for high school regions that reflects where we
are headed at this time. This work is a key part of our strategic plan for academic excellence. We are committed to expanding access to innovative programs and enriching opportunities not just for some students, but for all of our
students. That means offering programs that challenge, inspire, and prepare our students for the future, no matter what school they attend or what part of the county they live in. Realigning how our students access these secondary programs is one way to make that
vision a reality. As you listen today, we ask that you keep in mind that this is not just about the next few years, or even the opening of two new high schools. This is about designing a long term system, one that is equitable, relevant and
sustainable for decades to come. An important point for this model to work as intended, is to ensure that every region offers comparable opportunities. We will need to align admissions processes to reflect that. That
means that each region will operate as a consortia like model, or none would. To ensure that fairness and consistency exist from the very beginning, I'll ask Mr. Adnan Mamoun, our Chief Operations Officer and our
Chief Academic Officer, Niki Hazel, to begin today's presentation before you begin, Mr. Mamo and Mr. Hazel, this is a very thick packet. I. I see it right on the dias is 32 pages.
So I ask for your concise presentation. And I'm sure some things are self-explanatory. Thank you, thank you. Good evening. So, as Doctor Taylor
mentioned, we're we will share an update on the community engagement and current feedback of the initial options around for the boundary study. And miss Hazel and her team will share the update from the secondary program Analysis Design team and on the proposed region model that Doctor Taylor already
mentioned. So just going back quickly through the timeline, as you can see, we're finishing up the initial options round and phase, and we will be working on synthesizing the feedback. The survey will be open through July 15th and then refining. We will
be using those feedback to refining our options in anticipation for the refined option pay phase. In September of this year. Community input has been sought in this round, the initial round to understand how the initial boundary options may impact students and
families. This will help shape and refine the boundary options that will be brought back to the community in the fall for further round of feedback. So during the initial options phase, we have conducted public information sessions via zoom
and we had multiple meetings in person. We have created a web page for each boundary study with all the accompanying resources for each initial option, including recordings of the presentations and interactive map tool, data, tables, maps, and the most
importantly, the survey that we have shared with the community. We're currently hosting office hours three times a week via zoom in order to answer questions, elevate any issues or concerns, and to gather feedback from our communities. In addition, we're working with many of our internal and
external partners to share the information and gather feedback that may not be easily obtained from a traditional survey. So we want to share some of the early themes that have emerged through each of the boundary studies, as
well as some of the themes that we have heard that are common to both boundary studies. The list that you see up there is not an exhaustive list, but rather a sampling of some of the early feedback we have heard from our communities. These themes come from a variety of sources,
including public information sessions or office hours, emails, letters and phone calls that we have received. Some of the early themes of the feedback from the initial options were Crown High School and expansion of Damascus High School.
Boundary study include consideration for future development projects. We have gotten questions about those in the Woodward study. You know, concerns about split articulation for smaller group of students from schools such as Burning Tree, Garrett Park and
Silver Creek. Silver Creek Middle School communities. Some of the early themes from the feedback. While much of the feedback we have been gathered have been specific to one study or one initial option, some of the feedback has been more general in nature, so we wanted
to highlight some of the some of the initial comments that we have received. And I'm not going to read through all of those for the board members can review it in their own time. So back in
early April, when we started the public engagement, we did a released a survey asking for stakeholders to share their personal opinions about the importance of the factors in board policy. FAA. These four factors include demographic characteristics of student
population, geography, stability of school assignment, overtime, and facility utilization. The results from the survey show that many of the respondents shared that proximity of schools to students homes, length of bus rides, neighborhood schools, creating stable school
assignments over time, and appropriate enrollment were all important to them. As you can see, the we also collected data shared by the survey respondents about the race and ethnicity of the survey people who are taking
the survey. So for the next two slides, we will share a preview of the current respondents to the initial survey that were currently available. And as I said, these surveys are going to be open until July 15th of 20
this year. As of Friday of last week, we have almost 3500 responses to the Woodward initial survey, with most of the respondents identifying as parents, guardians, caregivers and or family members. Respondents were asked to
self-identify their race and ethnicity, as well as location of residence and associated school cluster. While this data is not as reflective of our student demographics, we included the demographic information for high schools included in the boundary study scope. For comparison purposes,
we recognize that the traditional surveys aren't always the most effective methods for gathering feedback from a broad representation. So we have, you know, shared this data with the community project team as well, so we can use the remaining few weeks to gather more feedback as we move through
the process before the options get refined. From the Crown. Damascus initial Survey option survey, we received almost 3400 responses, and most of these responses were from parents and
guardians. Guardians respondents were asked for to self-identify their race and ethnicity, just like in the survey for the Woodward study. Again, we're working through less traditional methods to expand the opportunities for communities to provide us feedback about these
initial options. We wanted to make a take a moment to acknowledge the recommendation for the board to introduce the office hours. They have been very successful. We've had a lot of people coming in during these office hours. They are held three times a week, one hour zoom sessions, and then we have
been getting a lot of, you know, people commenting on that. The fact that they like that, you know, opportunity to have an individual conversation with our team members via zoom. We look forward to continuing this in the fall when the refined options are shared for feedback.
We will continue to have those office hours available at that time as well, and we do look forward to again returning to the board in July for an update on the boundary study and further information from the surveys. Wanted to take a quick
moment to talk about the parent community coordinators and their help in reaching out to the families. So far, the PCC's have reached out to hundreds of families in their native languages through in-person meetings, virtual meetings, as
well as phone calls and social media, including WhatsApp and Facebook and Zoom. Additionally, at least one PCC attended each of the community engagement sessions to personally connect with the families. The focus of this outreach has been to inform
families of the boundary analysis process in a culturally, culturally responsive manner, while clarifying the process and answering their questions. We're providing families with multiple opportunities to receive information and have more conversations. This includes
recording messages in Spanish and other languages and Facebook Live events. Our efforts are ongoing and we're planning to continue and grow our outreach, including spreading awareness during community events throughout the summer. I'd like to give a shout out to our communications department,
including our Director of Communications, Chris Graham, and Alba Garcia, our senior community advisor. I'll now turn it over to miss Hazel for an update on the program analysis. Thank you very much. And good
evening, board members. We are here. I brought my team with me today to talk about where we are with programs. So we're going to do two things. Today. We are going to share with you updates around the big themes related to
programs that have emerged from our survey results and our interactions with the community that we would like to bring forward today. And we also would like to share with you the
schools that we believe should be in each of the six regions that we've discussed in previous meetings. So first, I want to say we are excited to reimagine our vision for academic pathways and programs, one that is centered around equity and
designed to ensure every student has a clear and supported path to success. So this slide just is a reminder. Focuses on our goals. We definitely want to make sure that we have equitable and abundant access and
opportunities for our students. We want to make sure that our programs are aligned to their interests and industry needs, and we certainly want to make sure that we are focused on our resources and that we are using them effectively. And so those are our goals as we continue to
do this work, we are going to share today our initial thinking around big program themes that we believe should be available to all of our students in each region region. I want to also, before we continue, express
gratitude to our design team. Those are our community members who have participated in this work and have given a significant amount of time, and they have been very thoughtful to contributing to this project.
