Coraggio Consulting
Chesterfield County School Board Work Session, Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Place: Chesterfield County School Board, Virginia
Length: 1h 42m (video)
Official meeting video (Swagit): https://chesterfieldschoolsva.new.swagit.com/videos/337123
Official minutes (BoardDocs, on the Apr 8, 2025 agenda for approval): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/chesterfield/Board.nsf/pfiles/DFJKPC52CD54/$file/DRAFT%20MINUTES%20-%202025.03.11%20Work%20Session.pdf

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 2026-10-25. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:04] Good afternoon. I'd like to call the March 11th, 2025 school board work session to order. First, we have an update on ESL from Dr. Spurlock and Mrs. Jenkins.

[00:00:23] Good afternoon, Chair Coker, Vice Chair Hudgens, members of the school board, Dr. Murray, Dr. Hyde. We are pleased to share an update on the status of English as a second language, better known as ESL, programming here in CCPS.

[00:00:46] I am joined by ESL coordinator Tara Jenkins, and we will collaboratively provide this update today. Our vision is clear and powerful.

[00:01:03] Every English learner, always and in all ways. This vision reflects our commitment to ensuring that every English learner receives the best possible educational experience and that we support them holistically, not just in language development, but in their overall academic and social growth.

[00:01:26] Today's update will cover several key topics to ensure you have a full understanding of how we are meeting the needs of our English learners. Here's our agenda, as shown on this slide. We'd like to first review the federal definition of English learner and highlight key points within the definition, because understanding the official criteria helps guide educational policies, teaching strategies, and student support programs.

[00:02:02] By understanding this federal definition, we set the foundation for better supporting our English learners in schools, ensuring they receive the necessary resources to thrive academically while acquiring English language skills.

[00:02:17] So as shown on our slide here, just want to highlight a couple of things on the previous slide. Our federal definition of an English learner, there are lots of words here and they all matter, but we'll lift up.

[00:02:32] It is a student who is age 3 through 21, whose native language is a language other than English, and who comes from an environment where a language other than English is dominant, and whose difficulties with speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language may be sufficient to deny the ability to meet the state's proficient level of achievement on the state assessments.

[00:03:01] The ability to achieve successfully in the classroom where the language of instruction is English. So we'll jump right in with an overview of programming. So based on the definition of English learners, you may be curious about who actually makes up our EL student population.

[00:03:26] Our English learners, or our EL population, continues to grow in CCPS. Our division's current landscape continues to highlight the beautiful diversity and scope of this student group. As of the most recent fall SRC data, that's student record collection data, we have over 10,000 English learners enrolled in CCPS.

[00:03:49] This number includes both current English learners and those who have reached level 5 plus proficiency, meaning they have achieved fluency but are still considered part of the larger English learner community. Our English learner population represents over 100 different languages, which speaks to the incredible diversity of our student body.

[00:04:12] Our top six languages include Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Khmer, and Gujarati. In addition to the variety of the languages spoken, we also have students from over 100 different countries.

[00:04:29] This international representation further enriches our community and reminds us of the global nature of our school system here in CCPS. On the remaining slides, Ms. Jenkins will describe details of the identification process as well as the ESL programmatic supports in place to support every English learner.

[00:04:51] Thank you, Dr. Spurlock. As we consider the definition of English learners, the number of our student population continues to grow. And as it's rise, it is essential for us to have clear and effective criteria to ensure that all stakeholders across the division can make informed decisions about how best to support our students.

[00:05:15] Federal requirements involve an English learner criteria, including the following components, such as our identification process, parent notification, exiting L status, and former Ls. It's important that we understand that federal mandates require for all students who have an indicator of a language other than English be identified within a certain amount of time frames.

[00:05:42] That includes the parent notification. When placing students in the program, they are in the program until they meet the criteria for exiting L status, which is from the WIDA access score of 4.4 or higher. And then when they exit, there is a plan in place to support students for four full years in their monitored status.

[00:06:03] This is a deeper look at what our standardized entrance procedures and criteria involve. Through the Welcome Center, our goal is to ensure all students are assessed within 30 calendar days at the beginning of the school year. and within 14 calendar days thereafter standardized procedures again include our screening which is state approved our program placement and parent notification most of the work is handled by our intake personnel which includes our intake and transition support specialist an assessment

[00:06:38] liaison and the work of our temporary work employees year-to-date entry data for this year is presumptive Ls identified for screening, so these are students that will need the screening based on their response to the home language survey. We are at 3,094 students. Out of that number, 1,034 students were kindergartners, and then those that were identified in place in English learner programs was 2,704. At this time, it is important to note that we have already

[00:07:13] exceeded um our school year 24 um 2324 um sorry student data number so we are trending in a direction to where more students are enrolling those projections continue to rise and we're prepared to meet the need as i mentioned in including the uh screener the assessment for our yearly annual proficiency test is mandated by the federal mandates for english learner exit

[00:07:46] criteria. WIDA Access was chosen by the BDOE and serves as our only assessment to monitor the growth of English learner proficiency within our students in the English learner population. The WIDA Access assessment is conducted and it measures four domains of English proficiency, which includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It helps us to better understand students' development and identify areas and where they might need additional support.

[00:08:17] The L proficiency growth rate, we did notice and experience a decline, as most divisions did throughout the state due to the pandemic. However, we are steadily growing in the positive direction to meet and align with BDOE benchmarks.

[00:08:35] For this year, WIDA assessment proficiency data was also added to the performance framework for all schools. This is the first time that proficiency data points will be used in the school performance framework.

[00:08:51] It is 10 points within the mastery index. And it's important to note that on average, research shows us and historical data shows us that 50% of students meeting progress indicators is normal.

[00:09:07] That is average. However, when you look at a 10-point scaling system, that means we can expect schools to perform in about a half rate, five points, possibly more, possibly less. But when you look at the BDOE alignment for the benchmark, we are trending in alignment with the rest of the divisions.

[00:09:31] Schools must ensure equal opportunities for ELLs to meaningfully participate in curricular programs, co-curricular programs, and extracurricular programs and activities. In all areas, we have to consider our students and their unique needs.

[00:09:48] So first, we begin with our proficiency levels. Again, we understand the level one emerging bilingual student will have different needs than a student who is close to exiting and has advanced proficiency. Diverse subgroups. Within our subgroup population of English learners, we have students with formal education, but we also have students that have limited or interrupted formal education.

[00:10:11] We have long-term English learners who, for many reasons, might have hit a plateau in their English proficiency growth. And then dual-identified English learners, which capture English learners that might also have an indicator of disabilities and are classified for special education services, or students who have been identified as gifted learners and are classified for those programs as well.

[00:10:39] And then ESL staffing, the state did adopt new SOQs to capture the differentiated need represented in our population. Those numbers also capture something new, which is our level five.

[00:10:54] So now the criteria include supporting through staffing the needs of our monitored students. I would like to say that this is something we realized as a division, and in FY20, we adapted our own differentiated staffing model, which has helped us greatly to prepare for now that it is a mandate. As of SY26, our projected need will be 320 ESL teachers, K-12. Language

[00:11:28] acquisition must have strategic approaches to effective instruction. And so language instruction education programs have models that were approved by the state, and these three capture the models that we use within our division.

[00:11:45] We have our newcomer instructional models, which really hones in on our newly arriving students who have a level one or lower for proficiency and then also have been in U.S. schools for less than three years. We also have our ESL ELD.

[00:12:04] This is more of a language instructional model where students might receive small group or one-to-one instruction. It is not identical to the curriculum of our content areas. However, it is aligned to ensure that we are focusing on the academic language and not just the basic conversational language.

[00:12:24] And then finally, in our content course integrated supports model, that is where you will see a more collaborative approach, whether it is through co-teaching or whether it's through the use of dual endorsed teachers where they have their endorsement, let's say in science, and they are also endorsed in ESL to provide a holistic approach to language, again, focusing on academic language.

