Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Student Services Committee Meeting, Thursday, May 18, 2023

Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 27m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/828130063?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

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 2026-10-22. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:55] Good evening, and welcome to the Student Services Committee. I call to order this meeting, joined by Ms. Sheridan and Ms. Ogedekbe will not be able to join for personal reasons today. Do we have any public comments tonight? Okay. I guess then we'll move to item number three, approval of meeting minutes.

[00:01:14] Do we have a motion? I move to approve the April 20th, 2023 meeting minutes. I'll second that. Any questions? Nope. All those in favor, raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Aye. The motion will pass 2-0 with Ms. Ogadugwe absent.

[00:01:35] We'll move to the next item on the agenda. I think we have this evening, we only have information items. We don't have any action items. So we'll jump on to policy 8435. And that's correct.

[00:01:51] And I'll pass it on to you, Dr. Bowers or Dr. Jones. Thank you very much. So policy 8435, which is reports of missing children, was last revised in October 2018 Virginia code 22.1 dash 28 8.1 requires that public schools and law enforcement collaborate in an effort to identify and report missing children the proposed policy for tonight is aligned with Virginia code and the VBS VA model policy it's also been reviewed by

[00:02:28] stakeholders from DOI DSS DDI legal counsel cabinet and will be posted for Community Advisory Board Review. This policy articulates whose responsibility and duty it is to report a missing child when enrolling a child and or how to indicate a child may be missing when reported by law enforcement. And tonight I'll present the recommended revisions based on staff feedback for your consideration. So to begin, I'm going to ask you to turn the policy over to lines 46 through 61. And you'll notice this section has been deleted from the proposed

[00:03:04] policy however the content from these sections are embedded in the lines 1 through 44 the deletion simply identifies that the content was rearranged from the order in the current policy to reflect a more logical timeline of how the reports of missing children may be communicated by law enforcement school principals or through the registration process I just wanted to let you know why those that's blocked out so next at the top of the page the title has been updated to reports of missing children instead of current title missing children to align with virginia model policy and then lines one through

[00:03:39] 44 have been revised accordingly starting lines three through 15 starting lines three through 15 section a highlights the responsibility of law enforcement per virginia code 52-31.1 to report a missing child in the process the principal or designee follows to mark in our sis system that a student has been identified as missing and this is current practice and also in alignment with virginia code 22.1-288.1b line 16 through 22 which is section b has minor edits

[00:04:17] that were recommended by council and aligns with virginia code 22.1-288.1b and also the vsba model policy lines 23 through 31 section c highlights the current process lcps follows to obtain the scholastic record of a student transferring to lcps and also the responsibility of lcps staff to notify law enforcement if such records cannot be obtained and this section aligns with virginia code 22.1 dash 289 f lines 33 through 37 was deleted because it already is included in lcps policy 8125

[00:04:56] section a2 which is admission requirements so it was redundant and then finally lines 39 through 344 is current policy with minor word revision that aligns with code 22.103.1c and i'm happy to answer any questions you may have thank you any questions dr bowers i do have a question um so i think there's two questions i have so the first section which talks about duty event i mean section a in the policy so it's asking the law enforcement will provide the reports to the school division

[00:05:36] I know we are working through, I think Ms. Sheridan can, I don't know if we can, I think you can join the services committee also. Are you part of that? No, you're not. I know that's going through an MOU. So is this something that's been addressed in the MOU or something we just need to cross-reference that if it's part of that or not?

[00:05:58] I think it would be really valuable to check that. Yeah, so it may be needed to be cross-referenced, but interesting enough, so the information is reported to our senior registrars, and they're the ones who receive that information. It typically doesn't go to the principal. It comes to our senior registrars, and then they disseminate the information as necessary.

[00:06:18] Sure. I think just to make sure that we have clear communications between law enforcement and us, that's why I'm trying to bring it up. I think that would be really helpful. And second, I think it says on the section C1, and again, I'm trying to understand this, where the language, the way it speaks, and it says, whenever a student transferred to LCPS, so a student transferred to LCPS from another division, the scholastic record or a copy of scholastic record will be transferred.