The proposal that we are presenting today reflects a lot of their feedback and insight. And we really appreciate their thoughtfulness. We also want to be very transparent that while we are bringing forward today
our updates on the programs, we did meet with a Joint Boundary committee and the joint and our programs Committee this week, yesterday, actually to share with them where we are. And as a
result, they have a lot more feedback that we were not able to incorporate into this presentation. And as you heard today during their testimony, because they have committed to maintaining a level of confidentiality, they haven't
had the opportunity yet to go and meet with their constituents and talk about some of these latest updates. So we are sharing with you today where we are currently our best thinking, but we certainly want to state publicly that our committee has
not given their final stamp of approval on what we are sharing today, that we are continuing this process, and it's not our final, final plan. And we do want to state that it's not the final plan, but it is our best
thinking based on the feedback and where we are at this time. So if you will, go to the next slide. We also just want to share where we are with, with our goals that we are certainly
committed to aligning our goals with our beliefs. We're dedicated to providing a rigorous curriculum and to supporting every student in reaching high levels of excellence. And we believe this is absolutely possible, and we certainly believe that our
students deserve access to high quality schools and all of our schools. So what we would like to do is bring our our programs team here. I'm going to start with Doug Nelson, who's going to
share key areas of work, starting with our community survey. Good evening, board members. It's a pleasure to be with you. Tonight I am going to open by providing an update on the community survey and our
outreach efforts that are a part of the program analysis. Throughout the month of May, the survey was open to the community and available. And on this slide you see a summary of the program themes that we have collected through the survey. The top ten
themes have remained consistent as we have looked at the survey results over time. Next slide please. There were 11,783 individuals who responded to our survey, and we also took the
opportunity to complete a zip code analysis. It was conducted based upon the responses we received and the areas with the highest response rate. They are summarized here on the slide and they are Silver Spring, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Bethesda, Potomac and Germantown. And all regions of
the county did participate. We recognize that the survey is not the only way to collect input for the project. It is just one of those tools in our toolkit, and we acknowledge that there are gaps in the response rates geographically and across
certain demographic groups. And the gaps were considered in our outreach efforts when we were looking at results. Next slide please. The initial community outreach and engagement efforts, they are ongoing and they are
also summarized on this slide. The goal of our outreach efforts has been to inform the community of the program analysis, to collect input and feedback, to inform our work, and to involve others in the work. Action steps
were taken and you can see them here. The actions are a part of our community engagement plan that has guided our work thus far. I will quickly step through some of the relevant examples here on the slide. We of course referenced the community survey
and we share up to date information through the program Analysis website. That is where the survey had its home for the month of May. Direct messaging did take place, and I want to thank the Department of Communications for all of their help in getting information out
to the community. The Program Analysis Design team met regularly to develop and refine themes. This includes community members. Information has been shared with our community and civil groups. We have connected with principals, school staff like resource counselors, our
college and career information coordinators, our parent and community coordinators to help get information because they have trusted relationships with folks. We've held student focus groups. We've met with the student leadership groups. We've gone to identity groups across the county. We've conducted
outreach, specifically at Gaithersburg High School and through identity, as I just mentioned. And data show that response rates are lower. So we actually tried two specific moves and going to the food market at Key Middle School to reach a specific group that we had not heard from yet. We went
and held an event in the Northeast Consortium at Banneker Middle School to try to connect with folks there. So our efforts continue. Next slide please. We recognize we are preparing students for successful and
productive futures after graduation, whether that be an interest in college or careers. And the design team has considered labor market trends when developing what program themes we are we bring forward to offer. As you can see, the data trends, we have multiple connections to labor market
information here, and I would highlight some examples of construction technology, financial services, education. These are some clear connections we can make. And we are considering interest and relevant programs to offer students that are supported by
the trends on this slide. Next slide please. Good evening. One of the primary challenges of the design team is to recommend what should be available to students
that no matter what high school they go to, and then what should be available within a reasonable distance. And so I'm going to share where we are in the process of that charge right now. They, the design team, has created overarching guidance for us that influences all parts of
the work. They have given us a lot of feedback on what should be at all high schools, and really centered on some recurring regional program themes that are pretty consistent. You've seen much of
this before, these big ideas that are essential to the design team and how we carry out this work, that that parallel programs are not equitable unless we are also considering parallel, high quality instruction, high quality curriculum resources, staffing and facilities. And what we've
added here is standardized local opportunities. Because the local school part of the story became more and more important in the work of the design team, as they were kind of going through what programs could be, you know, this should be at all schools was part of the conversation often. So we stopped and we
spent some time there. So big picture. Our design team emphasized that there should be parallel advanced courses at all high schools, that there should be equitable and parallel preparation for advanced courses. You know, strong honors
classes, skills instruction that there should be good opportunities, well-rounded opportunities for students to explore interests at their own school, course progressions to provide some more depth, authentic research experiences, financial literacy and that when
we need to and when we can, we utilize distance learning to close those gaps. And so I think at the last meeting we showed what something like this could look like, what a map could look like for what's at all schools. And this one is one that the design team has worked on
together and provided feedback. So you can see those big ideas really demonstrated on the screen here. I won't go into all the details, but you can see that in order to provide all of these high level courses and well-rounded opportunities, that
we really do have an opportunity to leverage distance learning and technology to ensure that there's equitable access. So since we last presented, the design team has also done some work at refining the themes. They're still very similar. They're tied to the student
interest and relevancy data that they've been digging into over the past two, three months. And so you can see there are science, math, tech, the info tech, the finance, the global humanities, health and human services. These themes keep
reoccurring in our conversations. So as an M.C.P.S. Team, we did take these themes and some of the thinking about what the pathways could be. And we did map out like a first draft of what programs could be regional programs. And we brought it to the design team
about a week ago, and we got feedback and we made some revisions, and we're going to share a version that we made based on that feedback. But this is the version. This is what miss Hazel was talking about. We need to take it back to the team. But it is a good illustration of where we think
the work could go. Oh, I introduced the wrong slide. Pardon me. So just just kind of our understanding of what regional programs will entail in this new model. We will have criteria based and interest based pathways. We will have
four year course of studies. We'll have advanced and in-depth course opportunities. We'll integrate high quality existing programs. That's part of the work of the project team. With the input of the design team, we'll prepare all students for college and career. We will have
on and off ramps for student access, and we will be resourcing equitably. So here's a model based on the themes that have emerged. The health and medical professions as a program, engineering and robotics education, global
scholars information technology which also includes computer science, business, entrepreneurship, leadership, public service, and arts and design. I should check my. So I like to think of these as
building blocks. As you see, there are eight programs. And you know, we're looking at regions that might include 4 to 5 schools. And so if we were to take these building blocks and turn them into a regional model, it might look something like this. But this is not based on
any of the regions we're going to show you tonight. But it's just to demonstrate that some schools would have one program, perhaps a really robust medical science health medical professions program. Excuse me? While others would have two, maybe engineering and creative arts or information technology
and business. But this is still in the early stages, and we will continue our work with the design team. On these two. Excuse me, could you pull the mic a little closer? Oh, sure. I'm sorry. Just in time for me
to introduce Karen Danko. Thank you. Angela. Good evening. What I would like to be able to address with you tonight is how how would we be able to place
these themes, these proposed themes in each of our high schools so that before we can begin, we need to know where we are. So what you have in front of you and on the screen is a map of a density map of all students in Montgomery County,
K-12. And I want you to take a close look at that kind of keep that image in your mind. We want to begin with that background, the shaded areas, just so you can familiarize yourself with this map. Is that the lighter
blue areas have fewer students in the geographic areas, where the darker blue shows where our student population is more concentrated. And many of these cases, the darker areas, represent our communities with
high density. Specifically the housing that we're describing, apartment complexes and or multi-level condo buildings. One thing that's going to stand out is that the northwestern and far northern parts of the county are
generally less populated, especially when you compare it to the central, eastern and southern regions. So take a moment. Absorb this map, because next we're going to narrow our
focus and look specifically at where our high school students live. Next slide please. So on this map this is regarding our current grade nine through 12 students. They have a 3.0 or higher. You'll notice some
interesting patterns here. And many of the areas the far northern and western parts. As previously mentioned, the density of students with a 3.0 and above mirrors the overall student population density, which we just previously saw.