[00:12:53] Programmatic supports are ongoing, and it's something that we must consider to evaluate strategically so that we understand what is effective and what is not. It includes LEAP, or language instruction education improvement measures, measuring the effectiveness of our instruction that's happening in our classrooms daily, our ESL curriculum, collaborative instruction, and even small group instruction.

[00:13:22] Professional learning is also an area that we will continue to explore. We do offer robust professional learning opportunities, both internally and bringing in external stakeholders. However, we are looking to see what the needs of our division capture as we look at specific audiences.

[00:13:43] administrators might need something different than ESL teachers. Special education teachers might need something different than school counselors. So meeting their needs so that way they can make their best efforts with supporting English learners. And then finally, family engagement. We understand our families are a very important stakeholder in the educational journey.

[00:14:05] And so we do have efforts to increase educational awareness for our families as well as they are experiencing not just U.S. schools but what schooling is like in Chesterfield County. I would like to explore a little bit deeper some of those programmatic supports to ensure compliance for federal requirements. We do have a comprehensive plan. Some of the components of that plan was in response to our state corrective action plan which we successfully closed in the fall of this year but it was to look at an extensive L module which was built in Synergy to capture direct service

[00:14:43] minutes provided by ESL teachers. So now not only do we just place a student in a program, but we are also monitoring how that instruction is delivered, how much time does a student receive in language instruction, and how is it effective and equitable throughout our division. We've also took a deeper dive or deeper look into the recruitment and retainment efforts of ESL teachers again exploring praxis prep cohorts with partnerships at different universities participate learning partnerships again increasing our staffing capacity so that we're able to meet

[00:15:23] the need in the classroom servicing for our dual identified students and a robust international transcript evaluation we've been working on guidance and protocols to support our school counselors especially in high school to ensure that we are honoring credentialing for our students that arrive to U.S. schools and that we take a we understand what schooling was like and how credits were awarded in their home language and home language in their home countries. Extensive professional learning for training we have sheltered instruction observation protocol

[00:15:58] favorably known as SIOP. That is our leading efforts for instructional practices and coaching teachers. However, we're looking beyond that again to focus on the unique needs of an audience and our stakeholders in the division. Family engagement support, while supplemental, it is critical to ensure our families stay engaged with our education system. And so our families get to engage with workshops and facilitated seminars, and it could be a plethora of events from resources that are

[00:16:37] available into their community, but also a deeper look at what's happening in the four walls of school. And so seminars such as college awareness for ESL families, CTE and specialty center awareness, helping them understand that it's not the same as vocational, but there are really rich opportunities that are also available, and rightfully so, for our English learner populations.

[00:17:05] However, we also look at our partnerships with other stakeholders, external stakeholders such as Chesterfield County Government, but also internal stakeholders such as our family and community engagement team within CCPS, and making sure our bridge stays connecting the family to the schools. And so we offer a variety of offerings for school-based family support, including our family virtual room, opportunities for our parents to engage with stakeholders in their buildings, such as principals. How often do parents really get that one-on-one time with

[00:17:41] that dedicated focus to their needs? And so wonderful opportunities, and we continue to grow it. While those are supplemental needs, we do understand that our federal requirement to communication support is sustained and effective through the use of interpreter staffing that we have internally, but we also use third-party vendors, which offers 24-7 on-demand interpreter services, both audio and video.

[00:18:10] We are doing an extensive review of translations that are available in our schools, looking at the documents that every school must need and that we have it available at least in our top five languages at all times. And then expanding our scope of services to include items such as even interpreting.

[00:18:30] The work of English learner programs is supported through federal funds, including our Title III federal funds. That offers two streams of funding, a limited English proficiency funding and immigrant youth.

[00:18:49] Again, the funds must be supplemental by nature, and it is targeting specifically the needs of English learners, whether it is family engagement or language tutoring or instructional coaching. And so we, through needs assessments and ongoing conversations with schools, We are analyzing what is the best use of funding while we have access to that and making sure it really targets the needs of our students.

[00:19:18] So I do thank you for your time this evening and hearing an update on ESL programs. And I would like to give you the opportunity for responses or questions. Thank you. Thank you both very much. Board members, is there any discussion? Chatters?

[00:19:37] Thank you for the presentation, ladies. I did have a question, and it is on slide 15. We talked about the event interpreting. Yes. What drew my attention is the closed captioning. I have asked for closed captioning for these meetings for a few years now.

[00:19:56] So if you get there before we do, please share the resource. I believe the county government would be interested as well. And perhaps that might not be a CCPS-only bill. It might just be a county bill so that their meetings are also available for translation services, at least closed caption for our hearing impaired and things of that nature.

[00:20:14] So just kudos for giving a holistic approach to how we're able to communicate with our families. Thank you. Thank you. I just had a couple of questions about the rising number of ELs in our community and in the division overall.

[00:20:32] I did some quick math. I was probably wrong. But I had the 10,400 students is roughly 16, 15% of our total student population. So I know that's gone up because it was, I think we were at like 11 or 12 percent the last time.

[00:20:49] Yes, it's been a steady increase over, historically, every year. Which is fantastic because Chesterfield's a great place to be, and I love hearing that people are coming here. Do you have, and Bob's right there, so Title III funds.

[00:21:09] Do we have any idea of that as a percentage of the total operating budget or in dollars? So in dollars, our Title III funds represent supplemental funds, so they're not a part of our operating. However, the whole grant is $775,000, approximately.

[00:21:30] You got a thumbs up from Bob. Yep. And when we look at those two funding streams, it's important to understand that the limited English proficient, which captures all ESL, that has the bulk of the funds at $734,000.

[00:21:47] And then for our targeted immigrant youth, and again, that is their time in U.S. schools, not necessarily indicative of language and not indicative of ESL status. It's just their time in U.S. schools, and that represents the smallest part of the funding stream, which is $41,000.

[00:22:08] So not that much, but it is a very nuanced effort. Most of those funds typically support our families. Thank you. And it was earlier in your presentation when you discussed the performance framework, and that, I guess, the total number of points available are 10.

[00:22:28] But if a student performed at the 50% proficiency, that would only give them five points? So when you look at it, the amount that a student can grow, that's not really what's necessarily captured.

[00:22:47] Growth is a differentiated rubric. And so while a level one student could be expected to grow a full point in their first year, a level three student is only expected to grow 0.4.

[00:23:03] And so it's not really apples to apples with the math. But when we're looking at that 10 points, that is truly out of your whole population of English learners who are taking the test and have a previous year score as well to compare it to, how many of them made their unique growth, whether it was a full point or whether it was point two.

[00:23:27] That would, if they did make that growth, they count as yes, that goes into the bucket as a point. And then looking at the indicator for percentage, where we come in with the 50%, that is something that we have followed BDOE indicators for benchmarks with proficiency growth.

[00:23:50] And there was a seven-year table that we were tracking to see where we would fall in line, more of an alignment with the state as a whole. not necessarily looking at a target of 100% if this is the first time we're hearing those type of numbers associated with monitoring whether a division is meeting or exceeding student proficiency expectations. And so for many of our schools, 47%, well, if they scored 50% or higher, they were meeting or exceeding. Now with these indicators, that's no longer the case.

[00:24:29] And we do have, we've had very authentic conversations with schools to prepare them. One thing I always like to remind is we are doing what's best for our students, and that is providing rich, rigorous instruction in a meaningful way and helping them to meet their language proficiency.

[00:24:49] If we do that right, everything else will fall into line. Amen. Thank you. Ms. Hutchins. Thank you, guys. This is really informative. I do have just one, I have several questions, but I'm not going to ask them all.

[00:25:10] I just have one question I think I know the answer to, but maybe not. So, as Ms. Hefron alluded to, our numbers are rising. Yes. What happens if they rise in the middle of the year and we have X number of teachers and suddenly we need Y number of teachers, what happens?

