HCPSS MPIA Request #2026-174

Requestor
Charlotte Odom
Requested Information
This is a formal request for public records pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act (General Provisions Article, Title 4 of the Maryland Code).
I am requesting all records and data points used by the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) about violence rates within school, arrests of students per high school, and teacher firings.
Specifically, I request the following:
1. Enrollment Data: amount of student dropouts per school with specific school names
2. Teacher firings and suspentions per school with specific school names
3. Meeting Minutes and Communications: All meeting minutes, agendas, presentations, and internal communications (including emails, memos, and reports) from the school board and superintendent's office 2024-2026 related to: Discussions regarding the impact of violence, racism, and suspentions at specific schools and teachers.
5. Cost-Benefit Analyses/Budget Documents: Any analyses or budget documents that justify the decision to take Oakland Mills off the school renovations list
6. Public Input/Feedback: Any summaries of public input, school administrative input, feedback, or concerns received regarding the violence, bullying, or community within or between highschools
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes

Responsive to this request, the following records are publicly available:

Board Docs can be searched: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/Public (magnifying glass in the upper righthand tool bar) for the topics noted in your request which will include public meeting minutes, agendas, and reports between the school board and school staff/superintendent, as well as past public forums/hearings. 

Additionally, enrollment data is tracked per month: https://www.hcpss.org/schools/enrollment-reports/. The State also has data reports by county and school, of which the Graduation information includes dropout rate breakdowns: https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Graduation/DropOut/1/6/3/1/13/XXXX/2025.

Specific to your request under #2, the Human Resources office reports to the Board each year on total separations systemwide: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/DNENNZ601A1E/$file/11%2020%202025%20Human%20Resources%20Annual%20Report.pdf (this most recent report from November 2025 includes separations starting on page 33, with a breakdown by staff type on page 34).

Specific to your request under #5, Board discussion, voting, and records for the most recent adoption of the FY27 Capital Budget and FY27-32 Capital Improvement Program – where OMHS is included in the long-range master plan – can be found at this Board Docs link: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DPMHYG4A9057. 

No clarification received from requester to continue response.
 

*Some request language is summarized to include the requester's specific document requests and legally protected information (such as personally identifiable information of a student) or personal, defamatory and malicious content removed at the discretion of the school system.

**Responses containing legally protected information available only to the person of interest are omitted from the above report.

***Howard County Public Schools reserves the right to remove erroneous or outdated documents from this site.