BOE

Public Notice For Hearing on HoCo Bills in 2019 Legislative session

Public Notice For Hearing on Local Bills (UPDATE 11/20/18)

If you are interested in the update, please email   hoc1@mlis.state.md.us and ask them to include your email.

There are two bills related to education, both are proposed by Delegate Atterbeary. 

Ho. Co. 1–19 proposes 2020 (2024, 2028, etc) BOE board members are elected by council district (2020 BOE candidates can run a smaller scale campaign) .


Ho. Co. 3–19 proposes to raise development impact fee which closely relates to the school capacity( should help to mitigate the school overcrowding problem).

Ho.Co. 8-19: Howard County – Board of Education Redistricting – Requirements, Ho.Co. 08-19 ,By: Chair, Howard County Delegation. Legislation still in Bill Drafting (not sure what will be inside).

The Howard County Delegation of the Maryland General Assembly, chaired by Senator Guy Guzzone and Delegate Terri Hill, will hear testimony from the public on drafted local bills. No testimony on other issues will be permitted as a second hearing devoted to statewide bills will be scheduled.

Any individual may testify for up to 3 minutes, as long as they are signed up.  Signup will begin at 7:00pm in the Banneker Room and will close at 7:20pm.  Advance sign up is not available.  The delegation encourages you to bring written copies of your testimony (preferably 15) to distribute to us, though it is not a requirement to speak.  The hearing is scheduled as follows:

Monday, November 26th, 2018 – 7:30 p.m.

Banneker Room, George Howard Building

3430 Courthouse Drive, Ellicott City, MD

The 2018 legislative session will begin on January 9, 2019

Full text of the proposed Howard County bills can be accessed, as they become available from Bill Drafting, beginning Wednesday, November 14, 2018, at 6:00pm on the Howard County website (Home>About Howard County>State Delegation>Proposed Local Legislation): https://www.howardcountymd.gov/About-HoCo/State-Delegation/Proposed-Local-Legislation. Please monitor this page regularly for the most recent updates. This list of proposed legislation and the order of presentation at the public hearing is subject to change as determined by the Delegation Chairs. Short descriptions of the local bills are included below.

Bond Initiative Requests

Butterfly Building for Visual Arts Gallery and Guest Services – Design and Build, Ho.Co. 05-19, $2,000,000

By: Delegate Hill

Historic Barnard Fort House Restoration, Ho. Co. 09-19, $150,000

By: Chair, Howard County Delegation

Historic Thomas Isaac Log Cabin Relocation and Rehabilitation, Ho. Co. 10-19, $100,000

By: Chair, Howard County Delegation

Harriet Tubman Community Center and Museum – Development and Improvement, Ho. Co. 16–18, $500,000

By: Delegate Atterbeary

 

Proposed Local Bills

 

Howard County Board of Education – Elected School Board, Ho. Co. 1–19

By: Delegate Atterbeary

FOR the purpose of requiring that certain members of the Howard County Board of Education be elected by the voters of certain districts and certain members be elected at large by the voters of the county; providing for the application of this Act; and generally relating to the election of the members of the Howard County Board of Education.

Howard County – Orphans’ Court Judges – Qualifications, Ho. Co. 2–19

By: Delegate Atterbeary

FOR the purpose of proposing an amendment to the Maryland Constitution to prescribe different qualifications for judges of the Orphans’ Court for Howard County; requiring judges of the Orphans’ Court for Howard County to have been admitted to practice law in the State and be members in good standing of the Maryland Bar; and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the State for their adoption or rejection.

Howard County – Authority to Impose Fees for Use of Disposable Bags, Ho. Co. 4–19

By: Delegate Hill

FOR the purpose of authorizing Howard County to impose, by law, a fee on certain retail establishments for the use of disposable bags as part of a retail sale of products; limiting the amount of a certain fee; defining certain terms; and generally relating to the authority for Howard County to impose a fee for the use of disposable bags.

 

Howard County – Alcoholic Beverages – Marketplace License, Ho.Co. 06-19

By: Delegate Hill

FOR the purpose of establishing a marketplace license in Howard County; authorizing the Board of License Commissioners to issue the license to certain individuals; specifying the scope, hours of sale, and fees for the license; authorizing the license holder to sell beer, wine, and liquor within the marketplace under certain conditions; authorizing a license holder to obtain a refillable container permit and a nonrefillable container permit under certain conditions; specifying certain standards to be met by the marketplace; defining a certain term; and generally relating to alcoholic beverages in Howard County.