[00:25:30] And so while SOQs are division-wide, we do a lot of extensive work in the previous years to help schools to be staffed with growth in mind.

[00:25:45] Because we know that it's not a they'll be here by September. It's a year-long process, and we have to be ready to receive. Because we staff for growth as much as possible, we have really limited times when we have had that type of scenario.

[00:26:05] However, in previous times when we have, we look at the need. We look to see if there are schools that have also experienced a decline at the same time. And then that way, instructional staffing can follow the students. But every once in a while, we get an unusual influx in a particular pocket.

[00:26:22] we work of course with our budget team to see how we can meet and support the staff and we try to do that again that's where the service minutes are helpful it helps our principals and our teachers to understand wow while we have these students and they're coming in are we able to meet the minutes of service and that's that kind of indicator so since we've had that in place schools have been able to have even more conversations without being reactive.

[00:26:54] We're in a proactive time, which is amazing. So if we're seeing those trends and we're looking at the service minutes, we know pretty much in advance if we think we're going to have an issue. That was a great answer. I did not expect that. Thank you. And thank you for being proactive in that, because we would get caught flat-footed.

[00:27:11] So thank you. Absolutely. I just have a couple questions, kind of in line with Ms. Hudgens' question, but specific to interpreters and the services that we're providing at the school level. As we prepare for next budgets and future budgets, do you have enough in the area of interpreters and resources from translating? I don't think anyone would argue that to have an in-person interpreter readily available

[00:27:47] is at our best. You know, that's when authentic conversations are really happening in a place that is ease it considers the environment but it's not necessarily sustainable and so third-party vendors through the audio and remote have opened the doors for us to have sustained access to meaningful communication with uh with our families we do still run into areas where an in-person interpreter is the best approach and that is um we unfortunately do have to sometimes turn down

[00:28:26] appointments or reschedule appointments due to the limited staffing. Some schools have met the need. If they have a higher population, they have advocated and they have received staffing for interpreters. And again, when I say interpreters, I'm talking about personnel who is hired for that role. They have the credentialing that classifies them as a certified interpreter. And that's also for translation as well. That's a different type of certification. And so we have that in limited areas in our schools where the need is the greatest, but I do think those are areas that

[00:29:03] we can always expand and grow if the opportunity presents itself. And last, I think it's on the slide previous, some of the family engagement, the virtual family room, you said that's one-on-one with like principals or different staff at the school? It can be one-on-one. It could be a small group it could be we've had sometimes up to 50 people join in and um and it's a wonderful opportunity we're able to really talk with our schools beforehand but also talk with parents

[00:29:40] so sometimes we know what our schools want to say but we don't necessarily know what our parents want to say and where their concerns are and so based again on that proactive approach we're able to make these meetings meaningful they can be everything from a deep dive into parent view and why it's important to understanding how cte does not replace a high school diploma and then every once in a while we get you know this parent has a very unique need and we will make that happen with the principal or whoever the stakeholder is that needs to be in the room

[00:30:13] that's great awesome service yeah thank you thank you thank you thank you next we have an update on recovery academy from mr savoy good afternoon everyone i am justin savoy program coordinator

[00:30:50] for chestville recovery academy here to give our annual update so just for review our journey started back in june of 2022 we were officially recognized in state legislature for our funding our ribbon cutting was august 2nd and then our first day of school was september the 8th of 2022 and we have been running ever since we are about to complete our third school year and we are excited so when it comes to funding our most recent legislation house bill 6001 provides us half a million dollars per fiscal year it goes towards transportation personnel and other costs but then we also have funding that comes from the department of behavioral health that

[00:31:28] provides for our clinical staff for three clinicians two peers but also provides for our drug screening trainings and then outside resources such as like music therapy or equine therapy for our students in enrollment we are on the rise we are at 31 students which is the highest ever enrollment we ever had 13 from chesterfield six from city richmond and henrico two from hanover one from new kent petersburg charles city and paladin for our current positions myself we have our senior clinician two clinicians ones we are hiring for we just completed two interviews and

[00:32:05] so we're ready to get them started our peer recovery specialists two academic facilitators and a structural assistant and an office manager so we're definitely growing because on our first day in september 2022 is just myself our lead facilitator and our office manager so we have grown tremendously we still work with the community services board they provide the clinical supervision for our clinical staff they also assist on our clinical assessments providing updates work for group sessions individual sessions for our students and

[00:32:38] providing community resources vc ransom recovery still comes in every friday they meet with our students about how to be sober in high school in the world afterwards it's always great to have those that are closer in age to them compared to us you know we don't know anything because we're adults obviously but to have someone that's not too far removed from high school has been a benefit for our students we currently have a student at vcu she is a random recovery she graduated last spring and so next school year she can come back actually meet with our students we still work with recovery corps and actually provide a peer navigator on our campus they actually provide

[00:33:15] her salary benefits and training which has been a huge resource she actually assists with our our clinical team. They provide group, individual check-ins, but also with her position, she can meet with our students outside and go to AA or NA meetings with them, or the VC Ransom Recovery where they're meetings as well. For highlighted events, on February 20th, I'm excited because we had our first ever state meeting for recovery schools in Virginia. We were all able to attend, so with ourselves, Chesterfield, Loudoun County, Waynesboro, and Virginia Beach. We provide updates for implementation for those who are currently in progress, and we got to meet our DOE representative,

[00:33:54] Ms. Christine Stone, represented for the Department of Behavioral Health as well. And so we will now have monthly meetings until the end of the school year. And then going from there, we will have quarterly meetings. On February 25th, it was exciting. We got to finally film with the BBC America, or British Broadcasting Corporation, for their fentanyl crisis documentary.

[00:34:20] So a few of our students actually provided their stories, gave words of wisdom for those who were in their own shoes, and then how to proceed on being sober. So that is a huge achievement for our program and for our students to actually share their stories because a lot of times they kind of hide it, but actually to be out there for the world to know what it's like to be a teen in recovery is a huge accomplishment for them.

[00:34:43] Also during February, I provided my assistance on a panel to help update the curriculum review framework for the opioid education, and so this goes under CTE for under all their health science courses. It introduces the opioid crisis from the beginning until now when it comes to treatment.

[00:35:01] And so that would be the standard for the next five years. Back in September, we had a ribbon coming for Scott's Corner, which is a nice little area near our stairs. It was provided with the Stigma Foundation. They provide all the furniture, but also pay for the mural that was done by Liam, who was also around recovery himself.

[00:35:20] It provides our kids a meaningful, like a mindfulness corner for them to go relax. They do check-ins with the teacher or check-in with the clinician. Sometimes it's just an area for them to separate from everyone else and, like, re-center. Back in December, we had our third safety event.

[00:35:40] So what we do is prepare our students to be safe over the winter break because it's two weeks without being at school. However, we provide them the coping skills and training techniques they need just in case anything were to happen, how to develop a safety plan, who to reach out to in the community, but also how to provide Narcan just in case they're around someone that overdoses.

[00:36:02] upcoming events. May 16th, we have our completion ceremony. We will recognize our seniors who are graduating, but also students who complete their year at CRA. And so this year we're on track for five seniors to graduate, two potentials, but up to now with five seniors. And you will be receiving your eVites next month, so go ahead and count you on. For our future goals for this school year, I had the goal for 25 students. We have met that goal and exceeded it. Also for 25% representation for our region, we also have exceeded it.

[00:36:34] We are now at 53%. And then for program recognition, we are in the process of accreditation to the Association of Recovery Schools. Right now, I'm in the documentation phase. However, we have an on-site visit for October. So I'm just currently waiting on actual dates. And we also just continue to build our partnership throughout the region as well.

[00:36:53] So I'm looking at the additional counties that we have not received students from. Have you any questions for me? Very much for that update. Board members, is there any discussion? Thank you.

