At the May Board of Education meeting, the Board considered revisions to two current policies: Pre-Kindergarten Enrollment; Inclement Weather Closing.
Both revised policies were introduced first reading and will be brought back to the Board for second reading and potential enactment at its meeting on June 4, 2024.
The draft revised policies are available at the following links:
The public is invited to share feedback with the Board by emailing comments to pio@ccpsstaff.org. Comments will be accepted until noon on Monday, June 3, 2024.
According to Board policy, new and revised policies are reviewed by the Board at at least two meetings prior to their adoption. Revised policies may be adopted after review at one meeting. The exception is a new policy that is required by the Maryland State Department of Education, which may be adopted with one reading by the Board.
Further information on the revised policies:
Pre-Kindergarten Enrollment:
Enrollment in pre-kindergarten programs is governed by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation, and requires school systems to adopt a tiered system for enrollment in these programs. Thus, the CCPS policy (adopted in 2007) was required to change.
The new policy authorizes the Early Childhood office to develop the required tiered system of enrollment Income Eligibility Guidelines for Free and Reduced Meals published by the U.S. Department of Education. The regulation to this policy also explains the process for Tier I enrollment, which includes students from families who have an income up to 300% of the federal poverty level. The regulations for Tier II (families with incomes between 300% and 600% of the poverty level) and Tier III (families with incomes above 600% of the poverty level) will be added once final regulations are received from MSDE.
Consistent with the new Blueprint law, the local option for enrollment and qualification is removed from the policy.
Inclement Weather Closings
This policy is expanded from its original version (dated 1988) to charge the Superintendent to develop regulations for determining whether schools should be closed or delayed due to weather and for communicating that decision to the public.
The accompanying regulation details the steps taken by the district each day to determine the need for any weather-related delay or closing, as well as how those decisions are communicated with families, stakeholders, and local media.