Coraggio Consulting
Albemarle County School Board Regular Meeting, Thursday, April 25, 2024

Date: Thursday, April 25, 2024
Place: Albemarle County Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 29m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLsdZalizyY

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-13. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] everyone. This April 25th, 2024 meeting of the school board is back in session, out of closed session. Do we have a motion? We do, Vice Chair Acuff. I move that the board certify by recorded vote that to the best of each board member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and Identified in the motion to authorize the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered in the closed meeting. Thank you. Do we have a second?

[00:00:36] Second. Ms. Thompson, can you do the roll? Yes, Mr. Chuck Pace? Yes. Abstain. Mr. Graham Page? Yes. Dr. Berlin? Yes. Miss Spillman? Yes. Cherry Cuff? Yes. So moved.

[00:01:07] Do we have any other motions coming out of the closed meeting? Yes, I move that the board non-renew 15 annual contract teachers for reasons of licensure as discussed in the school board's closed meeting Do we have a second? Second. We don't need a roll call. Do we need a roll call for this?

[00:01:29] Voice vote is sufficient. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. The next item let us have a roll call identify who we are for anyone who might be watching

[00:01:46] Could we start with Mr. Black? Good evening everyone. I'm Josiah Black, School Division Council. Matthew Hawes, Superintendent. Claire Kizer, Assistant Superintendent. Allison Spillman, At-Large Representative. Rebecca Berlin, Whitehall Representative. Kate Acuff, Jack Jewett, Representative. Graham Page, Miller District. Chuck Pace, Ryo District. Daphne Kizer, Assistant Superintendent. Chandra Hayes, Assistant Superintendent. Helen Dunn, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications Officer.

[00:02:19] Christine Thompson, Clerk of the Board. And the officers vote. Roslyn Schmidt, Chief Operating Officer. Daryl Mickish, Admiral BD. Ray Lilly, Admiral BD. Thank you, everyone.

[00:02:35] Now let us stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:02:48] And now we'll have a brief moment of silence. Thank you.

[00:03:29] Now we have Item 3.1, Approval of Tonight's Agenda. I move to approve tonight's agenda. Second. Dr. Berlin has moved.

[00:03:44] Ms. Spillman has seconded. All those in favor? - Aye. - Aye, opposed? Motion passes. Next item is approval of the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? - I move to approve the consent agenda.

[00:04:01] - Second. - I don't disagree with the motion. - Okay, any discussion? - But I do have questions that won't really require pulling them off, but with, let's see, I think it's 4-3. - Policy review?

[00:04:17] - Okay, well, it might have changed It was the one about professional learning, and it may not, I don't see it on the agenda here. Okay. It was 4-3 on the initial one, and my question was whether or not, wait a minute, I might have the wrong one.

[00:04:44] Okay, well, 4-5 is one, and my question there is whether or not, because I know with the history and the math books, we did have some other material, and I was wondering whether or not with the science textbooks, we would have any additional materials, like lab material or experimental material for those textbooks?

[00:05:03] There are other materials. Some schools we looked at hard copies, and then there are some digital resources as well, but I can get clarification on exactly which materials come with which courses. From my previous experience with the AAP textbooks, generally not a lot of stuff, but I think there will be digital resources yeah any additional discussion we've had a motion by this Berlin a second by miss Spillman all those to approve the

[00:05:41] consent agenda all those in favor I opposed the motion passes the next item is announcements by school board or superintendent so I just had a quick announcement um we actually dr. Kaiser it's the first meeting in May is that one where we'll have the teachers of the year and education support professionals so i do want to make um but but it is public so i do want to say that we do have a teacher of the year for albama

[00:06:17] county public schools her name is senora sarah reyes and she's our one of the english language learner teachers at Albemarle High School and so Helen and Patrick and I Patrick Huddleston Dan and Dara there was a nice really nice celebration today at the school when we went to notify her mr. Bonham had been kind of sneaky he had like all of her students gather in the cafeteria and then she was in the

[00:06:50] media center doing a teaching a little small group and so as I went in to tell her that she was the teacher of the year all the students came piling in and it was really she was very moved by it so that was really exciting and then later in the morning um we went out to murray elementary school to acknowledge our classified staff member of the year but the new the terminology i act mary's here tonight but actually when she gave a presentation recently i i prefer this term

[00:07:22] It's an educational support professional, and so I would say that our education support professional of the year is Carla Dodson, and she's a longtime bookkeeper at Murray Elementary School, and she really is basically a maternal figure at the school, been there forever, part of the community, and so it was a very rigorous process.