It's a valuable perspective, showing not just where our students live, but where academic performance is particularly strong. These students. There are students everywhere in the county, and we can thank our local schools. Next slide please. Now we're
going to take a closer look a deeper dive, what you see on the screen here are students in grades nine through 12. And they have a 4.0 again reimagined. And revisit that blue map to here. We specifically extracted our
students that are currently in our three one through three regional programs that are countywide Richard Montgomery, Montgomery Blair, and Poolesville High School. The map does include our vac at Einstein and our programs at Wheaton and across the county. But the goal
of this map is to show you that we have high academic achievement, and it's not limited to just a few areas. So when we compare it to the earlier blue map of that density map, you'll see we have strong academic performance. And it's distributed broadly more than
what we would have thought. This reinforces the critical point. It is vital that the system offers a wide range of college and career pathways to serve all of our students where they are closer to home. These various options must exist in each of
our strong local schools. And it's where interest and specialized programs need to go and where there are regional programs we can emphasize more. So I'm about to move on to the next slide, but I want to set the stage. You asked how how can
we overlay these eight regional programs or the themes that we're proposing into each of our schools? So we needed to take a look. We needed to dive deeper, and we needed to consider the demographics, the geography and travel time for our students. We
needed to understand where our current programs exist and what resources are available. That includes, but not limited. It includes but not exhausted credentialed teachers, highly specialized facilities. How can we modify and provide equipment so that it can customize some of
the programs that were presented earlier? Not any one of these factors is a solo driver to make or determine a region. There was a group that got together and brainstormed and they were made up of operation, team members, teaching and learning, school
support. And then we presented it to the design team. So let's go to the next slide please. These six regions were designed to bring together 4 to 5 of our high schools in a geographic location that will have strong local programing, also offer
comparable regional programs with high interest for students residing in a defined area. So let's take a look at what that would mean. Each region is made up of 4 to 5 high schools. Some of these high schools will now
be able to host one or even two programs at their school. Students will be better positioned to explore their options, and transportation would not be a barrier. It would be accessible. If the students want to attend their local school, they can. There's nothing else they need to do. However, if a student is
interested in a program that they would like to attend within the defined region, they could apply for that. And a bonus is that we already have existing transportation models that can be refined to support the transportation needs. And
finally, we as a team, we need to create an assessment of what our schools offer currently, including the local programs that are already there. This will help both the design team and the project team determine the location of the regional
programs within the defined area. So let's dive one more. Slide deeper. So what would it look like on the map that you've seen. So that regional the six regional boxes that were proposed as a proposed region, you can see where they are
defined. So the lower one, two, three, four, five and six are color coded. So you can identify where those regions would be. Here you can see where the students have a 4.0 or higher. The green squares of high school students earning a four or all
the way across the county. We have high achieving and capable students, and this is just a visual example so that we can make a context relationship of what we're presenting. So what are our next steps at this time?
I'm going to turn it over back to Doug. Thank you. As we were saying earlier, our design team gives us some really good ideas and we wanted to paint the picture. We wanted to tell you a story of what it would be to have a student experience in a region. I'm also a former
English teacher, and so I took that really seriously. But I'm going to save us some time here. I wrote a really good story about some students, but this is this is the general summary. We want to let you meet Cristina and Tomas. They are fictional students in area six. Area six
schools include Clarksburg, Damascus, Poolesville, and Quince Orchard. One student, Christina, goes to Holly Wells. Her home high school is Damascus. Tomas goes to Baker. His home high school is Damascus. They learn in eighth grade, through their counselor in the first semester that their
regional options and they are both interested in learning more about that experience. They tell their parents and they then learn more about what is offered to them. And where this story ends is Christina decides to go to Damascus High School. She finds the CTE program very
relevant to her interests. She also realizes she can play softball, and Tomas applies and express interest to go to another school in his region because he is interested in engineering and to explore that further. And so what this really shows us is that we are thinking
about the student experience. Experience, excuse me, and centering them and what the regional model will really mean for our students. Next slide please. Next, I'd like to speak about our ongoing efforts for outreach and engagement. And
they continue the goals of our continued work. They are summarized here on the slide, and we seek to keep the community well informed with our project. We continue to invite honest feedback about what are real hopes and thoughts about
the work that we are doing, and we want to involve the individuals in the work around our themes. The Community Engagement Plan will continue to do a number of things, which includes new tools to seek input, including a repository for questions and thoughts about
the project so we can look at them. Enhanced tools to collect input. And this is also a point of acknowledgment. We do want to acknowledge that we can improve along the way. We heard feedback from the community that the question about transportation on
the initial survey, it did not provide enough context, did not give enough information to fully think about how to respond effectively to that question. We're going to go back to that question and seek input again so we can better understand the input the community wants to
provide. We're going to develop an enhanced website and continue to put up to date information out there. We're going to establish meetings with school groups, think bigger, go to PTSA, cluster our Ilts meet during the summer for Leadership Week. How are we going to reach those individuals to tell us
more about our ongoing work? We're going to engage the public and focus on specific areas that say, we you need to come and meet us where we are so we can tell you about the programs that you are developing. This will include direct messages with the continued support of
communications and the design team. Work will continue to work with this very important group. We are going to now shift from high school work into middle school work, as we need to think about that as students rise to middle school to high school. Next slide please. You have seen this slide before, but it's
important just to come back to it and revisit. This is our project team timeline. We are currently in the phase. If you look June into December, which is around developing implementation and continued communication plans, we will be in that space for a while, as
you can see on the timeline. And this includes creating an expanded implementation plan. And what are we going to do with our work around continued engagement? Next slide over to Nikki. Thank you very much. So we are wrapping up. We just want to share our next steps. We said
that we want to give our design team a little more time to process the proposal that we have around our program themes, and have them give us some more feedback so that we can refine that list of programs. We also
get a lot of questions about which schools are going to get which programs. And so part of the work is with this asset mapping is really understanding. Now that we have a proposed group of schools in each region,
which schools already offer high quality, effective programing, that we could pair programs with. Where do we need to sunset some programs? Where might we need to add something? So that is the next step of our phase of
our work that we will be doing over the next few months. And again, we also will be thinking about admissions criteria. As we said, some of these programs will be interest based, others will be criteria based. And so
we need to do all of that work to determine what the programs will look like. So as as it states there multiple year implementation transition plan that we need to build out. So we will go to the next slide and
stop there to see if you have questions. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that presentation. I would like to before I turn to my fellow colleagues for comments, I would like to have you all introduce yourself so
that we know who you are and the public know who you are. We can start from here. Sure. Niki Hazel Chief Academic Officer Adnan Mahmoud, chief operations officer. Angela McLean,
assistant to chief academic officer. Hi, Doug Nelson. And I'm one of the administrators that is supporting the program analysis work. Karen Danko, supervisor in the Division of Consortia Choice and Application
Program Services. Thank you. Board members, I know this. Everyone has lots of questions. So we I will also say let's keep our comments concise and be additive, not repetitive. I'm
going to start from Mr. So a question I've gotten from community members, and I think even from the board table is are we doing any analysis on the
effectiveness of our existing programs? Is that part of the work? It it is a part of the work. We are not analyzing every program. So because there's just too many to do that work. But we
are working with officers shared accountability on some of our our larger programs. Plus we have a lot of data as well from the consortia choice and application programs around participation, enrollment,
interest, things of that nature. So we are incorporating that as well. Are we doing one question this round or can I ask another? Julie. One question okay. Miss Wolff, I don't really have a
question. I just have a comment. I'm rather disappointed by the response from the Black and Latino community, particularly since Wheaton, Northwood and Kennedy have high, you know, have high numbers of students in
those categories. And I'm wondering what you think you could do about that. This is on the boundary study. I mean, it's a it's a little better on the program analysis, but I'm concerned that there are large groups of people being left out
of the boundary study. And I know you've made efforts, but is there something else you could do? So thank thank you for that question. So yeah, we are as part of reviewing the data we are getting, we are looking at where we're not getting enough
responses and we're going to be doing targeted engagement i those locations. So we have talked about having, you know, better outreach and then having smaller, you know, smaller meetings where, you know, if people are not coming out to the
large auditoriums. So we do have some thoughts. And we have been talking to the community partners as well in those ideas. So as we, you know, wrap up the survey results on, you know, July 15th, when we get the final tally, we will be continuing our
discussion with our community partners as well in in ideas to make sure that we're reaching reaching the all the communities. Thank you, Miss Montoya. Thank you so much. I'm
really concerned about how I can rely on any of the survey data. Given what Miss Wolff said about the lack of community representation from some groups. And I hear what you're saying about taking these other efforts, but I feel like we've
talked about these with the program and the boundary analysis. This lack of representation, pretty much at every meeting that we've had this information right about that being a concern, even in other areas of the school system as well, when we're making decisions. And now we have about
three weeks left on the survey, and it's summertime. And so will I hear you saying, well, we're going to do these things. I guess I'm just wondering how realistic it is to think that we're going to make up these data gaps. I mean, given that in
all three surveys, about half of the respondents are white, whether or not that area is of that demographic. I'm also wondering, what is the plan then, if on July 15th, you look at all the data and it still basically looks similar, then
what are we going to do? Are we going to be expected to make decisions in some way? Because that would be really challenging for me. Thank you. I'm looking at this side of the table, miss. I'm sorry. That was a question I
asked. What question can you please answer? Thank you. Yeah. So no, what we will what we can do is again work with our communications group in trying to target, you know, send out targeted communications to the
to the group and requesting follow up survey. And then obviously again, you know, providing them more information about, you know, the other tools that we have. And we will be, you know, that, you know, where we can, you know, resend
information about the office hours, because that's another way of getting feedback, because survey is just one of the tools. We are getting a lot of feedback from actually those conversations. So we'll continue those efforts and we'll continue to work with our communications group in sending out additional
messages out to all the communities again and reminding them that, you know, this survey is out there for them to participate. And then we can report back in July, you know, if we're seeing a, you know, hopefully an improvement on
those responses. But that sounds to me just like a continuation of what we're already doing, which are good efforts. And I'm not saying that they're not. But for whatever reason, those efforts are not reaching certain parts of our community, which are substantial parts of our community. And so I don't hear
any thing different or, right, we're having office hours, people know, but they're not coming, so to say, well, we're just going to continue to remind them we have office hours. You know, one of the fundamental tenets of organizing is you go to the community, you don't wait for the community to come to
you. And so I guess that's what I would like to see here, is I would like to see a plan for how we are going to go to the community. Right. There's a lot of events going on in the summer. Are we going to go to those events and have a QR code where people can take the survey right on the spot, or things of
that nature, because we're basically running out of time? Yeah. No, those are great suggestions. So yes, we can work with our communications group in targeting those those events. And we will be happy to go out there and, you know, provide in-person information or even, you know, we have in the in the
in-person meetings, what we have done is actually handed out paper surveys to people. So if they're, you know, so we can, you know, use those strategies as well. So that's a that's a great suggestion. We'll work with our communications team in identifying those events and going out there in person. Okay.