Howard County – Flood Control Standards – Tiber – Hudson Branch, New Cut Branch, and Plum Tree Branch, Ho.Co. 11-19

By: Delegate Flanagan

 FOR the purpose of requiring the Department of the Environment to adopt regulations that establish certain flood control standards to be adopted by the Howard County Council for a development or redevelopment project located in certain watersheds in Howard County; requiring the Department to adopt regulations that specify that certain stormwater management plans for a development or redevelopment project located in certain watersheds in Howard County be designed to implement certain flood control standards; and generally relating to flood control standards.

Property Tax Credit – Elderly Individuals – Eligibility, Ho. Co. 16–19

By: Chair, Howard County Delegation (ADDED TO THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA 11/16/18 AT THE REQUEST OF SENATOR-ELECT HESTER)

FOR the purpose of altering the definition of “eligible individual” by requiring that an elderly individual must live in the same county, rather than the same dwelling, for a certain number of years to be eligible for a certain statewide optional property tax credit against the county or municipal corporation property tax; providing for the application of this Act; and generally relating to the eligibility of certain elderly individuals for a certain property tax credit.

Howard County – Ethics – Limit on Developer Contributions, Ho. Co. 12-19

By: Delegate Miller (ADDED TO THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA 11/19/18)

 Legislation still in Bill Drafting.

Impact Fees – Calculation, Ho. Co. 3–19

By: Delegate Atterbeary

 FOR the purpose of altering the amount of the school facilities surcharge in Howard County; authorizing the County Council of Howard County to enact a local law providing for the annual alteration of the amount of the school facilities surcharge based on a certain calculation requiring the school facilities surcharge to be used only for the benefit of schools within whose attendance area certain residential construction is located; requiring the County Executive of Howard County to submit a certain report to certain persons at a certain time; defining a certain term; and generally relating to the school facilities surcharge in Howard County.

 

Howard County – Board of Education Redistricting – Requirements, Ho.Co. 08-19

By: Chair, Howard County Delegation

Legislation still in Bill Drafting.

For further information, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Erinn Camp Mansour

Howard County Delegation Administrator

Maryland General Assembly

The Maryland House of Delegates

6 Bladen Street, Room 214B

Annapolis, MD 21401

phone: 410 -841-3360, 301-858-3360

Chao Wu for BOE, final pitch before the general election

No endorsement is better than our voters’ trust. As an independent candidate and non-partisan election, I am asking for your support to vote for me during the 2018 Howard County Board of Education election.

It is you, our voters, by making a little bit of effort to understand the candidate’s background, experience, and vision for the school system, make an informed vote. Your vote is my endorsement.  With this belief in my heart, I won the primary in June with 15600 votes without any organizational endorsement.  I am looking for your continuous support.

Here are my main points:

  1. Keep an open mind. For many problems, people naturally have different views based on their personal experiences, background and priority. These diverse points of view will give us a great understanding why some problems seem easy, but are difficult to solve. From my life experience that I was educated and lived in multiple countries with diverse cultural, educational and racial background, I will be a champion on this. I will also be the independent voice on the board.
  2. Get the data right, the process transparent and the communication channel open. As a data scientist using machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms in my professional work, we need get the data right. We need try our best to have evidence-based and data-based analytic solutions for our problems.  With my advocacy on the board, I believe HCPSS can and should do better.
  3. Ask tough questions. When a board member asks questions, it is in general not an attack to our staff. It is the curiosity and responsibility of a board member to get the fact right and make an informed vote. This accountability will make our school system better, increase the trust of HCPSS from the general public.
  4. I have almost four-year experience as a board member on Columbia Association ( 80 million dollar yearly budget) board and have been an active volunteer in HCPSS.  The board experience and volunteer advocacy will serve HCPSS on day one. I will be a team player on the school board and together we will provide quality education to our students.

I will be your voice and you are my strength.

A Vote for Wu is a Vote for you.

Save the best for last.  ( My name is always shown at the last in the ballot)

wp-image-65029454

feedback mechanism in our school system

5 Comments

Feedback is one of the most important words when I began to learn automatic control theory in college.  The PID algorithm is such a beauty to do object tracking automatically in our real life which has been advancing human life for many many years. One application is the cruise control button in our car. As simple as when we drive on the highway, we will slow down when we are too fast, we need accelerate when are too slow. Human has the built-in feedback system which is learned over years when we grow up.

Our school system needs such a feedback mechanism too. A consistent, timely feedback mechanism should be built into our school program performance evaluation. In software design, we have another term: continuous integration and testing. That means the system will automatically check the system performance without any human interference when there is any change . This will minimize human errors. We also need the feedback mechanism to run continuously and share that result with us whenever available. Any anomaly in the system will be detected automatically and then analyzed by humans later.

