Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Student board member highlights exchange trip, Next Generation Scholars and community conversations
Summary
Alton Swanson, the Kent County Public Schools student board member, summarizes a Feb. 10 board meeting in a SMOB video: he promotes an American Exchange Project, reviews Next Generation Scholars program outcomes and staffing changes, and outlines community conversation themes that will inform next year’s budget.
Alton Swanson, the Kent County Public Schools student member of the board, posted a SMOB video summarizing the Feb. 10 board of education meeting in which he promoted a proposed American Exchange Project, recapped a Next Generation Scholars presentation and outlined community conversation results that will feed into next year’s budget decisions.
Swanson said the American Exchange Project would “send high school seniors on a week long trip in a community in America completely different from the one that they live in,” and would host visiting students from other parts of the country. He encouraged interested students and community members to watch the full board meeting video (timestamp 1:53:32) or to contact Ms. Karen Saunders or himself for details.
On the Next Generation Scholars (NGS) program, Swanson summarized a board presentation describing NGS as a grades 10–12 program across five Maryland counties that provides classroom exposure, individualized attention and field trips designed to connect participants to the state higher-education pipeline. According to the figures presented to the board, last year’s cohort received $4,300,000 in financial aid, the presentation reported that 219 students received college acceptances, and several hundred students participated in college visits including Bowie State, Salisbury and Notre Dame of Maryland University. Swanson said “90 percent of NGS students felt better prepared for future careers.” These numbers were presented during the board’s NGS presentation as recounted by Swanson.
Swanson also noted a staffing change for NGS at Kent County High School: Andre Anderson will be replaced as facilitator/operations manager by Taylor Hudson. He described Hudson as “super nice” and expressed optimism about the transition.
Finally, Swanson reviewed the results of a series of community conversations led by Superintendent Dr. McComas. He said participants discussed academics and workforce training, the annual budget, community engagement, supports for student success, facilities and equipment, and ideas for the future of the Wharton Building. Swanson said the superintendent has collected and interpreted the feedback and that the findings “will influence next year’s budget and future decisions” for the district.
Swanson closed the video by pointing viewers to BoardDocs for the full presentation and thanking viewers for watching.