[00:37:10] I just wanted to, you mentioned the BBC program and how the documentary and how you know that the students put themselves out there and I think that it's a testimony to the work that you and your team do to de-stigmatize recovery and to help these students feel like they belong and that they're important and I just really appreciate the work that you're doing for our whole region not just Chesterfield but thank you for everything that you and your team do. Thank you a lot of times when it comes to recovery or just social justice in general is always treated like the dirty secret, but now it's finally coming out that it's a part of all of our community and actually sharing their stories, actually help more people seek help.

[00:37:50] I want to echo what, again, Ms. Hefron said. Thank you for this. Thank you for what you're doing. It is important. It is important work, and it is courageous work.

[00:38:07] I think speaking truth to people who need to hear it requires extreme courage, in my experience. So you are being courageous, and your colleagues, and then you are shadowing that and sharing that with our students, and they are also being courageous.

[00:38:30] And so you're making a difference in ways that you probably will never know. It is incredible. So thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Yes, thank you very much for the update. It actually just feels like it was yesterday for that ribbon-cutting.

[00:38:48] But it's wonderful to see how this program is flourishing, and you're doing a fabulous job, you and your colleagues. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. Next, we have a presentation on providing new teacher support from Dr. Hill.

[00:39:05] Good afternoon. My name is Missy Hill.

[00:39:31] As CCPS's new teacher support specialist, I am honored to share information about our new teacher support provided through the new teacher induction program, which we lovingly call NTEP. For the 2024-25 school year, NTEP provides support for approximately 150 annual substitutes, 300 year one teachers, and about 300 educators who have joined our division and they may be serving as annual substitute, year one, or a veteran teacher. We also provide support for the many CCPS educators who support them through mentorship. Support begins in August with annual sub-institute and new educator orientation for our traditional calendar

[00:40:10] schools, but it begins in July for Bellwood Elementary School. Throughout the year, support continues through mentorship and year-long programming at the school and county level. Throughout the year, INTIPS programming is tracked to allow us to monitor and adjust as needed.

[00:40:29] Annual Sub Institute was first offered in August 2024, and it was built in response to the feedback from the prior year's school leaders, mentor coordinators, and annual substitutes. Annual subs institute was developed with an understanding that many of our annual subs did not have a traditional pathway into the classroom. So NTIP invited new and returning annual substitutes who were filling a teaching vacancy to join us for a half day of professional learning, and it was on that first day of new teacher work week. At the event, participants focused on human growth and development as well as foundational concepts for instructional planning and classroom management.

[00:41:10] New educator orientation was provided to Bellwood Elementary School as a year-round school during July, and it was provided for all of our traditional calendar schools in August. For both year-round and traditional calendar schools, NEO is held in the middle of New Teacher Work Week, which is the week prior to veterans returning to school. NEO includes both face-to-face professional learning and asynchronous professional learning for anytime, anywhere opportunities. Face-to-face professional learning topics include curriculum and instruction, Canvas support, classroom management, and various strategies to support instruction, relationship building, and parent communication. The asynchronous

[00:41:48] professional learning topics include understanding CCPS's rapid identity dashboard, understanding observations, goal setting, summative reports, and impact you, CCPS policies 30-30, 30-31, 30-35, 30-40, 50-31, and 7200, a growth mindset, responding to behavior, and data-driven decision makings, as well as other topics. The asynchronous professional learning opportunities are held in our NTIP Canvas course and are available all year long, ensuring ongoing access, which is especially important for late hires who are seeking CCPS-specific information and best

[00:42:26] practices for the classroom. During New Teacher Workweek, new teachers and annual subs receive support not only from central office, but from their home schools as well. Each school has a mentor coordinator assigned by their principal. The mentor coordinators receive resources to support their collaboration with their school leaders as they plan school-based sessions on the first and last days of New Teacher Workweek. On these two days, mentor coordinators discuss topics like details from the faculty handbook, who's who in the school, what, where things are

[00:43:00] in the school expectations for communication with families and school-based pbis models and other information these two days are also an opportunity for mentors and mentees to meet for the very first time as mentioned previously intip supports annual subs and teachers new to the profession but it also provides support for any teacher who is transitioning into the division mentorship roles through intip are responsive to the different needs of educators participating in the program That gives us three levels of support, which are indicated on the screen.

[00:43:33] New teacher mentors and annual mentors work with our year one teachers and our annual subs. Colleagues work with our early career teachers, which we define as in year two to five. And then buddies work with folks who have more than five years of teaching experience.

[00:43:51] Mentorship support also has to meet their individual needs. So all participants in NTIP receive ongoing informal check-ins, Annual substitutes, long-term substitutes, and year one teachers receive year-long consultation and opportunity for both classroom demonstration and peer observation, which is stated within the Code of Virginia.

[00:44:12] Early career teachers receive a semester of consultation in both classroom demonstration and peer observation. This support can be extended to a full year at the request of school leaders. And then teachers new to the division receive a semester of consultation, and that support also can be extended into a full year to include the classroom demonstration and peer observation at the request of the school leaders centrally the work of supporting new teachers i'm sorry i skipped it at the schools mentor coordinators plan meetings to share information and provide professional learning as it becomes needed throughout the year mentor coordinators do

[00:44:49] receive a sample calendar of potential topics for monthly meetings but they have the autonomy to adjust that sample as they see fit for their individual school needs now centrally um the work of supporting new teachers continues well beyond that first week of um that first week in august and it's a labor of love organized by the n-tip advisory board the n-tip advisory board is a group that consists of central office specialists and teachers instructional designers and administrators at the elementary middle and high school levels this advisory board understands that professional

[00:45:25] development is highly effective when it is personalized to meet employee needs they collaborate with me as the new teacher support specialist to review feedback from the previous year's end of year survey and develop an n-tip pd needs assessment which is issued at the beginning of the school year the n-tip pd needs assessment is issued about two to three weeks into the school year and once data from that survey comes in and is reviewed the advisory board sets professional development opportunities that occur during both fall and spring semesters. Sessions typically begin in the first week of September and are provided face-to-face and live virtually. Those

[00:46:02] live virtual sessions are recorded for long-term access in the NTIP Canvas course. These screenshots show where annual subs and new teachers go to find and register for available professional learning opportunities developed in response to feedback and the needs assessment. They can search for opportunities chronologically, but they can also select live offerings based on a topic of interest. Topics like classroom management, collaboration and communication, instructional planning and delivery, relationships in classroom environment, licensure, technology, and wellness.

[00:46:36] They can also search a collection of asynchronous opportunities, again organized by topic. Finally, through annual reflection, we always strive to get better at new teacher support. Information is key to that reflection central office collects information about participation in the new teacher induction program in various ways schools report their new hires and their mentors attendance is gathered at new educator orientation and at all intip sessions throughout the year the needs assessment data feedback forms for individual professional learning sessions a mid-year feedback

[00:47:11] form and an end of year feedback form give insight to the participants experience in intip helping us to guide programming during the year and adjust programming for this year's participants and for future years. Information about mentorship support is collected through the end-of-year survey, as well as when mentors, colleagues, and buddies request recertification points for their role and indicate completion of mentorship expectations at the end of fall semester and again at the end of spring semester.

[00:47:39] In an effort to ensure consistent communication, there is also a record of biweekly communication provided to mentor coordinators. They are supporting administrators in the NTIP Advisory Board. This record not only serves as a resource for those working diligently to support new hires, but also allows us to reflect on communication strategies to make adjustments as needed.

[00:47:59] In February 2025, NTIP closed its mid-year feedback form. On this slide, you'll see three numbers that stood out in that data. 90% of our new hires responding indicated that they made an active choice to engage in NTIP learning opportunities.

