The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will recognize the 2023 winners of the Mo Gaba Positivity and Perseverance Awards at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
The awards were first bestowed last year to students who exhibited the same outlook on life as Mo, an AACPS student and “superfan” of the Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens whose health challenges never defeated his intellectual brilliance, positive attitude, fun-loving spirit, or his ability to make others smile and marvel at his resilience. Mo died in July 2020 at the age of 14 after multiple battles with cancer.
The 2023 winners were announced by video yesterday on the school system’s annual Mo Gaba Day, which coincides with Mo’s birthday.
The meeting will begin at noon and will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. It is open to the public and subject to normal space limitations in the Board Room.
The Board will also meet in a public session at 10 a.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.
PROCESS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS
The Board will hear in-person and virtual public comment on agenda items other than personnel, reports, and recognitions from up to a total of 10 speakers per agenda item during a single section in the early portion of the meeting.
To provide the most equitable and orderly opportunity for speakers with a diversity of viewpoints and varying technology access, the Board will 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 in-person or 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 11:59 p.m. on the Sunday prior to the meeting. Those wishing to provide either in-person or virtual 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 address the specifics of the agenda item for which they sign up. For details on the specifics of agenda items, click on the Board Docs link found at www.aacps.org/board.
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 or who need other accessibility accommodations for Board of Education meetings should call 410-222-5311 to make those arrangements.
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 SCHEDULES WORKSHOP ON BLUEPRINT UPDATE, FORUM TO HEAR FROM PUBLIC
The Board will hold a public workshop at 6 p.m. on Monday, February 13, to hear updates from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell and his staff on the school system’s work toward submitting its implementation plan as required by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
The workshop will held in the Board Room of the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis. It is open to the public, but no public questions or testimony will be taken.
At 7 p.m. on the same night and in the same location, the Board will hold a public forum to hear opinions and input from students, families, employees, and community partners on items of interest to them.
Testimony will be delivered in person and will be limited to 50 people. Speakers will have two minutes each to deliver their remarks and must sign up prior to the forum.
To provide the most equitable and orderly opportunity for speakers with a diversity of viewpoints and varying technology access, the link to register to speak at the forum will be posted online here at 5 p.m. on Monday, February 6, 2023. It will close at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, 2023. Those wishing to provide testimony must register through that link.
If more than 50 people sign up to speak, the Board will employ a randomized, computerized lottery to select the 50 speakers who will testify at the forum.
Speakers who secure a slot to speak will be notified by email on February 10, 2023, at the email address they provide when they register.
Speakers will not be permitted to comment on student-specific or personnel matters and will be stopped by the Board President should they attempt to do so.
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.
The workshop and hearing 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.
Both can also be viewed live on AACPS’ YouTube channel.
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 by telephone through the codes listed below.
- Equity Committee: 3 p.m., January 30, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 428 209 249#.
- Policy Committee: 3 p.m., January 31, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 660 738 390#.
- Budget Committee: noon, February 13, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, enter the Conference ID 801 786 042#.