Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Student Services Committee Meeting, Thursday, September 21, 2023

Date: Thursday, September 21, 2023
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 50m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/867012111?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 2026-10-21. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] Services Committee. I call to order this committee meeting and I'm Harris Madhuri the chair and I'm joined by my colleagues Miss Ogadugbe and Miss Sheridan tonight. Do we have any public comments tonight? Okay so no public comments tonight. We can move to the item number three approval of the meeting minutes. Do we have a motion for that? I'll second that. Any questions, comments? Okay All those in favor, raise your hand and say aye.

[00:00:36] Aye. Note that the motion is passed with Ms. Sheridan absent for the vote. Next item, we'll move to action items that we have tonight. The first, I think we went through both of these in the last student services meeting as an information item.

[00:00:56] So I'm going to pass it on to Ms. Evans, you for 401 on revised policy 8140. Good evening. As we reviewed, we presented the student attendance requirements and procedures at the committee on 8-17.

[00:01:14] We posted for, try to get closer, community and the advisory board review and feedback period, and now we're here. We've taken a look at the recommendations that you had and made some changes.

[00:01:30] The changes that we did make were on lines 24 through 30. we had discussed the observation of a religious holiday. One of the recommendations from MSAC was to reword that because it wasn't clear there was a process.

[00:01:50] It just talked about the observation of a religious holiday, so we wanted to make that clear. And so the wording is now, if you see on 24 through 28, actually, it explains that a parent or guardian must provide written verification to the principal or designee.

[00:02:08] The other changes were on lines 108 through 121, and that was the question that Ms. Sheridan raised regarding the 4-H and the national powwow and what the difference was and why one was one day and one said it was to be determined by the board.

[00:02:33] I spoke with legal, and actually, we had to make a correction. So if you look at line 108, while a student's first time missing a partial or full day of school for participating in a 4-H activity is not even counted as an absence.

[00:02:50] So you're participating remotely. So that's where the difference is. So we just added that language through line 121 to explain that. And then one of the other recommendations, if you look at lines 160, there was feedback regarding not just saying graded work.

[00:03:16] They suggested assignments. So in collaboration with legal, we explained assignments graded or otherwise during and after the suspension. So any students who are suspended will have the opportunity to make up their work.

[00:03:34] And those were the only changes that we made, and you do have the feedback to review. I'll open up for questions from Board Member.

[00:04:02] Ms. Ogadegbe. Thank you so much. And I might be missing it, but is there anything here that addresses tardiness that is the result of our transportation being late?

[00:04:18] I know that this has been a sensitive subject, certainly in Western Loudoun right now with all of the construction happening. And that's resulting in some pretty significant delays with transportation. And I've received some questions about this.

[00:04:36] Some have said that their children are being marked like with an excused tardy. And then somebody else thought that per policy, they shouldn't be marked tardy if it's our transportation. So I'm wondering where that is.

[00:04:54] So we are more clear about that in our regulation, but if you look at line 144, it gives examples of unexcused absences in its states include, but are not limited to absences due to truancy, missing a ride or a bus or car troubles, and vacations or family trips.

[00:05:10] So if it's LCPS transportation and they're late, it's excused. But it still is marked as tardy on their record? Yes, but it would say excused tardy. Okay. I think that was the question. I think some families were taking issue that the tardy was marked at all.

[00:05:28] Right. even though it was excused. Okay. Okay, thank you. Ms. Sheridan. Sorry, I had to step out, and I might have already missed this question. But following us up on Ms. Ogadugbe, is the excuse tardy a code requirement, or is that just our policy?

[00:05:46] We have to capture that the student wasn't in the building, so that's the only way. I know tardy sounds like there's a negative connotation to tardy. Absolutely. But when you say excuse tardy, it's really they're late, and there shouldn't be any issue with that. Yeah, but it is a code that's required by the state for us to capture them being in the building.

[00:06:05] Thank you. Sure. Any further questions or comments? Yes. I also forgot to mention, Ms. Sheridan, you brought up under 208 and also you, Mr. Mejedevi, about us taking out Unified Mental Health Team members.

[00:06:26] So I apologize for forgetting that, but we wrote out all of the Unified Mental Health Team members, and so there was more explanation to that. - Thank you for pointing that out and for following up with it, I appreciate it.

[00:06:46] - So maybe I'll give you guys a minute if you have any more additional questions. If not, is there a motion to recommend this policy to the full board? - So moved. - So moved by Ms. Sheridan, second by Ms. Ogedekbe.

