Hey, get out of here.

Looks like I have to do proper trash placement and training again.

If you put your trash out, please place it into a bag.

And tie the bag up and place it to a water type receptacle with your address placed on it so they can be seen from the street at the end of your property for proper road collection.

As a matter of fact, this recycle is done all wrong also.

If you decide to place your recycling in a bag, please bring your bag to the receptacle and take all items out of the bag and place them into the can.

And make sure the lid is closed, please.

Let's bring back getting the trash monster so I can show you things that are not recyclable.

See, 40% non recyclable right now.

Please be mindful of your trash and recycle placement to avoid fines.

Good.

Okay.

All right, you're good.

Thank you.

All right, good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Joanna Tobin.

I represent uh District Six on the Board of Education, which is includes the city of Annapolis within that district, and I have represented this district since twenty twenty.

Presentation here, and we're looking forward to giving you all the annual update on our progress.

So I know I keep looking at that screen, but you all have the presentation where you are.

Okay.

So I think we're ready.

I will I will start.

So perfect.

So good afternoon.

We will begin just reminding everyone of sort of the large profile of the district.

We are the fourth largest district in Maryland.

We are the 37th largest district in the United States.

And to give you some context for that, there are at my last count over 13,000 school districts in this country.

So as you can see, we are kind of a behemoth compared to most school districts.

And obviously, you understand where we're located.

You can see we have currently about 84,246 students, 56 students.

You can see the breakdown of populations, 43.6% white, 22%, 22.7% African American, 22.5% Hispanic, two or more races, et cetera, smaller, smaller groups.

You will often hear them referred to as free and reduced meals.

They are not reduced, they're reduced priced.

That is a significant population.

And in this state, that population has continued to grow as it has across the country.

And then multilingual learners at 10.6%.

Here you can see uh very particularly some documentation on the Annapolis cluster enrollment.

Uh many of you may recall we uh one of the many wonderful tasks this board charged Dr.

Bedell with was uh redistricting of the entire county.

And we didn't tell him that before we hired him.

So I will tell you uh again, just so you know, Dr.

Bedell joined us in 22.

Uh we just completed renewing his contract for the next four years.

Congratulations of all the terms.

I was president of the board when we hired Dr.

Biddell.

I count that as one of the great um things that I've been able to do on this board.

Um, and I should say he was hired unanimously and he was renewed unanimously.

So the board is is very strong and firm and in support of everything that Dr.

Bedell is doing.

Uh so you look at cluster enrollment.

We were going through the second half of redistricting last year, and uh it emerged that we had quite a dip in enrollment in our county.

Now we had we have had far less impact than other counties.

Montgomery County, for example, has lost thousands of students.

Um but it did impact us, and it particularly seemed to hit the Annapolis cluster.

Um there are multiple reasons for that, uh, some of which I think are clear given uh our population.

Um, but we wanted you to see the breakdown.

These are the schools in the Annapolis cluster.

Um it you'll see the exact sort of changes that have occurred.

Uh we've got it starting at 22 23 because that was really the full year back, the first full year back from COVID.

Um, and so generally the numbers have gone down a bit, except for some schools where they've a few they've gone up.

We have rolling knolls in there.

It's not exactly in the city of Annapolis, but it is part of the feeder system for Annapolis High School.

Um, and obviously our two middle schools are Annapolis Middle and Wiley H.

Bates Middle Schools, and then Annapolis High School.

Uh, we because frankly, we had a bit of a dip in Annapolis High School, we ended up having not having to do any redistricting in Annapolis because that was one of the driving factors was that Annapolis High School had been rather uh overcrowded.

So uh we'll talk a little bit more as we go on about some of the factors in this, but I just wanted you to see the numbers.

So you have a good sense of of what's happening, and uh I think it is going to be important to think about some of the things that contribute to the drop in enrollment in Annapolis, and some things that perhaps the city can partner with us on to support uh moving those numbers further along because I will say, and I I would imagine most people uh understand this that robust public schools are sort of the backbone of any community, and so keeping that strong is very important to this city and is part of what draws people, young families to live in the city and so forth.

So with that, um I will turn it over now to Dr.

Bedell for some other information.

All right, thank you, Dr.

Tobin.

And so thank you all for having us again.

Um, and to just build on what Dr.

Tobin just stated, it's also important to note that uh I think we made the right decision to not redistrict out here.

Uh, one, because of the decline in enrollment that we experienced in a number of schools out this way, um, but also we're gonna be opening up New Village Academy, and we think that new village academy will also help to serve as some level of relief uh for Annapolis High School.

What we know from going through phase one redistricting, Meade, Glenn Burney, North County, Severn Run, all of those schools in those clusters was that by balancing those schools when the data came back at the end of that first year, the data was the data was absolutely amazing.

Better performance on not only just the state assessments, but better performance on national normed assessments.

So we know that redistricting works if you balance it appropriately, but we also recognize the importance of not interrupting uh family or students' education in cases where we don't have to do it, and this decline ultimately allowed for us to do that.

We lost uh about 750 students as a result of a lot of the changes that were taking place at the federal level, I would say, because our growth our fastest growing population over the last 12 years were ELL students, and I think that you will see being out here in Annapolis, this was the hardest hit cluster when you think about enrollment decline.

So, what I want to do now is get into the data updates that we that we provide.

One is to talk about um the importance of the work that we've been able to do around retention rates and vacancy rates.

Um to have a workforce of about 6,000 teachers and to be in a situation where this past year we were able to open up school with about 30 vacancies is kind of unheard of.

When we talk about that and we share this data when we present at national conferences, people are saying, Well, how were you able to do it?

And what we said one, you want to be able to just treat people with respect and dignity.

I think some decisions made by this school board around little small appreciation um items, giving them the virtual days before thank the day before Thanksgiving break, giving them a virtual Friday before school opens up.

We did bonus checks for our teachers during that first year when we had a bunch of vacancies and we had this extra money, but also over the last four years or five years, nearly a 30% cola.

So we now are much more competitive against neighboring school districts, and so we're able to retain, and when you have that retention, you have stability.

You have stability within the school, stability within the implementation of the curriculum, and then you see that vacancy rates go down.

Now, when you have a full complement of a staff across the county, what you also will begin to see is that there are other impacts from a statistical standpoint around culture and climate.

So this is the student survey that we have to provide to all of our students towards the end of the year, and it's a part of how we get our report card ratings, and you can see that over the last two years, we've had improvement pretty much across the board.

So students are feeling more safe in their schools, they feel that there's a stronger relationship, but you can have that when you're not constantly having to start over.

And oftentimes the schools where you tend to have these trends of people beginning, starting, and leaving generally be your will be your community schools.

We have our fair share of community schools out here in Annapolis, but we've been able to provide some stability in those schools, and we'll talk about that a little bit later.

The same can be seen for your educators.

Look at the errors.

Even with our educators, they feel that culture and climate is improving in the school district.

And a lot of uh what we did was very intentional.

We did a reorganization when I arrived, and one of the phases of that reorganization was to create a chief over student and systemic supports.

That person's role is to focus on culture and climate, the focus on safety within our schools, and then the focus on the social and emotional well-being of not only students but also the adults in our organization.

And we said that if if we do those things right, then you will open up the door for Miss Catalano and her team, the academic team, to come in and to be able to administer uh the curriculum, which we'll share some data with you on that.

But again, all of these trends ultimately lead to more students wanting to be in schools, and as you can see, um, we really over the last several years have reduced the chronic absenteeism rate, but by reducing the chronic absenteeism rate, we ultimately then increase the attendance rate.

