Good afternoon, and welcome to the 07/24/2025 board education business meeting. Welcome to my fellow board members, MCPS staff and members of the community, and I see a lot of students here, and also those who are watching online. Let's begin by stand by standing for the pledge of allegiance. The flag is in the back. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the
Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. And now I'm going to ask board members to introduce themselves to establish a court. Good afternoon. Laura Stewart representing District 4. Thank you. Rita Montoya, board member at large. Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. Goodes Rivera Oven representing District 1. Buenas tardes. Good afternoon. Carla Silvestre, school board member at large. Good afternoon. Natalie Zimmerman representing District 2.
Good afternoon. Anubha Malu, student member of the board. Good afternoon, Julie Yang, district three. Thank you everyone for being here. Before we begin, I want to explain, as we go into the new school year, we have reformat our board meeting a little bit. In the months that we have two, meetings, one of them will be what we call work session. Work sessions then will go through a lot of presentations and discussions, for items that
the board might take action in the next meeting. And the second meeting will be structured as a business meeting, and that is the business that is the meeting where the board will take actions such as, budget issues, such as policy issues. And so, this is how we are going to move forward. This is how we go move forward with the New Year for the months that we only have one meeting then we will just have to do the marathon meeting to do everything in one shot all right so with that background is there a
motion for approval of our revised agenda today? So moved. Oh, you did? Oh, she move it? Is there a second? Second. Okay. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. How do you vote? Thank you. That's unanimous. Thank you very much. Did you all also want to vote too? Yeah. You gotta do what Anuva did. Okay. Alright. So alright. Okay. Item 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 is, future closed session resolution for the eighteenth and twenty first, And then there's 2.4
report of previous closed sessions. These are information items. Is there a motion to approve these items? Motion to approve. Second? There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Thank you, everyone. And now the next one is the exciting one, Doctor. Taylor, recommended appointments. Happy summer, everybody. Madam president, it's my pleasure to bring forward, two names for consideration for positions in our administration. And, when I call your name, if you could please stand, while I read some
wonderful things about you, before, the the board casts its vote. First, for consideration, mister James p Duffy for the position of director in the Department of Facilities Management. Mister Duffy has been employed with Montgomery County Public Schools for seventeen years as a mechanic, mechanic systems tech, mechanical construction specialist, assistant manager, manager, acting director, and most recently as the maintenance and operations manager in the department of facilities management. Mister Duffy looks forward to stepping into the role of the director to support the
growth and unity of all of the division, for the facilities team, and ensuring that all stakeholders are supported and served in a timely manner, with open and transparent communication. Shout outs to his wife and four children, his parents, his stepfather, and his uncle. Move for approval. Second? K. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Congratulations. Got some got some cheers there for the facilities team. I like it. I like it. Lot lot of HVAC work to do this summer.
Gotta make sure our schools are cool, and I think our students would appreciate that as well. Next for consideration, mister Steven j Austin for the position of supervisor of payroll in the department of employee and retiree center on the division of financial oversight. Joining him today is his wife, Shannon, and his daughter, Elizabeth. Mister Austin has been employed with MCPS for five years as a temporary employee, accounts payable assistant, and most recently as a payroll specialist in the division of the controller. He looks forward to joining the employee and retiree services center to to provide leadership
and process improvement and team collaboration. Shout outs to his parents, Steve and Sandy, who are watching online and all of the employees in MCPS who can't wait for payday tomorrow. Move for approval. Second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Thank you. Congratulations, mister Austin. K. Continue on. We have a one recommendation. Resolution for the board's consideration, today, and it's a pretty important one. As we as you know, we're doing things a little bit different, this year, with
the first day of school being a transition, day for our kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade, students and families. And so we're excited to bring forward a resolution for get ready for kindergarten month in preparation of the big day, because it's hard to believe summer is more than halfway over, and we're tiptoeing closer and closer to the start of the school year. So I have a resolution for the board's consideration, whereas August is get ready for kindergarten month to raise awareness for of the importance of preparing young children and their
families for the transition to kindergarten. And whereas high quality kindergarten readiness supports early brain development, social emotional growth, and foundational learning skills, which are critical to ensuring, long term academic success and closing opportunity gaps for all students. And whereas supporting kindergarten readiness aligns with Montgomery County public schools core values of learning, respect, relationships, excellence, and equity by fostering early learning environments that are inclusive, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate, ensuring every child has a strong and equitable start to their educational
journey. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Montgomery County Board of Education and superintendent of schools hereby recognizes August at 2025 as get ready for kindergarten month and encourages schools, families, and the community partners to promote school readiness through early childhood programs, family engagement, and transition activities like transition day to support a joyful and successful entry into kindergarten for all students. Move for approval. Second the motion. There is a motion and a second.
All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Alright. We'll get these kids into our schools. Thank you. That concludes recognitions, madam president. Thank you. And then the next is the public comment. Item five is public comment. I have a pretty long verbiage to read through, and so, please bear with me. The next item on the agenda is public comment. While the board encourages public input on policy, program and practices and will consider the comments received, it is not the board's practice during its business meeting to respond to
questions, provide comment or take actions on the issues raised. This is the public meeting, and the board expect the conduct of all speakers and members of the audience to be within the bounds of proper etiquette, Inappropriate personal remarks, rude retorts, or other such behavior is out of order and will not be tolerated. Those who demonstrate disruptive or disrespectful behavior during public comments may be asked to leave the room. In addition, public comments 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 has two minutes to deliver comments. When your name is called, press the flat button and speak clearly into the microphone. A yellow light and the single beat indicate you have thirty second 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. Following the testimony, in person testimony, audio and video testimony will be played.
But I think all of you are in person today. So copies of the testimony are posted with the added material for this meeting on board docs. I'm gonna call the first six speakers to come to the front, and please feel the rows from my left hand side to the right. Claire Lee, Simone Crispino, Lila Romanathan, Gloria Dlamon. I hope I'm saying it correctly. Aray Jiragani, and the last one is Marshall Friedman.
You get applause. Please be seated. Claire, you can start. Oh, there's no chairs. That's why you're standing. Oh my goodness. Okay. We will fix that. That, we will take action today. Just a minor detail, you know. I said I've never seen that before that they stand and sit stand altogether. Alright. Claire, we're ready for you. Hello, superintendent Taylor and members of the board of education. My name is Claire Lee, and I'm a rising sixth grader at Cabin John Middle School. I just graduated from Stonewall Elementary, and thank you for giving me this opportunity to
speak. I'm here today because I'm worried about how the boundary changes might harm our Stell Mill community. The friends and neighbors who made me feel at home when I first moved here. What confuses me is that Wootton High School, the school we're supposed to attend now, isn't even full. So why do we need to move some students away just to add other students in from other schools? When I look at boundary maps, I don't see zones. I see my friends, my teammates, and the people I've gone to school with for years. I the with our Stonewall community are not numbers on a map, not chess pieces
on a board on to be moved around. We are human beings with feelings, and we want stability in our school lives. I also worry that moving Stone Mill students to Crown High could create overcrowding problems later. The Crown area has many new developments, which means lots of future students would fill that school naturally. If you add our neighborhood on top of it, Crown could get overcrowded faster, while Wootton, which has space now, could lose students it could easily keep. Our Stonemill community is special because we support each other.
Please keep us together at Wooten where we belong. That way, we can keep being there for each other just like we've been since elementary school. My friends and I were really looking forward to going to Wooten together someday just like our older siblings and neighbors did. Thank you for listening to my thoughts and working for what to do what's best for all students. Thank you. Simone, go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Simone Crispino, and I'm a rising eighth grader at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my feedback about the boundary study.
As many people have pointed out, the study is a potential for disruption and and is causing stress for many parents, guardians, students, and others. As a student who, from grade second to fourth, was quarantining due to COVID, I need to tell you that the current study proposals, just like COVID, will have disrupt many students' school careers. As a student who attended Woodland Elementary School on top of the COVID disruptions, we are doubly impacted. Soon after returning to in person learning, we were moved to an overcrowded holding school where I spent the last year and a half of elementary school.
As a Woodland graduate, all I expected and hoped for was a smooth middle and high school career, which right now does not look like much of a reality. The students from Glen Haven, Flora Singer, and Woodland Elementary School currently merge into one at Sligo Middle School. The proposed scenarios would only break those schools apart, but in some cases, split up the woodland community and high school after eight years together. What point is there in making a bond between other students just to break it up by separating many of us? Further, as the study has shown, it is not guaranteed that the class of twenty
thirty won't have to move schools in tenth grade. How much change and disruption can we be expected to go through? Setting expectations and changing schools midway through would only cause more harm than good. As a student who cares about her education and relationship with other students, I ask that you take my statement into consideration when thinking about boundary changes and urge to minimize the disruption. Thank you. Thank you. Leila, go ahead. Good afternoon, superintendent Taylor and members of the board. Thank you for this opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Leila Ramanathan, and I am a rising sophomore at Poolesville High School
in the humanities magnet program. I am here to speak about the evident disregard for both student input and well-being throughout the implementation of the return to rigor policy. When the news broke in regards to the new grading policy, I immediately heard protests from within my community. Conversations among my peers were filled with fear for the future. No one understood the changes that were made because no one had clearly communicated them. Students simply didn't have a proper voice in this new policy. While the policy is meant to help MCPS combat grade inflation, the biggest concern amongst
my peers specifically is how our GPAs will be impacted. The environment in rigorous, competitive schools, especially Poolesville, revolve greatly around grade performance. The Montgomery County Council found that twenty two percent of youth faced a major depressive episode in 2024. I've witnessed the emotional toll grades can take. Students breaking down over a single score that in their mind because of the culture at schools like mine, jeopardizes their future. Students not only need better support, we need transparency on why. If we are being held further accountable for our statistical performances, Montgomery County Public Schools
must be ready to match these demands to ensure the system is there to support us, not just measure us. Through increased academic and mental health support alongside clear communication of student standards and the intentions behind them, only then will Montgomery County show a true return to rigor. Thank you for this opportunity. Gloria, go ahead. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and the board of education. My name is Gloria Jamelle and I'm a rising junior at Northwest High School. I'm here to discuss the lack of transparency regarding the new grading policy and its
impact on students. When I was first introduced to the grading policy, I was confused and concerned. I heard about grain inflation at MCPS, but I didn't understand why the change was so sudden or why we needed it. It wasn't until I attended the first meeting of the Superintendent Leadership Academy which showed me the truth. Doctor Taylor had explained that the sudden change was due to top schools in our nation stating that they were gonna accept fewer students from MCPS. In fact, I recall them telling us that one of the head admission officers stated that the grading policy was unacceptable. That moment explained the need for change but it also exposed a deeper issue.
Why weren't students told this? The way MCPS announced the grading policy was frustrating for students. Every student deserves a reason behind a decision that affects them. Students deserve a chance to discuss and understand why the grading policy is changing before it's passed. As a rising junior, this new policy doesn't only affect how I'm graded but it also impacts my plan for college, how I'm studying, and how I manage my mental health. Students like me are stepping into their hardest year of high school which causes them to juggle difficult classes, important tests, staying ahead of their extracurriculars, and now adjusting to
a new grading policy which they weren't informed about until after we chose our classes. This lack of transparency didn't just make it harder to succeed, it ruined the trust that many students had for MCPS. If our voices truly mattered then student input would have been prioritized while making the decision and not after it's been passed. Thank you for listening and I hope you remember that students are not just subjects for these decisions, but we are the ones who carry the impact every day. Thank you. Arraf, go ahead. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and members of the board.
My name is Arvair Ghani, and I'm a rising senior at Poolesville High School in the global ecologies program. Today, I'm here, like a majority of students in this room, to discuss policy IKARA. But I'm also here to speak for the thousands of students across MCPS who, like me, will be directly affected by this policy, but don't have a chance to speak to you all. Last spring, I hit a wall. I was juggling AP exams, SAT prep, and trying to keep my grades up all at once. But it wasn't just stress. For weeks, I could barely function. I'd wake up exhausted no matter how much I slept. I stopped hanging out with friends, stopped doing things I enjoyed because everything felt overwhelming.
There were days I'd sit in class and feel like I was watching everything happen through fog. I felt like I was failing at everything that mattered to me. The students in this room and throughout the country county know what it's like to have things that fall apart during the school year. We know what it feels like when family emergencies happen, when mental health struggles hit, when life just becomes too much to handle. This policy doesn't account for any of that. While I know some students were surveyed about this policy, I don't think enough of us were part of this conversation. And I know this board cares about student mental health, but it feels like this
concern got pushed aside in order to return to rigor. What gives me hope, though, is seeing neighboring counties take a different approach. Last year, Arlington County Public Schools implemented a policy that allows students to redo assignments for up to 80% credit. It's a simple change, but it considers something important. Students learn at different paces and sometimes need a second chance to show what they know. That is one of many things MCS could do to better support their students while retaining the new policy. Show that being academically rigorous doesn't mean being harsh when students are struggling. A grading policy that gives students some time to bounce back from difficult times doesn't
make school easier. It just acknowledges that sometimes life gets in the way of learning, and that's completely normal. That's an understanding that real learning requires room for both failure and growth. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Marshall, go ahead. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and our board of education. My name is Marshall Friedman, and I'm a rising junior at Poolesville High School. I would like to start off by saying that, yes, it is true that grade inflation is a very real and prominent issue. And although my grades may suffer for it, I respect the superintendent's decision to introduce the return to rigor policy.
However, I have several issues regarding the policy that I would like to express to you today. Yes. As students, we knew that there would be a new grading policy, but everyone I knew was under the impression that it would be for incoming freshmen and onwards. We were given notice of the new grading policy at the very end of the year, days before the school year ended, and months after we had chosen our courses for the upcoming year. Meaning that many of us chose rigorous classes without the full context of how our grades would change. For me, classes that will define my most important year of high school.
