HCPSS MPIA Request #2018-342

Requested Information
In accordance with the Maryland Public Information Act, I am requesting the following documents:
1. Any guidelines, communications, procedures, processes, policies or other documents that state that students in Howard County do not qualify as having an educational disability unless the student is at least one year behind grade level;
2. Any guidelines, communications, procedures, processes, policies or other documents that state that students in Howard County do not qualify for special education services unless the student is at least one year behind grade level;
3. Any guidelines, communications, procedures, processes, policies or other documents that
state that students in Howard County do not qualify for testing to be conducted by the school unless the student is at least one year behind grade level;
4. Any guidelines, communications, procedures, processes, policies or other documents that state that students in Howard County testing is not warranted if the suspected disability is mild or moderate;
5. Any guidelines, communications, procedures, processes, policies or other documents that refer or relate to how students are determined to be eligible or ineligible for special education services;
6. Any documents or information regarding whether reading specialists in Howard County are required to be trained in Orton-Gillingham programs or other multi-sensory structured literacy programs;
7. A copy of Centennial Lane Elementary School’s reading specialist(s) resume or CV;
8. A copy of Centennial Lane Elementary School’s special educator(s) resume or CV;
9. Any evidence, research or other information demonstrating that the recommended Wiley Blevins reading invention remediates dyslexia;
10. A written description of the current reading program(s) utilized to teach students at Centennial Lane Elementary in general education classrooms;
11. Any evidence, research or other information demonstrating that the reading program(s) utilized at Centennial Lane Elementary general education are research-based programs; and
12. All documents referring or relating to the selection of Centennial Lane Elementary School’s reading program(s).
Status
Complete
Response Notes

As addressed in a previous MPIA request, please see MPIA 2018-233, HCPSS does not currently use Orton-Gillingham. Reading programs which have been used within the past four years can also be found in the chart (DSE Intervention 2014-2018) included with that response. 

Under MPIA GP § 4-311, which states “a custodian shall deny inspection of a personnel record of an individual, including an application, a performance rating, or scholastic achievement information,” we are denying your request for a copy of Centennial Lane Elementary School’s reading specialist and special educators resumes. Resumes in HCPSS’ possession are part of an individual employee’s personnel record collected with their application. Furthermore, Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General noted in the Fourteenth Edition of the MPIA Manual that “no amount of redaction will enable an agency to comply with a request for personnel records of a specific State employee because, even if ‘identifying information’ is redacted, the documents provided would still constitute the personnel records of the individual who is the subject of the request.” For your reference, while not a resume, informal bios of HCPSS employees are often shared (with their consent) through individual school websites if they choose to post. 

Responsive Documents

*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.