And what we do know is if students are attending school more, then one would expect that we're gonna see better performances on their academic outcomes, which we'll talk about in a few minutes.

One of the things we did when when we shortly after I arrived, I remember saying to the board, man, I could I can't believe that they require us to do 180 days and a minimum number of hours.

Now, being an outsider working in multiple states, most of the states I worked in was based on a set of hours that you have to meet.

Gives you a lot more flexibility.

When you have to do a 180 day schedule, there are just automatic constraints that limit you in your ability to provide professional development um to do some of those innovative things that you want to do.

So we were able to get legislation passed, and we're the only school district in the state that was able to utilize this legislation, House Bill 226, um, to ultimately go to an hours-based system.

And the data is staggering.

We were number one in the state with the number of early release days that was wreaking havoc on parents and families and students, and so we had 12.

We were able to eliminate pretty much eight of those 12, and because we started this in the second semester of this year, this is what the data looks like.

Now, let me tell you who was being impacted.

Good intentions, and we've been doing this for probably well over 20 years, these early release days.

Good intentions to provide professional development for our teachers or work days for our teachers.

But the kids who are being harmed were the ones with families that are hourly wage earners that have to make a decision.

I can't take my kid, I can't afford to send my kid to child care.

So I'm just we're gonna keep our kid out of school, or or I'll I'll have to miss work or whatever it may be.

And so by moving it to where at the end of each grading cycle, instead of doing two half days, we've created one full day, and then the students are out the second day.

Look at the attendance rate increases that we've experienced in the first two semesters.

So we took this data, it's already been pupped, we've already submitted it to the American Education Research Journal.

We're waiting to hear back.

We've submitted it to the uh NAT the national Superintendent's uh journal, it's already been accepted.

Um, and then we're gonna actually have to report this out to the state sometime in at the end of July, I believe, um, because I think what's getting ready to happen now, I think the state's getting ready to potentially move to this, and this data is going to be a difference maker.

But we think that this will further reduce chronic absenteeism and it will increase attendance rates, in particular in our community schools when we have four year implementation that will take place.

And if I can just add something for those of you who may not live in and breathe the education world the way some of us do, moving attendance is one of the hardest things to move.

It is really hard to move because it is a one-by-one by one by student issue because there the issues are very distinctive, and then you get into patterns and habits.

So if you can move by one-tenth in a year, you're usually way ahead of the game.

So if you look at these numbers by the standards of what is out there, what is generally happening in attendance, this is massive.

And I just want to emphasize what Dr.

Bedell said, sometimes good intentions go really wrong.

And this was harming exactly the students who were in some ways most vulnerable and most needed to be in school.

This this early release structure that we had that we had to have because of the state law.

Now that we spent three years getting the law passed, other counties are lining up to do it.

So this should become statewide, I suspect at some point.

And you're right, Dr.

Toven.

What we found in this data was that all of it was statistically significant based on the data that we ran.

Even that minus point four, that was that was before spring break.

So, you know, some people start their spring breaks early, but even if you were to average those two middle schools, that point that is still a net a plus a net of plus four.

That is the statistically significant.

So we we think we're under something here, and hopefully it becomes something that we will move on.

Um, you know, with the state.

So let's talk about the report card.

Uh this uh past school year, the data came in, and you know, we data lags here in our state.

We generally don't get uh report report card data until the end of October, sometimes in November, but we ended up achieving a record high five-star rated schools um this year 36% higher than last year.

13% of our schools are five-star schools compared to seven percent across the state.

95% of our schools have a three-star rating or better.

We only have four schools that were two-star-rated schools, three of those four are middle schools.

So when we talk about what we're trying to do with middle school reform and redesign, it's very intentional.

These pilots that we're gonna do, and we talked about it today on uh Brian Newman and C4.

Um, why we're looking to do these things, because I think some of what we're doing right now may not be giving us the biggest return.

And so we're gonna pilot and we're gonna try things, but my goal is that I don't want a single two-star rated school in this district.

That is the goal.

We started with nine and twenty-two, we're down to four, and our goal is to continue to work to eliminate all of them.

Um that we have three stars in bread at better, and then we work to try to eliminate three stars.

We'll see how that goes.

Um advanced opportunities, we and we you we have that stop sign because the way that things were working in Anna Rondo County um historically is um you only get invited to take advanced placement and dual enrollment if an educator saw it in you.

We have a lot of kids in this school district who had the academic aptitude but weren't even being given an opportunity.

So we got rid of the gatekeeper model early on.

I got a lot of pushback when I was going to do community meetings, and people were telling me, you know, everybody wants to be a professional athlete, doesn't mean that they can be one.

This was the analogy this person used over advanced placement.

I said, but the difference is um if you want to be an an a professional athlete, you have access to touch a basketball or a football.

You have access to practice, and then you hope that you're gifted with talent enough that it'll take you there.

Said, but for AP, if it's based on who invites you, you never get an opportunity to even show that you can do it.

And so I said, you know, that that to me, that analogy kind of fell short for me.

And so we made a decision in Ana Rondo County that we were gonna have high expectations across the board.

We're the only school district, and I and we have the data that requires every single ninth, 10th, eleventh grader to take the pre-SAT, and then all 11th graders take the SAT and we pay for all of it.

We create an environment.

So I I now don't necessarily have to worry too much about the state assessment data because I have my questions about our state assessment data is changing next year anyhow.

But I know that I can see how our kids are stacking up nationally, and this is the data that universities and other entities that are looking to give scholarships are going to be utilizing.

So as you can see, the increases from 21 22.

Uh, we've jumped from 4,800 to over 15,000 students taking the pre-SAT.

And by doing that, look at the number of kids now that are meeting their college and career readiness marks, which is part of blueprint from 1,300 to over 6,400.

Now I think what you're gonna see in these trends now that we've gotten through these first three years of like full implementation of this, you're not gonna see too much variance in those numbers now.

They'll be up and down, depending on enrollment trends, but ultimately um we're in a really good situation.

The same thing with SAT.

We've gone from 3300 to nearly, I don't know, 80 to 85% of our 11th graders are taking advantage of the uh SAT.

And then here's broken down by student group, because we are very intentional.

We have an equity policy that this school district requires that we are adhering to it.

So African American students went from 982 to 3,700.

They doubled in the amount of kids on the SAT that are taking SATs now.

So access is important and it really matters, and it gives us data that we can do something with.

Here's your Hispanic students.

Look at the increases from 402 and 2122 to almost 3,000 now.

Look at the test takers in the SAT.

That has tripled.

So again, this is about access and hopefully opening up a reality for these kids that they actually can do college, that they can do the things that they need to do to obtain these scholarships.

Here's your free and reduced lunch students from 1,300 to almost 8,700.

And then you can see the same over at SAT from 1,300 to 1900.

The CCR numbers are up.

Um, and that really opens the door for these students.

And then part of our focus has been, you know, when when we arrived here, I think uh we had at the end of my first year, I think it was one national merit scholar.

Um we had nine this year, and all nine of those students became finalists.

So just with those nine, the amount of money that we're gonna get in terms of scholarships and the offers that these kids will receive, already just those nine paid for that 470,000 that we've had that we have invested in AP, SAT, dual enrollment, kids taking the AP exams.

We've already got a return on that, and we think that it's gonna be in the millions once we do the final calculations.

And that's what you want to see.

And that's the kind of work that we're doing here.

Here's your advanced placement data.

We've jumped with 40 from uh 5300 to 7700.

