Calvert County Public Schools has three big plans in motion, and the district just told its school board it is stitching them into one.
At its latest meeting, the Board of Education heard an update on the district’s strategic plan, the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and an outside efficiency study. Chief Operations Officer Susan Johnson presented it under a theme she called “one vision, one system.” The strategic plan, she said, will be the single coordinated improvement plan for the district.
What’s being combined
The three documents come from different places. The strategic plan is the district’s own, built around four priority areas: student excellence, culture for learning, organizational accountability and community engagement. The Blueprint is the state’s long-running school reform law. The efficiency study was an independent review by Public Works that found a lean central office with fewer layers of management than similar districts and capacity gaps in communications, legal services and instructional oversight.
Johnson said teams for each priority area are placing the Blueprint next to the strategic plan and moving ideas from the efficiency study into it. For example, the instructional framework and success criteria fit both the Blueprint and the student excellence pillar, while the efficiency study’s performance indicators and standard operating procedures move into organizational accountability.
The strategic plan itself is changing. Johnson said that on a second read, many of its goals were more aspirational than actionable. Priority area teams are now updating indicators and setting measurable three-year objectives for fiscal 2027 through 2029.
New tools, new staff
Each department is building a set of key performance indicators, starting with a few top-level “power indicators” that are supported by essential indicators and then by key indicators. Departments are also putting their standard operating procedures on a single template and writing new ones where none exist. Three new positions will help: two executive directors to coordinate the strategic plan and Blueprint in schools, and a director of communications to improve branding and communication.
Superintendent Marcus Newsome has assigned leaders to oversee the pillars, Johnson said. She named four colleagues, but the names are unclear in the recording.
Questions from the board
A board member asked how parents and staff will see one set of goals instead of three. Johnson called that “the biggest undertaking” and said the district is still deciding which measures will show whether students and schools are better off. Staff expect to report those measures before the end of the calendar year.
Another member asked whether the strategic dashboard would be updated. Johnson said staff are considering whether it is the right tool and will update indicators after the Sept. 30 enrollment counts come in. A member asked for a quarterly briefing on progress.
Blueprint: compliant, with a moving target
Johnson told the board the district is compliant with the Blueprint’s requirements today. She said the state keeps pushing parts of it down the road, including the 60/40 schedule that would give teachers 40% of the day for planning, support teams for teachers, and peer review. The state’s Accountability and Implementation Board voted in early 2025 to pause the expansion of collaborative time because of teacher shortages. Staff said the district must still plan for Level 4 lead teachers in fiscal 2028.
The watch item is minimum school funding. Districts must budget 75% of school funding directly to students and schools and prove it at year’s end. Johnson said the district met the requirement on an actual basis for fiscal 2025, that fiscal 2026 is a partial year, and that fiscal 2028 budgets must show the full 75%. Staff are checking the fiscal 2026 data and will report to the Maryland State Department of Education in mid-October.
What to watch
- The new success measures, promised before the end of the calendar year.
- The fiscal 2026 minimum school funding report to the state in mid-October.
- The fiscal 2028 plan for Level 4 lead teachers.
- Whether the board gets the quarterly progress briefing it asked for.
