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- A Federal Effort to Push Junk Food Out of Schools
- BOE vs Commissioners - Budget FACTS
- NOTES from Board of Education Meeting, 2/9/10
- REMINDER: Board of Education Meeting, 02/09/10
- Finding the better high school
- More Recent Articles
- Search Ready, Willing and Abell
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: February 7, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years.
In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare.
To that end, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver a speech Monday at the National Press Club in which he will insist, according to excerpts provided to The Times, that any vending machines that remain in schools be “filled with nutritious offerings to make the healthy choice the easy choice for our nation’s children.”
Read more HERE
- On April 22, 2009, at Mr. Cooper’s and the Commissioners' request, the Board of Education was required to sign a “settlement agreement” which agreed to the terms and conditions of funding the BOE 2010 operating budget effective July 1, 2009. Included in that request was a commitment statement that the County would “meet its Maintenance of Effort Obligation” for 2010 and rescind their MOE waiver request.
- During this same timeframe, Mr. Richmond was called over to a meeting with the Commissioners where he was asked to sign a separate confidential agreement indicating that he would not XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Mr. Richmond refused and indicated to them that it would be illegal to do so and a violation of collective bargaining. Mr. Richmond, Mr. Balides, all five commissioners and the County Administrator were present at this meeting.
- On September 09, 2009 the county administrator announced across the board cuts totaling $8-10 million based on anticipated future cuts from the state. Of that amount the County requested that the BOE cut 2% or $2.9 million. "I am proposing these reductions so that we are able to sustain future anticipated state cuts, sustaining a loss of revenue due to the economic recession and to prevent additional cuts throughout the year," said County Administrator Rebecca B. Bridgett in an article in the Maryland Independent.
- On September 10, 2009 Mr. Cooper met with Mr. Richmond, Col. Wade, Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Balides at Hawthorn Country Club, to discuss the County’s budget problems. Mr. Richmond and Col. Wade reminded Mr. Cooper that we could not (and would not) violate the maintenance of effort law by returning funds below the maintenance of effort level. If the county government wanted to violate the law, that was its option. It was at this meeting that Mr. Richmond also told Mr. Cooper that the teachers' contract required us to open negotiations for salaries in January, and that we hoped to have saved enough money to make good on the contract. Mr. Cooper stated “that would be great.”
- On September 18, 2009 the County identified $934,000 in BOE funding cuts which would not violate the maintenance of effort laws.
- On October 23, 2009 the County Commissioners sent over a letter indicating that they were reversing a longstanding agreement which allowed the Board of Education to transfer funds between categories as long as it did not require additional funding from the County.
- In a meeting on November 3, 2009 between Mr. Cooper, Ms. Patterson, Col. Wade, Ms. Wise, Mr. Richmond, and Mr. Balides, Mr. Cooper indicated that the intent of the letter was to prevent the BOE from using fund balance so that could revert back to the County at year end. Once again Mr. Richmond, Mr. Balides and others reiterated the maintenance of effort law and emphasized (provide Mr. Cooper and Ms. Patterson with documentation) of prior attorney generals legal opinions that any fund balance that a school system generates does not relieve a county from its maintenance of effort obligations.
- On November 18, 2010 Gov. O’Malley announced a second round of cuts which did not include cuts to local County governments. Interestingly enough, the County still implemented the cuts from its earlier $10 million estimate, including staff furloughs.
- January 12, 2010, the BOE approves funding step and scale increases (no COLA) through internally generated savings. The MSEA teacher’s representative indicated to Mr. Balides and Mr. Hettel that she had had several conversations in the past with Mr. Cooper and he was supportive of providing teachers their scale increase.
The Board Meeting on Tuesday, February 9th will be re-broadcast on Comcast Channel 96, Verizon FIOS Channel 12 and is available via webstream at http://www.ccboe.com/ . To view the full agenda and the various reports, please visit BoardDocs.
