Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation, Inc.

of Prince George's County

New Leaders Following the Dream

MLK Awards Dinner and Celebration

Thurs., Jan 15, 2009

Glenarden Gold Room Glenarden, MD

7:00pm - 11:00pm

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The New Civil Rights Movement

Civic Engagement

Advocates for Education

Economic Empowerment

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders

MLK Memorial

In Partnership with Suitlandfest Community Development Corporation

Engagement, Empowerment and Access to Information

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Suitland Community Center
5600 Regency Parkway
Forestville, MD 20747

9:30am – 2:30pm

Free Continental Breakfast and Lunch provided but you must RSVP to attend!  Register Online Now!

Panelists include:

Access to Information
• Oretha Bridgewater, Executive Officer for Student Services, Prince George’s Cnty. Public Schools
• Carol Reed, Special Education Supervisor, Prince George’s County Public Schools
• Beth Diaite, Special Education Parent Center Coordinator
• Jerry Mathis, Community Leader, President Prince George’s Business and Community Coalition<

Engaging Parents and Community
• Ms. Wanda Grant, Director, Family and Community Outreach
• Steve Morris, Parent, Community Leader/Education Advocate
• Shital C. Shah, Research Associate, Coalition for Community Schools

School/Business Partnerships
• Dr. Margaret Taibi, Interim Vice President for Student Services, Prince George’s Comm. College
• Mr. Craig Muckle, Chair, Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce
• Dr. David Cooper, Associate Dean for Partnerships University of Maryland

Leadership
• Dr. Bea Tignor, Former School Board Chair
• Linda Thomas, School Board Member
• Archie Byrd, Parent, Leader

Highly Qualified Teacher
• Randy Thornton, Director of Human Resources, Prince George’s County Public Schools
• Jerenze Campbell, Principal, Whitehall Elementary School
• William Thomas, 2008 Maryland Teacher of the Year, Dr. Henry Wise High School

Some of the questions we will ask the panelists include:

1. How are parents, businesses and community being involved in the search for the new superintendent?
2. As special education resources are being cut, how is this affecting the school system?
3. How are funds allocated to schools? What is it based on?
4. With all of the different layers in the school system, how does anyone easily navigate the school system?
5. Are parents considered partners, if so, how does the school system identify and capitalize on the resources they bring?
6. How can we encourage graduates from our local colleges and universities to teach in the Prince George’s County School System?
7. The Parent Liaison is a new position introduced by our superintendent Deasy last year, what tools are in place to track the effectiveness of the program and how much annually is this costing the school system?
8. How many unqualified teachers are in our system? And, what is being done to reduce this number?