Because if we're just waiting for people to come to meetings or things that we're organizing, right, then again, we're just catching certain people, and I think we can all see which geographic locations folks are coming from. And now I live in one of those. So I'm not saying I'm happy to see all the communities, you know,
communities are responding and I really appreciate it. But that doesn't give me all of the information I need to know whether or not these choices and decisions that we're going to make, which are going to have significant impacts, are actually representative of what all of the community is hoping to see here. Thank you. Thank
you, Miss Rivera-Oven. Thank you. So I'm just going to say that on page where you have all the regions, I think it's page 26. I'm just a little bit concerned about some of the some
of the squares in there about proximity of schools and how long it would take from point A to point B, I'm always, you know, curious how you decide that because I'm more of a vertical person. Like if I were to be going from point A, I
would be using the main roads in our community versus going across the county where you're going across country roads and, and traffic lights and traffic lights, or so I'm just I'm just interested to know how how you
going to manage that a little bit concerned about number four and number five and six I personally I would switch some of them around but that's you know, you guys are the experts. But I'm just very concerned
about how long it would take for our kids to get there during rush hour. Weekends probably would take you half the time, but rush hour, I think that might be an issue. So yes, we
when we were looking at the proposed regions, we worked with our transportation. And one of the things that they pointed out is in high traffic time, it is easier for the busses to travel east west rather than north south, because the because of the traffic congestions that you
can get, you know, traveling especially the main, you know, main arterial roads. And that was the you know, we used their feedback in order to propose these regions. Can I just suggest that you actually get on
a bus during the summer and actually, you know, do these routes, all of them, if that's possible, I could be on it. I don't mind happy to, to do it because I think it's a little bit different than experiencing.
And remember, summer is a little bit lighter. September. Let's do it. September. But yeah, but if you if you, if we can just get on the bus and actually go from Kennedy to, to Montgomery, you know, Blair and just see how
long it truly takes, I just, I just and with all respect to the transportation, I think they're great. They're they're great minds. But I just like I'm a practical person. And I just want to make sure that the choices that we make are in the
best interest of our students. I will hate to have kids on the on a bus for like an hour to get from point A to point B, and also, I would like to know the cost attached to that, and I would like to compare it to the
cost that we have now with transportation, compared to the cost that this would be with all these choices. Thank you, Miss Silvestre. Yes, I wanted to better understand or for our community to understand the time
frame, the timelines for the boundary work and the program work. So remind me the boundary work will be finished when. So the superintendent's recommendation to the board would be in January and the
decision by the board is due in March of 2026. And then the program, we are on a similar timeline. We would like to have our recommendation at the end of December. Okay. And then that
would be for December 2520. Yes. At the end of yes, December 25th, we would be looking to have them work on our implementation plan, be looking
to implement in 2027, knowing that the students need to apply the year before, okay, so 2025 and that does require board action or does not require board action. I don't believe so. But I will defer to we will be
seeking board action as part of kind of the whole package of what we're trying to do. This is a substantial enough change to how we operate as a school system. Having the board opine on the direction in which we go.
You really the program study informs what happens with the boundary study. So they they are in a lot of ways one in the same. They have to be done more or less in conjunction as we're evaluating what direction we want to go, because capacities
are driven by the programs that we offer in schools. Okay. So the so both will come together in March or so of next year. You're a little earlier but and then you will the choice the
application process will begin in the fall of 26, the fall of 20 the following school year. Correct. So while we finish in the spring, it seems like we still have a long time, but we don't because the application process begins a few months later. Correct? Okay. Just
wanted to clarify that. Thank you, Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. First, I have a contextualizing data request. When we are looking at the feedback for the boundary study, we have the
respondents by residents data. It would be helpful if we could also know, like I could tell you that, about how many people live in Silver Spring in the whole county. But I don't know in specific regard to the Woodward study. Do you get what I'm saying? So like in the Woodward
boundary study about how many of those residents live in Silver Spring, is it 30% so that I can get some better context into who's responded to the survey? That would be great. And then I have a question similar to Miss
Rivera Evans. She has kindly offered to hop on a bus with you all. I will not be offering the same, but I you talked a little bit about kind of refining the transportation question for families. I guess I'm wondering,
are you expecting to kind of edit or change the regional recommendations based on new responses to that? So you're
talking about just, you know, having that conversation about the bus rides with transportation that you're saying that you were planning to refine the transportation question, that the feedback you got was that it was it wasn't clear. So am I misunderstanding
that that was a question from the programs committee. Right. I'm sorry. I'm switching gears a little. The question about how much time is reasonable for your child to be on a bus. Right. And the feedback was that I
apologize. I'm so sorry. The feedback was that. The question was asked out of context because they didn't understand that what the thinking was around programs. And so if we if you put it all into context and give
them all of the information, they didn't understand that regions were being considered when they when they were asked the question, okay, so we do want to make sure that everyone is very clear about where we are
headed with regions and the thinking around the program themes we are. We've already put something online to ask folks for their feedback or thoughts, so we certainly want to use that
information to help guide any further decisions. We have to be very careful with the regions, obviously, because transportation demographics are two areas that we certainly want
to make sure we consider with regions, in addition to other things, facilities and things of that nature. But we really can't. We have a few other options that we have actually been looking at, but we don't want to stray too far from the
recommendation because of the transportation. And we want to make sure that the demographic nature of our programs is, is fairly similar. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Serrano. Yes. Thank you. First, again, I just want to thank you all for the work that
you do. I know that there's a lot happening right now. So I just again want want to shout out, you know, this is a lot of information to give to us. And you know, you you guys do this every month for us. So I just want want to say thank you. So speaking as a student who who has been to multiple M.c.p.s
programs, right, who's been bussed across the county have been on an hour, hour plus bus ride, a large part of the program selection process for me. Right. And I'm speaking for myself right now was factors like extracurriculars and competitive academic competitions. Right. So one
thing that I saw here is we had a lot of baseline set for the curricular baselines on page 18, but we didn't have anything really set for extra and co-curricular baselines of opportunity. And that is also often a big part of how programs are being selected for a lot of
these students. Right. And when we think about having access to opportunity, it gives students another chance to push themselves a little bit further outside of their regular curricular interest. So without expanding the scope too much, that's something that I definitely would want to see. Maybe some if we're if we're
saying some some solid baselines for on how we're going to incorporate extracurricular, co-curricular, academic competitions and other things like that into some, some of this work. And then the other thing that I just want to say real quickly is I think there's a real concern to be had with
relying really heavily on the use of virtual learning to attempt to do some of these baselines. I think when we get into some of, you know, the more specialized interests, maybe that's something that we can start to rely on. But when it comes to the baselines, I really think that there needs to be a strong reliance on making sure
we have in-person teachers at every single school to make sure that, you know, the baseline that we're setting right can be achieved in an in-person instruction. Thank you. Thank you. For me, I'm excited to see we are exploring CTE offerings
for students. As a school district, we have about 50% of our graduates that go to four year colleges and 15% that go to two year colleges. So they are a large portion of our students can benefit greatly from
prepared for career opportunities while they're in high school. That's what I believe that we can provide social economic mobility for our students. However, when I look
at this proposal, I have several areas of significant concern. Tack on to. Miss Viera Rivera-Oven comment about transportation. One of the reasons we want to shift to
regions is because we are saying transportation takes up a lot of times, but if I do a simple Google map and I say, tell me traffic time from Thomas Wootton High School to John F Kennedy
High School, which is in region four, how long does it take? Google said 50 minutes. I say, okay, Google, tell me. From Clarksburg High School to Quince Orchard High School, which is in option number six, how long does it take in traffic time? 55
minutes, 45 to 55 minutes. So I'm trying to understand how this region in terms of time saving. So you have the transportation data. So what I'm saying is without seeing the
transport data analysis for us is and to decide and for us to think about these proposed regions, is putting the car in front of the horse. I can't really digest this. So I, I, I
hope you can also make that data analysis, transportation analysis to the public available so everyone can see it. Because I just did a Google search right now Google map. So Doctor Taylor used the word consortium just
now to describe this region. And I think Mattis report completed in 2016, talk significantly about a big portion of it. It's about consortium. And on page 128 you talk about staffing and
transportation costs for the high school consortium. And it is said that we have the NDC and DCC, northeast Consortium and DCC Downcounty consortium. At 2016. The total additional cost
to implement these two regional program is $2.7 million. This is 2016. So I would kindly ask you to give us a financial impact on
what in today's dollar 2025 or in tomorrow's dollar 2027, if you are to implement a six region model, what is the financial impact? So that would be my question to the system.
