At a business meeting set for Februrary 11th, the Harford County Board of Education will hear presentations including grave warnings about future staffing cuts, and plans for a new, state-mandated math and English curriculum next year. The school board meeting will also include commendations for the responders to a student’s life-threatening emergency at C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air.
On the same evening that County Executive David Craig has planned a public hearing to gather input on the fiscal year 2014 county budget, Jim Jewell, HCPS assistant superintendent of business services, will present school board members with a warning about an impending “funding cliff” for HCPS that may require “significant” staffing cuts in future years. The warning is part of Jewell’s quarterly financial report to the school board for the period ending December 31, 2012. According to the published report:
“Towards the end of FY 2014, HCPS reaches a funding cliff where expenditures will outpace revenues, even with using $5.6 million of the accumulated Fund Balance [surplus from prior years]. Furthermore, the Fund Balance will be greatly reduced and no longer available to cover ongoing operating expenses in FY 2015. Unless substantial increases in local funding is provided to offset reductions in State Aid and the depletion of Fund Balance, significant reductions in staffing levels may be required to balance the budget, since approximately 85% of our costs are personnel related.”
Also on the school board’s February 11th agenda, a representative from the Maryland State Department of Education, Ms. Judy Jenkins, will make a presentation on the new state curriculum to be implemented in all Maryland schools next year. The new curriculum is derived from the Common Core State Standards, which establish “a single set of clear and rigorous educational standards for grades K-12 in reading/English/Language Arts and mathematics…” according to the published presentation. The Common Core standards, which have been adopted by all but a handful of states, were approved by the Maryland State Board of Education in June 2010.
Maryland is also one of 22 states involved in the development of related new tests for grades K-12, in an initiative known as the “Partnership for Assessments of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)”. According to the PARCC web site, the new tests will be ready for states to implement in the 2014-15 school year.
Dr. Susan P. Brown, HCPS coordinator of intervention, will discuss the HCPS transition plan for the new Common Core curriculum and the new PARCC tests.
Representing teachers, the Harford County Education Association (HCEA) will continue its series of recent presentations to the school board, this time on the topic of “HCPS Investment Packages”. The Monday presentation will be made by HCEA member Greg Plotycia.
Responders to a recent life-threatening emergency at C. Milton Wright High School will be recognized for their calm and quick response, saving the life of a student athlete. The response included the use of an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), which sends an electric shock to the heart to restore normal rhythm. The device was used to successfully treat a C. Milton Wright basketball player who had a medical emergency during a game earlier this month. All HCPS physical education teachers, coaches and nurses are required to be certified in CPR/AED. Also, each team is required to have an individual trained in the operation and use of an AED present at all practices and games.
Also on the agenda, the school board will recognize top middle and high school musicians for their achievements for the 2012-13 school year. Following competitive auditions before a panel of experts, soprano Laura Ebsworth of North Harford High School and alto Allison Stokes of Fallston High were selected as “All-Eastern” musicians. In addition, a total of 31 HCPS students were selected for this year as members of the Maryland All-State Junior Band, the Maryland All-State Senior Band, and the Maryland All-State Junior Chorus.
On the consent agenda, Superintendent Tomback will recommend a $813,735 contract award to K. Neal International Trucks of Hyattsville, MD, for the purchase of nine school buses. The contract includes a trade-in of nine existing buses, which are being replaced in accordance with federal guidelines and special education requirements. The contract is to be funded by the fiscal year 2014 capital budget, according to the published agenda. K. Neal International was the low bidder.
As usual, the school board meeting will conclude with a report from Superintendent Tomback. Last Monday, Tomback announced that he planned to leave HCPS on June 30th when his four-year contract expires. The announcement came on the heels of a February 1st deadline for Tomback to notify the school board whether he would seek reappointment. The following day, Bill Lawrence, Tomback’s second-in-command on instructional matters, announced that he planned to resign, also effective June 30th.
The February 11 board business meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the A.A. Roberty Building in Bel Air. A public comment period is set for 6:40 p.m. Below is the published meeting agenda. Please note that published agendas are subject to change.
