The Harford County Board of Education plans a business meeting on April 14th to include recognition for Teacher of the Year finalists, a teachers’ union presentation on wage disparities, and approval of revised policies for extra-curricular activities and clubs.
First on the agenda, the Board plans to recognize Lawrence M. Jehnert, third grade teacher at Edgewood Elementary, who was recently named HCPS Teacher of the Year for 2014-15. The Board will also recognize the other finalists: Jeanne M. Donlick, mathematics teacher at Harford Technical High School; Nicole L. Ivey, social studies teacher at Edgewood High School; Alisa J. Janiski, fourth grade teacher at Prospect Mill Elementary School; and S. Craig Llewellyn, art teacher at Edgewood High School.
Mr. Jehnert will represent HCPS in the Maryland Teacher of the Year competition, with a winner to be announced in October 2014.
Next on the agenda, Ryan Burbey, president of the Harford County Education Association, the bargaining union representing teachers, will make a presentation showing disparities in teacher salaries between Harford and Allegany counties. The presentation is another in a recent series from Mr. Burbey comparing teacher salaries in HCPS with other Maryland school systems.
According to the published presentation, HCPS teachers with a bachelor’s degree could make between $762 and $5,362 more in Allegany County Public Schools, depending on their years of employment. Other salary variations are shown depending on both longevity and education levels attained. The presentation also shows HCPS teacher salaries at various levels ranking between 12th and 24th (last) in the state. The full presentation appears in a link on the agenda published below.
On the consent agenda, the Board is set to approve the next areas of study for its five citizen advisory committees. The committees will report their findings to the Board in October for consideration during development of the annual budget request. For each committee, Superintendent Barbara Canavan’s published recommendations are as follows:
“1. Career and Technology Education – Evaluate the adequacy of the Career and Technology Education programs being offered in all high schools in terms of meeting both student and workforce needs, particularly those related to internship/mentoring opportunities and investigate non-traditional funding sources to support CTE programs.
2. Family Life Education – Evaluate the Family Life and Human Development Education program in Grades K-12 in terms of compliance with the State Standards for Comprehensive Health Education and investigate possible delivery models for realigned family life education content in grades four and five.
3. Gifted Education – Research and propose cost-effective gifted and talented identification and service model delivery options for students in grades 6-12 for a continuum of services.
4. Safety and Security – The Committee respectfully requests to pursue the following areas of study during the 2013-2014 school year:
a.) Continue to review individual school critical incident plans
b.) Conduct on-site school inspections to review if schools are in compliance with various safety initiatives. This would include, but not be limited to, the use of the Visitor Management System (VMS) and the locking of doors.
c.) Investigate the benefits/effectiveness of the AAA Mid-Atlantic Safety Patrol Program in our elementary schools.
5. Special Education – To explore the continuum of programs for students with disabilities in HCPS and make suggestions for enhancements, as appropriate.”
Also on the consent agenda, the Board is set to approve a $120,697.14 contract award to Angler Environmental of Odenton, MD, for repair of the storm water management system at Red Pump Elementary School, which is currently in violation of county regulations. According to the supporting documentation, the contract is “piggybacking” on a contract established by Baltimore County Government Contract #B-437. Funding is to come from the fiscal year 2011 Capital Projects Account.
Lastly on the consent agenda, the Board plans to approve a $205,176.03 contract award to Playground Specialists, Inc. of Emmitsburg, MD, for the purchase of an adaptive playground at John Archer School, which serves students with special needs. According to the supporting documentation, the school does not have an accessible playground that meets the needs of its students who range in age from 3-21 years old. The equipment cost was established through piggybacking a publicly solicited Frederick County Public Schools Playground contract RFP #09-MISC-10. Funding sources are as follows: Harford County Parks and Recreation, $50,000, John Archer School PTA, $3,000, various community sources $7,000 and Harford County Public Schools, $145,176.03.
Pending Board approval, installation is expected to begin on or around June 1, 2014.
Under action items, the Board plans a decision Monday to update its policies and procedures on extra-curricular activities and clubs. The planned action comes after more than a year of proposed revisions, followed by feedback from Board members and the public, followed by further reviews.
An original effort to ban all team activities, including celebrations, in a team member’s private home was revised in response to feedback so that the current proposal only bars HCPS coaches or supervisors from planning, sanctioning or supervising team activities that may take place in a private home.
The latest proposal also allows elementary and middle school students to occasionally participate in marching band activities otherwise allowed only for high school students.
In addition to the above policy revisions, revised procedures outlining safety precautions for students in extra-curricular activities and clubs are also recommended for Board approval. Included in the procedures, which are under the purview of Superintendent Barbara Canavan, is a requirement that information regarding concussions be given to students in athletic activities in accordance with Section 7 – 433 of the Education Article of the Maryland Code. The procedures also allow for the limited use of power tools by students, and set conditions allowing volunteers to oversee extra-curricular and club activities.
