The Prince George's County Council, sitting as the Committee of the Whole, convened on Monday, May 4, 2026, at 1:51 PM (scheduled for 1:30 PM) and adjourned at 3:21 PM. The meeting included a briefing on the PGCPS Strategic Plan Update and budget worksessions on the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the Office of Central Services (OCS) and the Health Department. No votes were taken on the budget items; the meeting adjourned with a unanimous vote.
Good afternoon. This is the County Council of Prince Jordan's County, Maryland, sitting as committee of the whole. Today is Monday, May 4th, 2026. Madam Clerk, can I please have a roll call? Good afternoon, Chair Oyeha. Here, Mr. Adams. Here. Ms. Fisher. Miss Adam Stafford. Here. Mr. Harrison. President. Vice Chair Olsen. Here. Six members present at roll call. Thank you. Today on our agenda, we have some budget briefings and work sessions. We'll start off with PGCPS strategic plan update. And I'll pass it to our staff for staff or overview, excuse me, in orientation. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Mr. Vice Chair and Council members. I'm Dr. Roon Parakin, Director of the Education and Workforce Development Committee. We will now have a presentation on the Prince George's County Public School Strategic Plan. With us today from the school system are Dr. Sean Joseph, Inshram Superintendent, Dr. Deanne Collins, Chief of Staff, and Miss Vanessa Wutherington, Director of Strategic Planning and Resource Management. Their presentation can be found on page three of your virtual binder. I will now turn it over to our presenters. Thank you, and good afternoon, uh Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the County Council. Thank you for the opportunity to stand before you at this pivotal moment in our work. Today I'll briefly ground us in the purpose and direction of our strategic plan, which is called Forward by Design, before turning it over to our Chief of Staff, Dr. Deanne Collins. And this strategic plan is a declaration of who we are and what we believe and what we're unwilling to accept any longer. It's our commitment that excellence will no longer be isolated to pockets of success, but will be scaled, sustained, and experienced by every child in every classroom every day. We've completed the hard work of listening, listening to students who want to be seen, to families who demand transparency, to educators who are asking for conditions to do their best work. From thousands of voices, a clear truth emerged. Our system does not lack brilliance. And so this plan answers a fundamental question. How do we move from isolated excellence to system wide excellence? Our answer is disciplined focus. We'll align our vision, mission, and core values to a singular North Star. Excellence everywhere, every classroom, every child, every day. Scaling excellence requires that we confront variants. This is the quiet injustice where a child experience, a child's experience depends on their zip code, their school, or even their classroom. And we reject that. We're building a system where high quality instruction, strong leadership, and meaningful opportunities are not exceptions but guarantees.