Agenda
Monday, February 11, 2013
Board Open Session – 5:25 PM – Board Room
Board Closed Session – 5:30 PM – Board Executive Conference Room
Board Business Meeting – 6:30 PM – Board Room
*Times are approximate6:30 PM
Call to Order – Mr. Francis F. Grambo, III, President
Quorum Roll Call
Adoption of Agenda
Pledge of Allegiance6:35 PM Recognitions:
Emergency Response Team – C. Milton Wright High School
2013 All-Eastern and All-State Student Musicians6:40 PM Public Comment
6:55 PM Introductions
7:00 PM Board Committee Reports and Comments
Old Business
Action Item(s):7:15 PM A. Consent Agenda:
1) Affirmation of Monthly Contract Awards
2) Minutes of Previous Board Meeting: January 28, 2013
3) Decision on Award of Contract: Purchase of School Buses
New Business
Presentation(s):7:20 PM B. Presentation of Common Core State Standards, Ms. Judy Jenkins, Director of Curriculum, Maryland State Department of Education, Dr. Susan P. Brown, HCPS Coordinator of Intervention
8:05 PM C. Presentation of Quarterly Financial Report for the Period Ending December 31, 2012, Mr. James M. Jewell
8:20 PM D.
Presentation of HCPS Investment Packages, Mr. Greg Plotycia, HCEA Member8:40 PM E. Superintendent’s Report
Closing8:50 PM Future Meetings Review
Adjournment
Please sign and share.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/542/164/438/harford-countys-children-deserve-quality-schools/#
We have your children in a failing school and until you pay us more we won’t educate them.
And even if you do pay us will teach-to-the-test and start preparing next year’s list of demands.
You’re screwed we win.
Nah, I’m not screwed. My kids got a real education from really proifessional educators in a real school. I sent them to private school. The more people who do that the less teachers we will need in HCPS.
I love when teachers at private schools are just automatically considered to be more “professional”, even though there are ZERO certification requirements to be a teacher in a private school.
You think? No, actually, you don’t think.
It depends on the school.
At the school my kids attended the teachers had at least one certification, most 2, along with multiple degrees. And the school had accreditation from at least 2 entities (HCPS has none).
And the words ‘work-to-rule’ aren’t part of their vocabulary.
Work-to-rule isn’t a part of my vocabulary either. I serve my students and I’ll work for however long I need to in order to best serve them.
I didn’t say private school teachers don’t have certifications, I said they aren’t required to have certifications. Private schools are not governed by the MSDE certification requirements.
HCPS has the first entire feeder system in the nation to be accredited from top to bottom. The Edgewood Learning Community received accreditation from the Middle States Accreditation Commission in 2009, the first feeder system (K-12) to achieve such status.
At Loyola Blakefield you need be an Almuni with no teacher experience in many cases and you get a job. Although some of their teachers have real experience.
AbingdonTeacher, I hate to inform you but state certification does not a good teacher make. In fact, most private schools worth their salt tend to stay away from state indoctrinated teachers.
“Private schools are not governed by the MSDE certification requirements.”
Thank God for that. And thankfully they’re not beholden to its curriculum either.
I don’t understand where all the negativity towards public school teachers comes from.
I never said the certification automatically makes one a good teacher. I simply pointed out the baseless comments that are continually made on here about how much more professional private school teachers are than public school teachers.
There are great private school teachers that are uncertified, and there are terrible private school teachers. Just as there are great public school teachers that are certified, and terrible ones too. Don’t mock my professionalism simply because you don’t pay tuition to have your kids attend my school.
We are blessed to live in a country that maintains an education system where every child has the opportunity to be educated. We are also blessed to live in a country where parents can choose the school where the child gets that education, whether it be the local public school they support with their taxes, or a private option that better fits their vision for their’s child’s education.
You don’t help anything improve by simply continuing this argument of private school being so much better. Fine, we get that. Send your child to the private school.
Just don’t discount the professionalism of all public school teachers because some suck, for lack of a better term. All professions have those that suck. Good teachers want nothing more than to be surrounded by other good teachers. And for the most part we work to help those that need it. So do the majority of these hated “administrators” that are everyone’s favorite target as well. Do some of them suck, of course, see my comment above. But a great number of them do an admirable job of keeping a school running, including making sure teachers are operating at a high level.