[00:07:52] We had a person at each school and in each department, and then a committee that went through the process of selecting those, and you'll get to meet them, as well as the representatives from each school and department. And then we have one more person of the year to acknowledge, but that'll be next week.

[00:08:11] We're going to do that, and that will be more of a central department or administrative leader of the year, and so we'll be able to bring that back to you as well. But I just wanted to let you know about those two wonderful educators that we acknowledge today.

[00:08:27] I have to agree with you, Dr. Hollis. The terminology that Mary McIntyre suggested is much better. Thank you. So I had the opportunity to go to Greer today. And the Piedmont Master Gardeners have projects at Greer, at Crozet Elementary, and at Stony Point.

[00:08:48] they were just at Stony Point last week with a parent volunteer is really supporting them doing an Earth Day Festival and then today they're working with K 1 2 & 3 but I got to see them working on pollination and having kids kind of try the lettuce that they put they they planted as well as planting marigolds so we're gonna see if we could pull up a couple pictures oh they're right behind me there was a there was a photographer from the Piedmont Master gardener who was taking pictures all the pictures are fully consented we may I made sure this before I I shared them and before they took pictures today but

[00:09:27] you can see them there are a number of gardens across Greer there's like three sets of gardens now that the volunteers have been working on and they come twice a month and do lesson plans that are tied to SOLs of really around science and bringing it alive and it was wonderful to see the children participating dancing learning about being outdoors in this picture what they're looking at in their hands as they were all given seeds to plants and so I just wanted to commend the work that the master gardeners are doing they

[00:10:02] really are bringing science alive in our schools and I'm interested in finding out ways either through that our foundation that we can support their work to grow it into other schools so it was a wonderful opportunity if anyone ever has a chance to go see the program in action it's wonderful I am dancing we are seeing we are singing a song about plants and so we were showing our roots and our stems and our leaves and our flowers well I do recall the garden

[00:10:40] at Greer, we had a pretty sizable grant to construct that, but there's also a list of volunteers to help water it in the summer when our students are gone. I have two quick updates. Dr. Berlin and I had a meet and greet in the Western Albemarle High School Library on Tuesday night for the public, just to kind of touch base on school board business, talk about things we've been working on and goals for upcoming school year we had a good turnout we had really good engagement a lot of budget questions we

[00:11:17] had some students show up questions about collective bargaining we talked about a few questions came up about grading policy and some other things and Rebecca and I have a bunch of notes to go back and kind of put our heads together with the rest of the board on some things to tackle for the next year I thought it was a great way, you know, post-election to kind of reconnect with people and talk about what we've been working on.

[00:11:42] And then I just wanted to give a shout-out to Mr. Bricker at Brownsville. My daughter, Bonnie, had her second-grade performance last night, and it was ridiculously cute, and it was called Name That Tune. And they played all kinds of Grammy-winning songs and classical music on the xylophone and sang and danced.

[00:12:02] and the kids had a blast and he's just phenomenal in his full sequin suit and it was a really great night and we are super lucky to have a music teacher like Mr. Bricker so I just wanted to give him a shout out and thank him for such a fun performance. One additional thing this weekend is Adam's family at Western when tonight actually tonight tonight Friday Saturday and Sunday two performances on Saturday there's a day and an evening performance on Saturday and then correct me if I'm wrong next weekend at Albemarle is Godspell yeah

[00:12:39] and I I'm sorry that I don't know what Monticello's is but we can find that out and make sure we share that up yeah just we have a number of both talented students and just staff that give so much time in front of the stage behind the stage so it's a great resource for our community it's always a busy time in here everybody's doing their performances and then we're in graduation season with that we have public comment dr. Berlin we welcome

[00:13:17] public input in our school board meetings to sign up to speak during the public comment period period you can do so in several ways online sign up is available 9 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting week until 2:00 p.m. on the meeting day by phone call the school board clerk's office to sign up before before 2:00 PM on the meeting day.

