ISSUES & PRIORITIES

Research shows when families and community members are involved in student learning, students improve their academic performance and gain advocates that promote their success, helping them feel more confident at school and in taking on more rigorous classwork. At the start of the pandemic, many parents and caregivers got a glimpse into their child’s education and started paying more attention to the decisions that were being made about their child’s education. We must continue to work collaboratively with parents and caregivers to meet the needs of our children and families. This includes reinstating the CCPS Parent Council, hiring more Family Liaisons for the district, and providing meaningful engagement opportunities. Parent and family engagement involves cultivating methods to listen to all families, rather than merely offering them information. 

Despite widespread recognition of the need to focus on students’ mental health due to the trauma attributed by the pandemic, families have seen a return to exclusionary discipline, which removes students from the classroom as a consequence of their behavior. This means more missed learning time and lower academic outcomes. Our kids are living with trauma.  A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health shows that approximately 1 out of 500 children in the United States has experienced COVID-19-associated orphanhood or death of a grandparent caregiver — children from historically marginalized communities accounted for 65% of those who lost a primary caregiver due to the pandemic. I lost my father when I was 9 years old. It was my Mom, teachers, and school counselors that helped me through that difficult time. Kids bring different sorts of issues with them to school, and punishment is rarely the best way to help a child who is in need of love and support.

In the U.S., schools across the country are facing their toughest staffing situation in recent memory, with teacher demand exceeding supply for grades K-12; a large number of teachers thinking of quitting; a depleted pool of substitute teachers; and fewer people seeking careers as teachers.  Charles County is not exempt from these challenges, a lot of teachers that live in Charles County do not work in Charles County Public School. Due to low pay, lackluster career growth opportunities, and a job description that borders on impossible teachers are seeking careers in other counties. We need to level the paying field and pay educators, support staff, and bus drivers what they are due. We also need to work on retaining and recruiting educators by increasing the value proposition, offering mental and emotional support, and reimagining the teacher role itself.

In January 2022, Montgomery County Public Schools asked county officials to urge the state to deploy the National Guard and have them drive 50 of the district's school buses. Among its many repercussions, the coronavirus pandemic deepened the scarcity of school bus drivers around the nation, and Charles County is no exception. Other factors impacting staffing levels are lack of compensation and/or other incentives to recruit and retain essential staff. Last year bus drivers in Charles County went on strike due to low wages and they are still advocating for fair pay to this day. Everyone deserves a living wage. They get our precious children to and from school, take them to games, and to field trips. If we are truly committed to safely keeping schools open for full-time, in-person learning, we need to use American Rescue Plan funds to address labor shortages and increase the value proposition for bus drivers.

Unfinished learning is a better description of our circumstances for the past year. Because of school closures, unequal access to technology, and all the other factors that have interrupted learning, students haven't been able to get to all the learning they needed to for the past year. A recent study indicates that students, on average, could experience five to nine months of unfinished learning. We have to accelerate learning through a multi-faceted approach including; effective tutoring programs, summer learning opportunities, continuing to assess the gaps caused by unfinished learning, and providing equitable and engaging grade-level learning experiences. Tackling unfinished learning is going to take time, work, and dedication among all involved but using the ESSER ARP Funds to implement these approaches, it is certainly possible.  

While unfinished learning has affected most students, it has had a disproportionate impact on students with disabilities and learning differences. According to Understood.org more than half (54 percent) of the kids in special education have IEPs for LD or OHI. About 2.3 million public school students have IEPs for LD which is by far the largest disability category covered under special education law. Charles County families of students with disabilities have carried an additional burden of accessing needed specialized instruction and related services and supports disrupted and denied due to the pandemic. Any discussion of reimagined learning or accelerated learning must take into account students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. By law and moral duty, we have the responsibility to ensure all students get a high quality education. 

The Blueprint for Maryland's Future is a landmark piece of legislation passed in 2021 that provides the foundation needed to ensure we elevate every child to reach their full promise and potential by transforming our education system and early childhood system into world-class models. Together we will equitably enrich student experiences, accelerate student outcomes, and improve the overall quality of education for every student.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is organized into five distinct policy areas (pillars) that align closely with my priorities They are as follows;

1.  Early Childhood Education 
2. High Quality and Diverse Teachers and Leaders 
3. College and Career Readiness 
4. More Resources to Ensure that All Students are Successful 
5. Governance and Accountability

In 2020 and 2021, Congress passed three stimulus bills that provided nearly $190.5 billion to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund– that’s supposed to help students recover from the pandemic. In the third installment of ESSER funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), CCPS was conditionally approved on Oct. 4, 2021, by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) for $30.8 million in grant funding. These funds can be used to tackle teacher and essential staff retention and recruitment; increased availability of mental health, social emotional, and whole child supports; school safety; family engagement, and more. We have a moment to reimagine education.  

Families and schools are grappling with so many challenges which has led to an increasingly devise family-school relationship. Now is the time to rebuild trust with families through open and honest communication. We may not all agree all the time, but with open, honest communication we can see each other's perspectives and come together for a common goal – to provide the best educational experience for children.To start, our districts should embrace transparency around how we spend the ESSER relief funds under the American Rescue Plan. This is both an opportunity for our district to hold itself accountable to families who have been severely impacted by remote learning and to share new promising and effective practices that can transform our education system. We should also encourage more two-way conversations between teachers and parents about how well their child is prepared for the next grade — and work with families to design plans to address unfinished learning.