Coraggio Consulting Henrico County School Board Town Hall, Thursday, October 17, 2024 Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024 Place: Henrico County School Board, Virginia Length: 10m (video) Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fFgM_MvL9U Official meeting portal (Henrico County Public Schools, Diligent Community): https://henricoschools.community.diligentoneplatform.com/Portal/MeetingTypeList.aspx 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:01] everyone. I am excited that you are here with us this evening. You could have been somewhere else, but you chose to come and listen and learn and participate. Yeah, I have a microphone in. Thank you. [00:00:19] So I am Alicia Atkins, Henrico School Board Chair, and also represents Verrina, Sanston, and Highland Springs. Over here we have our other school board representatives, my colleagues. I'll start with Mrs. Shea representing Tuckahoe District. Then we have Mrs. Kinsella representing the Brooklyn District. We have Mr. Young representing the Fairfield District. And then we have Mr. Irving representing 3CHOP. Again, we are so appreciative that you are, yes, hand [00:00:57] clap. A round of applause is always awesome and this is a fantastic school board and I am delighted to be able to serve with these individuals. My board colleagues and I are so appreciative that you are taking time out of your busy schedule to be here with us this evening. [00:01:19] We're going to dive into this next slide and I want to take a moment to introduce you to our host site this evening and welcome you to the Oak Avenue Complex. That's where you are. In 2023, We opened the region's first full-service community school here at the oak It is actually a hub for school and community wraparound services the hcps family and community engagement team is also located Here offering workshops support groups and other initiatives to support stronger families [00:01:59] HCPS also successfully hosts other agencies on this site, to include the Department of Social Services, who provide intake services directly to families. During tonight's breakout sessions, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the Oak and the unique services that are offered here. [00:02:20] We'll go to the next slide. As you know, Henrico Schools is home to a wonderfully inclusive group of more than 50,000 learners who are served by our dedicated teachers, support staff, and administrators. [00:02:37] Our students come to us from more than 124 countries and speak 139 different languages, 139, making us one of the most diverse school communities in Virginia. [00:02:55] We strive to ensure that all learners have access to rigorous and meaningful learning experiences that empower them to be responsible, contributing members of the community. I'll now turn the floor over to Ms. Shea. [00:03:13] Thank you, Ms. Atkins. We are elated that 58% of the students in the class of 2024 graduated with an Advanced Diploma, the most rigorous offered in the Commonwealth. HCPS students also earned more than 6000 industry certifications and credentials through the career and technical education programs and more than 3100 students participated in either work based learning or service learning projects last year. [00:03:44] Those meaningful real world experiences are so important as students make connections between what they're learning in the classroom and real time and real time applications of that knowledge. Building on that tradition of excellence this fall we opened our first middle school Center of for innovation at john roth middle school where students can tap into their creativity participate in hands on learning. [00:04:13] projects and explore business and stem related careers through a special partnership with vcu's da vinci center for innovation and various local businesses and community groups students are learning from experienced professionals in high profile fields this is the first of two planned centers for innovation we look forward to opening the model to kweakasin middle school in a few years thank you mrs shea while we're so proud of our students we know their success is made [00:04:52] possible in part by the commitment and partnership of their supportive families and our amazing educators we're committed to ensuring we have the staff needed to meet the needs of today's and tomorrow's learners over the last five years we've added 56 school counselors and 76 new teachers to support english language learners additionally hdps is investing 9.6 million dollars to support our opportunity schools which have the greatest number of provisionally licensed staff in the classroom this funding supports licensure attainment targeted professional [00:05:32] development and a teacher fellow who in addition to teaching the students serves as a mentor to new and developing teachers these are just a few of the reasons why forbes named hdps as a best in state employer for the second year in a row and then last spring the school board approved across the board 4.8 percent raise for all hdps staff with an additional step increase that brought the raise to seven to seven point two percent for teachers licensed instructional staff and our bus [00:06:09] drivers that means that every employee's salary will have increased by a minimum of thirteen percent in two years and starting this school year our bus drivers are now earning twenty five dollars an hour yes we've also worked to provide quality of life adjustments through a robust parental leave program and the ongoing expansion of the HCPS career ladder, which offers our employees the equivalent of a master's degree program for instructional staff led by HCPS professionals [00:06:49] at no cost to our employees. And now for Mr. Young from the Fairfield District. Thank you, Ms. Kinsella. Of course, the safety and awareness of our employees and students are paramount importance to the school board and every person associated with Enrico schools. [00:07:09] Weapon scanners are now fully operational at every school in the county, and over the last year, HCPS has hired more than 85 new security officers to provide additional layers of campus security. Until recently, elementary schools didn't have a safety officer in the building every day. [00:07:26] Now, every school has one, and some have two. Safety and school operations are one of our breakout sessions this evening, so you will have the opportunity to hear more from the experts and ask questions. Moving from safety to wellness, last spring, the school board and the county's board of supervisors announced a $17 million investment in mental health support over the next five years to transform youth mental health care for Henrico's young people and their families. [00:07:54] Since Henrico Cares was introduced in March, HCPS has expanded its school-based mental health teams and strengthened in-person and virtual resources for students of all ages, their families, and our HCPS employees. We've successfully laid out the groundwork for new partnerships with private mental health providers and local government agencies to help families navigate the complex system of mental health services and get faster access to treatment and resources. [00:08:21] Again, there is a breakout session on the wraparound services we have in place to support the students and adults in our community. And before we move into those breakout sessions, we'd like to give you a brief update on some of the capital improvement projects that are in progress across the county. [00:08:39] beginning over at the campus of Virginia Randolph. The renovated 8th Center at Virginia Randolph opens its doors at the start of the school year. Meanwhile, the two-story expansion of the Academy at Virginia Randolph is ongoing. When completed in the spring, the campus will include collaborative learning spaces and state-of-the-art classrooms. [00:08:58] Now, to turn it over to Mr. Irvin. - Four projects from the 2022 bond referendum are also in progress. In June, we approved plans to replace Jackson Davis R.C. Longin Elementary Schools. The new buildings, which will increase capacity at the schools, will be constructed on portions of the campuses behind the existing schools. Students are slated to move into the new buildings in 2026. Just last week, the board approved design schematics for the replacement of the Koyakasim Middle School, or as my board colleagues call it, [00:09:36] the re-queue or the new-queue. Originally constructed in 1971, the school will eventually be the home of fully accessible future ready learning spaces and the division's second middle school center for innovation the architects continue to work with staff and a stakeholder advisory team to finalize details based on the student needs this project is estimated to be completed by 2027 and finally one of the division's most exciting capital improvement projects is the new living building at wilton farm the building the first living building challenge certified [00:10:15] public K through 12 building in the world was approved by the Henrico voters in the 2022 bond referendum. When complete, it will serve students enrolled in the Center for Environmental Studies and Sustainability, all levels of HCPS students in various capacities and our larger Henrico community. [00:10:35] To achieve living building status, the building must meet specific rigorous sustainability targets. You'll have the chance to learn more about that as we transition to our breakout sessions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com