Board hears heated public comment on $70,000 Instructional Empowerment Title II proposal; no final vote recorded

The Queen Anne's County Board of Education heard more than an hour of public comment and board discussion Jan. 15 about a proposed Instructional Empowerment professional development contract that staff said would be paid from federal Title II-A funds and cost about $70,000 for work at three schools.

Supporters framed the proposal as targeted professional development for teachers in three feeder-path schools; critics said the district had not provided adequate vetting, had weak sole-source documentation and risked spending grant dollars on a program without robust, independently verified evidence of effectiveness. No final open-session vote on the contract appears in the meeting transcript.

Why it matters: Title II-A funds are restricted federal dollars intended for educator development, and public commenters, teachers and some board members pressed the district for clearer evidence that this specific program is the best use of limited grant funds during a budget shortfall.

District supervisor Amber DePasa, who manages Title II-A grants, told the board the money being proposed comes from an amended Title II-A allocation and that the district had braided leftover funds from prior fiscal years to create the…