Look at African American students, almost 100% jump in the amount of students who are taking these courses.

Hispanic, 81%, free and reduced lunch students, 115% increase.

And then here you have it broken down by the percent of kids who are earning the three are better.

So this is where you normally would, when you have this increase, data normally drops.

Most places I've been, the data drops.

It didn't drop in Ana Rundo County.

The percent of kids scoring a three or better every single year has gone up.

So that tells me we got all of these intelligent kids walking around in our hallways who weren't even being given an opportunity.

And our scores went up.

And you can see where the largest increases are coming from.

African American students, Hispanic students, and free and reduced lunch students.

This is a game changer because these are now courses these kids don't have to pay a penny for when they go to college.

And I noticed because I was with College Board yesterday with some of the best admission uh officers at universities across the country talking about this.

It definitely makes a difference.

And so because kids are coming to school more.

Our graduation rates have increased.

We actually anticipate with the class of 2026, we'll be well over 90%.

90% is something that's been hard to get in Ana Rundo County.

The only year we hit 90% was when COVID gave everybody a pass.

We're gonna hit 90.

I think we may have already hit 90% preliminary with our graduates as of June.

And I anticipate that we'll have a few more come through this summer, and then we also have made an adjustment to the amount of credit requirements that goes into effect July 1.

We require 26 when everybody else requires 23.

So we had kids not graduating, not because they didn't meet the minimum state requirements.

They weren't meeting all of the above and beyond electives that we were requiring.

And so we we made a change.

The board supported that, and we think that that will also allow our kids to have more freedom in their schedules now to take some more classes of interest that's not required electives that they had to take.

And then 11 of our comprehensive high schools had a 90% or better graduation rate, zero below 82.5.

And when I arrived here, we had three comprehensive high schools that were below 80%.

Each of these high schools now are telling me that they're anticipating their numbers, jumping from anywhere from 82 to 85, some to 88.

So, and we think A high, I give them probably two more years.

I think A High will be close to cracking 90 percent because this 10th grade cohort that they have coming up is a is there's a lot of promise.

I'm just telling you all across the county with these 10th graders that are getting ready to be 11th graders, and we see it in a bunch of the data points that we're looking at early on.

Um, and then educational options.

You know, at in our school district, we made a focus that we want to have options for our students.

Not everybody does well in a comprehensive environment.

So, part of the reason why we supported the New Village Academy, it's going to address a problem that we have not been able to address.

I'm not with all of the charter expansion.

I'm just telling you all this, but I think there is a need for charters when there are areas that a traditional school system isn't serving children well, and I will always support that.

I'm not anti-school choice.

What I'm saying is when you have a school district that's performing as well as we are in Ana Rundle County, there is no reason for proliferation of charters out here.

We're not underperforming.

And so, but this is one that we think we'll give our kids another option, and we think that that will be a game changer.

Let me say a couple of things about the educational options.

All of them have a footprint in Annapolis.

So we have the Phoenix Academy, which is doing extremely well.

Dr.

Bedell came and did a lot of reorganization there, and they actually have a peculiar problem now, which is they have parents calling up and asking how they can get their children into the Phoenix Academy.

So true.

They are have distinctive uh roles, these two different schools, and that was a problem beforehand.

They kind of were all trying to do everything.

Um, we also have evening high school at Annapolis High and throughout the county.

Uh, we had I believe the biggest one of the biggest evening high graduations this year we've ever had, close to 200 graduates across the county, and that is a really good sign because those are the students who have found a way and have the programs they need to ensure they get their high school diploma and do it well.

And finally, a program many of you may I find often are not aware of the teen parent education program.

There is an Annapolis location right uh at the corner of Calvert and West Street.

Uh, this is an extraordinary program that uh we provide the certificate in educators.

The county we work with provides incredible wraparound child care, parenting care services.

Students are picked up in a van that is equipped where the baby seats can go in, come with their children.

The children have excellent daycare.

The students often are supported in becoming parents and learning what they need to know.

They eat breakfast and lunch with their students with their babies, they have small classes, and you see a picture of a young man in purple there.

That's our first teen dad who has graduated from that program.

Prior to this, I believe it's all been teen moms.

And I believe there are two more young men in the pipeline in that program.

So it just so happens that all of our educational options are in fact within Annapolis.

And I welcome any of you to come take a tour of any of them as you wish, so that you can have a better understanding of these programs and what they do and what they provide.

So, absolutely.

And so Dr.

Tobin on this last slide, I know this is one that you 100% working with some constituents want to ultimately try to figure out in if there's some opportunities to partner around the Annapolis cluster elementary aftercare programs.

Yes, this is a I know many of you are aware of this.

I think we we find uh and have found historically, city kids do not have access to the same amount of after-school, before school activities as county kids do.

Um, and that has an impact.

Um, and frankly, some of the enrollment dip, I think has to do with the lack of aftercare in particular.

We have families who just can't, you know, our our elementary school day ends around 218, right?

And parents can't just stop everything and come pick up their kids.

The other thing is, quite frankly, given that the city is, you know, smaller than the county, there's a cost to this for families that there isn't in the county.

Um, and so that is another barrier.

And I simply I know many of you are interested in this.

I wanted to make you sure you saw the numbers and you saw where these programs are and where they are not.

Um, and I would ask that we continue to partner on this because I think this could have a huge impact, and I think it is sorely needed.

There's a daycare crisis across this country, we know that, but uh that it's sorely needed here, and uh, you know, anything we can do to work together to increase these numbers and increase the access for families.

Uh, as Dr.

Biddell has pointed out with everything else we've done with the APs, the PSATs and SATs, access is everything, and the students who don't have access are automatically dealing with just a much tougher, bigger, nastier hill to climb.

And uh, as we've seen, I I think again, I will emphasize something, Dr.

Badelva said.

I don't think you understand how stunning it is that when we vastly opened up the numbers of students who were taking APs that our scores went up.

That does not happen, and that is telling, and that is again something uh one of the many things I admire about Dr.

Bedell as a superintendent is that he has recognized the places where we have to say we've been getting this wrong, and we have to get it right.

Um, this is not about doing things the way they've always been done because that's how you always have to do them.

We are here to ensure that at every turn we are doing the best possible thing to ensure the best outcomes for all our students, and that is the single guiding principle I think for this board and for Dr.

Biddell and his entire staff, and that is our goal, and there's still a lot of work to be done.

But as you can see by this, we're we're in a better place, I think, than we were, and the trajectories are all good.

So, you know, I I welcome any further conversations on this, but I wanted all of you to be able to see exactly kind of where we are with this.

The last thing I will say is this is not inclusive of community school after school programs.

For those of you who don't know the term community schools are schools that uh provide wraparound services because they receive what are known as the concentration of poverty grants through the blueprint for Maryland legislation funding, and therefore they have access to additional funding and can provide in many cases a lot of after school activities and so on.

That's not the same as after care.

And so, you know, you may know of programs at some schools and say, Well, wait a minute, I know they have this program.

That's a that's a different category.

So, Tobin and Dr.

Bedell on on that slide, that's something uh I'm very aware of and working on in time for the next school system.

So, no promises, but working diligently to have a solution to it.

We'll be prepared to do our part two.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, and then on the last slide is just um something that I think is it's just very important, and we we ask all of you all if schedule allows you to do it.

We love for you all to become mentors.

It changes, it just changes everything for these students.

