Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, 2nd Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 6h 5m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/835924197?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 2026-10-20. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:58] Good afternoon. I call to order this second Tuesday school board meeting of the London County School Board on June 13th, 2023. We'll begin with item 102 on the agenda, remote participation. I've been notified that Ms. Corbo would like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting. Ms. Corbo, please state your location, whether this is a medical or personal matter, and if anyone is present with you at your location. Thank you. I'm at my daughter's.

[00:01:27] I'm alone, and I'm asking for remote participation due to an ongoing ADA-approved disability and medical condition. At this time, I will entertain a motion that Ms. Corbo's request to participate remotely for a medical matter be granted. It does not appear that any board member present is going to make that motion.

[00:01:50] Ms. Corbo, would you like to request remote participation due to a personal matter? I'm requesting remote participation for personal medical reasons should suffice under policy 2420 and ADA law. So, no, thank you. Okay, thank you.

[00:02:08] With that, we'll move to item three on the agenda. No, I'm sorry, we'll move to item two on the agenda, disclosures, starting with Ms. Sheridan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:02:34] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.

[00:02:52] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda, regarding budget and/or health insurance and related benefits, and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:14] Specifically, my spouse is an LCPS employee, and either my spouse or I may be eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which my wife and I are included.

[00:03:32] I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Thank you. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the School Board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:57] Specifically, I am enrolled in LCPS health insurance and may be affected by any potential changes to health insurance. These subjects include thousands of employees, while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest.

[00:04:14] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. We will now move to item three on the agenda, the approval of the consent agenda. I move to approve the June 13th consent agenda as posted in board docs.

[00:04:31] - Second. - Seconded by Ms. Sheridan. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. That motion will pass unanimously. Board members present with Mehedivi, Corbo, Polivko, and Okedekby absent for the vote. We'll now begin our work session, starting with 401, the 1LCPS 2027 Strategic Plan for Excellence, Goal 3 Update.

[00:04:59] Thank you, Mr. Tarotkin. I'm going to ask Principal Robert Carter, Kevin Lewis, and Aaron Smith to come to the microphones in the front. And I believe Principal Carter is going to kick us off with a Goal 3 update. Following that, we have a Goal 4 update for you.

[00:05:21] Good afternoon, Chair Sorotkin and school board members. We are excited to be here to share updates on the Goal 3 progress on the strategic plan. My name is Robert Carter, and I am the proud principal of Banneker Elementary School. I am joined by my Goal 3 co-chairs, Aaron Smith, Chief Technology Officer, and Kevin Lewis, Chief Operations Officer.

[00:05:47] Goal 3 focuses on ensuring that we have an enriched division through aligned culture, straightforward communication, and safe and productive learning environments. This slide provides you with a visual of those three aligned actions I just mentioned.

[00:06:12] Thank you. I'll be talking about 3.1 aligned action. Before we begin, please note that you have all four attachments and board docs, which is back online now, that provide greater detail on the data, accomplishments, and upcoming events for each aligned action. Aligned Action 3.1 contains four strategies that are grounded in promoting a clear and consistent division culture that strives for continuous improvement.

[00:06:39] Data for the annual Family Stakeholder Survey will be available in August of 2023. And this was a baseline year for our Auditor General to establish and implement the audit universe. So you can see both of those represented in this slide. As another update, we have a number of systems and processes that are tightly coupled throughout the division to promote cultural alignment.

[00:07:04] This slide here showcased MTSS, or multi-tiered systems of support, and speak about the rollout of that system-wide, and speak to the implementation, the enterprise-wide data systems, the practices throughout technology, student services, and instruction, and kind of alignment across the division, just to give an example of some aligned culture initiatives.

[00:07:23] As a foundational element toward cultural alignment and improved data literacy, the data governance team this year was expanded and specific roles identified.

[00:07:39] Additionally, courses were provided by the National Center of Educational Statistics, NCES, and are included in mandatory training each year for staff so they can understand the importance of data quality, data ethics, and authoritative source of data. Also in straightforward communication, references LEAF, MSAC, and SEAC as advisory groups.

[00:08:02] And they're examples of external listening structures. Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, we would begin collecting data for external and internal listening structures within LCPS departments. MSAC, as you know, is the Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee, is dedicated to partnering with Loudoun County Public Schools, parents, and the community to acknowledge and promote the needs of minority students.

[00:08:23] MSAC is also dedicated to building a school system that is culturally and socially competent and positioned to provide fair and equitable learning experiences for all students. LEAF is the Loudoun Education Alliance of Families. It is an advisory voice for parents to elevate educational concerns and provide feedback to the board on current and proposed policies or issues facing the board. And SEAC is the Special Education Advisory Committee, and the primary role is to advise the school board on unmet needs of special education students. SEAC is composed of 21 members who are parents and at least one educator

[00:08:57] who volunteer their time for the community. Aligned Action 3.2 focuses on straightforward communication. The central theme, as you can see by the strategies listed on this slide, is standardizing and coordinating division-wide internal and external communication practices.

[00:09:17] This slide showcases the data elements regarding straightforward communication through May the 31st, 2023. Note that parent usage of Schoology has increased, along with the traffic to the lcps.org website.

[00:09:38] The CCO team stopped by Banneker Elementary School to interview teachers and staff, including myself, regarding division-level communication practices, tools of engagement, as well as trust of leadership at all division levels. They asked the following three questions.

[00:09:57] How is division-level information and news communicated to you? Why is it important to hear from division leadership? And why is it important that they visit your school in your classroom? And finally, tell us about the division-level communication tools that you use and how they benefit you.

[00:10:14] Watch this video to hear their answers.

[00:10:38] We as teachers receive a lot of emails every day and it's really nice as we get those emails from the county to see that LCPS banner come through to say, okay, this is going to be an important one. Pay attention to this one. I get information from the S'more newsletter. I've been really impressed with the superintendent's use of S'more and its motivation for me to use S'more.

[00:10:59] Our families benefit from S'more here at our school. I try to model it after what the division does, so it's graphically appealing and the translation feature allows me to appeal to lots of different families. Hitting that accessibility tab allows me to reach out to many other families within our community here.

[00:11:20] So usually I check my email and I'll get information through my email and I'll read newsletters like the superintendent's newsletter. It's cool to see the different places that he's visiting. I also read the computer science newsletter, science social studies newsletter, and a lot of times they'll feature different schools and I'll get ideas of different things that I could do in my classroom.

[00:11:42] If I'm looking for information, I'll use the LCPS website and it's great how they've made it so uniform from the main website to the schools and so I can easily hop between the websites and get the information that I'm looking for. I'm also part of the principal's advisory committee, so a group of principals that represent different clusters within division.

[00:12:03] Decision makers, and kind of on the first line of getting information, but also figuring out the best way to disseminate that information. When important people come to visit us, like Chantel Simon and the school board members that made their way out here, I feel like it does make us feel validated.

[00:12:28] And I appreciate when they come into our rooms and see all the great things that we're doing. And I think the students appreciate it as well. - So we've had people from Department of Instruction, we've had folks from transportation services, food services here, superintendent, and other cabinet members out here.

[00:12:44] And I think that when you go to a school board meeting after being at Banneker, and you get to talk specifically about small schools, you have a good knowledge of what you're talking about if you walk through the hallways of Anneke.

[00:13:03] We communicate through ParentVue and the StudentVue apps. Some of our students are using StudentVue, which is amazing. They sometimes know their grades before their parents do by looking them up. We use PermissionClick, which is a great tool for field trip permissions, but it's also just a great tool for anything that we want to put out there that requires a written permission.

[00:13:23] - So I communicate to parents through Phoenix. It's nice, I can just go into the grade book. I could click on the parents, or I could do the whole class if I want, and I could just send them a message right through the gradebook, and I get an email confirmation through Outlook saying that, yes, we received the email.

[00:13:41] And when the parents do send an email, it automatically goes to my Outlook account, and it has the heading on it from the Phoenix that I sent out. I also use Schoology. I post assignments in Schoology, and it's been very helpful this year because half my class is special education, and so in their IEPs, They have audio accommodation, and so Schoology has an immersive reader, and so I've been using that a lot so that it can read aloud to my students.

[00:14:06] I like that we have such a variety of tools that we can use, so it really plays to whatever the need is at the time, whether it's s'more or sending out a remind message kind of at that last minute before an event here at Banneker. I plan a lot of extracurricular activities, and one of them is Camp Read-A-Lot, and so So sending that information out through SMORE school-wide and having that translation feature so that everyone could feel included in that communication was important.

[00:14:34] But then having that remind feature to be able to, you know, it's coming, it's coming, be ready, just to keep everybody abreast of what's going on is really, really nice, too. Good evening, everyone.

[00:15:02] I'm going to talk to you about our Line to Action 3.3, which is Safe, Productive Learning Environments. and that includes things such as the physical learning space as well as safety and security of our schools and our campuses as a whole. The data you see on this slide, we start talking about item 3.3A where we are looking for to increase our responses on our annual survey, which we don't have the answers to that yet or the responses to that yet, so that'll be available in August of 23.

[00:15:31] 3.3B, we talk about the rubric for a safe, productive learning environment. You'll see things there like critical building systems technology within lifecycle all these things are meeting those expectations that we had for the year you see the in the circle you see the baseline and I'm sorry I said expectation but we have the baseline and then the actual which are in alignment at this point with exception of the athletic infrastructure which we have exceeded that by 3% and so we'll keep track of those things and you'll see here on the next slide I think where we talk about the places

[00:16:07] where we still need information for this summer if you want to go to the next slide there you go so one of the things we have for our energy use indicator is that that baseline is still where it is today we're going to have some improvements in all these projects we have a lot of projects underway this summer and so you'll see that some of these numbers will change as an example there you see the solar arrays schools eligible for solar arrays is 14 and our actual was only 10 that's because we have four of those projects underway this summer. So by fall, we will be able to give an update and share that those have met those goals and we're well on our way to do that. I will report on 3.3E in the bottom left. You'll see

[00:16:47] our on-time percentage for the AM. This is transportation for the AM stayed at 99%, but we actually increased a little bit for the afternoon runs from 88 to 90%. On the right-hand side, you'll see there, these are our rubric for our safety and security, our walk-through of our schools for safety measures the green bar indicates what the the current the baseline was the yellow bars or what we anticipate will also be done by the by this summer so you'll see we anticipate by the end of the summer with some of the classrooms the work we have planned this summer that those will meet those

[00:17:22] goals and increase up to the point where you see in the yellow bars to show the the effects of work over the summer so the next slide is just some illustrations of those things with our on the left you see there we've added Technology upgrades include motorized rear projection screens, sound racks, and the 360 sound sphere in the top of the classroom.

[00:17:45] You see a couple different versions of that. And so those things are underway at a number of our schools. On the next slide, you'll see some photographs of our solar arrays at Discovery, Weller, and Catoctin Elementary Schools, as well as some of the middle school sound booth upgrades in the auditoriums for those performances there.

[00:18:04] And then the next slide is talking about, we've had a number of conversations here with the board related to our restroom project. This is the pilot program that we're working on on five of our schools to bring our schools into a better situation where we can provide privacy, restrooms and individual stalls, single use stalls for our restrooms.

[00:18:24] As we noted, that project is underway. We will have those online by the second semester of next year. And then we also have some of those projects that are just the technology only. Some of these are renovations and technology, and then we'll have some of their technology for more schools.

[00:18:41] The last page, we just took an opportunity to share some of our work we've done, that our learning environments are always enhanced with local and tangible history. And so we have a couple of projects that exhibit that, of course, the Douglas School that's recently finished.

[00:18:58] And then as you saw just a few minutes ago in a video, we're planning one at Banneker Elementary as well. And so those things we think have a great impact in our productive learning environments. And with that, that is the extent of our slides and we're happy to take any questions you may have.

[00:19:16] - Board members, questions regarding the presentation? Mr. Beatty. - Thank you, Chair. So, Mr. Smith, going back to the video, there was a mention about the emails that go out and one of the comments made was how the teacher was very happy that there's like a nice banner on the emails and stuff.

[00:19:35] And then further on, there was a talk about using S'more as another way to send emails. Is there a way that we're unifying those where, I mean, I guess if you know that it's just coming from two services, maybe that's unification. But what are we doing visually to brand that this is actually still an LCPS email? Because, you know, Blackboard, not everyone can sign up for it.

[00:19:52] But SMORE, I believe anyone can sign up for it. Anyone can send something. So how are we kind of protecting the integrity, if you will, of communications that are going out through that platform? So for that question, I think if Ms. Sahlgren is available to answer it, I'll toss it over to her as the communications and community outreach team manages those tools.

[00:20:12] Thank you, Aaron. Yes, I'm happy to take that question. S'more is fully customizable, so we do include the LCPS logo, or schools include their logo when they do send out S'more newsletters, and those colors are consistent, the fonts are consistent, and we do have a dedicated banner in Blackboard that gets replicated at the bottom of the S'more newsletter.

[00:20:34] So we do try to maintain that consistently across those platforms. Okay, thank you. So this is a service that LCPS is paying for and providing for the teachers then? is that correct yes more is available for schools to have accounts and at the division level so all schools have accounts and more than one person in the school can use them okay and then what is the protection against someone else signing up for a s'more account taking all of our logos and graphics and colors and things which are all going to be available and then trying to send out communications basically impersonating lcps so the s'more accounts are controlled by our office

[00:21:12] and they're only accessible by an lcps.org email so for use through s'more through our accounts, we'd keep a pretty tight rein on that. I can talk with the vendor to see if there's any additional protections, if you're interested in that, and take that as a question. Sure, and really I'm looking at sort of the phishing angle where someone, again, not using an LCPS account, but using their own Gmail or Yahoo account or something, trying to send emails saying this is LCPS and perhaps we've closed schools, that kind of communication.

[00:21:42] Yeah, if you could bring that up, that'd be wonderful. Additional questions? I have one regarding for some of the metrics that were provided. For example, I believe the baseline goal for athletic infrastructure within lifecycle is 93%.

[00:22:00] We're overachieving on that. We're current as 96%. And then in the other direction, we want to have 14 eligible schools have a solar array, actual as 10. So in one case, we're over. The other one, we're under. But my question for both is the same.

[00:22:16] I have a good grasp of what current state is, but I'm not sure I know what the plan is going forward to either meet or get to 100% or to whatever the goal is. So I think the answer is going to be the CIP once we get there, but the current format of the CIP would not provide that detail as it relates to our strategic plan goals.

[00:22:42] So I wanted to understand what the plan for that is and how that will be communicated for the board. Sure. So as I mentioned a minute ago, some of these projects are underway. And so like the solar panels, we will meet that goal by the end of the summer. And when we give the next update, we'll be happy to provide what the targets were in addition to what the baseline and the actual is.

[00:23:03] And so I think the targets do share that, and that's in that separate document. So we can certainly do that and make sure that's in the presentation. Sure. I'll just follow. Like for the athletic infrastructure, for example, like, okay, we're at 96%. That's great. We're over our goal.

[00:23:18] we're on track for that. But I would like to understand, okay, what's the other 4%? And when will we get to 100%? Or what's the plan for doing projects at those schools? So I know I could, once we get to CIP season, I can look at there and kind of get my magnifying glass out and look at the tables and see when all of the projects are related to athletic infrastructure. But if there could be a consolidated list of, okay, here are all the things that are out of compliance and what the five-year plan is for addressing those, that's what I'm looking for. That's what I think would be useful. Yeah, that's actually very helpful. We appreciate that comment because that

[00:23:55] will help us develop the CIP presentation in the book itself, and so we'll make sure that we add a section or a chapter or so to address the strategic plan and where we stand with that so it is clearly marked. That's a good idea, and we'll make sure we do that. Okay, thank you. Any additional questions or comments? Okay, Goal 3 team, thank you again for your update and look forward to seeing you again in a couple months, and we'll go ahead and

[00:24:21] transition to goal 4. Give Erin a minute to pull up our presentation. Chair Sorotkin and school board members, we're delighted to be here this evening to share our progress on goal 4 of the one LCPS strategic plan for excellence. Our shared vision, mission, and core beliefs guide our collective work as one LCPS. We're on the next slide now. Thank you, Erin.

[00:25:26] We place students at the center of our work, helping every student pursue and reach their full potential and empowering them to make meaningful contributions to the world. Our discussion this evening is centered around goal 4 which focuses on an engaged community it states that parents families and our community must be a support guide ally and partner there is no one more deeply invested in the success of students than their

[00:26:01] families next slide goal 4 has three aligned actions as you can see illustrated on this slide posted in board docs you'll also find additional information on the accomplishments and targets as usual tonight to present updates on Goal 4, I'm joined by Renee Dawson to my far left, Assistant Director, Career and Technical Education, Computer Science, and Community Connections, who will cover Aligned Action 4.2, and Ombuds Carrie Williams, who will cover Aligned Action 4.3, Trust Building and Dialogue.

[00:26:38] On the next slides, we'll provide accomplishments and next steps for each Aligned Action, starting with family engagement. 4.1, this aligned action focuses on deepening relationships with LCPS families by offering opportunities for community conversation.

[00:26:54] The strategies listed here are well underway, and tonight we report on data where available and accomplishments toward this goal. The data for family engagement reflects concentrated efforts by the working group and teams focused on improving LCPS families' experiences.

[00:27:15] Goal 4.1a will be reported when available in August, you'll see that data then. Goal 4.1b to expand family access to translated materials and services has exceeded goal with a 58% increase in the number of translations over last year's actuals and a 39% increase over this year's goal.

[00:27:38] Goal 4.1c, increasing family participation in family and community engagement, or FACE events was set as at an ambitious forty six percent increase in family participation this year over last year we're happy to report that robust communications outreach and strategic planning generated a total of eighteen hundred and forty attendees nearly three hundred and sixty percent of goal the team will be working to re-level next year's goals in light of these outstanding results in addition the face office holds school-based events led by

[00:28:13] EL teachers or family liaisons. Currently, 27 schools offer these parents as educational partners or PEP programs, which are also set to expand next year. But when we talk about family engagement, no matter what the numbers say, it is our student and family stories that really bring the work to life. To help demonstrate the impact of the expanded work in this area of family engagement, I'd like to introduce you to Ms. Lisette Carrillo. Am I far right? Ms. Carrillo has attended face events over the last two years. In fact, she's never missed one. We've invited her to tell us

[00:28:51] how these events have helped her support her students' education, and her family is joining us also immediately behind me in the first row. Our family engagement, our family and community engagement coordinator, Sarah Ocampo, will join her to translate her story for you.

[00:29:12] Good afternoon. My name is Lisette Carrillo. I live in Ashburn. I'm married and have one child in elementary, one in middle school, and one in high school.

[00:29:31] Tuve la gran oportunidad de conocer sobre el programa FACE a través de una publicación de las escuelas públicas de London. I had the great opportunity to know about the FACE program through a publication from LCPS called Peach Jar. Una sesión con este grupo maravilloso que conforma FACE me educó sobre el sistema escolar del cual mis hijos participan en sus escuelas.

[00:29:55] One particular session with this wonderful FACE group educated me about the school system that my children participate in. El conocer mejor sobre estas oportunidades que hay en la educación de las escuelas públicas de London fortalece mis expectativas en el desarrollo de la educación de mis hijos en el éxito que van a tener si se esfuerzan y aprovechan lo que LSPS tiene para los estudiantes.

[00:30:21] Knowing about the opportunities that exist in LCPS strengthens my expectations about the educational development of my children, the success they will have if they make an effort and take advantage of all that LCPS has to offer its students. Los programas de FACE en la sala familiar me enseñaron a que yo, una madre de dos niños y una adolescente, vea la importancia que es estar bien informado y lo fundamental de hacer un seguimiento al proceso del aprendizaje que tienen mis hijos durante su educación escolar.

[00:30:55] The FACE program through the family room taught me that I, as a mother of two children and one teenager, can see the importance of being well informed and how fundamental it is to do a follow-up to the learning process that my children receive throughout their educational journey.

[00:31:10] Este programa de la sala familiar me ha motivado a través de sucesiones de información bilingüe a confiar en los programas de educación que tiene el condado, que son muy buenos. A valorar el tiempo y dedicación que mis hijos hacen en la escuela, porque ahora conozco en detalle y es extraordinario y brillante.

[00:31:33] The family room, through its various bilingual sessions, have motivated me to trust the educational programs in the county, which are very good, and to treasure the time and dedication that my children spend at school. I think the family room is brilliant. Additionally, the sessions I attend are recorded in English and in Spanish, which allows me to return and listen to the valuable content that I learn in every session.

[00:32:03] Additionally, the sessions I attend are recorded in English and Spanish and allow me to go back and watch the valuable content that I learn in every session.

[00:32:24] What I've learned through FACE, I have brought back to share with my family, to encourage and motivate my children to study. This has helped everyone at my home. FACE is a blessing. A través de la ayuda de la sala familiar y como padres, podemos fomentar a que nuestros hijos identifiquen sus intereses y talentos.

[00:32:46] Ahora están más creativos, motivados y tienen más confianza en sí mismos. Through the help from the family room and as parents, we can now encourage our children to identify their interests, their talents. Now I see that they're more creative and more motivated and to trust themselves more.

[00:33:04] Gracias por permitirme compartir mis experiencias y felicitar al Comité Escolar por apoyar este programa. Thank you for allowing me to share my experiences, and I congratulate the school board for supporting this program. Thank you. Next slide.

[00:33:27] Thank you very much for sharing your story and for being here with us tonight. I have one more slide before I turn it over to my colleague. In addition to the increase in access to translations and participation in family engagement events, Action 4.1 includes updating and streamlining resources and information for those families new to LCPS to improve their experience.

[00:33:49] The LCPS Welcome Center is now following families throughout their life cycle experience and gathering robust feedback, allowing for continuous improvement from initial contact through the transition to schools. This year, the team followed 102 families through the process, reaching out to families in an initial survey, mid-quarterly, and exit phone calls, achieving a 50% response rate to the 200 families that started the year in the first semester alone.

[00:34:17] Where there were gaps identified in their experience, follow-up is in place, and ongoing improvements continue with the relocation of the Welcome Center to the easily accessible historic Douglas High School Education and Development campus this month. Here you see a testimonial from each phase of the research process.

[00:34:35] The first quote reads, "Yes, congratulations, and thank you very much because you make it possible for us to open new paths for our sons and daughters. Thank you. May God bless you for your good work. Now I will turn it over to Renee Dawson, Assistant Director of CTE CSNCC, to present an update on Goal 4.2. Thank you.

[00:35:00] Aligned Action 4.2 is grounded in LCPS, strengthening existing and creating new business and community partnerships as you can see on this slide some of our strategies include expanding recognizing and promoting business partnerships so that we can provide our students with real world experiences to advance the lcps profile of a graduate next slide please we will measure our

[00:35:34] progress and effectiveness of the strategies using the targets set through 2027. In 4.2a, the metric focuses on increasing the number of business and community partnerships that have active relationships with LCPS schools. Last year, LCPS reported a grand total of 390 business partnerships, which did not include all of our school's data. Thanks to our work on the strategic plan, our collaboration allows us to take a closer look at our collection methods

[00:36:12] and communicate better across the offices and schools in order to more accurately collect this data. For school year 22-23, we have a grand total of 833 business partnerships. Next year, we will focus some of our efforts on re-engaging our inactive partnerships and will be working to re-level next year's targets in light of these results. In metric 4.2B, the metric focuses on increasing the percentage of students participating in extended learning opportunities with business

[00:36:52] partners. Beginning year data reported showed only career and technical education courses that have required work-based learning. Current year data will be finalized in the early fall. In addition, this is our baseline year for compiling optional extended learning opportunities for students in other content areas.

[00:37:19] Examples may include work-based learning, job shadowing, internships, apprenticeships, or mentorships. We have some highlights of these students as they have worked through the year to apply their learning to make meaningful contributions to the world.

[00:37:36] So we have a video to show you. The Academy is a lot, and our students make meaningful contributions to the world in the field of STEM. One way students are able to extend their learning is through experiential learning opportunities, which provides them the chance to explore careers, research and discover new possibilities, collaborate with others on a professional level, and introduce innovation to industry.

[00:38:03] What I love about this work is that students are not seeking out these extended learning opportunities because they're required to, but students are motivated because they want to apply their learning to the world around them. My name is Sydney Nguyen. I'm in 11th grade and I'm in the AET program.

[00:38:19] I am a digital marketing intern for TextP2P. Through TextP2P, businesses can sign up and they can send out text marketing campaigns or email marketing campaigns and even ring voicemails to their customers. Through my work-based learning, mainly focus on digital marketing.

[00:38:36] So I do social media, blog writing, and other things like that for TextP2P. through this internship and this work-based learning experience, I've been able to learn about the specifics of working in the real world with marketing and digital marketing especially. Hi, my name is Grant Schaefer. I'm the supervisor of Community Connections for Loudoun County Public Schools. I work with the School Business Partnership Executive Council as the liaison.