Participants in the Destination Imagination program had objected to procedures implemented earlier this school year barring parent volunteers from supervising extra-curricular activities and prohibiting students from using power tools. They also sought clarification on the definition of banned power tools.
Under the revised safety procedures, power tools are defined and exceptions to the ban are specified. For example, hot glue guns are allowed for students from elementary through high school. Middle school students may also use cordless screw drivers; high school students may also use cordless screw drivers and cordless drills. Students can use other power tools under the supervision of a current HCPS technology teacher if the teacher has been trained on their use and uses them regularly in class. Students in such cases must also pass an applicable safety test. All power tools used in extra-curricular and club activities must be owned by HCPS. Volunteers are also allowed to supervise students under the following provision:
“All Extracurricular Team and Club activities shall be conducted under the supervision and control of the Harford County Public School Team coach; or Club staff sponsor or a volunteer who has been approved by the Team coach or Club staff sponsor to supervise and control a particular activity.”
The complete extra-curricular and club policy and procedure documents up for approval Monday appear in the link on the agenda published below.
Last on the agenda is a report from Superintendent Canavan.
The April 14th board business meeting is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the A.A. Roberty Building in Bel Air, with Vice-President Rick Grambo presiding. The public comment period is planned for 7:05 p.m. The published agenda and detailed links appear below. Please note that published agendas are subject to change.
Agenda
Monday, April 14, 2014
Board Open Session – 4:55 PM – Board Room
Board Closed Session – 5:00 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, Vice -President
Quorum Roll Call
Adoption of Agenda
Pledge of Allegiance6:35 PM Recognition: 2014-15 Harford County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Finalists
6:50 PM Board Committee Reports and Comments
7:05 PM Public Comment
7:20 PM Presentation on Teacher Salary Comparisons, Mr. Ryan Burbey, HCEA President
Old Business
Action Item(s):
7:40 PM A. Consent Agenda:1) Affirmation of Monthly Contract Awards (Goal 4)
2) Minutes of Previous Board Meeting: March 24, 2014 (Goals 1 – 4)
3) Approval of Charges for Board Sponsored Citizen Advisory Committees (Goals 1 – 4)
4) Storm Water Management Repair at Red Pump Elementary School (Goal 4)
5) Adapted Playground at John Archer School (Goal 4)
7:45 PM B. Decisions on HCPS Board Policies, Patrick P. Spicer, Esq. (Goals 1-4)
– Curricular-Extracurricular Activities (06-0007-000)
– Clubs (06-0010-000)
New Business
Presentation(s):8:05 PM C. Superintendent’s Report
Closing8:15 PM Future Meetings Review
Adjournment
So before all the teacher bashing commences, can we think logically here for a moment?
The lack of funding the teacher salaries, while in the short term will save the system money, in the long term, it will severely hurt the system. Once a county gets a bad reputation, it can take years, if not decades, to regain respect.
Before the economic downside that befell everyone years ago, talk to any science graduate from a University, and try to convince them to go into teaching. The reply will be ‘there is no money in teaching.’ If you compare the longevity of a science major’s salary in their career field to that of a teacher, hands down, you will make far more money working for a corporation than you will in teaching.
How are you going to attract the best and brightest of your science people into teaching if you aren’t going to pay them for what they feel their time is worth?
Or worse, publish a salary scale on your website for the world to see, but never fully fund it? The fact that the county has now done this for a few years, has sent the message loud and clear that people as teachers aren’t valued, and that as a county, you are always looking for the lowest bid possible.
Current science teachers aren’t ‘failed’ majors, as the misconception may be about them. They are the people that go into teaching because one, they like working with people, and two, some teacher they had in their life influenced them to go into teaching. Of all the science teachers that I have met in my lifetime, they are passionate about the subject they teach, and want to hopefully also awaken that passion of science in other people, so that more students might rise to the challenge and choose a science career pathway they may not have otherwise chosen.
This isn’t just limited to only science teachers; this applies to all fields.
You can’t, however, expect to retain them if you aren’t going to honor the contract. When your veteran teachers leave, yes, the county saves money by hiring a new person with less experience. But what you lose out on are the years of experience a veteran teacher can give to a younger teacher via mentoring. Veteran teachers know what methods work and don’t work; they can be the sounding board for a rookie teacher to bounce ideas off of before trying a new lesson in a classroom, etc. Do you really want your children taught by inexperienced people every year? Or worse, by long term substitutes that may or may not have any experience in subject they are covering caused by the influx of people leaving for better job offers?
Please support fully funding the county budget. We cannot continue down this path. I greatly fear what will happen this year if again the budget is not fully funded, and what other unintentional consequences there may be.
