From Harford County Public Schools:
February 1, 2016
The Board of Education of Harford County met for an open business meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room of the A. A. Roberty Building and took the following actions and received the following presentations:
Board Comments
– Genae Hatcher, Current Student Representative to the Board of Education acknowledged the incoming Student Representative to the Board of Education, Amanda Dorsey
Public Comments
– Mr. Ryan Burbey, HCEA
– Mrs. Alberta Porter, Instructional Facilitator for Harford County Public Schools
– Dr. Jennifer Palmer, Instructional Facilitator for Harford County Public Schools
Old Business:
– Approved Consent Agenda:
– Affirmation of Monthly Contracts
– Minutes of Previous Board Meeting: January 11, 2016
– Monthly Report on Personnel – December 2015
New Business:
– Passed: Decision on Administrative and Supervisory Appointments by Mrs. Angela Morton, Executive Director of Elementary School Performance
– Presentation on Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment by Dr. Susan Brown, Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Mr. Colin Carr, Principal North Harford High School, Ms. DeAnn Webb, Assistant Principal Aberdeen Middle School, Mr. Michael Griffith, Teacher C. Milton Wright High School, Ms. Cheryl Monk, Instructional Facilitator and Ms. Melissa Romano, Coordinator of Elementary Special Education
– Presentation on Superintendent School Visits Supporting School Improvement by Dr. Susan Brown, Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Ms. Renee Villareal, Coordinator of School Improvement, Mr. Mark Hamilton, Principal Forest Hill Elementary School, Ms. Natalie Holloway, Principal Bel Air Middle School and Ms. Pam Ziegler, Principal Joppatowne High School
– Passed with amendment: Decision on Proposed FY2017 Operating Budget by Mr. Joe Licata, Chief of Administration, Ms. Deborah Judd, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Mr. Eric Clark, Director of Budget, Mrs. Mary Edmunds, Budget Specialist and Ms. Michele Sledge, Capital Budget Analyst
The next Board of Education business meeting will be held Monday, February 8, 2016 at 6:30pm. All Board meetings are held in the A. A. Roberty Building. To access all future meeting dates and agendas, log onto the school system website at www.hcps.org.
The Teacher says
What did the IFs say in the public comment component of the meeting?
$ says
They offered explanations as to why their positions were valuable to the school system. You can watch the archived video of the meeting to view their remarks.
hmmmm says
Each one commands a 6-figure salary. What on earth did our school system do before the creation of these positions??? More proof that the wasteful spending is at the top and not at the classroom level.
Laughing loudly says
It’s just shows what’s wrong with our culture. Teachers should be the most important position in HCPS, not leather chair office jobs.
People found the gimmick and dug deep into working positions in a dyafunctional bureaucratic mess.
There are way too many people/positions in HCPS that could parody the scene from ‘Office Space’ when the consultants ask, “What do you say you do here all day?” and shake their head.
Citizen says
There were elementary supervisor positions before the IF position. Supervisor positions were changed to IF.
? says
What was the pay comparison between elementary supervisor vs the school principal? IF’s are making now making the same as a school principal.
LOL says
Kangaroo court.
SoulCrusher says
No, the Harford County Kangaroo Court is also called the Harford County Circuit Court.
Laughing loudly says
Seriously, “Director of Community Engagement, equity and cultural proficiency”
Can anyone tell me what is and why we need it? How many people are working a job at HCPS they themselves dont even know what it is? LOL
Mike Hunt says
The only problem is the .gov rarely downgrades, removes, et al. It’s unlikely any positions will ever be gone now that they exist.
I’m really surprised there isn’t a “Footwear Compliance Facilitator.” What is that? Glorified term to mean someone getting paid $55,000/year to tie shoe laces on kids while they are in school.
Teacher Lurker says
The funny thing about your comment is that eight or ten years ago, HCPS decided that open-backed footwear was a danger to our students, so teachers and staff were armed with “citation booklets,” and forced to watchdog our students’ feet all day long, issuing warnings for anyone wearing flip-flops, mules, sandals, clogs and slides. It was RIDICULOUS. It started in October and the rule was repealed in May.
Steven L Miles says
The reason for that was because there had been a lawsuit filed against a school system (I can’t remember where exactly) because some kid tripped on a flip-flop or a sandal that came off another student’s foot, and fell down the stairs. The parents filed against the school system for allowing the dangerous practice of open-toed footwear, and won. So, HCPS was just trying to make sure this kind of tragedy didn’t strike here in our locale. Of course, once they had enough of the gripes from parents, they buckled (no pun intended).
