Dorsey: Providing competitive salaries to staff is second to providing safe, secure environments that are conducive to learning. In order to provide rigorous instruction to meet the needs of all of our students we must recruit and retain quality staff members. Teachers make important decisions about planning and instructional delivery. Teachers are crucial to meeting the needs of learners. All staff members who are responsible for developing our students should receive competitive compensation. Carroll County Public School salaries should be competitive with those offered in surrounding counties.

Dorsey: CCPS has established procedures to ensure the safety of students and staff. Schools have specific safety plans in effect. Entry into all buildings is secure with cameras and intercom systems in place. Drivers’ licenses are used for identification. There is a Supervisor of School Security who trains staff members and monitors procedures that are to be in effect. It would be appropriate to expand the Office of School Security to include trained persons to work with the Supervisor of School Security. Trained School Resource Officers are important to ensuring the safety of students and staff. A recent Senate Bill (1265, Maryland Safe to Learn Act) to take effect on June 1, 2018, will provide either a School Resource Officer or adequate law enforcement protection to every public school in the state. This will enhance the safety of all students and staff in CCPS. The bill provides that the School Resource Officers must complete specialized training. By September 1, 2018, each local school system must establish one or more assessment teams to identify and provide intervention for students or staff who may be a threat to school safety. Crisis counselors are instrumental in providing stability and coping strategies to students or staff members who are experiencing a crisis.

Dorsey: The CCPS curriculum is rigorous enough when it is implemented effectively. Careful planning and instructional delivery are needed to ensure students’ success. County benchmark assessments are used to monitor students’ progress.

Dorsey: Career and technical education offerings are available at the Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster, MD. The Center provides opportunities to all high school students in Carroll County to pursue career and technology programs based on their interests and the possibility of being successful in their chosen program. The learning opportunities prepare students to enter employment and continue their education. Students are educated in an environment similar to the environment in which they will work. CCPS can explore additional partnerships with businesses.

Dorsey: The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and standardized testing should be used as intended to measure students’ performance in various subject areas. Our curriculum and instruction are based on standards that specify what students know or understand and should be able to do in various subject areas. The state assessment, PARCC, measures students’ progress on achieving the standards. The aim is to make sure students are on track to succeed in academic areas. Teachers and parents can determine if younger students are acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge to progress to the next level, and older students can see if they are on track to graduate, ready for careers and college. The results of the standardized testing can be used to make comparisons among other schools. The results can also be used to formalize goals for School Improvement Plans, thus ensuring students’ needs are targeted and achievement gaps between high- and low-performing students are lessened or closed.

Dorsey: Improving the diversity of the CCPS workforce is very important. Our county should be appealing to all applicants. I would suggest forming partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities to involve students in practical experiences in our school system, for example, observing classes, completing required hours for specific courses, providing professional development partnerships, or completing student teaching. I also suggest recruiting our current students who are interested in becoming part of our workforce and interviewing them for possible openings once they are ready to work. Providing support groups or partnerships for minorities would be important. CCPS must continue its efforts to provide diversity training for all members of the workforce, including Board Members, to enhance a nonthreatening environment for everyone. Appropriate goals for minority hiring include: (1) hiring members of ethnic groups that equal the percentage of minorities reflected in the student demographics (2) having the minority recruiting and retention rate reflect the rate of non-minority retention