[00:13:35] In person, sign up at the meeting is available from 6:00 PM until the public comment period for in-person meetings only. Please note that public comment is not received at special board meetings unless specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have three minutes to speak, but with the chair and board consent, we may reduce that to two minutes if there are more than 14 speakers.

[00:13:58] The maximum number of people or groups that may speak at a meeting is 20 in the event that there are more than 20 people or groups who wish to speak at a particular meeting, each speaker will be signed a number, and the numbers will be drawn to determine which people or groups will have the opportunity to speak. Those who do not have the opportunity to speak at a particular meeting may sign up to speak at subsequent meetings, or may submit written comments for school board's consideration.

[00:14:21] Speakers should state their name, address, and voting district, address comments to the school board, limits comments to the school board governance or school division operations, Provide written statements and supporting material to the clerk. The school board will use a timer to track each speaker's time.

[00:14:37] Once the time off, the speakers are asked to wrap up their comments. To maintain respect, please refrain from clapping or other audible forms of support. You may raise your hand instead. Debate with the school board is not allowed. The projection system is for staff presentations only.

[00:14:52] And tonight we have one speaker, Reva Sproldelen from Scottsville. You may come up to the podium. Thank you.

[00:15:08] I usually have to correct people when they say my name. My name is Reva Spradlin. I feel like the Lorex. I speak for about 1,500 people tonight. There is such a love and admiration that we carry with us through our life for Ben Hurd.

[00:15:27] I found out about this issue a month ago because my 40th high school reunion was so successful. And we maintained commentary and we maintained a cohesiveness with the people that showed up to honor our past.

[00:15:48] Ben-Hur was a big part of that past. He made us feel like we were one community. He made us feel like our lives mattered. He made us feel like we were loved, we were seen, we were heard.

[00:16:09] All of these issues that I'm talking about tonight are something that our community is struggling with from the west to the east, from the north to the south. And we've got to take some time to look around and try to figure out what is wrong with our communities, what has happened to cause so much anger, so much frustration.

[00:16:37] Instead of getting rid of Ben Hurt's name on a school, we need to be promoting more people to become Ben Hurt, to embrace people for who they are, from where they come from.

[00:16:54] I come from a place where there was tragedy, where there was difficulty. There was a lot of love. There was a lot of support. But were we kind of the armpit of Albemarle County for a long time in Woodridge, Virginia?

[00:17:10] Heck yeah. But when I went to Albemarle High School and I had to take a shower during January, February, March months when my pipes were frozen, that my parents struggled to keep heat in our house, being hurt made me feel like I was okay.

[00:17:33] and i never imagined or thought that i was less than anyone in my school we had a commitment we were a family we were a community and this is something that not only i experienced but my mother even experienced this my mother was a student at almaro high school to finish her high school education if not from ben hurt i don't know if my mother would have gotten high school degree if not from Ben hurt I don't know if my mother would have had

[00:18:09] the tools to go out and do a career at the University of Virginia that lasted 30 years thank you very much for your comment I'm here tonight to ask you guys to review this policy we're asking and suggesting that you read open this issue and can I get a response I'm sorry but your time has expired and I'm asking for a response to what we're suggesting that you reopen and reconsider this issue there is no

[00:18:45] discussion during public comments by on the side of the board so we are not able to respond okay what can i expect as far as a response can i get an email from somebody dr haas can i get an email response what do we need respectfully we're not going to address your comments thank you okay how does this work? In other words, you know, I'm here asking for something. How do I get this to be

[00:19:20] reviewed? I'm sorry. We have followed our process and we appreciate your comments. Thank you for coming. So this policy will not be looked at? Nothing will change? As I stated when I did the guidelines for public comment, we are not allowed by law to get into a debate during public comments. Public comments are for you to speak and for us to listen. I am sorry that we cannot do

[00:19:50] anything else at this time. Okay but but you get. Thank you. Thank you. Okay thank you. With that public comment is closed. Now we move along to division business and we have Ms. Maya Kumazawa

[00:20:12] talking to us about our budget which is beautifully balanced. Good evening I'm Maya Kumazawa director of budget and planning and this evening I'm here to facilitate the adoption of your fiscal year 25 school fund and special revenue funds budgets I'm just a quick review of where we came from we started with a presentation of

[00:20:51] the draft funding request on February 22nd we had two subsequent work sessions to follow that as well as a public hearing you've presented the funding request to the Board of Supervisors after which the funding request was officially approved and then the last two meetings we've had budget updates to prepare for the adopted budget this evening. This is a summary of the proposed school fund revenue change. The FY25 proposed column is the most recent revenue estimates that we have that do include the state estimates as per the

[00:21:29] state conference budget that was released recently as well as the Board of Supervisors' proposed budget and their proposed tax rate increases. It also includes an increase in one-time, the use of one-time fund balance, which is a projected savings for the end of this year that we may be able to use next year.

