Coraggio Consulting Loudoun County School Board, Special L&P Committee Meeting, Monday, June 26, 2023 Date: Monday, June 26, 2023 Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV) Length: 11m (video) Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/840092862?rel=0 BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting. Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-22. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:00] Good afternoon. This is Ian Sirotkin, member of the Legislative and Policy Committee, calling to order this June 26, 2023 meeting of the Legislative and Policy Committee. The first item on our agenda is remote participation. [00:00:20] I've been notified that Atuzer Reeser would like to remotely participate in tonight's special Legislative and Policy Committee meeting. Ms. Reeser, could you please state your location, whether this is a medical or personal matter, and if anyone is present with you at your location? In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I am alone, and this is a request for personal remote participation. [00:00:49] I'll entertain a motion that Ms. Reeser's remote participation for personal reasons be granted. So moved. I will second. Any discussion? No. Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Aye. That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Ms. Reeser absent for the vote, and Ms. Reeser, you're now admitted into the meeting. [00:01:14] The second item on our agenda is public comment. We have two speakers signed up for public comment today. Did anyone else wish to sign up for public comment? You would? Okay, I'll add you to the list. So we have three speakers today, so I'll be allocating two minutes per speaker, and we'll begin with the first speaker on the list, Andrea Weiskopf, to be followed by Sandy Sullivan. [00:01:42] After a section of Interstate 95 collapsed in flames, all of us pictured months of delays on one of the busiest sections of highways in the nation. It took union workers 12 days to get it open. [00:02:04] Those against unions claim that unions only look out for themselves. That is false. Unions look out for the collective. Teachers are always looking out for the collective, hence collective bargaining. [00:02:24] Teachers need a seat at the table. If you want the educational equivalent of I-95 up and running in 12 days, let us in. We have the knowledge. [00:02:40] We have the experience. We have the desire. Black Lives Matter. Thank you. Our next speaker is Sandy Sullivan to be followed by Abby Platt. I believe we can all agree that we want our kids to go to schools that foster a love of learning and give them the tools they need to succeed. [00:03:01] At the last committee meeting, the focus was really on the legal aspects of bargaining. Today, I want to focus on the goals. With bargaining for the common good, LEA members would partner with the community around a vision for the structural changes we want to see in our community. Together, we will use collective bargaining and advocacy to bring about positive change. [00:03:19] In states with collective bargaining, contract negotiations allow educators and their unions to involve the larger school committee in the vision they want for their school and neighborhood. With bargaining for the common good, we aim to not only fight for better pay and benefits for our educators, we also fight for students and communities. [00:03:38] When stakeholders come together, we can determine what our community needs. NEA members through the country have successfully bargained to win equitable school discipline policies, mental health support, educator recruitment and retention programs, and smaller class sizes. [00:03:54] Those kinds of gains would bring to Loudon what our students, educators, and community need. Thank you. And our final speaker today is Abby Platt. Thank you. [00:04:09] I continue to be concerned about the cost associated with collective bargaining, not just the initial estimated costs that our acting superintendent estimated to be $3.2 million, but the ongoing expense that will become a revolving door. [00:04:29] And I continue to be concerned that the infrastructure to support that bargaining unit is not in place and that the cost associated with that will be very, very high. [00:04:45] And finally, my feeling is that there's nothing precluding us right now, more specifically you as our school board, to sit down with our teachers and to have conversations about what needs are and how to meet them. [00:05:01] without this huge burden of expense I would rather see that money go directly into the pockets of our teachers and I feel confident in your ability to meet those needs and and to sit down with them and to have important conversations and to and to meet them and what they need I care deeply about our teachers I want them to be well compensated I want them to feel appreciated and I feel like a collective bargaining will move money where it doesn't need to be and it won't be with our [00:05:37] teachers so i urge you to keep that in mind as you go forward um reviewing the draft resolution thank you thank you and that was our final speaker so that will conclude public comment for today the next item on our agenda is item three approval of the minutes is there a motion to entertain to approve the minutes from our june 5th meeting i move to approve the minutes from the june 5th 2023 legislative and policy committee meeting i will second is there any just i'll let miss [00:06:15] reason second the motion uh is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please raise your hand say aye aye aye that motion will pass unanimously and we will now move to item four on the agenda or action item for tonight revision of policy 2430 school board agenda. Before I make a motion, Mr. Slevin or Mr. Falcone, any updates since last meeting or anything you'd wish to brief the committee on regarding changes to this policy? [00:06:50] Thank you, Mr. Srockin. So the policy is coming back in the same form it was presented at the last LMP committee. We did send the policy out to community and advisory feedback between June 7th and June 21st. We received three comments, one from MSAC, which indicated no comments, which I would assume is there's no concerns. Feedback from equity committee members indicating they don't have any questions about this policy. And there was one anonymous feedback with some general questions about the implementation of an agenda. They're concerned with minority rule, but nothing in there that would lead us to make any recommended changes to the [00:07:29] policy. Committee members, any questions for staff regarding the policy or changes? I have none. Okay. I will move that policy 2430 school board agenda be forwarded to the full school board for consideration at their next regularly scheduled meeting. [00:07:53] Second. Seconded by Mr. Beatty. I have nothing to add from previous discussion on this topic. I think we pretty much covered it when it was an information item. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those... [00:08:08] I just wanted... Oh, Ms. Reiser, go ahead. i just that i did take a look at the comments and i and i believe that um the one set of comments that mr slevin referenced um those the changes we're making don't impact the concerns that were that were wrought arisen or written so i just wanted to point that out for the record any further discussion seeing none all those in favor of the motion to forward the revisions to policy 2430 to the full school board for consideration please raise your hand say aye aye that motion will pass [00:08:47] unanimously. We'll now move to item five on the agenda, new business. Is there any new business today? Seeing none, we'll move to item six, a motion to convene a closed meeting. I move that the Legislative and Policy Committee recess this public meeting and enter into a closed meeting pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia for the following purposes, consultation with staff and legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel [00:09:25] as authorized by section 2.2-3711A8 of the code of virginia specifically legal requirements and procedures regarding collective bargaining by employees of the loudon county school board sir a second i'll second the motion seconded by mr baity any discussion seeing none all those in favor please raise your hand say aye aye aye that motion will pass unanimously and we are now in closed session the board is coming out of closed session i move that the closed meeting be adjourned that the legislative and policy committee reconvene its public meeting and that the minutes of this [00:10:02] public meeting reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed meeting i further move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting resolution 49-2223 whereas the legislative and policy committee has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and whereas Section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Loudoun County School Board that such a closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. [00:10:40] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Legislative and Policy Committee hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the legislative and policy committee of the laden county school board second any discussion seeing none all those in favor please raise your hand say aye aye that motion will pass unanimously of board members present with miss force of habit with miss Rieser absent for the vote and seeing no further their business, we are adjourned. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com