I get tired of all the attention being placed on people that suck at their job, because they are the minority, with only passing lip service paid to those that do the job well.
AbingdonTeacher, no one, at least not I, is mocking your professionalism or discounting the professionalism of all public school teachers.
And you are correct, not all private schools are equal. However, more closer to the mark, all public schools are equal. Sure, there are different socio-economic factors that might make one school seem more appealing than another, but they are both beholden to the State’s education vision and mandated testing, the later of which drives the former. We choose to send our child to a private school not because we doubt the professionalism of you or some of your colleagues, but because we want our child to get a classical education in the humanities and sciences. We love the big and small things — from the academic freedom of the teachers, that our children still learn to parse sentences and to write in cursive (both not taught is the PS system, I am told), the instruction in Logic (would that PS system recover this), the fundamentals of Greek and Latin, the non-existent crime, small class sizes, and so forth.
AbingdonTeacher:
“We are also blessed to live in a country where parents can choose the school where the child gets that education, whether it be the local public school they support with their taxes, or a private option that better fits their vision for their’s child’s education.”
So, how do you feel about school vouchers? If we’re so blessed by allowing parents to choose, I assume you support them?
lol…40k spent to go to the same colleges public school kids are going to. I’ve seen the wall at John Carroll and others where those kids are going to college. WOW. money well spent! Must be nice to have $$$ to burn.
Good call, Union Thug! It IS the fault of the super successful HCEA and all the evil teachers who want to put one over on the general public!!! After all, the HCEA has successfully negotiated pay raises and cost of living increases for the past five years, so that Harford Co. teachers are the highest paid! They’ve also used bully tactics to scare the board into allowing them to lower educational standards so they can just teach to a test! In fact, if you’ve been in the classroom at all lately (and I’m sure you have, because you seem incredibly knowledgable…), then you’d know that these evil scum-sucking teachers don’t even teach anymore! THEY DON’T EVEN LEARN THE KIDS NAMES!!! They just play youtube videos ALLLLLLLL DAY LONG and don’t do a single thing to better themselves or anyone around them! I am SO GLAD that we have people like YOU, Union Thug, to keep us wise to these teachers/terrorists!
(Or not. The last time I checked, HCEA wasn’t a union, since unions are illegal in the state of Maryland. Teachers can’t even go on strike, so I’m not sure what power they actually wield. It might be more apropos to change your name to Association Thug… but, you’re right, it doesn’t quite get the point across, does it? Either way, your heart is in the right place; we definitely need to villify teachers who don’t actually have anything to do with how money is spent in the county. Everyone else gets a free pass, though – including the BOE and their absurd spending decisions, politicians who continue to choose not to fund education, and the lazy/teacher-bashing parents who wouldn’t know the first thing about an educators job. Keep fighting the good fight, Union/Association Thug! You are a hero to internet trolls everywhere.)
Please explain what you mean by “including the BOE and their absurd spending decisions.” Can you provide us with some examples?
Turf fields and expanded stadiums come to mind. Bloated technology expenditures including the implementation of a flawed tracking system like Performance Matters and Interactive white boards being placed in a ludicrous amount of classrooms that serve no purpose except to provide the students with more educational bells and whistles than is necessary. There’s also the matter of the grossly over-paid superintendent and administrators that don’t do anything except but put up road blocks and micromanage teachers in an effort to justify their position and subsequent paychecks. Examine the budget for yourself, or better yet, ask a teacher what they think of all the various programs the county spends money on. Is there any reason why we are mandating and paying for all sophomores and juniors to take the PSAT – a test doesn’t even matter? Ask around.
Can someone please tell me why HCPS and Superintendent Tomback refuse to answer simple questions? I have written his office 5 times with a simple question and yet he refuses to answer me. His assistant Netha has replied to me twice saying that he has received my e mail and yet he still has this run and hide attitude! This is embarrassing for the county. I have a simple question about the proper way for a concerned tax paying citizen to visit local schools. Does anyone else have this type of problem when writing Tombacks office?