I'm going to go for the second round. Ioing to start from this. Did I start from that side first. Then I'm going to start from you started on this side. Okay. Then I'll start from Mr. Silver on our side. Is there a question, Mr. Rivera-Oven? Yes. So my question is about a
different kind of analysis. It's about the programs and pathways that you're going to choose. I know you have. Future teachers, academy, engineer, robotics, all that medical science. But what
what does it mean? And this is something I spoke to Nikki about, about how does AI impact any of these professions in the future? So I want us to be very mindful of before we go and
investing in something that might become obsolete in five, six years. I want us to look at and talk to, you know, and you guys are some of the experts, but also talk to general experts in the in the economy, you know,
what are the future jobs, you know, that are going to be needed that that our kids need to start thinking about, that are actually pathways because AI is having a huge impact on our workforce. And a lot of the
things that we do, I mean, before, you know, like every kid usually had a job at McDonald's and now we have everybody can just order it online. There's less jobs for the summer. And a lot of, you know, things that w, we, we don't think about. So I
just want to see what is your plan to do that. Are we talking to. The Labor Department. Are we talking you know, what are some some of the new science areas
that are being developed that they're going to be needed? And like Miss Yang said, I'm really happy that we're also focusing on those jobs that we know AI is probably not going to be able to, to take over, like plumbing and electricians and carpenters
and. Right, and, and I think with time, these jobs are actually going to become more important. And you're going to be able to make a really good living because you can these days make a very good living. So
thoughts? No, I was a very good point. We have not talked specifically about AI, and that is something that I think we need to bring back to our team and do some a little more
digging into around how it may impact jobs and our, our study. So we will we definitely will take that into consideration. Thank you. Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. I am curious about our
staffing plans for these programs. You know, I also want to hear from our staff in general. Like I can imagine some of them might be interested in like, oh, I live closer to this school. I'd be interested in moving to a program there. You
know, just like a lot of our families and students have really strong ties to their school, so do our staff. So I'd love to hear some more staff feedback on the proposal. But I also think it's essential to think about how we're planning to staff. You know, right now we
have one program this way. We're going to staff five more of them. What is our staffing plan and what does that look like? So I'll jump in on that one. One of the things that has made the existing consortium model inefficient and cost inefficient
in particular, is a staffing plus model, as in, you've added staff beyond the base staffing to accommodate for programmatic staffing versus using a dispersed staffing model, which is really kind of the common practice. If you have a set
period schedule, like most secondary schools, you're going to have students that are going to attend a set number of classes each day. So your staffing, which is the most expensive part of any program offerings that you have,
shouldn't really change dramatically if you offer additional programs. The things that might drive up your costs and associated programs might be any hard costs associated. And a good example of that might be a health and medical sciences
program. Let's say you you have some fancy piece of equipment, and that fancy piece of equipment is usually a one time expense, but at the same time, you you have to purchase that equipment because it's tied to the programmatic use. But beyond
the equipment, your your staffing model should be reflective of the number of students that you have in the building and how they're dispersed throughout the building. Using staffing ratio. That hasn't really been our practice in the past. When we've added a program, we've added
staffing tied to the program. So it's an over staffing for the school. And I think what we're looking at is something that utilizes the existing number of FTEs to keep costs within reason. That's great. I'd be interested in seeing that model
the way that it could play out, but I would also like us to think about what professional development needs we might need to include for our staff to make sure that they can teach all of these courses. Ms. Silvestre.
Along the same lines as your comment, Miss Yang, just I'm assuming that these will have cost implications. And so this is just the first presentation, and I know you're going to build this out further and add more details in the coming months,
but I think the board would be very interested as we prepare for the next budget cycle, to understand the cost implications so that we can build it into our next budget. Thank you. Miss Wolff. Yeah, I just have a couple of thoughts about
increasing the representation in these collection survey collections. And one is that you should go to the churches, you know, there are several around in all parts of the county. And I'm sure some of our community
partners, I could tell you some in my part of the world, I'm sure that Grace could tell you some in her part of the world. The other thing is, and this is not to be insulting. Go to the food collection lines, because we have so many people right now
that have kids that are out of work, that they are in the lines on Saturday particularly, I know in the East County the lines are long. And Grace says that her lines are more than she can handle most days. So if you go to the lines, those are the
people that come there because they need food for their kids usually. And so those kids are usually in our schools. The last thing I want to say is about transportation. Like grace. I looked at model number four. I
transverse east to west an awful lot, and it is not as clear as you'd like to think. So you might want to take a look at that. Number four. But with regard to number two, I want to
respond to Julie. I think the transportation costs have less to do with the consortium model itself, and more to do with the landscape over where Blake, paint, branch, spring Brook and
Sherwood are. Because you can't walk. Things are so far apart. There are no sidewalks. Almost all of the students are bussed over in that area. That's just my take on it. Mr. I want I
appreciate the descriptions of using the PCC and also some of the suggestions from the board table. Is there a way could we quantify some of that other outreach, because you had a nice paragraph you told us about, but
it would be nice to see like how many interactions were there. And if you do go out to churches, like where did you go, how much respondents did you get. So we can kind of track things as we go along. So we have something to look at to
quantify our outreach. And I wanted to talk about the transportation piece. There was a transportation advisory team at one point, and I believe that was put on pause. That team
could actually really help in this new effort. And especially I know I've said it probably a couple times, we can use other vehicles besides yellow school busses now, because that was
changed in Annapolis. And so, you know, when we go to price this out, it would be helpful to use all of our tools in the toolbox. And so I really would
encourage the to get the team back together to talk about some of these transportation issues. And one more thing about increasing the response. We did much well, I think we did much
better on one of the surveys versus the other. So are you going to those people and saying, hey, did you fill this out? At least in my part of the county, Silver Spring responded more in one than the other. So just to cross cross pollinate
there. Thank you. Thank you, and I have. Additional question. So one of my biggest concerns is related. Back again, I don't
think we always have to learn from our past practices. And there's a reason we order this report. We pay significant money for this report. And we did a lot of change after this report
came out. So one of the recommendations on key findings on page key finding number six and page eight and page 125, which states and I read and I read. The consortium had had
limited success in increasing student outcomes and reducing achievement gaps. As full member, we are all very interested in moving our students along in the line of
achievement to be successful in life. So if this report finds that existing models at different high schools have not proven effective, than we need
to understand this time when you are suggesting original design, how this will lead to a different outcome. So what metrics, what support, system or
innovation are being built into to ensure this model succeeds when where others have struggle. So that is what fundamentally
important to me. Any insights? I have one, and I think it has to do with the origins of the consortia and how the original
DCC did not include BCC, and how the original NEC did not include Sherwood. Exactly. And if part of the objective of any program realignment is to be more equitable, all schools have to
be a part of that process. And not only the schools. The resources were not made available over in the East County the way they were in other parts of the county. So we have a lot of things to make up for. To follow up on the
community feedback, concerns. Board member has brought up that I understand that miss Hazel mentioned that you have shared some some of your best thinking
now with your community groups, right. I'm wondering because the board is not going out to do community engagement on our own, I wonder if you can share these
this feedback right from the community. Like in an aggregate form or you don't have to include name names can be omitted so that we get a sense what your panel is telling you.
