St. Mary’s County Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith
Leonardtown, MD – On Feb. 8 a public hearing was held during the St. Mary’s County Board of Education (BOE) meeting regarding the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2018 Superintendent Recommended Budget. The budget was presented to the BOE at the Wednesday, Jan. 11 meeting and reviewed during their Tuesday, Jan. 24 working session.
Superintendent Scott Smith presented a general overview of the information included in the $210,341,594 budget. “Some of the highlights–it includes the hiring of two new school psychologists, 11 additional para-educators for primary classrooms, 14 additional classroom teachers, one additional teacher and para for Compass Program, one additional teacher support IRT, one additional ESOL [English for speakers of other languages] teacher, one additional bus driver and bus attendant, two additional BSW, 1BSW floater, two safety and security staff and one computer technical, one additional HVAC mechanic and one HVAC helper and a 0.5 fiscal specialist,” said Smith.
The floor was opened for public comments on the recommended budget, however limited to 3 minutes per speaker. The board will give its final approval at the Wednesday, Feb. 22 meeting.
A full copy of the latest proposed FY2018 Superintendent Recommended Budget can be reviewed online.
The final St. Mary’s County Public School 2017-2018 Operating Calendar was also presented at the meeting by Dr. Jeff Maher for board approval. This calendar honors Gov. Hogan’s mandate for public and charter schools to begin after the Labor Day holiday. A copy of the final calendar can be found online. 
“There was concern about when we were going to hold open houses due to the professional development days of the teachers. You will find the open houses indicated on the calendar. In addition, there is clarification about the last day of school if we do not use our snow days,” said Maher.
A waiver request for a post-labor day start will be submitted on behalf of the Chesapeake Public Charter School for the 2017-2018 school year.
Public comments were also taken for the 2017-2018 High School Program of Studies revisions presented by the Assistant Superintendent Maureen Montgomery. Revisions for High School Program of Studies were submitted by teachers, administrators, parents and supervisors of instruction in the fall of 2016.Teachers, school counselors, administrators, supervisors of instruction, directors of instruction, and community representatives met in October, November and December 2016.
Contact Shertina Mack at s.mack@TheBayNet.com.
