Dori Henry: Hello and welcome to The County, where we examine issues important to Baltimore County, Maryland. I'm your host, Dori Henry, but today we're trying something different. This episode will focus on education and county executive Johnny Olszewski will be asking the questions. The county executive was joined by Baltimore County Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Darryl Williams, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, Cindy Sexton, and student member of the County Board of Education, Omar Rashid for a conversation about our schools, the challenges facing our educators and students, and how we can move forward in our efforts to create a world-class school system. Johnny Olszewski: Thanks again, Dr. Williams, Cindy, and Omar for joining us today to talk about education here in Baltimore County. I'd like to start today with you, Dr. Williams. You came to Baltimore County following a long and successful career in Montgomery County schools. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to become an educator in the first place? Darryl Williams: Well, thank you. I'm a native Washingtonian and I had educators in my family. I wanted to be an architect, and then when I realized that was a five year program, I had to figure out something else. Granted, I was 17 years old, so I was young. I did 31 years total in education as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal of middle and high schools. And so I've enjoyed my career in Montgomery County and when this opportunity presented itself, I had to think about it, talk to my family, and talk to people I knew in Baltimore County. I took the opportunity to apply and now I'm here. Johnny Olszewski: That's great. Well, we're happy to have you. One of the folks that you work closely with on the board is Omar. What drove you to want to be student member of the board? Omer Rashid: I moved here from Ethiopia two years ago with my dad, so it was a completely huge change from a third world education to one of the best school systems in the nation. So getting a chance to give back to this school system definitely was a drive, but also I've always been a person to advocate for my fellow peers. This was definitely a way for me to voice the concerns of my fellow students. Johnny Olszewski: What are some of the concerns that you're hearing out there as you're working with other students across the system? Omer Rashid: The biggest, I would have to say is from my school visits, from students reaching out to me. It's more of the mental health aspect of students and how they feel in school, classroom settings, their teachers. So, definitely the climate and safety of the students and their mental health is probably one of the biggest problems so far. Johnny Olszewski: Cindy, you've been advocating for, and Dr. Williams has been advancing more supports for our school systems in that space, whether it's counselors and psychologists and social workers. Can you talk to us more about some of the biggest challenges facing, maybe either reemphasizing some of what Omar said or other issues you hear from your members? Cindy Sexton: I started at Villa Cresta 19 years ago and it was a different society, even that short amount of time ago. But the students' needs have definitely increased, those adverse childhood experiences that we're hearing about and the trauma those kids are bringing to the schools are really challenging the teacher's ability to even get to the teaching because you have to take care of those things first. More students with special needs, we don't always have the resources, whether human or otherwise to deal with that, but we need to be able to deal with those childhood trauma issues and the mental health concerns before we can even begin to start working on the curriculum and the instruction. Johnny Olszewski: And Dr. Williams, I mean you've documented some of that in some of your presentations to the board, some of the changing challenges and opportunities in the school system. Can you talk through a little bit about what's happening within the schools today? Darryl Williams: So Baltimore County is different than what it used to look like 20 years ago. And so I'm fortunate that I get to work with all five unions. I get to work with our student member and I have advisories. I get to work with our board. I get to work with our stakeholders. And hearing from everyone, there seemed to be some commonalities amongst our unions really looking at the workforce, making sure we are training and building the capacity. As Ms. Sexton talked about, the needs are a little bit different. Therefore we have to do our work differently. Darryl Williams: I work with our unions to address how does it look now to the teach in the classroom? How does it look now to support our paraprofessionals? And how does it look now to feed our students? And bus drivers, how do we get them to school back and forth safely? And then how to lead our schools? I used to be a principal and the work is a little bit more challenging. We need more instructional leaders in addition to those who can manage schools. And that our stakeholders are saying, to Omar's point, there's trauma out there and how do we support the needs, how are we making sure our schools are safe? And for me as a parent, I want to make sure that every student has one adult whom they trust, whether it's a teacher, counselor, secretary, building service worker, bus driver, coach. That's what I'm used to in terms of personalizing. So in my budget I did put forth more staff, whether it's classroom teacher, whether it's PPW or social work or counselor. Darryl Williams: I've also looked at more professional development. How do we recruit, how do we onboard, and then how do we retain our staff, whether they're in the classroom or outside the classroom. I know that's a very aggressive budget, but also know that we have to look at a strategic plan. I know we can't accomplish all of this in one year, so I'm also developing our strategic plan, which will be a multi-year plan to really