And there are staff members back here that we give release time to so they can go and they they mentor their kids, and just the stories that they come back and share with me about just some kids that hadn't even done their FAFSA, and because of them being able to mentor these kids, now we have kids who have now graduated this year that are going to college as a result of that positive adult advocacy.

I generally mentor anywhere from 15 to 17 kids over at Annapolis High School.

So I do group mentoring, it's just me and them.

Um, and one of my challenges for the kids was we were talking about stocks, and you know, I had my phone out, so you know, we had to figure out this cell phone thing.

I I got called out by a student.

You got your phone out, but we can't have ours out.

Any in any event, um, I have challenged my group to get their Charles Swab accounts up and running.

I mean, you could start an account for a hundred dollars, and then we're gonna, and so that's gonna be the first thing when we come back.

We're checking in on it.

If they haven't gotten this started, then I'm going to work with them, and even if I have to have some conversations with with the adults in their lives, I just think it's a wise thing.

I wish what I know now, I would have known, you know, coming out of high school, what investments can do, even if it's just putting $25 in every time you get a paycheck.

And a lot of the kids I mentor do work.

And so I think it's important that mentoring can help open up doors for these kids in ways, and I think you all being very powerful people within the community.

I think it it could make a huge difference in ultimately the outcomes for our kids.

So we're hoping we'll be able to to partner with you all along with the growth that we're having in Dr.

Tobin.

I guess at some point I'm gonna have to give uh Mr.

Diller some help because this thing is really it is growing at a very fast rate, so yeah.

Uh Dr.

Bidell put in place a position uh of oversight of uh mentoring uh Mr.

Andre Dillard, who I think many of you have known over the years, he was the principal at Georgetown East for a very long time, and he's been doing an excellent job at that.

You know, something I occurred to me we didn't mention when we were talking about our schools.

It was just announced today that one of the schools in Annapolis, uh Monarch Annapolis, a math teacher there who I believe is fifth grade math teacher, was just awarded uh the Maryland Math Teacher of the Year by I think it's the Council of Math National National Council of Math Teachers, something like that.

So we've just heard some very good news about that, and uh, so there was we it's hard to keep track of the awards that it's been a lot of racked up in this county, national council of the year, the first ever in the state.

We have that out of Crofton.

Um, we were talking about all of these uh state championships, um 11 more this year than last year, and last year we were number two in the state behind Montgomery County.

Which has twice as many students.

Right.

So it's just there is a lot that we could not cover in here, but I think it's a lot for everybody to be proud of about what the school district is doing collectively.

All right.

And so we'll open it up for questions.

Thank you so much.

First, thank you.

Just a round of applause, impressive statistics, impressive improvement and applaud that you're willing to uh not only experiment and try some things that might seem um counterintuitive about the early dismissal days, but realize that there's data to support and then you're getting the results to prove.

And I've also always admired that you're willing to say what you don't do well so you can work on it and be transparent.

So I I think that's wonderful.

Um and I certainly support you giving Andre Dillard some support.

So uh for those who aren't familiar uh on the mentorship program, um Mr.

Dillard and the school system have asked for for city involvement to ask our city employees to get involved as mentors, and that in itself is not a heavy lift.

The heavier lift and bearing a more thoughtful conversation is do we let them do that on city on time versus their own time or something in between half hour of uh half hour city versus half hour, something like that.

Um, though that we're ready to talk about that.

Um did you get questions that I forwarded this morning by email to you?

Uh they were uh originating from Alderman uh Shandelmeyer, T and he knew he wasn't gonna be here today, and so it was uh whether you'd be uh able to commit to additional support for the city's maritime apprenticeship program.

Yeah, I think it's something that we would want to sit down and have a conversation because my understanding that they they're talking about some internship opportunities uh and we are wide open on wanting to explore that.

Um I think we just need to probably have some conversation around what that can look like.

I mean, I sent it over to uh Miss Catalano, and I think um we probably need a little bit more time to unpack it, but if there's opportunities for internships, you know, part of the CCR, the college career readiness uh uh requirements is that students are having opportunities to intern, and so we would love to learn a little bit more about it.

Perfect.

Um on that email, I included contact information for Mr.

Straut and Ms.

Stewart.

If you could follow up with them, that'd be wonderful.

Thank you so much.

You thank you.

Um before I go to Alder Woman O'Neill, uh, we're gonna so we have until 5 30 for this program set aside, but we need to cut the next program a little short.

So if we could uh take five no more than 10 minutes, we'll get Jackie started five minutes early, that'd be uh helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I appreciate the presentation.

Um, as always, it's always informative, and I learned something new every day.

I have a couple of questions.

Um the first one was um the drop in enrollment.

Are we seeing other clusters with the similar drops or is ours unique?

Um there was there were drops in other clusters, but not as significant as Annapolis.

So, as Dr.

Bedell said, across the whole county, we lost seven hundred and eighty, about 750 in that range.

Um, to be perfectly honest, where there's a heavy concentration of ELL students, it's been uh largely what's going on at the federal level and families who are concerned about having their kids in school.

Nearly 50% of the drop is concentrated in the Annapolis cluster.

That's unfortunate.

Um my other question was um not so much a question, but I will say, and I've said it before, um, when my children were in elementary school, I served on the CAC, and at that time we studied the number of days versus num and number of hours, um, and did a really comprehensive study of that.

So it's I'm happy to see that it's come to light.

Um my children are 20 and 24, so no longer in elementary school.

Um, but it's uh it's really pleasing to see that the county has gone to that and to drop those number of half days because I know that that was um particularly burdensome to a lot of, especially when we change the school times um for the elementary school kids.

Um, so I appreciate that the efforts on all of that.

Um one of the things that I see a lot from my constituents um is juniors and seniors in high school that don't even have an idea of where to start if they're interested in going to college.

Um I've had a lot of parents reach out to me and say, can you help us navigate?

Um, what are we doing to ensure that students who perhaps are from families where they're a first generation college student to get them that those services early on so that they're not scrambling trying to fill out out college applications and FAFSA forms?

Well, I think a lot has changed um because of blueprint.

So what you will begin to see is more students are entering high school already, having conducted uh going through career counseling.

It's kind of is part of a requirement now that you start introducing students to that in middle school, and it's in conjunction in a partnership with the uh workforce and Ronald County workforce uh development.

Yeah, development.

Um so we we think that we should hope that we're gonna see more kids coming in and and being on and really having an ideal of what they want to do, whether it's uh college career, going into the military or entrepreneurship or going right into the workforce.

I will say to you that um something else that we do in this county, and I think it's it's gone very well.

Um we we really do embrace avid um advancement via individual determination and and generally that's where you will find a lot of your first generation graduates uh or college kids who will attend college.

That has done us very well.

I'll use Glenn Barney as an example that their avid program I want to say brings in somewhere in the range of 20 million in scholarships, right?

So I think there's some things that we're putting in place, and as we continue to work on increasing these graduation rates, really embracing the the program of study that we that we now have to focus on, starting with those kids in middle school, so that they have some ideal, and I believe there's an accountability now also attached with do we know what kids are doing once they once they leave us, I believe.

I don't I'm looking back here, I may not be right on that.

That might be a Missouri thing, because in Missouri we had to have some accountability once they graduated with what they're doing.

But I think these are just some of the things that we're working on now in conjunction with Blueprint.

And just to add, Avid is also expanding to middle school.

So we're we're starting ninth grade is almost too late sometimes to begin to help students find this path, if especially if they don't have a family that's used to navigating these things, and so there's a there's a lot of work around this.

Now, I will tell you that uh we just passed our budget.

