BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Darryl L. Williams, Ed.D Superintendent 6901 North Charles Street Towson, MD 21204 MULTI-YEAR IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR ALL SCHOOLS Responses to Board Members’ Questions October 13, 2020 MYIPAS Questions from Ms. Causey 1. At the board meeting you said you would provide a process for Board member questions to be compiled and addressed by Cannon Design team and BCPS staff. Please provide the process this morning to Tracy to coordinate with all Board members. Response: An e-mail was sent to Board members on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, requesting questions regarding MYIPAS be provided to Dr. Williams by noon on Friday, October 9, 2020. Another request was sent to Board members on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, via e-mail. 2. In the Cannon Design MYIPAS discussion, it was requested to see an analysis of accuracy of previous enrollment projections that will provide confidence for the Board, BCPS, county, and state agencies involved in funding for school facilities and our communities. Information should be specifically for each high school over several years. It should include factors and rationale for any differences between projection and actuals. Attached are two pdf documents that show many swings in projections just months apart. (Comparison Projections Feb…….pdf and Enrollments 2019 Projection Actual.pdf). A. Enrollment comparisons, for 2019 projected and 2019 Actual B. Enrollment comparisons for 2028, projected in February 2019 and June 2020 C. All BCPS documentation from: i. Students Count 2018, February 2019 ii. Students Count 2019, June 2020 D. In the weekly update, please have staff confirm or correct the numbers in the attached documents E. Please have staff provide factors and rationale for such changes. F. Please provide these documents and staff’s analysis to the Cannon Design team, BCPS staff and County team. G. Correspondence with Cannon Design team. Response: The requested analysis is not included in the MYIPAS scope of work for CannonDesign. During data exchange, at the outset of the project, CannonDesign reviewed BCPS’ enrollment general projection methodology and found it to be consistent with industry standards and valid for near-term capital planning purposes. Responses to Board Members’ Questions MYIPAS October 13, 2020 Page 2 Questions from Ms. Rowe received 9/30/20 3. 9/30/20 – I noticed in last night's cannon presentation that it was stated several time how exemplary our school facility maintenance is. I found this result unexpected because the Interagency Commission on Public School Construction (IAC) gave out school system the rating of poor for preventative maintenance. I would like staff to explain the discrepancy. How can a vendor say one thing while our funding authority is saying the exact opposite? The link to the full report is http://iac.maryland.gov/Reports/FY%202020%20Maintenance%20Survey%20Report.pdf Response: CannonDesign’s evaluation is conducted by a professional team composed of architects, engineers, and cost estimators resulting in a comprehensive assessment. The Interagency Commission on School Construction’s (IAC) report on maintenance is based on an inspection of 42 schools by an inspector. It is difficult for us to understand how all individual schools are rated ‘Adequate,” ‘Good,’ or ‘Superior’ and yet the overall rating is ‘Poor’. Responses to Board Members’ Questions MYIPAS October 13, 2020 Page 3 4. Ms. Causey has requested the response be addressed by staff and CannonDesign team. It will be brought up at the October 13, 2020, Board meeting. Response: No response required. Request from Mr. Kuehn received 2:44 p.m. on 10/8/20 5. Please provide the full report and all supporting documentation related to MYIPAS to the full board for our review. It should also be made available to the public for full transparency. I had expected it to be our website under the MYIPAS page, but only the presentation is currently there. Please note that Ms. Henn also requested the report at 5:54 p.m. on 10/8/20. Response: The MYIPAS Web site was updated on October 9, 2020, at 8:15 p.m. and is accessible at https://www.bcps.org/system/myipas/. Questions from Mr. McMillion 6. I would like to see a copy of the July survey, along with a breakdown of how many respondents were associated with each respective high school. Response: CannonDesign is working on developing an overview of the survey results. This will not be ready by Tuesday’s Board Meeting, but it should be available by Monday, October 26, 2020. 