[00:07:03] Any further questions, comments? All those in favor, raise your hand and say aye. - Aye. - The motion will pass to send the full board to, send the policy to full board as information item with all three members voting, thank you.

[00:07:18] We'll move to the next item on agenda, 402, revised policy 5170, substance use education. Ms. Evans? Apologies. We're trying to advance the slide for you, and it's not working.

[00:07:36] However, we did address the policy substance use education previously in our committee, and it was posted for feedback. We did take a look at the feedback, which you also have, and one of the comments that we made adjustments to, which was an oversight, was someone recommended that we say misuse instead of abuse, which I support 100%.

[00:08:04] So you'll see that where it said abuse on line 11, we've changed that to misuse. And additionally, on line 24. And those were the only changes.

[00:08:22] Okay. Board members, Ms. Ogadugbe? So I'm just curious about in B.2, why it's specific just to marijuana, underage drinking as opposed to other types of substances that are certainly

[00:08:44] misused when I'm looking at the code it requires through health education this was the combination of two requirements for us to include education and prevention in all areas of substance use establish and maintain realistic

[00:09:20] meaningful substance abuse prevention but we wanted to lay out all of the difference so we put in impaired driving marijuana use, and the hazards and dangers associated with, but then we also listed in 18 through 20, nicotine as well.

[00:09:41] So I think if you look at 1, 2, and 3, it's covering all substances. We were just asked to target marijuana use, which we're seeing the most of, and underage drinking and impaired driving. So I hope that answers. So if you look at 1, 2, and 3 collectively, it's covering all substances.

[00:09:59] Thank you. Thank you. I do also have, for example, I think fentanyl is like one of the biggest, yeah, I don't know if I can, it's a misuse or abuse, I don't even know what the right word is, because misuse means like you're sometimes trying to use it, but it's not, so I don't know how, you know, I guess it's collectively board members can sort of, you know, respond to that, so I'm not going to make a motion to change this right now, but I think to going back to Ms.

[00:10:34] based comment about yeah we have started listing three of them and then we talk about nicotine nicotine vapor products tobacco products but then i think are we if you could list marijuana then i think you know again there's other substance abuse um yeah i'm kind of getting hung up on misuse versus abuse um like fentanyl is a big challenge in our community especially with the kids too so So how do we make sure that we address, you know, other things besides, you know, talk about, like, I'll give you an example.

[00:11:09] I think there is, the fentanyl is being shared in the schools. I don't know, Loudoun County, but generally you hear the news as candies and wrapped in, you know, as candies and et cetera. So we talk about the kids not to take any candies from other kids.

[00:11:25] And so that's something, you know, maybe abundance of over-caution from, at least from my side. So that's a concern for me as a parent, so that's kind of where I'm coming from. I don't know, Ms. Ogedekbe, you have thoughts? It seems, I mean, just given the focus that we put on opioid addiction and so forth, it seems odd that we're not mentioning misuse of prescription drugs and opioids and understanding that the code calls out these other things.

[00:12:00] I feel like we should specify broader categories of substances specifically instead of just the word substance. I'm fine with the word misuse, and I'm assuming that some of that is, for example, if you have a prescription for, say, Adderall, which you are legitimately supposed to be swallowing, but you crush it and ingest it through your nose, then that's a misuse of the drug as an example.

[00:12:41] And there might also be some negative connotations around abuse. And so just using a word misuse, I think I'm comfortable with that. But I think it would be beneficial to call out other substances by name.

[00:12:58] I will just add, when I think of fentanyl, I think of poisoning. So it's not really misuse. No one's really trying to use fentanyl. It's in something, then they don't recognize it's in there. So it's misuse of another substance, and then they're poisoned by fentanyl.

[00:13:14] I do think, in looking at it, this is more of the education, which aligns with health and PE. It doesn't really speak to what the student assistance specialists are doing. But I'm open to suggestions on where you think we could make some additional changes to include more about addiction.

[00:13:31] We do see in line 20 the addictive potential thereof, and that's really specific to tobacco. But I think it's a good point that maybe we should include addiction in another bullet, in another one of those line items of other substances. Yeah, I'll be in favor of having a fifth bullet point called addiction, like talking about what addiction, I know nicotine, we've called it out, that's totally fine.