My junior year will define my college application process. So this new development, which will make a difficult year even more difficult, comes at a shock. Furthermore, there has been a lack of adequate communication in regards to this policy. Again, the news was pushed out at the end of the year, to my knowledge was not sent out to students, and neglected important information that matters most to us. This includes information on final exams and whether they would intersect with AP exams. Even after attending a county council hearing on the grading policy, I haven't heard any
clarifications on which classes will and will not have final exams. I'm not the only one who has said this today, but any student involvement was not made a priority in the creation of this grading policy. As students, we deserve a say in how our success will be defined, but that's impossible without the full picture of what the, return to rigor policy means to us. Thank you for your time. Thank you. You may return to your seats. I'm gonna call the next six to come forward. Mackenzie Smallwood, Zora Verland, Kristen Kirsten Cock, Anaha Naboduri, Peter Boyko, Swanika Majajan.
I hope I'm saying your name right. If not, show me how you say it. Mackenzie, go ahead. Good afternoon, members of the board and doctor Taylor. My name is Mackenzie Smollett, and I'm a rising senior at Northwest High School. I understand that nothing I will say will change your decision on the grading policy, but when you put these ideas into action, why weren't student voices considered? In your own words, averaging all four marking period grades will make everything more fair. But as someone who struggles during the second and third marking period, this shows me
that the efforts I make to improve are pointless. I push myself to do the best work I can, but this will only tell me that there is no hope for improvement if I've already failed in the past. Adding summative assessments will only increase the stress on students who are overwhelmed by AP and IB tests, projects, and heavy workloads. These tests will reverse progress on all of the mental health work you all have been prioritizing. Any statistic shown to you will only justify the policy, but you don't see the
struggle students will face. There's no way you can because you're not a student, but I am. I see friends lose their hobbies and study through lunch because one grade could ruin their yearly GPA. Even our former SMOB opposed this policy. He may have graduated this year, but he understood firsthand what it would do. Still, his voice was drowned out by the adults focused only on numbers. Remember who this policy affects, the students. It limits their very growth you say you want to encourage.
Return to rigor means nothing if it ignores our well-being. Next time, include us in the decisions that shape our education and our future. Thank you. Thank you. Zora. Good afternoon, esteemed members of the board, educators, and fellow students. My name is Zora Vielen. I'm the SJA's Dolphin President at Einstein High School. I stand before you concerned about several key aspects of policy ecorei that I believe were overlooked and need to be addressed for the benefit of our student body. I'm not here to fight a return to rigor policy as I understand the need for such a change, although. I must highlight that throughout discussion of this policy, I noticed a troubling absence of
conversations surrounding student mental health. I've always been a straight a student, yet I fought often silently against the heavy weight of mental illness. There have been days I couldn't leave my bed, let alone make it to the classroom. Days I felt there was no reason to continue, and I lost my light. Their lesser grading policy that provided all our slack, that was my lifeline. Without it, I would have failed significant portions of the semester and possibly even the year. And yet, when MCPS crafted this 20 page eCRA document, yes, I read all 20 pages, you'd struggle to find so much as a footnote acknowledging that one in five students experience symptoms of depression. As we navigate the demands of our, not yours, our academic careers, we must also
consider the emotional and psychological toll that certain grading practices can have on students. It's essential that any grading policy recognizes the importance of academic achievement while also creating a supportive and healthy learning environment. Policy just doesn't do that. I also wanna highlight the significant lack of student representation in shaping this policy. No decision about students should be made without students. We're the heart of the system, yet our voices were absent from this 20 page document. Research shows that when students are included in policy make policy making, equity, engagement, and mental health improve. Our voices were only considered when you wanted to hear about the faults within the previous system. You use our voices to defend your new policy without even taking into consideration our
opinions on policy itself. Our insights, experience, and suggestions, they're not optional. They're essential. In conclusion, I urge the board to reconsider policy e k r a, emphasizing the need for clearer interpretations of pride to be placed on our mental health and for students to be involved in the decisions that are impacting our academic experiences. If your new grading policy claims to support excellence but fails to protect mental health and student voice, have we forgotten the definition of excellence? And if not us right now, if no charge which insprency and no recognition, then what? If not today, then when? Thank you so much. Thank you. Kirsten. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and members of the board of education. My name is Kirsten Cook, and I'm a rising freshman at Northwest High School.
I'm here today to adjust the fact that MCPS has failed to acknowledge student input and well-being when establishing new policies, including the grading and reporting IKARA policy. As someone who has always struggled to maintain high grades, I'm deeply concerned about the lack of support being provided by MCPS. It's frightening to think about trying to maintain a strong GPA without even fully understanding the academic expectations in high school. The fact that MCPS has not clearly communicated how this fault policy will affect students is unacceptable. It lacks transparency and opens the door to confusion and misinformation.
In 2023, forty percent of students in Montgomery County reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and twenty percent considered suicide. As someone who struggles with diagnosed anxiety and depression, I'm terrified to think about how much worse these numbers could become if students are not equipped to manage the emotional stress that may result from changes to the grading system. Better communication, stronger academic support, and increased access to mental health service are critical to helping students through this transition. Fifteen minutes of mental health breaks is not enough. I understand that the board has already decided to change the grading policy.
I'm not here to challenge the merits of that decision. I'm here to ask the board to recognize how your decisions directly impact the mental health of students across the country. According to MCPS's own student climate survey, only fifteen percent of students at Northwest reported feeling satisfied and actively engaged in their classes. That number is alarming, and yet we continue to overlook the root causes. Increasing countywide testing, changing greatest grading policies, and adding more stress and pressure to students is not the solution. The decisions made by this board have a real and lasting impact on student well-being. As you continue shaping policy, I ask you to truly listen to the student voices.
At the very least, take the time to con to understand our concerns and give us a seat at the table when these decisions are being made. Thank you. Go ahead. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and members of the Montgomery County Board of Education. My name is Anika Namuthuri, and I'm a rising senior at Northwest High School. My time in m in MCPS is coming to an end this next school year. And as I look back on the last twelve years as an MCPS student and the last three as a student advocate, I thank you for being a school system that listens to its students, whether whether here at the board of education meetings or
through our student member of the board, and for taking those student opinions into account. However, as we look towards this new new school year with changes in place under return to rigor, we haven't had a chance to share our perspectives. While this new policy may have been a response to select student opinions, a small group of students but from only a few schools, policies designed to improve student lives should be created with the voices of all students. We are the ones in classrooms every day, taking tests each week, completing our each quarter, and watching our grades rise and fall.
We have the first hand experience needed to make this policy effective. It's true that the grading policy we had didn't reflect our efforts. It didn't showcase what we could do. But increased rigor for many of us means classes become higher, harder, workloads pile higher, and school comes with more stress. If things are going to change, we need the resources to adapt to that change. Mental health resources, designated wellness days, and a support system to lean on as we face new challenges. And as we begin this next school year, we'll have more changes to suggest and
more opinions to offer. MCPS knows how to listen to student voices. So we hope that as we move forward with this new policy and this next school year, you continue to do so with open minds and open ears. Thank you. Thank you. Peter, go ahead. Good afternoon, doctor Taylor and members of the MCPS Board of Education. My name is Peter Boiko. And today, during summer break, the majority of public comment seats are taken up by students. Because when decisions are made about us without including us, we show up. Now I wanna be clear. I'm not frustrated about this new grading policy.
It had to happen. What I'm frustrated about is the timing. This policy was passed by the board on June 10. I chose my classes for next year in January, and the last day for me to change my classes was June 6, Meaning, I, along with the other 88,000 secondary students, chose our classes for next school year without this new return to rigor grading policy in mind. Because of this, I can see a lot of students within the first few weeks of school dropping out of certain classes so they can maintain a high GPA, which
will not only burden students, but counselors and teachers as well. To put it in perspective, a policy that was approved last month is now expected to be enforced next month. Again, as a student, what I'm frustrated about is the timing. Because of the rush timing in which this policy was passed, you owe it to students to at least talk about our well-being, something that has barely been mentioned in your conversations. Return to rigor cannot mean a silencing of student needs. Our schools offer various resources, but many students just don't know about them.
Please work with school administrators and the student mental health work group founded by former small perennial last year to expand accessibility of mental health resources. Furthermore, teachers are increasingly seeing students do work for other classes during instruction, and this new great grading policy may worsen this. Expanding wellness or advisory periods to all middle and high schools once a week would give students time to catch up, manage stress, and stay focused in class. We are more than just a score. We are people trying to learn, grow, and keep up, sometimes all at once.
Thank you. Thank you. Swarnika, go ahead. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Swarnika Mahajan, and I am a member of the forty seven Beavers, a FIRST Tech Challenge team based in Germantown, Maryland. Today, I'm representing the MOCA robot initiative, a student led coalition of robotics teams from across the country county, united to advocate for the needs and challenges that we have been facing. Robotics is not just about robots. It's about fostering curiosity and innovation. As a collective, we've impacted over 5,000 students with events in MCPS schools, libraries, and
STEM centers. But FIRST doesn't just benefit the younger generations. It also boosts interest in STEM among underrepresented groups like women. In fact, Female First alumni are three times more likely to major in engineering or computer science than their peers. But behind the incredible outcomes that robotics brings to students, certain challenges beyond our control prevent teens from reaching their full potential. Many teams such as the Falcons from High School have struggled due to the lack of access to manufacturing, assembly, and testing across multiple spaces, which heavily impacts their ability to practice and build consistently.
Additionally, team feeds upwards of $500 as commonplace in multiple teams to cover registration, materials, and travel, making robotics a privilege for few rather than an opportunity for all. The problems that we face are not ones that we can solve by ourselves or even rely on the school support for. We have also prepared a white paper document for you, delving into deeper detail regarding the issues present with the status quo. This necessitates our request today, the establishment of a Montgomery County robotics committee, which will provide us with a direct line of communication with the county admin county administration, allowing
us to work together to solve these challenges. Robotics is more than just a club. It's a transformative experience that shapes future innovators, problem solvers, and leaders. By supporting Mokorobo, you are supporting young learners, women in STEM, and providing countless opportunities. We urge you to help us ensure that robotics in Montgomery County not only survives but thrives. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. I'm please return to your seat, and I'm gonna call the next, set of speakers to come to the front. Jan Vivani, Melissa McKenna McKenna, Rina Samatari, Justin Tom, Alexander Burstein.
Yeah. And the rest of video. Jen, please go ahead. Good afternoon. I'm Jennifer Palani. I'm the president of the Bradley Hills Elementary School PTA. Bradley Hills feeds into Pyle and Whitman where current utilization is 8493% respectively. That's the result of capital improvement projects that have recently expanded both schools. So you can imagine the consternation of Bradley Hills families regarding options two and three of the Woodward boundary study. In both options, our students are moved to overcrowded schools, which just doesn't make sense.
Here's the problem. Within the Woodward study, one middle school is currently overcapacity. It's North Bethesda at a 102%. They feed into Walter Johnson, which is the most overcrowded school in the county at a 134% utilization. In option two, a small number of Bradley Hills students actually get split off to go to North Bethesda and Walter Johnson. This doesn't optimize facility utilization. North Bethesda now hits at 97%, while Pyle sits at just 88%.
So why are we moving students from an overcrowded or into an overcrowded cluster? As you know, the purpose of the boundary study is to alleviate the severe overcrowding at Walter Johnson. Let Woodward do that. We also need to think about the future. There are multiple new housing developments coming online in North Bethesda and Rockville that will add students to Walter Johnson and Woodward high schools. Let's make sure those schools can accommodate that future growth. Furthermore, Bradley Hills has families that are literally a block away from Whitman. But in option three, we would be reassigned to BCC, which would make them overcapacity
at a 101% utilization. So let's solve the overcrowding problem in our overcrowding problem in our schools and not exacerbate it. In conclusion, based on these data, Bradley Hills strongly opposes options two and three in the boundary study. Thank you. Next, Melissa, go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Melissa McKenna. I serve on both the boundary study community project team and the program review opportunity design team. As As someone who's been involved neck deep with MCPS for over a decade, not
taking into account the history of how we got here has been a huge misstep for both groups. On the boundary study side, thank you, miss Elizabeth King, for reminding us, including all the citations, of what I have said for months now. Woodward was always conceived to relieve WJ first and completely before relieving other DCC schools. Flow Analytics should have been given that as a starting point. The METIS study concluded that the consortium model was created decades ago to solve a specific issue is now irrelevant and fails to balance enrollment across DCC high schools.
Thank you, president Yang, for that reminder last month. Similarly, the county wide IB program at RMHS was put there when the county needed to increase enrollment there. That time has passed, merely pointing out one instance of a decision solving a specific problem made at a specific time. I believe the level of anxiety caused thus far could have been avoided, but that would take saying out loud things left out of the discussion. The Northwood expansion and Kennedy addition are to address DCC overcrowding. Edison High School has the location of 500 CTE program seats.
The Damascus High School expansion has been delayed due to insufficient funds and is no longer on the same timeline. Stability over time does not mean schools become an inherited right and boundaries are never adjusted, and neighbors can still be friends while attending different schools. Instead the instead of the program review including all programs in the county at all levels to weed out underperforming and redundant programs, the rationales given our transportation limitations and maximizing existing resources. I already feel history about to repeat itself. In closing, I hope board members would acknowledge and comment on provided testimony rather than
thanking us for coming. We come not to be thanked, but to be heard. Thank you. Maybe. Rina, go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Rina Semantre, and I'm a parent of three MCPS students at Bradley Hills, Pyle, and Whitman. I know you've heard from many members of the Bradley Hills community about the importance of keeping our school community together and in our cluster, and I share their view wholeheartedly. But today, I want to focus on one specific issue, which is the serious concern related to pedestrian safety on a hazardous roadway in Bethesda called Green Tree Road.
In option two of the Woodward study, some Bradley Hill students would be reassigned to North Bethesda Middle School. This would require them to cross GreenTree, a stark contrast to their current safe route to school. On the map, GreenTree may give the illusion of safety, but the data shows otherwise. There have been 59 accidents in the past five years, and almost all of them have occurred at the two intersections that lead directly to North Bethesda Middle School. Multiple were near fatal accidents and involved pedestrians. Unfortunately for my family, this is personal.