So what are what are their. Celebrations or critique of your proposals? Yes, we absolutely can can share that with you. We collected a lot of feedback last night from both boundary and
programs. We had a joint meeting so we can share that information with you. And then we're going to be pulling back our programs team to look at the feedback and fine tune. And we can share that with you. I don't know if the
team wants to share share any highlights. Feedback from last night still processing. We were meeting late until the evening. So we don't have this is where like like you bring us a lovely
presentation. But because many things that you say I you look at transportation, you look at this, you look at that. We haven't have anything to look at. So at this point it's for us. It's a lot to digest. And we
need to have those information. We certainly can send that to you. Yeah. And I'm sure the public to would, will very much appreciate that information. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm checking around the table of course. Oh
there. One piece of feedback is that the community was concerned that SSI wasn't involved enough in the programing piece. So I just wanted to ask is will SSI
maybe someone in Peter Moran's shop be at the meetings going forward? Yes. And they may not be at the meetings, but we are certainly working with them. At keeping them updated, attending meetings, collaborating with
them, making sure that they have seen where we are, have given feedback. So they are certainly doing that. Thank you. All right. And I have Miss Montoya online. Thank you. I just wanted to thank all of you actually,
because this is these are huge undertakings. It requires a ton of work. You mentioned you guys were meeting late last night. I know that's not the that's probably one of many, many meetings. You're here again late today. Well, I do have, you know, concerns about different things that I've mentioned, but I do really appreciate all the
work you're doing, and I think you're doing a great job at managing all of this. And I just look forward to the future presentation. So thank you again. Thank yes, Miss Rivera Evans since everybody has mentioned the ability to get
people to do the surveys, at the end of the day, we cannot make people do surveys. I personally do not like surveys. I'm just saying okay, so here's where the
marketing gurus have to come in to make it like fun to do a survey or to have a tagline. You know, this is for your kids future. You know, your voice will develop. You know, our system. I mean, it needs to be,
you know, I just it's just I'm survey exhausted. I just don't like surveys. So but along those lines, I know we go back sometimes to the same partners. I just want to say there's nothing wrong with having new
partners. So and I love a lot of these organizations. I work with a lot of them, you know, I run a nonprofit, as you know, in the county. And my colleague is right, there are other partners out there who do have the pulse
of the community. And most importantly, the trust of the community that they have been building for a long time. And trust partners are really important. So, so just, you know, go out of your state, you know, your, your, your zone that we always had these partners, there's other partners that deal
with youth. The Latin American Youth Center is one of them. Community bridges is one of them. You know, in different parts of the county. There's other folks. And like I said before, and I think I said it to a few of you, the county does
have a Latino, a Latino liaison, an Asian liaison, African American, a Caribbean, and so on and so on. And they know their communities really well, but they also have a faith liaison who they also, you know, they have, you know, so those so you
don't have to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to create new ones. Just use those folks who already, you know, historically have those connections. And, and, and they're not going to be 9 to 5. They're probably going to be evenings. And a lot of them are
probably going to be Saturdays and Sundays. But I think if this is such an important thing, it's the largest boundary study in our history that I think is worth doing. That little extra mile and the little lifting. But again, you you just cannot make people do surveys. But we have a
July 4th coming up and Doctor Taylor is going to be with me in Germantown, and there's going to be lots of kids and parents there waiting for the fireworks. So I don't know, we can have maybe little prizes for people if they fill out the survey. Have we reached exactly. So
anyway, just just saying. All right. But thank you for your presentation. I know that you will be coming back again monthly. So. There remain a lot
of work to be done. We sadly to say, right, this is this has we has to get it right. We has to get it right. So responsibility is heavy. And so I appreciate your work very much. Thank you.
All right. Doctor Taylor I think we are going to item 10.1. We're so close. Thanks for hanging in there board members. And thank you boundary and program team for sure. Board members bring
resolutions to the table indicating interests of the board and of the community, and we want to ensure that our administrative team is addressing those resolutions in a timely and effective manner. I know this is going to be a big shock, but we haven't been. And
so this is really an opportunity for us to go back and revisit some of the recent board resolutions over the last several years to review and to take this opportunity to review and examine and follow up on those board resolutions over the
last several years. Today, I am delighted that we get the chance to close the loop on many of the board's resolutions over the last several years, and we are going to highlight a few of those, but we have a tracking chart for the board's review
attached to board docs. That is the comprehensive list of everything since 2020, and it is my pleasure to introduce Doctor Renee McCall to talk a little bit about our board resolutions. And she is the Executive Director in the Chief of Staff's
office. Thank you, Doctor Taylor. Good evening, Madam President and Doctor Taylor, thank you again for the introduction and good evening, board members. I am here tonight with a brief resolution roundup. Essentially, I am going to
provide an update on resolutions from fiscal year 2020 to date. As part of this update, we conducted a comprehensive review of resolutions for the past six
fiscal years by fact checking I'm sorry, fact checking all actions and following up on loose ends related to 28 resolutions. This slide shows the number of resolutions per
fiscal year with a breakdown of area or department responsible for those particular resolutions. Currently, 20 resolutions have been brought to completion and eight are still in progress. In the upcoming
slides, four resolutions from fiscal year 24 and one from 25 will be highlighted specifically related to dropout prevention, fiscal literacy, work based learning and mental health
actions. For the remaining 24 resolutions that were reviewed this year can be found in the Supporting resolution summary that has been included in your presentation materials. This
resolution relates to dropout prevention and calls for an exploration of a pilot program to identify students at least 16 years old, at risk of not graduating prior to age 21. As part of the pilot, students will
work toward career and technical education credentials and a diploma or completion of a GED exam, and the program should be evaluated to determine continuation. In response to this resolution, we are
expanding the program to increase accessibility for general education students to flexible scheduling in order to meet academic requirements and obtain credentialing in CTE courses. Kreeya will improve
graduation rates and increase students readiness for the workforce through personalized learning experiences. With an investment in the fiscal year 26 budget for Crayola's, the program expansion will consist of several new FTE positions as
listed on the slide, and additionally, enrollment is expected to be in line with last year's numbers. Around 130 students. This resolution resolution requests that a full
range of options for financial literacy be offered to students with incentives for engagement and provided in multiple languages. It also calls for an annual update to include the number of students graduating
with having taken financial literacy as an update, all high schools in M.c.p.s. Offer students the personal finance elective, either in person or as an online option. Additionally,
a financial literacy related course, Financial Math, is available to students, and of the 13,000 graduating seniors this year, 53% have completed financial literacy, which is
around 6865 students. It's important to note that the Board of Education adopted the Future Ready Strategic Plan on June 10th of this year, which highlights a financial literacy requirement as one of the
objectives of that plan. The last board resolution update for fiscal year 24, this work based learning resolution requests an exploration of the possibility of leveraging the procurement process to increase the availability of work experiences
for our students. The plan explores developing a procurement provision requiring all request for proposal respondents to their capacity to offer internships to our high schoolers with a report to the
board by May 24th. An annual update and presentation was made to the board last spring, and highlights from this year's engagement data can be found on the slide and show that 35 employers completed the survey, and 29 employers attended the
work based Learning Info session, and as a result, the impact was 15 new internships and three new apprenticeships. Our last resolution that we're going to look at this evening is
fiscal year 25. And finally, this resolution is related to a request for a mental health workgroup to be developed to analyze mental health resources, to understand the communication strategy related to these mental health resources and services,
to determine the distribution and accessibility of those resources, and then to understand the role of school social workers and psychologists in the lives and education of our students. This work group met four times this year and
determined that M.c.p.s has made significant progress in expanding mental health services post-pandemic, and the group also identified these three areas for improvement. As you can see on the slide, a communication plan to increase
awareness of mental health services available for our students, a process to enhance our tier one services and resources for our students across the district, and then finally to continue developing systems to assess need for
services, ensuring equitable allocation of those services, and to provide updates throughout the course of the school year. Moving forward to better monitor and follow up on
resolutions, we have created a tracking system that identifies the responsible department and outlines a timeline to completion with clear action plans and items to ensure key deliverables are met and made.
