Jun. 13—The Frederick County Board of Education will review hiring data, test scores and more on Wednesday.
Below is an outline of what to expect during the board's work session, which starts at 3 p.m., and the regular meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.
Work sessionThe board will vote on a $4.6 million contract for renovations of Ballenger Creek and Spring Ridge elementary schools. Construction on those projects is expected to begin next summer.
Members will also hear an update about efforts to contact parents of students who were secluded or restrained during the time frame covered by a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the district's use of those practices.
The DOJ found Frederick County Public Schools was systematically mistreating students with disabilities through its use of seclusion and restraint. The district is required to offer compensatory services like therapy or tutoring to affected students.
As of mid-May, FCPS special education leaders had reached fewer than half of the affected students' parents or guardians, according to data uploaded to BoardDocs, the school board's platform for sharing information with the public.
More than 150 parents have accepted FCPS' compensatory service offer, the data says.
Later, the board will review FCPS Superintendent Cheryl Dyson's recommended Educational Facilities Master Plan (EFMP). The 200-page document outlines the 10-year construction priorities for the district, from small renovation projects to school replacements.
The board will not vote to approve the EFMP until its next meeting, on June 28.
Regular meeting There are two items on the board's main agenda: a review of testing benchmarks and a breakdown of human resources strategies.
First, leaders from the district's HR department will talk about their efforts to bolster hiring across the system.
One aspect of that is hiring more teachers of color, who make up just about 14% of FCPS' teaching workforce. Meanwhile, about half of FCPS students are non-white.
Board members will also hear about preliminary results from employee exit surveys, which have been offered since December, according to the BoardDocs hiring presentation.
And district administrators will talk about the challenges of hiring new educators in a state where the number of students pursuing education degrees is consistently falling.
Second, the board will review graduation rates and student scores on state assessments.
The figures will be considered in the context of the district's Key Performance Indicators, which are data points used to measure FCPS' progress on long-term goals.