In June, my husband was driving on Greentree after dropping my boys at a soccer practice after school when a teenage MCPS student distracted and with phone in hand ran into Greentree Road without looking into two oncoming cars. In a split second, my husband had to make a harrowing decision to collide head on with the oncoming car in an attempt to avoid the student. Both cars were totaled. My husband sustained significant injuries, and this is something that we never want to see happen in our community again.
Because Greentree has crosswalks, students will inevitably cross, returning from activities on weekends and evenings and as their peer groups expand across Greentree. Hazard busing will not solve for that. For those who live in our community and know the dangers of this road, the idea of middle schoolers crossing daily is terrifying. I know you all have a very difficult job balancing the feedback you've received, but student safety must be nonnegotiable, and we implore you to ensure that this road remain a hard boundary in all options. Thank you.
Justin, go ahead. I apologize. I'll have to speak very fast. But good evening, members of the board, superintendent Taylor, and everyone here. I'm Justin Tom, and I'm a rising senior at Magruder High School. As we slowly approach this new school year, people are ready to applaud the return to rigor and the new grading policy like the grand finale of of a fireworks show. But I'm here today because we can't be so quick to clap and jump out of our chairs just yet. Before we start cheering, we need to ask ourselves, are we lighting up the sky or are we launching so many fireworks at once that students can't see where to stand safely? Today's educational landscape is fundamentally different.
We're balancing rigorous classes, extracurriculars, jobs, internships, a social life, and scholarship and college applications, all while competing in an admissions landscape far more cutthroat than what most of the adults in this room faced. Additionally, student mental health crisis are at record highs and the workload combined with extracurricular expectations is exponentially greater. Holding students to these standards without accounting for modern realities is unfair. The new policies seem to prioritize a theoretical idea of rigor over the practicalities of student life. And with college becoming less affordable by the day because of a certain administration's decisions
that have gutted student support, we can't risk interfering with potential merit scholarships and programs that depend on our GPAs. Students earning the grades they deserve is not out of question. The question is whether the metric for deserve is being shifted mid game in a way that punishes students rather than supports them. Students have built their high school strategy under one grading regime. We all wanna be prepared for the realities of college and life beyond high school. What What we don't want is to be told halfway through the marathon that the finish line just moved farther away. I want to emphasize that this is not about rejecting rigor. It is about implementing rigor with careful consideration and accommodation. We are not underestimating what M.
C. P. S. Students can do. We want to be challenged to grow and to achieve authentically. This new system is excellent for incoming underclassmen, but not so excellent for those without sufficient time to adapt or without stress and well-being being fully addressed in the policy formulation. In this entire policy, the only place mental appears is inside the word supplemental. That says everything. Student well-being and mental health deserve more direct integrated visibility than that, especially with these new changes. Implementation is the name of the game, and I hope you play that game with the wisdom to listen and the courage to center our perspectives. Give students a fair chance to rise to these new expectations, listen more to our
perspectives when making future decisions. Student voice isn't yours to give or ours to earn. It's yours to honor by listening. Often as humans, we reject ideas simply because they're delivered in a tone of voice that is perceived as unsympathetic to us. If I've come across as harsh or unreasonable, I hope you focus on the substance of my words rather than the inflections of my voice. Our student voices are powerful resonant instruments, and I urge you to truly listen to our stance today because we are a symphony calling for change, and I hope you join its chorus. Thank you, Justin. You did try to talk very fast. Alright.
Alexander, go ahead. Good afternoon. My name is Alexander Bernstein. I'm a resident of the Stonebridge community in North Potomac and proud parent of two Wootton graduates, one of them from just this year. I'm here to express serious concern about the proposed forced reassignment of the Stonebridge townhomes from Wootton to the new crown high. This proposal is based on a deeply flawed and inequitable boundary study. Already 155 of my fellow townhome residents have expressed opposition to the current options. Let me be clear. This proposal contradicts the board own stated goals, geographic proximity, community integrity, safety, equity, and emotional well-being. We've already heard today from current MCPS students, Clarence Simone, on the emotional toll this
is taking them, so let me focus on the rest. First, geography. Stonebridge townhomes are being reassigned to Crown with no option to remain at Wootton, even though Crown is nearly an hour's walk away, but somehow still in a walk zone and not along a parkway like Wootton is. Meanwhile, a small wedge near the Washingtonian mall Wootton. This defies logic. Second, community. This plan splits Stonebridge in half. Single family homes get two options, Wood nor Crown. Townhomes get only Crown. That destroys the unity of our neighborhood. The board may be committed to avoiding islands and excessive articulation, but this plan does
the opposite. It creates an island. Third, safety. The proposed boundary ignores major dividing lines like Route 28 and Great Seneca Highway, real barriers between our homes and Crown. Instead, it draws a patchwork of zones that feel arbitrary and disconnected from how people actually live and move through the area. It's a boundary. It only makes sense on paper, not on the ground. Fourth, equity. Townhome families get no choice, no school bus. Single family homeowners do. That's not equity. It's exclusion. It sends a chilling message. If your home isn't worth a million dollars, your voice doesn't count.
And finally, Wootton is not overcrowded and is not projected to be. This forced reassignment solves nothing and instead creates a great deal of harm. The board can draw upon any resource for assistance in redistricting, yet ultimately final decision is the board's to make. Please reject these poorly thought through options. Revisit the study with local input using board's own stated goals and with real fairness. Thank you. Thank you. We do have three testimony on video. MCPS TV, can you please play them? Good evening. My name is Leo Pham. As a student in Montgomery County Public Schools for nearly a decade, I've witnessed countless
changes to our school system. However, none have sparked as much concern as this new grading policy. Nearly all students I've conversed with have voiced key concerns and the response has been one of overwhelming frustration and disappointment. According to our county's office of legislative oversight, one third of all Montgomery County Public School students from ages 12 to 18 have had to receive mental health treatment. Unfortunately, this is not an outlier. Students in our county and others have been facing a continued mental health crisis in
the years after the COVID crisis. Nearly all students I've spoken to reaffirm the concern that this policy will only worsen the student body's mental health crisis by increasing the stress on students who may already be struggling. Issues like attendance or poor grades are rarely caused by low stakes or a relaxed grading policy. In almost all cases I've seen during my time at MCPS, they are caused by much deeper issues. Raising expectations on students is not a problem at all. But when a policy fails to address the root cause of issues while adding pressure
onto an already overwhelmed student body, I, along with much of the student body, should strongly urge that this new grading policy should be reconsidered. Thank you. Next one, please. My name is Sylvia Gitter, and I'm a tenth grade student at the communication arts program, also known as CAP, at Montgomery Blair High School. While I agree that access to academic programs within MCPS is a problem, I don't think that current changes are flushed out enough in order to fully function properly. The part that concerns me the most as a graduating student in 2028 that these
changes are happening too soon and without regard for established magnet communities. For CAP specifically, it is an interdisciplinary magnet that emphasized not just the humanities, but leadership in media. CAP allows students to be in a close knit environment while still promoting creativity. We get to simulate congress and presidential elections and create our own films with the fake Hollywood premiere that all culminates in a senior presentation that allows you to reflect on all of your achievements in the time at CAP, a program that is very special to me and has allowed me to form bonds and create projects that I
never thought would be possible. Under the new regional system, both the DCC, which CAP pulls from, and the nature of the regional program system, having no category for a program like CAP could cause a special program to disappear. MCPS implementing these changes could also potentially move CAP's location or alter the program in some way that would leave student current students like myself at a loss about what to do with their senior year without these programs. As the board of education, you should first and foremost ensure that current students in 2029 school year that apply to these programs without knowledge of these changes don't get
left behind. Additionally, rather than trying to create an entirely new system, please consider strengthening or expanding programs you have already implemented, including the MCC squared associates degree program at Northwood or the preexisting NEC or DCC academies. Thank you very much for your time. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Ishta Singh, and I'm a rising sophomore at Poolesville High School. I'm here today because I believe the new grading policy, IKARA, deserves deeper scrutiny, not just in how it was created, but in how it will impact the students it's meant to serve.
While it's been described as a return to academic rigor, for many of us, it feels like a return to high stakes pressure. It removes grade rounding, reinstates final assessments, and enforces stricter late work penalties. These changes don't just raise standards, they raise stress. At my school, I see students pushing themselves every day, often past the point of exhaustion. They're balancing coursework, extracurriculars, jobs, and family responsibilities, and still they show up and try. But this policy doesn't acknowledge that effort. It assumes a level playing field when many students are already at a disadvantage.
The focus on harsh screening policies over supportive learning sends a harmful message that there's no room for mistakes, no space for growth, and little tolerance for life's unpredictability. That's not rigor, that's stress disguised as structure. Yes, accountability matters, but accountability and empathy are mutually exclusive. A strong academic system should challenge us, but also recognize the lives we lead beyond the classroom. Just as concerning is the process, students, the most affected, weren't meaningfully included. And while it's called a student centered policy, it doesn't feel that way when our
realities weren't part of the conversation. This policy is more than just grades. It's about the environment we're choosing to create, one that values growth or one that demands perfection. I urge you to reconsider how IKRA affects students, not just academically, but emotionally and practically. And moving forward, I hope student voice isn't just acknowledged, but meaningfully included. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I super majority, doctor Taylor, of our today's testimony about grading and reporting. Before I open up to questions and comments from my colleagues, the word policy was
used many times, during the testimony. Can you clarify? This is not a policy and what does that mean? Absolutely. Our grading policy has actually not changed. Mhmm. Our regulation has changed, and the board itself has actually not voted on any change that impacts grading or reporting because that's something that our administration does, not something that the board of education is responsible for. I will say this. I I'm thrilled with our our students and your advocacy. You guys did a great job today. Thank you for coming out. I hope there's much more robust conversation.
And I I want to make sure that we're clear on a couple of things and not confusing agreement with meaningfully including student voice. We are very interested in meaningfully including student voice. And I gotta tell you, some of the suggestions and pragmatic solutions that were offered today really good and need to be a part of the conversation moving forward, in particular, about mental health supports, how we balance that, how are we checking in from time to time. And I gotta tell you a great point for student advocacy today, might be what
does it look like after the first marking period, what does it look like after the second marking period, and are we tracking that data, and are we looking at that, and and how are we measuring this as as it's implemented? And I would say every opportunity is a good opportunity to hear more from student voice, but we disagree on this one. And it's okay to disagree on on things from time to time, but it's not from a lack of including student voice or wanting to hear from our students as to what they have to say. And I would say that that often is a departure because we agree with our
students on a great many of issues. As a matter of fact, more often than not, we find ourselves completely aligned, with what our students desire as an outcome versus what we may think, are are some good solutions. So keep pushing. Keep pushing us on on this topic. Make sure that we are following through, with expectations that support you through this. Change is difficult. Reverting back to grading practices that we previously had, which is what we're doing, is
not new for us as a system, and, but it is new for many of our students, particularly those currently in high school right now. So continue to challenge us to make sure that we're providing the adequate supports that you need to thrive. We appreciate the engagement, but this regulation as it stands right now, we wanna make sure that that it it is done with fidelity and that you're supported along the way. So keep bringing the great suggestions, everybody. I'm gonna open up for my colleague's comment. I'm going to start from this side.
One comment, one question, please. You drive a hard bargain. So my one comment, I'll I'll take the other subject for now, is about the, Woodward. I did hear that when Woodward was proposed, supposedly, it was for W and J first. And I just remember when the CIP came out, and I looked at an old CIP, back when Woodward was put into CIP in 02/2019.
I go to down county consortium section, and it says Woodward was supposed to relieve capacity issues for both Walter Johnson and the DCC. And it says that very clearly in the CIP. So I just wanted to bring that up that from the beginning, that is the message that was in our documents. If you add up all the extra seats, the overcapacity issues, DCC, which includes Wheaton, Einstein, and Blair, and, yes, Northwood, who's now in the new school.
All four of those were significantly overcrowded, and the extra seats at Northwood and at Kennedy did not, fill up. It it was over that. So there's definitely spillover, and we definitely needed some of those seats. And so that was always supposed to be a shared resource. So I just wanna make sure that that history was brought to this table because, I do remember clearly when that happened. My, question is back to the other subject, I did hear about, the students in
a field like they have an input into as we did the regulation. And, also, the community at large felt that, the input wasn't, very structured. So I wanted to know is in the future, do we have plans to have more structure and input on regulations? It's a good question as, actually, this is something that the policy committee can consider. Right now in, for our policy, after any revision, is put out for public comment.
However, that is not the practice for regulation. We definitely, should consider that. In the fall, in the policy committee, we can discuss that. That's terrific. And I just I wanna make sure that we, involve the student input on that policy and the regulation. So the the feedback Yes. Suggestion, the feedback possibility. Sure. Absolutely. Thank you. So thank you everyone for coming today and taking the time, especially our students. I know it's summer and there maybe are other things you could be doing. So I do appreciate you, coming here to use your voice. I actually am very concerned about your mental health.
So in your in just the testimonies I heard today, I heard about students who are losing enjoyment in the things they do. Everything feels overwhelming. They're in a fog. I heard a student say they couldn't leave their bed. They didn't feel a reason to continue, and a variety of other really concerning comments to me as an adult and quite frankly as a parent. Right? I have kids that are in the schools as well and I take these things that kids say very seriously. And so when I hear kids saying things like this, I do get very concerned for your mental health irrespective of grading or anything else that's going on.
As a parent, if I heard my child say those things, I would be making a few phone calls to doctors and other resources. So my question, that I have is for my fellow parents who may be in the audience, who may be watching at home. I hope you're all watching at home. Are you checking in with your kids? I know it's hard. I know we are all so busy and there are so many things to do and kids say all kinds of things and sometimes we don't know if we should take them seriously or not. But especially during the summer, it's a great time for us to do those check ins, to have conversations with our kids, to find out what they need, what they
feel like maybe they don't know what they have access to. And for the school system, I hear and I've heard throughout the year students sometimes say, oh, well I didn't know about that. Oh, well I didn't know about that. And I know, you know, my kids are younger, if something comes through the messages, I can say, okay, come here and we can talk about it. When you're a teenager, it's a little different, right, and I get that. But how are we making sure that the information is trickling from the messages we send home to parents to our actual students who may be older and your schedules don't always line up with your parents. Right? Do you want to answer them?
