Board of Education Meeting Recap - September 22nd, 2020

On Tuesday, September 22nd, the Board had a relatively short meeting- by their standards- taking a few short afternoon hours to discuss a temporary suspension of MCPS’ sexual harassment policy, updates to the virtual learning plans, and a proposal allowing mental health days for students. 

Public Comments

Thirteen people submitted testimony to the board this week, all addressing concerns connected to virtual learning. In general, staff testimony focused on ensuring safety and protections for themselves. Two teachers, Tiffany Patterson and Jessica Shevitz, as well as Margret Bower and Stacey Lynch of the Elementary Council of Teaching and Learning, expressed concerns for the ways that MCPS has been treating teachers throughout this return to learning in a virtual setting. They complained about a lack of guidance from MCPS on the best practices for teaching, as well as a significant increase in their workload and a lack of autonomy allowing them to tailor their instruction according to their strengths, observations, and students’ needs.

Other community members had varying concerns about virtual learning. Two parents, Charles Thomas and Tammany Kramer, both expressed their support for continuing a virtual model. They believe opening schools in person would be dangerous for the community, mentioning that so far the downsides to virtual learning do not outweigh the risk that in person learning would require. Kevin Dougherty, a parent who has testified at several board meetings in a row, vehemently disagreed. He again expressed his belief that COVID-19 poses almost no risk to students, and that virtual learning is a wholly inadequate form of instruction, both academically and emociosocially. MCCPTA Chair Lisa Cline shared concerns about the current model of virtual learning, although she does not agree with Dougherty that we are ready to send kids back into the classroom. Instead, she proposes following MSDE “best practices” regarding screentime restrictions more closely, with furthered emphasis on work that happens independently and on paper, and investigating the possibility of holding some in person outdoor classes. This proposal uniquely parallels one published last week by three former MCPS SMOBs, although they did not testify on their proposal to the Board. Finally, Zena Carmel-Jessup and Theodora Scarato both warned of the dangers of WiFi radiation on students, imploring MCPS to provide ethernet cords to all students and asking them to listen to the science.

For more information on public testimony, go to: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BQEM9758D1D9

Temporary Suspension of Policy ACF, Sexual Harassment

In an effort to comply with a May 6, 2020 update to US Dept. of Education Title IX regulations regarding sexual harassment as a form of sexual discrimination, the Board of Education brought forward a proposal to do three things. First, to immediately implement all aspects of the new federal regulations. Second, to temporarily suspend existing policies in order to allow the Policy Management Committee to update them in conformity with federal regulations. Third, to give Superintendent Jack Smith full authority to establish temporary interim regulations until new policies could be implemented.

Jeanette Dixon (at-large) raised concerns about our need to actually suspend the policy, when it seems as though we could simply write over our current one according to the new federal regulations and approve it seamlessly. Patricia O’Neill (district 3), who is on the Policy Management Committee, responded that due to the sensitivity and importance of this policy, they felt as though it was impossible or at least improper to simply cut and paste new language onto old policy. Therefore, she said, the policy should be fast-tracked but still properly developed within the committee. Although Dixon expressed concern about the precedent of suspending policies while they are being updated, the measure still passed by a unanimous 8-0 vote.

Opening Schools in Recovery of Education - Update

The Board then transitioned to a conversation about how virtual learning has been developing, which took up the bulk of the meeting. Although they neither discussed nor voted on any changes to the plan, they had a long conversation about enrollment, standardized testing, and ongoing efforts into material distribution.

To start, Superintendent Jack Smith briefly summarized a report on enrollment numbers. Although no elementary schools met their enrollment projections, due in part to a large number of parents delaying the start of kindergarten for their children by a year, every middle school either met or exceeded them and most high schools were, at a minimum, close to their projections. Sean McGee, Director II of Learning, Achievement, and Administration, later confirmed that a still-fluctuating and unofficial enrollment number was 162,342 students as of September 13th. While this is a drop (and an expected one) from last year’s official count of 165,267 students, the count is not finalized until the official deadline to file unenrollment paperwork on September 30th.

Scott Murphy, the Director of the Department of College and Career Readiness, and Eric Wilson, the Director of Learning, Achievement and Administration, spoke about SAT and MAP testing. On Saturday, 9/26, roughly 3,500 students are expected to take the SAT, of which approximately 80% are enrolled MCPS students. Students are capped at 10 per classroom and 250 per test site, and there are ongoing plans to hold more SAT test dates in the future. The PSAT, meanwhile, is not scheduled to be held until 2021. MAP testing, mandated by MDSE, is to serve as a diagnostic tool given to all students despite its traditional end after students complete 8th grade. After concerns from Vice President Brenda Wolff (at-large), Wilson and Deputy Superintendent Monifa McKnight admitted that while they can’t place their full faith in the validity of these tests, they can certainly be seen as a piece in a holistic puzzle as some of the most effective data we can use to measure student achievement and learning loss. Other pieces noted as markers for student achievement are interim grades and last year’s AP and IB test scores.

Dr. Smith, Dr. McKnight and McGee brought forward information about plans to expand MCPS’ CARES act to help provide tutoring services and learning pods for students in need. In addition, they plan to use funding to bring back the MCPS Homework Hotline. Finally, they noted that they are not afraid to go past their budgetary allotment in order to ensure academic equity.

Discussion generally concluded with a conversation about material distribution and the technical functionality of virtual learning. Associate Superintendent of Technology and Innovation Peter Cevenini proudly revealed that MCPS has given out some 135,000 chromebooks to students and another 23,000 to staff. He also noted that we’ve seen almost a million and a half myMCPS logins and almost a million student logins to Synergy, the new system MCPS is using in tandem with myMCPS as a catch-all system for grades, scheduling, messaging and other key information. There was, as always, discussion about the ongoing distribution of meals and supplies to students, which continue to be offered at more times and in more places than ever before. However, after some prodding from SMOB Nick Asante, Associate Superintendents Essie McGuire and Niki Hazel did reveal that there continue to be issues distributing workbooks to elementary students, which stems from a miscommunication with a vendor as systems changed over the summer. The Board also briefly discussed the platform of Canvas itself, and Deputy Superintendent McKnight said that they are still looking for more information on organizational systems before making any decisions to change anything.

For more information, go to: 

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BTQJ2W4B2021/$file/Opening%20Schs%20Recovery%20Ed%20Update%20200922%20PPT.pdf

Mental Health Days Resolution

As the meeting drew to a close, SMOB Nick Asante brought forward his first policy proposal of the year. Drawing on MSDE regulations about excused absences and the MCPS Be Well 365 initiative, Asante proposed that the Policy Management Committee investigate and develop a plan to “explicitly [permit] excused mental health days”. A policy that has been proposed and shot down in the past, a confusing age strife with newfound headaches over zoom and constantly evolving conflict found a Board that was much more amicable to the proposal. It passed by a 7-1 vote, with VP Wolff dissenting because she believed that it was simply extra work for the Policy Management Committee given how parents are already permitted to excuse their children from school when sick. A response from the Policy Management Committee will come in winter 2021.

For more information, go to: 

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BTQ27V00DAE1/$file/New%20Business%20-%20Resolution%20re%20mental%20health%20days%20ADOPTED.pdf

The Board will conduct their next business meeting on Tuesday, October 6th. Signups for public testimony will open on Wednesday, 9/30 at 9:00 am and run through Friday, 9/2 at 12:00 noon.