Many our school programs are multi-layered. However, we should try our best to set some quantifiable, measurable objective function, evaluate them continuously and get the feedback into the human hands periodically.

We should make substantial effort to get the input data right, set up a feedback process and evaluate program performance continuously for our school system.

Chao Wu’s reply to Howard County Education Association

Dr. Chao Wu’s Reply to HCEA

August 2018

Howard County Education Association (HCEA) asked each BOE candidate to send them a letter focusing on past advocacy, top three issues and campaign plan for the endorsement. Here is my answer. I cut it under 200 words at the end.

I strongly urge HCEA to endorse my campaign based on my past advocacy, education priorities and campaign plan.

Past Advocacy

I have been a strong advocate within HCPSS long before running for the school board. I served on the BOE Operating Budget Review Committee (OBRC) in 2016. I have testified on multiple issues including the school calendar, later school starting times, school redistricting, bus transportation, and high school curricular setup since 2015. I have been an active participant in the CAC and in my local PTA meetings. I also testified on tightening APFO in front of the county council since I believe APFO will affect our education system significantly. In addition, I have been elected twice as a Board Member of Columbia Association (annual budget $80 millions) and River Hill Village Association since 2015.

Top Three Issues

I was educated in three different education systems, China, Singapore and USA. I believe my unique education experience and my identity as a first-generation immigrant allows me to have a new perspective on education and allows me to hear the voices of those previously unheard. I highly prioritize giving a voice to those who don’t have a voice and representing those who have previously been unrepresented.

I also prioritize creating a Board of Education that isn’t entangled in toxic party politics. I believe each board member should approach education in a nonpartisan manner and I’m here to offer an independent voice.

Finally, I prioritize recognizing that student performance is a collaborative effort between a student, a student’s family, and the school system. A student cannot perform at their best and achieve their highest potential without all three putting in their utmost effort to support the student.

Campaign Plan

My solid 4th place finish in the primary campaign speaks volumes about my well-funded and well-staffed campaign team. I have received widespread support from the community and my team continues to grow each day. It is well known that we were able to fill all 4 early voting stations with volunteers at every hour and a good number of polling places on the primary Election Day as well. I am confident that in November, I will win a seat on the board. It would be great if I could also win the support of the HCEA.

Only 100 Days Ahead

I received several campaign emails which remind me the general election will take place in 100 days. I am running for Howard County Board of Education and definitely understand the election is approaching us very soon. I have received around 10 candidate forum invitations already.

This 100-day stimulus slogan reminded me about my high school time. We had to take the College Entrance Exam to enter college. So our teachers and schools wanted to keep us motivated to get a good grade and enter college.

The following two pictures depict what happened in those tough period:

  1. Caption: There are only 100 days left before the College Entrance Exam.
  2. Caption: There are only 100 days till the college entrance exam. Let’s strive to do our best.

After I entered the college, I found I need study even harder because all of college classmates still worked very hard. And I had so much to learn in order to grow myself.

Time flied quickly. I graduated from college long time ago and life keeps moving on. Life is a process of constantly learning new stuff and growing myself.

So my friends and my readers, will you join my campaign to explore some excitements of your life? Contact chaowu2016@gmail.com. A Vote for Wu is a Vote for you.

Superintendent Struggle Part 2

What is happening with our superintendents recently?

  1. Howard County Superintendent Renee Foose resigned with 1.6 million dollars’ package in 2017.
  2. Baltimore County Superintendent Dallas Dance first resigned without any early notice and now was jailed for greed, bribery and lie in 2018.
  3. P.G. County Superintendent Kevin Maxwell retired with 800,000 package in 2018. Under his leadership, PG county systematically inflated student grades to meet graduation requirements.
  4. Montgomery County could not find a superintendent for a long time since 2015.

These four school systems are very large. The superintendent struggle probably tells us something unique to our school system. The Council of Great City Schools, which researches tenure, salaries and characteristics of school superintendents, found in a 2014 report that 3.2 years was the average tenure among superintendents in cities with populations of more than 250,000. Ref: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2017/04/18/baltimore-county-schools-superintendent-dallas.html

In order to prevent the superintendent position as a cash cow in the future, we need give the school board the authority to fire the superintendent. In my opinion, the firing needs a super majority, not a simple majority.  We need push our state legislatures to update our law.

 

Correlation between early voting and election day voting

There is a consistent correlation between early voting and the election day voting for all candidates except No. 5 and No. 6 seats.

But overall, candidates received votes proportionally in the early voting and the election date voting. Coincidentally, No 7. and No 8. received exactly the same total votes. Every vote counts.