Or Sure. Well, I will say that that our communication channels as adults do not always reflect well with, our student population. We use this funny thing that is a little, dated in the student world, email. I know. I'd, it's not recommended. We should probably go Instagram, as as a platform. But in all seriousness, this is a a a great opportunity for us to have better two way communication on a lot of issues, not just one way or pushing
ideas out for information, but rather having some kinda feedback loop and some kinda opportunity and mechanism for for feedback. And that's actually been a historic weakness of us as a school system, not with just with students, but also with parents as well. And I'm sorry. I don't mean in terms of getting the feedback for regulations or things like that. I mean, in terms of making sure that students know very explicitly what mental health resources are available to them within our schools because I know there are a lot. And then also in our county, there are a lot of resources. There are national hotlines.
Some of them are in danger of being canceled, but there are still there are people who care about you. Right? I know it can be hard to talk to your parents as well sometimes because your kids and your teenagers, but there are other adults who are always happy to talk to you and to engage in those conversations so that we can help you. So please just don't hesitate. Miss Rivera Robbins. Thank you so much. I just wanna say, to our sixth graders, our eighth graders, and our students, how, incredible proud I am of you coming to testify. But I just wanted to call out a couple of the young people who testified
today. Claire, you know, for a sixth grader to come and testify, I just kudos to you. And I just wanna say we we heard you and we and, and we're aware of what, you know, what you're talking about. So thank you for being here. And Ara from Poolesville, it takes a lot courage to come into admit some of the things that you did. And I want you to know that that's very courageous and, you're not invisible to us. And I know Zora left, but I just want to see that, you know, she
found her light. She shone very, very bright today. So when you guys see her, please tell her, tell her that, but I'm just, again, going to ask Doctor. Taylor to please, look at ways to, review this implementation for the sake of our students. It might be a bit of undertaking on our part. I cannot imagine with all the technology that we have today, which is much more
than I had during when I was in, you know, in your shoes and and and and back in the eighties, cannot imagine that we cannot see a way to compromise to be able to make those modifications. It might take a little bit extra from us. But I do know that this is gonna be a burden. And I know one of your classmates from Northwest High School last time testified about how hard it is even to see your counselor, how long it takes to see your counselor. So some things have not changed since my son graduated in 2020. It takes a long time to see your counselor. So even though we think that these changes, you know, and I, and I'm, I'm
a supporter that we need to make these changes, but I know that they will have implications in your transcripts and how you see yourselves. Let me just tell you that you are incredible young people with incredible talent. And you will go far with or without this change, because if you have the time during your summer vacation to come here and advocate, not just for you, but for for your colleagues and for your other classmates who might be working right now,
who cannot be here and be part of their voices, but you are. So I want to say thank you to that. I know that Doctor. Taylor is going to look into this. I know he hears you and I know you represent a large group of students. So with that, I just want to say, good ass. Yes. Thank you for coming and for showing up and, and for advocating. And I hope you continue that advocacy many years after you graduate from our schools because we need that kind of leadership more than ever in our country. Thank you. Miss Silvestri.
Just to tell you that I have questions about the boundary study, but since we have a presentation, I'm gonna hold my questions today. K. Missus Imbermann. Thank you. And I wanna take a moment to thank everyone who came to testify and, thank all of the students who came here as well. I think it's really wonderful that so many of you really took that time to be here, to share your perspective. Our role really relies on that, and, you being here is just really essential to that part. I also, really appreciated how many of you were so vulnerable and the bravery that
comes with vulnerability. And as someone who will always be a teacher at heart, I wanna remind you that your teachers are, also caring and wonderful people and sharing with them, when you need a moment, when you need extra help, that they will be there, and they will help you as well. I also wanted to align myself with miss Stewart's comments about, getting more, getting greater feedback, opportunities for regulations. Thank you. Miss Mahmood. Okay. Now not to be repetitive, but I do wanna echo all of my colleagues' statements
about how grateful and how thankful we are for all of the students coming out today. I truly wanna commend you all. It takes a lot of effort, and, I mean, it's amazing to see as a student member of the board how passionate the students of our county truly are. Now I am gonna fight you a little bit, doctor Taylor, and I'm gonna say that while I do agree that a stricter grading regulation was necessary, I must emphasize that the communication surrounding the rollout implementation of this system has lacked transparency toward the student population. I mean, we can see here clearly that there is confusion and justified anger in the air.
And so with this upcoming year, I hope to see data presented to the board about how this regulation affected college admission rates, mental health, and counselor workload as well. Thank you. I'm going to go to the second round. Can we just go straight to questions? Well, actually, I wanted to comment because I didn't get a chance to comment about, how I really felt Let's go quickly. I really Please go. The, mental health issue because I actually lived in my house with a child of mine who was in a very rigorous program, often had to stay up late, was
often fighting for that a all the time and do those extracurriculars and lost sleep, and sometimes was balled up in his bed, and I'd have to be there cheering him on. It is difficult. And then he did apply to all of those colleges a lot of you guys are applying to. And then still, even though thought he gave a 150%, did not get into his top schools. But guess what? It's okay. He went to college. He graduated. He's going to graduate school. But looking back at those times, it was really difficult.
And the competition is so difficult. So I understand, but, really, this is going to make our system stronger in the end, and we'll be able to compete better on the world market. And it is a world market. We need to be able to compete, but we also need to have that, flexibility. And this is where the 50% rule comes in. So we need to make sure that we're actually implementing the 50% rule and, with fidelity and, with consistency, make sure teachers are applying it consistently.
And then we also need to make sure that those grades are being implemented into the system correctly. And then as we move to those deadlines where you can't turn in assignments anymore, that you're getting those other assignments in timely so you're not left with that last day before all the assignments are in. So I'm it's my message is that we need to circle back and make sure we're doing all of the mitigation with fidelity, and make sure that you do have access to adults. And please write me if you feel like you don't have access because I wanna
make sure that you all are supported. And I just thought those are really important to say. Thank you. Miss Riviera. Thank you to my colleague for also being brave and vulnerable. I think that's what leadership is, right, to have good role models as as we have these roles in our community. I I just wanna very quickly say doctor Taylor and I I know we didn't hear from them, but they were quite a few of them of our community liaisons in the audience with signs. And, if we could, just make sure and I know I know there's hiccups whenever there's changes.
And I probably can can think probably was because they went from ten months to twelve months, year payment that they did not get their first payment. But from somebody who runs a nonprofit account, I can tell you that these are tough times and people live paycheck to paycheck. So I just wanna hear a commitment that those folks because they're not invisible. They were here, that they will be getting what they have earned. And, and I know it was not intentional, but it was a transition. And when transitions happen, you know, sometimes things don't go as well, and that is
okay. But I just I saw that they were here, and I just don't want them to feel like we're not supportive of them. Doctor T. Oh, I'm delighted to report that that job classification was paid on time, which is tomorrow. Yay. So Okay. So alright. You hear it out here first, so they will so that's good news to hear. Thank you, doctor Taylor. Miss Montoya? Thank you. I'm sorry. I didn't realize I didn't have my light on. My question, doctor Taylor, is for you. Or can students change their school schedules once classes start? How does that work? My kids aren't in high school yet.
They're still elementary. So Yeah. There there is an adddrop period, so people can reevaluate, at the start of the school year. It's it's not optimal, obviously, because master schedules are built out, but there is the there is capacity, and people can change their mind. And some people have changed their mind over the summer as well as the classes that they wanna take to balance loads, and that's completely normal. It happens every year. Okay. So I just wanna encourage the students that are here, and then, of course, I know you're in various groups and all of you are very active in in a variety of things, so I've seen you in other spaces.
You know, let your peers know. Right? This the schedule you have now does not have to be the schedule. And like miss Stewart said, right, there's a lot of ways people get into college. You could do all the things, whatever those things are, and it still could not. I also had a very rigorous high school experience and various things and law school applications and so I get it. But there are a lot of reasons people get in or don't get in and so I just I'm really concerned about the stress actually that you're taking on yourselves. Right? So make sure that you're thinking about what course load is reasonable for you just like we all do in our careers, our workloads.
Right? I don't take on hobbies because I don't have any time. It would stress me out. So that's just something that I do for my own work life balance, and those are the things that we're here to help support you with as well to figure that out as you map out your futures. As the chair of the policy committee, I want to invite all of you. In the fall when we talk about how can we, do regulations better to incorporate community feedback, please participate, Please help spread the word so we can get the student input as we move forward for for the future.
Thank you everyone and the next business meeting for the Board of Education for public comment will be on Thursday, August 21. Sign up for public comment will open on Thursday, August 14 at six p. M. In addition to online sign up for public comment, we allow for in person same day sign up when space allows. And allocated slots may be filled on a first come, first served basis on the day of the meeting. Alright. If you are signing up for in person, please arrive at least fifteen to twenty
minutes before the start of the open session, and the sign up will close fifteen minute before the public comment begins or when the slots are filled. And I know board members and the publics are really anxious waiting for the next topic which is either oh no, I'm jumping right hard because I'm really anxious to talk about boundary and program study. I am, I am, I admit, I admit. Alright, Let's not, skip item six.
Okay. Yeah. We need those. Yeah. We do. We do. Item six is consent items. Are there any consent items board member will request to be pulled for clarification? Yes, miss Montoya. No. Okay. Alright. Any items? Doctor Taylor, are you have, what about the We'll do it after. We'll do it after? Alright. So no items to be pulled then can I have a motion to move item 6.1 to 6.13 in block? So moved. Second. K. There's a motion and a second.
All in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous with those present. Alright. So Thank you, madam president. I'd like to make an announcement. With, the board passing, its, consent agenda, one of the items on the consent agenda was a resolution, recognizing the passing of one of our teammates. Ron Parrott was a supervisor in our department of materials management. He ran our pony mail system. He was a champion, for those with disabilities and really just was a a great
supporter and friend for all. And, we'll be forwarding a copy of the resolution that the board just adopted to his family and just wanted to recognize him. Right. This is a little bit new format we are doing. So in the future, all these will be in the consent items. Alright. Moving right along to the topic of the day is item 7.1, boundary studies and program analysis update. We as this is going on, we have made this a regular topic for every board meetings, to provide updates, to provide dialogue and conversation.
So, doctor Taylor. Thank you, madam president. And you see the crew is already assembling up at the the front, and what a rarity that we only have one presentation item, at this robust topic, for for board consideration. I would like to welcome everybody, back to the table for a conversation about not just our boundary study, but also our program analysis and realignment. And we're excited to share some some major project updates, two major project updates on,
this particular initiative. Fully recognizing, that this is an emotional process where folks choose to live and where they send their child to school and, the connected programs and resources associated with it is a huge deal. It does require a ton of feedback from our community, And everybody has a different opinion about both the process and the outcomes, and that's okay. This is an opportunity to communicate those things and for us to learn from one
another and for us to create a system that can be better serving of more folks. So with that, I I do wanna point out that it is important, to ground this work in our purpose. At the heart of both of our efforts, both the boundary and the program analysis is our goal to ensure that all students, regardless of their ZIP code, have equitable access to high quality enriched programming, that we also are taking deliberate steps to addressing some long standing structural inequities that have impacted opportunity across the county.
This afternoon, we will begin with an update on our, from our boundary team who will provide an overview of summer community engagement outreach efforts. Following that, is a shift to our programs team who will share the progress made since our last presentation. And before I conclude with some comments, I I do wanna point out that there are a couple of documents that are attached to board docs for the public to review. We wanted to make sure that the public could see all of the comments that were shared in some of our engagement, and some of our feedback from surveys.
We also have, some detailed charts and graphs, that the board has printouts of upfront here on, on the dais, but we also wanted to make sure that folks could see things attached in digital format beyond just the presentation itself. So as you may recall, during the June board meeting, we presented a draft program opt of program options along with a preliminary proposal for grouping high schools into regional pairings, six of them. That presentation sparked some really meaningful feedback, as I'm sure you can imagine, from both
the board members and the broader community. We wanted you to know that we heard you and that we've incorporated a lot of that feedback and, refined some of that to bring back to you today. Your questions, reflections, and insights, gathered from your engagement have been hugely valuable. They have informed and shaped the work that we bring to you today, and I'm very pleased to, present recommended answers to a lot of questions that our community has been asking, a refined, set of program recommendations and an updated recommendation for what a
regional model could look like, and providing the the board with, more voices and, and more themes from our feedback. At this time, I'll turn things over to mister Adnan Mamoun, our chief, operations officer, and missus Nikki Porter, our chief academic officer, who will walk us through the details of this important work. Mister Mahmoon, missus Porter. Good good afternoon. Thank you, doctor Taylor. Can we get the presentation up, please? Thank you. Yes. As doctor Taylor already mentioned, we're gonna provide an update on the community engagement and
current feedback, for the initial options, and then share recommendations for the program, access and equity that's gonna be shared by miss Porter and her team and answer important stakeholder questions. So starting off that, you know, our topics for discussion today align with our strategic plan goals. One, all students will demonstrate high levels of academic achievement and growth. Goal two, ensuring meaningful, post secondary outcomes for all students. And goal number three, ensure a safe and welcoming and inclusive, learning and work environment
through positive climate and effective operations. So just a quick reminder of our boundary process timeline. As you can see, we're in the synthesizing feedback and refined option phase. I'll talk about the feedback in a little bit more detail as we go down the presentation. So we have been we've shared the initial options in May and June with the community. We have received a lot of feedback. Total number of feedback received from the Woodward survey is about 6,300.
