The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will conduct a public hearing on Superintendent George Arlotto’s recommended Fiscal Year 2021 Capital Budget and six-year Capital Improvement Plan during its next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, September 25, 2019.
The six-year plan, which includes a $209.1 million capital budget request for Fiscal Year 2021, charts the course for maintenance, renovation, and new construction projects through Fiscal Year 2026. After adoption by the Board, the plan will be submitted to the State of Maryland for funding consideration. The plan will also be part of the school system’s overall FY2021 budget request, to be forwarded to the County Executive in February 2020 after the Board holds additional public hearings.
Dr. Arlotto’s FY2021 Capital Budget recommendation allocates nearly $139 million to the following major projects, in priority order:
- Edgewater Elementary School, construction ($5.6 million)
- Tyler Heights Elementary School, construction ($4.8 million)
- Richard Henry Lee Elementary School, construction ($4.4 million)
- Quarterfield Elementary School, design/construction ($18.4 million)
- Hillsmere Elementary School, design/construction ($15.2 million)
- Rippling Woods Elementary School, design/construction ($21.9 million)
- Old Mill West High School, construction ($68.4 million)
Also included is $9 million for full-day kindergarten and prekindergarten additions at Sunset and Van Bokkelen elementary schools, and $11 million for a classroom addition and cafeteria expansion at Arundel Middle School.
The Board will conduct a public hearing in the early portion of its meeting, and consider adoption of a FY2021 Capital Budget request later in the meeting.
Also at the meeting, the Board will also hear a presentation on the opportunities, challenges, and supports available for students at Meade High School.
Wednesday’s meeting will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. The Board will meet in a public session at 5:30 p.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public. The public session of the meeting will resume at 7 p.m.
CHANGES TO PUBLIC TESTIMONY SIGNUP PROCESS
The Board has changed the way members of the public sign up to testify at Board meetings and now accepts signups online or by phone.
Signups now will open on the Friday before a Board meeting when the agenda for that meeting is published, and will close at 4 p.m. on the day before the meeting. Members of the public can sign up at www.aacps.org/boardtestimony or by calling 410-222-5311.
The Board will continue to hear testimony on agenda items when those items are before the Board. Testimony on items not on the agenda will be heard during the Public Comment portion of Board meetings. To assist the Board, speakers during the Public Comment portion will be grouped by topic. Those who sign up and are not present when their name is called will forfeit their opportunity to speak.
Regardless of whether the testimony is offered on an agenda item or during Public Comment, student-specific concerns, personnel issues, and items under appeal or pending appeal cannot be discussed before the Board.
Members of the public may only sign up themselves to testify before the Board.
Testimony can be submitted to the Board of Education via email at any time at BoardOffice@aacps.org. Signups for those wishing to testify at Board meetings will not be accepted by email.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab.
The general session of Wednesday’s Board meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Broadstripe, and Channel 1961 on Verizon. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. the day after the meeting and 2:00 p.m. on subsequent Sundays.
The meeting can also be viewed live on the Internet here.