[00:48:17] 85% of the new hires reported that they saw improvement in student outcomes after implementing a strategy or resource that they gained during an NTIP professional learning opportunity. And 37% of the new hires reported four or more instances of improvement in student outcomes after implementing something they learned through NTIP.

[00:48:37] As we continue working to ensure support for new teachers, we're excited to celebrate the ways NTIP has not only benefited teachers, but also the students those teachers serve. Thank you for the opportunity to share our approach to supporting new teachers, and I welcome any questions you may have.

[00:48:55] Thank you, Dr. Hill. Board members, is there any discussion? Ms. Chatters? Thank you for the presentation. I did have a couple of questions. One of them was about the NTIP Advisory Board, and I was curious as to who sits on it and how are they selected?

[00:49:12] So the people who sit on it, it is not the same from year to year because we do have folks that roll off for various reasons. Currently, we have teachers from all three of our levels, and they have various levels of experience. So, for example, we have one of our first-year teachers from high school last year sitting in to give us the perspective of what was it like to be a first-year teacher last year so that he can kind of drive some of the work that we're doing this year.

[00:49:40] But we also have folks who have been in the classroom for 25, 30 years, and so they've got the experience of, hey, these are the things that I've supported people with. long-term and how that support has changed over time. And in many cases, they're already serving in a mentorship role. And so they're bringing that lens as well. We also have instructional designers on that, the NTIP advisory board, and they're valuable because they have so many, so much access to our curriculum specialists. And they are often ones who are lifting alongside those specialists some of the curriculum support. And so they bring a lens that helps us instructionally. And then we

[00:50:18] have one administrator who rolled up she was previously a special education teacher and as she proposed promoted into a dean seat new teacher support was her passion and she wanted to continue even though she had a different lens and we found that that has been very very beneficial as she has shifted into a seat where we're thinking about things like how can we support with making sure that they have experience and an understanding of their summative reports and what they can expect to prepare for an observation.

[00:50:49] And so those things have been really, really helpful. The way that they are selected is there is a form that goes out, and it is something where they can say, this is a passion of mine and something that I would like to do. And then their principals are able to say, like, yes, this is definitely a person who is going to love and bring the heart to that work.

[00:51:08] And so right now we're sitting at about 15 people who really love new teachers on the board. Thank you for that. I didn't know how it was all, how it all came together. The other question was, are the mentor coordinators compensated?

[00:51:25] So that is not something that I can say yes to absolutely every single year. Mentor coordinators, their stipend comes from the same stipend that our mentors come from. And so that is funded by a grant that we submit to the VDOE every October.

[00:51:42] And the state gets back to us in February to let us know if we do or do not receive that funding. So the communication that goes to mentor coordinators is the same as mentors, that they are eligible for a stipend pending that fund availability. And how many mentors and mentor coordinators do, is it like one per school, or is it based on the number of new teachers that are at the schools themselves?

[00:52:04] That's a really good question. It depends on the building, because it is a principal-designee situation. And so there are schools where the principal has said, I would like it to be this one person, and there are schools where it is split between two people. What I have noticed is that it tends to be split in schools where there's more folks that are being served so that they can kind of work together to approach.

[00:52:25] But I definitely have paired mentor coordinators at schools that only have four or five new teachers. So it's up to the principal, and you're not going to see necessarily the exact same approach to assignment in every building. And then my last question was regarding during the new educator orientation or in a different format, Are we talking to them about cultural competencies, like how to interact with different cultures in the classroom for a new teacher that might be something that could be challenging since some of that is still challenging for some of our veteran teachers?

[00:52:57] That's a good question. So at this last new educator orientation, we did have Dr. Waterford. She was a presenter for new educator orientation. And so she is a person who is a continued resource for all of our teachers, but we definitely have given our new teachers access to her.

[00:53:13] and we've been sure to invite her to our face-to-face opportunities that we held in fall, and that's upcoming this spring so that they can have continued opportunities to support from her specifically. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much, Dr. Hill.

[00:53:32] Appreciate your time and all the update and great work you're doing. Thank you. All right, next we have our school board self-evaluation, code of conduct, and governance manual discussion. I will be leading this discussion, so if everybody can pull out their self-reflection document.

[00:53:58] We're just going to go around the dais. All right. So our very first one is, it states, Our board is committed to a vision of higher expectations for student achievement and quality instruction.

[00:54:15] Dot, I'm going to start with you. I strongly agree. I strongly agree. And I strongly agree. And Steve. Strongly agree.

[00:54:34] All right. The next we have to define, we have defined goals toward our vision of high expectations. Give me your ranking and then identify a goal. So I said strongly agree, and we have a lot of goals that cover that. But the first one that comes to mind was in our breaking down of the superintendent's evaluation, how we disaggregated graduation rates so that we could really be strategic and target specific students that need extra support to get over the finish line.

[00:55:06] Sergeant? So I said I agree on this rather than strongly, probably for really no reason. And just we do have a high vision, and we do have high, you know, we have vision, we have high expectations.

[00:55:32] So maybe I'm on that line. It's not necessarily something that we purposefully talk about a lot, and so maybe that's where I was. And frankly, I did not continue reading and see identify a goal, so I'm going to have the L on my forehead.

[00:55:49] And so I can't think quickly enough, but I feel like we are always looking at things that are in this category, so that's all I got. Thank you. I also had agree. Obviously, we won the absolute best for our school district, and we always are reaching for high expectations.

[00:56:10] My example of identified goal, and I think it was forefront because we're just coming off the budget season, but just making sure to meet these high expectations that we're continuing to reach out to our local delegation and their work towards the JLARC study and keeping up with the demands of our school division.

[00:56:37] Ms. Chatters. I also said agree. And because we're currently, the five-year plan is currently being reworked, I wanted to see that in order to determine which goal our new superintendent wants to take us in. So that's why I left it at agree. I said strongly agree. Identifying the goal, I had special education. And one of the things this board did that I was very pleased with

[00:57:12] was ensuring that we had $9.7 million, the highest ever going to special education, in this new budget. We had opportunity to cut that in recognizing that we needed to come up or trim, I should say, $400,000.

[00:57:31] And no one looked at the biggest part of that, which was the $9.7, and said, well, let's take $400,000 from this. So to me, that says that we value and understand this particular group. Obviously, we value all groups, but this particular group and the funding that's needed to continue the support.

[00:57:53] As we have seen the increase for English as a second language, we've also seen the increase in the needs of special education students in Chesterfield County. And so, for that reason, I said strongly agree. Thank you. Number three, we have strong shared beliefs and values about what is possible for students and their ability to learn and of the system and its ability to teach all children at high levels.

[00:58:22] Your ranking and then identify one of the shared beliefs. I said strongly agree. I don't know. Maybe I'm just giving out easy A's here. But I think that we all agree, and we've talked about this.

[00:58:40] It came up when we were talking about Etric and their program. It was an REB program, the REB principal winner's program to bring in hair care for the students that we, I feel like this board, we all share the same value that it's important to provide tools to create a safe environment of belonging.

[00:59:04] And we recognize that creating that environment of belonging helps our students achieve their goals. I, too, strongly agree on this, and it boils down to all means all.

[00:59:20] I think all means all in every aspect at all of these, with all of these issues, everything. The ability to learn, you know, what they can achieve, all of them, what they can achieve and what we, you know, provide for them.

[00:59:35] And so that's mine. Thank you. I, too, said strongly agree, and my example actually is similar to Steve's last example, that very thankful in this budget season we were able to focus on special education and ELL population to continue to meet their needs.

[00:59:53] So we're looking at a variety of demographic and folks that we need to support, but again, it is all means all. Thank you. I had us down for agree on that one, and the example, I don't disagree that we – Want the best for Chester County Public Schools.

[01:00:18] I think we all agree on that. The how is where I interpreted the rest of the question. And so, for example, where it talks about the teach all children at high levels, it's hard to teach children at all levels if we don't have the right people in the room.