And total number of feedback received for the crown, study was about 4,300. We're in the, the surveys closed, earlier this week on Monday. We're still in the process of collecting well, we have collected all the feedback as and we have as Doctor. Taylor mentioned, we have shared those in the board docs. But we're in the process of synthesizing and kinda grouping the feedback. And that's what's gonna happen in the next few weeks. And then using those feedback that we have received as well as all the feedback we have received from our office hours and other conversations and feedback we have received
from the community, we will use those to refine the options and go back out to the community in September. And then there will be a second set of surveys with those refined options. And we'll be collecting those data and synthesizing those feedbacks, in October and November. And then help that would help us in December to work on the superintendent's recommended option which will be completed in December and presented to the board in January. We will be holding public hearings and obviously, the board will get more written testimonies
and hear from the community in February and March with the final decision in March. So wanted to give an update on the additional community engagement that we have completed. So to be better meet families and community members in areas, or by demographics that we, you know, didn't see represented well in our survey results, we have been doing outreach about the boundary study and program analysis in the following ways. Family engagement specialists are connecting with families and community groups.
Communications department hosted a Facebook live in Spanish with now more than 4,600 views. English and Spanish flyers have been sent out to multiple community organizations such as libraries, recreation centers, religious organizations, and more. Soon we will be sending flyers to be posted in community laundromats. Multiple people have been calling families in our community, Pulse Phone campaign. This is an ongoing but over three days we have reached over 1,200 or close
to 1,300 families. For example, the DCC schools so far have received five ninety two calls connecting with those families. Callers are able to speak with families in Spanish or other languages. And in terms of demographics, we have also reached six eighty six Spanish speaking or Hispanic families and three seventy Black or African American families. We're working to increase these numbers as our campaign continues. Family engagement specialists have had information tables at all the street outreach network community events.
These have been very popular. We have been hosting virtual information meetings for all members of nonprofit Montgomery. And then coming up at National Night Out on August 5, we will have mini information fairs at, four of these events. And then we're also looking forward to, having information tables at the back to school fair on August, that's scheduled for August 23. So I wanted to point out a few and these are I want to emphasize that these are some of the only a handful of sample comments that we have
received, and then wanted to kinda group them by, the board policy FAA factors. So under demographic characteristics and student population factor, what we heard from the community is to look for opportunities to decrease concentrations of student poverty in in schools and then expand academic program opportunities, which miss Porter's team is gonna talk about later in this presentation, closer to school school of assignment. Under geography, the comments we have heard some of the comments we have heard are
to preserve neighborhood communities, prioritizing proximities of communities to assign schools, minimizing length of school bus rides, and being mindful of traffic safety and, road and transportation patterns. Under stability of school assignments, the comments we've heard focused on minimizing disruptions, to communities that have recently experienced boundary Which has been in our focus, as part of the study, identifying those communities who experienced additional school transitions, primary and, intermediate schools, avoiding split articulation, and considering students who
will be entering grade seven, eight, ten, eleven, and 12. And then under facility utilization, we've heard community members desire to keep schools within 80 to a 100% which is already in line with the board's policy considering cost for resources, staffing facilities, and transportation for, the options in order to be fiscally responsible. So we also wanted to kinda point out again, these are representative samples of some of the comments we have received and these are by clusters. For example, for Winston Churchill cluster, we've heard from families expressing concerns about initial options,
middle and high school assignments outside of current pathway, Wayside Elementary School being an example. For Poolesville, the concerns we've heard were about future of criteria based programs, enrollment data of resident students versus transfer students for Poolesville. For Clarksburg, we heard recent boundary changes which they have gone through. And then Queens Orchard, we heard about initial options for middle and high school assignments outside of current pathway, specifically for Rachel Carson Elementary. For Damascus, some of the concerns we've heard is questions about the timeline for the
future construction project. For Seneca Valley. Again, it was a common theme about recent boundary changes that they have gone through for, Seneca Valley. Gaithersburg, again, recent boundary changes for Harriet Tubman. Watkins Mill was, you know, concerns about highest percent it being highest percentage of students receiving free and reduced meals program, and then multilingual learners. For RM, the concerns were about future of criteria based programs and future of k
12 IB pathways. And for Northwest Cluster, disproportionate split articulation, great Seneca Creek Elementary School. And for Thomas Bouton, initial options for middle or high school assignments outside of current primary path current pathway for Dufiv, Travella, and Stonemill, and then split articulation within neighborhood communities, townhomes versus single family homes. For the Woodward, from the Bethesda Chevy Chase, cluster, some of the comments we have received are, about, again, for recent boundary changes for Rock Creek and Silver Creek, additional
speed articulation, for Rosemary Hills, Chevy Chase Elementary, and North Chevy Chase Elementary, initial options for middle and or high school assignments outside of current high school cluster, which was Westland Middle School. And for Montgomery Blair, future of Down County Consortium, which again will be discussed, later in the presentation, future of criteria based programs, for Montgomery Blair and overlapping log zones between Montgomery Blair and Northwood, high school. For Albert Einstein, feature again, the common theme was feature of Down County Consortium, feature
of two way immersion pathways, and initial, option for middle or high school assignment outside of current high school cluster, which was for Woodland Elementary. For Walter Johnson, we heard concerns about concerns from Farmland Elementary School, and then some disproportionate split articulation at Kensington Parkwood and Garrett Park and enrollment projections data for future development in that area. For Kennedy, again, the future of Down County Consortium and facility utilization. Northwood, we heard from the Forest Knolls Elementary School about their future articulation and overlapping
walk zones between Montgomery Blair and Northwood, for wooden feature of Down or Wheaton, sorry, feature of Down County Consortium and facility utilization, in the Wheaton cluster was, high in, all the options. For Walt Whitman, we heard from, the split articulation for Burning Tree and Broadway Hills, traffic and pedestrian safety, an initial option, that was outside of Kern High School cluster, which was, for Thomas Pyle Middle School. Again, reiterating that these are some of the samples.
We have shared all the comments in the board docs. I'm not now going to pass it over to miss Porter and her team for the program study. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. We are excited to come back to you today to talk about, updates regarding programs. And so just to, give you an idea of the things that we will be covering today, we'll just give a very quick refresher of where we left off in June. And, just to to touch base on that right now, we did share at the June 24 board meeting, our initial thinking around eight potential programs, that reflected both high
interest, from our students and also alignment with high demand industry fields. And we also introduced our thinking around a proposal for grouping high schools into six regions. And we heard you. We heard our community. Our community has been asking questions, and so, all of that we have taken into consideration to bring forward some recommendations today. So, as we continue to move forward, we are going to share with you, questions that the community has been asking, that really drove some of the decisions that we,
will be sharing today. We'll be sharing with you updated recommendations around, our, programs and also recommendations around our, six regions and the schools that we, believe would be best suited for each region. And, then we'll talk about our next steps. And I'll I'll ask them to do the next slide for you if it's so you don't have to follow, but I appreciate it. Thank you. So we actually, have on our MCPS website a, ask questions, section around our programs.
And we, if you go to the next slide, have heard from, at this time, 809, respondents. And you can see here who, has responded based on, areas within our, county. And, we just put the, respondents that have 9%, almost 10% or above. So you can see there. And if you go to the next slide, even more importantly as, we really wanted
to take a look at the themes that were elevated by the questions asked by our community. And so you can see there countywide programs. There were questions about whether existing countywide programs will be maintained or phased out. There was an interest, around Crown and Woodward high schools, around how these new schools might serve as potential special program hubs. We received questions, and request for clarity around the six region models, what schools and
programs would be assigned to each of those regions. We received questions related to funding, resource allocation, and student transportation logistics. We also received questions about current and future role of the Down County consortium. And it's important to share with you that these five themes highlight, key concerns, by our stakeholders or questions by our stakeholders, and they emphasize that answering these questions are really crucial to building trust and being able to, stay involved with the boundary and
program process. So that is why we are highlighting them today. And if you go to the next slide, miss Franklin and I are really gonna talk about some decision points and recommendations as a result of some of those community questions. So before we do that, next slide, please, we wanna just really focus on why are we doing this and just make sure that we take a moment to ground ourselves, around the work and the core purpose behind this initiative. So first and foremost, it's about equity and we, wanna make sure that all of
our students regardless of ZIP code have equitable access to high quality enriched programming. We're also committed to addressing historical inequities including long standing patterns of underrepresentation and barriers to access that have impacted certain student groups and communities. Our current model often requires transporting our students across the county to just a limited number of centrally managed programs, and we believe it's time to reimagine this approach. Rather than operating from a mindset of scarcity, we're working to create an abundance of
opportunity by expanding access and making that access closer to our students' homes. And finally, we really want to, offer more personalized program options that align with the students' interests, needs, and abilities. And so these are the goals that we are using to help shape the recommendations that we are going to share. So, again, we're going to share some decision points and recommendations, based on a lot of the questions that our community have raised, not only on the website, but also
as we've engaged with them throughout this process. So next slide. One of the questions that we receive, is will the, countywide program, continue to exist? And, this is a critical decision point and it speaks directly to the long standing question about access, equity, and system design. The countywide program model will be enhanced by replacing them with the six region model. We believe that students will be better served with the six region model, moving forward.
In our review, we've considered the benefits of maintaining a centralized or a county wide model and also thinking about the barriers. And, we've really think thought about the transportation, the access, the underrepresentation, but we've also heard from our stakeholders who value rigor and, reputation of countywide programs and want to see those opportunities expanded to more students. So as we move forward, our recommendations aim to strike that balance, preserving what works,
but also evolving the model to better serve all of our students. Miss Franklin? So if we can go to the next slide. Yep. Let me do that again. Thank you. So this is a slide that's gonna talk a little bit about the why we're making the recommendation of discontinuing the county wide. And what we do know from our community and even from school staff, there are so many great aspects about what the county wide programs have done for the community. And so we are definitely going to build upon that. But here are some examples of the data that gives us some reason to think
differently about how to evolve. So one example is, as you know, we have a variety of criteria based programs in the school system. They include the science math computer science programs at Blair and Poolesville, the communication arts program at Blair, the global ecology at Poolesville, and so on. And these programs are established, the two the the three countywide programs in particular are the Visual Arts Center at Einstein, the Global Ecology Program at Poolesville and then also the Richmond Montgomery IB program.
And so those are to serve students countywide. And if you look at the first bullet, you'll see that we have over 800 applicants for our global ecology program. There are 90 seats. And when you look at where students are drawing from, that program, for the most part, majority of those students are coming from three to five high schools. So we're not necessarily serving countywide, because simply because there are pockets of our school system that cannot even apply that don't even apply, to the to Poolesville simply because
of the distance. So that's really important for us to think about in terms of access and equity. Although it's countywide, is it really accessible? Our next item is our Richard Montgomery, program, which was established. It's been over forty years. And since then, we've added seven more high school programs. But there are a thousand over a thousand students that apply to the Richard Montgomery IB program. There are a 125 seats. 25 of those seats are for local students. So that means, that out of over a 100 over a thousand students, we are
filling a 125 seats with 25 local, And we also have Peter Middle School, Julius West, feeding into that school. And they have a 141 applicants that want to get into the the Richard Montgomery program. So that means for those students, a 141, if there's only 25 local seats, there's a limited number of students that can get into the program that is at their local school. So that's a challenge and we do have regional programs elsewhere. But one of the challenges that we are struggling with is trying to establish the
value of two programs, a regional and a county wide. So when we have two programs that exist like that, there is sometimes a value added to a county wide program that might be considered superior over a regional program. So those are one of the challenges that we do face with some of our families. The one other piece we wanted to point out to you is that the countywide program, requires lots of resources in order to serve the students coming. If you have one student that's coming from a high school cluster, we have to send a bus. So, therefore, you see that Richard Montgomery requires 24 buses.
We'd have one bus for John f Kennedy's regional program, and both Springbrook and Watkins Mill have three AM and PM buses. So there's a very big disparity there in terms of services to students, in in transportation. The one thing that I think is interesting that we've watched the trends is that the students who are invited to both the regional and countywide programs, we have many students who apply to both for the IB program. So hence why we thought that we'd have lots of space for students who wanted the program. But what we have found in our trend data is that students often decline the
regional program even if it's closer to home. And so that is just something that we have noted, and and also offered for students to go to their local to their, regional program if they've only applied to the county wide. We've even extended an opportunity for them to go to the regional program. And those we also have number of students declining. So we are seeing lots of different challenges when it comes to our county wide programs here. K? Next slide. Okay. Thank you.
So the next decision point, question that we are often asked is, are we going to get rid of the two consortia? Down County Consortia and the Northeast Consortium? And, while the the the short answer is that we will discontinue those two, we want to build on the strength of the consortium model. There are several strengths that we hear about from our community on a regular basis. High levels of parent and student engagement, opportunities for program and pathway exploration, four year
course sequences with capstone experiences, and the value of a smaller learning community. Those are the things that we want to maintain as we look into a six region model. So that is our recommendation, and I'll have miss, Franklin explain a little bit more. To the next slide. So I am a very big fan of many aspects of the consortium model, and I see absolutely several of the aspects of the consortium model evolving into our six
region model. I feel that our northeast consortium and down county consortium communities have been very socialized and understanding program examination. They stay very engaged with, the school choice process and they ask lots of questions. And we see lots of success with the academy and signature program pathways that are available, providing smaller learning communities and a sense of belonging for our students. Couple of things we wanna point out here in terms of what we wanna build from the consortium into our six region model. Obviously equity and access, wanting students to be engaged and be part of a personalized
experience. But what we have found with our consortium model is that over 80% of our families say they pick a school because of the programs, which means that they're examining the different academy programs and pathways at school. So that's important to them. So moving toward a six region model is totally in alignment with what they're experiencing and what they expect for their students. Each of our region models will also provide one, very rigorous, or career ready program in each of our high schools in addition to local, pathways.
So we're very excited about how this is just an easy move from consortium to, a six region model. Next slide, please. Our third decision point, is a question that we are frequently asked. Will my student be able to continue if we have already started in a program or we are in the consortium? And the answer is yes. Our recommendation is to minimize disruption and provide continuity for our students who've already started in a centrally managed application program or have been assigned through a consortium.
So students entering grade eight in 2025, '26, and earlier will be a part of a legacy cohort, and they'll have the opportunity to continue in their current program or school through their completion. Beginning with the class of 2031, students will participate in the regional model and access programs available within their region. So we wanna be very thoughtful about the transition. We have had several parents ask us to provide some type of visual for what
this will look like by, cohort or graduating class. So miss Franklin and her team have put together something I think has been quite helpful. Next slide, please. So let me orient you to this slide. So this is a visual. This also came out of request from our design team to have something to look at so we can respond and work from. So if you look toward the top across, you'll have the school years 2024 to 2033 going across. And then down the left, you'll have the class, the graduation year.