I think it’s already been well established that Tomback hides from everyone and refuses to answer anyone’s questions. Everything gets filtered through his cronies (both going up and coming down.)
The end of his term can’t come soon enough.
I have been trying to get simple questions answered from HCPS/HBOE/Tomback for months, and all I ever get is a wild goose chase to another person/department without any answers.
An example of one of my few unanswered simple questions is, “How are victims of harassment and bullying actually tracked through the accused records and cared for by HCPS?”.
William Lawrences response was, “I believe that we are tracking victims through the records of the accused and there is no HCPS zero tolerance policy.”
Mr.Schmitz’s response was “At this point, given the legal posture of your relationship with HCPS, I would respond by saying that the questions which haven’t been previously addressed should be presented by your counsel to HCPS counsel, Mr. Spicer. ”
Dr Tomack and the HBOE, ” The request you are making is an administrative matter and any response should be forth coming from the school system administration and not the Board itself.”
AHS Principal Mike O’Brien’s response was,”From this point moving forward, I will be the sole point of contact to communicate with you regarding school policies and procedures, acadmics (non-IEP), and discipline for your son.” Not only did he spell academics incorrectly, but he didn’t answer my question.
Jimmy is correct the term can’t end soon enough, however how long is it going to take to clean up Tomback’s mess!?!
7th highest county in per capita income, 18th ranked county when it comes to school funding. Enough said.
How can people dislike fact? I guess if you plug your ears and yell loud enough, the truth will go away.
Artemis, Here are some other facts you conveniently ignore. Too much waste. Too much overhead. And on. And on.
I agree with you on this point. Someone on a message board made a suggestion some time ago that I agreed with wholeheartedly. That statement was to create a board of teachers and involved parents and allow them to go through the budget line-by-line. I bet a group like this could find waste beyond measure and could find enough money to fully fund the current system AND give raises. I have always believed that this county was too top heavy at the board level and is always too quick to spend millions on every new educational idea that comes down the pike. The money is there, however I am sure it is mismanaged.
What at the board level would you suggest be cut to make things not too heavy?
Because you can afford it isn’t good enough reason to raise taxes or shift more burden from one area of the budget to another. Suppose we’re getting an equal or better result without spending as much as 17 other counties – assuming your premise (which I don’t), is that necessarily a bad thing? Both of those poorly presented statistics mean nothing without a whole lot more information.
So since our teachers are doing more with less, we should maintain the status quo? I have two children and I, honestly, would prefer that they were part of a school system that was growing and moving forward, not funding itself on antiquated budget ideas from an out-of-touch county executive. If you are happy with the status quo, then good for you. I applaud your complacency.
Increasing costs is not necessarily “moving forward” although I understand how easy it might be to both pretend it’s so and use that information as convenient propoganda.
Propoganda is a nice “buzz word” used when you don’t agree with someone’s ideas that happend to be different from one’s own. You justify your position by falsely claiming that the differing idea is propoganda. Soon, you will call me a communist or a marxist. That tactic gets old. It is not propoganda to want my children to attend a fully funded school system. How is it so?
My fear, and it is far from propoganda, is that the county is going to have difficulty attracting the best applicants because of their low pay (compare it before you call me a propogandist) and constant funding problems.
I am not a propogandist. I am a parent who is worried about the educational policies of the county that I call home.
Using simplistic jargon to support additional spending is pure propoganda. We’re all guilty of using limited or distorted facts to support whatever position with which we agree. I don’t call people names such as marxist – watch that knee when it jerks forward it might leave a mark on your chin.
@Artemis
HCPS are fully overfunded.
The money is misallocated, wasted
and squandered.
You may be a leftist propagandist?
But you aren’t a practical pragmatist.
And you won’t allow for the possibility
that HCPS has too much funding and this
money could be spent better.
Common Sense – If you read an earlier posting on this thread, I would tend to agree with you. The funding priorities are most likely out of whack with reality. I firmly believe that informed/involved parents and teachers could take a knife and carve out the fat, leaving a fully funded system. Before you make those “leftist” accusations, READ an entire thread before you post.
And Money Tree, my apologies. You may not name call, using terms like Marxist. But you did call me a propogandist, which I addressed.