[01:00:38] So for some of my classrooms, I still have facilitators in my classroom, so those children are not necessarily getting the same type of math education, for example, that another child at another school is getting. And so not that we are responsible for that per se, but I need us to be more creative in how we can ensure that there's like an actual live person in the classroom with our kids the best that we can. And that's going to take some outside of the box thinking. But that is the example that resonated with me to say that I agree with this statement.

[01:01:11] I'm not giving out easy A's, but I did say strongly agree. They identify one of the shared beliefs, I had safety. This board and leadership prior to the school year, we were looking at various safety measures that we could implement. And those things don't come overnight, right? It does take time. And, you know, unfortunately, we did have a few incidents happen in Chesterfield County and greatly appreciate the feedback from the community in regards to that. But this board

[01:01:49] did not waver in the idea that, hey, we've already been having this conversation amongst ourselves and with staff, and I felt we were ahead of that game, even though it may not look like it from the public eye, but we were ahead of that game. Obviously, I wish that would move a lot faster, but it's not designed to. Procurement and testing and visiting other sites and asking questions and you know those things take time um but when it comes to identify for me one of the shared beliefs is why i wrote down safety and i feel very strongly about that and i think um not

[01:02:29] to speak for the board but i think the board members feel the same way and so i greatly appreciate that about this board thank you um our board is accountable is accountable i'm sorry accountability driven as evidenced by the fact that we spend more time focused on policies to improve student achievement than we do on operational issues. This is where my teacher comes out. I have disagree. And I, it's only because this Likert scale doesn't have a middle

[01:03:03] one. But, you know, I think that when, I think we as a board overstepped in the redistricting conversation about West Area, or excuse me, Deep Creek Middle School. And, you know, I think operationally we were presented with, you know, a solid recommendation. And I think our board went too far in owning that as a board and took ownership of that operational piece.

[01:03:41] I mean, in a lot of ways, we are accountability-driven. We do spend a lot of time focused on policies, and the policies that we focus on are there to improve student outcomes. So I think this is, you know, just as a reflection kind of a question, I'm not completely discounting the work that we do.

[01:04:01] I just think that we have an area for improvement. Well, I guess I cheated on that because I have mine in between, on the actual line, in between agree and disagree. So I made it up.

[01:04:17] Yeah, sorry. There are five here now. And while I don't have an exact example, I just feel like we strive for focus on policies, but we can move into the operational piece, and it is easy to do, and we need to constantly remind ourselves where our lane is.

[01:04:44] and this is all of us or me so that's where i am i too i'm in the middle of that um equation between agree and disagree it's like a neutral you started it but that's exactly where yeah um and it and it does kind of allude to what you said um is that it is easy to find yourself stepping into that operational piece and not realize it until you're in there but that is we are supposed to be in that policy making and I also think I haven't really done much

[01:05:22] in the review of the policies either so that's my other the committee maybe the the committee has but as a collective five board there's been a few but not you know I personally have a few I'd like to look at so you know I think it's that's just an area I think we could look into it's hard to be in the middle back and forth i followed the rules as well and i put disagree and the example i had is also about the redistricting as well i think that even though we know that we're supposed to

[01:06:02] be policy driven or that's our that's our bucket that we're supposed to stay in some of the things that we discuss or that are brought to our attention do touch the operational side and what we're supposed to do when we get brought things that are operational solutions or problems we're supposed to push it to our deputy superintendent and our superintendent and i believe we all do that but then we also want to follow up you know how did that go what what was the outcome of that constituent issue and i think that's not a bad thing because we're not dictating

[01:06:37] how they do their thing at each school but when it came to the redistricting piece i felt like we had the data in front of us and we ignored the data and so for and the accountability part is we need to own the fact that we as a board did that. Whether their vote was 3-2, 4-1, whatever it was going to be, we made that our thing versus listening to the guidance of the people who are trained to do it. We didn't listen to the community in that regard either. So it felt

[01:07:16] really more so like this was a personal thing that board members wanted versus what was data-driven professionals who are trained to do that giving us that information and I think the ramifications of that and I think I've mentioned it to our chair before is that I think we have to be very careful for future redistrictings because we don't want the county to look at us as if we're not doing it responsibly because the comment was made at a board supervisor meeting regarding capacity of

[01:07:49] schools and the timing of that fell in line with after we made our vote and so in order to get schools built we need to make sure that we have them at their optimum capacity never overcrowded absolutely not but not at 70 60 capacity we're not we don't have enough space in chestville county to to be able to continue and sustain that so that was the um the example i had for dipping too far into the operational side on the bad side because sometimes we dip in there just for follow-up and

[01:08:20] that's a good thing i checked off agree um i think we have opportunity for improvement i also agree that it's easy to find yourself heading into the weeds when you need not be in the weeds, and I think part of that is that desire to fix and help.

[01:08:57] You're here to do that, but that comes with sometimes a dance, if you will, that needs to go a certain way, and so I think area of opportunity. Am I so strong that I disagree that this board neglects accountability driven as evidenced by the fact that we spend more time focused on policies?

[01:09:21] No, I don't think that's a disagree at all. I think if you look at our bereavement leave, I think if you look at our parental leave, right, we have done some very good things based upon policy, not getting into the weeds of operations.

[01:09:40] So I think there's more positive than there is negative. That's my viewpoint, and that's why I said agree. Thank you. Next we have, we have a collaborative relationship with staff in the community.

[01:10:00] I strongly agree. I strongly agree. I agree. Agree. I can read my check because I don't know at all times what other board members are doing, right? I know what committees you sit on,

[01:10:32] but I don't know at all times where you are in your interaction. So I said strongly agree because I know what I'm doing, and I know when the board's asked to be somewhere, the board shows up. So on those grounds, I say strongly agree.

[01:10:52] All right. We have a strong communication. This one has an example. We have a strong communication structure to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders in setting and achieving district goals. Provide an example.

[01:11:07] I strongly agree, and my example is the quarterly e-news, which was very top of mind this week. Watch your inbox. I said agree.

[01:11:24] And I like our structure, the communication structure. Sometimes the message might be not as clear as it could be. I believe that that is getting much better.

[01:11:41] So maybe I'm on the line between strongly and agree. I don't know. I said agree as well. Just there's always room to improve your communication. But I, too, had the same quarterly update as well as the electronic CCPS on the go as two examples.

[01:12:03] I also had agree. I would say that our communication team is fabulous as far as that quarterly newsletter is concerned because it always has the right tone to it for speaking for us individually. So that's very unique and challenging to do, I think.

[01:12:21] But I also took the question related to our internal board communication. and not just our communication team and so i said a green example i gave is when we communicate with each other about issues and so forth it is important that we're able to be honest with each other right and that the feedback be it unsolicited or solicited um is acknowledged when given right

[01:12:55] and then consistent throughout and so I think I agree with Ms. Coker that or sorry Ms. Hudgens about the tone of our communications team that is getting better but the way we also communicate with each other I think is why I put agree because we we have some work to do amongst ourselves as well. I said agree if we're looking strictly and and I think Sean you and your team out of this get the strongly agree part from everybody but looking minus that which i think is is exceptional

[01:13:34] in the amount of work that they're doing and getting information out to everyone as best and as fast as they can i think uh internally we have some work to do um maybe on the individual school level out to families uh with uh things that are going on buses being delayed how that's being communicated who that's going to um those types of things uh i think are important and then our external stakeholders um you know we can email all day long right and hope that people are opening

[01:14:09] up the looking in their inbox and checking things out um you know how do we improve on that i don't have the answer to that um but overall though i i i would say agree with some some work to do Next, our board is data savvy.

[01:14:27] We embrace and monitor data even when the information is negative and use it to drive continuous improvement and provide an example. I strongly agree. And the example that I used, which certainly was not negative data, negative information, but was our previous meeting's presentation about CEQA and using testing scores to basically demonstrate why we should expand the program and that we're having measurable positive outcomes that we're looking for.