So we wanted to use this and talk from this from the class of. So we will also go to, the second row where in each of the years we talk about some key happenings that, that are happening in our system regarding the boundary study and then also our proposal for the six region model. So in 02/2526, the new boundaries will be approved by the board. In the following year, we're gonna have the first app admissions application season. And then in the following year, we'll have a transition year, because we'll have our
current process and our proposed new process happening at the same time. And if you look at 2027 to 02/1930, those are transition years and we've marked them so because that's when we'll have if you look vertically on those, those those years, you'll see that you'll have a combination of blue and purple, blue and purple. So the blue means it's the current process for that class and the purple is the new proposed process for that class. And so for 02/1978, when you look at it vertically, you'll see that they'll be
the ninth graders will be in their new process with the purple and then the students in grades ten, eleven, and 12 will be in the former process completing their programs. And then each year, we'll be rolling it out and the first class that will be experiencing, of the full regional model and the process will be class of 02/1931. So we wanted you to see that. And then on the right side of each of the classes, we made an indication to help with what kinds of school assignment changes would be happening with the boundary. So those are some of the notes that we have there.
No changes for the class of 02/1928. No changes for the class of 2,029. And then if you look at the class of 2,030, this is the group where we're getting a lot of questions because they're current eighth grade. And so many of you have gotten a lot of questions, so today is our recommendation, that we're sharing with the decision points about students who are centrally identified or centrally, placed in programs in our regional county wide programs will be able to stay in their programs. And then our students who participate in the consortium and are assigned will also, be
able to stay. So those are our recommendations, and we have that, on this chart for you as a way to to look at that. Just wanna make sure I cover. I wanna make sure you know everything about this chart. Okay? Thank you. Next slide. And our final, decision point and recommendation is around the question regarding our career program hubs at Thomas Edison High School of Technology and Seneca Valley High School and whether or not these sites will offer, be available to all of our students.
And, yes, these sites will continue to serve students from multiple regions. We recognize that these are specialized pros programs. They are not easily replicated in each reason region due to their unique facilities and resource requirements. And, therefore, we have made an intentional exception to the regional access model, and students from approximately three regions will attend one school and approximately three to the other. We haven't, worked out all of the logistics at this time, but we do believe
that that will be, a a equitable approach. And we are going to move on, if you go to the next slide, to, recommendations for program access. Maybe go to the next slide. So I am very excited about this option, and we really wanna thank the board for giving us additional feedback and the space to just begin thinking about how best to serve our students with equity and access in these programs. I've been serving in this role for many years, and it's been very exciting to see the evolution of the different opportunities to serve our students.
And what an exciting time to now be at this place where we really get to do amazing work for our students who are here today. They may not benefit from it, but they certainly will learn about it. But we are really looking forward to serving our students as early as our sixth graders, who will be going through this process, and we really wanna get ready for them. So when we think about the pro proposed six regions model, what we want what we wanted to make sure that you knew is what informed our decisions, what informed the thinking and the collaboration around this.
So we wanted to minimize disruptions where we could. We know that we're opening two new high schools, and so we wanted to get ready for that. There's implications for students who may be in 50 of the schools that are gonna be impacted by the boundary study. We wanted to definitely maximize existing routes and efficiencies. That's really important. Work smarter. Obviously, looking at geography and proximity. Trying to group the schools together. I know lots about that because of the consortium model. We also want to aim for comparable student demographics. We want our students to learn from each other.
And, obviously, a very big item is facility utilization between 80 and a 100%. That's actually one of the governing, principles for the consortia is trying to address that. And then, obviously, having a consistent transportation approach for centrally managed programs. Over the many years, we have had such support from operations and transportation to provide transportation for our centrally managed programs, but we have hit a wall. Some of our programs do not have, central stop transportation, and that does not seem
fair and it is it is inequitable. And so that's why this is a great opportunity to address that by providing more equity and access for students in this model. Transportation will be part of that and we wanna be able to say yes, to students who are part of these programs. So let's go to the next slide, please. So this is a lot and, what we wanted you to see is that we've been doing a lot of work. And so on the left are six, is the number set one through six and then, on the at the top, you're going to see, five different scenarios.
These scenarios are examples of how we were trying to create regions. So we started with number one, which is what you saw last last time we came before you. Very lukewarm response, so we knew that we had to do some more work. And we came we're coming back to you, to show you the work and what we were looking at. And we're gonna talk to you a little bit about the evolution. But what's really important is that this work was driven by looking at, resources and transportation, student demographics, and facilities. No one of those principles, was more important than the other, but we wanted to
see where we can maximize all of them. So we started with looking at these different options and looking to see if we had any objections. And if there were no objections, then we started to talk about what we had available in each of the different regions. So let's take a look at the next slide. So this is our evolution. So I think this is kind of fun. So in scenario number one, we talked about transportation and student demographics simply because we have that information and we wanted to create, the least amount of disruption when it came to our operations if we could. So we started there.
In scenario two, we then adjusted it for facility use and then we came up with another option. The other option was now considering where we had wellness centers with every one of our regions if we were to design them, could they have access to a wellness center? Then we went moved on to scenario four. Let's try to optimize proximity. We want them closer together. Let's get the schools closer together because we know that time on a bus and traveling is important, especially if all of our schools are gonna have one a regional program.
And then scenario five, it has lots of bells and whistles. We were able to maximize proximity. We were able to leverage program assets. We happen to have an IB program, an international baccalaureate program in all of those. Yeah. And I'm gonna just chime in here really quick and and let the board know and the public know that there's actually an attachment Okay. On board docs, that actually shows you our math. And, one of the things that the public has asked for and, that the board has asked for is to show us the data. And so this is one of the artifacts that we wanted to bring forward to
show you the different scenarios that we're talking about. I just want everyone to know, the boy is getting this the same time the public is getting it. So you can see us furiously flipping papers and and reading the small prints. And and, actually, miss Rivera Oven had actually asked me to add that to my introductory remarks, and I didn't. And I'm so sorry. Normally, we post, board materials couple days in advance online. We were literally working, up to the minute with this one, because of the survey
responses and some of the attachments. So thank you for indulging us, and thank you for giving us a little bit of grace as we, work through this grace. That's right. That's right. That's great. So, so back to scenario five. Then we also have the potential for sharing operational resources, which is working smarter. So we really do have an opportunity to really strike, a well planned and execute, a program, for our students, going forward. So let's look at what scenario five looks like. Go to the next slide, please.
So here we are. So this does look a little different than our, map, our scenario one from last time. What we have is four to five different high schools in each of the different regions. We did, touch base with transportation that, until we know exactly, which of these regions we're going to put put together but the thinking was that transportation would range between forty five minutes to an hour depending on some region. So, obviously, you can see, where Poolesville is located. We're covering a lot more ground, and then some areas of transportation lot might be
more dense because of traffic or more dense community. So it may vary between thirty to forty thirty minutes to sixty minutes depending on traffic and, depending on traffic and routes. So what's really important, that I really wanted to point out here is that in this model, what we have is, we're expecting all students to be able to access a regional program within their region should they want, should they want. But this region only matters to you if you are looking for a program that's
not available at your school. And so, obviously, we can't replicate all of these programs in every single school and nor would we have the critical mass of students registering for each one of the programs. But what's really powerful here is that we're going to strengthen our local schools. We're also going to have one region program in each one and we're, we have some more, nuts and bolts pieces to tell you about that, but this is where we landed. And hopefully, there will be fewer questions about this one but we welcome your questions,
to make sure that our best thinking was put forward. Okay. So if you can go to the next slide. Okay. So here are the nuts and bolts we wanna talk about with you and, with our our partners in in, operations as they're working on the boundary study. We can go to the next slide. Okay. So just nuts and bolts, but this is really important to our families. We know that this is really critical. So the first part of moving to a six region model is that we also wanna build upon just, continuing a central admission process. So as we do for our regional county wide pro programs where students apply, with
their parents on synergy, we're looking to do something similar, but we also want to do whatever we can to make it a friendlier process. So we're gonna have a central admission process. We're going to include both criteria and interest based. We're also going to streamline, meaning, not only are we streamlining it to make it easier, but some of our students currently have access to 18 different programs plus their local school. And what happens for those families, we hear from them, is that they become numb. It's very paralyzing to have to investigate 18 programs and then your local school and
so that is not our intention. Sometimes too much choice, actually makes you stop choosing. So what we wanna do is streamline that part so that families know exactly what opportunities are available to them. The other piece that's very new, at least the first part is an on ramp. We wanna make sure that we have on and off ramps for programs beyond grade nine. We know that our students have multiple interests. We wanna support those multiple interests. But then when they get immersed into a content area, they realize, oh, I really
don't like this. And so that is important. That's just as important knowing that information as it is knowing that you do like it. So we wanna have an on ramp, for students beyond grade nine because we know that students blossom at different times. We don't know exactly what that looks like, but we do know what happens when students become excited about learning. They have a great teacher that got them turned on to a new content, and now they wanna fully immerse into a certain content area or pathway. We wanna be able to accommodate that as much as we can. And then for students who need a different change after they realize they don't think
they don't like, graphic design, it's too much time in front of a computer, that's totally fine. We wanna have an opportunity to counsel you, have you work with a career counselor, work with your teachers and find a different program and pathway that's available to you. So now let's look at seats. So currently in our model, we have seats from a total of a 120 to 500 depending on the different programs. So what we're looking at, based on feedback from our design team, our project team, our schools, our school coordinators, we're looking at a range of a 120 to 260
seats per school. But we also wanna preserve local seats because it's really important to have our local students access the program that's in their school building. And should we have more interest, as we're learning this part, we can expand and contract as we need. So we wanna be able to reserve that so that we can grow the programs as much as we can. And, that's our part about the nuts and bolts. Okay? Next slide. So now I'm gonna turn it over to, miss McClain to talk to you about the program development. Thank you.
Next slide, please. So while we initially proposed eight regional programs in June, we've since streamlined to five based in part on feedback that eight programs felt like too many to launch effectively. So the five are here on the slide, medical science and health care, science technology engineering and math, international baccalaureate humanities and languages, leadership, public service and education, visual and performing arts design and communication. We've shared this updated list with the design team, although we did improve the names
of the programs a little bit. So they were more descriptive, since then. We shared it last week for feedback. Our attendance was lower last week, so we do look forward to getting more feedback from the design team. But some of the feedback we received, including streamlining the list, allows the district to focus on building stronger, more comprehensive programs. The selected programs align with themes identified by the design team and community. And choosing these broad program areas supports a wider range of course offerings within each theme. They're also anxious for more details, and we're working on that.
You might notice that one of the previously shared program themes is not included in this list. Next slide, please. Can I get oh, thanks? So the MCPS project team recommends that business, finance, and entrepreneurship pathways be offered at every high school given the strong student demand for these areas and for financial literacy. And as previously shared and we and we wanna bring forward, the design team has recommended that all schools offer parallel advanced coursework, ensure all students are well prepared for these advanced courses, provide a well rounded course progression, so students can explore their interests,
expand the use of distance learning to close access gaps across schools, and offer authentic research experiences as part of the student's academic development. The work to ensure that all local schools provide these opportunities will move forward in parallel with regional program development and is considered equally essential to the success of this work. Next slide, please. Our regional programs will include a mix of criteria and interest based options, including select career technical education programs or CTE programs. The timing of this work aligns with the major with a major MSDE CTE program
revision, allowing us to strengthen our alignment with labor market demands. As a result, the regional CTE programs will be better aligned with industry standards. They will all offer opportunities to earn industry recognized certifications or credentials, and they are designed to increase completion, increase increase the completion rate of these programs. MCPS currently offers 51 CTE programs of study. The programs on this slide have been identified as potential pathways for the regional implementation based on the program themes that our community brought forward, strong student interest, and their
alignment with high skill, high wage, and or in demand careers. These programs will equip students with the skills and credentials needed for future success. Next slide, please. This slide shows how CTE programs that we just discussed fit within a broader model that includes criteria and interest based pathways. It also shows how regional programs may be parallel but not identical across regions. For example, school one region a and school b in Region 3 both have, the
science, technology, engineering, and math program. They also both have the science math computer science criteria based program, but they differ in the interest based pathways. As school one, engineering, cybersecurity, and machine learning and data science. At school three, we have Engineering, Programming, and Agricultural Science. This approach allows us to leverage each school's existing assets, including local or existing regional programs, staff expertise, and facilities, while also responding to student interest within the region. Next slide please.