We're profoundly grateful to be in a much better position than most other areas of this state, but even with the incredible funding we got, we didn't get everything we needed, and uh there's always a need for more counselors.

There's always a need for the folks to do this, but I know it's in a much better situation, for example, at Annapolis High than it was when my daughter started at Annapolis High in terms of the staffing that they have for this.

Um Annapolis High also has the advantage now of being a community school and having those resources, which it didn't have previously, so a lot of focus is on this area, but um there's ongoing work to do.

So one last clarifying question.

Did I hear you say that there's a cost to after school care in the city but not in the county?

My understanding is that the county at the very least is scaled in such a way that families can access it.

If I could clarify, I think in uh the um uh low-income schools, it's a five dollar charge per month.

Yeah, instead of a three hundred dollar charge.

Even in the city, so this, you know, this is great, but um again, we we just need more of it.

Thank you.

I appreciate the time.

And to clarify when I was saying I was hoping for a solution for next year, I didn't mean this coming school year, but the next budget school year.

Yeah, um, Alderman Huntley, and then Alderman Savage.

Oh, we heard the phrase free and reduced meals a lot.

I'm curious if you could talk because uh Dr.

Miller, every time you come and talk, and I know Dr.

Tobin does this well too.

You guys are always looking at what we do well, what we can do to innovate.

Um I'm curious if we're looking at meals at nutrition as a place where we can innovate and improve.

How are we doing on it?

Like, can we can we get some of the lens you just applied to educational outcomes on those nutritional outcomes?

How would you categorize that?

And then I'm particularly interested because we're starting summer in what's uh the state of summer meals in Annapolis.

Yeah, so we we hired a new food services director.

Uh last year, we did the taste of Anna Rundle County with a bunch of students to allow them to give us feedback on some items that ultimately went into operation this year.

And um, you know, I think the issue that we run into, and I think this is a byproduct of not necessarily having the full complement of resources, in order for us to do the innovation that I would like us to do with food services, staffing is a problem.

I mean, like even with us introducing those new menu items.

If I'm sitting with 70 vacancies, 80 vacancies, and part of our issue at this point is some of these people only have a three and a half hour shift.

Um, they don't have enough hours to really be able to do the work that needs to be done, and and we don't have the budget to actually support that.

Um for some folks, they're like, Yeah, we want to do all of these things, but we just don't have the human capital to do it.

And so it's something that we're trying to work on, increasing low-end wage, low earner.

I mean, like we were fortunate, we just got our TSAs from 17 from sixteen dollars to eighteen dollars an hour.

But in Anna Rondo County, that's hard to, I mean, uh it's hard to survive on if you make in a hundred thousand in this county, it feels like so.

I just think that um there's just got to be some changes, and then there's gotta be some changes in continuity of services.

We're trying to look at that.

Can we do something where they work a certain number of hours in food services and then there's an extension where they can do it?

It's not as easy as as it sounds.

We have been trying to look into ways to try to give people more hours, but we need more hours in order to do the the give these robust options that we want to provide students.

So I will tell you that is a limitation, and that is one that we're gonna continue to try to try to address.

Uh one final question from Alderman Savage, and then I'll ask if any other council members have questions if you could direct them by email to Dr.

Tobin, and then Dr.

Tobin, you can handle and respond as appropriately.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayor.

Um, trying to think which one to highlight.

Um, first of all, glad, glad to hear you have some movement on the um moving away from the early dismissal.

Uh it's one thing my I would hear a lot of complaints about from my own son, since he's now AHS.

Uh, but just just quick up front, I do did want to make sure I mentioned um I I had my wife and I had a lot of frustration with the technology of the schools.

We use a lot of technology, but it was so difficult just getting registered, figuring out which system you need to use.

The teachers didn't even know on day one which system they were using, they were referring referring us to one that the school wasn't using student IDs, figuring out what my son's student ID was, he didn't even know, and then you had to leave off a number to enter it in difficult download report cards and they time out.

It's it's just a lot of things.

They we call them for absentee to the office, but we still get the automated robocall, the automated emails, even though we've told the school, just some of the stuff that's it's kind of like a in my mind a barrier.

If us who we use a lot of technology, we find it challenging.

I'm guessing that's also a lot of other parents.

Um, so I just wanted to make sure to get that one personal thing out there, but I will certainly email.

Can I respond to that?

Yes, of course.

So as you all know, we implemented, we did a massive implementation of a new learning management system.

We went from bright space that everybody was complaining about to Canvas, which is much more adaptable.

Um, and I think as as we moved into the school year, things have gotten a lot better with people being able to use it.

But when you you have a school district with 130 schools, and you're rolling out something brand new, the first semester is gonna be Rocky.

Now, if you're telling me it's been like this throughout the entirety of the year, then you know, then we we need to have a conversation to figure that out.

But uh but if it's hey, this was what it was the first half of the year, things got better, kind of expected because when you are rolling out something that massive, it's not gonna be perfect, it's just not so uh but I would love to be able to unpack that more if if this was something that was that's been long term because I don't want that to be the experience for anybody.

I'll reach out with my other questions.

Uh thank you.

Um sorry to have to wrap up, uh, but just want to thank you, congratulate you on the redistricting work as well.

Thank you.

Uh, your involvement in the CNI project, and that's gonna be ongoing as we get the uh CNI rolled out.

We have a lot of um interaction and concerns.

This is great to get a kickoff with us together formally, um, but appreciate the all the informal opportunities as well, and congratulations again on uh another successful school year.

Mm-hmm.

Mayor Littman, Mayor Littman.

Hey Mayor Litman.

Um, uh yeah, if you don't mind, uh please uh hello to the two of you.

Thank you very much uh for being here and all that you do for our county and our students, our families.

Um, there was on slide 15.

I do want to call this out uh just to make sure that we look at the numbers or the calculations.

It looked as if for the difference of the PSAT scores uh for African for um African American students, it said that the difference was a minus 39.

But when you look at 3415 uh in 24 to 25 and 3766 and 25 to 26, it's actually an addition of 351.

So I just uh wanted to make sure that that calculation wasn't incorrect there.

Um, and I know we don't have time for much more questions.

I just want to make sure that um our county public schools, especially with getting feedback from our education commission, uh prioritizes giving or supporting um our underserved communities, Robin Wood, uh Bay Ridge Gardens, Eastport Terrace, Harbor House, Oberry Court, and Blueberry Square, Clay Street, aside from Bywater Woodside, Admiral Farragon and Annapolis Gardens with the uh food program during the summer because those communities are uh not included on that list.

Okay, thank you again.

Okay, and said we really need you to release these funds, and we need it yesterday, and we got the appropriations committee in the Senate involved, and not surprisingly, there are other members in the House and the Senate who have also had projects held up by FEMA, and so there was a growing backlog, but also growing frustration at what was happening uh with backlogs for projects all over the country, and so all of that pressure built and the dam broke, and the good news is Christy Noam is out, and the funding for the Annapolis dock is in.

And let me just thank other members of the federal delegation who are part of this because the city we we took our lead from the city from their vision, but we have with us today uh John Sarbanes, Congressman John Sarbanes, who was absolutely tenacious, absolutely tenacious when it came to making sure that the city of Annapolis had what it needed and was constantly pushing and pushing.

And of course, former state senator and now Congresswoman, Representative Alfrith, she's been pushing really hard.

And thank you to other members of the District 30 delegation and everybody who's been involved in this effort over years.

Uh to Stuart Pittman, your county executive.

You've been just an amazing partner.

Amazing partner.