At the end of the day (IF YOU READ MY POSTS), I think the school system should be fully funded. I also think it can be fully funded with the current funds available. I maintain that the status quo of spending monies on luxuries and every new educational program that comes down thep pike is unsustainable. Fiscal conservatism (yes, I used the word conservatism), coupled with realistic spending, could yield enough monies to keep the system afloat while at the same time finding funds for COLAs for those who work with our children.
Listen, everyone of the teachers, bus drivers, dinng hall staff, administration, inclusion helpers cares about your kids, or your neighbors kids, or someone in your familys kids. Stop bashing each other, I agree times are tight for everyone, and we all feel entitled to some sort of a raise, but remember who we are working for. Every one of us is there for the kids, and if your not there for that reason there is many other jobs you can apply for. I would like a raise, I deserve a raise, but i would never become so greedy where i would just bash other people. Remember we are all in this together. WE need to do whats right for our students first and foremost they are the ones who will be the leaders of tommorow. They will be the ones who will carry us out of this financial crisis. Lets all work together to come up with a soloution.
Abingdon Teacher,
I applaud your passion for defending your profession. That being said, you have stated what we all know to be true. And that is that some teachers and some schools in HCPS “suck”. Your term, not mine. One of the sticking points for many of us is that we are forced to support those teachers and schools thru the taxation process. And both the teachers and the schools have organizations in place that protect them from the consumer. Also, directly or indirectly we also support the organizations that lobby against our best interestes. In the private sector I am not required to support service providers that “suck”. I do wish you had chosen a more genteel term. Also, I am not required to deal with employees that “suck”. In the private sector I am presented with options on where and how to spend my money. In public education the only option I have is to support what I don’t want and then also spend additional money to get what I do want. Get rid of the waste, get rid of the employees that are poor performers then talk to me about an increased level of support.
Perhaps you are an exception and perhaps there are numerous exceptions like you but all of you ‘exceptional’ folks have allowed your cause to be tarnished by HCPS and HCEA and BOE. You have remained silent, so to many of us who provide the funding we see you as just part of the problem.
School Custodian,
Thank you for your service to our kids but given the quality of the education provided most of them won’t carry us anywhere. They can’t even balance their checkbook.
Same could be said about the quality of parents around here too….
Unfortunately you are correct.
Look, I cant speak for everyone but I do know what I do, I examine every expense, I look at the entire operation from a facility’s management standpoint. I ensure that even the smallest leak gets repaired, I turn out lights to conserve energy, i recycle nuts, bolts, washers, to help to fabricate new items to save the school system, money, Iinstruct others on best practices and best methods that will ultimately effect the bottom line, because what I do and what you do effects everyone.
Comcast service sucks near my house but Fios, and dish are not options for me. SO yes I must deal with private companies that suck. Same with BGE!
Yep. That’s what happens when the government grants monopolies to companies in the private sector.
Actually, the result is what happens when a private company makes a business decision NOT to support a given geographic location. That is when government is asked to step in to provide a level playing field so the citizenry are not at the mercy of businesses only interested in maximizing profit.
So if I go to the County and tell them I want my company to be allowed to string my cable tv and internet connections to everywhere and every household that only Armstrong now serves via the in place poles the County is going to say “Sure, no problem. Go ahead.” They are not.
How come schools weren’t closed today? What the?????!!!!!!
46 degrees is too cold for children, the sun rises right after 7am making it hard for school bus drivers to see! Come on!!!!!!!!!
Look everyone! A fresh-faced troll!!!
Seriously, MEfirst, what is the point of this comment? Are you directing this at the students, teachers, or bus-drivers? Where is your disgust being directed? Either way, your words literally have nothing to do with this article and are in no way productive. You’re embarrassing yourself.
I happen to agree, schools should begin session at 10am.
Most bus drivers are retired, or semi retired, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a change in time for bus routes.
Get school busses out of morning rush hour and let schools out an hour or two earlier in the day. I think multiple studies have been shown that this is extremely productive.
Hey Abingdon Teacher: FYI Private school teachers do not race out the building at 3:00PM like public school teachers. They are part of the family and not a UNION RESOURCE!