[00:38:59] One of our main focus points is Job for a Day, which is a career shadowing opportunity for juniors and seniors. So non-profits, business leaders, and places like VentureX Coworking Space host students to learn more about jobs and careers that would be of interest to them. For the fall of 2022, we had 46 businesses, non-profits, and foundations host 362 juniors and seniors from 16 high schools. We love that number, but part of Goal 4's strategy is to keep it growing and increase our number of business and community partners that are offering opportunities for our students.

[00:39:35] My name is Tyler Kloitz. I am a MATA student, and I'm currently doing the two-year welding program. I went on an internship through the Academies of Loudoun, and I worked at a company called Baker Equipment and Materials. I was an apprentice welder, so apprentice welders are mainly tasked with material preparation and small, short welding, not very structural things.

[00:39:58] I knew about the internship program as a first-year student. went and interviewed for a job opportunity there with a recommendation from my teacher and I was able to easily get through that application process. My name is Sebastian Demeglio, 11th grade. I'm in the MADA program in welding. Northrop Grumman came in one day and presented us an opportunity for a two-year apprenticeship over the summer and that same day I went in for an interview and so I'll be at the Dulles Space Innovation Center this summer and next summer hopefully and then go to a two-year welding program after that. Well my official title is going to be an integration and test technician

[00:40:38] and I'll be shadowing and assisting other test technicians on the spacecraft satellites or any other government missions that Northrop Grumman is pursuing at the Space Innovation Center. My name My name is William Kroll. I'm a sophomore and I'm in AET Engineering Pathway.

[00:40:56] I participated in the Virginia Space Coast Scholars, or VSCS, which is offered by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. I'll be going to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Campus for a week in the summer, and there I will collaborate with people that work at Wallops Island, and we'll visit Wallops Island and we'll see all the cool facilities.

[00:41:15] With a group, we're going to complete a big project where we have to design some sort of mission. I don't know that much about it yet, but I think I'll learn more once I get there. I hope to make some connections with other people that have the same interests or that are already in the industry. And I wanna learn more about how space travel works and the technologies involved.

[00:41:33] - So I'm Bin Nguyen. I'm a junior here at the Academies of Loudoun, and I'm part of the AET program. I am the CMO of Minvest, an investing research company designed by Gen Z for Gen Z. And to get through our work, we had to get interns to help us do our projects and help develop our app and company as well.

[00:41:51] Usually when you're in an internship, you're usually the one being interned, but now being on the mentorship side, there's a lot of things I had to learn personally, learning how to interview interns, learning how to manage interns. I think learning through all that was both interesting, new, but definitely fun throughout the process.

[00:42:08] - The biggest piece of advice that I think I would give is just to be proactive and search for opportunities. See what options there are and see what you want to do and try to do as much as possible. Take advantage of the opportunities around you, especially here at the academies. We have our placement coordinator, and then we have the school G group, and we have posters everywhere for different things, and engineering week too.

[00:42:29] There's lots of opportunities, so definitely take advantage of what you can find. Try to go out of your comfort zone because you never know what you're going to find out there. Now I'd like to turn it over to Carrie Williams.

[00:42:52] Thank you. Aligned Action Item 4.3 is grounded in LCPS's expanding opportunities to involve community stakeholders and making key decisions for LCPS, improving access to information via enhanced transparency in budget and policy, as well as increasing investment in language services.

[00:43:12] As you can see on this slide, some of our strategies include involving community stakeholders in key decisions and enhancing community access to information. Next slide, please. Aligned Action Item 4.3 has three associated metrics.

[00:43:28] 4.3a, which is the Net Promoter Score, NPS, is a newly established metric and data will be available in August. Metric 4.3b is also in the baseline year and while the end of year data will be updated after June 30th, the Ombuds reports 196 visitor contacts as of May 31st.

[00:43:49] Metric 4.3c is based upon the amount of time it takes to close dialogues in the Client Management System. As of May 19th, the average response time takes 4.5 days. Next slide, please. One of the strategies that we would like to highlight under Aligned Action 4.3 is the recent community listening sessions.

[00:44:10] As you are aware, the Acting Superintendent, along with each of you, provided nine opportunities this spring to continue to build trust with the constituents through open dialogue. Over 300 parents, students, employees, and community members attended these sessions along with senior staff members and were given the opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, receive responses directly from Dr. Smith and board members these events have received positive feedback and summary information will be posted online in coming weeks Dr. Smith shared that he enjoyed the many opportunities to speak with constituents in a smaller setting to directly hear their questions concerns

[00:44:49] and feedback and have the opportunity to highlight and clarify division priorities now I would like to turn it over to Dr. Ellis to provide us with an overview of the one LCPS reporting structure to the school board next slide please thank you we wanted to end with some an overview of our draft plans for reporting out on the strategic plan for the coming school year so based on feedback from individual board members and staff and the spice committee we've drafted this reporting structure we've heard throughout this year that we perhaps do not need as many updates throughout the coming school year as

[00:45:29] we've had this year in the first year of implementation while they're valuable in this first year as we're setting the stage. We think this reporting structure may be more valuable in the future. So we are currently planning on two reports in the September-October time frame. First, we will share metrics around Goal 1 as part of our annual fall academic and student achievement data presentation and other metrics related to Goal 1.

[00:45:54] As you know, there is a lot of data connected to Goal 1, so that will be a standalone presentation. And then we will have a separate presentation that combines updates on Goals 2, 3, and 4. Moving to later in the calendar year, in the November-December time frame, we want to make sure that we celebrate the work that this board has done to move LCPS forward with our strategic plan, as well as provide an overview to any new board members elected for the term that will start in January.

[00:46:24] And then as we move into the new calendar year, in January of 2024, we will likely plan a board retreat to get board members up to speed on the new strategic plan, and we'll do a mid-year update publicly on all of the goals. Finally, at the end of the 23-24 school year, we plan to do one single progress update, again, on all four strategic plan goals. So we hope this streamlined process will help keep the work moving forward, and with that, I will turn it back over to Mr.

[00:46:53] Sorotkin, and the Goal 4 team is here to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you, Dr. Ellis, and thank you to the Goal 4 team for the update. Board members, any questions regarding the presentation? Mr. Morse.

[00:47:08] Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to compliment the team because I think that this, more than anything, is showing the ability to reach into the community and to solicit the response. Having the parents here presenting in Spanish is wonderful.

[00:47:25] I mean, it's finally dawning on us that we can engage so much more when we can reach out to all of the community. Having the students, interviewing them, seeing what they're working on. That dialogue needs to continue and needs to improve.

[00:47:41] But I think we've come miles, and I'm very pleased to see the progress made on this. Thank you. Ms. Weezer. Thank you. I also want to thank the parent and your family for being here today to speak with us. I wanted to follow up with Ms. Saugren about the translation and the translation buttons.

[00:47:59] And thank you for including that in the slideshow. It was really helpful to see where to start. How are we communicating that to our schools and our families that that is available on the district's homepage? Could you repeat the end of the question?

[00:48:15] How are we communicating that translation is available on the homepage? The translation button that is available for all of our webpages and all the multiple drop-down languages in that menu, How have we or do we plan to communicate to our families that that is available?

[00:48:32] Absolutely. It is on the top right, and it is a simple drop-down menu, so it should be readily apparent, and especially if people are reading on a mobile device in their native language, the translate button would already be in their native language and would be easy to spot. I don't know if you, Sarah, if FACE also directs people to that service.

[00:48:52] Yes, during the family room, we do direct folks to visit the website and point out the translate button. And I believe we've also shared that with schools and our school visits as well. Is that something that we could think about maybe with back to school diet or the start of the school year, more of a consistent global campaign to let people know?

[00:49:13] Because I do still get questions about that and I've passed them on to you and you've been very helpful in helping me help constituents. But I think it's such a fabulous resource. And if we could maybe think about how to socialize that with the beginning of the next school year, I think we could get a lot more mileage out of it.

[00:49:33] Yeah, I appreciate that suggestion, and I think it's a good one. Well, especially when we run families through the first day process, when they re-register and fill out all their annual paperwork, we could absolutely include that and call it to their attention. That would be a great start. Thanks very much, and thanks for all of your work on this to the whole team.

[00:49:52] Board members any additional questions? Seeing none. Thank you. Thank you again for the update. We really appreciate it. Next we have 403 from the Department of Instruction Access to Literacy for All update. Turn it over to Dr. Ellis and team.

[00:50:13] hey good afternoon again so this afternoon I am joined by Catherine Neal our supervisor of early literacy and elementary reading and writing for an update on our access to literacy for all project so we last spoke to you as a full board in December and then we've had a couple of updates in the CNI

[00:50:51] committee in February and March and so we thought it was time for another board update regarding things that have happened over the course of this year plans for the summer and moving forward so I will turn it over to miss Neal thank you dr. Ellis good afternoon today I will provide an update to the access for literacy for all project we've been working diligently throughout the year to make changes and adjustments to our elementary literacy program in order to align to evidence-based literacy practices and the Virginia Literacy Act

[00:51:28] We can go to the next slide, thank you. This slide provides a high-level overview of some of the accomplishments related to literacy instruction over the past few years. We wanted to provide you with a summary of our work to date, but I'll touch on these items later in the presentation as well.

[00:51:52] As we've shared before, this year we've offered Letters, Volume 1, for elementary staff members. And as a reminder, Letters stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, it's a professional development course that our teachers have been engaged in.

[00:52:08] We had over 700 teachers enroll this year, and they've been finishing up their letters work actually this week. In addition to Volume 1, we also provided letters for administrators, training to all elementary principals and assistant principals.

[00:52:25] All principals and reading teachers participated in multiple professional learning sessions with the National Center on Improving Literacy, also known as INSUL. These sessions focused on identifying best practices within literacy instruction that is based in the science of reading.

[00:52:43] Time with NSL was also spent identifying what high-quality instruction looks like in the elementary classroom. To support this ongoing work, we have deployed our team of ELA instructional facilitators to all elementary schools. ELA instructional facilitators provide coaching around literacy instruction, modeling, support with resources, and much more.

[00:53:07] In the fall of last year, we held a full resource adoption process. After a careful review of the publishers who responded to our RFP, we provided a recommendation to the school board in December, and our recommendation was that we move forward with the adoption of McGraw-Hill Wonders.

[00:53:25] The board voted unanimously to pause the adoption process until the state board has provided more guidance on approved curriculum resources. Though we are waiting for the approved list from the VDOE, We also know our efforts towards improving literacy practices within LCPS must continue.

[00:53:46] This past school year, we released the Streamline Guidance for Literacy Instruction, which provides clear and concise guidelines for teachers to support their literacy instruction. We continued with our implementation of Hegarty materials in all K-2 classrooms to support phonemic awareness instruction.

[00:54:05] As we all know, literacy instruction cannot happen in a silo, and so true literacy instruction must be done in collaboration to ensure collective vision and direction moving forward this year we have been very intentional about our collaboration with other key stakeholders and offices the teams and offices that you see on the screen meet regularly to discuss elementary literacy practices and how each of our roles can collectively support this work go the next slide please this year we also shared that we will be removing the use of the dra3

[00:54:43] in all elementary schools. We know that the DRA-3 does not support the science of reading research that we know is best for our students. In its absence, we have provided guidance to schools on how to use the existing data points, such as the data points from MAP assessments, PALS, or our new literacy screen or VALS, to provide reading levels on report cards.

[00:55:07] As we continue moving forward with explicit instruction for literacy, we have removed the units of study for phonics for elementary schools. Next year, all elementary schools will be implementing UFLY foundations. UFLY stands for the University of Florida Literacy Institute.

[00:55:25] This program comes highly rated with considerable research supporting student growth. Some of our elementary schools have implemented the program this year and have shared very positive feedback from teachers and considerable growth for students.

[00:55:42] Finally, our ELA instructional facilitator team has created a series of three professional learning offerings on the best practices with literacy instruction, the difference between balanced and structured literacy, and unpacking literacy SOLs. All schools have been required to engage in these professional learning opportunities, and they will continue to be offered throughout next school year. On May 11th, the State Board of Education held a special meeting. During this meeting, the VDOE presented the recommended core instructional program guide. The current

[00:56:20] version outlines recommendations for those publishers who submitted for cycle 1. Just as a brief reminder, 13 core resources were submitted for cycle 1. 10 of those resources were passed from phase 1 into phase 2. Of those 10 that were evaluated during phase 2, only 8 titles have made it through to the instructional program guide. I'd like to emphasize that the VDOE is referring to this as a partial list. The reason for that being additional programs may still be added throughout this process. And resource providers have

[00:56:57] opportunities to appeal and submit additional materials for review. Some resources have been approved for K-2, while others have been approved for K-3. We were excited to see that both McGraw Hill Wonders and HMH Interreading were on the final approved list for this cycle, along with other high-quality titles. This guide is undergoing a 30-day public review. During that time, the publishers included in this guide have provided public access to view their resources. More information can be found on the VDOE website. On June 15th, later this week, the State Board of

[00:57:36] Education will vote to approve this guide. I mentioned briefly that this guide outlined cycle one, which focuses strictly on grades kindergarten through third grade. Cycle two will review, cycle two review will begin over the summer. This cycle will focus on instructional materials for grades four through five, as well as supplemental and intervention materials that will span a variety of grade levels kindergarten through eighth grade. Publishers may submit appeals and additional publishers who would like to include resources for the K-3 list

[00:58:12] may also have materials reviewed during cycle two. The VDOE has an anticipated release date for this second guide for january february 2024 so what does this mean for lcps starting in the fall we will begin a resource adoption process that is focused on identifying a kindergarten through second grade resource once the additional list is released in january february of 2024 we will undergo a resource adoption process for grades three through five we know that our literacy needs

[00:58:48] vary greatly between our youngest students and our upper elementary students. Therefore, we will use the VDOE options to recommend the resources that best meet those needs. This plan will ensure that we have approved resources in place by the fall of 2024. In addition to our resource list, the VDOE has outlined professional learning expectations for reading specialists. In a previous update, I shared that the role of reading specialists will be shifting. With the Virginia Literacy Act, reading specialists will be mostly interventionists within their

[00:59:28] buildings. We know that the VLA will have strict requirements for monitoring student progress and a portion of that will be reading intervention plans. Reading specialists will play a significant role in supporting those plans. To support reading specialists with this transition, the VDOE has outlined required training for all reading specialists. Starting in August of this year, elementary reading specialists will attend a two-day in-person reading institute.

[00:59:58] These reading institutes will serve as a kickoff to a year-long professional learning journey. Following the reading institute, reading teachers will participate in an online Canvas course that will provide asynchronous modules to complete. At this time, the VDOE has allotted LCPS 60 seats to attend the reading institute. This will provide access for at least one reading specialist per elementary school to attend the training. We have requested additional seats, so we hope to have more. LCPS has been assigned the Fairfax location, which will be held on August

[01:00:35] 24th and 25th. More information regarding the specific content of the Reading Institute has not yet been shared by the VDOE. So what's ahead of us with literacy instruction? LCPS has recently been accepted to participate in the pilot screener for the new literacy assessment. We are among 17 divisions who will be participating, and the only division from Northern Virginia.

[01:01:05] We are excited to be a leader in this work. What we currently know as PALS will be replaced with a new screener titled VALS, Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System. This pilot program will launch in September of this year.

[01:01:21] All kindergarten through second grade teachers and LCPS will administer this new assessment to their students. Third grade, we'll continue to administer the PALS and we'll switch to VALS the beginning of the 24-25 school year. We anticipate sharing many more updates with the board as information is shared with us from the VLP or the Virginia Literacy Partnership Office, which is the parent office for VALS or the former PALS office.

[01:01:49] The ELA instructional facilitator team is currently busy working through the units of study to reformat in a more explicit format. All required units will be provided with an I do, we do, you do format for all lessons with both reading and writing.

[01:02:05] It's important to mention that through this work, we are explicitly addressing and rewriting lessons that promote the MSV or 3-queuing system. Through Science of Reading Research, we know that students should be explicitly taught to use visual cues first and to re-read for automaticity.

[01:02:26] Teachers should use decodable text so that students have ample opportunities to apply what they've learned. We have provided explicit guidance for how to teach each lesson by removing the 3-queuing system, or the 3-queuing structure. The updated streamlined guidance will be released to teachers in the coming weeks.

[01:02:46] Next year, we are excited to continue our offerings of Volume 1 of Letters. We will also offer cohorts of Volume 2. We have many teachers that are interested in continuing their learning. We will also continue our collaborative practices to make sure that a cohesive message and vision for literacy instruction is maintained.

[01:03:04] Additionally, we will continue to offer various professional development opportunities for all teachers and reading specialists to support their literacy practices. We hope to complete an adoption process and identify a final core resource that will support kindergarten through fifth grade literacy instruction by the end of next school year.

[01:03:23] All of this collective work will culminate in September of 2024, when we will need to have all requirements in place to support the Virginia Literacy Act. We have quite a lot of work ahead of us and we are excited to continue sharing the progress that we are making.

[01:03:39] Thank you for your time this afternoon. - Thank you, Dr. Ellis and Ms. Neal. Board members, any questions regarding the presentation and progress? Mr. Morrison. - Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple of concerns. Obviously, if we don't get anything from the state, we're kind of in a state of animated suspension while we're trying to get through.

[01:04:02] I'm a little concerned about the timing of the instruction for the teachers, 'cause from what I heard, is that the instructional facilitators are gonna be trained in August, after school has already started, and they're going to assist the teachers.

[01:04:19] I know that you also mentioned that there would be some training available here in the next couple weeks that they'll be able to participate in. First question is, is that already built into the The pre-start of the school year training and the timeline that we have available for the teachers.

[01:04:40] So I think you're asking, regarding the state training, my understanding is that we were assigned dates. So there's not much flexibility there. We've asked for additional seats and we haven't heard back yet.

[01:04:58] So we're sort of stuck with that August 24th and 25th, which, as you mentioned, is not ideal at all for our teachers who I think it might be the first and second day of school or second and third day of school. So we're doing the best we can with that. Those 60 individuals will be the facilitators, but also school-based reading specialists.

[01:05:19] So there will be at least one person per school attending those trainings, hopefully more if we get more seats. And then the professional learning that we are doing is built into their professional learning in the summer. Okay, good. So it's already scheduled.

[01:05:35] The second question I have is concerning selection of materials. If we hope to have them rolled out by August of next year, remind the board of when we need to have them approved so that you can purchase them and knowing that everybody in the state of Virginia is going to be seeking that procurement as well.

[01:05:55] Yes, so we, as Ms. Neal mentioned, we're planning on doing it in two phases. So we're moving as quickly as possible and making sure we don't get ahead of the state. We have a really strong textbook and resource adoption process.

[01:06:11] I'm happy to say the team is phenomenal and works very quickly. So even if we were to get an approved resource in the spring for grades three through five, we would still be able to purchase by July 1 to have that resource available by the fall.

[01:06:30] Okay, so the spring conclusion, I mean, we've already selected, And if what we were pursuing last year, if that is one of the final products available, do you anticipate us going through another process or are we going to take that selection and move forward from there?

[01:06:53] So I do think it's important to go through the review process. We will not have to go through an RFP process if we use the list that the state produces. So that will save us a lot of time. Thank you. Ms. Okedek-Pay.

[01:07:10] Thank you, Chair Sorokin. As a follow-on to that, can you describe how you anticipate that review process, what that would look like? I understand that there isn't an RFP required, but just in terms of obtaining feedback, both from teachers and reading specialists and perhaps folks in the community as well, about the resources that are available.

[01:07:36] And as maybe a part two to the question, I noted that you said cycle two is focused on grades four to five. But we're making a decision on a resource that's K through two. I'm wondering why it's not K through three and then four to five in the spring.

[01:07:59] Okay. So I'll answer those questions in reverse order. It will actually be grades K to two and then grades three to five that will do the adoption. And I think my question was because from the state, we're saying their cycle two is four to five.

[01:08:15] So I'm wondering why there isn't an alignment with that. Sure. So we had some intentional conversation around that. Some of the resources on the list that is referenced from the BDOE are only approved for K through two. And then some of them are approved K through three.

[01:08:33] Additional resources when they go through cycle two could be added to that list. Our thought process was that since we had essentially six grade levels, kindergarten through five to review, we would do K to two and really focus on those foundational literacy skills that are so heavily important in those grades.

[01:08:54] And the instruction does look different in kindergarten through second grade. And so we would focus there during the fall and then look at third, fourth, and fifth. And during that time, we could also, if additional resources were added to the list for third grade, we could also review those at that time, too.

[01:09:13] And sorry, this is becoming more conversational than just a question and answer, but if you chose, if we end up choosing a textbook that is applicable for K through 3 in the fall, then as you review the plans for 3 through 5, you could decide that actually we're set for 3 and we're going to focus on 4 and 5, right?

[01:09:45] Yes, that's correct. Okay. And then I'll talk briefly about your first question, which is the adoption process. And I'll start and I'll ask Ms. Neal to talk a little bit more specifically about feedback groups. So we would, as I mentioned, be able to skip the RFP process if we use the list given to us by the state.

[01:10:04] And then we would begin our normal textbook review process. So we would still have all of the committees. It includes staff members. It includes parents. that includes a recommendation to the board and then a month-long review period with extended opportunities for feedback. I'm sure Ms. Neal and Dr. Cramp have already talked about how they would get feedback from the different grade levels, from reading specialists and grade level teachers, and I don't know if you would add anything else to that. I think one benefit that we have is we

[01:10:38] can also learn from the process that we went through last fall, and one of the things from the feedback was just having the physical materials readily available and so so those are some of the changes that we can make through this process as well is having those materials more readily available at schools so that teachers can review those and be able to feel like they have a better understanding of what they're looking at that's that's great that does address one of the other questions I had as well be and I think the other thing and And considering that there isn't a formal RFP process, just looking ahead to the information that we might have

[01:11:17] as a board to help inform the final decision on this, it would be helpful if we go into the process thinking about the fact that surveys from the participants, that those detailed results could be shared.

[01:11:34] I know because it was part of an RFP process, there were limitations on what could be shared as an outcome from that. And so I would just look to that. It would be helpful if we can be as transparent as possible in terms of what the feedback was. That's helpful feedback.

[01:11:50] Thank you. Additional questions? Sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. I just have too many questions. So I know, and you addressed this because you talked about the collaboration that you have across the board to make sure that general education and special education and English language teachers are also being brought up to speed on this.

[01:12:17] And I'm wondering, again, we're in the summer already, and then can you talk a bit about beyond the VDOE training, how we're bringing that back, both with the changes that are happening internally and then from VDOE to help make sure that all of our teachers are getting the benefits of this new information?

[01:12:45] Sure. So I think one point of clarification is the VDOE has a professional learning or training plan that's outlined in the Virginia Literacy Act. The way that it's written, it starts with reading specialists, so that's why you see the reading specialists attending the training for this year.

[01:13:05] And then starting next year, they have plans through the VLP office to provide professional learning to teachers and to administrators. elementary administrators. So, there is a long-term plan from that perspective where they are looking at how can we roll out. Also, in the Virginia Literacy Act, they talk about there being region coaches that are available for different school divisions. So, for Region 4, we have a dedicated coach that will help to support us through this work as well. So, those are just some supports

[01:13:42] from the video we that we can expect to see in regards to internally the the different departments that were listed on that one slide we collaborate every other week we have specific meetings that we come together so that we are all aware of the different changes and professional learning opportunities that are happening in each department so that we can then communicate it out with our teams. I think it's important to also note that our reading specialists internally we meet

[01:14:15] with them once a month and we bring them in so that we can support them through not only their letters professional learning but also the professional learning that they're engaging with from the state but also that we can be talking about specific needs that are happening within their schools and how we can help to support them. Thank you so much. Additional questions?

[01:14:44] My only question is related to the resource adoption process if we're not doing an RFP. Does that mean we'll be considering all of the resources that are on the VDOE list? And also, how do we evaluate cost?

[01:14:59] Is it list price from the vendors? How do we negotiate? How is all that going to work? So that's a great question. In terms of evaluating cost, I will not pretend to know the ins and outs of that.

[01:15:20] I rely very heavily on Ms. Willoughby's team and the procurement office for that, so I would want them to speak to that. In terms of looking at the whole list, I don't, Ms. Neal, do you have any information or ideas on how we would approach that? So some of the feedback that we received last fall was that there were some additional resources that we had not reviewed because they had not submitted to our RFP, our original RFP.

[01:15:49] And some of those resources have appeared on the state list. So I think in order to do due diligence is to go through the resources that are on that list and look at all of the programs to see what might best meet our needs here in LCPS. It's my understanding that the VDOE is going to follow up with some additional data and information regarding how they came to the decisions that they did for this first list.

[01:16:18] And I think that will help guide our review committee to be able to look at, we have the rubrics that they used, but also their scores and what they came up with and how they determined the different levels, approval levels, we'll be able to really have some more intentional discussion around that.

