Work Session Date: March 4, 2025
Board Members Present: Guessford, Beachley, Burkett, Murray, Evans, McCusker, Zentmeyer, Wang (student rep)
Board Members Absent: none
| Agenda Item / Topic #1 |
|---|
| School Safety Update: School Security Employees, Vaping, and Focus Now Initiative — |
| Presenter(s) |
| Jeffrey Proulx, Chief Operating Officer; Dr. Heath Wilcox, Executive Director of Secondary Education; and School Staff; Dr. Michael Chilcutt, Principal, North Hagerstown High School; Nathan Butts, School Security Employee; Lindsey Avara, Principal, Springfield Middle School; and Mike Smith, School Security Employee |
| Summary |
| School Security Employee (SSE): + The SSE is responsible for monitoring the safety of the students, staff, and visitors throughout the building and immediate perimeter of the school. + WCPS employees 20 SSE employees currently. + SSE employees have been deployed to other schools when the need has arisen. + SRO: enforce matters of law. SSE: able to enforce school rules and regulations + Can assist the administration with safety needs and enforce rules at after school events. + SSEs are being trained to set up and assist with Reunification Sites during an emergency, utilizing Reunification Response Vans + Lindsey Avara, Principal, Springfield Middle School: discipline referrals for attacks/fights have been cut in halfVaping: + Common types of vapes found in our secondary schools: Nicotine, THC (synthetic marijuana), CBD, Melatonin, Caffeine + SRO involvement is not allowed under Maryland laws. + There are limitations in confiscating and enforcing: No Maryland law prohibiting possession or use of vape pens by minors + Proactive efforts in schools: Monitoring restrooms throughout the day, checking dispensers in the bathrooms regularly, layered sweeps of bathrooms, electronic hall pass system to limit student in bathroom use for frequent vapers, color coding passes with specific areas of the building, students cannot leave class first 10 and last 10 minutes of class, student Tipline Google Form to report concerns. + Each incident must be handled on an individual basis based on details available. + Investigation process Focus Now! Phones Later Click here to go directly to the slideshow. |
| General Board Member Comments /Questions Throughout the Work Session |
| McCusker: How often do you use them for matters of law? Chilicut: if we have an incident that stats as a school based incident, when it progresses to a law informant issue, that's when we would involve them. McCusker: Are we better getting more SRO's or SSE's, sounds like the SSE's are more involved in the every day with children.Murray: Has been to several schools with SSE's and they help us feel safer. Evans: Can you tell us what the Tabletop Training is- Smith: (summary) exercises to help better plan out situations, touching on different aspects of a situation to provide a successful outcome. Burkett: Are we paying SRO's overtime or regular pay, and are they on call for the community and the school, but stationed at the school? Proulx: in the general fund budget we pay for the salary/benefits of the SRO assigned to the school unit. We also have a grant that pays additional pay for SRO's and SSE's for evening events. At times they have been pulled for for outside situations. McCusker: (on vaping) how do you figure out what is in the pen to determine what it is- Wilcox: by research and what's on the actual device. There is no test so often have to go with the lesser consequence. Guessford: (on vaping) do you know if there are any quick test kits on the market- Wilcox: I don't have that info. Evans: how do we measure the success of the SSE's- Proulx: while we have not collected the data, we could, to hear about the reduction of referrals in a building would be one of the measures... is the building a safer place. Chilcutt: a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, Suspensions/physical attacks have been reduced. Wang: being a student at North High, I have seen the difference this has made. The presence of SSE's is known and valued. Burkett: where are we at with vape detectors, is there anyone working on laws to address this with people who are underage. Proulx: does not know of any work in the general assembly pertaining to this- set eyes on 2026 session. Had pilots of early vape detectors, were not totally effective. It's multiple layers, not just the detector itself. Sovine- we have 3 schools interested in piloting a vape detection system. Guessford: to the principals, do you currently have a student that use the teacher bathroom and what are you doing to rectify that problem. Chilcutt: It doesn't come up much, we would give a warning. Guessford: if a student feels uncomfortable would you allow them to use the teacher restroom. Avara: had situations where she was working with a student and needed the restroom and took them, but not on their own. Proulx: during renovations at South High, they created a handful of single stall student restrooms for student use. Wilcox: presenting slides on Focus Now, Phones Later- no cellphones during instructional time. Professional development > Reviewing school processes> Communication to families> Class Meetings. There was a second semester reminder. Have seen a huge decrease in the amount of phones used during instructional time. |
| Agenda Item / Topic #2 |
|---|
| Strategic Plan Update |
| Presenter(s) |
| Dr. Jennifer Webster, Associate Superintendent for Administration and Leadership; and Dr. Gary Willow, Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction |
| Summary |
| Priority 1: Student Success + Improve grade-level proficiency in literacy and math + Enhance college and career readiness programs + Expand student engagement in extracurriculars Priority 2: Access and Opportunity Priority 3: Culture, Safety and Wellness Priority 4: Community Engagement - Nov '24-Jan '25: WCPS asked parents, staff and students (grades 4-12) for feedback through district engagement surveys.
|
| General Board Member Comments /Questions Throughout the Work Session |
| Sovine: This is an update to the Strategic Plan, CES is working with school leaders to implement it and personalize it to address the needs of each school. This update will highlight some of the stakeholder feedback.
Willow: A Strategic Plan is created to give the district the opportunity to establish a mission, the vision, the core beliefs. The Strategic Plan is a district plan that has input from all stakeholders, and a school improvement plan is the opportunity to apply it to the school level. (see slide show) Webster: talks about the engagement survey that was conducted. (showed a video on how schools are interacting with student groups, parents and the community) Evans: This is a great presentation but it doesn't actually tell us what the actual strategic plan is. We got a bunch of statements on here but what are we actually going to do to achieve the goal. Was concerned how we were going to expand dual credit. Would like to see how we achieve these goals. Webster: Is hearing a suggestion for presentations that dive deeply into specific actions. Today's presentation was to come to you because we just concluded the district survey and wanted to share where we are with starting to digest the feedback. |