[00:06:46] And if it's not transferred the way I read it, then we have to report that as a missing child. Can you elaborate on that? What is the essence of that particular paragraph? so yes so when we when a student comes to lcps or when we send a student to another school division we have to have those records so that we have the history of this child right and so in the case where we contact the school that's typically done by the registrar at the at the school that the students transferring to they contact the school and the school is supposed to send those records over if we don't get those records within 60 days we have to notify law

[00:07:23] enforcement because it could be a missing child so that's kind of a checks and balances to make sure that that a family doesn't move from Florida because something happened in Florida and they wanted to get as far away as possible with a child that was kidnapped or whatever it may be the case and therefore there's no history of their school that they said that they were attending because we have no history of that student so they could give us a fake school and so in our journey to make sure that we have the records so that we have that information for us whether it's academic or health wise if we don't receive it then we notify local enforcement because they can use their

[00:08:02] databases and their resources to search whether or not this child truly is a student that could be identified as missing does that help yeah it helps thank you so this is again applies to where student transfer to LCPS specifically with that but thank you that helps any further questions I I think that's all I had, so I guess we'll just put this on an action item next meeting.

[00:08:32] Actually, we'll be posting it up for feedback, or that's already been done? Yes, sir. We will post this for public comment and then bring it back as an action item. We would have reviewed any feedback we received from our committees and bring it back as an action item in June.

[00:08:49] Thank you. So with that, I guess we would move to policy 8025. And this is formal policy 8-5. The last time it seems was reviewed back in 2011.

[00:09:09] Is that what I heard? That's what I read? And so it's a major change to it. So I guess I'll pass it on to Dr. Bowers to explain us such a major change to this and go through that. Thank you. Sure. Thank you very much.

[00:09:26] So federal and state law recognizes that students that reach the age of 18 are considered adults and may act in place of their parents and so you're right current policy 8-5 which is rights of adult students was last uh confirmed back in 2011 and while the current policy is still in line with virginia code the proposed policy follows school board guidelines for reviewing and updating all policies provides clarifications and definitions and ensures that both parties the student and the parents and guardians understand their rights under federal and state law and so So Proposed Policy 8025, Rights of Adult Eligible Students, has also been aligned with Virginia

[00:10:04] Code, has been reviewed by stakeholders in DDI, DSS, DOI, Legal Counsel, Cabinet, and will be posted for Community and Advisory Board review. So tonight I'll provide the recommendations for your consideration. I'm also going to share a draft copy of the Adult Eligible Student Declaration page for your review, and then we'll talk about deleting the current policy.

[00:10:26] So based upon our stakeholder feedback, we're recommending the following updates. The title has been updated to rights of adult eligible students per legal counsel. Line two, which is section A, highlights the definition of an eligible student to ensure clarity for both the parent and the student.

[00:10:46] And that's per Virginia Code 1-204, age of majority, and 1-203, which is adult. And just on a side note, we're going to make sure we include those in our legal references at the bottom of the page. they were not put into this copy, so we'll make sure we update that by the next meeting.

[00:11:02] Lines 4 through 9, Section B, has been revised to align with federal law and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, also Virginia Code 1-204 and HVAC 20-81-180. And this is the transfer of rights to students who reach the age of majority.

[00:11:20] And the changes in this section reflect that students that are 18 and eligible may act in the place of their parents. However, parents do retain certain rights as outlined in Section D, E, F, and G of this proposed policy in federal and state law. And so, as you said, Chair Mahedovee, that's really how we've expanded this specific policy was to make sure the rights of the parents and guardians were also identified and the process was identified.

[00:11:45] So I'll go through all of those. So lines 20 11 through 21, which is section C outlines the process for eligible students that have reached the age of 18 to exercise these rights. Students would be required to complete the adult eligible student declaration form.