2018 primary election BOE data.JPG

The result is obtained from https://results.elections.maryland.gov/elections/2018/results/Primary/gen_results_2018_1_by_county_140.html

The data may change before it is certified.

Thank you note after primary election win

2 Comments

I am really excited to get into the top four (of 13 candidates) with more than 15000 votes in the 2018 Howard County Board of Education Primary Election. I will advance to the general election in November 2018. I am so grateful to many voters who trusted me and my volunteer team who helped me.

It is a learning experience. When the journey began, I was really careful with what I said or what others said about my campaign. You don’t want to offend your potential voters, right? I paid attention to Facebook posts after work every night. During one meeting with some community activists, when I said “I value education” and one person asked me back “so you mean others don’t value education?”, I began to realize that I didn’t need to and I could not please every one. What I need to do is to have an equal conversation and promote my experience, my value and my vision for HCPSS.

It is not always easy for me, as a non-native speaker to speak as eloquently as other candidate. I need to slow down while speak ( I often forget this either because of nervousness or excitement) and I need to articulate about my thought. Even if I have great ideas, I need present them well. I picked up my old vocabulary book and other accent training tapes again.

As an engineer, I need to find ways to resonate with audiences and voters. During my professional work, I just need focus on A+B=C or ax^2+bx+c = 0, etc, which has a very standard way to be expressed and understood between engineers. I can articulate well and get the ideas exchanged effectively and efficiently in the engineering field. While in a community meeting/discussion/chat, many people’s backgrounds are quite different from mine, I need to understand their background first and find a way to get my thoughts out in the right format.

As myself growing up from a low-income family, I have always believed education is not about education only. It is an effort that should be worked with students, teachers, families and the community. We just could not expect the school to address all the issues which are caused by the society. That is not realistic. We need to motive our students to learn and work hard by involving families and communities.

We need to provide more vocational training as an another career choice for our students. My brother graduated from a teaching school ( equivalent high school level) and became a teacher when he was 18. With his support, my family was turned upwards and I followed his path, studied really hard, eventually went to college.

I am not an emotional person which prevents me connecting with some voters. I stay calm, listen to others and try my best to look at issues objectively and find a practical solution.

I am independent and always keep my eyes open to new ideas. I do my research first and speak later. I learn from every source to keep myself informed and engaged at issues.

I am new. I even did not know politics was associated with color. Some people assumed me to be republican since I was using “red” in the yard sign or I wore a red tie. I was really surprised. Just reiterate: I am an independent candidate. The color identity politics is weird and wrong. I just feel red/write yard sign in the green/blue grassy background is more visible and it bring me the energy. It is the person, their idea and character that matter in the life, not the color of their tie, nor the color of their skin.

I will continue to advocate “quality education” for our students. We should look for a reasonable and fair solution to address each issue we are facing in the school system.

It is a learning experience for me as a county-wide (at-large) candidate because our community is so diverse and their focuses are also quite different . It is also a learning experience for my volunteers. Many of them never participated in any political process before. They were disfranchised in the community or the political process before. Now they are engaged.

Our campaign is a grass-root effort. This time we jumped in the boat and learned to row the boat. We made some mistakes ( I apologize if those mistakes cause some trouble for you or others) and will make sure we do not repeat those mistakes in the general election in November.

If you would like to continue the journey with my team, please board our boat. Please remember:

  1. A Vote for Wu is a Vote for you.
  2. Save the best for last since my name is the last in ballot.

Together, we are stronger. Now it is time for us to sail further, wider and happier.

Some thought before tomorrow’s primary election day

I am more exposed than many other candidates. I have been writing articles for four years publicly, including the monthly Council Corner for The Villager of The River Hill Community Association ( around 5000 circulations). I also write on school related issues extensively by attending meetings and reading school documents. I wish those writings give you more understanding of myself, my style and my experience, not just on the limited interactions during the campaign trail.

I am consistent, pragramtic and independent.

I believe I am the right candidate for the school board. I appreciate your trust and vote tomorrow.

Thank you!!!

Who to Vote for Howard County School Board

1 Comment

Save the Best for Last and Vote for Dr. Chao Wu as shown in the ballot.

There is not doubt that you should vote for Dr. Chao Wu for the school board.