So a sequence of courses alone is not a program. While students may enroll out of interest, strong programs also create a sense of belonging and shared achievement. As we expand four year programs, our goal is for students to feel connected right from the start. All students will take grade nine all students will take a grade nine introductory course. It might be the first course in a CTE pathway or it could be a cohorted academic course that includes, program themes and experiences throughout. Beginning in grade nine, students will also participate in co curricular and extracurricular activities, career
related student organizations, program specific clubs, guest speakers, field experiences, lunch and learns, and and opportunities to engage with industry professionals, and competitions. Starting early builds engagement and gives students a chance to ask, is this the right fit fit for me before they have invested multiple years in the program. Excuse me. High quality pro programs will also include external measures of learning, such as advanced placement exams and industry recognized credentials. These third party validations offer objective measures of achievement and provide students with transferable credentials
for college and career. And finally, every program will culminate in a capstone experience. It might be a research project, work based learning experience, maybe even utilizing that industry recognized credential, might be designing a new product, but they'll have an opportunity to show what they've learned over four years. Next slide, please. This slide illustrates a possible four year pathway for a student in the medical science and health care program who has selected the clinical health care pathway. The students might be getting grade nine with a biology course infused with biomedical science
experiences, and that's where they might decide if this is the right pathway for them. They may also take a world language based on their goals. So if a student is focused on studying to become a doctor, he or she might take Latin or maybe Spanish, for example, if they're interested in that direct patient care and communication. For their CTE course progression, students choose between two options, Certified Medical Assistant or Physical Rehabilitation And by twelfth grade, students will have taken a national industry recognized credential exam
Participated in work based learning or a college level course and engaged in four years of co and extracurricular experiences, such as activities and and competitions through future health professionals. Next slide, please. Alright. So how will we get there? We'll return in August with more more details on the regional programs, including locations, pathways, preliminary costs, and transportation estimates. In the meantime, the project team, in collaboration with the design team who will provide ongoing feedback, will work with school leaders to match programs to schools and finalize those
pathway options. We'll launch our next phase of community engagement building on what we've shared today, and we will continue to gather that ongoing input throughout the process. In September, we'll provide another update, this time on the local school offerings, and our work to, strengthen all local schools and some additional regional program details. We'll also be identifying the professional learning, resources, and budget needed to successfully implement this model. In January, the superintendent will prevent present a formal recommendation on the boundaries and program
access, and the final board decision on boundaries is in March. Next slide, please. Thank you. At this time, we will open it up for questions or discussion. Alright. Thank you so much for the presentation. I do see that you have done a lot of work since our last board meeting, to today. I'm going to open up for my colleagues. I'm gonna start from this side, miss Maroon. Please go ahead. Stay with one comment and one question first. First. Okay. So first off, as a student that was a part of a program and has
obviously gone through the system, I'm very excited to see that we are addressing the issues when it comes to transportation and proximity, especially regarding program analysis. One thing I am curious about is the objective to replicate existing programs or to develop new ones with similar functionalities. I think that's a great question. One of the things that we have learned about all of our programs is that there are strengths and there are areas of growth for all of them. So replicating it identically is not necessarily our interest. Replicating what's really working, and then making sure that the programs are inclusive.
So we want to examine those pieces. So we do have data on all of our programs about who's accessing, and and some of our programs, frankly, are not reflective of the catchment that they're supporting. And so what we need to do is ask those questions. Why is that? What do we need to do to the program to make them more inclusive? And we have a fabulous team that can help us do that. We have lots of good information. But what we want to make sure to leverage expectations is that we're not in the business of just replicating. We're in the business of replicating what works and making it better.
Okay. Amazing. This is a moment. Thank you. And, thank you for the team for, taking on this very large undertaking. As you can tell, there's, you can tell there's been a lot of work because there's a lot of slides to try to summarize all of it. So thank you for that. So I I have a similar question to miss Malone. I think it it's been answered that we're we're not looking to duplicate these programs. We're looking to see, a similarly situated program in each region. And I I've asked this question before.
I'm gonna bring it up again because I'm with this information, I think there's still some curiosity from the public, because I've gotten this question a couple times still. And I sincerely believe that public school educators, are one of the most powerful resources in a community, but they need the right training and resources to be able to do their jobs effectively. So how are we planning to increase teacher training for these expanding programs? Like, do we know that we have enough educators that have the specific science background
to be able to teach these programs for these high level courses that we look to offer? Yeah. So so I can actually jump in with some of this. We did, as part of some of our asset mapping, take a look at certifications. The good news is that none of the ideas presented for consideration are outside of areas of certification that we already have. Whether or not there's an interest on faculty to dive in and to hyper specialize, we don't know. We haven't asked. That being said, that tends to be something that people do seek out.
So, we think our probability is pretty high in people seeking out the opportunity to teach hyper specialized opt options. So, that that's a that's a a next next tier step of the part of the process. I think that there's a lot of shared learning from some of our successful programs in terms of what makes them successful that that can be shared and can be replicated in terms of the the strength that they that they have in in one program or another. And so we'll be looking to leverage that for sure. Wonderful. And as you're speaking to the next tier, as we get into that, I think
many of us up here and community members would be really interested in seeing, those steps that we plan to take and, you know, if there are any needs or vacancies as we move forward. Thank you. Miss Silvestri. Lot to process here. I feel like I'm gonna have to rewatch the board meeting to to get Absolutely. Digest it all. But I don't think we recommend that. My first question is about the first of all, thank you for the very direct
question and answers in the the first structure. I was, like, I was having chills. Like, the first time in seven years that we're answering the community's questions directly. I love it. So thank you for that. My question is about and maybe it's in here. I I may have missed it. So the the regions and the programs, it's not something you can flip a switch and say, okay. Next year, we're doing this. So can you talk about I I'm I'm hoping to see a phase in. Is that in here that I missed a slide?
Could you talk about how you will phase this in? Because it's it's too much to do at once. I'm glad to see you nodding your head. So I'm I'm curious to see what you're thinking in terms of a a phase in approach so that we can do it well. So I'm gonna ask MCPS TV to go to slide 20. Yeah. And and, miss Franklin, I think we'll we'll add a lot more to this than than I will, but we couldn't agree more. And for for us to do this well, a long lead time and, allowing for a very generous approach to grandfathering in cohorts of students is is really what's called
for here. So you start to see the the changeover being really significant in the fall of two thousand twenty seven. That's really the first cohort of ninth grade students, and that's the class of 02/1931. But it's really three full transition years plus up this planning year. And if you can imagine it, the the planning year for 2627, it it's we've
really got the the balance of this 2526 year plus the 2627 year to launch fully in in in anticipation of a fall of twenty seven. So there's a long runway for a reason. I I know it's it's painstaking for our community that all of this is leading up to a March '26 decision point for a fall, you know, much later, actual
movement. But the reason we're doing so much of this in advance is so that there can be a lot of thorough planning and a long lead up. So March decision, and then you you pointed out to the twenty seventh, twenty eighth school year. So there would be a a school year in between there, for planning. But still, it would be the entire system at once No. Twenty seven, twenty eight? You're you're really starting with just that that ninth grade cohort. So it's one grade level at a time.
And, you're you're growing one grade level at a time, and and you're not fully fleshed out until the 02/2031 school year. So our boundary shift doesn't take really full effect until the year 02/1930. And so it's it is a very long process to get us from point a to point b, And we we believe that in doing this in chapters, not all
at once does make a lot of sense. You said boundary shift. Yeah. Boundary and program shift there together. So can you say that again what you just said? So the 10 graders stay where they are? I don't wanna conflate two issues here. Okay? You've got right on this screen, programs. Okay. Okay? And our students, we're we would be launching programmatic changes at the same time as we would be launching a change in our boundaries. Mhmm. And as a consequence of that, this full plan doesn't get fully implemented until all
all students go through the system. And so that's, like, the 2930 school year. So it's it's not fully in effect for all students and all grades all the time until that 2930 school year. I have more questions, though. Yes. If I can find Riviera also. So I, I am a little bit concerned about, and this is even now, about
how how the program's like let's take pharm tech, for example, how different they are in different schools. The achievement in one school is, like, 90% versus the achievement in another school with the same curriculum is 60%. So as we transition, right, I think we need to make sure that we have the talent, the expertise of people to be able. Right? Because we can have all these wonderful regions, right, offering farm tech here and farm
tech here. But if we still have a disparity in the outcomes, are we really putting the equity lens on that? So for me, this is, you know, this kinda makes sense. So you're pretty much just saying we're gonna start with the ninth graders coming in in 2027, '28, and by 2030, it will be all of them. So that makes sense. What what I wanna see is how do we support the talent in MCPS to
be able to make these transitions? So so then it doesn't matter if if, you know, if I'm taking pharm tech at Watkins Mill versus if I'm taking pharm tech at BCC, where then I'm going to have very similar outcomes with the kids who are in those programs. Like, that's what I'm interested in also. Right? Looking at how we support our folks with the training to be able then to really have an equitable impact across the board. So just kinda help me a little bit with that and I have other other
questions. Miss Montoya? Well, thank you to all of you. I know this is a ton of work. It was a a lot to get through. It's because you guys have been working really hard. There's a lot of logistics and things, various factors, so I really appreciate that. Especially the clarification for the current eighth graders that would be in the DCC, That's a question we've gotten a lot and this really provides the clarity that they would basically continue with the model that's currently here. So that I think will be helpful for me to be able to go to the community even though we know everyone's watching at home, to let them know. My question is and I guess I'm looking at page 30, but there's a few
different, slides having to do with the programs. I don't see the word music anywhere. We have a lot of our students who love music. I happen to have a child with tons of music instruments at home because he loves music. So I guess I'm just wondering for the community and the families that are music families, where are their kids? Yeah. It would be at every high school, but it would also be part of the visual, performing arts, design, and communications. Great. So the performing arts would then encompass right? Sometimes we're looking for certain words and we don't always know the vernacular. Right? Like, I know the word music. Performing arts, I'm not totally sure what that encompasses.
So let's just, you know, try to make sure so that when people when our community members do look, that families can see the kind of words that they know. Thank you. Miss Stewart. Okay. So, page slide 15. This is a huge question. And so I think I know the answer, but the words here is, like, enhance by replacing the county rank programs. So will there be you know, we're talking about transition, and I know we're we're
looking at a long transition. So how is that going to work with our current countywide program? How is that going to transition if, this this decision point is at the end of that question mark, no? I mean, it it's that I I I want to hear more about that. So so it's our recommendation, that we move to the regional model and that we stair step that over a multiyear period of time.
So as kids are in those programs right now, that they continue in those programs till completion and that we commit to making sure that anyone who starts a program is able to finish that program. And as one is sunsetting, the others are ramping up. But in a lot of cases, what we're gonna find is that a lot of our programs, can continue that may have been in a county wide model that we would recommend continuing but in a regional model. So it's not like they would go away. But we're also hoping that this is an opportunity to to revisit and enhance as
has been stated. Every single program that we has has strengths and weaknesses. So And and we think that we can actually enhance what we currently have as well and instead of just kinda carbon copying year over year over year some of what we've been doing. And that leads to part b of my question. And that is, we have signature programs, right, that are well regarded. And, as we transition to the regional, we we don't want to lose.
We want to gain as a county. And so will you, do you expect to, what made a school their character that's built over many years? Do you expect to keep those programs in those schools? Because that is something I'm hearing from community members. So I'm just gonna leave an example. Blair, one of their key signature programs is the, science and math program.
Mhmm. So, as this goes through I mean, I think I heard you say it, but I I went more Explicit. Yeah. And and I'll give you another example to throw on top of that, and then I'm gonna point you to a document that you've got as an attachment as well. So yes is the answer. And part of, this work and why some of this took so long was for us to do an an asset map of what programs and what resources we currently have because we don't want schools to to lose a lot of the characteristics that that make them who they are. We we do think that, a program as robust as the one at Blair can
continue in in its current state, but as a regional program and not as a countywide program. And, similarly, you take a a visual arts program like the one at Einstein, which is woven into the fabric of that school and makes total sense for that school to continue, to lean into the visual arts and make that a a hub regionally. And so to that point, we have a chart, that, that I'll point out to
the board, which takes a look at the program enrollment across the centralized directed programs in the county and, talks about where our students are coming from. And, I'm actually gonna ask miss Franklin and missus Porter and miss McLean to to share some thoughts about this and to help walk the board through, what this information is trying to explain, and and explain what the shaded boxes mean and what the green boxes mean and, and to kinda articulate that this is possible.
One of the the more compelling data points and if we could advance the slide, really quick to slide 16, that would be great. One of the more compelling points to me as a parent is when I look at the math of a thousand applicants for a 125 seats, and if I have the miss misfortune of actually living in the Richard Montgomery attendance zone, my probability of my kid being acts able to access the program at my kid's zoned school is
diminished greatly. And, part of that is because we have students who have access to other similar programs that drive right past their similar program in order to access the program that's in my kids' backyard. And I don't know why we can't have our cake and eat it too. And and there's a a map showcasing some of the data why we can't, why we can't expand opportunities at at a pretty reasonable cost, to to to really leverage
the talent that we've got in kids across the county. Just as a quick follow-up to that, and I'll pass it on. You mentioned Richmond Montgomery and passing by, etcetera. The the and I noticed on the IB slide, it was lumped in with humanities and really it's interdisciplinary program, IB. It's not just humanities. There's math and science, and very high level, actually. And so one of the reasons people pass by was because they would look at the what the options and sometimes those IB programs didn't have HLMath.
They didn't have the upper level physics, etcetera. And so there wasn't really a choice. Like, it was like Richard Montgomery or, like, try to do So let's confront that together for a moment. Yes. And this is an opportunity for me to call this out. We cannibalize our regional programs by creating the offerings that we do and be by having a scarcity model where we limit the number of seats and we limit the number of courses offered, and we have created that that model, and we have created
that disaster ourselves. And so we offer this as an opportunity to correct that. And so I actually do wanna pass it over to the experts, at the table, to talk through this chart because I think this chart really tells a compelling story. This one? Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm not sure if we can open up the attachment, but this is the the attachment that says at the top f y 25 student enrollment in regional countywide criteria based programs by sending high school. So this data was queried in October 2024, and down the left, you'll see home
high school starting with BCC, then Blair, then Blake. And then at the top, you'll see the criteria based programs. And what we did for you here is just show you, in terms of enrollment, how many students are coming from us, sending home high school to the program. And so that's really important to see. But what you'll also notice with the gray boxes, on the attachment is where it says n e. For example, BCC, for following them along, BCC is ineligible, for the regional IB program
at Springbrook. They're ineligible for the regional program at Watkins Mill. They're ineligible for the Poolesville math science program. So it's just showing you where they're ineligible. And that goes for all of the different sending home schools. And so this is where the opportunities for students vary. Some students can have up to 18 programs. Some students have up to nine programs. And it's just the layering of different opportunities we have put over time trying to address it, which has become more inequitable. And as a result, you'll also see on this chart where it's highlighted in green,
those are the that's the home high school. The home high school hosts the program. So, generally, you'll see a larger number of students in those boxes. But what's important here is the last three columns. I think they're the last three. But if you look at the column that says total students in regional and county wide programs, that tells you that there are a number of students in every one of our high schools, maybe except for two, that don't venture out as often. But of 23 of our 25 high schools, large numbers of our students are very
interested in programs and leave their home high school to go to a program. So when we discussed the region model, the six region model, one of the things that we're really confident about is that families will continue to want to go to different programs if they're not available in their local high school because this graph in the, in the model that we have currently, with distance and some unavailable, some not too close, some with, different, criteria, we still have large numbers of students applying to
go to different schools. So we feel that this the six region model is totally in alignment with what the community is, communicating to us and also what the trend that data is showing us. They want programs. Thank you, miss Franklin. I just want to orient the audience a little bit because this chart has been pulled up. So let me take column four as example, county YIB, Richard Montgomery High School program. And the green box is a 116 students are from a 110 students are from
Richard Montgomery, and that's the highest, number from that program for that program where they come from. Then I see that 63 come from somewhere, and that program has altogether 475 students. Am I reading it correctly? Right. Okay. Alright. So this this is online for, parents Mhmm. And community member to watch. Okay. I do want to have, some clarification.
