charles county board of education orientation powerpoint.pdfeducation reform program. maryland has...

November 29, 2010

6 p.m.

Charles County Board of Education Orientation

New Board Member Orientation

• Overview of the School System

• Communication with Board

Role of the Board of Education/Policy

Budget

Personnel

Instruction

School Operations

School Construction/Redistricting

Role of the Superintendent

Board Member Ethics

Board of Education Orientation November 29, 2010

Board Communications

BoardDocs/access/passwords

Board equipment/fax/cell phones/laptops

Mailboxes/Board mail, Board e-mail

RSVP Events Sheet/Weekly Update

All correspondence is public information/policy

Graduation (measurements, robes, information)

Upcoming conferences

National School Boards Association, April 9-11, 2011, San

Francisco

MABE Conference, Oct. 2011Board of Education Orientation November 29, 2010

Sources of School Law

United States Constitution

Federal Statutes and Laws

Maryland State Constitution

Annotated Code of Maryland

COMAR (Code of MD Reg’s)

Local Board Policies and Rules

Superintendent’s Rules and Regulations

School Rules and Practices


Role of the Local Board

The three most important roles of the Board of Education are:

Set the vision, goals, direction, policies for the school system

Establish an annual budget

Select, supervise the Superintendent


Role of the Local Board

Other important roles:

certificated personnelcollective bargainingcurriculumlegal appealslegality of actionsschool constructionattendance zones


Role -- Policy

Policies/goals establish overall direction

Policies should indicate to the Superintendent, staff, students, and community what the Board’s intent is

Should set forth what and why, not who and how

Board Policy 8210 guides policy adoption


Role -- Budget

Funding comes from the federal, state, and county governments

The bulk of CCPS funding is split approximately 50/50 between the state and the county

Some funds are discretionary, some funds are non-discretionary

The Board must set an annual budget by law in a format established by law. County Commissioners have categorical approval


Role -- Budget

The Budget is drafted by staff and adopted by the Board before March 1

Even after budget adoption, staff may return to the Board for changes

In discussing the budget, the Board should focus on where it wants to spend its discretionary resources to meet the goals set forth by the Board


Budget

Budget for FY 2011 is $294,800,000

Cost per pupil is $11,216

Board of Education funding as percent of county total is 48.8 percent

School system faces a number of challenges in the upcoming budget cycle including the reduction of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and the ability to address compensation for employees


Role -- Superintendent

Appointed to four-year terms

Term starts on July 1, ends four years later on June 30

Must meet qualifications

Appointment approved by State Superintendent

Can be removed only for cause


Role -- Personnel

The Board appoints (upon the Superintendent’s nomination) all teachers, principals and other certificated employees

Written reports are given to the Board monthly with personnel actions needing Board approval

State law controls the terms of a teacher’s contract

The Board sets salaries through negotiations on a collective basis with the employee unions


Human Resources

Recruiting statistics (45 university and regional job fairs in nine states and one virtual job fair)

Spoke with 2,622 candidates and conducted 830 screening interviews at fairs

New hires: 172 certificated staff including 29 elementary teachers, 92 secondary and related arts, 43 special education, four school counselors and four instructional resource staff

Majority are new teachers (112); 30 have 1-5 years; 17 have 16-10 years; 9 have 11-20 years; and four have 21-plus years of experience


Human Resources

English, math and science are most recruited positions

Highest number of new hires from other states came from New York (19), followed by Pennsylvania (17), Michigan (13) and Ohio (11)

There were 26 Charles County Public Schools graduates among the new teachers

Most new hires, 71 percent, were female

There were 48 support positions filled

There are 750 active substitute teachers and 78 temporary instructional assistants


Role -- Collective Bargaining

By law, the Board negotiates collectively with certificated employees and with non-certificated employees

In CCPS, certificated employees are represented by EACC, and non-certificated employees are represented by AFSCME

By law, Boards and unions must negotiate salary, wages, hours and other working conditions



Boards are not expected to, and should not, negotiate education policy

Board members do not negotiate directly

Board appoints teams to negotiate on its behalf

Board sets parameters for the teams to negotiate under

All negotiations are done behind closed doors

All Board discussions of negotiations are done in executive (closed) session



Board members must NOT violate the confidentiality of the closed-door discussions

Board members represent management, not employees

Board members represent the community, not teachers

Board members must respect their role – otherwise, the process fails and no one is well- served



Board members must resist the temptation to play mediator in difficult negotiations

Board members must avoid communications concerning negotiations with individual employees, the union and the media


Role -- Curriculum

State Board and MSDE establish standards, goals for student learning, basic graduation requirements

Board approves curriculum guides and courses of study

Curriculum itself written by CCPS employees (experts)


Instruction

Race to the Top is a United States Department of Education reform program. Maryland has been selected to participate in the first round of Race to the Top, and Charles County Public Schools is meeting the state and federal requirements to participate in the reform. (PowerPoint presentation attached)


Role -- Legal Appeals

Three types of legal appeals:

teacher discipline and dismissals -- Sec. 6-202

student expulsions and long-term suspensions -- Sec. 7-305

everything else (any issue first decided by the superintendent may be appealed to the local board) -- Sec. 4-205