  1. He has been involved with the school systems for more than three years. He testified in front Board of Education for many times. He participated in many meetings in PTA, PTAC, CAC, etc. He joined the BOE operating budget review committee to look at our school spendings and priorities..
  2. He has the experience as an elected board member for Columbia Association to manage a big organization. He was once the vice chair and the chair of the budget committee ( 72 million dollars’ budget). He was on the Risk Management Committee and Audit Committee. He is in the International Multi-culture Advisory Committee. He led a team and developed another sister city for Columbia. He is always responsive to citizens’ concerns.
  3. He has the strong believe that great education is the key to success for our students. He came from a low-income family, and studied in China, Singapore and USA. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a PhD degree from Electrical and Computer Engineering.
  4. He is always improving himself. He is not as eloquent as other candidates because he only started to learn English at Middle School and oral speaking was not a focus in his schools. He keep increasing his English vocabulary and reducing his accent. He always believe he should always try his best and never give up.
  5. He is open minded and looks for solutions to change the status quo. He seeks common ground and believes common sense.

More will come along the way. Thanks for reading.

HCPSS 2018 Feasibility Study

This feasibility study is for an Annual Review of Long-Term Capital Planning and Attendance Area Adjustment Options.  It will be discussed on 6/7/2018 Board meeting.

School Staff Recommendation:

Adjustments School Attendance Areas This report is not recommending initiation of an attendance area adjustment process in 2018-19 for the 2019-20 school year. The next boundary line adjustments are anticipated for 2023-24 with the opening of High School #13 and the addition of capacity to Hammond High School.

Background:

Each year, the Board of the HCPSS reviews the capital planning options and boundary adjustment considerations through a feasibility study. The report has four goals:

  1. Inform the long-term planning process.
  2. Facilitate discussion of decisions that may lay ahead.
  3. Provide strategic information to the school system.
  4. Prepare for scheduled school boundary adjustments.

It is on school  website https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/AZAM235910BC/$file/06%2007%202018%20Feasibility%20Study%20BR.pdf

Several observations:

  1. Local Capacity and State Rated Capacity as of June 20 are quite different school by school. For example, Dayton Oak’s state computed capacity is 901 while local computed capacity is 675.  These two computations should be consolidated.
  2. The following figures show where the population growsplanHoward2030
  3. For Elementary Schools, 2018 and 2023 projected utilization rates
    Region 2018 2023
    Columbia East Region 103.7% 96.6%
    Columbia West Region 90.9% 106.4%
    Northeastern Region 95.3% 103.9%
    Northern Region 106.7% 114.2%
    Southeastern Region 98.0% 100.0%
    Western Region 95.0% 102.4%
  4. For Middle schools, 2018 and 2023 projected utilization rates
    Region 2018 2023
    Columbia East Region 92.6% 93.9%
    Columbia West Region 92.7% 100.4%
    Northeastern Region 104.9% 110.5
    Northern Region 106.7% 114.2%
    Southeastern Region 94.4% 101.8%
    Western Region 97.2% 98.3%

    Ellicott Mills Middle School is 126.% capacity.

  5. For High Schools, 2018 and 2023 projected utilization rates
    Region 2018 2023
    Columbia East Region (Oakland Mills) 86.9% 98.5%
    Columbia West Region 94.8% 98.2%
    Northeastern Region 120.2% 144.7
    Northern Region 106.3% 113.7%
    Southeastern Region 111.1% 111.6%
    Western Region 96.6% 103.0%

    Centennial High (122.4%) and Howard High (134.4%) are most crowded in 2018.

Endorsement for Chao Wu

Here comes the endorsement for Dr. Chao Wu for Howard County of Board of Education. I believe it is not a specific organization that can speak for you.  It is you, our voters, by making a little bit of effort to understand the candidate’s background, experience, and vision for the school system, make an informed vote. Your vote is my endorsement.  With this belief in my heart, I won the primary in June with 15600 votes. 

I wish the non-partisan BOE election will be still no-partisan and our voters still strongly  believe a practical and programmatic candidate like myself.

On the campaign trail for the Board of Education, many people from all sides have keep encouraging me because of my ideas, my experience and my vision for HCPSS.

  1. Here are my priorities:
    1. I will work with stakeholders to solve the $37 million (falling from $50 million) school budget deficit. I will make sure the BOE is not a rubber stamp.
    2. I will make sure HCPSS provide equitable learning opportunities for all students, motivate students to learn and to succeed through hard work. I will make sure HCPSS provides more vocation/trade programs for our students.
    3. I will listen to all sides and be open to new ideas for solutions.
  2. I have the experience as an effective board member of Columbia Association ($80 million yearly budget), working on the budget committee( once as a chair), the risk management committee and the audit committee. I also has the opportunities to engage with community members, village associations and other stakeholders. I write monthly to inform our residents about what is happening in our neighborhood. This experience prepares me with the necessary skills and education as a BOE board member.
  3. I have been involved with the school system for several years. I testified in front of BOE several times. I sat on the BOE Operating Budget Review Committee. I led discussion on the early school starting time. I go to many meetings, PTA, PTAC, SEC, CAC, CEC, etc. I read and write a lot on many school topics and keep myself informed. I am passionate about how to provide a quality education for our students.
  4. I have the experience as a first generation immigrant who was lifted up by the public education all the way along. This experience gives me the best understanding how a quality education can inspire students to learn and succeed.
  5. I have the experience staying in three different countries(China, Singapore and United States), three different systems(educational, religious, economical and political). These experiences give me the first hand understanding how a diverse community can live together harmoniously. I can bridge the gap and seek common ground for our school system.