[01:16:37] If you take a look at that curriculum guide, the VDOE lists not only some strengths of the programs, but also some challenges. And so we'll have to really consider those challenges to see is that something that you know we can we have other supplemental materials here in LCPS that can help to support that or is that a place where we just don't want to enter into a contract with them because it doesn't meet our needs. I think it's a good opportunity to cast a wide net of a net as we possibly can because sometimes when we do an RFP a resource we really like may

[01:17:15] choose not to respond to it whereas now we have the entire video we list to go from so it's certainly taking taken longer than any of us would have liked to get to this point but hopefully by evaluating that entire list and taking a look at it we'll we'll be able to make the the best possible decision board members any additional questions or comments okay thank you very much for the update and we'll look forward to the adoption process this fall board members without objection at this time we're going to skip to 408 the update on the lcps design challenge is we have students with us who are present to present their designs,

[01:17:53] and I want to make sure we get to that during the work session. So with that, we'll move to 408, and I'll turn it over to Ms. Sahlgren. Hello again.

[01:18:15] Yes, I'm here to update you on the 2023 LCPS Design Challenge. In 2022, next slide, LCPS engaged in a marketing and branding exercise with an outside agency to explore the development and creation of a new brand representation.

[01:18:36] The formal process included feedback from focus groups, the school board, leadership, staff, including teachers, and students. The feedback was considered and analyzed and revealed six core and timeless values that the brand stands for. You've seen them on the screen here.

[01:18:53] Taken together, they seem to represent a division moving forward boldly for students, teachers, and the community. Leadership decided to table the decision on any update to branding to increase the opportunities for student engagement and voice in the process. The 2023 Loudoun County Public Schools Design Challenge was launched in March of 23.

[01:19:14] The themes from the 2022 marketing and branding exercise laid the foundation for the Design Challenge entries. Next slide. Here you see some of the description of what students saw.

[01:19:31] The Design Challenge was open to currently enrolled LCPS students from all grades between March 29th and April 29th. Challenge information was posted on the LCPS website and was communicated through multiple channels, including by schools, the acting superintendent's newsletter, and social media.

[01:19:50] Students who wished to participate were encouraged to submit new and differentiated graphic representations that provided a positive perception of LCPS. Artwork and graphic designs could have been conceptual or literal. As was outlined in the submission guidelines on the website, student submissions were to be original and not include the use of clip art, design submitted in other challenges or contests, or copy any other school system's graphics.

[01:20:20] Next slide. Here you see the submissions. They were received from every grade level, kindergarten through 12th, and totaled 115. Once the submission window closed, entries were forwarded to a review panel of 20 LCPS staff members representing each department in various roles and levels.

[01:20:43] The panel reviewed the submissions over the course of almost two weeks, assessing the submissions according to the criteria and rubric provided. The design challenge entries were reviewed based on four criteria, each allowing for a maximum of 10 points.

[01:21:01] Presentation, font choices, color choices, and overall impression. Overall, submissions were to reflect the mission and vision of LCPS, align with the current 1LCPS 2027 Strategic Plan for Excellence, and demonstrate the longer-term values of the brand.

[01:21:21] Next slide. After careful review, submissions were categorized according to those that could serve for marketing and promotion use, display or brand representation, and what's the difference? Marketing and promotion submissions were deemed as visual content that is important in advertising.

[01:21:43] It can be used in multiple ways and on various mediums and grabs an audience's attention, like the example shown here created by Rita Capofari, a fourth grader at Frances Hazel Reed. Submissions were related to brand representation or logo designs are commonly used as a communications tool that serves as a self-explanatory image that people use to connect with a brand.

[01:22:07] A logo, which is usually composed of text, color, shape, and illustration, informs an audience while providing something to associate with the brand and the ideas or values of that brand. Some artwork was also flagged for use in facilities or on display in our buildings.

[01:22:25] The final outcome is here. While all of the Outwork submitted was creative, there were a few selections that were ranked highly by the panel of judges and are slotted for special recognition at this time.

[01:22:42] Under the category of marketing and promotion, one submission was selected as the cover of division guidebooks and resource guides. This design received the highest score of all submissions, and we're going to show it to you in just a moment. Six submissions were selected for a greeting card package.

[01:23:00] They include a sister and brother, grades 1 and 4, respectively. Each artwork was reviewed by separate sets of the panel, and both of their selections were included in the greeting card package. Five submissions were selected for display throughout the division. And three selections were selected as the reference and inspiration for possible future division branding.

[01:23:24] Tonight, we have four students who are joining us. They include the artists behind the image selected as the cover of the 2023-2024 Division Publications and Resource Guides and the three designers whose images were selected as inspiration for possible future Division branding.

[01:23:41] We'll meet each student, see their submission, and then after meeting the four, we'll have an opportunity to say hello, grab a photo, and present them with their certificate. Our first recognition is Shreya Deshpande. Shreya just completed grade 10 at Riverside High School.

[01:24:01] The following is Shreya's summary statement that accompanied the art. The image has a transparent background and will look good on any color, but it looks best on white. I chose to do this design because it clearly shows community, diversity, and excellence.

[01:24:17] It incorporates some kids having fun and reading books, emphasizing how it feels to go to an LCPS school. On the books is written LCPS, and on the bottom of the design it says Engage, Empower, Enrich, which are an easy-to-read font. This design is lighthearted and joyful, which is an environment that many schools in LCPS have achieved.

[01:24:38] When you open the file, the words Engage, Empower, Enrich might not be visible, but it's written in a dark ink color, so it can only be seen on a light background. Shreya's artwork has been selected as the cover of LCPS publications, such as the Guide and Directory and other resources this year.

[01:24:55] And Shreya, if you'll raise your hand. There you go. Thank you for joining us, Shreya. Our next submission, our next three honorees submitted the top three branding use or logo designs.

[01:25:18] Designer Melissa Cho completed grade 11 at Briarwoods High School and also attends the academies. The following is Melissa's summary statement that accompanies her design that you see here on the screen. Growing up in LCPS, I've experienced the mission statement firsthand, so it inspired me to incorporate my experience into my design.

[01:25:39] In my logo design, I wanted to incorporate the mission statement of LCPS. The light bulb symbolizes the enrichment of the mission statement. The glow of the light bulb symbolizes the empowerment of the mission statement, and the swoosh represents engagement. The swoosh symbolizes engagement through interacting with the light bulb, the light bulb enriches the students, and the glow empowers the students of Loudoun County Public Schools.

[01:26:03] I feel that the mission statement represents who Loudoun County Public Schools is, and that is why I wanted to make it prevalent in my design. Chair Sorotkin and others, I present to you Melissa Cho. - Melissa.

[01:26:22] - Our next design. Our designer is Fawn Erby, who just completed 11th grade and is a student at the academies as well as Lightridge High School. The following is Fawn's summary statement that accompanied the design. When I think of Loudoun County Public Schools, I think of quality education and high standards of learning.

[01:26:42] In my design, I incorporated these principles to create a piece that accurately reflects the LCPS mission, empowering all students to make meaningful contributions to the world. There are multiple aspects in my design that help convey this message. For one, the green banner represents the high standards and quality that LCPS works to achieve.

[01:27:02] It is regal and appealing to the eye. Another facet that I included is three leaves at the bottom of the design representing LCPS's support of students, their welfare, and the mission to empower students. The leaves are a symbol for the growth of students through the school system.

[01:27:19] Moreover, the important aspect of my design, the large book, showcases how LCPS helps encourage and support students through their educational journeys. The cover and spine represent LCPS, and the pages represent each student's journey. The book adds an air of excitement and anticipation, asking the question, where will you go next?

[01:27:39] It helps convey the fact that LCPS does all that it can to further students along whatever path they choose. Chair Sorotkin and board members, I introduce you to Fawn Airby. Finally, designer Asher Brennan also just completed grade 11 and is a Loudoun Valley High School student who also attends the academies.

[01:28:08] Here you see the design. The following is Asher's summary statement that accompanies the design. The simplicity of the new design concept should be an expected transition from the past logo. Simplification of lines, colors, and fonts makes for a more accessible logo.

[01:28:25] The orange in the logo symbolizes the school system's enthusiasm, creativity, and determination to educate the community. The lines jutting into the circle connect the L and P connecting Loudon to the community. Chair Sorokin and board members, I introduce you to Asher Brennan.

[01:28:42] I'll now open it up to any questions or comments by the board members, and then we'll gather for a picture with our students. I am just so proud of all of our students, not just the four who are with us today, but especially the four that are with us today, but also to all 115 students who participated in this challenge across all grade levels, including kindergarten.

[01:29:15] I think that's just phenomenal. And the fact that we're finding so many ways to incorporate the various submitted designs in handbooks and postcards and everything else throughout the division, I think is fantastic. And I couldn't be more happy that we went through this exercise.

[01:29:33] Board members, any additional comments or feedback you'd like to give to the team or to our students while they're here with us today? Mr. Morse. I thought this was going to make it easier, and it's not. So those are fabulous designs.

[01:29:50] And, I mean, your thought process going into this and the design, everything from the font to the color choices to the background, you clearly put a lot of thought and a lot of effort into this. And I want to thank you all as well. I just don't know how we're going to pick one.

[01:30:05] Thank you. Additional comments? Seeing none, I think we'll do a photo with our finalists who are here with us today.

[01:31:26] Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, may I make a suggestion?

[01:32:01] I think we're doing the same. Well, you go ahead. I think we have more of the presentation, but if you'd like to give comments. Okay, thanks. So we thank these student logo design selections.

[01:32:17] They've offered incredible insight and inspiration that can be transferred to other projects across the division. In addition to additional conversations about how to determine next steps, as Mr. Morse pointed out, these would be hard decisions, right? We wanted to take a moment to adapt each of these logos into a simpler, more uniform vision that might help us look at, in our minds, what a logo might look like.

[01:32:43] So in front of our artists, we're going to show how we've adapted them. So our next slide is the first logo suggestion, the original by Melissa Cho. And if you'll show me the next slide, you can see that in Melissa's design, we removed the light bulb to show us what the swoosh might look like.

[01:33:03] and a stronger emphasis on empower, engage, enrich. One of the reviewers in the impartial panel of judges stated that the light bulb was a little bit confusing to them. Light bulbs maybe don't look that way.

[01:33:18] They might not look that way in 25 years. They don't look that way now. So we took that to heart and changed the design a little bit just to see what it would look like. While the light bulb can imply brilliant results, idea, and inspiration, it has already been replaced with the evolution of technology.

[01:33:38] So we're concerned that a brand logo that might last 150 years, it might not be the best element to include. So for each of these logos, we'll show you an adaptation. It is purely a designer's interpretation, moving it to the professional level from our wonderful student designs.

[01:33:56] And then a black and white or gray scale version, what it might look like. So the next slide, keeping in mind that all of these formats would need to be primarily delivered digitally and therefore the colors must be ADA compliant and there are a lot of considerations that go into adapting them into a professional logo.

[01:34:14] But here we show you what the logo might look like on a business card just to help us imagine what that might look like. The next slide you'll see it in if we paired it with another school logo on some letterhead in grayscale just to help us imagine how these might translate.

[01:34:32] And in the next slide for this option, you'll see what it might look like on apparel, just to help us bring it to life. So a little bit simplified design, but in two different sizes and colors. All right, we'll show you option two. Again, this is a graphic designer's interpretation.

[01:34:51] We've adapted option two, the original by fawn. Here the date of 1870 was removed, and we swapped out the image of the book for the image of Loudoun County. The leaves included in the original design were substituted for the state flower, just see what it would look like the dogwood tree and flower you may remember that this original design included the leaves that were purely representational and one reviewers comment was that 1870 was a little bit big so we wanted to see what it would look like without that element here similar to the light bulb in the previous design our professional designer adjusted the image for proportionality and timelessness again we're talking about acquiring textbooks and resources

[01:35:30] but oftentimes textbooks are not delivered in the form of a book anymore. So will that logo last, that original design, another 150 years? So just to see a different interpretation. And again, the next slide, we visualize it on a business card. And Native in a grayscale on letterhead on the next slide.

[01:35:53] Again, giving us visual choices of how something might look in this Native environment. And then the next slide, again, on apparel in two different sizes. And the third option, we took that third orange option, you may remember, and put the LCPS, the original by Asher, and expanded the orange background to incorporate the other colors that came out of our original branding exercise.

[01:36:25] So this shows a professionally designed palette that works well across digital platforms, incorporating that lighter orange color. One important note from reviewers, their comment about this design was that it was simple and allowed for flexible uses, clean and simple, but was the single orange color limiting.

[01:36:43] So that's why we brought a different color interpretation here to show the group. On the next slide, you'll see what it looks like on a business card, again in a gray scale on a letterhead, and finally on apparel in two sizes.

[01:37:05] so you can see our student designers got us very close and our professional designer just took a stab at interpreting some of those designs in a way that maybe we could visualize them in different in different situations so we thank the school board for your attention tonight we know this has been a very quick look at this this work product and we'll be sure and send this to you so you can digest it a little bit more there's a lot to think about again I'd like to thank the over 100 students who participated in the challenge each of whom who will be receiving a certificate acknowledging their work I especially again want to thank our four young

[01:37:43] designers who were highlighted tonight and staff will follow up with you to gain your additional feedback thank you again board members any questions regarding the second half of the presentation or I think we also have an open question on on what to do now or how we move forward whether we want to you know bring this back for board action whether we want to leave it as a staff decision or whether we want to go with some kind of public alternative for the decision.

[01:38:16] So I would just open it up to board member input at this time. Ms. Reeser. I think we should consider letting the student population choose.

[01:38:34] Mr. Morse. There were, I mean, we're not professionals up here, certainly. I'm wondering if there's a more specific population, other than all students, if there's a subset of those that have some amount of training because I think there are a lot of different nuances, not just the logo itself, but how it is displayed on paper, on cards and everything else.

[01:39:12] So I think it's probably more than that. It's trying to identify an audience that might have that level of pedigree. So I don't know who that would be. Additional thoughts? Seeing none, I'm not sure we have consensus on what to do now.

[01:39:34] So I could propose that I can work with Dr. Smith to maybe come up with some suggestions and then run that by the board for approval. We could do that. Okay. So we'll now return to 404 from the Department of Business and Financial Services, FY24 Budget Reconciliation.

[01:39:58] Ms. Willoughby. I'm here to provide an update on the never-ending FY24 budget cycle that we are in.

[01:40:21] And I wanna start off with a slide because I think we can't highlight this enough. This is a slide that you have seen in multiple presentations. And I just wanna continue to be repetitive in terms of our messaging that, you know, the school board did already approve salary skills to enact a step increase for eligible employees effective July 1.

[01:40:43] So that is in place. And then what we're still waiting on is for the state to finalize its budget we can determine what impacts there may be to to lcps's budget we do expect that we will be able to provide some level of further pay increase we just don't know what that amount will be but we are committed to providing that retroactively to july 1 when that should occur next slide please steps taken so far back in april is when the school board took the action

[01:41:21] that i just mentioned regarding securing the step increases for july 1. what has since happened is on may 16th the county board of supervisors met and they approved two pieces one they appropriated an additional 13 million to lcps for fy24 so we are very appreciative of that appropriation we will watch to see what happens at the state level so from the county's perspective the funding source of that 13 million is to be determined at this point it is coming out of county funds but if the state when they finalize their budget if they were to just appropriate an additional

[01:42:02] 13 million or more or less to lcps the the plan is to utilize the state revenues first for this 13 million but currently we have 13 million coming from the county they also the The County Board of Supervisors directed county staff to obtain confirmation from LCPS that we would return at least $3.3 million of our year-end funds out of FY23 and that they would then in turn appropriate $3.3 million.

[01:42:36] We have already made that commitment. We sent a letter, the superintendent sent a letter to the county administrator providing the third quarter financial review that was presented to the school board as well as the Commitment to have 3.3 million and that also that we expected no further spending of year and funds would be recommended From staff nor did we expect any additional funds to be spent So we have provided that confirmation and so we've met that requirement And so the county has also appropriated 3.3

[01:43:12] Additional to LCPS next slide. This is a slide from the April 11th school board meeting and I just wanted to highlight this we talked back then about our plan with budget reconciliation and so the guiding direction on Reconciling the budget was focused on these three areas. We looked at compensation We looked at one-time purchases eligible for year-end funding and then there was just another other category For compensation we had targeted potentially step increases salary

[01:43:48] Scale adjustments and then also the initiative related to sick and personal leave increases one-time purchases eligible for year-end funding we have no other recommendations at this time primarily because the FY 23 projection is so tight that we really don't have any additional funds to redirect and then other there wasn't anything substantial that was coming forward so compensation is our recommended path to reconciliation and you're going to see how those staffs

[01:44:23] recommendation continues to prioritize and safeguard pay increases next slide but first I want to walk through the reconciliation so there's two pieces there's the revenue side and then there's the expenditure side so on this slide you're gonna see the first column in white is the funding source so we've got our state funds our federal or county transfer in pink is what the school board adopted back in February so when that budget was adopted on

[01:44:57] February 2nd these were the funding sources projected at that time in yellow are changes that have occurred since that adoption and then it brings us to what's in the final column in green which would be the recommended revised adopted budget so I'll start with the first row with the state the skinny budget was adopted by the state on February 25th and again the school board adopted its budget on February 2nd so it was based off of that skinny budget

[01:45:34] adoption that we knew we were looking at a reduction in state funding of 13 million dollars so we have reduced the state funding by 13 million dollars moving down to the county transfer line as I mentioned on May 16th they all they took action to appropriate 13 million dollars specifically to offset the state revenue reduction that was enacted in the skinny budget adoption and then they also appropriated 3.3 million for collective bargaining but going backwards to April 4th when they adopted their initial budget they actually

[01:46:13] adopted an appropriation that was 3.2 million dollars less than what the school board was asking for so just to kind of walk through again the school board adopted its budget on February 2nd asked for a certain amount of money from the county and also expected a certain amount of money coming from the state since that time the state adopted further action that reduced our funding after that the county had adopted their budget which did not fully fund our budget but then in May the county went back and also appropriated some additional funds so it's these multiple steps that bring us to where our bottom

[01:46:52] line is that we actually have a slight gain of 113,000 and bringing our revised adopted budget to that 1 million 606 or 1 billion 668 million and some change so if you focus on that number and moving to the next slide you're gonna see that that number in green matches the number on the bottom row for the expenditures so that we are recommending a balanced budget as we should so that the final revenues equal the final expenditures this slide is showcasing the

[01:47:31] expenditure changes that also arrive at the same 113 thousand dollar budget change the first row is the 3.3 million addition for collective bargaining the remaining rows total the 3.2 million dollar reduction and again these are based on the compensation benefit change we alluded to in April as well as other changes that have occurred based on updated information since the budget was adopted so we are recommending that the new initiative to increase sick and personal leave is removed from the budget and that was results in a savings

[01:48:08] of 2.5 I want to highlight that and these are difficult decisions but we prioritize compensation over a new leave program and so this is something that will I'm sure be included in next year's budget recommendation also since the school board approved its budget there's also been a vote to end the adult nursing program as a result we have 1.5 ftes for savings of 153 000 that can be removed from the budget we've also identified some technical changes that result in savings of 278 000 the annual classification

[01:48:48] compensation review was completed by hrtd and so when that was completed the final results left some savings as well of about $233,000. And then to balance things out, we make an adjustment to lapse and turnover.

[01:49:08] So again, the county is giving us $3.3 million for collective bargaining. We have included that. And then they have made whole our shortfall from the state, but then from the original action we've cut $3.2 to balance out the budget. And that will bring us to a budget that is a 6.9% increase over the current year's adopted budget slide so you know so today I'm bringing this recommendation to reconcile the 3.2 million and to place the COLA strategic scale adjustments in reserve

[01:49:47] pending the final state budget adoption this would be the recommended action for June 27th assuming that the state does not finalize until the end of June and really what we're hearing now is that we're really looking at July that there's not an expectation for the state to pick up the budget if they even take any further action until July that staff would bring additional action at the August 8th school board meeting at the earliest staff will then assess any final state budget impacts to the FY 24 LCPS budget we will review any resulting revenue and expenditure mandates from the state to determine if any further

[01:50:27] reconciliation action is required if there is then staff will bring forward recommended action along with a recommendation for revised FY 24 salary scales that include a cola or strategic skill adjustment with the percentage to be determined based on available funding and retroactive to july 1. depending on the complexity we may bring an information item to the school board first with action to occur at the next school board meeting i'll also mention that there's only one school board meeting in august and the next meeting would

[01:50:59] not occur until september 12th next slide as we have been waiting for the state to finalize its budget we've also been watching the state sales tax you and so I want to just do kind of a quick recap of where we currently stand with FY 23 and how it impacts FY 24 you may recall that the third quarter financial review presented that to the school board highlighted softening sales tax revenues and

[01:51:33] increased expenditures such as subs and inflation driven operating costs the The projection at that time was a return of about $767,000 to the county after taking into account the $3.3 million fund balance reserve for collective bargaining and the $12 million budget carryover into FY24.

[01:51:55] Since then, the sales tax disbursements have declined by 14.4% year over year, which is a much steeper decline than we had projected. We began to see a decline in February that was slowly getting worse. So we were seeing for February, perhaps like it was a 3% decline, looking at the same period year over year, then it went to 4%, then it went to 6%.

[01:52:22] But then what happened is in May, it dropped dramatically by 14.4%. So based on this updated information, we are now projecting a revenue shortfall of about $2.9 million to $3.8 million.

[01:52:37] Because of this, we have already taken steps for the last quarter. only allowed purchases for required needed items to get us through the end of the fiscal year through June 30th and we also looked at delaying other spending we fully expect these actions will secure our fund balance commitments and allow for a very modest return of funds to the county for FY 24 the projection was always was already projected to be tight but with the sales tax declining it's going to be something we continue to watch as we you know begin

[01:53:17] the beginning of the fiscal year we will monitor all activity and make any adjustments as needed I'll also add because of what we were seeing this year in terms of inflation and the increased sub costs as I have noted on the slide one of the things we are closely watching when we start the new fiscal year is if the amount that we have budgeted for subs is accurate and on target and if we have captured inflation appropriately for FY 24 so FY 24 we have some concerns about expenses with the tight budget as well as if we're

[01:53:54] going to meet sales tax targets and with that that concludes the presentation this will return as action on June 27th to reconcile the budget so that we have a balanced budget that equals the appropriation from the county and so that we can load the budget July 1 and move forward from there and with that I am happy to take any questions thank you for the update on yet another long budget cycle board members any questions or discussion regarding the

[01:54:27] presentation mr. Morse thank you mr. chair I'm glad that we're able to honor the commitment for the teachers salary adjustments as we once we determine the state state level it is concerning that we're down to the final month and we're trying to flex that additional $3 million. You tell us that every year, how close we are, even though we start with the $1.6 billion, it gets down to the single digit millions as we get closer to the end. The one question I have is, if we have a $12 million, I think it's $12 million

[01:55:04] this year that we return back to the county fund balance to see its seed money for next year, correct? Yes. How is anyone able to spend that if it's expiring funds? So basically it's an agreement that when we return it to the county that the county has agreed when they set the appropriation because we have it listed as a funding source that they are reappropriating that to us. So whereas technically fund balance is for non-recurring expenses, this is just a

[01:55:39] longstanding practice that has been agreed upon between the county and lcps okay i mean kind of indicates that it is a a long-standing relationship that we have but it doesn't really direct us to where in state law or anywhere else that that becomes that money becomes uh expired funds for obligation purposes on june 30th so i don't anticipate that we're going to need to touch the $12 million. I assume that that will go directly into next year's budget, but I just

[01:56:18] wanted to get that clarification. Thank you. Additional questions for discussion? Seeing none, we'll bring this back for action on June 27th. Okay. So board members, at this time, we're going to go into recess and we will cover the last three items from our work session once we get

[01:56:42] to information items later tonight. The board is now in recess. Good evening. The board is coming

[02:29:35] out of recess at this time, and we're going to start our evening session with item seven on the agenda, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem. Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance tonight are four newly graduated teacher cadet seniors from Independence High School. Josie Askelson, Anna Reed, Julie Szymanski, and Sydney Luke. The teacher cadet program focuses on encouraging bright young minds to consider teaching as a career path. These young women embody the spirit of the teacher cadet program through their academic achievements, leadership skills, and their common goal of becoming future teachers for Loudoun County Public Schools.

[02:30:15] Immediately following the Pledge of Allegiance, we're going to have the national anthem sung tonight by the Arcola Elementary School Chorus, an award-winning two-part vocal ensemble comprised of singers in fourth and fifth grades. They perform unison, two-part, and three-part vocal literature from various styles genres eras and languages for all all for treble voices they have their annual winter and spring concerts at arcola elementary and travel to local community events performing at the national christmas tree national zoo lights veterans honor flights

[02:30:51] washington wizards basketball games nationals baseball games the george mason university basketball game at gum springs library at stone springs hospital john champ high school basketball and football games the director of the chorus is miss jennifer o'reilly miss o'reilly just completed her 26th year teaching with louden county public schools at this time i'll ask everyone to please rise for the pledge of allegiance and remain standing for the national anthem

[02:31:21] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[02:31:40] Thank you all so much for being here with us tonight and for that performance.

[02:33:15] I'm sure there's nowhere else you would rather be during the beginning of your summer break. We'll now move to item eight on the agenda, student and staff recognitions, starting with 801 from the Department of School Leadership, VHSL State Championship recognitions.