[00:21:51] The change from FY24 adopted in terms of revenues is $9.5 million, or a 3.6% increase year-to-year. This slide shows a summary of the proposed expenditure changes when compared to the adopted FY24 budget. As you can see on the bottom, there are two new categories there. One is budget reductions in the amount of about $3.5 million and the addition of a state revenue contingency of $700,000. And this is there as the state continues to finalize their budget throughout

[00:22:25] mid-May. We'll come back and discuss how to use this contingency. And as Dr. Acuff mentioned, we do have the increase in expenditures is the same $9.5 billion as it is a balanced budget. This is a breakdown of the revenues and expenditures in the budget. On the expenditure side, you can see the breakdown by functional area, instruction contributing to 71.1% of expenditures, which is in line with other years. These expenditures also include the new proposals that we've been discussing throughout the budget development process. So revenues are $269.5

[00:23:05] million dollars and school fund expenditures are also 269.4 million so at this point I'll turn it back over to the chair does anyone have any comments questions I was just wondering if you had any additional updates from the state or any further information I do not know okay would someone like to make the motion to adopt this budget I move to adopt the fiscal year 2024 25 school

[00:23:41] Board budget of $269,407,627 for the school fund and $25,953,238 for special revenue funds. Second. Do we have any further discussion?

[00:24:00] Ms. Thompson, can you do a roll call? Ms. Spillman? Yes. Ms. Osborne is absent. Mr. Chuck Pace? Yes. Dr. Berlin? Yes. Mr. Graham Page? Yes.

[00:24:17] Ms. Lee is absent. Dr. Acuff? Yes. So moved. Thank you, Ms. Kumizawa. Thank you. Thank you for all your work. Thank you.

[00:24:32] And next we have Jackson Zimmerman, who is last, but look what time it is. It's still light outside. It's wonderful, isn't it? So weird. It's like the Twilight Zone.

[00:24:49] I saw one come out during the day. Close this out. to present for the board's consideration the third quarter financial report um yes ma'am i'm sorry no no can his mic be turned up a little bit how about i get a little closer to it thank you hello i'm i'm jack Zimmerman i'm your school finance officer i wanted to present for the board's consideration the third quarter financial report representing um january february and march

[00:25:21] of this current fiscal year right now we are on track for our financial performance for the fiscal year we have updated this report reflects updated information regarding both adm the average daily membership which upon which state revenues are based and it's also reflecting the most recent conference caboose budget bill although that bill will be revised is likely to be revised during the the special session that's being called by the uh by the governor legislature uh for for may

[00:25:58] but this report does reflect both of those areas the significant changes that have not significant changes but changes that have taken place that affect future operations are reflected here on your estimated available fund balance at the end of the year it does reflect the use of fund balance for on next fiscal year as well but this information is presented for the board's consideration

[00:26:27] and for information what do you need from us um just receive the report if you would do we need a motion for that pardon doesn't hurt

[00:26:59] are there any more questions about the this report we have a motion to accept mr zimmerman's third quarter financial report um i move to accept the fiscal year 2023-24 third quarter financial report second all those in favor aye opposed we've accepted it mr simmerman thank you thank you

[00:27:36] and monticello's performance is of high school musical starts may 8th awesome thank you thank you very much thank you thank you that for that important announcement is there any other business tonight this is a record it is dr aco yeah i just wanted to point out that peter small is the one who found our timer tonight for the public speaking it was great it was really very helpful tonight and always yes it is great okay we very much appreciate that

[00:28:16] thank you peter thank you peter thank you peter and i'm not even saying it in your accent but Thank you. If there is no further business tonight, I adjourn this school board meeting.

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