I will be your voice and you are my strength.

A Vote for Wu is a Vote for you. Save the best for last. 

Answers to Howard County Chamber Questionnaire

Howard County Candidate Questionnaire from Howard County Chamber

May 31, 2018

Board of Education Candidates

1.     Some believe that Howard County schools are overcrowded. However, data seems to reflect a balancing issue. Would you consider school redistricting to best utilize the existing facilities we have in our county?

In reality, many schools are overcrowded and a few schools are just below the allowed capacity. From the school data we have, even as we try to balance the student numbers, some schools will be still overcrowded because we don’t have enough capacity to house the existing and ever growing student population. School redistricting should be used to utilize the existing facilities, but it should not be the only tool to address the school overcrowding issue. We need build more schools where the students come from. We need plan our housing development more carefully.

We should not allow developers drive our county’s development by consistently redistricting schools. 

2.     If Howard County schools operate under capacity as a result of the Board of Education’s desire not to redistrict, are you willing to fund school construction without state funding?

As indicated in my first answer, I am against massive (20%) school redistricting which is disruptive and damaging to the students and the community. Massive school redistricting will shift the burden from the county council and the county government to the parents and students. We need the county council and the county government to provide enough funding for the school system, plan housing development at the right pace and the right location.

I believe BOE should seek any opportunity to fund school construction with a short-term and long-term plan. 

3.     How can the Board of Education best support education while at the same time promote Howard County as a business destination?

BOE should work hard to maintain our quality education such that we can attract families and employees to live or work in Howard County.

Having a top employee force can promote HoCo as an attractive business destination, for sure.

At the same, we want to keep our business tax at a competitive level. This requires the county not to overspend its money and then have to raise tax. Since our school system spends around 58% of the county budget, BOE should make sure our school system is fiscally managed well.  

4.     Do you believe that there is a shortage in career and technology education and how would you address this issue going forward?

I believe there is a shortage in career and technology education. I would ask HCPSS to promote such career path to our students. We need provide such opportunities to our parents and students. At the same time, we must make sure our parents and students take advantage of such opportunities.

Furthermore, we should work with business communities to hire our graduates. We should build a reliable partnership between HCPSS and our business community both for the program direction and the hiring collaboration.

5.     Howard County has long been lauded for its education system but there are concerns by many that an achievement and equity gap exist. Do you agree with these assessment? How would you work with the superintendent and the community to address these concerns whether real or perceived?

I agree that HCPSS has a problem that some of students are not achieving the level of the success they can achieve. We need work with the superintendent, the school staff, families and the community together to address this issue. We will not succeed with the only focus on the school involvement. We should create an inspiring and motivational learning environment for our students which will eventually drive our students forward.

6.     Previous Board of Education and administration decisions have left the school system with a health fund deficit. What recommendations will you propose to remedy this situation and prevent it from happening again?

If I am elected into BOE, I will never be a rubber stamp as before which left us the current $50 million budget deficit. The board should keep their fiducial responsibility for HCPSS and the community.

We need improve the budgeting and spending process such that line item transfer should be strictly controlled and specifically approved by the board. The school should not start a new initiative without sustainable income to support such program.

We need better and frequent audit and risk management system for HCPSS such that problems can be found earlier before it becomes catastrophic.

7.     Is the current budgeting process between Howard County and HCPSS working well, or does it need improvement? What improvement would you pursue? 

The budgeting process definitely needs improvement.  For each budgeting cycle, before the school proposes its budget to the county government, the county government and the school should have an honest discussion on much money can be allocated to HCPSS. Based on that discussion, the school proposes a feasible budget to the county government and county council.

Right now, the school system and the county government are treating the school budget as a kicking ball in the public face. This process causes a huge distraction to the real problems:

1)    what is a reasonable and fair share that the county government can fund our education system based on our county’s revenue;

2)    what is a good mechanism to fund the education system when the county revenue is fluctuating from one year to another.

Answers to Questionnaire of Facebook HoCo School Interest Group

Thanks to Bonnie Bricker’s effort, she organized a Facebook HoCo School Interest group and had an online BOE candidate forum. There are four questions and my answers to all of them.