Cases are either considered after an evidentiary hearing or reviewed simply on the written arguments submitted by both parties

A hearing officer may hear the case on behalf of the Board and make written recommendations

Counsel will advise Board members as to how to

handle legal appeals

Any case decided by the Board on appeal can then be appealed to the State Board



Board members must recognize that their roles as community activists and elected officials must end when the legal appeal process starts

Do not talk to parties in legal appeals, and do not try to solve the underlying problems outside of the appeal process


Parent Concerns/Administration

Principals report directly to Deputy Superintendent

Addressing concerns

First step is to address concern with school-based staff

If there is no resolution, concern goes to principal

Formal complaint, if first two steps do not resolve concern, is to be filed with the Office of School Administration and Operations

Concern is recorded, contact made with school to review information, contact made with parents. Decision made

Second level is a review by Deputy Superintendent. Written request must be made to have complaint considered

Deputy Superintendent conducts conference or paper review; decision provided in writing within 10 days


Role -- Legal Actions

The Board is responsible for ensuring that the school system follows all applicable laws and that actions taken are legal

The Board by law may hire board counsel

The Board may sue and be sued

A Board member individually is immune from personal liability if member is acting:

in a discretionary capacity

within scope of authority and

without malice


Role -- School Construction

Funding for new schools and other capital projects comes from the state and local government

Planning for and building new schools is a lengthy process involving years of work


Role -- Attendance Zones

The Board is responsible for drawing attendance zones and redistricting as necessary

Board obtains input from staff, parents, community members, and others, but Board makes the final call


Redistricting

Redistricting—When and How

Enrollment growth

Relocatables

New high school (possible realignment of certain middle and elementary schools)

Timeline

St. Charles High School timeline


Capital Improvements

School Construction Funding Eligibility Process

State-required documentation

Educational Facilities Master Plan

Capital Improvements Program (CIP)

Comprehensive Maintenance Plan

State formula

State and Local funding


Roles of the Superintendent

In simple terms, the Board sets the “what” and “why”, and the Superintendent does the “how”, “when”, and “who”

However, there are always exceptions and different ways to meet the same goals

Advises the Board on all matters, including curriculum, redistricting, policies, etc.

Appoints all personnel



Assigns personnel, transfers them as the needs of the school system require, recommends suspension or dismissal of certificated personnel

Hires and appoints clerical and other nonprofessional personnel

Ensures that all laws and regulations and policies are carried out

Decides all controversies in the school system

Approves contracts



Provides training for teachers

Serves as instructional leader and assists teachers with instruction

Develops list of needed supplies and recommends purchases of instruction materials

Drafts and implements budget


Ethics

Board’s ethics regulations apply to all Board members, Board candidates, Board employees, and individuals who may lobby the Board

The Board’s Ethics Panel may review complaints and make recommendations to the Board

If a Board member is found to have violated the ethics regulations, that member may be reported to the public, and/or censored by the Board, and/or (as the ultimate punishment) reported to the State Board for possible removal from office


Ethics

Board members shall not:

participate on behalf of the school system in any matter which would, to their knowledge, create a conflict of interest

hold any outside employment relationship that would impair or would appear to impair their impartiality or independence of judgment

be employed by a business entity that has or is negotiating a contract of more than $2,500 with the school system, unless the Board member takes specified steps to avoid any conflict of interest


Ethics


represent any party, for a contingent fee, before the system

within one year after leaving the Board, act as a compensated representative of another in connection with any specific matter in which he/she participated substantially as a Board member

knowingly use the prestige of their offices for their own benefit or that of another

knowingly use confidential information acquired in their official school system position for their own benefit or that of another


Ethics


knowingly fail to report any violation of the Ethics Regulations to the Board of Education of Charles County Ethics Panel

solicit any gift from any student, employee, or other person who is under the authority of the school system or any person or business entity who has or is negotiating a contract or doing or seeking to do business with the school system

except as provided, accept gifts or series of gifts of greater than $50 in value from any student, employee, or other person who is under the authority of the school system or any person or business entity who has or is negotiating a contract or doing or seeking to do business with the school system


Ethics

Gifts allowed to be accepted:

ceremonial gifts or awards which have insignificant monetary value

meals and beverages, provided they are consumed in the presence of the donor

tickets or free admission to events generally provided to the member in his or her official capacity

reasonable expenses for food, travel, or lodging at a conference, meeting, or other event at which the recipient is speaking or presenting

gifts received from the recipient’s parent, spouse, sibling or child

Ethics

Gifts allowed to be accepted:

as determined by the Ethics Panel, any other gift which was not intended to create, did not create, and did not appear to create a conflict of interest

Note that ALL gifts or series of gifts more than $50 must be reported to the Ethics Panel on proper forms


Ethics

If a Board member’s parent, spouse, sibling, or child is a member of a collective bargaining unit, it shall not be considered a conflict of interest for the member to participate in collective bargaining matters as long as the member discloses the relationship to the Board


charles county board of education orientation powerpoint.pdfeducation reform program. maryland has...

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