[01:15:05] I also have strongly agree, and my example was everywhere. I feel like I'm always looking at grids and charts and maps and numbers, and literally the only thing that popped into my head was the thing from Josh on the what do we call them cottages the learning cottage I was gonna say trailers I'm trying to be fancy our learning cottages outside of schools and whose school has what and where and that one

[01:15:42] yes and so those things they're everywhere and they are very welcome I I love me a good chart so thank you I said agree and yes I agree we have data and I love data I love all the thank you for the spreadsheets and all the things that come our way. One example that came to mind for me was when we were doing the change of start time, you know, hearing that data, not only seeing the

[01:16:15] data, but then also hearing from the community and adjusting as needed. This is my first strongly agree. And I think it's heavy on the fact that the staff does a really good job presenting the information to us. I know we ask a lot of questions. Some of them are nuanced questions, and the staff just makes a spreadsheet or a Google Doc and gives us a link, and we can follow along and ask all the questions. And the example I had is similar to Ms. Hudgens' is the trailers. I had

[01:16:49] been advocating for attention to trailers before I sat here, and until I sat here, I was able to see the details from the spreadsheet that Josh's team did and we were able to articulate the point of where the need was and do a focused effort on trying to do something about that and I appreciated the support from this board to to focus on helping my district out since at the time and still to date we still have the most but I appreciate the support that the board is giving to try to rectify

[01:17:20] that ditto i'm kidding i said strongly agree because i just marked it okay good good i'm glad uh we we do have uh resources statistics numbers um doesn't matter what section of the school you ask there's going to be numbers based upon numbers based upon statistics that have more numbers behind them and so they do help us in making our decision and and monitoring that to see what's

[01:17:56] working, what's not working. I agree 100% with Mrs. Heffron. In her example, with CECLA, I think it just resonated with me. The fall testing was like 18%, and then the spring testing was 60%, 70%, something like that. Massive increase. And so when you see stuff like that, it tells you, hey, we're on the right path. We need to continue doing that. If the numbers were reverse, obviously we'd say, wait a minute, we got to pump the brakes and figure out what aren't we doing correctly here um and this board is quick to say that with the data and that it's

[01:18:32] proven so uh strongly agree number eight we work to align and sustain resources to meet district goals even in the midst of budget challenges i agree i also agree i agree as well agree agree number nine we lead as a united team with the superintendent with strong collaboration and

[01:19:07] mutual trust. Strongly agree. Strongly agree. Strongly agree. Strongly agree. I strongly agree. Thank you. And number 10, our board takes part in team development and training to build shared knowledge, values, and commitments for our improved effort. I disagree. I said agree because we have

[01:19:40] done a training in the past, but I said maybe we need to do some more. I think you were looking on my paper i said the same agree and we do the annual thing with vsba in november but we need to do more development i said disagree and i did not count what we did at vsba as board training because that really wasn't board training for us if we're being honest um but i think we should put it on the calendar and make deliberate effort to do these things together so that we can work on

[01:20:19] our on our gaps and our shortfalls as a team. Y'all are tough. I said agree. Now you have the opportunity through VSBA on your own schedule of course to attend different things. I attended the law conference with Wendell and Stephanie and some other ones shorter ones right understanding you know we all have day jobs and so that's kind of difficult at times to schedule my day job plus an afternoon session um and so you know when they're hour-long things those are more beneficial

[01:20:57] and some of those are virtual too which is which is great um so i look at this kind of two ways what what am i doing as a board member and what are we doing as a board um as a board and this is self-reflective because i'm looking at what we did last year right we're only three months into this year so if i'm looking at last year um this board and team development and training i don't know if you want to on the job training as far as hiring a superintendent and the hours that we put

[01:21:28] into that um when when when uh dr d was here uh you know along with dr murray um this board uh over at ctc attended a training um in regards to board governance and understanding uh the north south east west model that was used um i think if we did more things like that would be beneficial i agree but i don't think that's a disagree um i think it's an area of improvement for us um but again we we each own our own growth in that as far as our commitment to it and improving ourselves and

[01:22:07] understanding as to how the board works and how the school system works uh so i said agree taking away we're going we'll be looking at calendars for a board activity team building activity all right last two questions here um open-ended first is what do you believe is one of your board's greatest strengths our respectful dialogue i said our diversity of experience and thought every one

[01:22:43] of us brings something different to a conversation and i think that is very valuable i said that the board does a good job listening to each other even when we don't see eye to eye and we are honest and we try to do our best work i said resilient i didn't know it could be one word or else i would have kept this short i've got like three three page paper here um i'm kidding our board's greatest

[01:23:19] strength um and next time dot can't go first because she had like three of my answers i just feel like you just cheated off of dot i looked at i looked at your paper all the way down here um no but but i i agree i had the same thing in um you know we all come from different ideologies and backgrounds and we are all raised differently and some of us are from the north others are raised here in chesterfield county and some are transplants and um i think that that is what makes us unique as a board is our different perspective but um i've never not had

[01:23:59] an issue having a conversation, even if it is difficult, with a board member. And it's been an understanding that, hey, we may not agree on what was just said, right? But we're going to continue moving forward. We may not like what the other viewpoint is, but we're in this together as a board at the end of the day at the benefit of our students. And so I think that's extremely important, and I think that's a strength that this board shares. And last, what do you believe is a growth area for your board.

[01:24:37] I'm going to fully disclose that I may have been coming from my own perspective on the previous answer about our development because I know I don't attend as many development opportunities as I could through the online learnings, and it's time.

[01:24:58] I think the fact that the five of us can find a couple hours on a Tuesday afternoon to all be in the same room once a month seems pretty miraculous. But, yeah, I mean, as far as our board is concerned, maybe we could all work to coordinate attending one of the webinars together at the same time.

[01:25:21] Is that allowed? Do we have to notice that, Wendell? Probably. The answer is yes. I don't use this very much. The board has traditionally communicated, perhaps over-communicated every time the board is together.

[01:25:44] So in keeping with your practice, we would communicate. We would notify the board if you participated in a training all five of you. And that's easy enough to do. Similar to what Ms. Heffron said, I believe that area of growth is a constant learning, all of us learning.

[01:26:09] And those VSBA classes that some of you guys have been able to take, I don't know why they never worked for me, but I think maybe when one person is able to take a class, maybe we can divide and conquer, share out, whatever, because there's so much I want to know and just so little time.

[01:26:35] I know when I was referring to the class or whatever that we did, that was the north, south, east, west, not the BSBA in Williamsburg, and that was really helpful.

[01:26:51] I felt it was helpful, and something similar to that I think would help us all grow together as a board. I said area for growth, and it's, I think, in every aspect of your life, but it's the communication, and it kind of comes back to what Ms. Chatters was saying.

[01:27:15] We can always do a better job communicating with one another and staying up on, you know, we have things that are presented to us every month, things that we have to bring and discuss. But what else is there, right? What are other items we'd like to discuss as a board?

[01:27:35] One of the growth areas I listed was about being uncomfortable more often. And the example I was giving is about cultural competencies. And as the demographics of Chesterfield County change, where we have more black and brown families, I think it's not only important for our educators and our teachers and administrators to understand how to work with diverse families.

[01:28:04] It's important that the board members themselves also learn how to work with diverse families. I believe that our communication with some of our families might have inadvertently led to an issue that wasn't meant to be an issue, right?

[01:28:21] If you don't know what not to say or what could be offensive, what could be a microaggression or what, those are just cultural competency. Those are cultural things that if you're not exposed to it, then you don't know that you're doing it, right?