And with that, that is the resolution roundup. Thank you. I'm turning to see if there's any questions for board members. Mr. Rivera-Oven. The only question I had. Sorry, the only
question I had was on the first resolution with crayon, which I'm delighted to see, and it was that I did not see security in there. I'm assuming they already have security. Yes. That's not
an exhaustive list. It just was a summary. Got it. Okay, okay. Thank you, Mr. Savona, I just want to say thank you for the presentation and then go back and say I was kind of scrolling through some of them, and there's resolutions from past members of the boards. Again, going back a couple of years, I
think six years. So very interesting to see, you know, kind of what the what the follow up has been on that because I know some of them are well out of our system now, but knowing that their legacy still lives on. But was yours written better or worse than theirs? That's really the question in your last meeting. No, we're not
competitive. We're collaborative. We're not competitive. Okay. So I have questions. The for the financial literacy one, one of the in the
resolution is that online modules accessible in multiple languages. We are really looking at increasing access for students who don't speak English. You know, during their high school years. Where are we
with that? I know that we are currently using Everfi, which is an online platform that offers those standards, financial literacy standards and lessons both in English and in Spanish. In terms of our progress on other languages, however, I
think that is still a work in progress. So Spanish is being offered? Yes. Okay. That's that answer, that question. My other question is in terms of the
about the work based learning, one that I think the resolution is looking at. The leveraging the procurement process. However, the actions taken is
partnership with Work source Montgomery. I think that's two different process. Can you that's an excellent question, Madam President. And I wonder i, yes, Angela McLean could provide
some context around that. Am I missing something? That close enough? Yeah. I just lost it. Pardon me. So I believe that part of this report is related
to the broader work based learning work that the agreement that the Department of College and Career Readiness has put together. And it would make sense for the work done through the procurement process to be a part of that work. As far as
supporting the students, making the opportunities available to students through that infrastructure. So the spirit was to say, hey, doing we have so many business partners doing their procurement process. Let us know if they can provide any
help. Right. So I don't see that spirit reflected here. So I will ask you go back and take a look. Sure. All right. Any other questions? What happened? 2020.
That was the year the champion. Oh, Miss Montoya, I don't see the hand. That's right. Your real hand is up. Yes, Miss Montoya. There it is. Thanks. I had the other one up, too, but I think it's not showing up
sometimes. May I just request a copy of the work based learning resolution? Because I'm not familiar with it at all. This is the first time I've ever heard of it. I think it was passed prior to my being on the board, and so I'm just trying to
understand it. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Doctor Taylor, would you suggest that when we. I'm just looking at how we can close the loop
when we propose resolution, do you suggest that we actually have a due date? Would that be helpful? So I'm actually going to give high praise to our student member of the Board of Education, because he did have a due date on his on his
resolution. And I think the due date is helpful, but I think it would actually be a better plan for us to do an annual report not dissimilar to this. Every second meeting in June, just as a standing item, that you have a
resolution roundup to kind of close up the loop on, on anything that might be outstanding, because even something that has a due date may not satisfy the board's request fully, and we may ask for additional time to fulfill it, or something along those
lines. And just really having like a placeholder to see what's closed, what's not, what's open, and what action items are still remaining might be helpful and also rewarding to reflect back on a year's worth of work, and just even to recognize the
things that came through over the year and what our success might have been in that particular area. Love it. A process, a procedure to keep track. Thank you. Oh, Mr. Savona. Yeah. And just a quick add on. I mean, I saw the report
for the mental health worker come back through through some of our board inboxes, but then having it, you know, be talked about out loud in board meeting gives it some lift to the public just to know that, hey, this this is followed up on and I think having this resolution roundup is really, really helpful in that sense. Thank you
for that. Let's move to item number 11 Board of Education items. Is there a motion to approve item 11.1 and 11.2 in block. So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. All in
favor, please raise your hand. This information only. And I think my screen is frozen. I'm raising my hand. Thank you. I see you now. It's unanimous. All right. We froze for a minute. We
are going to item 11.3, appointment to the ethics panel. So the Board of Education, if you don't know, has an ethics panel that which is keep us to the ethical standards and advise and you know, give us advice and
guidance on following the highest standard of ethical practices. So on June 30th, 2025, Miss Lisa Tom will conclude her service as a member of the ethics panel. We thank her so much because these are volunteers. They don't get paid,
and miss Tom served two terms on the panel and served as panel chair this past year. The Board of Education, you know, thanks, miss Tom, for her commitment to the Montgomery County Public Schools through her dedicated
service. Now, this will create a vacancy on the five member panel for the board to fill. This vacancy was announced in May, and information for interested applicants was advertised through media release posted to
social media, including the M.c.p.s. Weekly Things to Know newsletter and covered by the local media. Now, the board will now need to adopt a resolution to appoint a member to fill this vacancy, and I will read the
resolve part of the resolution. And this resolve the following individual be appointed to serve a three year term on the ethics
Panel, effective July 1st, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2028. And that person is Catherine B Allen. So thank you, Miss Allen, for stepping up. And now I need
to have motion to approve this resolution. So moved. Second. And there's a motion. And second. All in favor please raise your hand. And that's unanimous. Thank you everyone.
And I think I'm transferring to Miss Rivera-Oven, the vice president, to preside. The next portion of the meeting. Miss Yang, we have item 11.40 11.4. Because we have another appointment today. We do? Oh,
this is so unusual, so exciting. Okay, so item 3.4 is about we have a community advisory board and communication and engagement advisory board. And we are
adding a student member to that to that board. So I will need to. Find the. So the person that we are. We are nominating is
Naomi. Is there a do we need to have a resolution. There there is a resolution. There is a resolution. And I'm trying to find that resolution. Resolution is 830 in the evening. I'm trying to find that resolution. Here comes Tom. Here comes Tom.
I'm sorry. Page here. Well, that's a nice place. No. There's no 13. Sorry. All right. He found it. As usual, he saved the day. All right. So. I'm going to
read the resolved part. Resolved that? Naomi. Dimasi, a rising 12th grade student at Wheaton High School, be appointed to serve as the student member on the advisory committee,
effective from July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? So I'll make that motion just a second. But I just wanted to say so grateful to have a lot of different students apply for this from all across the county.
We had a really diverse pool of applicants with really, really solid, qualified applications. So this was a tough decision, but I'll go ahead and move that forward for approval. Second, there's a motion and a second. All those in favor, please raise
your hand. I see Miss Montoya's hand. Yes. Unanimous. Okay. Congratulation, Naomi. Let'sgive are really glad that she will bring student voice to this
process and look forward to her participation. Miss Marella Evans, I turn the meeting over to you. Thank you, president Young. And the Board's June 10th, 2025 meeting and new business resolutions regarding local preference for procurement
contracts was presented for the board's consideration. A motion and a second were received to table consideration of this resolution. Until today's meeting. Is there any additional discussion on this item prior to the vote? President Yang yes, I,
I want to share with everyone that this resolution came about with many conversations with the our procurement office and the superintendent. So it's a teamwork in effort. And also after the resolution was
introduced on June 10th. Mr. Also provided critical feedback to include Maryland businesses in this resolution. So it so that is what's included now in
the new language. So I would like to first suggest that to amend the previous resolution as follows. May I read the new revised portion? Yeah. So the
added portion is resolved that the Superintendent of Schools will consider as part of the review, including a preference for bidders headquartered within the state of Maryland, which would differ from the local preference available to
Montgomery County based businesses and be further also added the portion in the next resolve that if it deemed appropriate. Business. Headquartered in Maryland, right after the county one. So that is
the. Amended part. Thank you. President Yang. There is a motion to amend the previous resolution. Is there a second? Second? That was very quick.
Okay. There is a second. Any discussion? Oh, Miss Montoya. Thank you. At the last board meeting, I requested some
information so that I could be informed when I make a decision. But I haven't received any of the information. So I asked what, if any, other preferences does M.c.p.s. Already have in place for procurement? I also asked for data regarding how we expect the resolution to impact
the cost of doing business, and so it's challenging for me to know if I have questions because I don't have that information. And by way of example, I just learned that we had a work based learning. Resolution about a year ago that asked for there to
be a provision involved with procurement to provide internships, and so. Clarification. Well, okay. So that's part of the challenge though, right, is that I don't have the information to even understand what's going on. And everyone was aware that I asked
for it. Miss Yang, you were aware, but it hasn't been provided to me. And so I don't want to vote no simply because I don't have the information. So I would like to suggest that we table it to the next meeting so we can make sure that we get the information, because it's
challenging for me to know if I even have additional questions, because I don't have that information that I requested. Okay. And there's also Miss Stewart. I just wanted to thank you for making the amendment.