[02:33:43] Good evening, Dr. Smith, members of the school board. Tonight, I want to take a moment to recognize our remaining individuals that captured a state championship in either VHSL athletics or activities during the fall or winter season.

[02:34:00] The long hours and countless sacrifices and dedication to their craft have paid off this year for these five individuals. When I call your name, please come forward and meet with our superintendent. First, Hannah Relo from Independence High School.

[02:34:20] Hannah won the VHL Class 5 State Indoor Track and Field Championship by jumping a height of 5 feet 6 inches. Next, we have Maneer Kahn from Stonebridge High School.

[02:34:48] Minear won the VHL Class 5 State Debate Championship in two categories. The first was for policy speaker, and the second category teamed up with Prageet Pandrate to win the category of policy.

[02:35:03] Next, we have Prageet Pandrate from Stonebridge High School. Prageet teamed up with Minear to win the VHL Class 5 State Debate Championship in the category of policy.

[02:35:25] Unfortunately, he's not here today to be recognized. Next is Roshni Lobo from Dominion High School. Roshni won the VHL Class 4 State Debate Championship in the category of Student Congress.

[02:35:48] And last is Lily McBride from Woodgrove High School. Lily won the VHL Class 5 State Debate Championships in two categories.

[02:36:05] The first category is for Student Congress, and the second was for Outstanding Senator. Congratulations to everyone.

[02:37:13] And we'll now move to 802, one LCPS spotlight on our pledge leaders from today, the Independent High School Teacher Cadet Program. I'll turn it over to Dr. Ellis, are you leading this one? I think Mr. Gabriel, Principal of Independence High School, is going to start us off.

[02:37:34] Mr. Gabriel, welcome. Good evening, Dr. Smith and School Board. My name is John Gabriel. I'm the Principal of Independence High School. Joining me, as you heard already, we have Sydney Look, Julia Szymanski, Anna Reed, and Josie Askson, who are all recent graduates.

[02:37:50] And if you heard anything about our graduation ceremony, these are special people, because not only are they the first class to have been at Independence all four years and graduate, they're also just wonderful human beings, and we're gonna have them as wonderful teachers here in Loudoun County in a few years.

[02:38:06] Also, I don't make it a habit of addressing the school board. I try to avoid that. But I'd like to real quickly say the following if you just indulge me for 30 seconds. I know some of you are not running for office, some of you are. I think regardless, I just wanna say that I appreciate your service, because I think no matter what your belief or political position is, someone is unhappy with you.

[02:38:24] So I just want to say thank you. Next slide. So we're going to tonight, our intention is to give an overview of Teacher Get It program at the county level, as well as highlight Independence High School. Specifically, we're going to hear from our students and Ms. Julie Cooper, who's also here, who is an amazing teacher.

[02:38:43] I hired at John Champ High School, and I was very fortunate that she followed me over to Independence. And I think these students would say the same thing. Thank you so much, Mr. Gabriel. I'm Lee Smith, Supervisor of Career and Technical Education here in the school division.

[02:39:01] Next slide, please. So here we align Teacher Cadet with two of our goals, specifically Sub Goal 1.2, that's expanding opportunities for multiple and accessible pathways to success through diverse programming, and then Sub Goal 2.3, which is to serve as an employer of choice that's committed to recruiting, developing, and supporting top diverse talent.

[02:39:29] So we want to make sure that all students who flow through the Teacher Cadet Program have that individualized success. And that is success that we can see on the letter of intent and hopefully see them as employees in about four to six years. Good evening. So it is excellent news that we continue to see an increase in our enrollment for the Teacher Cadet Program, but we can always do more to improve our efforts.

[02:39:58] Next year, teacher cadet will be offered in 14 of our 18 high schools. The HRTD recruitment team annually visits our schools to promote the teacher cadet program and collaborates monthly with our high school staff and members to discuss and plan recruitment strategies for potential future educators.

[02:40:18] Next slide, please. Loudoun County's Grow Our Own Initiative is a letter of intent program for our senior teacher cadets. Students who sign the document, complete a four- to six-year education program, and meet the HRTD requirements will receive an offer of employment with LCPS.

[02:40:37] To keep our cadets engaged while in college, the recruitment team will provide extensive hiring support and lead a team of junior mentors to coach our future staff members. This year, HRTD was thrilled to celebrate our largest number of letter of intent signatures with our participating high schools.

[02:40:56] For the past four years, we have offered close to 400 letters of intent to our Loudoun County teacher cadets. Thank you, Lynn, and thank you to the school board for your time and dedication to the teacher cadet program.

[02:41:18] Ten years ago, John Gabriel hired a little gal from Indiana, and I couldn't be more grateful to be here tonight to speak about something that I am passionate about and is near and dear to my heart. I've wanted to be a teacher ever since my grandmother gave me a chalkboard in the first grade. And for those of you in the younger crowd, you might have to Google what a chalkboard is.

[02:41:38] But I would have jumped at the chance to take a class like this in high school. Unfortunately, it wasn't offered to me until I was a senior in college. If I may be so bold, I would like to ask two questions. How many of you know how to ride a bike?

[02:41:53] How many of you learned that from a manual? Teacher, cadet, and Loudoun County Public Schools give our students the bike, not just the manual.

[02:42:11] It allows them to push themselves, steer, and balance as they catch a glimpse of the multifaceted world of education while they're still in high school. We all know two major perks to this course.

[02:42:28] LCPS is a step ahead of other counties in recruitment during a teacher shortage via this program. LCPS students are several steps ahead of their peers by being able to go into the field their junior and senior years of high school rather than their junior and senior years of college.

[02:42:49] What you might not know are some of the less splashy perks. This class gave my students who were not sure if they wanted to be teachers a profession or teachers the opportunity to get behind the scenes look at no risk. Being able to experiment with as many of your interests as possible in high school, so you can narrow down your real potentials, serves everyone in the realm of time, money, stress, anxiety, all of that. Not all of my students sign the letter of intent, so if you only crunch the numbers, it may look like a loss if your only goal is to sign future

[02:43:28] teachers. The Teacher Cadet Program is designed for more. We need pillars in our community, like yourselves, that understand education from an educator's perspective. This course cultivates future leaders and perfectly aligns with LCPS's five C's. It brings in quality students over quantity, vetting the students that want to enroll. There's no downside to this program, in my humble opinion, as every single learning experience can be transferred to real-world

[02:44:01] application. This year in my classroom, I had the pleasure of working with 21 beautiful individuals. My students and I laugh together, we literally cry together, and we celebrate all of our achievements together.

[02:44:20] LCPS provides the bike. I hold on to the back of the seat and give a little push. But the students are the ones that learn to ride. It is a tour de force and is mesmerizing to be a small part of this because they can really ride.

[02:44:40] So without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce to you four of those amazing young women, and Josie Askelson is up first. Hi, I'm Josie. I just graduated this year from Independence.

[02:44:56] I'm going to Virginia Tech in the fall, and I'm majoring in human development and family science, and I'm super excited. Teacher Cadet really allowed me the opportunity to kind of explore what I wanted to do, especially when senior year, that's when you're doing all of your college applications, so I was really thankful for the opportunity. It's been one of my most memorable experiences from high school.

[02:45:15] Just being given the opportunity to observe and spend time in an actual classroom setting, I just felt I got so much more hands-on experience than just rather of sitting in a class at Independence. That being said, though, I did have an amazing teacher, Ms. Cooper, for the past three years.

[02:45:31] I've taken ECE I, ECE II, and then along with Teacher Cadet last year. Ever since early childhood one, Ms. Cooper has been such a light in my life. Her passion for teaching is like no other. She's really shared that with us. And just being with her the past three years, I just know that's what she's about.

[02:45:50] She's a teacher who truly cares for her students and wants nothing but the best for them. She encourages us to strive towards our goals and never give up on them. She's so supportive, and she's the sweetest person I've ever met. And any student moving forward to have her is truly a lucky student.

[02:46:06] Because of Ms. Cooper, I really had felt so prepared going into my first grade class this year at Madison's Trust. It was one of the greatest experiences ever. I just feel, out of my high school experience, it was one of the most classes I felt like I got the most out of, just because it really was something that I wanted to do, and I got to explore that.

[02:46:26] But yeah, thanks to Ms. Cooper, she led me down the successful path, and I'm just so excited for what's to come. Hi, my name is Anna Reed, and I also just graduated from Independence, and I'm also planning to attend Virginia Tech with a major in Human Development.

[02:46:45] Not many people get the opportunity to say they had a teacher for all four years of their high school career. I was one of the few lucky ones to have this opportunity, and there is no teacher I'd rather have for these years than Ms. Cooper. Since my freshman year in intro to early childhood education to my senior year in teacher cadet, she has helped shape me into who I am today while preparing me for college and the real world.

[02:47:04] One thing about Ms. Cooper is that I will never forget her smile. The second you walk into her room, no matter how hard of a day you're having, it's like a light switch is on and you're suddenly having a good day. Her contagious smile and eagerness to teach has had such a big impact on my success.

[02:47:20] Her passion for teaching us is like no other, and it captivates us and engages us in her lessons. Through teacher cadet and hands-on experiences with Ms. Cooper, I have gained organizational skills, time management, interview tips, and many other necessary life skills. This class has given me an understanding of what goes behind the scenes in order to create a successful lesson while having classroom management.

[02:47:42] I chose to work in a first grade classroom where I was given the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge I had learned over the years in this classroom. I was shown the impact that teachers have on their students when I received thank you letters from all my students. This put things into perspective of how big of a difference you're able to make as a teacher.

[02:47:59] Just as much of a difference Ms. Cooper made on me, I hope I made on my students. This class has prepared me and given me confidence in my future. Ms. Cooper has been beyond dedicated towards our class's success and has helped guide us through teaching in a real classroom. She sparked our creativity when it came to critically thinking for projects, papers, and simulations.

[02:48:17] She has become a mentor for me and inspired me, and I'm beyond thankful for this class and for Ms. Cooper. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sydney Look, and I am going to be attending George Mason University in the fall.

[02:48:35] I have had Ms. Cooper since sophomore year online, and I can truly say that she is a teacher that will make a difference in your life. And I'm so incredibly grateful to have had her these past three years and in Teacher Cadet.

[02:48:51] This program has taught me so much in my life, and it just truly opened a whole new door to experiences that a lot of classrooms in high school don't offer. It puts you in real-life situations, and even if you are influenced by, say, a history teacher and you're interested in teaching, Teacher Gadet offers that insight of, like, what goes behind all the skills necessary in teaching and gives a lot of experience in that.

[02:49:20] I would say that Ms. Cooper has really shown and supported us throughout all these years, offers a lot of advice, insight, and I know her passion for this class and this course in general is out of this world. I'm truly grateful to be here today to support her, our school, this county, and overall just happy to be here. Hi, I'm Julie Szymanski and I will be attending George Mason

[02:49:52] studying early childhood education. Over the past four years, I, like Anna, have had her all four years from intro to early childhood education, early childhood education one and two, and then most recently in teacher cadet. Each year in her class I learned so much about education and it confirmed every year it got better and better that I truly did want to become a teacher. One of

[02:50:28] Mrs. Cooper's mottos is bloom where you're planted and you could see that in the teacher cadet classroom before we went into the field that Mrs. Cooper has a true love of sharing her gift with others and she was able to prepare me to teach in my class and i got to be in a kindergarten class and whoever gets to be blessed by mrs cooper's amazing gift next is really really lucky

[02:51:08] she's a great teacher thank you um thank you so much for the teacher and their student experiences might there be any questions board members any questions for either the independence team, the teacher cadet team, one of the students who are here with us today. Go to Mr. Morris and then Ms. Reaser. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any one of the cadets can answer this. What was the most

[02:51:43] challenging thing you saw in the classroom? I'm not going to ask any of the teachers this because we may be here all night, but I'd like to know what was most challenging for you or something that you saw in the classroom. I feel like one of the most challenging things was a lack of time to prepare for lessons that I saw for some teachers, and as well as classroom management was also very hard walking into the classroom for the first time. You sound like a teacher. Amazing.

[02:52:16] But we are looking forward to getting you back here into Loudoun County in the next couple years. So thank you very much. And thank you, Mr. Gabriel and Dr. Smith for all the work. We sincerely appreciate it. Ms. Reeser. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I have the opposite question. I was going to ask what your favorite thing about the teaching part of it was if there was a favorite grade you had or a favorite lesson and again for any of the cadets or all of you I would say like

[02:52:50] my favorite thing and just leaving at the end of the year was how rewarding the job is I think we all share the same love for kids and for me especially the younger ones I did elementary school and I just think leaving there knowing you left an impact on them and it's just so rewarding I literally was there with them from February to April and when I left they all are writing you're the best teacher ever. I'm going to miss you so much. Like, don't leave me. And you're just like, you've only been with these students for four months and you're not even their like actual teacher. But I was having kids say, can you teach our class instead of my teacher? And I'm like, I can't, I'm sorry. But it's just so rewarding. And I was just so thankful to have the opportunity.

[02:53:29] You sound like a teacher. Additional questions? Ms. Okadegbe. Not really a question, but just a comment that it's just it's so exciting to hear your energy and your passion and your excitement for this profession and we are lucky to have you and i'm really excited for all of you and wish you the best as you start your studies in the fall as well so thank you so much for coming and sharing information about your experiences and your wonderful teacher too additional comments oh go

[02:54:05] ahead if you have something to share yeah i wanted to share um my favorite part was after teaching a lesson and just seeing like the gears click in the kids heads when they understand was so rewarding because you really feel like I did that like I taught them something and that was just a feeling that you really can't understand until you actually do it which was probably one of my favorite parts well I just want to take a moment to thank the thank the entire team for the incredible work that you're doing thank our four teacher cadets who are here today congratulations on graduating

[02:54:43] and looking forward to taking the next step in college and then coming back to teach for us in a couple of years in LCPS because we're definitely going to need you and a lot more like you. So thanks again. At this time, we'll move to item nine on our agenda, which is the Acting Superintendent's Report.

[02:55:10] Dr. Smith. All right. Good evening, Chair Sorotkin and board members. It's my pleasure to present the Acting Superintendent's Report this evening. We have lots of exciting things taking place and incredible work taking place across the division along with a couple of operational updates.

[02:55:30] So, over the past several days, we've celebrated our graduating seniors, and no matter how many graduations I attend, I'm always touched by the displays of knowledge, the dedication, and joy. This year, we graduated 6,356 students from our LCPS schools, and just a little bit of data on that.

[02:55:48] So, according to a survey that our seniors take, 70% of them will attend a four-year college next fall, and 17% said a two-year. and so while the college option was the most common choice, we know that there are many other options outside of a two or four year college and those include options such as entering the workforce, joining the military service which was recognized in every graduation that I attended, and then also taking a gap year or service year.

[02:56:19] The Office of Communication and Community Engagement created this video that captures the spirit of graduation And we've published this video and wanted to share it with you this evening. So let's take just a few minutes to watch this graduation video. Congratulations to the students of 2023.

[02:56:39] As you leave Loudoun County Public Schools, remember that along with a top-notch academic education, you have learned to be resilient and flexible. I hope that you will take these characteristics and the unlimited possibilities that your education has prepared you for and turned them into yet-to-be-realized opportunities for tomorrow.

[02:57:03] Life moves too fast if you let it. In your never-ending quest for knowledge, always be sure to take time to stop and appreciate the now. Do not let the promise of the future rob your present experiences, friendships, and memories. Take time to appreciate where you are now. Take it in and enjoy the ride. Now that you've made it to graduation, you have figured out the how. How to manage your time, how to study, and how to make good choices. Next, you get to figure out the what.

[02:57:35] What are you passionate about? What gets you going in the morning? And what makes you happy? Once you've figured out what's important to you, just make sure to never stop pursuing it and never let it go. Don't wait for the right time. There will never be the right time. Just time itself and what you choose to do with it is what matters. Go out into the world with your head up high with confidence and take up space in whatever you do. Be unapologetically yourselves. To the class of

[02:58:08] 2023, always believe in yourself and know that you are enough. Don't ever discount yourself and don't over credit others. Always believe in yourself and make a meaningful contribution to the world. So special thanks to CCO for their help in creating that video and also wanted to

[02:58:44] say thank you to our board members. I know you attended, we had every board members attend every single one of our graduations and participation in that. I know it's a lot but you you made it there and you're really grateful of your participation in each and every one of our graduations. So as you know we recently had our last day of school and so my appreciation goes out to all of our LCPS staff and students who really helped to make the 22-23 a fantastic year of learning. To our LCPS family we want to remind you to stay connected with us over the summer. We've got lots of summer programs, lots of things going on this summer, and we are looking forward

[02:59:22] to your return. Take note on the date, August 24th, 2023. Now we have a couple of appointments that we'd like to make you aware of this evening. So we welcome Andrew Davis to his new role as Executive Principal of Elementary. Since 2014, Mr. Davis has been the principal of Round Hill Elementary School. Previously, he was the principal of Rolling Ridge Elementary. Mr. Davis started his career with LCPS as a third grade teacher at Lowe's Island in 1997. Mr. Davis has an undergraduate degree in elementary education from Bridgewater College and a master's degree in administration and supervision from Shenandoah University. Congratulations and welcome Mr. Davis.

[03:00:06] Colleen O'Neill has been selected as the principal of Round Hill Elementary. Most recently Ms. O'Neill was the principal of Sterling Middle and previously served as the principal of Sully Elementary and assistant principal at Evergreen Mill and Forest Grove Elementary Schools. Ms. O'Neill began her career in LCPS as a third grade teacher at Cedar Lane in 2001. Ms. O'Neill has a bachelor's degree in English from George Mason University, a master's in instructional technology from Duquesne University, and a postmaster's certificate in administration and supervision from UVA.

[03:00:37] Welcome to Round Hill, Ms. O'Neill. And Lenny Compton has been selected as the principal of the new Watson Mountain Middle School, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2024. Mr. Compton has been the principal of J.L. Simpson Middle School since 2017. He was previously the assistant principal at Kilmer Middle and Herndon Middle and the dean of students at Holmes Middle, all three in Fairfax County Public Schools. While Mr. Compton began his career in Fairfax County in 2007 as a social studies teacher, his resume also includes a position as the director of summer school at Khartoum American School in Sudan.

[03:01:15] Mr. Compton has a bachelor's degree in elementary education, mathematics, and social science from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and a master's degree in educational leadership and supervision from the University of Cincinnati. He's currently working toward his doctorate in educational leadership at George Mason University.

[03:01:32] We look forward to supporting and working alongside Mr. Compton as he opens our newest school. The Special Education Advisory Council, or SEAC, held its annual recognition of excellence in supporting special education award ceremony on Tuesday, June 6th at Stonebridge High School.

[03:01:50] The award ceremony recognized 70 educators, students, programs, and community members who demonstrated excellence in the LCPS special education community. These individuals, groups, and programs were identified as having gone above and beyond was expected to be meaningfully inclusive.

[03:02:09] The College Achievement and Multicultural Program for Unique Students, or otherwise you may know it as campus, celebrated its 115 graduating seniors. Campus is a unique LCPS academic and college preparatory program that is designed to remove barriers to higher education, particularly for students who'll be the first in their families to attend college.

[03:02:30] For the 2022-2023 school year, 625 LCPS students participated in campus and earned learned skills in time management, self-advocacy, leadership, and study skills. They also had the opportunity to visit colleges and universities and attend career and college fairs. At the graduation event, Loudon Laurels, a local non-profit that provides mentoring support and scholarships to LCPS students, presented a $10,000 renewable scholarship to Woodgrove senior Josmar Hernandez Chavez. A few days later, at the Loudon County High School Senior Night,

[03:03:08] the organization presented a second scholarship to LCHS senior and campus graduate Elizabeth Portillo-Morjohn. Congratulations to all of our campus graduates. As you got to meet tonight, a few of our teacher cadets.

[03:03:25] We celebrated 236 teacher cadets at a collaborative ceremony between Shenandoah University and the Office of Career and Technical Education to recognize the students who completed the teacher cadet dual enrollment courses. The Teacher Cadet Program, as you heard, is a grow-your-own initiative offered to our high school students in grade 11 to 12 who are interested in pursuing a career in education.

[03:03:48] Participants get the firsthand look at teaching as a potential career, and in addition to the coursework, they engage in real-world, project-based learning experiences, including an internship with LCPS teachers at the elementary and middle school levels. As you heard, they complete a program, they receive a letter of intent from the Department of Human Resources and Talent Development, which gives them that preliminary commitment to return to LCPS after receiving teaching credential for employment.

[03:04:14] In a few short years, we look forward to seeing many of these teacher cadets back as LCPS teachers. Earlier this month, Banneker Elementary celebrated a tremendous milestone, its 75th anniversary. On Friday, June 2nd, members of the Banneker community, including current students, families, alumni, and staff, walked the halls of Banneker Elementary and considered the 75 years of history on display.

[03:04:39] Banneker Elementary opened its doors on March 31st, 1948, as a five-room schoolhouse with 185 students. Over the years, while the community around it and the school building itself has changed, Banneker Elementary has remained true to its mission of instilling a love for learning for all students.

[03:04:56] Five LCPS students took part in the Regeneron International Science Fair in Dallas, Texas with Zoe DeWitt, a junior at Stonebridge in the Academies of Loudoun, and Jadapreetum Matapita, a junior at Rockridge, winning special awards at the Regeneron International Science Fair.

[03:05:17] In addition to the two Regeneron SEF winners, three LCPS students also competed in the finals. They are Aria Agarwe, a senior at Broad Run High School in the Academies of Loudoun, Samantha Brown, a senior at Broad Run High School in Academies of Loudoun, and Tyler Smith, a senior at Heritage High School in the Academies of Loudoun.

[03:05:42] Now on to the Blue Ridge Cappies. The Blue Ridge Cappies celebrated their inaugural gala and ward ceremony on Tuesday, May 23rd at the Hilton Performance Arts Center in Manassas. In total, 42 awards were given out, with the Best in Play going to Tuscarora's production of The Lord of the Flies and the Best Musical Award going to Rockbridge's production of Big Fish.

[03:06:06] Congratulations. Heritage High School Pea Patrollers was selected as the Virginia winner of the 2023 Plant the Moon Challenge. For this challenge, the Heritage students examined how crops can grow in lunar or on Martian soil.

[03:06:22] Earlier this year, the team received real lunar soil stimulant from the University of Central Florida's Cat Class Exolith Lab. Then they designed and conducted a set of experiments using the stimulant to grow crops and future long-duration mission.

[03:06:37] The Pea Patrollers attended a celebration honoring winners from the Commonwealth on June 3rd at the Science Museum of Virginia. The event highlighted the team's hard work and dedication as participants of the Plant the Moon Challenge. At the end of May, we celebrated our ninth Year of the Educator prize winner.

[03:06:57] May's winner, Ramona Henriquez, a teaching assistant in a kindergarten classroom at Kenneth Colbert Elementary, won $350 in gift certificates to several Loudoun County dining establishments, plus a $165 gift certificate to a local house cleaning service.

[03:07:13] Year of the Educator began in September as a way to thank randomly selected LCPS staff. And over the course of the past several months, Year of the Educator has surprised and thanked a variety of LCPS staff members. It's been a true pleasure to connect with these dedicated individuals even just for a few minutes and to thank them for all they do for LCPS.

[03:07:32] It's also been a pleasure to work with our Loudoun Education Foundation, LEF, whose mission is to leverage community resources and support opportunities for LCPS educators and students. Over the past year, in addition to coordinating and funding the prizes for the Year of the Educator initiative. It's important to note that LEF awarded a record $60,000 in innovation and education grants. They funded more than 70 classroom projects, gave an additional $60,000 in scholarships to LCPS students and staff, and through its Backpack Coalition program, provided more than 35,000

[03:08:07] weekend meals to food insecure students. And so just wanted to let you know about this. LEF is an incredible partner of ours and we're so unfortunate to work alongside of them. Belmont Ridge Middle School principal Katie Johnson was inducted into the Loudoun Coalition on Women and Girls first ever Loudoun's Women Hall of Fame. The goal of the Loudoun's Women's Hall of Fame is to share the stories of women who shaped the county's history with courage, leadership, intelligence, passion, and creativity in arts, community service, education, leadership, health, science,

[03:08:44] social justice, and business. We congratulate Katie Johnson on this incredible honor. The Association of School Business Officials has awarded LCPS a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for its annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending in June 30, 2022. This award represents a significant achievement and reflects LCPS's commitment to transparency and high-quality financial reporting. Well done to our business and financial team who work so diligently. The LCPS Communications and Community Engagement Office won one silver and

[03:09:20] three bronze telly awards in the 2023 competition. Videographer Michael Ferreira won a silver telly for his video Taste It Thursday. Michael partnered with School Nutrition and Waxpool Elementary to highlight some of the new healthy food options on LCPS school lunch menus in a fun and new way.

[03:09:38] He showcased students' reactions and first impressions, whether good, bad, or funny, as they tasted the new food for the first time, showing our community a fun glimpse into our nutrition program. Videographer Laura Cruz won a bronze telly for her video, Senior Portrait, featuring John Champ student Layla Masumi, navigating her way through her senior year.