And all of us know the resources need to come from the city, they need to come from the county, they need to come from the state.

And yes, this critical piece needed to come from the federal government.

And so I'm also pleased that we're here, and with the continuing support from the governor and the governor's team, uh, you're going to hear from our secretary of the department of emergency management, Russ Strickland.

But thank you for what you're doing in this project, but also the other emergency projects around the state and FEMA.

So as you can see, this is really uh a team Maryland Day.

And this wouldn't have happened without everybody gathered here and many more people, and never giving up.

This is an example of perseverance and persistence at work, and that requires everybody pushing from their own angle and their own point of leverage.

So without further ado, let me now turn it over to somebody who's been pushing really hard for this.

First in the Maryland legislature and hit the ground running in the United States Congress, Sarah Alfred.

Thank you.

Well, thank you to Senator Van Holland for being Team Maryland's quarterback in the federal delegation, but also as you see behind me, the epitome of Team Maryland when we say it's not just the federal delegation, it starts with our local partners, our county partners, our state partners, and of course uh the federal team.

Y'all, this is a day that I I gotta tell you.

Um, I try to be an optimist in this work.

I think you have to be.

I wasn't sure this day was gonna happen, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, first of all, this is my umpteenth City Doc press conference.

I think we've all been here many, many times to announce really great news to announce state funding, 18 and a half million in state funding to announce uh almost 10 million dollars in federal earmarks to announce the resilience authority to to mark uh Congressman Sarbeans.

We were here uh sorry, there's too many tall people behind me.

Uh we were here during one of the biggest floods, I think the fourth biggest flood on record, standing right here surveying the urgency of now, and that's that's where I want to just start.

Um, rising seas aren't going to wait for bureaucracy.

I think we see that every single day, and as the senator said, this is more than just a climate adaption project, it has real implications for Annapolis's past, present, and future.

Obviously, the historical impacts of this project, what we are preserving as the former United States Capitol, uh, really important uh year that we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of this nation.

But we also recognize the more challenging and difficult pieces of our history that we need to honor and respect and share and tell.

The fact that where we are standing is a is a UNESCO site of remembrance because it was a site of the transatlantic slave trade.

We also have an a deep obligation to tell the stories in the city, not just of the men who signed the declaration of independence, but also the folks who worked the water, the immigrants, the families who lived right here and made Annapolis what it is today.

Obviously, this moment is important because we have to preserve this city doc for our economy as well, all of the small businesses you see around here.

Every time there is a major flood, we are all on the phone checking in, making sure they have what they need, making sure we're corralling the state resources and local resources to get them what they need.

Obviously, this is important for the present because of our United States Naval Academy, and and rising seas do not respect what is city land versus what is federal land, and so what happens here very much impacts what happens there.

And of course, to the Alderman from Eastport, you know better than anybody when the rising seas cut off compromise street.

That is a real emergency management challenge for the people of Eastport.

Obviously, the moment of now as we address climate change across this country is so real, and it can sometimes feel overburdened.

We've we feel overburdened, it's just such a large problem.

Where can we even start?

Obviously, this started almost a decade ago with a vision from Mayor Buckley and the city council and the staff at the city who knew that this was not a nice to have, this was a must-have, not just then, but knowing that the seas will continue to rise each and every year.

Um it's often said that success has a thousand fathers.

I'd like to also believe there's a few mothers tucked in there as well.

Obviously to Mayor Buckley for his vision, the city council for their dedication, the staff.

I also want to thank the hundreds of Annapolis citizens who participated in I don't know how many charreds y'all had to make sure 300 opportunities for the public to weigh in here.

That's so important in this moment.

To county executive Pittman, who has just been a champion and making sure that we are all staying on task and on target.

I so appreciate you.

The state delegation, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the state funding started under former Speaker Mike Bush.

He had the vision, he knew, and he wanted to respond with state dollars being the capital city.

Um and he started the trend that I was had the privilege of picking up.

I know Delegate Jones, delegate Baylor, Senator Henson, make sure we, in every single budget, make sure we are delivering for this project.

To the federal delegation, I'm so grateful that Congressman Sarbanes is here.

I also called Senator Van Carden um the other day to share the good news.

There's not a lot of good days of good news in this job.

Senator Van Holland, you didn't tell me that when I first ran.

But he was thrilled and he wished he could be here today.

I want to give him thanks and credit as well.

Um it's been said that that Mayor Littman um has taken this project and been so thoughtful and so strategic as we met this critical moment.

And I too received that SOS text message in February.

Um, being on the Armed Services Committee, the Naval Abor Naval Academy Board, along with uh Senator Van Holland.

He asked, can we involve the Navy?

And so uh that was my role to play in this orchestra of support that we all lent here is to call the Pentagon to call the Navy and remind them that the rising seas will also impact the readiness of our United States Naval Academy.

And they made a call as well.

There were so many calls that were made in the month, Mr.

Mayor, since you sent that text message.

And I always want to thank you for your vision and your commitment.

And we're gonna hear in a minute from Secretary Strickland from MDEM, who has also been just a champion of this throughout multiple administrations.

I want to thank you for your support.

You're also on our call sheet anytime we get a major flood, so I want to thank you and your team for that.

Um, and without further ado, I want to thank my predecessor who um has has been dedicated and focused to this work uh for his 18 years serving in the United States Congress.

I'm so grateful to be able to call him and turn to him for advice more often than I thought I would uh in this Congress, but I'm so grateful to my friend, um Congressman John Sarvanes.

Thanks very much, Sarah.

This this is a great day.

I'm gonna be brief, I promise.

You know, if you let a former member of Congress up to a podium, they could go forever.

Um first of all, let me salute Team Marilyn, uh, Senator Van Holland, Congresswoman Sarah Elfith, representative of the third district of Maryland.

I love saying that.

Um to Jared, uh, to Stewart, to everybody who's been part of this.

I also want to give a shout out to to Gavin Buckley.

Um I got a lot of SOSs from Gavin over the years, um, so I've got a whole tech string there, but thank you, Jared, for kind of picking up the ball and and carrying it.

It means so much to Annapolis, it means so much uh to Ann Arnold County to the state.

This is an example of people coming together in a very, very powerful way.

This was a Rubik's Cube from the beginning.

I mean, it had so many different and continues to have so many different interlocking parts that require special attention.

Um so getting these resources finally over the finish line is just it's it's a huge win.

And it demonstrates, I think, and and you mentioned this here a moment ago, um, the resilience of the people of Annapolis.

I mean, stepping up how to conceptualize this, what what would it mean to execute it, putting all the phases together that you're now gonna see kind of rolling out over time.

That that was a huge accomplishment.

And then the last thing I want to say is this kind of a project, this kind of a resilience project, um, in the context of what we know are gonna continue to be uh increasing challenges coming at us in terms of climate change and weather disruption and so forth, is going to be a model for how you do these things around the country.

And Annapolis has always been a leader, it's always been a model.

It's always kind of uh taken the lead nationally on innovative creative approaches.

This is another example of that.

Um, it's gonna be a tough slog through the execution, but I know one that's going to be successful.

So congratulations to the people of Annapolis, to Team Maryland, to everybody who got us to this point, is going to keep moving it forward.

And obviously, very much at the reins for this process going forward is going to be Mayor Littman.

I want to thank him for all his great work and bring him up.

Thanks, all right.

Good morning.

Thank you.

My name is Mayor Jared Littman, and on behalf of the City Council members and I, it is our great honor and pleasure to thank and receive the $33 million plus the two and a half million dollars for FEMA.