The below notes are my personal notes and are not intended to be all-inclusive or official minutes for the Board of Education meetings and are provided as a request from my supporters and the general public in a personal effort to be more transparent. Although I have diligently tried to make these notes as unbiased and accurate as possible, I am only human and do make mistakes.
(PLEASE NOTE...THE MEETING WAS CONDENSED FROM THE ORIGINAL AGENDA DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER)
Executive session - 11 a.m.
Call to order - 11:20 a.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Reports of officers/boards/committees
Superintendent's update
Correspondence/Board member updates
- Wise reported on the annual Beg-A-Thon in Annapolis
- Carrington-Thanks students at Dr. King breakfast...Canadian Embassy/Space Foundation
- Pederson-Unity in the Community Forum
Education Association of Charles County update
Student Board member update
Race to the Top grant
- See power point presentation, lots of information...EACC is strongly against...see separate post
- Evaluations tied to student achievement
- Compensation tied to student achievement
- Difficult to staff schools in trouble
- Tenure
Report item: FY 2011 budget
- See power point presentation
2011-2012 school calendar
- See proposal and provide input to CCPS
Legislative update
- Labor Relations Bill H#243; S#590 (Middleton is one of the leads)
- Eric Schwartz says we oppose
Unfinished business
- Review RSVP's for What Counts and call them
New business and future agenda items
Resolutions
- Read Across Charles County
- Women's History Month
- Fine and Performing Arts Month
Action items
- Minutes - YES Unanimous
- Personnel - YES Unanimous
Adjournment
The Board of Education’s next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building on Radio Station Road in La Plata. The public portion of the meeting begins at 1 p.m. and recognition begins at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is televised live on Comcast Channel 96 and Verizon FiOS Channel 12, and is rebroadcast throughout the week. Program schedules are available at www2.ccboe.com/publicinfo/channel96/schedule.cfm.
Executive session - 12 p.m.
Call to order - 1 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance, Westlake High School's JROTC unit
Reports of officers/boards/committees
- Superintendent's update: DVD on new high school
- Correspondence/Board member updates
- Education Association of Charles County update
- Student Board member update
- Schools system's outreach to Haiti
- CIP update
- Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) and equity training
- Race to the Top grant
- Report item: FY 2011 budget
- 2011-2012 school calendar
- Legislative update
Unfinished business
New business and future agenda items
- New business
- Future agenda items
Recognition - 4:30 p.m.
- Students
- Employees
- Maryland Society for Educational Technology Outstanding Educator Using Technology Award winner, Sandra Chisholm, Piccowaxen Middle School
- Resolutions: Read Across Charles County; Women's History Month; and Fine and Performing Arts Month
Public Forum - 6 p.m.
Action items
Public hearing on FY 2011 budget
Work session on FY 2011 proposed operating budget (if needed)
Action item
- FY 2011 proposed operating budget
Adjournment
Jay Mathews
Washington Post
On the second page of the Post's Metro section, and on this Web site, you see the results of the 12th annual Washington Post survey of high school student participation in college-level tests, what I call the Challenge Index.
The ranked list of public schools -- both the Washington area version in the Post and the national version in Newsweek each June -- gets lots of attention, but the outrage and acclaim usually swirls around the issue of whether ranking schools is good for you. With much support from Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate teachers around the country, I think it is. But how can you use it?
I invented the list to show that some schools in good neighborhoods don’t deserve their great reputations, and some schools in poor neighborhoods don’t deserve their terrible ones. Opening up AP and IB courses to everyone who wants to work hard -- the philosophy of the teachers who inspired me to do this -- is a relatively new idea. Ten years ago, most schools in the United States did not let students take these courses unless they had strong grade point averages or teachers’ recommendations.
Many still have those rules, or at least don’t encourage students to challenge themselves as much as they could. The list helps you find the ones that have shed those old, bad habits.
Read more HERE
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