[00:13:56] but other addictions like opioid or fentanyl and I guess at all could be addictive too but I'm not sure where that fits in but I agree with you and that's where the views are misused because you can't misuse fentanyl and so I agree with that so I don't know how board members how you want to proceed this because I guess could be I mean again the first bullet point would be somewhere on the lines of educating on the addiction and listing out the different addictives I guess so are we comfortable with moving this policy forward with that understanding that there will be a fifth bullet point in

[00:14:35] this place so would you like to bring this policy back for one more review before approving it I think I mean so addiction is part of the problem but I mean misuse of other specific substances is also a problem so I think I think it's two things. I think it's naming opioids, prescription drugs, and calling out the issue with fentanyl, and then perhaps broadening the language around addiction to recognize that it's not just, you

[00:15:12] know, nicotine and tobacco products and gambling that are concerns around addiction. So, Ms. Agadek, are you thinking either we expand, so one is to the misuse of other prescription drugs as a bullet point and addiction as a separate bullet point?

[00:15:36] Because I think you're talking about prescription drugs, misuse of prescription drugs. I mean, that would be a category. Education about it. I mean, it's prescription drugs is one category. There's also, I mean, there are hallucinogens.

[00:15:52] I mean, I just feel like there's a lot more than just marijuana, alcohol, and nicotine that we're concerned about. I agree. And when you look at our, what is our policy for substance use, our 8240 policy, that lays out all of the substances.

[00:16:10] This is really focused on the prevention. But what I'm thinking is number two, to provide information and services for students regarding the public safety hazards and dangers associated with underage marijuana use, underage drinking, impaired driving, opioids and prescription drugs, and the addiction potential for two?

[00:16:32] Yes. Okay. And I think then that covers the, I don't think we need a separate paragraph on addiction, but that would cover it from my perspective. Sure. I agree. I would even move to make that change if you wanted to amend it or we'll just take the staff's amendments and do the whole thing, however you want to do it.

[00:16:54] But that language covers everything. So my guess, I'm fine with it. The key thing here is, I mean, this is an opportunity for us to make sure that this is a policy that's being brought forward. So we are covering items that we want our children or our students to be educated about.

[00:17:13] And so this is a great opportunity not to make sure be you know given the due diligence to it to make sure that those items are covered in there that's so if there are items that you think or if it requires because it's a great opportunity because based on the policy the curriculum would be updated on that and so so there are things that we like to be part of that we as a school board member can update that so not to rush into it

[00:17:46] I think that the recommendation from Ms. Evans covered the, I think that that was comprehensive from my perspective. So could you, Ms. Evans, could you read that change again for me, please?

[00:18:05] Sure. So number two would be to provide information and services for students regarding the public safety hazards and dangers associated with underage marijuana use, underage drinking, impaired driving, Opioids and prescription drugs and the addictive potential.

[00:18:25] And that is what is covered in health and PE and FLE within that Tier 1 classroom lessons. So you said addictive potential. So where would we add substances like fentanyl in there? That's under opioids.

[00:18:44] So oftentimes fentanyl is within opioids or other prescription drugs. It's not a separate class. Because there's a prescription fentanyl and there's actually drugs fentanyl. but I'll, so that's where I'm coming. I know there's a prescription fentanyl too, but then the ones you are in the market are not prescription fentanyl too.

[00:19:03] So how do you make the students aware that it's not just the prescription ones, but the non-prescription ones that they need to be aware of? So it would be man-made. We could add that too. Synthetic. Synthetic and prescription drugs. Yeah.

[00:19:19] Then you feel good. Okay. So not to belabor this, but this is the opportunity. I mean, how do you classify mushrooms and LSD as hallucinogens, right?

[00:19:34] Right, hallucinogens, correct. I mean, it was sort of a rhetorical question, but yes. So perhaps we need to add that word as well. We can add hallucinogens. But I wonder, like, so I feel like one covers substance use education, and I think it's important to give examples, but it's ever-changing.

[00:19:57] So we changed this year, then there might be more substances that we then want to add so we would be constantly redoing it. So I just want to make sure that's clear. I'm sorry. And the caution is always if, say, if a substance is not trending and we're educating students on a drug that was trending four or five years ago, we're introducing them to a substance that they weren't aware about before.

[00:20:26] Not here yet, but I think at the same time I would argue that's why the policies need to be updated with the timings and so on and so forth. So it doesn't mean like this policy, I mean, we should bring it back saying, hey, this drug or this abuse is no longer in existence.

[00:20:42] I mean, to go back and change it. But I'd rather have it, us as, you know, this is an opportunity to cover it in terms of educating and creating awareness of it. So with that understanding, I think what you just said, I'll be happy to go with the staff's recommended changes to it so we can move forward with it, unless any more comments on this?

[00:21:04] That's okay. So just to be clear, I want to make sure I have everything. So underage marijuana use, underage drinking, impaired driving, opioids, synthetic drugs, prescription drugs, hallucinogens, and the addictive potential.

