Board Notebook: One Bill Passed; New Lights for Havre de Grace High

The school board passed one of two bills at Monday's meeting and voted on four additional make-up days should inclement weather cause more closures.

Havre de Grace High School, meanwhile, will get upgrades to some of its outdoor athletic facilities.

Legislative Update

Facilitator of Governmental Relations Kathryn M. Carmello presented a legislative update that included two bills.

The board voted against a bill that would have required the school system to provide public records in a searchable and electronic format. Carmello suggested that the board oppose because electronic format could potentially be manipulated, as opposed to the PDF format they use now, and become costly and time consuming.

“This proposed language would, in my judgment, create or result in a fairly radical change in the way Maryland Public Information Act requests would have to be addressed,” Patrick Spicer, esquire, said. “I don’t think [the bill] has been well thought out.”

The second bill was passed by the board and included changes to the Open Meetings Act. The amendments would require the board to post notices of meetings online, which is already done, and set a statute of limitations of one year for complaints under the Act.

New Lights for Havre de Grace High School

The board voted to approve monthly contract awards, the monthly report on personnel, minutes of previous meetings, appeal case results and a contract award for buses.

The board also approved upgraded lights for Havre de Grace High School outdoor tennis and basketball courts.

The City of Havre de Grace will pay for these replacements, projected at $126,400, with a grant received from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Program Open Space/Community Parks and Playgrounds Grant Program.

Proactive Planning

, past snows have left the school system . In the event of future snow closings, members voted to take days from spring break—April 20 and 21—before potentially lengthening the school year to June 20 and 21.

Altered Attendance

The Board of Education approved a revision to the attendance area policies. Previously, the policy stated that a student’s attendance area is based on “bona fide” residency.

The new policy states that students are required to attend schools within the attendance area of a parent’s residency, unless the student is an adult or emancipated minor, in which case the attendance area is based upon his or her own residency.

Redistricting Vote at Next Meeting

The next business meeting is Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the . Members are expected to vote on the elementary redistricting plan at this meeting.