address the outcomes. We want better outcomes for our students. We want all students to be college and career ready when they leave Baltimore County public schools. Johnny Olszewski: Speaking of a longterm plan, I mean the legislature is, as we're speaking, currently considering and debating the blueprint for Maryland's future, which will really sort of fundamentally reshape the way that education and education funding are looked at in the State. I'm optimistic that it will pass, but for you Cindy and Omar, from your perspectives, how important is it that this piece of legislation passes? How will it benefit our system? How will it shape things in the near term and long term from your perspectives? Cindy Sexton: The single most important factor in a child's education is their teacher and we have a retention problem and it's a nationwide problem with having the teachers stay in the field. We need to be able to recruit and retain the best and we are having those troubles right now. We need diverse teaching force. We do not. Many of our students do not have anybody in the building who look like them or come from their culture and we need to be able to fix that. That is going to be priority one. Kirwan will help to be able to start to address that problem. That's one of the things that is exciting about it is we need to be able to let those teachers develop into the high quality educators that students need. Omer Rashid: I'm going to have to agree with Cindy. I think teachers are the most important part of our education. After all, they're the ones shaping us to be the leaders of tomorrow and if we can't support them and keep them, then I think then that's when we have a problem. Johnny Olszewski: Yeah, and as we think about these additional traumas that students are bringing to the schools and the needs for additional support personnel, putting differentiated resources and having those additional supports. These things obviously require resources and I think the State is contemplating a significant infusion as part of this process. And so I think it's really critical as we sort of think about the roadmap Dr. Williams that you've put before County residents and frankly myself to consider as part of the budgeting process that we recognize that having this partnership with the state really is sort of critical and fundamental to getting us there. Cindy Sexton: But to piggy back on that also for a minute, we also need to look seriously at the Pre-K portion of that because we can reach the kids and teach them when they're younger. To fill in those gaps when they're older is much more difficult and expensive and much less successful. So we really need to focus those resources and the learning and the support and the mental health support so we can start them on a trajectory that is going to be much more positive rather than at the end trying to play catch up because it just doesn't work nearly as well. Johnny Olszewski: And one of the things that Pre-K does is it helps close the gap, right? I know that's a big focus of yours Dr. Williams. Darryl Williams: So yes, I'm excited about that portion of Kirwan, really looking at the early childhood. There's research out there to talks about grade three and clearly we want to make sure our students are reading and performing on math on grade level or higher by grade three. If not, the gaps start to spread as they matriculate in their schooling. So the emphasis on early childhood is important. Making sure we have the number of teachers available and then having the facilities to accommodate more of our Pre-K and K. And then working with our unions, how do we support and recruit and retain. I also want to say the other part with Kirwan is it is not just the school's responsibility but the working with our families. So a lot of that early childhood is really speaking to the family support, the community engagement and partnership and we're looking at beefing up that division in our system, what more we can do to engage our families to be a part of the decision making with what's happening in the schools as well as feeling welcome when they come into the building. Darryl Williams: And it's a little controversy or when I say this, not necessarily showing up at PTA meetings, I do respect the PTAs, so let me clarify that. But being engaged and engagement is far beyond just attending a meeting, but feeling like their voices are heard and that their own student is being recognized and acknowledged and we have such a diverse population, which is a good thing for Baltimore County. But that family and community partnership is also important. Johnny Olszewski: Yeah, it's really critical and those wraparound services and recognizing that what happens in the house also impacts what's happening in the school. So engaging in that way both by providing additional services within the school building, but making those connections beyond. Cindy Sexton: Community's goals are going to be crucial to that role as we expand those community schools in Baltimore County for the wraparound services for the families and the students. Johnny Olszewski: As we think about things like disparities, are there other things that we should be addressing? I mean obviously Pre-K and early childhood education is a big driver of addressing disparities in our schools, the achievement gap. I think we've touched on some of the other issues, but what really should we be driving towards as we want to make sure, because we've got some incredibly successful schools in Baltimore County, National Blue Ribbon award winners. How do we elevate that bar so that we keep those schools performing, but we ensure that all schools across our County are performing at these high levels? Darryl Williams: Well my perspective is knowing our students. We're doing things for some or most kids and they're doing well, but there's a population of students who are not being successful. So that's our job to figure out as the educators as well as the educators at home, the parents, to figure out what can we do more. And