Doctor Taylor, you were saying, if we can have slide 20, this is we are talking this there, graph, it shows the program enrollment. It's different from the boundary enrollment. Am I correct? Correct. We we haven't made a recommendation on, grade levels to grandfather for, boundary transition yet. Okay. We're we they the two are connected. They they are related.
Mhmm. But for the purposes of this conversation, this relates to to program changes. Okay. So I know Because the board may choose, a a more aggressive approach to filling, the new schools. The board may choose a slower approach. And and so, you know, that's not been something that we've we've had a lot of community conversations on, and we really wanted to be responsive to the community questions that we've received and answer those directly. Okay. So, first, I think, I thank the staff for doing a lot of work.
Right? I wanna repeat that again. I truly appreciate it. And we asked for this last time. I'm glad to see this is provided. We're still waiting for few other datas. For example, the asset mapping, you talk about you think we have it, but we would like to see it, the asset mapping. We asked for transportation data. I think it's it was a little to that maybe forty five to one hour, but we would like to see it. Okay. And then fiscal impact data of running these regions, how much it will cost the
system to operate. And also, you might need different scenarios, right, because you are facing in like this and running the existing programming options and adding in a new model, you might want to give us a few years how that project, how that looks from 2028 to 02/1934, how that would look, in terms I know I understand programming is your purview, boundary is our purview, but it all, comes to come together.
Alright. My question will be about language immersion. I I haven't heard anything about the language immersion programs, French, Spanish, Chinese. What happened to those pathway that we have elementary school immersion and a middle school immersion and then what happened? So I think there are a lot of community member concern. Yes. So actually, if we want to go to that program option slide, and we didn't spend a ton of time on it. It's I wanna say a couple after this perhaps or somebody with Trying to remember
what number off the top of my head, but See. It's on page 30. Yep. Page 30. Mhmm. There you go. Yes. And and this is a a good flag for everyone. We say international baccalaureate, humanities, and languages. We may see an opportunity where some of these programs could even be split out and, that they don't necessarily have to all be together. You could have a language, program or a language immersion program or or a discrete program tied to languages or even the humanities or even just design and communication that
could be little pieces and parts that are maybe paired with another program that's that's on here. What what I would caution anyone, about is is that we don't necessarily have to be married to the the words as they're written right here, that you could, have some pieces and parts that are that are connected together and something that is merged with something else just because there might be capacity at another school that there's not
capacity at, the school that it's originally conceived for. So you may have an international baccalaureate program or a humanities program at one school that that is very large because there's a ton of student interest, and we feel like we could fulfill that student interest. But a a language immersion program might be small, and we might move that to another school within the region. Okay? That's an option. You may have a leadership and public service component that focuses on, preparing the next generation of attorneys. But that program gets really big, and it squeezes out the opportunity for us to
do something in the education space and and preparing the next generation of teachers. So we might move that teacher component to another, another school within the region. The idea is is that these are regional themes to programs that we would wanna capture. It doesn't mean that they're all contained in and of themselves. And, miss Stewart brought up a really good point that IB is not just humanities. It's it's interdisciplinary. It's a lot. It but for the purposes of this, we don't want to lose out on the theme of humanities being something that gets captured in the work that that is offered
in each region. On that note, a follow-up will be for the I understand you might be able to move these depending on building capacity, but would the people already in that program finish up in the current location or that is also up for change? Well, hopefully, we lay in the plane so successfully right out of the gate that that's many, many years after but but the the reality is is that I think
that this is an opportunity for us also to establish a precedent that when a child starts a program in a place that we make a commitment to finishing it there. Alright. I'll go for the second round, miss Matoya. Thank you. And and I know we're going to get some more information about transportation plans and things like that, but I just wanted to thank you for including the information on slide 16 about the number of buses that serves the regional and county wide IB programs, because and I'm just gonna say it. There's been an unfairness in providing transportation for quite some time.
And I think that sometimes people don't realize it. We can say that. But when they see I mean, 24 buses to one school and one to Kennedy and then three to split between the two, I mean, that that's ridiculous. And I think when we look at these numbers also in terms of who goes where and whatnot, I I just think it really magnifies the unfairness of which we've been providing these programs and access to them. So I just really welcome this model. I'm very excited about it. And, again, thank you for the work that you're doing. I just wanna clarify that the Springbrook and Watkins Mill, they each have three.
So three in the morning and three in the PM. Thank you. Miss Stewart. So there's something we haven't talked about yet and that's middle schools. Because they also have center two programs. And especially our, middle school magnet, little consortium we have, which in the, meta state actually gave it a lot of kudos because it was, you know, by choice.
Kids did it by interest. It did bring in people from outside, although it didn't provide busing, so only certain privileged people could come in from the outside to go. But but where what are we thinking about middle school? Because it does feel like a missing piece. So we we are starting with our high schools. Once we have figured out where we're gonna put programs in each of the schools, then we wanna make sure that we have that alignment with our middle schools So that in each region, we can take a look at what middle schools, are aligned
to the high school program. So that's the next step, our middle schools. And, just to let you know that kids picking their middle schools are and those families are also feeling the pressure, with these decisions coming up. And so to make sure that they know that they also will be grandfathered, hopefully, that is the plan that the middle school programs will also be grandfathered. K. So we'll certainly tackle that, but I just wanted to, let you know that for
the middle school magnet consortium that includes Argyle, Parkland, Loiterman, we have been providing central stop limited central stop transportation for the past few years. So Thank you. I think we're going into our third year, but I'll I'll I'll confirm that. But, yes, we do have. Okay. So I I missed that, when my kids were back in because we were just had to make sure that they could be driven. So thank you for that. I'm going to move down this way, miss Rivera Owens, then miss Silvestri, then missus Zimmerman, then miss Malue. Let's go. Left side.
I I just wanna go back to slide 30 because I last time you presented, you were, you know, you were gonna look at all the all the options of careers and so on. I just wanna make sure that since we're talking that we're gonna start implementing fully this in 2031, that we are still aligned with careers that are relevant in 2031 that have not been affected by AI. Or, and and I I just think that, we really need to be very conscious
of of of that because we do want to make sure that our young people get the most benefit out of it. So, and and I'm gonna I'm a little bit concerned about those programs that are so popular. Like global ecology at Poolesville. Right? Or aviation at Magruder High School, and and the applicants for those programs are so overwhelming. So my hope is that we really when we look at those specific programs, then we might be able to duplicate them regionally.
So it does make sense to have accessibility. Because when I look at the data of the participants in a lot of these programs, we are missing a lot of our our, black and brown students having access having access to the Richard Montgomery programs. Right? And like miss Montoya said, you know, it's interesting to see the the the the busing access, right, where you have 24 buses to Richard Montgomery and you have one bus to Kennedy High School. So in a way, we created this disparity.
Interestingly enough, under the name of equity, which we kind of fool ourselves to say that it was equity, but when we look at the true data, there's a lot of inequity going on. So I just want us to be very, just just very sincere about how maybe this some of the stuff worked thirty years ago, but we're kind of a different county now. There's been a lot of development in the county.
There's a lot of new families, like, you know, and how because this is gonna be something that is going to affect the next generation of our students. I wanna make sure that we get the accessibility for all kids. You know, a child who starts whether it's Arcola or whether it's at Southlake or whether it's at Bethesda Chevy Chase Elementary has the same possibilities, the same access to education, so they're able to fulfill their potential.
That's what I wanna see. Thank you, miss Silvestri. I wanted to go back to something that miss Rebecca Evans said earlier about the consistency of programs throughout the system. And, I just think you said you're gonna bring that back in a future meeting. Is that correct? Pretty sure that that is every future meeting for the next several years. I yes. And and I would say that, that continuity has has not been a strength of ours of late in in really anything, whether it's, you know, general instruction or whether
it's specialized programs. I think one of the the weaknesses that we hope to correct in our current programmatic model is that that there's not a lot of sharing, that goes on, and there's not a lot of cross development of the educators who are serving in a lot of these programs because they don't have peers. And what we hope to do is build peer groups so that it does create some healthy competition. It does create some healthy peer analysis so that we can look at programs in
terms of how we strengthen them, not just, prima facie, looking at the the numbers and the results. But but what does it mean for them to be in a in a STEM program at one school versus a STEM program at another school? And how can those teachers collaborate on providing new opportunities? Yeah. I think for our next presentation, we'd like to I'd like to hear more about that. That's what a lot of parents are concerned about is okay. Great. You're gonna put all these programs, but are they gonna be of the same quality
that we're accustomed to in the countywide program. So look forward to hearing more details about that. And then finally, where's dual enrollment? How does dual enrollment fit into the the regional programs? I mean, that's in the blueprint. It's growing. It's funded for the most part. So dual enrollment is also part of the advanced course offerings at all schools. All students have access to it. At every school currently? Okay. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Miss Dimuba. Thank you. I know we've talked about them quite a bit, but I wanted to bring up
that the chart on slide 20 and then also the timeline on slide four. These visuals are great. It's something I get questions about all the time. Okay. Like, what now what are we doing? What's the next step? What's that look like? And I would just appreciate that anyways that we can keep sharing visuals and those two visuals themselves that that would just be a really great asset for the community. I also wanna go back a little bit more to boundaries. I would appreciate some additional data, as we look at the next set of options
and going forward, on where we already have split articulation and where it will occur in the new options. I know split articulation is not something new, to our our boundaries, but I just think it would be a useful metric for us to consider as a board. Thank you. Yeah. We'll definitely bring that next step. Miss Manu, this will be the last question for this presentation. Yeah. Long day. I wanted to ask. So I think that a competitive spirit is a very, very important part of a program, especially in a concentrated place as we've seen with very successful programs that we
have currently. So what measures are gonna be taken so that we can ensure this continuously happens since we are expanding these programs so many times? Can I get some clarification? Are you talking about competitiveness for for students applying to programs or program to program in different regions? I'm talking about program to program. So, you know, in slide 33, you referenced two different programs of a similar STEM sort of field. How would you go about ensuring that there is cross disciplinary communication between the two and also that there is still that competitive, like minded, nurtured spirit between the students
that are willing to put forth their best effort? I think one of the things that we have to do is do a little bit more investigation around what makes these some of these programs Yeah. So, excellent and really make sure that we are taking all of those components as we are building out all of these other regional programs. As doctor Taylor mentioned, it's not just professional learning, but it's having a lot of
these like programs come together to build programs, to talk about best practices, those types of things. Because right now, a lot of schools who are just operating alone, a lot of teachers that don't have peers. And so we are going to need to do a lot of work to make sure that we are bringing programs in each like programs in each region together, to really talk about, some of those strong components. But then, also, what are the little aspects that make it different?
Those programs are similar, but there are slight differences. And so then we wanna make sure that we are supporting those schools with those slight differences. So it's professional learning. It's it's building a cohort of regional programs together on a regular basis. And I don't is that am I answering your question? I'm not sure. I think that more data needs to, like, come through before I can fully say that. I've my question's been answered. Okay. But, I appreciate that. But, yes.
I mean, we need we definitely need to continue to work to find out what aspects of our current programs, are are really make it an excellent program that we can, expand upon as we build out these programs. And if I can add, miss Milou, I think we also have an existing model. So, the international baccalaureate program, we have local programs, we have a regional program, and we also have a county wide program. But those teams come together, to work together to, discuss instruction, to discuss pedagogy, to
look at assessment. So I think that we have great examples and precedents from which we can build from. So I think that that's an example, if I understand you correctly, on how we can strengthen. But the other thing about some of these programs that may be different other schools is, the beauty of being able to personalize them for the school community that you are in. So it's really important for each of the schools to be able to personalize the experience. So although, miss Porter might be at a school and I might be at a different school, we can compare our notes, but we also can personalize the experience for
our students who might want to pursue a different, some some different internships, some different capstones, some different opportunities. But I think that but we can come together to collaborate and also have discourse about our, which I think is what you're getting at, is being able to strengthen that piece with some discourse and also some comparison and collaboration. I also just wanted to clarify though, would this be offered to students as well through, for example, extracurriculars, field trips? I can reference Blair Magnet, Poolesville Smacks. They do a local trip their freshman year to Lake Neil Needlewood where they discuss
a joint class that they both have known as RNE. Would these be offered to students in the future? Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Many of the students who are in our programs talk about how it's the courses are great, the teachers are great, but it really is all of the other parts of the package that make it special. So it's maybe the extracurriculars, it might be a field trip, it might be, study groups. So there's a whole host of elements. They might be the competitions. Right? So these are the pieces that all of our programs should have. So we are trying to set a standard for what those look like.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. I want to echo some of the request continue for data and articulation patterns. We we don't want to see students articulate three different times in their career in with MCPS. So, we'll come back again next month, continue this conversation. Thank you for the presentation. Let's go to item number eight. Oh, one request. We have upcoming community engagement, and I know the calendar is posted, but they, request
to make the calendar clickable so people can see where they are and and and then, how to get there and the time. So, just keep doing the calendar and make it, more understandable and easier for the community. All right. Item number eight is Board of Education, items. Are there any new business colleagues? Seeing none, I'm gonna move to item, item nine is items of information. Right now there's, no action needed is posted online.
And item 10, adjournment. Is there a motion for, to adjourn the meeting? So moved. I second that motion. Okay. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, raise your hand. Unanimous. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, all the audience, for joining us.