[00:21:27] Okay. Do we have a motion? I move that we move this policy forward as an information item for the full board to include the suggested updates from staff.

[00:21:45] Is it second? Second. Motion made by Ms. Ogadugbe, seconded by Ms. Sheridan. Any further questions, comments? All those in favor, raise your hand, say aye. Aye. The policy passes with all board members present here. We can move to the next item on the agenda.

[00:22:06] Yeah, so I believe you've all... 5-0-1 policy, 80-50 bullying prevention education. Ms. Evans. Yeah, so this policy has been in place, And we have the new legislation that requires us to inform parents within 24 hours if we've received information about an alleged bullying situation.

[00:22:36] So the only change that you will see here is the addition of that on line 61 through 65 regarding the parent notification. The principal or administrative designee, which could be an AP, a dean, shall attempt to promptly report any allegation of bullying by or against a child to the parent via telephone, personal conference, and or in writing.

[00:23:03] The status of this investigation of an allegation of an incident of bullying as defined by this policy shall be reported to the parent or guardian within 24 hours' notice. So that is the only change to our existing policy.

[00:23:22] And Ms. Evans, this is coming from co-change in Virginia or? Senate Bill 1072 and House Bill, if you go to the next slide, Darren, 1592.

[00:23:40] Board members, they'll open up for any questions, comments. No questions or comments. I think this seems pretty self extraordinary. So we'll just go through the regular update and feedback from the community and just we'll come back next time.

[00:23:58] With that I guess we'll move to item number 502, revised policy 8290, threat assessments for the protection of schools. Mr. Lodi. Thank you Mr. Mejedevi. You may remember on March 28th the board approved modifications to policy 8290, threat assessment for the protection of schools.

[00:24:21] The reason for that change that was initiated by council was to incorporate recommendations from the grand jury investigation report, included expansion of team to include the SRO and SSO, school security officer, as well as notification requirements to the division of safety and security.

[00:24:45] However, after passage of this school board policy, the General Assembly voted on additional changes to Virginia code. Specifically, these changes were to inform the training requirements for our school threat assessment teams.

[00:25:07] Specifically, new threat assessment team members have to receive initial threat assessment training and threat assessment team members need to be refreshed in their training every three years.

[00:25:22] So those changes to code, we'd like to have reflected in our policy. And if you have the question of had we been doing this, I can affirmatively say that had been our practice. All threat assessment team members receive comprehensive initial team training and refresh your training, recommend it every three years.

[00:25:48] - I'll open up for any questions. Board member, any questions? - So Mr. Lodi, this is self-explanatory. Again, based on the tracking of it, is this the training, is that tracked through the normal employee training?

[00:26:09] I'm presuming that employees have a training system so they can track it. Is that where it's being tracked or is it a separate system? Yeah, tracking training is a challenge in a large division, but we have two ways in which we track it. We have a third-party proprietary training that we use, which keeps running lists of all of our team members who are trained, but we also enter that information in PowerSchool, which houses locally our certification of training for members who take it.

[00:26:42] So I have to ask this, so if they were to audit today, they would be all current, everything? Yes, that's correct, sir. Thank you. All right. Thank you for this. I guess we'll just bring it back and go through the normal feedback on this policy, and we'll bring it back to the next committee meeting.

[00:27:00] Moving to the next item on agenda, 503, revised policy 8115, school assignment. No, he's not here, and I know I look strikingly different from Dr. Bowers.

[00:27:18] So as you can see, our individuals who may be admitted free aligns with Virginia Code 22.1-3. This policy is under review as part of the LCPS five-year plan.

[00:27:33] The last time LCPS reviewed the policy and adopted it was in 2018. It has been a collaborative effort between the Department of Student Services, the Department of Teaching and Learning, and the Department of School Leadership to make sure that the policy aligns with the VSBA model policy language.

[00:27:54] The notable changes, you can look at lines 2 and 3. There was a change in text from state law to Virginia code, lines 9 through 11, section A.

[00:28:14] We added Loudoun County residents who have not completed a high school education and achieved a high school diploma or equivalent in the United States or another country. This revision is recommended to notify and clarify enrollment requirements for students that come from another country and may have graduated or hold an equivalent certification.

[00:28:43] The next changes, lines 45 through 47, section C, has been revised to align current LCPS terminology to student eligible for language instruction educational program, LIEP services.