for me that's really opening up the door for opportunities and access. I was just at the Black Saga competition on Saturday. And just to see the excitement of the students and that's above and beyond what's in the classroom. You have to prepare, the practice, the coaches, all of that. So I want to make sure our students are well rounded because not everybody will go and try to take AP Calculus in 12th grade. All of them want a stellar education, but their pathway may be they're ready to run that family business after they finish. Darryl Williams: They may want to go to a two year program. So for us, I want to make sure our students are having access to all these opportunities inside and outside of the classroom to be well rounded, to know different cultures, to be able to speak different languages, to get outside of Baltimore County and travel. Just to know what's out there and then to know what those jobs that are available. Many of these jobs, we never had a clue that would be available now and then 10 years from now there'll be different jobs available. And so that partnership with CCBC is great in terms of what we do to prepare kids, the early college programs, all of those opportunities. Just want to make sure our students have those opportunities. So it's just not a few and it's just not a particular zone that are giving those opportunities. But all kids have access. Johnny Olszewski: So Omar, from your perspective, do students across the system understand what those opportunities are or are we missing opportunities? What are we doing well? What can we do better? Omer Rashid: I feel like students right now feel like they're getting prepared for college and not for the real world and for a career. I know some of our magnets like Eastern Tech, Western tech have some great programs with plumbing, mechanics, real life skills that'll help them. And I feel like if we had that for every school, more students would be more engaged in the schoolwork because not everyone wants to go to college and that's okay. And we need to emphasize that in our schools. But also the fact that we need to have a better curriculum where we talk about how to buy a house, how to take out taxes. That's the main thing students talk to me about. They're like, yo, Omar, how come they don't teach us how to take out a loan in school? How do you invest? Stuff like that. Real life skills. And I feel like that's something we need to emphasize on. Darryl Williams: We're working on that with our partnership with Junior Achievement, financial literacy. I can't go into all the details, but if you recall that our first student town hall meeting, that resonated with a lot of the students. So we're right now we have some things in place and we're going to expand on that because to your point, just knowing about financial literacy, what does it mean and what other opportunities than loans for college, like scholarships and grants. We definitely want to explore that. Johnny Olszewski: We love a good tease on the podcast here, so more information coming out. Darryl Williams: More to come. Johnny Olszewski: That's right. And I wish I was investing when I was a high school student and not until later in life. We talked a lot about the actual supports within the classroom, but there's another piece to this equation too, right, Cindy, of the actual classroom condition. Can you talk to us a little bit about why facilities matter and how this isn't an either or proposition about both finding ways to support all of our educators, our teachers, our paraprofessionals, our support staff, our administration, and our students, but also creating the learning environment and why that matters and how matters to your job? Cindy Sexton: Well, so that's a heavy lift because Baltimore County has a lot of work to do. We have aging facilities. It's true, and they've been kept up as well as they possibly can and new schools costs a lot of money. I'm glad that is not my job to figure that part out right now. I'm willing to put in my opinion, but we need to make sure that those school buildings are safe. An old building is not necessarily a bad building if everything has been kept up. So it might not look as pretty, but what matters is the learning that's happening inside. So if we can find a way to make sure the buildings are safe, make sure everybody has their air conditioning and their clean drinking water, we can work with everything else as long as we make sure that those students are able to be in there and receiving their education. Johnny Olszewski: And Omar, have you gotten feedback from students about condition of the classroom? Omer Rashid: Yeah, definitely. I think that no two student can work the same if one is coming to a nice renovated or new school with proper air conditioning, drinking water, stuff like that and others are coming to a not so maintained school because they won't be really focused on the learning, but more of their environment. So we definitely need to work on that and supply all our students with the same facilities. Johnny Olszewski: And I'll just say that that was one of the largest challenges. I'm about a year in. I came in just a little bit before Dr. Williams started his tenure, but it was certainly a challenge that we both, I think, recognized together. I think we're taking important strides. We recognize the challenge is large, but we've got a plan to have all of our schools air conditioned for the first time in the county's history. We're down in Annapolis in addition to fighting for the Maryland blueprint. We're also talking about house bill and Senate bill one, The Built to Learn Act, which would mean an additional infusion of over $400 million of capital construction. Dr. Williams, we've had this conversation before just about how critical it is to have, again that partnership and that infusion so that we can finish what's already been outlined in terms of schools for our future and those middle schools and elementary schools, but also knowing that we have to find solutions for our high school challenges. Not