Suzanne Addington

The meeting commenced with a roll call and the formal reopening of the session. Discussions included an acknowledgement of a gift and donation from the Baltimore Orioles to Harlem Park Elementary Middle School, valued at $7,925. The board also celebrated Women's History Month, highlighting schools named after influential women such as Dorothy I. Height and acknowledging Western High School as the oldest all-female public school in the country. A significant portion of the meeting involved presenting findings from a community engagement report commissioned by Alma Advisory Group concerning the search for the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Key focus areas derived from community feedback include supporting students with diverse learning needs, such as early identification and intervention for students with disabilities and multilingual learners, and reviewing the school portfolio strategy, encompassing resource equity and post-secondary transitions. Another theme addressed was climate and well-being, particularly focusing on improving student attendance.

The Operations Committee Meeting presentation provided a detailed technology update. Key topics included alignment with board priorities such as modernized facilities/resources, equal access, and equity. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) mission emphasizes being a trusted advisor with a customer-oriented mindset. OIT supports over 70,000 students and 10,000 staff across 160 schools, with a technology footprint increasing by approximately 5% yearly. Major administrative modernization involved the implementation of the AMP program, replacing a 22-year-old ERP system for finance, HCM, and payroll, and the successful go-live of the new Human Capital and Payroll system. Operational maturity goals focus on shifting from reactive incident response to preventive service management through problem management, implementing formal Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and proactive IT event management. Financial and strategic planning addressed the one-to-one Chromebook initiative, including assessing budget implications for refresh cycles. Infrastructure changes included moving to a new internet service provider, resulting in a 60% cost reduction, and migrating remaining in-house email infrastructure to the cloud. Data governance was highlighted, emphasizing data inventory, due diligence, and planning for automated data loss protection. Furthermore, the discussion covered piloting and planned rollout of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, specifically Microsoft Copilot, for administrative efficiency while maintaining stringent data security protocols regarding student and staff data. Community engagement initiatives like the Youth Apprenticeship program and a new Tech Mentorship program at Carver VOTE were also discussed.

The Policy Committee meeting focused on two primary areas: Policy GBM regarding temporary employment and Policies Ikea/Ike regarding promotion, retention, and graduation standards. For Policy GBM, discussions involved providing guidance on hiring, compensation, and extending temporary employee assignments, noting that temporary roles are at-will, cannot replace regular employees, and receive only mandatory benefits. Proposed revisions for Policy GBM include clarifying definitions, explicitly naming sick and safe leave eligibility, and expanding the categories exempt from the 90-day workday limitation. For Policies Ike and IkeB, revisions were made to align with state requirements (Komar, Blueprint, MSDE), including increasing the rigor of foundational requirements for promotion from 9th to 10th grade and adjusting mathematics credit requirements for graduation. The committee also discussed the timeline for stakeholder engagement and future readings for these policy revisions.

The 2025-2026 School Performance Plan for Vanguard Collegiate Middle School aims to provide an empowering environment that supports learner safety and health, ensuring all students attain grade-level achievement in informational text and are at or beyond grade-level upon entering high school. The plan focuses on four key areas: Literacy, Mathematics, Graduation (emphasizing middle school academic readiness), and Wholeness. Key strategies include utilizing data cycles for progress monitoring, implementing personalized learning approaches, elevating writing skills, and strengthening school-family connections to improve student outcomes and well-being.

The Teaching and Learning Committee meeting included a Black History science spotlight on Dr. Marie Daly, who was the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in chemistry and researched the connection between cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The main presentation focused on K-12 science curriculum content updates, aligning work with board priorities of rigorous instruction and equity in access to high-quality science experiences. The discussion covered proficiency data from the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA) for grades 5 and 8, and the life science end-of-course assessment, noting that proficiency rates for the city schools are lower than the state average. Four key strategies were detailed to improve performance: deepening understanding of MISA's complex, scenario-based demands; supporting teachers in implementing strong, student-centered instructional materials; conducting inclusive professional learning emphasizing cross-disciplinary connections; and integrating writing strategies to strengthen expository writing for demonstrating scientific literacy. A presentation from Armistead Gardens Elementary Middle School highlighted their actions, including dedicated science collaborative planning time and embedding Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) writing exercises, which coincided with a significant upward trend in their 2025 MISA 8 scores.