Be Real says
The superintendent visit was a wonderful idea when Dr. Tomback made it a priority when he was superintendent. When he visited he was attentive, he was insightful, and he appeared to genuinely care about what he observed and who he came in contact with. He gave meaningful feedback whether it was constructive criticism or accolades. However since Dr. Tomback left, the visits appear to be a burden. If the superintendenet likes you she comes in smiling with her whole team and they’re extremely positive. If the superintendent for some reason does not like you she comes in frowning and the rest of the team follows suit. If you’re one of the lucky ones then the visit is extremely positive; if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones their whole goal appears to be to diminish any accomplishments that have been made by the instructional leadership team at the school even if their opinions are in opposition of school data. One philosophy of the superintendent’s visit was to be collaborative and to let the school-based instructional team know that they had support at the central office level. That goal appears to have left with Dr. Tomback. The superintendent can put anything in writing – it means absolutely nothing. I would urge board members to attend a superintendent’s school visit for themselves. The board of education needs to be more active and stop rubber stamping everything that the superintendent says.
RealityCheck says
Here’s the truth about Superintendent visits…dog and pony shows. Pretend staff is happy, cover up referrals to look like improving discipline, choose teachers who will lie and fake appreciation for leadership and improving morale, choose kids who have no idea what school should really be like, decorate the building, cheer in the entryway, gather lots of data to make it look like progress is being made, and act like this is everyday, normal behavior. School ILT is covering their behinds and trying to look good, but doing a good job doesn’t matter if Central ILT likes you.
More truth…Central office and HCEA are very aware of preferential treatment some principals give to their favorite staff. They choose not to address it because the principals are the favorites of the Central Office. It is no longer about having morals, ethics, or doing a good job. It is all about who sucks up or flirts with the right people.
Teachers are put on plans based on if they are liked or not by admin. Improvement plans are so poorly written, it is embarrassing to think an instructional leader with advanced degrees wrote them. Principals telling staff to be positive with the kids, but not showing that same attitude with the staff? If you’re gonna talk the talk, you really should try to walk the walk. Staffs are paying attention and see the insincerity in the positivity. They also know who the favorites are and question the professionalism of all involved.
But no one is paying attention enough to care. Nothing will change. Old boys (which now includes a clique of women on Central ILT) network rules.
This is the reality in HCPS. Present that to the Board of Education.
Ryan Burbey says
HCEA is committed to ensuring that all teachers are treated fairly. I there are issues of concern, contact me.
Alex R says
Please, Ryan. Contact you? For what? Why would anyone contact an ineffective organization with ineffective leadership?
Please tell us all how much the average classroom teacher’s wages have increased as a percentage compared to 5 years ago.
In all fairness... says
…I think there may be more factors involved with HCPS teachers raises than just the leadership of the bargaining unit (HCEA). The lack of raises over the past years has quite a bit more to do with the fact that HCEA and the teachers really have no recourse when the county refuses to fund pay increases, and very little to do with the association leadership.
It’s obvious that you dislike Ryan, but you should probably leave it at that and not try to tack on the blame. Do you really believe that if a person of your choosing were in Ryan’s position, the county would have funded teacher salary increases over the past several years? Blaming someone for things they have no little to no influence over simply because you don’t like them sounds childish.
Reality Check says
Tomback’s visits were more productive and provided more feeddback that would actually push admin to work to improve schools. He didn’t know anyone or have personal relationships to sway his judgement of schools. He didn’t live in the county or have kids or grandkids in our schools. He wasn’t raised here. He didn’t develop his career here. He was able to provide a fair and eqitable evaluation of admin across the county. That’s one reason no one liked him. They couldn’t use the Old Boys Network to get by as buddies.That’s also part of why he didn’t last…
Now we are full of people who have grown up here, developed their careers, raised their kids and grandkids. Which you would think would improve our schools. But no. Instead we rely on our buddies and pals. Tell them how great they are. Promote them to big jobs in Central Office with important titles and big salaries. Our schools will continue to stagnate as long as we are ruled by favoritism and the Old Boys Network.
The truth stinks.
double check says
Some of the people Tomback brought in were very questionable, especially his number two. The makeup of the BOE changed from when he was hired and his troubles with some were well known.
Sam Adams says
Licata is still around? He must really have the dirt on someone important. He should have been fired 20 years ago after his troubles with the law in soliciting prostitutes.
Truth says
HCPS is the worst…and Harford County is a joke. $$$ being taken left and right from the top and everyone else is left to scramble. HCPS/COUNTY doesn’t care about teachers, students, education or schools. They care about making their $$$. That’s the truth. Sorry. It’s a shame, but I speak the truth! Something happened in Harco that isn’t happening anywhere else and schools are suffering because of it.
Not PC says
Can’t be that bad. Look at how much money the state dumps into City schools and look at our return.
6 decades of democratic party rule with “more money equals better” surely has done wonders, huh?
Not PC says
As I understand it, PG schools were open for “food” after “Snowmageddon” as in, students can come in, get some yummies and go home, or perhaps anyone, yet, schools were closed for education. What the hell is wrong with that?
If you can open to feed kids, you can open to learn.
Yep. says
So, you’re saying that since they could open the doors for kids who live within walking distance to come in and get something to eat, that means they should have put the buses on the road, full of kids?
Not PC says
Who says they walked? I’m here to assume they could (were) driven by car there.
Yep. says
Okay. I see your point, disregard my previous comment.