[03:10:00] Laura's video placed a strong emphasis on goal one of our strategic plan, Empowering Students, by highlighting Layla's many accomplishments and her extraordinary plans after graduation. Laura Cruz also won a bronze telly for a video about four members of the class of 2034 who just completed their first year of school and their advice had to share with their new kindergartners. Videographer Jeff Regal won a bronze telly for his video Ava Gordon, Evolution of a Track Star. Ava is a top-ranked national and Virginia State track star who attended Rockridge and Loudoun Valley High Schools. Through hard work, dedication, and intense training, Jeff shared

[03:10:36] her way to success, emphasizing the LCPS values that AVA represents daily. Congratulations to our CCO team who has been awarded 20 Telly Awards since 2011. Last weekend, you may have heard the sports hands from around the state came to Loudoun County to cheer on the class five and class six high school teams at the VHSL Spring Jubilee held at Riverside, Briarwoods, John Champ, and Freedom high schools. Four LCPS teams came away from the weekend as a state champions. Congratulations to

[03:11:11] Independence Girls Soccer, Tuscarora Girls Soccer, Riverside Boys Lacrosse, and Woodgrove Softball on earning the state championship title. We'd also like to congratulate Freedom Girls Tennis, Freedom Boys Tennis, Dominion Boys Lacrosse, Dominion Girls Lacrosse, Independence Baseball, and Independence Girls Lacrosse on being runners-up at this state championship. In addition to the to the team wins at the spring jubilee the vhsl outdoor track and field track and field state championship held earlier this month at liberty university the tusc aurora high school track and

[03:11:47] field team won their first state championship title this was the huskies third team title of the postseason having previously won both the district and the region championships congratulations to all these teams and their players on a great season and postseason wins also thank you to several of our board members who came out to support the VHSL Jubilee this past weekend.

[03:12:10] Now, a few operational updates. The Office of Student Services, in partnership with Inova and George Washington University School of Nursing, is launching a mobile health clinic to increase awareness for LCPS students and families to basic health care. The clinic will offer physicals and wellness checks, as well as referrals to community partners offering comprehensive medical care.

[03:12:30] The Office of Student Services is hosting a dedication ceremony on June 22nd, starting at 10.30 a.m. at Sterling Middle to celebrate and launch this exciting new initiative. The complete list of dates at schools around LCPS is found on the LCPS website at lcps.org slash mobile clinic.

[03:12:55] LCPS will be providing free meals this summer for students at eight locations throughout Loudoun County. Meals will be provided Monday through Friday at the locations and during the dates listed here. Loudoun Feeds, a local non-profit, has additional resources on their website to help people find food pantries, prepared meals, and other free food programs in Loudoun County.

[03:13:13] This is a separate program to provide food for those in our county from July summer school program. Thank you, and that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Smith, for that update. Just as one related note, I was in touch with Dr. Spence earlier today, and he notified me that his last day as superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools is going to be August 31st, and his first day as superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools is going to be the following day, September 1st.

[03:13:52] We'll now move on to item 10 on the agenda, public comment. I thank the citizens who are here for engaging with the school board through the public comment process. The school board welcomes comments from Loudoun County residents and community members and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system.

[03:14:15] Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers tonight, which is nine, and the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted three minutes each for public comment. Please be advised that speakers who missed their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times.

[03:14:37] Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium, or during a break. Violations of civility, decorum, and respect include shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting, obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa, interrupting speakers, attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair, and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees.

[03:15:08] Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, profanity, or other like breaches of respect, nor may speakers target, criticize, or attack individual students during public comment. Speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school official.

[03:15:25] Additionally, complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate school division official. Speakers should face the dais and direct their comments to the school board. Per LCPS policy, members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period.

[03:15:45] Violations of decorum or civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting. Repeated or persistent violations of decorum or civility by the audience may result in, on the decision of the chair, public comment being tabled until a later point in the meeting's agenda, limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons, or the public comment period ending for the evening. Copies of materials for board members should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the boardroom prior to the start of the meeting.

[03:16:21] Please provide 12 copies of the materials. Under no circumstances may a speaker approach the dais. The public is reminded that access to school board meetings is available through LCPS TV on Comcast Channel 18 and Verizon Fios Channel 43.

[03:16:37] The live stream of the meeting may also be viewed on the LCPS website. So we will begin with our in-person speakers tonight. The first speaker is Sandy Sullivan, to be followed by Brenda Bengston. Good evening. I'm Sandy Sullivan, an elementary school teacher currently serving as the president of the Loudoun Education Association.

[03:17:07] Recommendations come down, decisions are made. In reviewing the staff recommendations for budget reconciliation, I wonder what other reductions to the budget were considered, aside from reducing the proposed increase in leave for your staff. From where other areas were possible reductions considered?

[03:17:26] School board members, your employees look forward to your examining other possible options to reconciling the budget. Thank you. Brenda Bengston to be followed by Jan Merker. Remember learning or teaching about cause and effect, where actions produce results.

[03:17:59] Computers don't cause cheating or plagiarizing on tests. Cell phones don't cause doxing or swatting. Books don't cause sexual orientation or gender identity. Rote memorization about Eurocentric history doesn't cause a more accurate and needed teaching of African American slavery conditions.

[03:18:25] Cars don't cause reckless driving. Beaches and graduation sites, shopping malls, and theaters don't cause shootings. Church buildings and sanctuaries don't cause sexual assaults by priests, ministers, and youth pastors.

[03:18:44] Locker rooms in a trooper training academy in West Virginia didn't cause sexual misconduct with hidden videotapes. Local swimming pools don't cause an officer to play Papa Bear with teenagers after hours.

[03:19:03] A Loudoun field party didn't cause the Capitol to be trashed by seditious conspiracists on January 6th. This room didn't cause a June 22nd meeting to be taken over with shouts of, This is our coup. Home garages and school hallways don't cause fight clubs.

[03:19:27] School properties and social media don't cause increases in hate speech or racial slurs at middle and high schools. 861 this year, and maybe more that are unreported. Bathrooms and locker rooms don't cause sexual assault or drug overdoses.

[03:19:50] Our streets don't cause out-of-state trucks to park at homes, targeting Loudoun citizens with harassment because they hold different viewpoints. True causes, perhaps with attendant influences, prejudices, intent, and opinions, produce effects, and role models matter.

[03:20:18] DEI and SEL matter. Thank you. Jen Merker, to be followed by M. Jenkins. As some of you may be aware, two Loudoun-based groups, Moms for Liberty Loudoun and Parents Against Critical Theory, were recently designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[03:20:44] These are among the groups working to censor and ban books in our classrooms and libraries. I do not want members of these hate groups making decisions about what my child has access to in school libraries and classrooms. As this board looks at revising policies about the selection of and challenges to library and instructional materials, we need to make sure we are landing on the side of intellectual freedom and that we are listening to our teachers and librarians, including the Loudon Association of School Librarians.

[03:21:20] I have serious questions about the selection process for district-level review committees for challenge books. I hope that board members will take time to truly explore this process before taking action and set an extremely high bar for the removal of materials selected by trained professionals.

[03:21:40] I'm sure you all have heard about the case where a complaint from a single parent removed Amanda Gorman's beautiful poem The Hill We Climb from a Florida school. We can't let this kind of thing happen in Loudoun. The focus should be on enabling parents with concerns about materials to make decisions for their own children rather than

[03:22:03] removing books for everyone. Thanks. Thank you. M Jenkins to be followed by Abby Platt. By the way, moms for liberty does not hate anyone we love our children and we are against their corruption by the school district last month you all made a pride proclamation to affirm promiscuous sexual lifestyles and debauchery amongst children in our schools those of us that stand for righteousness

[03:22:40] will not bow down to celebrate the idol of sexual immorality where you sexualize our children and confuse boys and girls about gender instead it's time for you to start talking about purity and abstinence. Abstinence protects children against STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and emotional problems.

[03:22:59] Furthermore, God created sexual behavior to be between one man and one woman in marriage only. God also created two genders, male and female. So when you disregard God's design for sex and gender, the result is chaos and depravity, and that's what's happening in our schools and in our culture today. And June is about Father's Day, and fathers are an important part of the nuclear family. Unfortunately, the nuclear family is in peril due to the LGTB lifestyles that you and other leftists forcefully push. The nuclear family is a cornerstone of civilization, and this

[03:23:38] has been known as the best way for children to grow up healthy since the beginning of time. The destruction of the nuclear family is a number one problem facing our country today. I grew up in a single-parent household without a father. It was very hard. Research results of children that grow up in households without a father is very alarming. 90% of homeless and runaway children come from fatherless homes. 85% of teenagers in prison are from fatherless homes, and 71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. In contrast, a child that grows up with a biological mother and father in the household is much more likely to graduate

[03:24:16] college, less likely, and consistently healthier physically and mentally. If you really want what is best for our children stop sexualizing them and promote the benefits of the nuclear family june is about father's day happy father's day to all the amazing dads out there please make a proclamation for father's day to be read at the next school board meeting thank you very much

[03:24:42] thank you abby platt to be followed by mark win here we are at the end of another year another year with more closed meetings less transparency more controversy and less trust in fact at today's meeting, this board will approve minutes from the last meeting, which includes, yes, a closed session.

[03:25:12] Why is the school board discussing Virginia v. Ziegler cases in closed session with counsel when the school board is not a party to that litigation? What advice is needed after a judge ordered the independent report to be given to the Attorney General? The statement provided to the public asserts a majority of the board believes it is still appropriate to continue to assert attorney client privilege and attorney-client work product exemptions in response to FOIA request.

[03:25:40] Votes to transact public business must be held in open meeting, so when was the vote held that gave this majority? This verbiage likely resulted from the closed meeting last week, which probably violated FOIA. So what this statement really means is the report will be given to the AG's office as directed by court order, but not to anyone else, making it abundantly clear that this board is still listening to bad legal advice from school counsel. Another item on today's agenda is the new FLE policy. It seems a little confusing. Is the copyrighted material available for review

[03:26:17] or not? I understand that the board is trying to accommodate for copyright laws and licensing agreements that prevent the making and distributing of copies that are unauthorized by the copyright owner. However, it is not clear that a complete list, what is part of the complete list and a description of those works will be available online or that viewing them will be available at a particular location. Please revise to include audiovisual, sound recordings, and software.

[03:26:46] Otherwise, it's a loophole that limits the list to printed materials only. The list of materials used in FLE curriculum includes physical and digital works, audiovisual works, sound recordings, software apps, digital content, content not printed in physical copies. Lastly, we love our teachers.

[03:27:08] We want them to be well compensated. We want them to feel valued and appreciated. We need a better option than the empty, unfunded promises that the LEA offers, especially given the draft resolution which would guarantee that the LEA would have exclusive representation of all employees and that no changes could ever be made. One last thing, it is really rich that someone would stand at this pulpit and call hate on other groups when they're part of the Loud and Loved Warriors that are threatening the lives of parents who come to speak. It's disgusting. Thank you. Mark Wynn to be

[03:27:44] followed by Jessica Smith. A little different this time. My name is Mark Wynn. I think you all have heard enough from me that you know some of my views. I've had the pleasure of talking to a lot of parents in Loudoun County, and they encourage me to continue to speak and read scripture.

[03:28:15] But what surprised me, probably 90% of them have one statement, that they're afraid to come forward to speak to you all because of the retaliation that will occur to their children because of what they say. I don't care who you are or what your view is, you should be able to speak your mind in

[03:28:47] this country as long as it's civil. For these parents to be afraid to speak based on the protection of their children, you have a bad atmosphere. You have an incorrect atmosphere.

[03:29:07] You need to change the atmosphere. On top of that, one other fact that you guys really need to know, and that's why I speak in public, so it's recorded, so it's noted exactly what I say. The LGBTQ pedophiles and Antifa and Black Lives Matters, not all, but a good portion of them, proclaim to be satanic, Satan worshipers.

[03:29:41] Do y'all get that? Do y'all understand what that means? By their profiles, their emails, their websites. If any of you all are affiliated with any of these people, as decent Americans, you really need to take stock of what you're doing and who your affiliation is i look forward

[03:30:14] to continuing to be able to speak to you guys whether it makes a difference or not but i hope that parents that have kids in school can come forward and speak without being threatened as i have and as i'm sure i'll be after this thank you for your time jessica smith to be followed by

[03:30:44] Suzanne Satterfield. Congratulations to the class of 2023. My daughter was one of the graduates yesterday morning. The honored guests were Asia Jones, who is not here right now. The no-scratch scene around the world after Beth Bartz asked Ziglier, has there been any reports of assaults

[03:31:21] in our bathrooms or locker rooms in the infamous June 22nd 2021 school board meeting that you all resumed later that evening without letting the public back inside which a judge ruled eventually ruled to be unlawful another guest at the graduation was Harris Madahavi who publicly complained recently that the school board has been beaten up and it makes him sad you know what

[03:31:54] is sad, Harris, who is not here, obviously, is how all of you received an email at 4.09 p.m. on May 28, 2021, and did nothing to assist the victim. Your non-action led to the continuous retaliation by other students. My daughter was beaten up at school September 8, 2021, an assault that was twice videoed, once by the school cameras, another by the attacker's friend, who days before threatened my student with physical violence. Neither the school nor the SRO took these threats

[03:32:33] seriously. Just like with the May 28th case, where the convicted sexual predator was charged with two felonies. The September 8th assailant was charged with assault and battery, and my daughter received a two-year protective order against the student. Needless to say, the retaliation, And because you all did nothing to protect my student, she collected her third protective order just this January.

[03:32:59] Death threats. You are not trying hard enough. You have failed as a board to keep our students safe. Your policies and the ideologies you all have enacted have made all students unsafe. You all should have resigned a long time ago, but you keep doubling down.

[03:33:21] It's okay. Justice will soon come as court resumes a week from today. June 20th for Wade Byard's perjury trial. Some justice will be had and people will be held accountable for their lives. Thank you. Suzanne Sattersfield to be followed by Andrea Weiskopf.

[03:33:49] A school board member recently shouted at me to not question his integrity. What is integrity? From 2010 to 2019, there were seven closed meetings. Since you all started up here, there have been 57. That's 57 closed meetings in three and a half years. People of integrity don't hide from the public. They have morals and are incorruptible. On May 30th, Judge Fisher

[03:34:25] stated in court that many of your closed meetings violated FOIA. He ordered you to release the sexual assault independent report to Attorney General, which you had the power to do all along. Many of you admitted to the press that you were given bad legal advice.

[03:34:44] So this should have been a no-brainer. Turn over the report to the AG's office and move on. Instead, on June 2nd, you rushed into another closed meeting to discuss the court case of the state of Virginia v. Scott Ziegler.

[03:35:02] Which one of you requested the closed meeting to discuss a court case that none of you are a party of? And why? B&K attorney Bill Porter, the author of the independent report, testified in open court that he represented the school division, not the school board.

[03:35:24] Porter testified that he never interviewed the school board for that report. He issued the completed report 17 months ago. He was here in this building during the last school board meeting. Why? He was not on the agenda.

[03:35:41] And he is not in the minutes. He's not listed at all. who requested for him to attend. Was he paid for his attendance? Was he in the closed meeting? After the closed meeting, LCPS stated that a majority of the school board said they did not want to release the independent report to FOIAs. Hold up, a majority? That implies a vote.

[03:36:11] Where was the discussion? Where was the vote? It was not in an open meeting. You don't have the right to discuss and make the decision, this decision in a closed meeting. Stop taking bad legal advice from an employee that the grand jury wanted to indict. Meetings with attorneys do not justify need for a closed meeting. What did you discuss that public couldn't hear? Why is Falcone still employed? Why are you still here? How can three of you sit up there and run again for public

[03:36:46] office when all you have done is hide truth from the public with no regard for student safety a person of integrity would walk away and andrea weiskopf is our final speaker tonight there isn't this much drama in middle school um i wanted to say with the teacher cadets uh please continue that program they look like they're learning and uh maybe three days after i finished teaching a

[03:37:24] monster called a student suddenly spoke up and said wait so like like is the monster a metaphor and I know the feeling that teacher cadet was talking about um when a student finally gets it the proposed policies related to 5045 are informational items tonight next meeting you will approve them, nevertheless I will speak. You will pass these policies, nevertheless I will speak.

[03:38:01] These policies call to heed moral and ethical sensitivities of various groups and for materials to preserve national values, freedom, civic responsibility, individual worth, personal integrity, honor, and service. With this policy, the only books that will remain in our schools are the Berenstain Bears. When non-white creators share their lived experiences, liberty and justice for all is exposed as a sham. Instead of viewing that uncovering

[03:38:40] as an opportunity to make liberty and justice for all a truth, those works are deemed anti-American, and it attempts to gaslight students who are not white into believing that their experiences are imagined and that their lives do not matter. These policies are covert attempts to erase LGBTQ students and their families. Even if these policies do not ban

[03:39:17] materials outright, they will create shadow bans. The materials will be there, but they will remain hidden in book rooms. This is soft censorship. Unless your moral and ethical sensitivities include affirming and protecting our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students, keep your morals and ethics out of school board policies black lives matter thank you that was

[03:39:55] our last in-person speaker and we had no virtual speakers sign up to give public comment at tonight's meeting so that will conclude public comment for today we'll now begin on our action items starting with 1101 revisions to the mou between the louden county school board and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg Police Department.

[03:40:19] I will move that the Loudoun County School Board approve the revisions to the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between the Loudoun County School Board and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg Police Department. Is there a second? Second.

[03:40:38] Seconded by Mr. Beatty. So we've discussed this pretty thoroughly in previous meetings over the last few months as we are required by code to document, maintain a MOU with our law enforcement partners and then to update that agreement every two years.

[03:41:02] Significant updates that are in this agreement, which have been mutually agreed upon at the staff level between LCPS and our law enforcement partners include language in the MOU that documents the right and legal obligations of LCPS to conduct Title IX or other investigations in parallel to law enforcement investigations.

[03:41:25] And there's also language in there that specify that law enforcement shall make reports to the division superintendent and to the principal or their designees on incidents as required by Virginia code. I know there are a number of other updates that staff can talk to, But those are, I think, some of the more notable changes compared to the existing version of the MOU.

[03:41:52] Is there any further discussion? Ms. Polifko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just like to state on the record that my understanding is that the relationship specifically between LCSO and Loudoun County Public Schools has improved over the last several months.

[03:42:11] And I think that's something that is worth discussing here on the dais this evening. But I would also like to make a formal request that regardless of the outcome of this vote this evening, that we not only publicize this as a school system on one social media outlet, but that we publicize it on all of the social media outlets that we are affiliated with, that we have accounts for, because it is important that we provide that transparency and opportunity for the public to see where we stand on this important memorandum of understanding.

[03:42:41] Thank you. Additional discussion? Ms. Reeser. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I have two questions for staff. One is just following up on what Mr. Sorotkin said about specifying in the MOU that certain information will be, I think you said certain offenses would be shared with the board.

[03:43:05] I just wanted to know if that specifically includes arrests of students, and if not, why not? And secondly, I was interested in knowing how the advisory and community feedback was reviewed and dealt with, since I believe this did not go through committee where a committee chair would normally address the feedback.

[03:43:29] So I'd like to know how it was addressed and incorporated. So thank you, Ms. Reeser. I can start, and then Ms. Ray Mitchell, chief of schools, is here with us tonight to speak to this a little bit more. If you remember, Ms. Boland was here last time, and she's not here this evening.

[03:43:46] Yes. This was a collaborative effort all along the way, meeting with LCSO and Leesburg PD several times to look at this to suggest changes. No changes were made without everyone in the room and kind of discussing those changes.

[03:44:03] There was a, from April 17th to May 1st, the revised draft of the MOU was shared with the school board advisory committees, than it was posted for public feedback. So we did go about it, that process. I actually had reached out to the advisory chairs and let them know that this was gonna be available and so they could make sure they had appropriate time to give that feedback.

[03:44:25] And so that was the process in terms of the advisory committees and then any feedback then came back to the unified group that came back together to review each piece of that feedback to see what changes might need to be made, what we could accept, what may not be as appropriate for the MOU.

[03:44:43] And so I know that process took place, but I'd like to defer to Ms. Ray Mitchell, who was a part of that group, our chief of schools. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Yes, Ms. Reeser, we had multiple meetings over the course of time where we brought feedback back to LCSO and LPD, and they brought feedback as well.

[03:45:06] And then we worked collaboratively to make any of those changes. So we had quite a few iterations of the MOU before it became a mutually agreed-upon document. And then in terms of your question about the arrest, we do have a section for crime reporting, which is on line 374, that by the Code of Virginia, the law enforcement agencies are required to notify us.

[03:45:31] The superintendent, a principal or designee, when a student commits certain offenses, that would be a felony if committed by an adult. And we do have a process in place where we do get regular communication when we have students that commit crimes that may be crimes in the community.

[03:45:47] So even when they're not committed on school grounds, we are informed. So is it safe to say that some of the community feedback that's listed here in the attachments, the board docs, was incorporated? Yes, ma'am. We also had some things that were requested from different committees.

[03:46:07] And when we took that back to the team and we discussed what could be implemented and what could not and why that couldn't be. So, for example, some of the feedback that was asked to be included, we could not put in that exact wording because it was a conflict in terms of what LCSO and LPD have to abide by due to the law.

[03:46:28] So when instances like that occurred, we had to come to a compromise or agree to not include it for that purpose. I do appreciate your explaining that, because as I said, typically we would have this happen during a meeting that was open to the public, so there would either be a recording or an actual, it would be televised, and typically in my committee we'll go through the community feedback piece by piece, so people who have submitted it can see that their voice was heard and dealt with, and I just wanted to be able to provide that on the record for anybody who took the time.

[03:47:03] there was extensive feedback and I wanted them to know that their voice had been heard. So I appreciate your explaining how that happened. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Lisa would bring back very specific notes from those committees in terms of what was asked to be included and how we could work around it. Thank you. That's all I have, Chair. Additional questions or discussion on the motion? Dr. Smith. Just wanted to add one other point to that. You know, this is an MOU and

[03:47:33] We have many MOUs with organizations throughout Loudoun County, and I don't know, I'm not aware of any other ones that go through this level of feedback in this process. And so, you know, we have MOUs, like I said, that we take, we work with those organizations that I sign them, the organization sign them.

[03:47:51] We did make the decision because of the process that this MOU went through last time to take it through that process. So I guess I just wanted to make the point that this MOU got much more feedback and the opportunity feedback than any other MOU that we've received. And so, you know, I think we've done a really nice job with it.

[03:48:07] I do appreciate staff in the way we've worked together with LCSO and LPD. And it has been a collaborative effort, and it's been an open process. And certainly not all MOUs are created equal. So I think it's absolutely appropriate and necessary for this one to have gone through the level of scrutiny and advisory committee feedback and public input that it has.

[03:48:32] Any additional discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion to approve the revisions to the MOU, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Mehellevi and Corbo absent for the vote.

[03:48:48] Our next item is 1102 from the Finance and Operations Committee, Revision of Policy 6320 Playgrounds. Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was a follow-on to the information item at the last board meeting, addressing changes to the Policy 6320 Playgrounds.

[03:49:10] Specifically, the language was updated to reflect the necessity to have compliance in the materials that are being used, as well as expanding the definition from just inclusive to accessible and inclusive, which provides accessibility options.

[03:49:27] If you notice some of our newer play sets that are designed with accessibility in mind, allow children who are, for instance, in a wheelchair, that they can actually have wheelchair accessibility up to the playground. And that our designs are now geared towards allowing students to play with other students of differing abilities.

[03:49:49] So I think this is a good improvement. I think it's, we actually had a high school student that came to us and talked to us significantly about this, which was great, great input. But I'll turn it over to Mr. Lewis for other comment. - Thank you, Mr. Morris. I think you covered it pretty well.

[03:50:05] I don't have any other comments to add. Thank you. - Okay, so I'll make the motion. I move that the Loudoun County School Board approves the staff and committee recommended revisions to policy 6320 playgrounds. for a second seconded by Ms. Ogadegbe. Mr. Morris anything further to speak your motion any further discussion seeing none all those in favor of the motion to approve the staff and committee recommended changes to policy 6320 playgrounds please raise your hand and say aye aye that motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Mejedevi and Corbo absent for the vote next

[03:50:45] is 1103 also from the finance and operations committee request to name the broad-run high school gymnasium the John Costello gym in accordance with school board policy 6510. Mr. Morse. Yes I move that the school board approve to name the broad-run high school gymnasium after Mr. Costello therefore named the John Costello gym for a period of 10 years. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Beatty. Mr. Morse would you like to speak to your motion? Yes and again this was also in information session, but this is reflecting the contributions of Mr. Costello, who taught and

[03:51:24] coached at Broad Run for more than 25 years. So the resolution that will go with this reads as follows. Whereas Mr. John Costello taught and coached at Broad Run High School for more than 25 years, and whereas Mr. Costello has resided in the Ashburn community for nearly 30 years, whereas Mr. Costello has four children who are Broad Run High School alumni, and whereas Mr.