[00:12:03] Currently, our students are required to provide written notice to the principal or designee. However, based on staff feedback and a review of other county school system practices, staff are recommending the adoption of this form to align practices at each school and provide a clear path for our students to notify the schools that they want to exercise those rights and this form would be signed by the student and then the principal or a designee and a copy would be provided to the parent or guardian lines 23 through 29 which is section d highlights that parents or guardians do retain responsibility to help enforce the lcps code of conduct and

[00:12:41] attendance per federal law 34 cfr 99-31 section 8 and lcps policy 80c 86 30 section c1 lines 31 through 36 which is section e highlights that lcps may choose to provide students records to parents guardians of students that can be claimed as a dependent per section 152 of the internal revenue code of 1986. and the word dependent is important there for parents to be able to have that right to obtain records so lines 39 through 40 which is section f highlights that

[00:13:17] lcps will continue to notify parents of disciplinary matters of eligible students per virginia law 22.1 chapter 14 article 3 and then lines 42 through 53 which is section g identifies current lcps practices for eligible students with disabilities upon reaching the age of 18 per virginia code hvac 20-81-180 section c and lcps policy 5310 special education and this section outlines the transfer of rights and also identifies the procedures that are in place

[00:13:53] to include parent guardians to represent the interest of the students throughout their eligibility if necessary and then in addition to this policy we have drafted the adult eligible student declaration form which allows our school-based staff to clear clearly identify within that form the rights of federal and state law it outlines that parents may retain rights to be informed and outlines expectations of students behavior and this was important to our school-based staff to ensure that students that are 18 years of age and still considered dependents recognize

[00:14:28] that they must continue to follow school rules and if not lcps will notify parents if that agreement is not being followed and as I shared earlier the parents would receive a copy of this when the student signs it so that they're aware that their student has requested these rights and then finally as part of this evening we would have you make a motion to delete the current policy and I'm happy to take any questions that you may have. Thank you Dr. Bowers. Board members any questions? Sure, Ms. Shannon. Thank you. How many students do we have that have filled out the

[00:15:05] declaration just even a percentage of those that would be eligible to I would be happy to bring that to you I've known personally I've known that we've had students throughout the years that have done that but I don't know how many we have at each school I was just wondering if it was a common occurrence or not I won't say common thank you but I will say it's an occurrence thank you so thank you so I'll stay on the forum so thing you just said that this forum was we just created this forum right now we have so as we were going through the review of of making recommendations one of the things we always do is look at

[00:15:42] other counties information policies regulations and things like that we get feedback from the schools and one of the things the schools ask is could we have a consistent process for students who are requesting this so that one the student knows that they still have responsibilities and the parents aware that the student is actually requesting this right so for our students we did take the forms from other counties look at them take the best from each one of those forms and then created our own form which we have not used yet but we're bringing to you for your attention so that we have a process that was requested by the by the schools and also from

[00:16:19] our senior registrars who believe that is important as well I appreciate I appreciate that but I think where Mr. Sheridan asked a question how many students are still I think the question was, Ms. Sheridan, how many students have leveraged or filled out this form?

[00:16:35] A different version of the form is that filled out, not necessarily this form? No, they would just have to send an email or put it in writing that they want to be recognized as a student over 18, and therefore they will act on their own behalf, and that's what the process has been. We just wanted to make sure there was something that we had that was more formal.

[00:16:54] So I think in the form, and I'm sure this will get feedback from the different advisory groups in the form it says for student and parent guardian to read but in the policy we we i mean it's it's about the students rights in section c where we talk about the form but i think um is it somewhere i think it says that copies will be provided fully executed will be provided to the parents but there is no like i mean we say the the student may consult or no students are encouraged to consult but the parents may not get notified before the student fills out the form

[00:17:34] with the principal is that correct that's correct so on the bottom of the form you'll see that we have a CC one would go to the student students cumulative file and the other would go to the parents or guardian but there is no legal requirement that the parent signs this or that we have to wait for the parent to sign this for the student to be recognized an adult so if student comes to me today and says I want to I'll be recognized in this and they're 18 we can verify their age then we can give them this form they could fill it out they would sign it the principal would sign it or their designee and then once that's done they would then retain those rights and we would provide this to the parents so they were aware

[00:18:11] so I think that's how I understood but then I don't see why students and parents would read this if that's not going to be they would never there may not be ever an option of parents to even read this before signing it or a student signing it so I think anyway my feedback is just to review that whether that's even warrants to have I mean again we would go through the policies and make where the parents come in now i would like to have parents notified in some capacity before the students can fill it out but i guess by law you cannot do it but then we got to be very clear about that somewhere that by law that this is what the law is i don't want to zoom things

