Board to Hide Off Camera to Revise Academic Priorities & Discuss Budget

If you attend only one Board of Education meeting all year, Tuesday, December 15, 2009 is the one to attend.  The Board meeting has a surprise Agenda that has just been released! 

The Board meeting won't be televised and won't be available via webcast.  The meeting will have only sparse minutes that, based on past practice, won't be released to the public without the filing of a Maryland Public Information Act request, followed by an Opinion from the Maryland Open Meetings Act Compliance Board. 

The only way to know what's going to be discussed

 and decided on Tuesday is to be there!

And what a meeting it will be! Take a look at the Agenda for this Board "retreat". As has been past practice the MCPS Board of Education uses the word "retreat" to go off camera and discuss the public's business out of the purview of the public.  Tuesday will be no different.

For the first half of the day the Board will be schooled in how to do their job!  That's right, they were elected to run the school system, but somehow they keep forgeting that Jerry "blur the lines" Weast doesn't really want them to have any role at all. He would prefer they simply exist as figure heads, wave and smile at the crowd. So the morning's Agenda includes a clear understanding of their role in "staying above the line".

Then the Board and MCPS staff in attendance will have lunch. Lunch and breakfast at retreats is typically paid for by you, the taxpayer.

For the afternoon, the Agenda gets even better. The Board will be discussing the Board's Academic Priorities.  This folks is the meat of the school system. This discussion will guide what stays in the budget and what gets cut for the next year.

In the past, these discussions at Board retreats have paved the way for major changes in how MCPS is run and how the public participates in Board meetings.  See past "draft minutes" obtained exclusively by the Parents' Coalition for clues to past discussions.

The just released Agenda gives the off-site location and time for this very important Board "retreat".  As with all open Board meetings, this meeting is open to the public.  Stop by and watch your Board in action!

Board Retreat 121509