[03:51:49] Costello is known for his caring compassion for students and athletes and whereas Mr. Costello's positivity and connection with students has been a source of strength for the Broad Run community for a generation now therefore be it resolved that in honor of his contribution to the Broad Run High School and the broader Loudoun County community the Broad Run High School gymnasium be named the John Costello gym for a period of ten years. Further discussion? Seeing none all those in favor of naming the Broad Run High school gymnasium the John Costello gym for a period of 10 years please raise

[03:52:27] your hand say aye aye that motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Mehedevi and Corbo absent for the vote we'll now start 1104 from the specialized programs and centers committee health and medical science Academy proposal miss Sheridan thank you mr. chair I move that the school board approve the LCPS health and medical sciences Academy proposal and direct staff to continue to provide regular updates to the committee throughout the planning process.

[03:52:57] I will second. Ms. Sheridan, would you care to speak to your motion? Thank you. I'm going to ask Dr. Ellis if there are any updates from staff and to just reiterate the intent of this motion. Thank you, Ms. Sheridan. I do not have any updates for you this evening, and I will just reiterate that we are seeking approval of the proposal that is in board docs.

[03:53:17] That does mean that we still have much more planning to go, and with your approval of the proposal, we will continue planning and updating you throughout the process. Any additional discussion or questions? I just had, I'm just remembering from, I sat in on the committee.

[03:53:34] The, as I recall, the FY24 budget impact was minimal. It was around 10K or 12K, but it could have additional budget implications in future years as the program gets off the ground and starts rolling. I just wanted to make sure I was thinking about that right for FY24.

[03:53:52] That is correct. We do have, we are fortunate to have received grant funds that are funding a staff member to help in the planning, but the impact on the local funds for FY24 is minimal. Thank you.

[03:54:07] Further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the LCPS Health and Medical Sciences Academy proposal and directing staff to continue to provide regular updates to the board throughout the planning process, please raise your hand and say aye.

[03:54:26] Aye. those opposed that motion will pass 7-1-2 with Polifco opposed and Mejedevi and Corbo absent for the vote we'll now move to 11-0-5 from the department of support services your chair excuse me the it's 6-1-2 on that vote to get to 9 I'm sorry 6-1-2 on that vote you said 7-1-2 I just wanted to make sure math error on my part you're correct 6-1-6-1-2 with Polifco opposed and Mejedevi

[03:55:00] and Corvo absent. Thank you. We'll now turn to 1105 from the Department of Support Services. Name recommendation for new elementary school ES32. Since the school is located in Blue Ridge, I'll make a motion. I move that the Loudoun County School Board name the new school located at 51125 Collaboration Drive in Aldi, Henrietta Lacks Elementary School. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Ms. Okedegbe. I will speak to my motion. Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Roanoke and lived

[03:55:40] most of her life in Virginia. She died at the age of 31 of cervical cancer. Before her death, while being treated for cancer at Johns Hopkins, tissue samples from her cervix were collected by the cell biology research team there without her permission or her family's knowledge for research and preservation purposes. The researchers at Johns Hopkins discovered that the cells which had been taken from Mislacks could be kept alive indefinitely rather than surviving for only a few days. It was the first, and for many years, the only cell line able to reproduce indefinitely,

[03:56:18] becoming known as the HeLa Immortal Cell Line. It was, and still is, widely used in laboratory research on viruses, cancers, infectious diseases, radiation, and human genetics. It was used by Jonas Salk to test the first polio vaccine in the 1950s. As of 2009, more than 60,000 scientific articles had been published about research done on the HeLa cell line. It has been so widely used that if you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, it would weigh more than 50 million

[03:56:54] metric tons. Ms. Lax was never aware that her cells were taken and her family remained completely unaware that her cells had been used in this way until the 1970s. The lack of informed consent in this case influenced the creation of what's called the Common Rule, a rule of ethics implemented in 1991 by the US government that sets strict standards for researchers obtaining and documenting the informed consent of their patients. Nearly all US academic institutions now hold their researchers to the common rule standards. It is a truly unbelievable

[03:57:31] story. I was floored by it when I read a book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a number of years ago, which documents the story of Ms. Lacks, her immortal cell line, and her family's search for answers, a story that was nearly lost to history as the identity of the woman behind the HeLa cell line was kept secret by the researchers for over two decades. It is entirely possible that some of the students who will learn at this new school would not be there without the research and scientific advances that Henrietta Lacks made possible. I hope it inspires the students there to learn more about science the way it inspired me when I read her

[03:58:11] story. I want to thank the naming committee for making Henrietta Lacks Elementary School one of their name recommendations for the new school to honor her meaningful contributions to science and her enduring legacy to the world. Additional discussion on the motion?

[03:58:29] Ms. Reeser, and then Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, I think you put it very well, the reasons for supporting this name, and I also wanted to thank the committee for recommending it as one of their suggestions. We have a history of taking a second or third name suggestion.

[03:58:49] This board does. We've done that before. And I remember serving on a naming committee before I was on the board, and this suggestion was made to stay away from anything that has a ridge in it because there are so many schools that have that.

[03:59:05] And I know that was another one of the names that the committee tossed around had a ridge in it. So besides the fact that this story is so inspiring, and I had heard this story and, in fact, did not know the woman's name, So I think it helps solidify that place in history.

[03:59:25] So there are many positive reasons for doing it, but also reasons for choosing this name over the other suggestions that the committee made. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree.

[03:59:40] I mean, the story is amazing, and I think that there is a place in history for this story. I just don't think it's in the name of an elementary school. I think if we were talking about dedicating a wing of the Academies of Loudoun, I think that that would be an appropriate name.

[03:59:56] I think that that would be an appropriate idea, and I would certainly support that. I have difficulty trying to explain to elementary school children just the significance of what all this means. I think it's a bit overwhelming for a young child to understand that, but I think someone who's studying premier science at the Academies of Loudoun should know, and should study in a facility that would be named the Henrietta Lacks Science Facility.

[04:00:27] But I do appreciate board members saying that, yes, we have gone against the recommendations in the past. Typically, we don't do that. And the whole idea behind bringing in a group of the community to select the name is to bring in the community to see what their preferences are to select the name.

[04:00:50] So while we do have veto authority over the community, I would not elect to use that. I will support the name of Harvest Ridge Elementary School, and therefore I won't support the name. So I'd like to make an alternate motion, substitute motion.

[04:01:06] I move that ES32 be named the Harvest Ridge Elementary School. Second. Motion made by Mr. Morse and seconded by Mr. Beatty. Mr. Morse, would you like to speak to your motion? No, I just think that as an elementary school, there are opportunities to define things that children understand and that they can grasp and not try to make this a scientific discovery where we can use that at a different facility.

[04:01:35] Even a high school might be more appropriate, but just not the school. Thank you. Additional discussion on the motion? Ms. Reeser. Mr. Chairman, can you correct me if I'm wrong? That was one of the names suggested by the naming committee, correct? It was one of, if you're referring to Henrietta Lacks, that was one of the alternative recommendations from the naming committee.

[04:01:56] And Harvest Ridge was the primary recommendation. So I don't see it as vetoing. I see it as choosing among the names that they brought forward to us, which we've done before. Also, I am going to respectfully disagree with my colleague, Mr. Chairman, that elementary school students can't appreciate or follow the science and the logic and the importance behind the history of the name.

[04:02:21] Further discussion on the motion? Mr. Beatty. Thank you. I'm going to echo Mr. Morse, which is why I seconded the motion. I just think that this is a very weighty topic, and I think it's something that would be better for the academies allowed and would be better for a high school rather than an elementary school.

[04:02:43] I just don't think that children of that age really understand the gravity of the situation, and I think we wouldn't be doing her enough service and honor by putting that, because they wouldn't understand the whole situation. They wouldn't understand the mistakes and the challenges that were the problem.

[04:03:02] It was this whole taking some hover cells, not telling their family, and then the family having to find out 30 years later. Like, I think that there's a lot of gravity behind that that I just don't think it's appropriate for an elementary school.

[04:03:17] I think it's much better for more mature students who really understand it and can recognize the injustices there and could actually allow that to form their consciences and allow them to not make those kind of mistakes and to make our world better.

[04:03:34] Further discussion? I just can't name another school after a ridge. I just can't do it. We have seven right now, seven of our 98 schools. We have Cardinal Ridge, Rolling Ridge, Belmont Ridge, Eagle Ridge, Light Ridge, Seneca Ridge, and Rock Ridge.

[04:03:49] I just, I can't, I prefer the name I proposed anyway, but one of the reasons I do is I don't think we need an eighth school named after a Ridge, so I will not support Mr. Morse's motion. Additional discussion. Ms. Reeser. Yeah, I just want to add that I think we can trust our teachers to talk about the name to elementary school-age kids appropriately.

[04:04:11] They can talk about what was done and what science came out of it without the weightier topics that maybe a second- or third-grader but certainly a 10- or 11-year-old could understand. sorry I forgot my second point maybe it'll come back to me if someone else has one further discussion so this is the substitute motion made by Mr. Morris to name the school Harvest Ridge Elementary's oh sorry uh Mr. Beatty and then Ms. Rieser if if I may respond I don't think it's

[04:04:51] against the the teachers per se and their ability to communicate what happened I think you can tell facts to students I just think if we want to inspire our students if we want them to see what went wrong and so that those kind of things don't happen again i just don't know that an elementary student would recognize that and you know maybe if you go to the elementary school and then you're in high school and college and you say oh now i understand mrs lack's situation you know maybe that's that that's what will end up coming but i just think that it's not that the teachers can't uh communicate it it's not that the facts can't be shared it's just that it won't have that impact

[04:05:26] it won't affect uh students at such a young age i think that's that's just my take on that but i I respect the opinions of my colleagues, so thank you. - Ms. Reeser. - So, just to clarify the point I was making, Mr. Chairman, I was speaking to the fact that there is scientific novelty in this story, and that could be the focus, not what was done wrong or the tragic parts of the story, which certainly could be incorporated for older students, but it's just a very cool story.

[04:05:56] And it's very, the scientific novelty of it itself is could be inspiring to younger students and more importantly we're not naming the academies or any other school this is the school that we're naming and these are the choices that our community panel gave us thank you additional discussion on the substitute motion so all those in favor of the substitute note motion to name the school harvest ridge elementary school please raise your hand and say aye those opposed please raise your hand say nay nay that motion will fail three four two with Ogadeg Bay, Sirotkin, Sheridan, and Reeser opposed.

[04:06:37] And Mehedivi and Corvo absent for the vote. So we're now back to the base motion to name the school Henrietta Lacks Elementary School. Is there further discussion on the motion? And Mr. Beatty.

[04:06:54] Thank you. I will just say that one point my colleague made that it isn't necessarily about the injustice, but about the wonder of the medical miracle, I guess you could say, that come out of it. So I think she has changed my mind. So I think I will support this at this time. Thank you. And even in just more simple terms, I just think you're never too early to develop a love of science. I was inspired earlier tonight by finding out that one of our kindergarten students responded to the logo design challenge that we had, which is a much earlier age than I

[04:07:33] would have expected and I think the same could be true of Henrietta Lacks' story. So even just from an educational aspect I think maybe not every student will appreciate it or understand it but I think some certainly will and alumni of the school certainly will years later as well when they may start to research. Additional discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion to name the new school located at 5-1-1-2-5 Collaboration Drive in Aldi, Henrietta Lacks elementary school, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Those opposed? That motion will pass

[04:08:08] 6-1-2 with Polifco opposed and Mejedevi and Corbo absent for the vote. Board members, at this time we will take a short recess and then we will resume the items from our work session and the remainder of our information items. Board members, please be back in your seats at 8-20. Thank you.

[04:08:31] all right the board is coming out of recess and we're going to finish up before we get to our

[04:19:48] regular information items we're going to finish up the three items from our work session we didn't get to so the first one is 405 from the department of support services fall 2023 school board meeting calendar for henrietta lacks elementary school attendance zone change process and fiscal year 2025 capital budgets. Mr. Lewis. Thank you Mr. Sirotkin. Mrs. Tate and I are here to present to you the calendar for this fall and as we do each year we have outlined the calendar that's the

[04:20:28] attachment in your board docs that shows the capital budget meetings in blue and the elementary school 32 attendance zone meetings in red. I will say that we have done a little bit different there's quite a few as you all are painfully aware there's quite a few meetings that happened around that time of year and so we have combined this year with the public hearings in the work sessions so we'll be doing as you know we've done those before when especially if we have meetings where there are no public comments that we would have no one here for the public hearing and briefing so we've combined those help us save a meeting but also still comply with all

[04:21:06] the requirements of the policy miss Tate also put at each of your all's tables tonight a map in the event that you would want to subdivide any of these planning zones ahead of time that's what that's there that's part of our standard process so that'll help us so we're not in the middle of trying to split zones in the middle of the process you'll notice that any of the meetings that are involved are actually on the same night as a school board meeting and so we offer these for you and we'll say down at the bottom of that list of the the calendar you'll see the list of schools also in the board item of all the schools

[04:21:44] that we are recommending as staff that we identify or notify that they could possibly have change obviously it doesn't mean they will but it is as the board starts to look at these attendance zone possibilities that you may want to affect one of those schools so we've identified all those schools that are in that proximate area that may or may not be affected by this and we're happy to take any questions board members questions or discussion regarding the proposed calendar for the CIP and attendance zone meetings. Ms. Okadekbe. Thank you, Chair

[04:22:21] Sorotkin. Just a question. So not having been through this part of the review process before, I know in the fall we had proposed boundary changes, but with the map and asking for feedback on where the lines are, I'm just looking to staff for are there specific adjustments that you want to bring our attention to I'm trying to unfold the map but it's a little unwieldy up here so I just wanted to get some feedback from you on what that process looks like and what what type of feedback you're seeking so

[04:22:58] there are no proposed changes that we are recommending at this point I guess one of the things we struggle with from time to time is as you can imagine when we start to do the maps and the different plans there's a tremendous amount of data that's assembled to try to get those attendance zones that any changes may happen and if board members wants to split an attendance zone in the middle of that process then becomes very difficult to to match all that data and would you like to add anything to that this is part of our annual process each summer as we end one school year and prepare for the next we as a planning

[04:23:35] staff look at all of our planning zones within the county to see if we've had residential developments that have occurred that perhaps need a further subdivision of an existing planning zone so it's not too unwieldy too large in size that it could or could not be moved we also wish to address any concerns that have been brought up to us during that school year mr. Beatty brought up the potential division of CLO six so we are it's part of our standard practice to do this and we have offered this to the board members in recent past as part of the process of gearing up for the next boundary process so we focus and

[04:24:13] what we've provided to you is the planning zones for the school boundaries that are we are recommending be involved in this process so it's completely up to you as if you wish if you know the area and you think oh maybe we want to divide this by a road or there's a stream that runs through it then that's something certainly worthy of consideration that we might not catch okay thank you so much additional discussion I just have I remember when

[04:24:42] When we first started talking about the attendance zone for ES32 a couple of years ago, the staff thought at that time was that it was going to essentially be the same attendance zone as Hovater because it's serving the siblings of the same population or the same families.

[04:25:04] So is that still the thought or is based on the population of that area is the attendance zone going to have to increase because it's now two schools and it's going to serve a larger population? It would be staff sought that we probably will be coming back to you with a similar boundary to Hovater's existing However, as you perhaps are well aware as the representative in the Blue Ridge District There are a couple streets that have been developed in the Willowsford community that are not

[04:25:39] Presently being served by Hovater Peach Ridge Court as one example and those residents have been very vocal Throughout since their houses were built about a year ago that they would like to be in the Hobart or boundary They presently are zoned to all the elementary. So we're looking at that. We also Not that we're zealots, but we also would like to look at all of the Dulles South school boundaries to see if there are Areas of concern that we need to and so that's why we're using this opportunity as well We have noticed all of them.

[04:26:16] There may be no changes whatsoever, but we want to look at it as we're coming out of COVID again and how some of our schools have had regional assignments this year because of larger than anticipated class sizes. Okay, and that's kind of what I figured.

[04:26:32] I'm hoping it will be largely unchanged or there might be some changes around the edges and we end up in a situation like we were with Elaine Thompson rezoning where we ended up cancelling half the meetings because it was uncontroversial and we didn't have any public comment.

[04:26:51] And we only had, I think that was the one we ended up adopting the staff plan and there were no school board plans at all. So I'm hopeful that we'll be in that situation and there won't be many changes, but I understand, you know, there's now two schools where one school used to be. So the capacity is going to be greater and we might need to take a look at bringing more communities inside that zone.

[04:27:12] Additional discussion or questions? Okay, so we will bring this back for action next meeting for the calendar. Next, we have 406 from the Department of Instruction, annual grant application for the 2023-24 school year for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

[04:27:45] Thank you, Mr. Sorotkin. This evening, I have with me Mr. Scott Meisensal. He's our supervisor of school improvement.

[04:28:01] and he will share with you our annual grant application for the 2023 2024 school year for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act or ESEA as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 in order to receive available funds from the federal government for titles 1 2 3 & 4 under ESSA it's necessary to submit an application every year the school board must in a public vote authorize the division superintendent to apply for these funds, and Mr. Meisensal will walk us through these titles and changes for next year.

[04:28:36] Thank you, Dr. Ellis. Next slide, please. LCPS completes a consolidated grant application each year, which means that we submit one application for Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV. As they do each year, the Virginia Department of Education advises us to use level funding for planning purposes, as official allocations will not be released until the end of the summer or the early fall. This slide shows the historical free and reduced lunch percentages division-wide.

[04:29:11] As a reminder, Title I allocations are determined based on the county census data, not the number of schools served as Title I. Loudoun County's most recent census data estimates for students ages 5 through 18 were 3.2 percent. That compares to the previous year, the percentage was 2.995 percent. So it's pretty steady as far as where we were last year with the census data. The purpose of Title I is to provide financial assistance through state educational agencies to school

[04:29:50] divisions and public schools with high numbers of percentages or percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and achievement standards. Based on the 2023 spring community eligibility provision poverty data and the 50% threshold that LCPS uses to identify Title I schools, four schools will be added as school-wide Title I schools for 2023-2024, as shared in a previous school board meeting.

[04:30:25] Frederick Douglass Elementary, Cool Spring Elementary, Leesburg Elementary, and Seneca Ridge Middle are those four schools. As shared in the previous, if you go back one slide, I'm sorry, as shared in the previous presentation, Robey will be skipped as a Title I school based on the enrollment numbers and local funds have been identified to provide them with the allocations that they would have been provided through Title I. Predicted allocations for 2023-2024 are based on level funding. Actual allocations will be released in September from the Virginia Department of

[04:31:03] Education. The amount allocated to individual schools is a per-pupil expenditure based on the number of low-income students. Loudoun County Public Schools uses a grade span ranking to determine the PPE for K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. There are a number of factors that impact the changes in allocations for a school, including changing the poverty data source from free and reduced lunch to CEP for our non-CEP schools, which we did this year, change in demographics and number of enrolled students, and changes in rank order of poverty levels, and also an increase in the

[04:31:40] number of schools served does impact the school allocations. Allocations shown in the chart include transferability from Title II and Title IV for the two years provided. Title I funds are to be used to directly impact student achievement by providing additional services that increase the amount and quality of instructional time, providing students with an enriched and accelerated academic program, significantly elevating the quality of instruction, and affording parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the

[04:32:19] education of their children. This slide shows some of the specific uses of Title I for the 2023-24 school year based on needs assessment from our title schools. The purpose of Title II is to support programs to increase academic achievement by increasing the number of qualified teachers in classrooms, increasing the number of qualified principals and assistant principals in schools, and increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals by holding school divisions and

[04:32:53] schools accountable for improvement in student academic achievement. Multiple stakeholders conducted and reviewed the needs assessment for Title II for improving teacher quality and prioritized the use of the funds. Title II funding will support the salary and benefits for five Title II-funded instructional mentor coaches, coaching and professional development for beginning teachers, professional development to address current teacher needs, and to support

[04:33:24] a reading specialist cohort program. The purpose of Title III is to support programs to address English language proficiency and academic achievement of English learners, including the provision of language instruction educational programs and activities that increase the knowledge and skills of teachers who serve ELs. Title III programs also provide enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youths. Title III funds have been

[04:34:01] identified to supplement the unique needs of our L program in the areas of L family and community engagement, immigrant youth, instruction, and professional learning. The family and community engagement, known as FACE team, is fully funded by Title III, who are charged with leading engagement activities and events. A few highlights include the PEP program, family feedback circles, the family room virtual information sessions, and resource fairs. L instructional facilitators provide ELLE professional development of language acquisition strategies at the district and school

[04:34:39] level via face-to-face instruction, face-to-face training, and the ongoing coaching cycle. To expand knowledge of all educators of ELLEs, funds will support quality teaching for ELLEs, known as QTEL, professional development cohorts at all levels. Lastly, Title III funding is allocated to continue our partnership with GMU in support of a teaching culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional learners cohort for educators seeking an EL endorsement. Title IV funds are provided to

[04:35:17] increase the capacity of local school divisions to provide students with a well-rounded education. ESSA allows divisions to transfer up to 100% of funds awarded from Title IV to Title I. For the 23-24 school year, transferability will occur from Title II Part A and from Title IV Part A to Title I Part A. Title IV funds are to be prioritized for schools that have students with the greatest needs and the highest number of students from low-income families. Our needs assessments show

[04:35:53] greatest needs in our Title I schools, which also have the highest numbers of students from low-income families. Therefore, LCPS, as stated, intends to move Title IV funds to Title I to continue to support Title I-funded teachers, evidence-based programs for students, and family engagement activities. As we are increasing our Title I-served schools by four more schools this upcoming year, we do not anticipate an increase in the Title I funding we receive. While achievement gaps still exist for most at-risk learners, our needs assessment data does show continued growth at our Title I schools.

[04:36:31] Transferring these Title IV funds to Title I will provide additional funds for evidence-based strategies to continue to improve student academic achievement for our most at-risk students. So our next steps, we have reported to the state our changes in our Title I status of the four new schools that was reported in May.

[04:36:53] The next steps will be to submit to the school board as an action item or consent agenda item on June 27th, the consolidated application. The deadline to submit the approved application to the Virginia Department of Education is July 1st.

[04:37:09] We will then receive actual allocations from the VDOE in September, and then we will submit an amended application to VDOE with the updated allocations that are provided to us. So that concludes our presentation of the application, and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[04:37:28] - Board members, any questions regarding the presentation? Ms. Okedekbe. - Thank you, Chair Sirotkin. Thank you so much for this update and clarity on these different federal programs and how the grant process works.

[04:37:45] Also for the explanation on how the Title IV funds are being transferred to support Title I schools. I just wanted to comment and just thinking forward as we're not quite done with this budget process, but looking to the next one, especially considering that there are four new schools and ultimately we're looking at level funding.

[04:38:05] If there are additional needs that aren't being met through the federal funds passed through the state or through these grants that we consider line items on the budget for the request for the upcoming cycle to fill any gaps and needs with local funding as needed.

[04:38:27] Thank you. - Additional discussion? - I have a question about the free and reduced lunch percentage slightly decreasing in FY23 compared to FY22.

[04:38:42] That's the first time that percentage has gone down in the history of ever. So is that a COVID blip or is there something going on as far as long-term trend? That's a really great question.

[04:38:58] I don't know if I can explain. It's a half percentage that it did drop, but we didn't recently see a gradual increase. I don't know if I have an answer for the explanation of why our data shows that. Potentially, it could be with, as we serve our CEP schools, there may not be as many families that are submitting free and reduced paperwork because it's no longer necessary for them to be able to receive free lunches.

[04:39:28] That's a possibility, but I don't know if that's the exact explanation for that. Okay. If there's any additional information you can follow up with after taking a look at it, I'd be curious. Okay, we will. Any additional questions?

[04:39:44] Interest in placing the grant application on consent for our next board meeting? Okay, thumbs up, so we'll place this on consent for our June 27th meeting. The next item is 407 from Finance and Operations Adoption of New Policy 6730, School Crisis, Emergency Management, and Medical Response.

[04:40:12] Mr. Lewis, I'm going to ask you if you could provide a brief overview of this item or any notable changes or inclusions in the policy. Sure, thank you, Mr. Sorokin. so this is a new policy that addresses school emergencies and essentially just quickly defines what the processes are and what the definition of emergency is that identifies that we do an audit every year and then just talks a little bit about the reporting process and so when we reviewed this before in the finance committee we were asked to make just two simple changes one was change

[04:40:51] take the word plan out of the title and then in item number three on line 39 which changed the word should to shall and so we've done that from request from the Finance Committee and we're presenting here tonight for the school board their review and we'll bring it back next time as an action item board members any questions regarding this new policy so we put it we put a policy in place a couple of years ago specifically around contingency planning so I feel like there's some overlap or some similarities between this policy and that

[04:41:28] one so are we still is the plan to still maintain the contingency planning policy as a separate policy or I'm just wondering if that was discussed by staff or discussing committee it we did definitely discuss it as staff I don't believe it came up in committee but the contingency planning policy is 6610 and that essentially is a continuity of operations type of thing so what happens how do we have a plan for if a building goes down or if a a number of buildings go down. This particular policy is more of an emergency response, so responding to the actual emergency in that particular moment, and then the COOP plan, the contingency plan wouldn't take place after that. So we do plan to keep both of them.