Lets look at BLS statistics for a few science professions:
Physicist/Astronomer (PhD, BLS doesn’t list a BS salary): $106k
Chemist (BS): $73k
Environmental scientist (BS): $63k
Mechanical engineer (BS): $80k
Chemical engineer (BS): $94k
Electrical engineer (BS): $89k
Environmental engineer (BS): $80k
A teacher on step 10 with an advanced professional certificate would make $55,883 per year.
Do you think that Harford can afford to give $10-40k more per year for science teachers to provide competitive salaries with industry? From my high school days, my science teachers were either retired from industry and living off a pension while teaching, or enjoying the slower pace of being a teacher knowing they could walk out the door and make a ton more money but wanted to raise a family instead.
Every decision in life is a trade-off, and for the hard science degree holders, they have to choose between making a lot of money in the private sector or enjoying family life, summers off, job security, etc.
And I don’t care who teaches my children as long as they hold a certificate in that field. That certificate is MSDE’s statement that the teacher is qualified to do the job, so I expect them to meet the standards just as well as any other teacher, just as I can expect any licensed plumber, electrician, etc, to carry out the typical tasks of their trade with the same level of competence for the pay listed in the union pay scale.
A teacher with an APC has a MAsters Degree. Comparing that to BS degrees is a little dishonest!
Cdev:
The HCPS/HCEA negotiated agreement lists it as “Bachelor’s Degree with Advanced Professional Certificate” (for step 10, where I got the figure from) and a separate column for “Master’s Degree with Professional Certificate” (who would earn the same $55,883 at step 9)
If you really want to get down into the weeds, a step 10 teacher with a “standard professional certificate” would earn $54,254, and then be fired for not having a professional certificate the next year. So does $1629/yr invalidate my point? That’s less than 20% the pay difference for someone jumping up to being a environmental scientist.
In which case that is a BA/BS plus 36 credits
I’m still not able to understand your argument.
I’m comparing a teacher with the same or more credit hours vs a scientist/engineer (even though most of those specialties will pursue graduate education, it isn’t required) and the scientist/engineer is coming out ahead in salary. My comparison would be dishonest if I was only using scientists with PhDs, or only looking at salaries for Harvard graduates (just an example, I don’t even know if Harvard has an undergraduate education program), but in this situation I believe my method is valid.
Maybe you mean to say that an engineer/scientist has a tougher undergraduate academic program to complete before they can get an entry level job, so the comparison isn’t fair vs education majors even after earning several credit hours in graduate school?
I agree to a certain extent Kharn. It used to be that teachers were looked to with respect by any field. Now it’s throw them in and let them teach. If they have a degree in the field they are teaching, fine. However my son has teacher for ART Class at Fallston High (we are talking a high school level are class) and that teacher is the ORCHESTRA teacher! She has not one hour of experience in ART. Supposedly it was out kn her to teach orchestra AND art or lose her job. That is not fair to the teacher OR the student. Pretty sad.
I did a job search for Professional Engineers at the Maryland Society of Professional Engineer job site and found one available in Frederick MD and one in Reading PA. That doesn’t look to address all the teachers threatening to escape into higher pay.
May I also add that when you factor in the value of a pension and high quality medical the gap between public and private shrinks dramatically. It would also be of interest when you compare technical salaries to indicate how many teachers are licensed engineers and teach in that field in this state.
It seems you might undervalue the impact a great teacher can have on our youth.
I value them more than they apparently value themselves.
I want all the teachers keep their pensions, their high quality medical and their jobs.
If we ever get our political system corrected and future finances in order, I would like to see teachers get more of everything.
It is senseless to toss up examples of salaries for highly technical jobs, of which there are very few, and attempt to suggest that teachers should currently make those salaries plus all their current benefits. It is embarrassing to suggest that one doesn’t like teachers just because they disagree with a foolish suggestion. It shows a complete lack of what is really going on in this state.
Government employees make up 25.5% of the total who are employed in Maryland. That is the third highest in the country. Maryland debt + pension liability is 9.6% of its GDP – quite higher than California (6.8%). Bottom line: we do not have enough private sector jobs generating real wealth that can be taxed in order to pay for everything we want. This is a future train wreck and if we keep taxing more and paying government employees more the wreck will be sooner than later.
The only answer is to get good paying private sector jobs so those folks can be taxed. Our current path means many teachers will lose everything. See, I care about teachers more than they apparently care about themselves.
If anything needs to be cut, its a full size yellow stank wagon leaving a school with only a handful of students. Passengers vans would work great, as compared to 3 mile per gallon, plus 100 gallon fuel stank big cheeses transporting 6 students home. But hey, the bus contractors are enjoying life as they are rolling in the big bucks.