Okay, Miss Sylvester. Yeah. I thought that this resolution was for the superintendent to explore the possibility, but I'm not seeing that language here. Could you help me find it? Yes. So the first one. Now,
therefore, be it resolved, the superintendent of schools will review procurement practices used by other state and local public agencies, wherein preference is given to procurement process to local bidders and be further. And then
the third resolve is that the superintendent of schools, after such reviews would develop. So it's review first. Then you will say, then you might know that after you review you might know the implication. Then you develop and implement a process
whereby local Montgomery County based business or if deem appropriate, business headquartered in Maryland, will be granted a local preference in the procurement process in a manner that complies with both the spirit of the resolution,
applicable state and local laws and be it further. Right. So making so it's the impact of our cost or how to do business have to be done how it will become clear after the superintendents review and with the proposal.
Right. But the resolve that goes into the next page reads as if a local preference will be granted after the review. And I understood that the resolution, per our conversation Ms. Yang,
was that the superintendent would explore the possibility. We'll explore what this says. This says they will do research and they will grant a local preference, which is not not what I thought I was. So will I think that's the spirit of the
will explore the possibility. We'll explore. You want to amend it? Yeah. We'll explore the. Am I hearing a friendly amendment from Miss Sylvester? And I also asked for information about why
we don't already do this. And I think I don't remember why, what the answer was that I got. So if anyone can. Share that, that would be helpful. I mean,
absolutely, I think that it's tough with a like a one week turnaround, effectively in between one board at the close of the school year to pull that off. So I apologize for any delay in not getting stuff back to the board, but I think there
are cost implications. But but even with cost implications, they can be factored into rubrics in terms of like how you weight and prioritize. I think the spirit of the resolution is a good one, which is to come back to the board no later than
September 4th with some action items for consideration and for review by the board, which is how I interpret the spirit of this resolution. So one of the things in my conversation with the procurement department, if I
may answer, is I think they place a it's always we track if what business, the business who are women owned or minority owned, but there are no
specifics, mature or actions during the procurement process. That's concrete actions taking. I think we have the right mindset or value and my understanding, but not specific
steps in doing so. Yeah. So I can add a little bit to that. And it relates to disadvantaged business enterprises or DBE enterprises. And oftentimes entities might set like a percentage target goal for
subcontractors to be a percentage DBE or a percentage on yearly contracts. And it's not out of the ordinary to set a local parameters as one of those targets as well. And I think it really speaks to, you know, the
board making clear what its intentions are. You you want us to engage with vendors that are diverse, and you want us to engage with vendors that are local. And what I'm what I'm reading out of this is that the board would like more
information on how we include that local provision in procurement, and how does that factor into the procurement process, and what are the potential implications of that? That's yeah. Thank you. I know that Mr. O'Neill. Yes. So I
mean, the only thing that I wanted to wanted to say is, again, going back to the like, what the spirit of the resolution kind of entails. So I won't be on the board when, when this, when this the action item comes back. But just to be clear, the idea is that it'll
it'll go through the process and the superintendent will then come back to the board and say, this is the fiscal implication, this is what it might cost. These are kind of your options. And then this is it. Now going back to the board. And this is kind of your option to choose whether or not you want to implement it or not. Am I
understanding that correctly, Doctor Taylor Julie. So it says. That's not what it says. So this is so Montgomery County now has
has local business preference practice already policy already in practice. So this this resolution would like the superintendent to look at what in our school system, what can we do in that in that space. It
does not dictate how how exactly what action we take, but to take a look at the local business preference for Montgomery County business or for and for Maryland business. Yes, Miss Sylvester,
I'm sorry. No, no. Mr. And then Miss Montoya. Sorry, Miss Montoya, sometimes your hand is not there, and it's there. I thought you took it off. Mr. Okay. Sorry. I put my light on a
while ago, and it's escaped. It's 850. Okay, Miss Montoya, that was quick. Thank you. I'm really concerned about the cost implications. I'm also. And always come, you know, Carla. Usually you're the one who says
this, like, what is the need for it, right? Because I know when I look through the contracts and things that we have, if you look through, there's a smattering, you know, every time of companies that are either hyper local. So Montgomery County or maybe even Frederick or just broader in Maryland, or even like what we call here, the DMV,
right? So Virginia in that area, DC, Virginia, Maryland. And so it's not clear to me that we need this in the sense that we're not doing it. I also get concerned about putting restraints on our ability to
procure items because of the cost. Given the constraints we're continuously under, especially with like building and things like that. And then I think, though honestly, perhaps most importantly, because it sounds like my request to have this sit until the next meeting so I can get the information I
requested is not going to be granted. My overarching concern is what exactly what Miss Silvestre brought up. That may be the spirit, but that is not what the words are in the resolution, and it's the words in the resolution that are going to bind future boards, future board members, future student
members of the board and the superintendent. Right. The board resolution, as it stands, doesn't say, please go do a review. Let us know your thoughts on whether this is feasible or not. And then we can decide if we want to then ask you to put a process or whatnot.
It says you will do this review and then you will develop a process for this to happen. And I mean words matter, right. So that would be binding. So that is not the same as what is being conveyed to us here. And so I have concerns about that. If we
want to amend the resolution to just do a review and analysis and then come back and report to the board, I think that's very different. But that extra clause requiring that you then develop a process, it's presuming that the review you're going to do is going to turn out a certain way.
Thank you. Miss Montoya. Is there a is there a friendly amendment I would be happy to amend will. I know, miss? Oh, my God, you're so late. That's all right, graciously. I know, Miss
Wolff. I have to say thank you. I kind of agree with Rita because when I, when I spoke to you about this, I thought it was just a study we were going to do and look into it, because I was concerned about the financial
implications in having to select somebody just because they were local or in Maryland. So I would suggest that we continue this to the next meeting and take a work, take a look at the wording, because I don't like to
do wording from the table. I agree, I agree. I think in order to do that, I think we need a motion to board the result. So you had a motion. You need a second. So I'm sorry. Thank you. Had a motion but now you would need a second for that. No I never made the motion. She just
made a suggestion. But she did not make a motion to set this for the next to reserve a vote until the next meeting. I think, given everyone's. So this motion was this. This was sent to
everyone and I asked for feedback. And then on the table now I'm hearing more feedback. So I'm I'm willing to table this to the I understand it's difficult to do amendments on the table. I'm willing to table
this to the next meeting and work out a new draft. And with people's recommendation and suggestions, and then and please read and provide feedback, read the actual paper, and then we
will come back to the next meeting. Okay. Thank you. So procedurally, procedurally there's a motion on the table to table this till July 10th meeting. So there's a motion on the table to amend. So if we could withdraw that motion okay.
To amend and take a vote on that because there's been a motion and a second though. Right. And then there will be a motion to table okay. So I will withdraw the motion to amend. Okay. And now we can move on to the motion to, to me to restate to table
it, I moved to table the resolution until the next meeting. Do I hear a second? I'll second. There is a second.
All those in favor? Okay. That's you. Oh. Yep yep yep. Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. May I please renew my request for the information that I asked at the June 10th meeting? Could you say that again, Rita? Was that. Yes.
Give me one more second. Let me find the follow ups and I'll read it. I said, what, if any, other preferences does M.C.P.S. Already have in place for procurement? And then to please provide data regarding regarding how we expect this resolution to impact the costs of doing
business. I recognize you might not be able to get very specific, but even just a general idea I think could be helpful. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And now I'm giving the meeting back to you, President Yang. That's that's a lot. That was a lot. That was a
lot. And then we are going to move to item. 11. 12. That was 12.1. Information summary. Are
there any questions. No. No action is required of the board of the information summary. That's for the June 10th, 2025 meeting. And then item 13 is adjournment. May I have a motion
to. Mr. Yang I thank you skipped 11.60 11.6. Where is 11.6? Just to ask if there's any new business. New business to introduce? No seeing. None. And
so I already did item 12.1 and we are on item 13. Adjournment. Is there a motion to adjourn for the very last time? So moved. Second. All in favor, please
raise your hand. Thank you. Thank you everyone. That's unanimous. Yeah. Thank you. I was up to drag it out another
hour just for Purnell.