The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will get its first look at the 2023-2024 school year calendar when it receives the recommendation of the Calendar Committee at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, November 16, 2022.
The school system’s Calendar Committee comprises parents, students, and school system staff, including representatives of all four employee bargaining units. It is charged under Board Policy IB with recommending a calendar to the Board each year.
After the calendar is presented to the Board, it will be put on the school system’s website, where the public can view it and provide comments. The Board is expected to vote on a formal calendar for the coming school year on December 7, 2022.
Wednesday’s meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, 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 4:30 p.m. for the sole purpose of voting to immediately go into a closed session. During that time, it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act, including legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. The closed session is not open to the public.
PROCESS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS
The Board will hear in-person and virtual public comments on agenda items from up to 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 diverse viewpoints and varying technology access, the Board will employ a randomized, computerized lottery to select the ten speakers for any agenda item on which more than ten people sign up to offer comments.
The link to register for in-person or virtual testimony at the meeting will be posted online at 3 p.m. on the Friday before the meeting and close at 11:59 p.m. on the Sunday before the meeting. Those wishing to provide 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 ten registered speakers, the lottery selection procedures will be as follows:
- If more than ten people indicate their first choice for a specific agenda item, the lottery for that item will only be conducted among those registrants. Those who indicate that agenda item as their second choice will not be considered and may provide written comments as outlined below.
- Suppose fewer than ten 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. In that case, spaces will be allocated to the first-choice registrants, and a lottery will be conducted for the 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 they signed up for. For details on the specifics of agenda items, click on the Board Docs link at www.aacps.org/board.
Written comments on agenda items can be submitted through an online form that begins at 3 p.m. on the Friday before the meeting. Written comments must be no more than 250 words and must be submitted by noon on the day before 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 comments 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.
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.
- Budget Committee: noon, November 14, 2022. Call 301-960-3676, and enter the Conference ID 930 305 787#.
- Equity Committee: 3 p.m., January 24, 2023. Call 301-960-3676, and enter the Conference ID 428 209 249#.
- Policy Committee: 3:00 p.m., December 6, 2022. Call 301-960-3676, and enter the Conference ID 272 410 185#.