Category: Board of Education

Speak up About Proposed Boundary Changes

Leave a comment

In a news release dated Friday, February 19th, Prince George’s County Public Schools announced a public hearing about proposed school boundary changes and consolidations. The public hearing will be hosted by the Board of Education on Tuesday, February 23rd at 7 pm, in the Board room of the Sasscer Administration Building.

To register to speak at the meeting, sign up by calling 301-952-6300 before 4:30 p.m. the day of the hearing. Speakers will be limited to three minutes.

The CEO’s recommendations include consolidating Forestville High School into Suitland High School and consolidating Skyline Elementary School into William Beanes Elementary. It is also proposed that the 6th grade at certain K-6 elementary schools be reassigned to the feeder middle schools. The Board of Education will vote on the CEO’s proposed boundary changes at its February 25th meeting.

Keep reading to find more specifics about the boundary changes, consolidations, and grade  reorganizations that are on the table. Scroll to the end to find links to documents with more details about the proposed changes.

Recommended Changes:

New feeder pattern. Assign all Calverton Elementary School students to Martin L. King Jr. Middle School for grades 6-8. Currently, Calverton students feed into Buck Lodge Middle School, which is over capacity. Martin L. King Jr. has open seats.

Consolidations. Consolidate Forestville High School into Suitland High. Consolidate Skyline Elementary School into William Beanes Elementary. Assign 6th grades from both schools to Drew-Freeman Middle School.

Accokeek Area Boundary Changes. 

  • Change the boundaries of Accokeek Academy so that some neighborhoods are reassigned to Fort Washington Forest Elementary School and Gwynn Park Middle School.
  • Fort Washington Forest Elementary students will feed into Gwynn Park Middle and Gwynn Park High School.
  • Potomac Landing Elementary School will feed into Gwynn Park Middle and Gwynn Park High, instead of Accokeek Academy and Friendly High.

Grade adjustments. For the following elementary schools, the 6th grade will be reassigned to the feeder middle school:

Francis S. Key Elementary, Longfields Elementary, William Beanes Elementary, Ardmore Elementary, Kingsford Elementary, Cora L. Rice Elementary, Highland Park Elementary, Rose Valley Elementary, Flintstone Elementary, Glassmanor Elementary, Oxon Hill Elementary, Valley View Elementary

Read more:

Find the January 21st presentation to the Board of Education on the proposed boundary changes here: School Boundaries Board Presentation 2016 (1)

Find the community discussions on school boundaries, consolidations, and modernizations presentation here: Community Discussions Presentation (12-14-15)

Journey to Kindergarten, Part 2

1 Comment
This is the second part of a series documenting the steps one family is taking to prepare for their son’s entrance into kindergarten next year. Read Part 1 here.

by Gail Z.

20151020_153233I was wrong.

In my last post, I explained that I thought that we could pretty much choose where to send our son for kindergarten next year, within the Prince George’s County Public School system. 

Not quite.

I got clarity from my friend who had been through this process. You must first register your child at their neighborhood school. Once your child is enrolled and assigned a student ID, you may then submit a transfer request.

We’re not interested in an immersion program or charter school at the moment (but could be–more on that later). So we’re planning to send him to our neighborhood school. But we want to check it out first.

Continue reading →

Every Comment from the Feb. 9 Budget Hearing

Leave a comment

by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The Prince George’s County Board of Education held its third and final hearing Tuesday on the fiscal year 2017 operating budget. The hearing was well attended, and many of the speakers and audience members arrived on a bus chartered by Casa de Maryland in Langley Park. Video coverage of the meeting will be posted on PGCPS’s Youtube channel.

Board Chair Segun Eubanks reminded participants that comments would be limited to three minutes per person. He also noted that the Board is scheduled to adopt the budget at the February 25th Board meeting, after which it will be sent to County Executive Rushern Baker.

Fifteen people spoke at the hearing. Their comments are recapped below:

Continue reading →

Mary Kingston Roche is New Board of Education Member

Leave a comment

Hyattsville resident Mary Kingston Roche was sworn in Thursday as the newest member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education. Ms. Roche was appointed by County Executive Baker to fill the At-Large position vacated last summer by Dr. Daniel Kaufman.

Ms. Roche is Director of Public Policy for the Institute for Educational Leadership’s (IEL) Coalition for Community Schools. Community schools bring a wide range of services and supports to public schools, aiming to be both academic institutions and hubs of the community.

Read more about community schools on IEL’s Frequently Asked Questions page.

Read more on IEL’s website about Ms. Roche’s background experience and her role as advocate for community schools.

Read County Executive Baker’s news release.

New Dist. 7 Board of Education Member Welcomed

Leave a comment

K. Alexander Wallace, the new District 7 Board of Education member, was introduced at the November 12 Board of Education meeting.

You may watch Board Chair Eubanks’s welcome and Mr. Wallace’s introductory remarks, beginning at 14:50 and ending at 16:45 in the video of the November 12 meeting below.

 

Mr. Wallace is pursuing a Master in Public Administration at the University of Baltimore, after having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Towson University. He is a graduate of Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School in Prince George’s County and currently lives in Upper Marlboro.

