The Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) Board of Education will take up Outdoor School again on Wednesday, July 15, this time as one of several matters on a closed-session agenda.
Before the board's public meeting begins at 4 p.m. in the Charles I. Ecker Board Room at 125 North Court Street in Westminster, members will briefly convene in open session at 2 p.m. to announce that they are moving directly into a closed session, where Outdoor School is one of several matters on which they plan to seek legal advice, according to a July 9 CCPS email and news post on carrollk12.org.
The board states it can meet in closed session under the Maryland Open Meetings Act, citing Section 3-305(b) and Section 3-103 of the General Provisions Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. According to the board's notice, members will discuss personnel matters — the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation, or performance evaluation of appointees and employees — and will seek legal advice on a petition for a declaratory ruling, Outdoor School, the new COMAR regulation for the removal of board members, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Title IX ruling, a finding from the Maryland Public Information Act Compliance Board, and the Maryland Supreme Court decision in Sturm. The board also plans to receive updates on negotiations.
The notice does not say what aspect of Outdoor School the board intends to discuss. CCPS spokesperson Carey Gaddis and Board President Steve Whisler did not respond to a Westminster Wire request for more information on what, specifically, is being discussed regarding Outdoor School.
After the board voted publicly in June to end the program's overnight component, Gaddis told Westminster Wire that "any discussions that took place in closed session regarding Outdoor School were for legal advice from the Board's attorney" and that "these discussions are not public information."
The board voted 5-0 in June to end the program's overnight component, citing safety concerns at the Hashawha site, and later released a statement defending the decision. A just-retired Outdoor School teacher, Misti Kelly, subsequently disputed the board's account of overnight staffing and the safety incidents it cited.
The agenda for the July 15, 4 p.m. public meeting also calls for approval of the minutes from the board's June 10 meeting, the session at which the board voted to end the Outdoor School overnights, pausing the program for the 2026–27 school year before it returns as a redesigned day program for seventh graders in 2027–28.
Several of the other items on the board's legal-advice list are recent court and regulatory developments that directly affect school systems. The Title IX item refers to the U.S. Supreme Court's June 30 decision in West Virginia v. B.P.J., in which a 6-3 majority held that Title IX permits states to bar transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports, concluding that "sex" under the law refers to biological sex. The reference to Sturm is the Maryland Supreme Court's June decision in Board of Education v. Sturm, which held that a county board of education retained sovereign immunity against certain Child Victims Act claims arising from alleged abuse before July 1, 1971, because the legislature had not provided a mechanism to pay such judgments.
What the public will see at 4 p.m.
The open portion of the meeting, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. after the closed session, includes a presentation on pre-kindergarten in CCPS and a report on the district's America 250 activities marking the nation's 250th anniversary. The Carroll County Student Government will deliver its report, and the board will hear updates from members and the superintendent.
The board's action items include approval of bid awards, annual dues for the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, personnel actions, and appointments. Members will also consider an amendment to a deed of easement granting the Board of County Commissioners access to add groundwater monitoring infrastructure at Westminster High School, and the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement with the Carroll County School Food Services Association.
The board noted a change in the meeting date; the regular monthly meeting was moved to July 15. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, in the Board Room at 125 North Court Street.
How to speak at the 4 p.m. meeting or leave a comment for the board
The board will hold one session of public participation immediately following the reports portion of the meeting. Up to 15 citizens may address the board, with each speaker allowed three minutes.
According to CCPS, speakers must register in advance through a digital sign-up on the CCPS website. Registration opens at 4 p.m. the Monday before the meeting and closes at 9 p.m. the following Tuesday; for the July 15 meeting, that window runs through 9 p.m. on July 14. Any form not filled out in its entirety will not be considered, and citizens can no longer sign up at the meeting itself. Residents without internet access who wish to speak can contact the CCPS Communications Office at 410-751-3020 during that window.
The board also accepts written comments through the CCPS website, under the Board of Education tab and "Contact Us," or by U.S. mail. Comments intended for posting on the website's public comments page must be received by 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
The meeting will be streamed live on the CCPS website and broadcast live on CETV Channel 21.
Photo: from Google Street View.
Westminster Wire has covered the Outdoor School decision in an initial report on the June 10 vote, a follow-up on the board's post-vote statement, and a retired teacher's challenge to the board's account.
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