PGCPS committee summaries bills on special education reporting, threats and phones; recommends six policies to full board

Prince George’s County Public Schools’ Policy & Governance Committee on April 1 received administrative summaries of several state education bills that reached crossover and recommended six district policies to the full Board of Education for consideration.

Ms. Welsh briefed the committee on a range of bills. She said the district supports a bill requiring publication of special‑education service‑delivery models because “we already do that. So of course we're very much in favor of it.” That bill would require school systems to post all delivery models on their websites so parents — including those with parentally placed private school students — can access them.

Other bills staff summarized included: - House Bill 1265 — revisions to reportable offenses: the bill removes a list of multiple offenses from the statutory list but adds two offenses, including making a threat of mass violence. The bill requires the state's attorney to notify the superintendent and principal and, in some cases, the school security officer. Ms. Welsh said the change responds to incidents in which students found guilty of reportable offenses moved between counties without receiving‑county notification. - House Bill 102 / Senate Bill 225 — family and medical leave insurance (FMLI): staff said the start of required contributions was moved to Jan. 1, 2027, delaying employer and employee contributions previously scheduled earlier. - Senate Bill 130 / House Bill 147 — student technology use/cell‑phone policy: Ways & Means accepted House amendments and the combined language requires boards of education to adopt a cell‑phone policy that limits use during instructional time; systems with existing equivalent policies are exempt. - Senate Bill 451 / House Bill 325 — GED language: legislation would allow some GED sections to be taken in a test‑taker’s preferred language (English or Spanish), aligning with a platform request described by staff. - House Bill 935 — venue‑specific emergency action plans for high‑school football games: the bill as revised requires an athletic trainer, licensed EMS provider, licensed nurse or physician, or a volunteer meeting those qualifications to be present (giving districts greater flexibility than earlier drafts). - House Bill 1127 — water‑safety instructional content: the bill removes a strict swimming‑competency requirement but requires elementary, middle and high school curriculum to include water‑safety content.

Committee action: The committee considered six district policies (agenda items 6.1–6.6: policy 3,100 investments; policy 3,160 transfer of funds; policy 41‑13 community involvement in principal selection; policy 51‑11 legal age of admission; policy 52‑06 rescind yearbook photograph policy; policy 9,366 order of business and parliamentary procedures). No public comments were received on these items. The committee voted to recommend the policies to the full board for consideration; the roll call recorded 4 in the affirmative: Doctor Felton Moss (Aye), Mr. Bridal (Aye), Miss Willis Schroeder (Aye), Miss Walker (Aye). The transcript records the outcome as “The policies under agenda item 6.1 through 6.6 will be recommended to the full board for public comment consideration.”

Ending: Staff and board members said they will produce a post‑session recap and continue planning for the district legislative day on Sept. 12; the committee’s next virtual meeting was announced for April 9.