The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will receive Superintendent George Arlotto’s proposed Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Budget and continue its discussion of school reopening plans and pandemic safety protocols at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
The meeting will begin at noon and will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. Due to security concerns following events that occurred at the Board’s August 18, 2021, meeting amid heightened tensions surrounding reopening protocols, the September 1, 2021, meeting will not be open to in-person public attendance. Those wishing to view the meeting can access it on AACPS-TV or AACPS’ YouTube channel. In addition, the Board will receive public comment as detailed below.
The capital budget establishes funding priorities for construction projects at schools across the county. The Board will conduct a workshop on the budget beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, 2021. No public testimony will be taken at the workshop, but testimony will be taken at a public hearing scheduled to be held before the Board takes up initial adoption of the capital budget at its regularly scheduled September 22, 2021, meeting.
Once adopted, the plan will be submitted to the State of Maryland for funding consideration. It will also be part of the school system’s overall FY2023 budget request, to be forwarded to the County Executive in February 2022.
The Board will also meet in a public session at 10 a.m. on September 1 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 may listen to the open portion of the meeting, including the vote to go into closed session, by calling (605) 468-8781 and entering access code 685333 followed by the pound/hashtag symbol.
REVISED PROCESS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS
The Board will hear virtual testimony from up to 10 speakers per agenda item during a single public comment section in the early portion of the meeting, prior to Board discussion of those items.
To provide the most equitable and orderly opportunity for speakers with a diversity of viewpoints and varying technology access, the Board will now employ a randomized, computerized lottery to select the 10 speakers for any agenda item on which more than 10 people sign up to offer comment.
The link to register for virtual testimony at the meeting will be posted online here at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting and will close at midnight on the Sunday prior to the meeting. Those wishing to provide testimony must register through that link. Speakers may sign up for no more than two agenda items.
For agenda items with more than 10 registered speakers, the lottery selection procedures will be as follows:
- If more than 10 people indicate their first choice for a specific agenda item, the lottery for that agenda item will be conducted among those registrants only. Those who indicate that agenda item as their second choice will not be considered and may provide written comment as outlined below.
- If fewer than 10 people indicate their first choice for a specific agenda item but a sufficient additional number of people indicate that agenda item as their second choice, spaces will be allocated to the first-choice registrants and a lottery will be conducted for remaining spaces.
Speakers who secure a slot to speak will be notified by email at the email address they provide when they register. All speakers will be allotted 2 minutes and must only address the topic on which they signed up to speak.
Written comments on agenda items can be submitted through an online form that can be found here beginning at 3 p.m. on the Friday prior to the meeting. Written comments must be no more than 250 words and must be submitted by noon on the day prior to the Board meeting. Comments can also be dropped off at the Parham Building by that time.
Comments on non-agenda items are only accepted in writing.
The complete process for registering to speak and submitting testimony in writing can be found here.
Those who require the services of an interpreter to offer comment to the Board should call 410-222-5311 to make those arrangements after receiving confirmation of an opportunity to speak at the meeting.
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.
The meeting can also be viewed live on AACPS’ YouTube channel.
Archived videos of Board meetings can be found online here.
Board of Education meeting agenda, 9-1-21
UPCOMING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Board of Education’s committees will hold upcoming virtual meetings according to the following schedule. The meetings will not be broadcast, but those wishing to listen to the meetings can access them through the codes listed below.
- Equity Committee: 11:30 a.m., September 14, 2021. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 367259182#.
- Budget Committee: 3:30 p.m., September 21, 2021. Access codes will be announced when they are established.
- Policy Committee: 3:30 p.m., October 4, 2021. Access codes will be announced when they are established.