[01:28:37] And it could lead to something bigger that it doesn't need to lead to. So if we're going to start doing some trainings, I think that would be a good one to have because we're asking our teachers to do that. i think as board we should be better or try to be better in that area as well the area i believe growth for our board would be in our relationship with our new superintendent and our new deputy superintendent and our five-year plan for growth there's a lot of unknowns not that that's a

[01:29:17] negative thing but there's just a lot of unknowns when you're talking about a new way forward and a different vision. And obviously we align with that vision, right? Or else we wouldn't have hired our superintendent. But a part of that growth is making sure that, hey, we're still on that same path. We're still communicating about that. That's still at the forefront. We're still pushing for that. And not that we're not, but I think the area for growth in that is ensuring that we are

[01:29:51] maintaining that path forward um because if not and we lose sight of that then i think we've lost sight of our purpose as a board and so that's that was my area of growth and opportunity right next we have to review our school board code of conduct and governance handbook um i'm just going to open

[01:30:15] the floor for any edits additions from the board i have no recommendations i don't have anything none from dominey steve since you're going to call me out i know i know um i i want i do want

[01:30:48] to bring attention as we're talking about development as we're talking about um our time together and and training and learning um if you look at our evaluation and retreat by the end of october each year compile the collective responsive of board members summative evaluation of the superintendent district level feedback and facilitate conversation between the board and superintendent about the results i think if we include something in that right there to where

[01:31:21] we're including it's it's going to be in our retreat of our evaluation that we're submitting to training unless that's found somewhere else i'm i'm not sure i believe that's state code No, no, no. What I'm saying is, if we are going to have, like, when we do our retreat, right, if there's something about culture or some kind of somebody that we could bring in, right, is having that as part of our governance handbook, that we will have some kind of training.

[01:31:58] In the August meeting? Well, we do. Yeah, whichever meeting that we're going to. And here is number 10 on page 4. It talks about board member professional development. Now, this talks about probably the right, but this, the first part on page 4.

[01:32:17] Right, that's the role of the chair, but I'm talking about incorporating it together. Yes. I'm confused. Right, because what we chalked this up to, number 10, and that's fine, but I'm looking at that because it specifically states in with the superintendent.

[01:32:43] right right which i think which i think is important that in here too the 16 hours to to my knowledge we've always chalked that up to the vsba down in we have or individual so i think to your point i think what we need to add in here is a board five of us plus our superintendent to come with us for it's not suffering i think i see what steve is saying so i think it might actually be, you could put that in our evaluation retreat and just have the chair is responsible for coordinating it? Coordinating that.

[01:33:21] Okay. I don't know if it needs to go in code of contact. I think it, yeah, it should be in our, yeah. Along those lines, there should be something that discusses the duties of the vice chair.

[01:33:36] That wasn't on here at all, but I know we discussed that at some, you know, that the vice chair should have some responsibilities and this only talks about the specific duties of the chair. Mr. Smith? if we were able to is there i'm sorry is there it might be in our policy is there a policy that speaks to the duties of a vice chair thank you if so we just can we just add it into as a page right after the chair just the vice chair part um because i know we had talked about bringing

[01:34:11] increasing the responsibilities of the vice chair so it's not just and every if it was in this piece then it would fall in line with the chair the responsibilities of the chair being in there And there's only one other thing.

[01:34:27] Maybe also putting in there that, obviously, they are the backup to the chair. Right, right, right. Heartbeat away. The only thing I was going to add is number four, which says communication between staff and board is encouraged. I don't know if it belongs in here or not, but it's probably an unwritten thing that when constituents email us, there's a certain time limit that we should.

[01:34:50] We discussed it, but I didn't know if we put it in writing anywhere. But we should hold ourselves accountable to a standard of 72 hours or whatever it's going to be, so that the community understands that is the standard that the board is going to have and how we respond to communication with them.

[01:35:06] To putting a time to it. That's accountable. In my opinion, putting a time to it would make us accountable to it. Some of us might be doing it in 24 hours, which is fabulous, but whatever the agreed upon... I don't think we should do that.

[01:35:24] I think accountability is ultimately with our constituents, and if we're not responding fast enough, we'll hear about it. You think, I mean, I think it's up to the individual representative set that standard for herself or himself, but I'm up to hearing if, what do we got?

[01:35:51] We got 72 hours, we got 48 hours, if you're on vacation, does that count? What is email etiquette? Would it be sending to constituent services in a timely, like if we wanted to, if we want to define a timely response, then what's the, what response would it be?

[01:36:15] so i'm not sure if dr phillips wants to chime in or not on what he wants to do for his section which we're not going to touch because you got all five of us to deal with this is really just focused on the five of us and if the if the answer is we have sent it over right to to john to handle within the time frame i don't know how everyone else does it but for me if i send it to him i respond to the constituent and i put him on there because i'm responding and i'm giving it to him, right? So we have some constituents that, me personally, I get constituents that call me

[01:36:52] that are not in my district often. So my suggestion of what I'm offering now is a way to help them feel heard by their prospective board members if you're already not doing that, right? If your answer is when you see it, you just forward it to John and he responds on our behalf, the constituent still hasn't heard from the board member that they sent the email to, right? And so I would do a flavoring of both.

[01:37:18] It just kind of depends on what the email is. It was a suggestion to help alleviate, but if it's not your cup of tea, then I'm fine with it. I'll still continue to do it the way I do it with John. And as your constituents call me, I will do the same thing that I always do.

[01:37:34] Please contact your respective board member. However, if you would like to continue to include me in your correspondence, please feel free to do so. And that'll be my, so that y'all know that that is what I say to them when they call or email. And I think that, yeah, that absolutely aligns with what our expectations are in here.

[01:37:52] Yeah. Mr. Smith, did you have any? Just with regard to the question regarding the vice chair piece, you do have in school policy 1150, it talks about the chair, vice chair.

[01:38:08] The language here is largely talks about in the absence of the chair, vice chair would obviously have the duties and authorities. It's very general, but you have a reference point for that. Okay. Thank you.

[01:38:32] So nothing specific on that, that we're looking for, so that we can make that as specific with the roles and responsibilities moving forward. Thank you. Anything else to cover? All right.

[01:38:49] Well, obviously, I'd like to thank everybody for their input during our discussion this afternoon. Next, we have announcements, communications, and school board comments. Anybody have anything? I just want to remind anyone who's listening this early, on Monday, March 17th, is the budget town hall for Dale District at the Beulah Rec Center.

[01:39:11] So please come and show your advocacy for our budget. That is the place. That is the time to make sure your voices are heard there as well. They control the purse strings as far as the local side is concerned. So I hope to see participation on Monday, the 17th, at Beulah Rec Center.

[01:39:31] Next school board business meeting will be held this evening, March 11th, 2025, at 6.30 p.m. here in the public meeting room. If there's no further public business, we will enter in closed session, which will be held in the public meeting room's conference room.

[01:39:46] Madam Clerk, please announce the items for today's closed session. It is my understanding that the school board desires to enter into a closed session in accordance with Section 2.2-3711.A of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and specifically under Subsection 1, the discussion and consideration of personnel disciplinary matters.

[01:40:08] Members of the board, you have just heard the items requested to be discussed in closed session. Do I have a motion in that regard? No moved. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Dr. Heffron. Aye. Dominique Chatters.

[01:40:25] Aye. Stephen Pronto. Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. Ann Coker. Aye. We are now in closed session. Do I have a motion to reconvene in open session?

[01:40:42] So moved. Is there a second? Second. The board is now in open session. Madam Clerk, would you please read the resolution certifying the closed session? Now, therefore, be it resolved that the school board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge. One, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies.

[01:41:07] And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? I make a motion to adopt the resolution. Is there a second?

[01:41:23] Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Dot Heffron? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. Ann Coker? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the first personnel matter?

[01:41:40] In case number 2024-25-50-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion?

[01:41:56] Dot Hefron? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. Ann Coker? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2024-25-51-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld.

[01:42:18] Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Dot Hefron? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. Ann Coker. Aye. The motion carries.

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