[04:42:09] Thank you. That makes sense. I appreciate the explanation of the distinction between the two. Any additional questions? Interest in placing this on consent for our next board meeting? Okay. We'll place this on consent for June 27th. That will complete the unaddressed items from the work session so we'll begin our information items proper starting with 1201 from the Legislative and Policy Committee revision of policy 2610 Loudoun County School Board staff aides miss Rieser thank you mr.

[04:42:45] Sorokin revised policy 2610 was presented to the LMP committee and we worked on it over a number of months it's coming out of committee with a 3-0 vote to recommend the revised policy as it appears in board docs and just to give board members an overview with the change in our ability to have staff work over 20 hours now they are our staff aides can be eligible for benefits and and this policy and the budget approval of that initiative creates a different

[04:43:25] class. They're not considered LCPS employees and they're not elected officials. So while they have the opportunity to avail themselves of certain benefits, if they are working the requisite number of hours, they are still appointees of the elected officials. So the changes in the policy address some of the changes that come with this hybrid relationship. And I will just pause there and see if there's anything that Mr. Slevin would like to add or Mr. Falcone.

[04:43:56] Thank you, Ms. Reeser. The update to the policy was meant to catch up with some current practices when the policy was first brought to the LNP committee in December, looking at the application of policies to school, board aides, payroll and benefits, and management and oversight around communication as well.

[04:44:18] As Ms. Reeser indicated, there was some interest in going back and looking at the benefits section specifically. So staff worked together to get the policy to the point it is now with language around eligibility for benefits.

[04:44:37] Do you have anything further? I'll just add that it was sent out for community feedback. And a lot of the questions from the community also centered around suggestions that cannot be incorporated because these positions are neither a political one or a straight LCPS employee one.

[04:44:59] And I'm happy to answer any questions if my colleagues have any. Board members, any questions or discussion regarding the changes to this policy? Ms. Polifko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have one question regarding the addition.

[04:45:16] I think it's an addition because I don't think this was in a previous policy for Section J, the nondisclosure agreements. I just wondered if you could provide some context around the need or the perceived need for this, as well as further define what relevant confidentiality means.

[04:45:37] Because when I'm reviewing the draft policy, it looks as though an aid wouldn't be privy to information related to FERPA. So I'm just wondering what type of confidential information they would need to sign an NDA for and just seeking more clarification on that thank you I'm sure I can start by answering that NDAs are currently in place so that's not a new new requirement and I can let mr. Falcone add anything to more specifically answer this second

[04:46:10] part of your statement question thank you mrs. Reeser so with respect to it's It's correct that staff aides currently sign NDAs. Some of the additions require limitations on what will be provided from board members to the staff aide or from LCPS employees to the staff aides, but staff aides may still nonetheless be privy to otherwise confidential information if they were to receive that directly

[04:46:49] from a student or a parent or someone like that. And so since they're not subject to, they may get information from the board member in that context and so that's what the NDA is to cover 'cause they're not traditional LCPS employees.

[04:47:08] - Thank you for the clarification. So I guess what I'm just looking for is, is it possible for that to be further defined in the policy or, I mean, I just, because relevant confidentiality is a bit broad. And so I think that's what I'm looking for, to further cement what that actually means.

[04:47:31] I know that it was not this specifically, but as far as what information could or could not be shared with staff aides, we had significant discussion in committee about that.

[04:47:49] And the way that it was left in a different part of the policy that says attorney-client privilege information cannot be shared with staff aides, Pretty much everything other than that is up to the discretion of the board member on whether they would choose to share those emails or that information with their staff aide unless otherwise prohibited by law from doing so.

[04:48:12] So I know it's spelled out in some other parts of the policy that reference FERPA and other things, but I think it would certainly be appropriate to maybe add it to that last section as well. Additional discussion? Ms. Reeser? So, Mr. Falcone, I wonder if we could just strike the word relevant and keep the meaning of it more clear and the same that way.

[04:48:35] I wouldn't have any objection to that. Would that? Okay. So, I'll go ahead and make that motion when I present it next time because I think that clarifies. Any additional discussion or questions? Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you, Chair Sirotkin.

[04:48:52] So, I just have a question about the FERPA statement in the policy. So if a staff aide is answering emails from a parent or a teacher or a student that includes student information that would generally be covered under FERPA, I'm trying to reconcile that administrative task of answering emails with the fact that sometimes emails have student information in them.

[04:49:22] So if you can address that piece of it, that would be helpful. Thank you, Ms. Ogudegbe. I'd be happy to do that. So the language in subsection F provides that staff aides will not be provided confidential personnel information, information protected under FERPA or other confidential information by LCPS staff unless required to do so by law.

[04:49:49] So that would, FERPA only applies to school divisions and their employees. And so that part of the policy outlines that staff is not going to affirmatively provide FERPA protected information, but that would not preclude a parent or a student or a staff member talking about a personal issue from providing that information to a board member or a staff aide for that matter.

[04:50:19] And so in that case, the board member would be able to provide that without necessarily violating FERPA, but we would still want to have appropriate confidentiality in place. And if I could add, I think that's a case in point for why the non-disclosure is needed because I think that further can spell out that especially because there is this hybrid classification and the staff aides are not truly LCPS employees but still need to follow FERPA.

[04:50:56] And you might also notice that in the section above non-disclosure agreements at line, in the red line version, it's between lines 247 and 249, the policy sets forth that staff aides will receive training on FERPA.

[04:51:15] Additional discussion? Seeing none, we already have one prospective amendment to this, so we'll place this on action for our next board meeting. We'll move to 1202, also from the Legislative and Policy Committee, Adoption of New Policy 3310, Evaluation of New and Established Programs.

[04:51:35] Ms. Reiser. Thank you. New Policy 3310 came to the Legislative and Policy Committee as an information item in March and then for action in April and May and June. So it came out of committee with a 3-0 vote to recommend the adoption of it.

[04:51:54] I'm going to ask staff to present this as it is 100% a new policy. I don't know if Dr. Tyler or Mr. Slevin wants to pick this one. Thank you, Ms. Reeser.

[04:52:10] Dr. Tyler, you're going to, Dr. Tyler will present the policy. Thank you. Good evening to Superintendent and the Chair of the Board and Board members.

[04:52:43] So over the years, over the last several years, we've had conversations from Board members asking about particular programs and initiatives and the implementation and impact of new initiatives and what we're learning. And with the passage of 1LCPS, our strategic plan, there is a core value of continuous improvement.

[04:53:04] So this policy and the supporting regulation was written to really develop practices and strategies to embody what it means to engage in continuous improvement. So what you see outlined is a strategy around the superintendent and the board working collaboratively to determine which of our major initiatives or programs we need to review to look at implementation and impact.

[04:53:32] To align with our strategic plan, our overall culture of continuous improvement, major initiatives that might have the largest impact on our outcomes. And it really talks about how we prioritize major programs and initiatives in a division of this size.

[04:53:52] There may be dozens of large programs and we have to prioritize. And the supporting regulation goes into detail about roles of different stakeholders and how we set schedules and how we plan and work collaboratively. So this policy was written to support, over the years, the need for the board to know how certain initiatives are being implemented, the impact they're having, and how we're learning along the way, and to really carry out that core value of continuous improvement.

[04:54:26] Board members, any questions or discussion regarding this policy? Ms. Ogedegbe. Thank you, Chair Sorokin. I just wanted to express my appreciation for this new policy and the intent of this.

[04:54:41] As you mentioned, Dr. Tyler, there are often questions about, well, what was the impact? How is that helping or not helping? And having a structure around that is very helpful to allow for some consistency in the reviews.

[04:55:00] And I know a lot of thought came along with this. And I remember reading a draft months ago, it seems like. So I just wanted to express my appreciation that this is coming forward for review by the full board.

[04:55:16] Thank you. Additional questions? Ms. Polifko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to briefly bring up the fact that if I'm reading this correctly, I think SEAC was not able to get their concerns and recommendations in on time because their business meeting concluded on the vote for their recommendations was concluded on April 12th.

[04:55:41] And so it looks as though the draft for this policy in the action item in LNP went through on April 10th. So I just wanted to bring up their concern briefly with line six. And it looks like that may have been taken care of, but they listed their concern as relevant stakeholders not being included.

[04:56:04] I'm seeing key stakeholders listed here. So on line five stating that produce positive outcomes for students and other key stakeholders. If there's another board member that can speak to that or the, I don't know if there was an oversight with CX feedback or if I'm misreading this.

[04:56:23] Thank you. So I can speak to the fact that there were a couple of instances and I can't recall specifically if it was this policy or other policies. But there were some instances where because of the timing of their meetings and certain months when they don't meet and the fact that they wanted the entire body to meet to give feedback, that they couldn't respond timely to some of the opportunities.

[04:56:51] But as you can see from the board doc summary, the committee met on this item after they gave feedback. So even though the timing was a little bit off, because it came back to so many times, the opportunity for their feedback to be taken into consideration did exist.

[04:57:11] I can't remember all the iterations of the changes that came out of committee, but I think what you're noticing does address their initial concern. And I'll invite the other committee members, if they recall anything specifically with regard to that, either Mr. Beatty or Mr. Sorokin, to chime in.

[04:57:34] Any additional discussion? Interest in placing this on consent for our next board meeting? Okay. We will place this on consent for the June 27th agenda. We'll move on to 1203 from the HRTD committee, revision of policy 7640, workers' compensation.

[04:57:56] Ms. Okadekbe. Thank you, Chair Sorokin. - And this policy came forward to the HRTD committee as an information item back at the end of April. It is a fairly brief policy with some limited updates but there was some extensive conversation around some of the mechanics that are described in the policy which is why it didn't come back for action through the committee until the end of May.

[04:58:25] So we had, there was, again, some extensive discussion. So what this provides is some specific updates, some of it semantics, swapping out Virginia state law for Virginia code, and an explanation of the process through which a person goes through the third-party administrator when they have a worker's compensation claim, and

[04:59:00] And then clarification that the initial consultation will happen with the physician on an approved panel of physicians, which is maintained by that third-party administrator.

[04:59:16] So again, not extensive updates. That's it. Board members, any questions regarding the changes? Seeing none. Interest in placing this on consent for our next board meeting?

[04:59:33] We'll place this on consent. We'll now move to 1204, also from the HRTD committee, adoption of new policy 7717, organ and bone marrow donation leave.

[04:59:50] Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you. So this was brought as an information item at the end of May, and the HRTD committee voted unanimously to suspend the rules and move this forward as an information item for the full board.

[05:00:16] This is a new policy which is being proposed to address code that allows for leave for both unprotected and benefit-protected leave to employees who are donating an organ for up to 12 weeks, 60 days, or bone marrow for up to 6 weeks or 30 days.

[05:00:40] so this basically provides the information about how this leave works much of the language is taken directly from code thank you was there time sensitivity in getting this to the board i'm just curious why it was why the rules were suspended in the committee to do that yes so there i don't remember the date but there is a date coming up if staff can remind me when that is so the state law goes into effect July 1st, which is why the expedient nature of the request to come forward. And we're required to have a policy in place in

[05:01:18] compliance with law by that date? Yes, we are. Okay, thank you. Ms. Reaser. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm assuming since we're required to have this by law, this isn't the leave that we were talking about when we were talking about budget reconciliation. Ms. Willoughby, do you, can you, it's slightly off topic, but since were talking about leave can you just clarify for me what what leave you were talking about us

[05:01:47] reconciling out of the budget that was a new initiative so it wasn't something that was already enacted it was an initiative to add an additional I can't remember the exact number of days but additional personal leave and sick leave for 10 and 11 month contract holders okay thank you and is there any budget implication with this policy? I'm assuming no, because it just it guarantees the

[05:02:26] right for unpaid leave in this case, but I just wanted to make sure. This is unpaid leave and it's not to be the same as FMLA. So it just allows an employee to have another set of time and still have job protections. That's the intent of this policy. Thank you. Ms. Okadekbe. I mean, I would say presumably there's impacts for the necessity for substitutes but other than that it's unpaid leave additional questions or discussion seeing none interest in placing this on consent for the

[05:03:02] next board meeting okay we'll place this on consent so that will take us to 1205 and we're actually going to there's going to be a presentation on uh policy the next three items altogether for revisions of policy 5045, new policy 5046, and new policy 5047 that came out of curriculum and instruction, which is essentially existing policy 5045 being split into three pieces.

[05:03:34] So the recommendation for all three of these was unanimous coming out of committee to either recommend the revised policy or new policy. Dr. Ellis and her team have an extensive presentation on the last six months of work in revisions to these policies, and so I will turn it over to them. Thank you, Mr. Sorokin. As you mentioned, we have been busy with these several

[05:04:07] policies for several months and I first want to acknowledge first of all dr. Ashley cramp our interim executive director of teaching and learning who has spearheaded the revision of these policies she has a dynamic team behind her several of whom even have stayed this evening for this presentation and I wanted to recognize Alyssa Moritz library services supervisor Daniel Graham supervisor of social science and global studies and Laurie sink our program manager in teaching and learning this team has put in countless hours in

[05:04:43] revising and going through feedback for these policies so if we go to the next slide this journey began in November of 2022 when the board passed policy 5055 parental notification of instructional materials with sexually explicit content that policy was approved by the board to go into effect on January 1st of this year and when that policy went into effect we decided with input from the board that we needed to revisit policy 5045 we needed to clarify information

[05:05:20] around library materials when they are considered instructional materials what library materials are acceptable and define terms like culturally responsive diverse, which were vague in the existing policy. When we began this process, it became clear that we needed to actually expand this single existing policy 5045 into three separate policies, similar to the way VSBA structures their model policies.

[05:05:49] So this evening, we will present to you revised policy 5045, which is now entitled Criteria selection of supplemental instructional resources new policy 5046 which is entitled selection of school and classroom library materials and new policy 5047 reconsideration of instructional and library materials additionally through this process we realized we needed to add an additional

[05:06:19] policy 5048 family life education which we will address later please so just a high-level summary of the policy development timeline because it has taken so long we began as I mentioned back in December of 2022 recommending revisiting policy 5045 we began researching and revising the current policy in January we discussed you all discussed this as a board at your January 10th school board

[05:06:56] meeting we took those conversations into consideration when we were drafting we continued our policy development we sought fight we sought feedback from librarians and continued to make revisions in February we sought input from the rest of the DOI leadership team division council and cabinet and in March of 2023 we presented the policies for a first review to the CNI committee and that's when we began gathering stakeholder input from our broader stakeholder groups that dr. Kramp will talk about in just a minute next slide

[05:07:36] please then in April we gathered all of that stakeholder feedback we were appreciative of the feedback that multiple stakeholder groups provided the team went through that feedback line by line grouped them into themes crosswalk them with with the draft policies and made suggested revisions to each of the draft policies we shared that information with the CNI committee in May you will see that feedback this evening bless you in June the CNI

[05:08:13] committee voted on the draft policies having considered the feedback from the stakeholder groups and tonight we are here at the information item hopefully the board will take action on the 27th so these policies will be in place for staff members by the start of the school year over the course of the summer staff will continue working on these policies by developing regulations specifically for policy 5047 on the review of and challenge of materials we will complete that by the start of the school year as well so with that we will

[05:08:51] go through the policy review feedback process and mr. Sorokkin let us know if you want to stop after each policy or just run through the whole thing I think it's probably easier in this case just to go the whole way through and then take questions on everything at the end okay good evening thank you for having us to share the process that we took and be back received this slide provides for you an update of the various stakeholder groups that we received feedback from in the process and I did just want to highlight one particular group the

[05:09:26] Loudoun Association of School Librarians that is not a stakeholder group that we typically receive or solicit feedback from but with these policies we did receive three separate submissions from them so we wanted to acknowledge that on this slide for the board before we get into some specifics with each policy we did receive feedback that resulted in some themes that emerged throughout the feedback but didn't necessarily result in revisions to the drafts policies that we created but we wanted to acknowledge those and provide some additional

[05:10:04] context for you so the first one that emerged was a request to further define what we meant by sexually explicit in the policies the committee felt like this is defined and already approved in policy 5055 our policies that we're talking about this evening continue to reference policy 5055 and we will continue training staff and our review committees around what that particular term means some feedback received indicated a desire for more specificity details and definitions throughout the policies we did make some

[05:10:44] changes within the policy and you'll see those reflected you know in our drafts but policy by nature is broader and if additional specificity is needed the committee decided to put that in regulation where appropriate and where needed there was some feedback around the potential and concern for book banning in LCPS and the policy not being specific enough to prevent that so we want to reiterate that anyone has a right to challenge for any of the reasons identified within the challenge policy which is 5047 and that also establishes a review committee and a formal process when we receive a

[05:11:24] challenge our process does not prejudge any complaint or challenge but ensures fairness and an unbiased review a staff certainly acknowledges this concern of potential book banning which is why we lean into the policy where the specific process for everyone is outlined. Another concern expressed was that quiet banning may occur.

[05:11:49] This is a phenomenon where books are not outright banned, but discouraged by administrators or others. Any issues or concerns related to potential quiet banning can certainly be reported to the ombudsman or through Let's Talk. And just wanted to reiterate that everyone, including our administrators has to follow the policies as approved. We had a few comments that felt that some of the steps or details that we had included in the policy were potentially too cumbersome on staff. One example was the incorporation of a library inventory every two years. Another example

[05:12:26] given was the factors that we're asking teachers to consider when identifying and selecting supplemental instructional materials and so just want to make you aware that our draft policy as presented currently reflects the practices that we have in place and the committee felt having it documented doesn't add additional steps for staff it just formalizes what is already part of our practices and then policy 5047 we did receive some comments inquiring about the process for selecting our committee members as dr ellis said we are currently working on a regulation that will

[05:13:04] company policy 5047 that will clearly outline the selection of parents and other committee members so for the remainder of the presentation we're going to share each of the four policies one at a time and each policy will be divided into the following sections the first is a general summary of clarifications and the overall revisions we made when creating the original draft policies that we brought to curriculum and instruction committee in March a summary of the number of feedback submissions we received for each policy and the response to each of those those submissions of feedback by

[05:13:43] the committee so we will begin with policy 5045 which is criteria and selection of supplemental instructional materials so just as a reminder primary instructional materials are covered under policy 5130 supplemental instructional materials are used to support primary instructional materials, and they can be division, school, or individual teacher selected. We separated the criteria for division-level supplemental materials and school-level supplemental materials within the policy.

[05:14:16] We did explicitly state that instructional materials with sexually explicit content shall not be used in elementary classrooms as referenced in Policy 50-55, and we did define when school library materials are considered supplemental instructional materials.

[05:14:36] We also, throughout the policy, supported a culturally responsive environment through the selection of materials. Being culturally responsive means that we have a student-centered approach to instruction that respects and affirms all student cultures, and this would include materials that we use.

[05:14:53] So throughout policy 5045 and 46, there is reference to supporting a culturally responsive environment through the selection of materials. This is articulated specifically in 5045 through the selection criteria for supplemental materials, which includes that materials will be representative of all backgrounds within the LCPS community and beyond as defined by policy 1040, equal opportunity for equitable, safe, and inclusive environment.

[05:15:23] Policy 5045 received 10 total submissions for feedback. The number of submissions is not reflective of the number of responses, but the number of submissions that were received.

[05:15:40] So a parent might indicate two or three responses, but is counted as one submission in the chart for you this evening. And just to remind you that the Loudon Association of School Librarians, again, provided us feedback. They are not represented as a separate group on the chart, but are included in staff feedback because they are all staff members of the school division.

[05:16:03] So specific feedback that we received around 50-45 and the committee response to that feedback is included in the next several slides. So the first was that there were some concerns brought forth that it seemed we removed some content from the original 50-45.

[05:16:20] We actually didn't make a change as a result of that. And it was a misunderstanding that when we separated them into three different policies that we removed some content. So it may be removed from 5045, but it is pulled into 5046 or 5047.

[05:16:37] So we did not lose anything from the original policy. We had a request to define national values because that term was not specific enough. We did update the policy. We did remove the term national values because that does bring about a variety of different definitions.

[05:16:54] but we kept the terms of freedoms, civic responsibility, and individual worth within the policy. We did have several comments wondering why parents were involved in the selection of supplemental instructional materials since they are not content experts or certified educators.

[05:17:12] Staff did acknowledge that parents may not have the expertise and knowledge to make those decisions, but at the same time, we certainly value input and feedback from parents. So we did seek some feedback on that from curriculum and instruction committee and determined that parents would remain part of the selection process within our policy.

[05:17:32] We had a suggestion to format the school and division level sections to look the same and ensure that both had a definition of materials that would fall within each of those categories. So we did update the policy to do that. And so school level section C is modeled to look like section B related to division level materials.

[05:17:53] and we did include definitions as requested. Some feedback indicated confusion over the difference between instructional materials and curriculum, concerned that some of the criteria around instructional materials could be used not to teach certain topics within the curriculum.

[05:18:12] So we did not make a change. The majority of our curriculum is defined by Virginia State Standards. Some of our other courses have some curriculum defined by other entities. Those would be our AP courses, dual enrollment courses, and IB courses. But the expectation is that curriculum is followed regardless, and this policy is specifically addressing supplemental materials that would support the teaching of the required curriculum.

[05:18:38] LCPS is required, some feedback, LCPS is required to provide accessible print materials to students under the ADA, IDEA, Section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and a suggestion that we add that materials will be evidence-based as appropriate for the intended purpose. We did update the policy to include accessibility under those things mentioned to the left, but we did not make a change in terms of evidence-based because not all instructional materials that are supplemental would include evidence-based strategies.

[05:19:16] There was a suggestion to add reference to FLE materials within this policy so that, you know, when we're reviewing supplemental materials for FLE, they are under the same guise as this policy outlines. So we did update the policy to reflect that.

[05:19:33] And then did want to point out that the parent and student representative on the equity committee supported the draft policy as presented. Policy 5046 is criteria and selection of school and classroom library materials.

[05:19:49] So in our original drafts, we did distinguish between school libraries and classroom libraries. We did incorporate feedback from librarians in the Department of Instruction Leadership team. We identified specific criteria for the selection of materials for our library and our classroom libraries.

[05:20:07] And we did identify the following materials as prohibited. The first, sexually explicit instructional materials as defined in Policy 5055 in elementary schools. Materials at all levels that contain visual depictions of sexual conduct as defined in Policy 5055.

[05:20:26] And any materials removed from circulation pursuant to the procedures that are outlined in 5047. So any resources that were considered and were removed at a level or levels would be considered prohibited under Policy 5046. Again, there is support represented through 5046 around a culturally responsive environment.

[05:20:49] and this relates to the selection criteria for both school and classroom library materials and that we would want to include materials that are representative of all backgrounds within our LCPS community and beyond as identified and defined in policy 1040 for policy 5046 we received 14 total submissions and again you can see the breakdown of where those submissions came from on the chart. And the specific feedback received around 5046. The first was a desire

[05:21:25] expressed for equitable representation in library book displays so that all students should see themselves in book covers that we have and that we display. This did not result in a change to policy. This is already an encouraged and common practice within our librarians, but we did not feel needed to be included in policy. There was a suggestion to consider assigning book ratings similar to movie ratings to all of our books. We did not make a change because books, unlike movies, are not rated in that way by an external entity. A rating system is not currently

[05:22:02] utilized by publishers of books, but rather books are assigned age and reading level appropriateness as well as interest areas. There was a request to identify the accrediting body that we referenced in A1A, so we did update the policy in this section to identify the Association of School Librarians as the agency and added a recommendation of 10 to 20 materials per student, which is the standard given by the Association of School Librarians.

[05:22:35] And we had an explicit feedback given from the student from the equity committee who expressed appreciation for the range of content and diversity included in our current library collections so that did not result in a change to policy but we did want to share that with the board this evening there was a general question in reference to prohibited materials essentially asking you know can you bring a removed material back so we did not make a change in this policy bringing a prohibited material back as addressed in policy 5047 in section d and does say that with

[05:23:14] the exception of the superintendent no challenge can be made prior to the four years post decision and that decision remains in place until a different decision is made so we will talk about that a little bit further in 5047 there was missing consistent language throughout we referenced media center materials and library materials so we changed that to be library materials throughout for consistency again we had the feedback that we're required to provide accessible print materials and the request to include evidence-based as appropriate we made the same change here

[05:23:52] to update the policy to include the accessibility but did not make a change again because evidence-based strategies do not exist in all instructional materials or classroom and classroom classroom library and library materials there was a concern that prohibiting materials that contain visual depictions of sexual conduct as defined in 5055 was not clear enough and that it left room for interpretation or implied acts or feelings in terms of sexual conduct so we did not make a change we went back and looked again at 5055

[05:24:31] and sexual conduct is clearly defined there as actual or explicitly simulated acts of sexual conduct, not interpreted or implied acts of sexual conduct. So visual depictions of actual or explicitly simulated acts, as it states in 5055, are prohibited and referenced in 5046.