Questions, Board Of Education:

  1. Please describe your role as a board member in creating equity for vulnerable populations including those in Special Education, immigrant and undocumented students, LGBTQ, and racial minorities. (350 words or LESS)

I believe all students, including those in Special Education, immigrant and undocumented students, LGBTQ, and racial minorities, should be treated equally. As an immigrant and racial minorities myself by these definitions, I know the challenges first hand. However, I don’t want to be labeled as “vulnerable” in my work place or my community, neither I want my children to be labeled as “vulnerable” in school. This label puts me down and does not aptly describe who I am. I want everyone to be treated equal with respect. I believe I am not the only one who share this sentiment.  Putting our students into different baskets is not the best way to help them to perform to the best of their abilities. It may prevent them to become the best version of themselves and this is not a healthy mindset for students to adopt both in and outside of school.

As a board member, I will ensure all the policies are non-discriminatory. I will ensure these policies are implemented in a non-discriminatory way. Most importantly, I will ensure everyone feels welcomed in school and everyone is expected to achieve the highest standard no matter which “basket” he or she is in.

Family involvement and effective communication is another crucial component of creating a supportive and encouraging environment in our schools. We need to create an avenue for families to communicate to the Board about the inequities they are facing in order for the Board to pass policies to address these inequities. Labeling people as “vulnerable” does not create this avenue of communication and only discourages our families from reaching out for help. We should create a straightforward, efficient and effective feedback mechanism for each policy and each program such that we can engage with the students who are not treated equally or need resources. Only through continuous effort and improvement, we can provide an equitable learning opportunity for all.

  1. What experiences or skills do you have that prepare you to make educationally focused decisions?(350 words or LESS)

I want to make sure HCPSS has a quality of education for years to come. I have one child currently in HCPSS and another one will enter next fall.

I have been actively involved with the school system. I served on the BOE Operating Budget Review Committee (OBRC). I have testified on multiple issues during Board of Education hearings including later school starting time and school redistricting. Most recently I provided suggestions to the school regarding transportation optimization. I have been an active participant in CAC and my local PTA meetings.  I also testified on tightening APFO in front of county council since I believe APFO will affect our education system significantly.

I have been elected twice as a Board Member of Columbia Association and River Hill Village Association since 2015. I am a strong proponent of fiscal health and great customer service for Columbia Association. I care deeply about both the organization health and residents feedback.

I was educated in three different education systems, China, Singapore and USA. My unique international education experience gives a multi-dimensional perspective and approaches while looking at issues and solving problems.

As an engineer, I always look for practical and optimal solutions when encountering problems. I look for solutions which are data-driven, pragmatic, community involved and professional derived.

  1. Redistricting is a difficult process, yet we know it is in our future. How can we best help this process to be more informative and less divisive? (350 words or LESS)

Redistricting is one part of strategies to solve the overcrowding issue. I was involved in the redistricting process last year by applying for the Area Attendance Committee (the selection process was not transparent, to say at least), attending community meetings, engaging with community members, exchanging ideas with HoCo Collaborative Community Plan group, I have learned a lot thought my first-hand experience.

We should improve both the process and methodology for school redistricting. We need accurate, complete and clean data for a data-driven solution. We need to develop in house capability to process redistricting data in real time while discussing this important topic.

We need a more objective goal while moving polygons around. In policy 6010, we should assign each criteria a weight (for example, each criteria 7.69%) objectively and evaluate the overall performance while doing the adjustment. We should not let one criteria dominate all of other factors.

We need to keep student-focused education in the policy center. Siblings, rising junior etc. should not be negatively impacted. We should always try to give parents and families options and choices such that they can choose what is the best for them.

Furthermore, the board should keep the pressure on building new schools as our student population keeps growing. Since the board approved high school #13 at Mission road, the board should continue look for high school 14. We should make sure high school #13 will be completed on time with quality assurance and make sure the elementary school in Turf Valley be on track.  We just could not keep large scale school redistricting plan on the table all times.

  1. If elected, what are your top 3 priorities as a Board member? (350 words or LESS)

1)      Work with all stakeholders to solve the $50 million school deficit and bring accountability and transparency back to the school system. Because of the rubber stamp support from previous BOE members and continuous lack of accountability and transparency, HCPSS is hitting hard with this $50 million deficit. We need work with the community, teacher association, county council, county executive and other stakeholders to develop a long and stable plane to address it.

2)      Provide equitable learning opportunities for all students and motivate students to learn and to succeed through hard work. Different students have different learning capabilities, different learning environments and different personal interests, the school system should provide individualized learning opportunities for them. At the same time, HCPSS should work with families and communities to address individual student need, motivate students to achieve their best potential through hard work. If there is a will, there is way for both students and HCPSS.