Continue reading →

Weekly News Roundup: Construction Delays, Maintenance Concerns, Literacy Coaches, Openings for Bus Drivers and Nurses

Leave a comment

Accokeek Academy middle school students thought that they would begin the new school year in a newly renovated building, but due to construction delays, they are still in portable classrooms. The Academy is a K-8 school, and the elementary school portion of the renovation was completed in 2014. However, the new HVAC system has not worked properly since the upgraded building opened. (Sentinel)

In a September 24 meeting, the Board of Education discussed the need for better maintenance of facilities and debated whether there is inequity between schools in the southern and northern regions with respect to the system’s responsiveness to maintenance needs. (Sentinel)

In 2014, only 12% of PGCPS students who took the SAT demonstrated college readiness, compared with a 41% of students in the state of Maryland. PGCPS hopes that literacy coaches in schools will help to change that. (ABC 7)

Arne Duncan’s departure as Education Secretary — happening in December — has been met with a wide range of reactions. The Washington Post publishes a roundup of reactions, from Duncan’s critics and supporters. (Washington Post)

Continue reading →

Party Endorsements Are Major Factor in Board Elections

1 Comment

by Tommi Makila

How do you know which candidate is most likely to win a Prince George’s County Board of Education race? As with any election, there are many factors at play. Some aspects of the candidates and races may be too difficult to analyze objectively, such as the quality of the candidates’ ideas, campaign skills, and personal effort put into campaign activities. However, many important factors affecting the campaigns are quantifiable and easily compared.

In order to determine what factor has the greatest impact on the election results, I set out to analyze the 2014 BOE races in Prince George’s County. Based on my knowledge about our elections, I identified the following four factors as major potential contributing factors to a candidate’s success:

  • Incumbency
  • Fundraising
  • Democratic Party slate endorsement
  • Other endorsements (local media, county teachers union)

To refresh everyone’s memory, here are the general election results for the four BOE elections held in 2014:

Makila_BOE_table3
* Election winner

Continue reading →

Proposed Capital Improvement Program Includes New Schools, Renovations

Leave a comment

by Genevieve Demos Kelley
IMG_6326The proposed Fiscal Year 2017-2022 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) master list of projects comes with a hefty price tag. The six-year funding request is more than $2.4 billion, with $1.5 billion requested from the county and $0.9 billion requested from the state.

Here are just a few of the projects on the master list. (Estimated cost given is the total cost over the six-year period from FY 2017 through FY 2022):

  • A new International School at Langley Park (estimated cost: $34,071,762)
  • Two new Northern Area middle schools (estimated cost: $76,300,733 each)
  • A new high school in Planning Area 38, which includes Bladensburg, DuVal, Eleanor Roosevelt, High Point, Laurel, Northwestern, and Parkdale High Schools
    (estimated cost: $133,645,361)

Continue reading →

FY 2016 Approved Operating Budget Released

Leave a comment

by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The Approved Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2016 is now available online, and the full document may be downloaded here or at the Budget and Management Services website.

Though the $1.833 billion budget approved by the County Council is significantly smaller than the budget requested by the Board of Education in February, it represents a $37.8 million increase over the previous year’s $1.795 billion operating budget. But the number of students enrolled in the school system is also growing: The projected K-12 enrollment for the coming school year is 124,842, an increase of about 3,000 students compared with last year. The calculated K-12 “Cost Per Pupil” will actually slightly decline compared with last year, from $14,019 to $13,883 (see p. 36 of the full budget document)

Several budget categories will see increases or decreases in spending, when compared with the esimated expenditures from FY 2015(see p. 46 of the budget). Of all categoires, Instructional Salaries will see the greatest increase (about $29 million). The Textbooks and Instructional Materials category will see the greatest drop in spending ($10.4 million), followed by Administration ($6.7 million).

The Board of Education’s Citizens Letter, dated July 1, touted this list of new and expanded programs for PGCPS students:

Continue reading →

Weekly News Roundup: Fraud Indictment, Credit Cards, Football

Leave a comment

Board of Education member Lyn Mundey was indicted Tuesday on charges of illegally obtaining reduced-price school meals for her child. Mundey is one of five employees of the Government Accountability Office charged with falsifying documents in order to quality for reduced-price meals. The GAO had been conducting a study last year of possible beneficiary fraud within the school lunch program, when it found that some of its own employees were abusing the system. Mundey was already scheduled to leave the Board this month so that she could pursue a doctorate. She had been appointed by County Executive Baker to fill the position left by Carletta Fellows, who had resigned after being censured for misuse of a Board-issued credit card. (Washington Post, WUSA 9)

In January of this year, the Prince George’s County Board of Education voted to eliminate their Board-issued credit cards, which had been used for meals and hotels — sometimes within minutes of their homes — at taxpayer expense. But the Board voted to delay cancellation of the credit cards until April 1, and some Board members continued to use their credit cards months after the January vote. (NBC Washington)

County Executive Baker released a statement on Friday in support of the Purple Line. (County Executive) Later the same day, the County Council praised the County Executive’s decision to increase the Purple Line funding contribution by $20 million. (Prince George’s County Council) Read the Washington Post’s story on the decision to increase funding here.

Continue reading →