And I just I am so relieved, frankly.

I know uh your my sleep isn't everyone's concern, but I've been sleeping a lot better the past couple nights, uh, knowing that this money was uh is coming.

And it this is the obviously the evolution of work from so many individuals, and they've been mentioned.

But I just want to point out how our city staff continue to slog away at the financial, the technical, the environmental reviews, meeting every deadline, answering questions from FEMA.

It was a long process, and it seemed to evolve, and they stepped up and they've met all the burdens and and requests, and their dedication has absolutely ensured our success.

To go over the funding of this huge engineering and infrastructure project, we have $24 million from the concession agreement related to the building of uh Hillman Garage, 10 million dollars from the state of Maryland, and I I see uh our delegate uh uh delegate Jones, delegate Baylor, and our state Senator uh Henson being represented here.

4.8 million dollars in congressional earmarks, although not called earmarks anymore, two million dollars from the county, and today's $33 billion plus the two and a half million from FEMA plus the city's bond money to ensure and that we now have all the funding in place to see this project through.

This is a major investment in protecting our historic waterfront, local businesses, and ensuring that our residents can continue to enjoy this wonderful area that we all love for generations and generations to come.

This is an investment in the future of Annapolis.

I want to acknowledge we have a lot of partners, and I I recognize the city is the small player here, and so we have a lot of people I want to thank.

I first want to call out the current and former city council members who stood by former Mayor Buckley and I throughout this process.

They all received lots of phone calls of if this, then this, and the council, it was unanimous in supporting our efforts to move forward.

Of course, our thank you, council members.

Of course, I want to thank our federal delegation, Senator Van Holland, uh Senator Alsa Brooks who couldn't be here today, Representative Elfrith, and of course, Representative uh Sarbanes, who's always been a good friend.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Our governor and his team have been hugely instrumental as well.

So I thank Governor Moore and MDEM Secretary Strickland for your support.

The number of phone calls and conferences strategizing all along.

And of course, again, I want to call out our our state delegation, Senator Henson, delegates Jones and Baylor.

I think Delegate Jones gets the award for latest phone call on this matter on a Friday night in particular, too.

So thank you for being available.

Um County Executive Pittman, you've always stood behind and helped strategize, and I know that I can count on you as well.

Thank you so much.

Mayor Buckley, I know, had this vision, and now the hard work of going from vision to turning into reality, but that doesn't get started without the initial vision.

So I thank you, Mayor Buckley.

A couple of individuals that don't get a lot of limelight, I want to call out.

Um City Manager Buckland, I want to thank you.

Project Manager Eileen Fogarty seeing this through Director in chief Kevin Simmons and David Mendel from Office of Emergency Management and Public Works Director Burr Vogel.

Someone who never calls out for attention, but is a friend and a leader and this whole project, Matt Fleming and the Resilience Authority.

Thank you for your appreciation.

He's one of those guys that when we strategize of who needs to do what, he's like, I got it, I got it.

I got it.

Thank you, Matt.

Appreciate you.

Looking ahead, I want to call out all the individuals who are involved.

We all got involved in public service because we wanted to do good for the community.

We are doing our best to serve the public.

And as uh Congresswoman Elfrith mentioned, there are some tough days where when our efforts to do good are not necessarily treated as such.

I just want to let all of us take have all of us take a moment to appreciate the enormity of today's milestone.

This is the result of your hard work, your focus on serving your constituents and seeing the big picture of what can be done when we join together.

And so I just want you all to pat yourselves on the back, pat each other on the back, take a moment to appreciate this.

I know that there have been a lot of press conferences.

I am so looking forward to having a ribbon cutting where we could say, come on, and it's not last minute and hurried.

This work is absolutely just beginning.

I know that just because we now have the money in the bank, it's not all smooth sailing.

But I know with the team behind me, they've all demonstrated they're willing to answer the call, be involved, be supportive, either quietly or publicly, whatever is needed to get the job done.

And that's huge.

That is absolutely huge.

It is my absolute honor to lead Annapolis' efforts through this.

And again, I thank all of the partners involved in this work.

I'm so excited to help deliver the City Doc project for all of us.

And with that, I want to introduce my friends and our county executive, Stuart Pittman.

Well, first, just congratulations to everybody.

I'm not gonna go through everybody and do all the same thanks all over again.

But congratulations to all of us.

We should be having a huge party right now.

Um maybe we will later.

Um I had a meeting on my schedule today that got canceled.

My scheduler told me the mayor's office canceled our meeting on Friday, didn't say why.

And then I got a text message, not the SOS one, got that too.

But I got the good text message from Mayor Littman, and um, the joy.

I mean, the ability to sleep.

Um that meeting was about, we're in the middle of our budget process.

We're in the middle of our capital budget process.

We managed to squeeze two million out last year, you know, with the help of um Councilwoman Rodby and uh for this district for particularly the welcome center as part of this project to get it over the finish line, but not having the FEMA money would have meant that the project would have been scaled back.

Um, the mayor had all kinds of contingency plans, and his contingency plans included more money from the county, I think.

And so it was a big relief to have that meeting canceled.

Um, I wanna I want to particularly thank our our delegation, um, Congresswoman Alfred, our senators, and every the the whole team.

Um, but I think I think in this time we don't, we've almost lost faith that we have a partner in the federal government, and particularly in FEMA.

It has been so frustrating and sad and terrifying in some cases to have FEMA no longer a partner.

And and um, but these folks didn't give up, these folks continued to work relationships that they had, relationships in places we don't even want to know who they talk to to get this thing across the finish line.

Um, but but thank you.

Just thank you for not giving up in a time where we all just want to fight, fight, fight.

Sometimes we also have to get in there and negotiate and and manage to get some wins.

And for the for the public, for the residents of Anorondo County who are so looking forward to coming into Annapolis and and seeing this beautiful, beautiful public space.

It's gonna be like a park for the whole county, which is why I'm open, I've been open to investments in it, is with county dollars.

Um it is it is just like a little bit of sunshine.

We haven't had sun all week.

Um, but it's a little bit of sunshine and a dark time, and that in fact, government can work and things can get done.

So just thank you, and and let's celebrate.

This is a wonderful, wonderful day.

Congratulations.

And I also want to acknowledge um the the former mayor, um Gavin Buckley, for the work that he did um to get us to this point, you know.

His name would have been Mud if if if FEMA money hadn't showed up, right?

I mean, you gotta blame somebody, but now his name is not Mudd, it's back to Gavin Buckley, and we can all celebrate.

Next, we're gonna hear from the great Maryland secretary of emergency management, Secretary Strickland.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you very, very much.

Uh this is a celebration.

I really I like that term.

Um, I'd first like to thank Governor Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation for your unwavering support of this critical project.

Uh I'd also like to recognize the city of Annapolis for their leadership and persistent advocacy to see funding awarded, and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation Team who adeptly shepherding this project through many stages of approval.

Now I'm gonna go off script for a second because there were two words that were mentioned here today: resilience and modeling and emergency management's responsibilities, although many times at the back end of the crowd, just kind of watching and making sure everybody's safe, but it's before during and after a disaster that we're involved.

This is before, and before is mitigation, and mitigation is the center of the universe.

We're really, really good at response and immediate recovery, but mitigation is that which will improve for all the businesses in the area and will make a difference of almost a dollar invested, a six-dollar return when it comes time for recovery.

So I think that is so so important, and I appreciate the words that folks have used.

So the mission of Maryland Department of Emergency Management is to proactively reduce these disaster risk and reliably manage consequences through collaborative work with Maryland's communities and partners.