to mention just the general capital concerns, which is why we're also doing a 10 year capital plan. Darryl Williams: I was going to say and kudos to you and our elected officials that we are looking at building that 10 year capital improvement plan and I visited 109 I believe I'm up to 109 out of 175 schools and centers. And to Cindy's point they vary in terms of facilities and what is great to see in spite of sometimes the facilities, there's great learning. And also make it a point to talk to our cafeteria workers our building servers, workers or ground office staff because they keep the building moving. Yes, we've got to have great teachers. Yes we've got to have great leaders. But the truth of matter is, if we didn't have those other positions, we might be hurting right about now. They are the additional backbone in the schools. But to your credit and our elected officials that we are on the right track to really make sure all students and staff have an environment that's safe and that they can really accelerate the learning. Johnny Olszewski: So you were nodding a lot about the support staff and do you want to chime in a little bit about how the full ecosystem of the school? Cindy Sexton: My mom was a Baltimore County school teacher and she taught me you better be friends with the school secretary and the building service worker because those are the two people you really rely on, and it is true. They are the ones who know everything that's going on, oftentimes before administration knows. They have the details on everything. And those people, the cafeteria workers, they interacted with the students as much as anybody else. And if the kid's hungry, they're not going to learn and let's not forget those para-educators because they really do support the teachers and the students. So it does take that whole school community to get things going in the direction we need it to go, without a doubt. Johnny Olszewski: Look, I think we've got an incredible school system. It's a real gem here. And I think in partnership as we sort of identify these challenges, which I always look at as just opportunities, I think if we can find a way to make those investments both in our people and our infrastructure, we can take a really, really good system and make it exceptional. Omar, you mentioned the college and career stuff. You're coming up on the end of your high school career. Do you have thoughts on what path you're taking? What's in the store for you? Where are you heading down the road? This is coming from a prior school board member himself. Omer Rashid: Definitely college. I've always been on the premed track and I've always wanted to be a doctor and help people out that way. I've always interned at hospitals during my summers, but now after my term on the board, I'm like switching over a little bit more towards education and maybe politics on public education and stuff like that. So I'm not sure yet. I don't know. Johnny Olszewski: All right. Darryl Williams: The next superintendent of Baltimore County schools. How about that? Johnny Olszewski: Dr. Williams, what's been your takeaway so far? We know why you came here now. What have you learned since coming and what are your hopes and aspirations for moving forward together with this group and with other folks in the education system here? Darryl Williams: What I've learned, there are similarities in Baltimore County versus where I've come from, Montgomery County, I'll put it out there. Large school districts, a lot of moving parts. I guess the takeaway is each year I want to see that we're making progress. We're making progress with definitely higher students that are performing, which is getting back to my strategic plan. But also the staff, making sure that the conditions are right for them to be successful. We are a people business. We educate and we have to have educators and administrators and leaders. My budget was heavy in the people compartment, looking at just how many teachers or a support staff we may need. So my goal is to make sure we retain our folks. We're going to really have a systemic professional development. So each year I'm going to see that grow and touch all the different positions out there. Darryl Williams: But ultimately to see our students be successful. And for me the culminating event is always graduation. So I plan to go to all graduations this year and just to see the excitement because each student walking across the stage will have an individual story. But that is the success. And sometimes we talk about all the different challenges that we face and not necessarily celebrate the successes. So even if the student is just graduating and working, we want to celebrate that as well. Or like Omar said, going to school, whether it's educational or premed, we want to celebrate that as well. So those are the successes that I look forward to each year. Johnny Olszewski: And Cindy, what are your hopes and aspirations for your fellow educators, teachers and support personnel? Cindy Sexton: I want them to be able to have the time to develop their craft, to become good teachers and to make education their career and not just a stopping point along the way. That's the way that we are going to move those students toward their graduation, whatever path they choose afterwards, but we need them to have the time to develop their craft because very few people come out of college and are great teachers from day one. They just need that time. If they can stay in there, be retained, then we will be able to work towards helping all those students reach whatever potential they choose. Johnny Olszewski: This has been another episode of The County, focused today on public schools here in Baltimore County. I want to thank our superintendent, our student member of the board and the president of the Teacher's Association of Baltimore County for joining us. I'm County executive, Johnny Olszewski, and we will catch you all on the next episode. Thanks everybody. Cindy Sexton: Thank you. Darryl Williams: Thank you. Omer Rashid: Thank you.