3)      Listen to all sides and be open to new ideas for solutions. As a board member, I am looking for data-driven and practical solutions. We have a diverse community and diverse perspectives and we need respect and embrace them and use the talents from all resources.

Issues with HCPSS world language program

About the language program, unfortunately HCPSS is not offering enough support. Because of the budget issue, Spanish classes were dramatically downsized too. Here, I am introducing some community support for the language learners. For Chinese language learner, there are several channels you can use:

1) There are three weekend Chinese schools in Howard County:

  1. The Howard County Chinese School at HCC and Centennial High (https://www.hccs-md.org/ ),
  2. The Peiying Chinese School at River Hill High (http://www.peiying-md.org/),
  3. The Chinese Language School of Columbia at Howard High (http://www.clscweb.org/).

All of them offer Chinese language classes from K-12, paced with our public school schedule. The tuition is really affordable. There are more than 20% of class participants do not have Chinese heritage at all.


2) The Columbia Association’s language coffee at East Columbia Library. It takes place at the fourth Tuesday of the month. It offers almost all major languages and is relative causal. It is fun.  https://www.columbiaassociation.org/facilities/international-exchange-multicultural-programs/multicultural-programsevents/


If you can weigh in and share other language learning opportunities in the same post, that will be great. I can then put all of them in one place in the future.

2017 Area Attendance Committee Recommendation to HCPSS and BOE

This is 2017 HCPSS Area Attendance Committee’s feedback to HCPSS and BOE. There are a lot of great and useful recommendations to HCPSS and BOE and I truly appreciate their difficult and important work last summer. I believe those recommendations will help this year’s AAC. By the way, HCPSS will release a new 2019-2020 redistricting proposal in June, 2018.

It includes recommendations in several areas: administrative, planning, field work and planning. All of them are very useful except one recommendation which says: “if a parent makes a thread, bullying to AAC members, their children should be disciplined.” This is totally wrong. I am not sure how the committee signed off this recommendation.

I would like to add two more recommendations:

  1. Assign a score to each adjustment with the polygon change, i.e., we need assign each factor in Policy 6010 with a weight (one example, for those 13 factors in Policy 6010, each has an equal weight of 1/13 = 7.7%) . In this way, we will prevent one factor dominating everything else. And we can always compare the score for each polygon manipulation objectively.
  2. Estimate the bus transportation cost in real time while AAC members are doing the polygon swap. If HCPSS is not able to do it now, they should hire some people with the skills to provide the numbers during the discussion. We should always be conscientious of the cost. For example, for each polygon move, we should be able to tell how much bus transportation will be increased/decreased comparing to the current level (benchmark). This cost change will be weighted into the overall performance score for the redistricting.

2017 AAC Feedback to BOE

Quick summary of HCPSS portable classroom

2 Comments

An HCPSS BOE meeting document dated on March 8, 2018 outlined the portable classroom status for the year 2018-2019. We will have more than 222 portable classrooms in HCPSS.

I believe portable classroom is a safety concern, does not provide great learning environment and skews the capacity calculation. We should slowly reduce the number of portable classroom and eventually eliminate all of them. 

Quick summary of portables in 2018-2019

Elementary School ( 130 total portables)

Only 7 (of 42 in total) elementary schools  do not have portable classrooms.  Fulton will have 9 portables in one year (considering the fast house development there). Pointers Run has 9 portables, Talbott Springs has 10 portables and Waverly ES has 9 portables.

2019 hcpss portable elementary school

Middle School ( total 47 portables)

There are 7 middle schools having no portables of 20 middle schools. Clarksville MS, Dunloggin MS, Harpers Choice MS all have 5 portables. Ellicott Mills MS, Glenwood MS and Murray Hill MS all have 6 portables.

High School ( 45 total portables)

Centennial High has 8, Hammond High has 4, Howard HS has 15, Long Reach HS has  8, Mount Hermon High and Reservoir both have 5 portables.

2019 hcpss portable middle and high school

Quoted from the document:

“Principals requested an additional 26 relocatables to be placed (25 individual and one 9-unit modular) and 8 relocatables (7 individual and one 9-unit modular) to be removed. The estimated cost to buy and place, or remove, the relocatables by principals is approximately $4.4 million. The current budget request is $2.5 million. Not all of the requests can be accommodated based on budgetary limitations. So the movement of one modular building, the placement of fifteen (15) new single classroom units, and the demolition of six (6) units are recommended by staff.”

Attached is the official document for your reference.

03 08 2018 HCPSS portable classroom list