In Maryland, emergency management is a system of systems.

We cannot do it alone.

We are the counties and the local jurisdictions coupled with the state, working with our state agencies and partners, and with our private sector partners.

We cannot do it alone.

No one can, and it's only through that system of systems that we do it.

The Annapolis City uh dock hazard mitigation project is an excellent example of this type of work of everyone coming together.

So the investment today comes a result of years of partnership and collaboration with the residents, business owners, and governments at every level.

And I have to say, we've been talking about it started in 2019.

I started in state emergency management in 2004.

This was a discussion then.

It was a discussion of flooding back into the 1700s for Ellicott City.

And when it comes time for a model, this will not only be a model, but there's another really, really good model in Frederick City that started with Agnes.

And it took 20 years to build, and about three or four years ago, there was a flooding event, and it worked.

It worked.

So we know that this funding will bring a significant return on investment for every dollar invested, as I mentioned.

We'll save six in re disaster recovery.

And while the dollars matter, what really matters is our community and our survivors.

That's where our focus is.

So the hazard mitigation efforts on this scale mean more days that residents and visit visitors can enjoy Maryland's state capital and the beautiful waterfront, more days that local businesses have to grow and thrive, and fewer days spent mucking out livelihoods and homes, or wondering if the next storm or king tide will be worse than the last one.

So this proof is this project is proof that together we can do things which shape a more resilient Maryland where communities thrive and where no one is left behind.

So from the emergency management community to all of you, one congratulations.

Two, thank you.

And number three, we're not leaving.

We are not leaving until it's done, and we'll be here for another 20 years to make sure it works so we can write that down.

Alright, thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Secretary.

Uh, thank you, Team Maryland.

Um, before we take questions, I do want to acknowledge a few other folks.

And Sarah mentioned my former partner and colleague, Ben Cardin.

He was also tenacious about this project, and we worked very closely together.

And just like Congresswoman Alfred picked up the baton from John Sarbanes uh in the house, um, Angela Alsterbrooks is helped pick up that baton in the United States Senate.

So I just want to thank her.

She could not be here.

So let's give them both a round of applause.

So we're happy to answer any questions.

And if not, we do have a check cash it fast.

Any questions?

Can you respond to the letter that you sent to the Trump administration regarding the legionella?

I'm sorry, I couldn't.

Can you respond to the um the letter you sent to the Trump administration relative to the Legionella?

Oh, can we talk to you after about I'm happy to do one-on-one or whatever?

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Okay.

Time for the real thing.

All right.

Shall we uh also mention one other person I forgot to say?

Yes, of course.

I also want to call out Lieutenant uh General Superintendent of the Naval Academy, uh, Mike Bork Shulte.

Uh, who was incredibly helpful and just want to acknowledge his things.

His advertisement.

What do you get in the middle here?

I think about everybody.

Thank you.

If you put the trash down, please place it into a bag.

And tie the bag up and place it into a watertight receptacle with your address placed on it so they can be seen from the street that in your property for proper road collection.

As a matter of fact, this recycle is done all wrong, also.

If you decide to place your recycling in a bag, please bring your bag to the receptacle and take all items out of the bag and place them into the can.

And make sure the lid is closed, please.

Let's bring back in the trash monster so I can show you things that are not recyclable.

See, it's forty percent non-recyclable right now.

This is not recyclable, this is not recyclable.

The metal utensils are not recycled.

Please be mindful of your trash and recycle placement to four five.

Hi, I'm Megan.

I'm here at City Hall to talk to you about the Golden Pass.

If you're 55 and older, the Golden Pass is a great opportunity for you.

For just $20 a month, you can park for up to two hours a day on Maryland Avenue, Main Street, or the Mills Home and Garage without using a promo code, the pay machine, or even an app.

Just park and walk away all week this week, May 11th to the 15th from 9 a.m.

to 12 p.m.

I'm here if you have any questions, you want to sign up in person, or if you just need a hand, stop by, park at the mills home and garage, we'll validate your parking, and we'll connect in person.

So this holiday season, here's some tips from the Annapolis Fire Department that can help you serve up safety in the kitchen.

Never leave the home and always use a timer.

Tip two, if a grease fire starts, never try to extinguish with water.

Use a lid to cover over the pot, turn the burner off, and wait till the pan cools down.

Always keep your cleaning and cooking surfaces free of any clutter.

And remember, if you're unable to control the fire, get out of your house and dial 911 immediately.

Unattended cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries.

For more information on tips on how you can serve up safety in the kitchen, visit WW.firepreventionweek.org.

Stay safe, Annapolis.

Ya que estamos, aprovechamos and recycling.

This is not in the recycling.

Nuevamente.

And we're going to see what it is for if it will recycle or not.

This metal back will recycle.

So this plastic finished the bolts of basura in recycling.

This cuchillo de metal, for sure.

Hear them geese.

They're flying high through this crystal shimmer of that October sky.

Just like them, I'm flying away down the muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

So come on, Captain, raise that mane.

Can't wait to get back again to Annapolis on the bay.

I can see the domes and spires of my little town rise from the horizon like the jewels on a crown in Annapolis on the bay.

So meet me at the city dock and give us a hug.

We will shuffle off to Middletons and have some fun.

Crab pot steaming, we can pick us a few.

I'll shook the oysters if you make the stew.

So come on, Captain, don't maybe wait.

It's no ill wind that blows us away to Annapolis on the bay.

Hello, Annapolis, it's me, Gavin Buckley here, and we are about to start the blues soccer season at the end of this month.

I can't wait to be out there with you.

The atmosphere is electric.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, this year we're bringing in a women's team, so go blues, kill it this season.

In this semester, we're going to have prevention of incendies in the cocina.

When we are cool, use a relief alarm automatically.

Hey Annapolis, it's go time.

On demand transit that takes you where you want to go.

It's fast, it's easy, and it's an affordable way to get around Annapolis.

Going to the doctor, it's go time.

Going shopping, it's go time.

Exploring Annapolis, it's go time.

It's easy to schedule your ride.

Use the app or call transportation dispatch at four one zero two six three seven nine six four.

Set your pickup and your destination, and we'll be right there.

Simply track the bus on the app.

So you'll know exactly when we'll be there to pick you up.

Pay once you're on the bus.

Just two dollars per ride and only one dollar for seniors.

Or you can use your daily, weekly, monthly, or annual bus pass.

Getting around Annapolis is easy with Annapolis go time.

See you on board.

It was cars beach.

All those legends.

We talk about James Brown.

Stevie Wonder.

Jimmy Hendrix.

This was a place.

We're 70,000.

We come from New York from the Carolinas to Annapolis.

You know, we talk about our history a lot in Annapolis, but we only talk about one history.

And this amazing piece of history that happened for three decades.

We need to pay homage to our history and our ancestors.

You know, this is bringing home back to us.

You remember the carousel.

You remember the fan stand.

So this is bringing that dream to a reality.

And it's a beautiful thing that what you're seeing today, as I say, is the microcosm.

What we say at Cars Beach is a perfect example of that.

It's the state, it's the citizens that all come together.

It's very much a team effort.

Send the skisses to make you big you pay.

Tell him he belongs to me, tell him that I'm still deeper in love.

Tonight, tonight, tonight.

And that tonight goes on perpetually.

Keep celebrating tomorrow and the next day.

Keep encouraging one another.

Don't stop, just keep going.

And if you see my love, tell him that I'm sorry.

I will do anyt