[00:18:51] sorry what was the question sorry mr chair uh dr bowers was asking if i had any further insight on that but no as an operation of law once a student reaches 18 the rights transfer to them and so the parent doesn't have to sign this um so i but i think the point is taken that it could be misleading um in that it says for student and parent guardian to read it implies almost that a parent or guardian has some kind of consent to provide over that so we can take that

[00:19:25] back to clarify that so again where it comes back i think dr bowers i mean my ask i mean i'm sure in somewhere to describe that that's the law because the thing is this will create as i was reading through it and I'm sure anybody reading through it would feel like the parents are out of this but by law this is what it is so I just want to be as clear so we don't come back and this becomes another puts a community and parents because that's not what we're trying to do here we're just simply trying to codify what the current federal state law is today and simply

[00:20:03] making sure that the policy and the process are consistent across so this will go to just for clarity you're really looking at line 14 and 15 of the rights of adult and eligible students have proposed is that the area you want us to do okay good thank you and again this policy will go to leave fence CAC and I think those are the two that come in my mind right now see I can leave and other advisory councils yes we'll have this posted on the website for public comment and sent directly to our parent advisory committees

[00:20:44] all right we'll look forward to hearing the community feedback and from the advisory councils on this policy and we'll go to the next item on our agenda deletion of policy 555 disciplinary procedures for students with disabilities disabilities thank you mr mehedavi this policy was actually discussed back in june of may and june of 2022 in concert with existing policy 822 zero which is student disciplinary consequences so when this was discussed

[00:21:24] with our advisory committees and the staff representatives from the office of school administration it was why do we have two separate policies our students with disabilities our students first so we should recognize how the supportive measures that are in place for all students including our students with disabilities under one policy. So at the time our staffs were collaboratively, feedback was sought from our SEAC and other advisory committees and policy 8220 was updated. Feedback from SEAC was

[00:22:03] considered and included in our existing policy 8220 and it was adopted by the board September 13th of 2022 at the time in the discussion it was that policy 5-55 would also be recommended to the board for deletion and a regulation 822 8022.3 would be reviewed SEAC actually provided feedback on a proposed regulation 8022.3 and that would be updated as a part

[00:22:40] of one policy 8220 so the policy was adopted but staff we neglected to bring 5-55 to the full board and the committee at the time to have that deleted so that is what we're trying to accomplish today is to bring policy 5-55 forward for deletion through committee we have our office of special education staff taking a fresh eyes look at Regulation 8022.3, which was never

[00:23:16] completed through the review process, and adopted into our, you know, uploaded into our policy. So that is what we're currently doing. And our goal would be to bring our recommendation for policy 5-55 forward as an action item for deletion for the June meeting. By the time it went to the full board as an information item for deletion we would have completed our thorough review of the existing draft based on the feedback that we received from feedback from SEAC

[00:23:54] on regulation 8022.3 so that would be revised and ready for updating for the start of the school year. It's already, we have the feedback from SEAC. We certainly appreciate that feedback and want to ensure that that has been reviewed, given what we know now, with practices and procedures that are in place. Any further questions? No. So you're saying, sorry, Dr. Jones, the regulations

[00:24:32] A8220.3, is that, will be completed by the time we take action on this thing by next meeting? Yes, it actually, because policy 8220 currently has two regulations attached, point one and point two.

[00:24:49] Point three was developed at the time back in June, May and June of 2022, and was reviewed and given feedback from SEAC. But that staff never finalized with the Office of School Administration and the Office of Special Education that regulation to actually have it uploaded as a regulation to existing policy.

[00:25:11] So what we're doing is going to ensure that happens as well as complete the process by deleting policy 5-55. All right, and then I guess we'll move to the new item, new business.

[00:25:30] I have a new business item. It's just the next meeting is scheduled for June 15th. Is there a possibility? No, I should have a possibility. We have to move it. I wouldn't be here on June 15th. Can we move that to the next week if that's something we can check it back with Ms. Okedekbe and Ms. Sheridan?

[00:25:48] to see if the next week that they have any options available to meet, perhaps. That's all. Anything else? Nothing? So no further than your business. We can adjourn the meeting. Thank you, everybody.

[00:26:05] Thank you. To the Douglas School inauguration on Sunday.

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