[05:24:55] There was a concern expressed that some of the materials we listed as prohibited actually goes beyond model policy and current law, and there was a suggestion to potentially move that to regulation. We did not make a change. Section D2, prohibiting visual depictions as defined in Policy 5055 as actual or explicitly simulated acts, was included in response to board and community feedback when that policy was approved.

[05:25:25] And there was a request to clarify if and when materials that have been removed can be reinstated. So we did update the policy in Section D.3 to include materials will be prohibited until access is expanded pursuant to Policy 5047.

[05:25:41] Policy 5047, review of challenged instructional and library materials. Some of the changes that we made is, first, there is no longer a separate school-level review, but only a division-level review of challenged materials.

[05:26:02] and we made that decision for greater consistency. We didn't want a material approved or removed at one high school that maybe the opposite was allowed at some of our other high schools, so we wanted to ensure we had consistency across the division, so we removed the school-level review altogether, and all of the challenges will be at the division level.

[05:26:22] We changed the review timeline from 30 to 45 days. It just takes a little while sometimes to get everybody together, Get everybody the resource that's been challenged, give them time to read it, review the reviews that come with it, and then get together to have the conversation.

[05:26:39] And certainly that is, there are additional challenges when a challenge happens around holidays and certain times of the year. So we extended that from 30 to 45 days. We added that instructional staff in the building where they work or their student attends can also submit a request for reconsideration.

[05:26:59] We added that the complainant share their concern with an administrator before submitting a formal request. We did that for a couple of reasons. One, we want to ensure there's open communication lines between our community and our school administrators and that conversations are being held when there are any concerns related to text or materials that we're using.

[05:27:22] Oftentimes, administrators can provide additional context around the materials and how they will be used and can share with parents that alternate materials are also available, and sometimes they are not aware of that. And so having a conversation with the administrator oftentimes helps to just, again, clarify the current concerns and what different actions might be able to be taking.

[05:27:46] But I do want to say if someone submits a form for a challenge without going to school administration first, we will certainly honor the submission and go through the challenge process. We just wanted to encourage everyone through policy to have that conversation with the administration first. Requests for any reconsideration must be submitted online, and requests for reconsideration can include removal, restriction, recategorization, or expanded access of a particular resource.

[05:28:15] Our division-level committee make-up now has three parents, two division-level administrators, and two school-based employees from the level of challenge. So if it's an elementary school challenge, we would have two school employees from the elementary level. We also added in our original draft policies that appeal to the school board around any decision made on a challenge request can come from any qualified complainant and not just the originator.

[05:28:44] So I might bring the original challenge, a decision is made, but Dr. Ellis could appeal. It doesn't have to be the person that brings forth the original challenge. We did include a note about posting the decision from the committee including a rationale for the decision on the division website Once that is made again, we incorporated feedback and we're working on The regulation around more specificity around how we select committee members Colisee 5047 received 10 total submissions for feedback and you can see the breakdown from where that came on this chart

[05:29:22] So the specific feedback received, the first was a request to expand the window of appeal from 15 business days to 90 days. We did not make a change here. 15 business days was what was reflected in the original policy.

[05:29:41] There have not been issues with this timeline thus far, and the committee felt like three weeks or 15 business days was ample time to file an appeal. There was a concern that the superintendent acting on their own could lead to an abuse of power. We did not make a change, but just want to reiterate that within the draft policy, you know, that certainly the superintendent is the instructional leader and has decision-making authority under the direction of the school board.

[05:30:08] There was a request for the ability to challenge materials annually as opposed to every four years if they were challenged and not removed. We did not make a change and maintained the four-year time frame from the original policy. A request to define adult students, so we did add after adult students within the policy 18 years or older.

[05:30:32] There was a concern that there will be review requests meant to target books with specific characters and themes. We did not make a change and reiterate that anyone has a right to challenge for any of the four reasons identified within the policy and that the policy establishes a review committee and formal process to ensure fairness and an unbiased review. The division level review committee should consist of at least one teacher certified in the content area where the challenge arose and both school-based staff and parents should be from the same level as the challenge. That was a request and we did update policy to

[05:31:12] reflect both of those. There was concern about a lack of specificity on the selection criteria for the committees that will review challenged materials and we did update the committee per the per the row above with some additional specifics in the policy and again we are working on a regulation to outline at greater detail how committee members would be selected feedback to publicize the members of the review committee and the decision-making meeting itself we did not make a change

[05:31:49] to policy and the committee felt there was a concern that if members or processes were made public we will no longer have enough participants and honest opinions publicizing would make it difficult to act independently of public pressure and political viewpoints and the review process should remain independent and results and rationale of that meeting will be posted on the LCPS website in section D1 we had a question on why the superintendent could only supersede with a restriction we did update the policy to say that the superintendent had the authority to recategorize as sexually explicit or not

[05:32:27] remove restrict or expand access so not just restrict and said there was a suggested change to allow books to be immediately reinstated after the four year window elapsed we did not make a change the policy allows for a challenge at that time to recategorize as either sexually explicit or not, remove, restrict, or expand access.

[05:32:52] But again, after that four-year window has elapsed. And there was a request for more public information about challenges. We did add in the policy that we will publish on the division website any resources or materials currently in the challenge process so that everyone is aware of any challenge we received and that it is in process.

[05:33:14] And again, we'll post the decision and rationale once complete. So I'd like to stop there because policy 5048 is separate. So I'd like to open it up at this point to board members for questions or discussion regarding 5045, 5046, or 5047.

[05:33:35] Mr. Beatty. Thank you, Chair. So I think you said a couple times that you haven't quite determined how you're going to pick people for the panels. Is that correct? Because that's going to be a regulation that's coming up. That's correct. We are currently working on that regulation now. and it will be available prior to the start of the school year.

[05:33:52] Okay. How was that done in the past for the review panels that we had? So Ms. Moritz, our library media supervisor, oversees the process when we get a request to reconsider a particular resource.

[05:34:11] And right now she reaches out to content supervisors to have them participate in the committee, reaches out to school principals at different levels to get representatives of folks who might be interested in being on the committee. reaches out to MSAC and SEAC for parent representatives.

[05:34:29] So typically that is how it is done at this point. Okay, do you anticipate LEAF also being involved with that since they're another advisory committee? Yes, I believe she also consults them as well, but I failed to mention that. Mr. Beatty, can I just add one quick thing? We did talk about this briefly at the last committee meeting.

[05:34:47] In the regulation, our current thinking is that it is difficult to form these committees, particularly on the fly as soon as a challenge comes up. So our plan is to seek participation in the committees at the beginning of a school year and take volunteers from all of the groups mentioned and anyone else who is in one of the categories, either a staff member from the central office or the schools or a parent, a family member, and have essentially a larger group to pull from when a specific challenge happens during the year.

[05:35:24] So we would take volunteers from that larger group, we would train that larger group ahead of time at the beginning of the year, so they are well aware of all the policies, the process that happens when a challenge is brought to our attention, so they would be prepared to do that as soon as a challenge comes up.

[05:35:44] - Okay, thank you. No, I think that's a good direction to go, 'cause I think it helps, you know, accommodates a lot of people, so. - Additional questions? Mayor Sokadegbi. - Thank you, Chair Srotkin. So I had asked this question ahead of the meeting to staff, but I wanted to just understand and get some feedback on, and I know this comes up for me particularly, frequently is understanding that line between where policy and regulation is.

[05:36:18] I'm thinking of a parallel with, we had through HRTD earlier this year, revision to the policy that talked about voluntary changes where people request to move and involuntary transfers.

[05:36:41] And we ended up including the eligibility criteria through which staff can be identified for eligibility or be identified for an involuntary transfer. And the reason we put that in policy is we felt like the impact of that was significant enough that we wanted that visibility at the policy level.

[05:37:02] So I just have a question. I think that the makeup of the committee, the process around the committee is such an integral part of the challenge process that I wanted to ask a question about again.

[05:37:21] You know, is there a way to incorporate maybe not all of the details of the process, But some additional specificity so that there's clarity and visibility into that process as the policy itself moves forward.

[05:37:41] So I think we certainly could have a conversation about adding more specificity for staff. We are nervous about putting that in policy since we haven't yet tried this new method of being more, I guess, transparent, for lack of a better word, for putting out sort of an all call for participants, for volunteers at the beginning of the year.

[05:38:08] We struggle, when an individual challenge comes up, we struggle to get volunteers to participate. We're hoping that the beginning of the year all call for participants will help that, and we're not sure because we haven't done it. And I think leaving it in regulation, at least for now, gives us the flexibility to shift course if we need to get more people involved in the process.

[05:38:34] That being said, we could certainly talk about adding more specificity. Off the top of my head, I don't know what that would be, but I'm sure we could come up with some draft language. - Additional questions?

[05:38:49] - Ms. Polifko. - Thank you, Chair. I do want to briefly address section three of 5045 you were reviewing earlier and looking at A through F.

[05:39:04] I fear that we've now created a situation where we have rather than potentially more concrete and operationally defined words, we have more nebulous vocabulary here. So my concern with moral and ethical sensitivities, pluralistic society, individual worth, civic responsibility, personal integrity, honor, and service, those mean very different things to different people.

[05:39:32] And so if we're referencing policy 5420, controversial and sensitive curriculum standards, When we're looking at the selection of these materials, I mean, while we can say that something that's sensitive and controversial can be political, it can be social and ideological.

[05:39:53] And so we could reference Newzella, for example. Okay, Newzella is a supplemental curriculum material that is used widely in Loudoun County Public Schools. So take, for example, we have, you know, I'll provide three examples of articles that teachers could assign from New Zella.

[05:40:16] Okay, one is more teens than ever before identifying as transgender. Another one is Angela Davis. We knew that the role of police was to protect white supremacy. Another one is defund the police.

[05:40:33] Cities respond to demands for a major law enforcement shift. So these are all articles that teachers can access and assign to their students using Newsella. They're all from the Washington Post. And I think it could be very easy one way or the other for a teacher to look at this material and say, well, you know, I don't consider this sensitive or I don't consider this controversial.

[05:40:59] And my concern with this current draft of 5045 stating that I believe in Section 3 it says, if applicable. So in subjects that involve human relationships or values, either directly or incidentally, the evaluation shall consider the following factors, if applicable, to support a culturally responsive environment.

[05:41:21] Well, what does that mean? So I would argue that all three of these articles are sensitive and controversial. They may not be to some, but they certainly are to others. And I bring Newzella up because it is a supplemental curriculum material that is widely used in Loudoun County Public Schools. And I worry that what we've just done is created another layer of obtuseness when it comes to whether or not material is considered sensitive or controversial

[05:41:56] and under what circumstances. So thank you for your feedback, Ms. Polifko. We're just processing what you said, and I'm not sure I have a recommendation for a change in the policy

[05:42:31] At this point, based on what you said, although I do hear you and appreciate your comments, I think it's important to note that sensitive topics are defined in policy 5420, which is why we thought it was important to reference that there in line 47.

[05:42:52] Likewise what we mean by representative of all backgrounds in policy 1040 on line 52. in terms of specific changes, I don't have any recommendations based on what you said. Additional discussion?

[05:43:13] Seeing none, we'll place these three on action for our next board meeting. And now I think we're... Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Ms. Polifko, go ahead. Sorry, Mr. Chair. I thought we were just talking about policy 5045 and then moving on. I do have a few more questions.

[05:43:31] Yeah, we have 45, 46, and 47 all on the table for discussion. So we're still discussing? Yes. Okay. Is it okay to move on to 5046, or do you want me to wait for a moment? Oh, no, you can discuss any of the three of them. Okay, thank you. For 5046, I heard you reference earlier that regarding school and classroom libraries, that materials that contain visual depictions of sexual conduct as defined in policy 5055 will not be included in any school or classroom libraries.

[05:44:07] That is elementary through high school. Am I correct on that? I think it's number two under section D of 5046. Yes, that is correct. Okay, so this brings me to my final example for this evening.

[05:44:27] This is a book that is currently in three of our high schools in Loudoun County. It's called Queer History, or Queer Agraphic History. And I think it's at Tuscarora, it's at Independence, and it's at Loudoun Valley.

[05:44:43] So, I mean, you can see in this depiction here that there's a woman, and it looks like she's wearing something strapped on, and she's anally penetrating a man. So I'm just verifying that this is the type of material that we will not be including in our school and classroom libraries.

[05:45:03] Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. Thank you. Did you have anything further, Ms. Polico? Okay. Any additional discussion on 5045, 5046, or 5047?

[05:45:24] Nope. Okay, we'll place those on action for our next board meeting. And now I think we're ready for 1208, also from CNI, adoption of policy 5048, family life education. Staff brought this new policy to us as a recommendation as when taking a look at policy 5045 and other related policies, we realized that we actually had no LCPS policy regarding family life education.

[05:45:55] So it is a fairly brief policy, just a couple of paragraphs, that largely just aligns with state law regarding FLE, but even so, we felt it was important to have a policy on record regarding FLE, and so I'll turn it over to Dr. Cram for the remainder of the presentation that discusses policy 5048.

[05:46:20] Thank you so much. I would just add to what was already shared that the policy that we bring forth formalizes our current practices within family life education and that in creating our policy we did review other Virginia school division policies including many from Region 4.

[05:46:40] We received six total submissions with regards to policy 5048 and again you can see the breakdown of those submissions on this chart. The feedback that we received around 5048, the first one was a request to define community standards and so community standards is a term that the state uses within their code around family life education and I just want to reiterate that our curriculum is based on the state family life education standards and again this term is used in state code but isn't explicitly defined and so as we continue to speak with the state for guidance

[05:47:18] on a variety of things, they do indicate that this language is included to provide some flexibility to school divisions to include greater or less depth of particular standards based on their community. I do want to reiterate that parents have a right to preview and opt out of any or all of family life that is taught, but did want to share one example of community standards and application of that term in terms of what we teach in family life education.

[05:47:46] Human trafficking is a concept that we teach beginning in grade six. It is a state FLE standard, but, again, that community standards verbiage gives us flexibility to work with some of our local agencies, like laws, to reflect in our curriculum the things that we're seeing in Loudoun County.

[05:48:07] And so here, you know, human trafficking is fairly prevalent. In other places in Virginia, it isn't necessarily so. And so we spend maybe more time and more depth on that than some other divisions do. But again, it is a part of the state FLE standards.

[05:48:25] The next comment we received was two different sides of the same comment. Some of our comments felt that the LGBTQIA plus content should not be included when we teach family life. And others felt that it should be included.

[05:48:40] And not doing so neglected a whole community of students. And so again, just stating that our curriculum is based on the FLE state standards, and as part of that community standard application of definition in our curriculum in Loudoun County, we focus on relationship lessons that are gender neutral and are centered around how to have a healthy relationship with others.

[05:49:04] And again, parents have the right to preview and opt out of any or all of family life. There was a request that the policy clearly state that families have the opt-out option. We did not make a change as that is clearly addressed and expressed in draft policy in Section B2.

[05:49:22] There was concern that the review of the curriculum timeline should be shorter. We did not make a change. The seven-year formal review of curriculum is based on state code. We do annually look at materials to make technical edits, graphics, formatting, sequencing, updating resources, things like that.

[05:49:44] But the formal review will remain on the seven-year cycle, again, as suggested by state code. And there was some feedback that indicated a desire for more specificity around the curriculum that we teach and how main or primary and supplemental materials for FLE are selected.

[05:50:03] So, we did not make a change. Our curriculum is identified and outlined through the state standards. We don't identify curriculum within policy for any of our other areas, so we did not include the specifics in this policy. And again, policy 5045 specifically addresses, again, the inclusion of FLE materials with all the considerations for supplemental instructional materials.

[05:50:26] And primary resources would follow policy 5130 as all of our contents do. feedback on 5048. Oh, I guess I can go through our next steps and then take your feedback. So we are currently, as we've talked about a couple of different times this evening, working on the regulation for 5047, and we're working on some staff development training for our staff that they would participate in when they return around all of these new policies that are certainly extremely important and impact instruction.

[05:50:59] So we're working on that right now. Again, we're here this evening with you for information and hopeful for action at the June 27th. - Thank you, Dr. Ellis and Dr. Cramp for that overview. Board members, any questions specifically on 1208 regarding new policy 5048 family life education?

[05:51:23] Ms. Polifco. - Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanna go back and review section one one more time because we did have public comment this evening from a constituent and I thought she brought up a really good point about the fact that not all the material is subject to observation by the community.

[05:51:45] It looks like, you know, potentially certain copyrighted material. And I also see the description of all audio visual materials is available. It's made available through any available parent portal. It's kept in the school office or library.

[05:52:01] Is it factual that parents are able to truly view every single item or material that their children will come into contact with prior to them being able to make that decision of whether to opt in or opt out of family life.

[05:52:19] So I completely understand that parents have that right to opt their children out of family life education, and that's cemented in time, right? Every parent has that capability.

[05:52:37] I think where it becomes difficult is when parents aren't necessarily seeing everything that their children will come into contact with, and I know that this was an issue with social-emotional learning, so that's why I bring it up, and I just want to make sure that we are actually giving them every evidentiary piece of information.

[05:52:56] Thank you. Yes, we are. Do you want to say anything else? Additional discussion or questions? Mr. Beatty. Thank you. Another comment that was made tonight, a public comment, was about the fact that, I guess they mentioned printed material.

[05:53:17] does that also include any websites that would be available? Or is printed specifically actual paper products as opposed to like digital products that aren't audiovisual but are available online on a computer? Are those available and do we make those even if they're copyrighted?

[05:53:34] Any websites used are listed as part of the curriculum. Now I will say the teachers obviously don't have control over the content of those websites or when they're updated, but the list of websites is available. Okay, thank you. Additional discussion?

[05:53:53] Board members, is there interest on placing 5048 on consent for our next board meeting? No, there is not. So we'll place 5048 on action as well. Okay. And thank you very much for the updates. And I want to be chairing CNI over the last couple of years.

[05:54:10] I know how much work it's been to update these policies over the last six-plus months. And I wanted to express my appreciation for all the work that staff has done, all the groups they've met with, all the advisory committee and public input that has been considered over that time period in order to bring these policies before the full board.

[05:54:27] I greatly appreciate the work. So that will conclude our information items for this evening, and we will move to item 13, board member comments and committee reports, starting with Ms. Polivko. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

[05:54:47] I first want to start off by congratulating all of our graduates for the 2023 school year. I had the pleasure of attending multiple graduations over the last several weeks, And what I enjoyed about my opportunities is that I got to see many different schools.

[05:55:08] So I was able to attend the North Star graduation, Robey. I was able to attend AOL at Eagle Bank Arena at George Mason University and finally had the pleasure of attending Rockridge High School's graduation on Friday. And we lucked out with beautiful weather.

[05:55:25] So it was a pleasure to attend all of those ceremonies. And once again, my sincere congratulations to all the graduates of Loudoun County for the 2023 school year. I wish you luck in your future endeavors. Secondly, I also was able to attend a few of the classrooms over at Broad Run High School.

[05:55:47] Last week, I was able to visit the autism classrooms as well as the intellectual disabilities classrooms and talk with some of the teachers over there and staff. and I also had the unique pleasure of being able to attend their first unified theater program.

[05:56:03] They're sort of in a situation right now where they're kind of in baseline, they're collecting data. They are going to implement this in the fall, but it really provides a unique opportunity for students and varying abilities to connect and collaborate in theater. So it was a great visit and I was happy that I got to witness that myself when I was there at Broad Run.

[05:56:25] Finally, I did get to attend, as well, the SEAC Awards. And what I love so much about that is that each individual that received an award this year, whether it was a student or a staff member, had something unique said about them as they walked across the stage.

[05:56:41] So it was a very individual, special process for all of those that were awarded. And I congratulate all of them for their dedication to the special education community. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you, Chair Sorotkin. I feel like we'll be hearing a lot about end-of-year celebrations, but over the past several weeks, I've had the honor of joining a number of year-end activities, including the North Star Senior Celebration, the SEAC annual event recognizing staff, volunteers,

[05:57:17] and students for excellence in supporting special education, and the class of 2023 graduations at William O. Roby Heritage and Tuscarora High Schools. There were numerous highlights from these events including yesterday when the valedictorian at Tuscarora spoke at length about the concept of legacy both as part of the class of 2023 and more personally as the third generation valedictorian following her mother and grandmother who were both valedictorians of their respective high school classes which was very special indeed. If you were at any of these

[05:57:55] events you likely saw me taking notes on my phone because I was so impressed with the student speeches i wanted to capture those moments and hang on to the quotes and i wanted to share just a few that stood out to me here as you can imagine especially for this class they were in their first year of high school in march of 2020 so many of the comments that we heard from the students reflected their experiences of going through that process let's be real that was tough but look

[05:58:32] around and realize not even a global pandemic could stop us we came out on top together and despite everything we chose to dance in the rain persevere and thrive we not only survived we thrived as a result of our determination and collaboration this is not the end of our story it is just the beginning hello to a new adventure beginning and future and then finally choose kindness you never know when someone is what someone is going through and how you can impact

[05:59:10] their lives i think again there are just so many words of wisdom that we heard from our students that we can all take forward and just what a joy to watch them as they really shown and we got to see really the best of loud and over the last couple of weeks as they've they culminated their educational experience here. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Beatty. Thank you, Chair. I echo my colleagues' sentiments about the graduation. It's one of my favorite things to do, and I just wish

[05:59:48] our graduates the best as they continue on with whatever path they've chosen. The Technology Steering Committee will meet this Thursday, the first time in a couple months, just due to scheduling. We're going to talk again about AI, especially chat GPT and some of the changes that have occurred over the past couple months because it's rapidly evolving. We're going to talk about everyone's favorite hobby horse the content filtering and some of the changes that have been made that hopefully will make it better and so please do join us for that thank you thank you Ms. Sheridan thank you Mr. Chair I would like to let everybody know that the specialized programs

[06:00:25] and centers committee will be meeting next Tuesday at 6 p.m we have a short agenda but it'll be an important item and then I would like to encourage everyone to if you didn't already watch the June first equity committee meeting to go ahead and watch that.

[06:00:43] We had an update on incidents of slurs and hate speech. And while it's being brought to the full board for that, we requested that that come to the full board as a presentation. The committee itself had such thoughtful and even longer conversation than we thought would occur during the meeting that it's really important for people to hear and listen to what our committee spoke about.

[06:01:09] in the comments that they made and really get that insight as well and not just rely on the staff presentation, no offense to staff, but making sure that you hear all of the dialogue that happened. It was really insightful. And the next meeting of that committee will be on August 3rd.

[06:01:27] And I also would like to extend my congratulations to the class of 23 and also thank you to everyone who works tirelessly to ensure that our students and their families have beautiful, unique, and special celebrations of their high school graduations in particular.

[06:01:48] I think everybody has already said how special they are and they're impactful to us. And I'm just really grateful because they don't get put on in a day. They're planned all year and each school has something unique and special that they rope into their traditions. And I think it's really important to thank the people who make that happen.

[06:02:06] So thank you, and congratulations. Thank you. I will echo my colleagues with regards to graduation season. I had the opportunity to attend graduations at the North Star School, at William Obadiah Robey High School, at the Academies of Loudoun by the skin of my teeth, at Loudoun Valley High School, and at Woodgrove High School, and just the opportunity to shake hands with each one of our graduates and look them in the eye and wish them congratulations and good luck in whatever comes next for them is one of the best parts of the job.

[06:02:45] And I always appreciate the opportunity to do that. I also really appreciate that for the first time, at least the first time in recent memory, we invited our counterparts on the Board of Supervisors as well as town councils to join us at graduation ceremonies.

[06:03:04] And it was great to see so many of them taking advantage of that opportunity and coming out and meeting our graduates with us and taking part in those graduation ceremonies. So I think that that was a great change and suggestion on the part of staff to do that. And sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until you try something new.

[06:03:23] And this was clearly an opportunity we had been missing. And I'm glad we've rectified that and look forward to inviting our fellow elected officials in the future. I also had a chance to visit Ms. Graves' fourth-grade classroom at Legacy Elementary School a couple of weeks ago.

[06:03:40] Several of the students in that classroom had written me letters as part of a class project to advocate for different things. So I don't think I'm going to be able to change policy to allow students to just bring their pets to school with them every day. But I am looking, I took an action item to look into the possibility of putting more dyslexia-friendly books or books designed for students with dyslexia into our school libraries.

[06:04:06] So I always enjoy those visits, and I usually come out with at least one thing to look into or to try and take action on. And finally, I meant to do this during our discussion on reconciliation earlier tonight, But I'll take the opportunity now to just thank the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors for providing the supplemental $13 million in funding that they voted to do a couple of weeks ago to try and alleviate the shortfall that we're seeing with funding at the state level.

[06:04:38] I appreciate the commitment to public education that they're showing through the budget process this year. And that will conclude my remarks, and we'll move to item 14, new business. Is there any new business tonight? Seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone, and good night.

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