7. How many focus groups were there? How many members in each focus group? How were the members of the focus groups determined? I’m not interested in their names, but what areas of expertise do the members represent? Response: Three focus groups were formed for each of the three pillars. The Enrollments Projections, Capacity, and Utilization focus group has 15 members. The Educational Adequacy and Equity focus group has 31 members. The Facilities Condition focus group has 35 members. The focus groups include representatives from Baltimore County Public Schools, Baltimore County Government, the Board of Education of Baltimore County, council members’ offices, community members, and area education advisory councils. The members of the focus groups represent a variety of skills and knowledge related to the specific pillar subject matter. 8. Were CannonDesigns’ projected student numbers derived independently of the Sage numbers, and BCPS projections? Response: See response to Question 2. Responses to Board Members’ Questions MYIPAS October 13, 2020 Page 4 9. Sparrows Pt Middle School and High School are located in the same building. When the high school was evaluated according to the 3 pillars, was only the high school 1st floor capsulated in this report (separate from the middle school 2nd floor)? Do Cannon’s staff realize 2 restrooms on the 2nd floor were converted over to office and small group space? Approximately 18 months ago Mrs Verletta White, the two principals and I toured the entire building. I knew in advance about these bathrooms, and I requested to see them in their renovated state. Response: The Sparrows Point HS and MS were assessed independently for adequacy and capacity and as a whole for condition. The Educational Adequacy and Equity assessment is based on BCPS-provided inventory of spaces by current use. 10. As I stated at the conclusion of Mr. Mills’ presentation on Sept 27, the old North Point Jr High School site is located at the corner of Merritt Blvd and Wise Ave. Mr Mills acknowledged he was unaware of this property. Now that Cannon is aware that this property exists in the Dundalk area, can they analyze the feasibility of building a new high school and the impact it would have on the overcrowding of Dundalk/Sollers Pt; Patapsco; and Sparrows Pt Middle and High Schools? Response: The evaluation of new properties is currently not in CannonDesign’s scope of services. Questions from Ms. Causey at 12:56 p.m. on 10/9/20 11. Our Board and community have expectations for transparency and ease of access to process and reports. For instance, when a boundary study is done, even if for a few schools, there is robust access to process and documents. There is timeline of events and then live video of focus groups, attachment of documents, public input, etc. https://www.bcps.org/system/boundary_change_studies/ For example: https://www.bcps.org/construction/PleasantPlainsES/ https://www.bcps.org/construction/johnnycakees/ Response: All efforts are being made to keep the process as transparent as possible. Please see https://www.bcps.org/system/myipas/ for updates on the MYIPAS study. 12. Please see Mr. Kuehn’s request above. https://www.bcps.org/system/myipas/ Response: See responses below. 13. Please provide the full report and all supporting documentation related to MYIPAS to the full board for our review. It should also be made available to the public for full transparency. I had expected it to be our website under the MYIPAS page, but only the presentation is currently there. Responses to Board Members’ Questions MYIPAS October 13, 2020 Page 5 Response: Please see https://www.bcps.org/system/myipas/ for updates on the MYIPAS study. 14. Did Cannon Design review any recent (last 5 years) Boundary studies to evaluate effectiveness of decisions, including accuracy of enrollment projections given adjusted boundaries for new schools, replacement schools, additions, and addressing capacity issues. If disparities in actual versus projected, what were factors? A. See above links. But also, recent ones to evaluate: i. Hillcrest-Catonsville-Westowne-Westchester-Johnnycake ES boundary study of 2016. ii. Mays Chapel ES. iii. Lyons Mills ES. iv. Victory Villa ES and 7 others. Response: Analysis of boundary study results and accuracy of enrollment projections were not part of CannonDesign’s scope of services. B. How will Cannon Design recommendations be impacted by work of Baltimore County AFPO Taskforce? Response: We do not know at this time until results of the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) committee are completed. C. How will Cannon Design recommendations be impacted by IAC School State-wide facility condition scoring? Dr. Lever, as former Executive Director of IAC on School Construction, is well positioned to evaluate this? Response: We do not know at this time until results of the State-wide facility assessment are complete. Questions received from Ms. Causey at 1:30 p.m. on 10/9/20 I request the Board receive the following: 15. The Survey responses (July 2020 via email). Mr. Mills indicated to Roundtable it was available for distribution and thought would be on BCPS MYIPAS webpage. Response: See response to Question 2. 16. District comparison document, that Dr. Williams thought helpful.