Frederick County Public Schools, Maryland

B
Taxes Y Budget Y Meetings Y Elected Officials Y Administrative Officials Y Contracts Y Audits Y Public records P Academics Y Background checks N Transparency grading process

Website evaluation

Last rated on Jan. 26, 2012

The good

• Current and archived budgets, including revenue information, are available, but do not disclose the percentage of property tax that funds the school district, and improperly reports salary and wage information.^[1]
• Meeting schedule, agendas and minutes are posted, but prior Open Meetings Act violations are not.^[2]
• The Central Office Directory provides administrative phone number information, but not email addresses.^[3]
• Board of Education email contact information is available, but not phone numbers to each Board Member.^[4]
• Audit information is available.^[5]
• Academic performance information is available.^[6]
• The Frederick County Regulation & Policy Manual includes information regarding Public Records Requests, but then fails to provide the employee name, address, phone number, and email address to send requests to.^[7]
• Teacher contracts are available^[8], but certain Superintendent compensation is confidential^[9].
• Vendor purchasing information, including bids and contracts, is available.^[10]

The bad

• The budget improperly reports many Salaries and Wages within sub-categories as $0. The Superintendent's Office, with a Superintendent, Admin Director, and Secretary has a reported Salaries and Wages of $0.
• Email contact information for Board Members may not be accurate, and other contact information is missing: On January 22, 2010, an email was sent to all seven Board Members asking a question and requesting a response from all. Two board members responded immediately. Four Board Members never responded. For the last Board Member, a "your message was deleted without being read" tracking confirmation was received.
• Information regarding background checks is not provided.

Open Meeting and Public Records compliance

Jerry Jongerius has filed several complaints against the school district for not properly answering public records requests. He has also launched a website, Stop TERC with his accusations of school's non-transparent attitude. The most recent complaint by Jongerius is for when he requested 46 documents, some which had been moved to a password-protected section of the schools' website even though they'd previously been published by the school district and public information for many years.^[11] The school board has not offered any comment on the complaint. Jongerius' accusations were confirmed, when the Judge on the case ordered the school system to permit inspection of the improperly withheld public documents.

There are also numerous complaints against the school meeting practices. The first complaint in 2006, interestingly filed by Board of Education member Donna J. Crook, found that the Board was not keeping adequate records of closed session meetings, but that two instances were correctly conducted closed meetings.^[12] The second complaint, filed by the editor of the Frederick News Post, could not reach a decision due to lack of evidence that the closed meeting expanded to cover information that should have been brought up in a public meeting, because the Board did not submit minutes of the closed sesson meeting.^[13] The third case, Aug. 9, 2009, filed by the Frederick News Post, was found in newspaper's favor after the school district's closed meeting with an attorney turned to public business.^[14] The Frederick News Posts later comments that the Maryland Open Meetings Act is a "toothless tiger", as nothing prevents the Board from simply disregarding the rules once again in the future.^[15]

Board of education

The Board hires and reviews the work of the Superintendent, monitors implementation of the school system’s master plan and gives final approval to curriculum matters and materials, staff appointments, equipment purchases, land acquisitions, and school construction, renovations and repairs. The Board has two standing committees: the Curriculum and Instruction Committee and the Facilities and Finance Committee. Both review the issues and make recommendations to the full Board.^[16]

Dr. Theresa R. Alban has served as Superintendent of Schools since 2011.^[17]

Below is a list of current Frederick County Public Schools Board of Education members:^[16]

Elected Board members serve 4-year staggered terms. The student member is a high school student selected by the Frederick County Association of Student Councils. A member of the Board of County Commissioners serves in a liaison capacity.^[16]

Teacher contracts

Teacher contracts posted:^[18]

• Frederick Association of School Support Employees (FASSE) Agreement
• Frederick County Teachers Association (FCTA) Agreement
• Frederick County Administrative and Supervisory Association (FCASA) Agreement

School budget

The Frederick County Board of Education unanimously adopted a $497.2 million operating budget for the 2009-10 school year.

The balanced budget comes at the cost of $5.4 million in cuts and adjustments. The Board increased walking distances, returning to the pre-2007 distances, for a savings of $965,000. Reductions in central office staffing and work calendars trimmed the budget by $974,000. The remaining savings are the result of reducing professional development, cutting the printing budget, increasing the price of a la carte cafeteria items, and scaling back high school athletic costs.

While the operating budget is $4.6 million more than for 2009, the unrestricted portion — monies that can be used for unstipulated purposes — is $7.4 million less. The net increase is the result of a significant influx in restricted federal funds. About $6.5 million is the first of two yearly installments of stimulus money limited to special education and Title I program uses.^[1]

Academic performance

Maryland measures academic progress each year by administering the Maryland School Assessment, the Alternate Maryland School Assessment (for students with disabilities), and the Maryland High School Assessments.^[19]

HSA performance

The chart below details the percentage passing the following subjects:^[20]

MSA performance

The chart below details the percentage passing the following subjects:^[21]

Unions

In accordance with Maryland law, the Board of Education recognizes the Frederick Association of School Support Employees (FASSE), the Frederick County Teachers Association (FCTA), and the Frederick County Administrative and Supervisory Association (FCASA) as the exclusive representatives of the employees named within the designated units.^[18]

School choice

Frederick County currently has one charter school: Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School (MVMPCS). MVMPCS was the first charter school to open in Maryland and offers grades Pre-K-8 to 292 students.^[22]

Lobbying

Main article: Maryland government sector lobbying

Frederick County Public Schools may have relationships with lobbyists, although these relationships are not kept in documents. ^[23] The school district belongs to the National School Boards Association, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Maryland Negotiating Service, and the Legal Services Association. ^{[23] [24]}

One member of the Frederick County Public Schools Board of Education is a member of the National Black Caucus of School Board Members.^[23] Dues for 2009-2010 were $95. ^[24]

Legislative receptions

The school district funds legislative receptions. In November 2008, the district hosted a luncheon meeting for all of the members of Frederick County delegation. This came at a total of $212.73.

External links

Frederick County Public Schools, Maryland

• Frederick County Public Schools Website
• Maryland State Department of Education

References

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