[00:29:06] We removed the language referencing for whom English is a second language. Next changes, lines 55 through 69, section 1, 2, and 3, reference to Virginia Code 22.1-5, stating that school boards may accept and provide programs for students for whom English is a second language who entered school in Virginia for the first time after receiving their 12th birthday, reaching their 12th birthday,

[00:29:44] and who have not reached 22 years of age on or before August 1st of that school year. No tuition shall be charged to such students. Next changes, lines 76 through 79, section E.

[00:30:03] In consultation with the high school level office, this program is no longer offered, so it has been removed.

[00:30:24] All right, foster care is not aligned with McKinney-Vento. It is referred to as the MKV liaison. Foster care is referred to the school registrar for placement. Let me find that line for you.

[00:30:45] Lines 127 through 129 is where we adjusted the language for foster care at McKinney-Vento. Thank you, Darren. The next change is line 168. we revised to add or designee along with the division superintendent this action is currently completed by the building principal lines 200 202 and 218 18 have been updated to reflect the updated

[00:31:19] LCPS policies 8-50 and 8-21 have been replaced by 8125. Policy 8410 has replaced 8-51.

[00:31:46] Mr. Richardson, is that it? Okay. Yes, those are all the changes. Thank you. Board members, any questions? I do have one quick question or comment. On line number nine, it reads, residents of Loudoun County who have not completed a high school education.

[00:32:21] So that means residents of Loudoun County who have not completed a high school education and achieved a high school diploma. So the not is to high school education and achieve the high school diploma? Yes. Would you like that language clarified? Just I think how it reads because I think the and is with the not completed high school education. Correct. Or equivalent in the United States or other countries so I don't know the punctuation somewhere it's not reading so that we'll make those adjustments I'm not an English

[00:32:58] major but I'll let you guys figure it out besides that I don't have any further comments miss Sheridan I just have a question starting on line 45 where it speaks to will be the student LCPS will continue their education and LCPS will be placed in an alternative educational program and then that is referred to in the next three bullets, what is the, can you speak to the alternative educational program?

[00:33:34] For students that are above that age, we typically place them in adult education program. Okay. Yes. Thanks. I just wanted to be, I don't know if that could be clearer there, because I just think we could call it out for what it is.

[00:33:51] Absolutely. We've previously had some members of the community be concerned about students who have reached 21 or 22 being in class with their perhaps freshman students so I think it would be good if we we called out that it was an alternative adult program yes thank you absolutely I'll support that change any further comments questions thank you for bringing this thing up and I guess we'll this will go through the same process as we have for all of the all the other policies and the

[00:34:28] The next one we'll discuss is revised policy 5035, expunging middle school student grades. By the way, one thing, I think the title on 503, which I read, it should have been 8115 policy, forgive me, individuals who may be admitted free.

[00:34:54] I think it's a school assignment. Yes. I just need to correct in board docs, I guess. We'll make the correction in board docs. So Revise Policy 5035, Expunging Middle School Student Grades, Ms. Evans. Hi. So we wanted to really provide a lot more detailed information in this policy.

[00:35:14] So it's a rewrite. We felt like we needed to really explain what it means to expunge, what courses are eligible for expungement, how parents can go through the process, and it allows them more time. So I'll explain the changes, the effects of the course progression once it's expunged.

[00:35:32] We were seeing that some students at the middle school level who were supported with the expungement process were still wanting to expunge after the deadline. So our deadline was August 15th. So one of the proposed changes is really to give more time, which allows the students to get to the high school level if they are rising ninth graders, talk with their counselor, and then make that decision.

[00:36:00] So if you look at, we added the background and scope that gives you basically the understanding of its high school credit courses that are available to middle school students. Often it's rising 8th graders and rising 9th graders that want to expunge them.

[00:36:17] And it allows them to really have that practice with the rigorous courses, but also improve their GPAs and also advance into higher courses throughout their high school experience. It only applies to the high school credit courses taken prior to the promotion from eighth grade.

[00:36:37] So the courses taken in the summer session following a student's promotion from eighth grade are ineligible for expungement and removal from their high school transcript. We spoke to a lot of administrators, counselors, and other stakeholders, and we're finding that a lot of students were signing up for virtual allowing courses in the summer and then suddenly dropping once they realized what it actually entailed, it was a lot of work to do a virtual Loudon course, so we were assigning staff to those courses, then students were dropping and other students had been turned away who really needed them in high school to meet their graduation requirement.

[00:37:17] So we wanted to add that in, that it has to be a student's promotion from eighth grade into ninth grade, and it has to be a high school course. In Section B, we talk about the expungement process in a lot more clarity, and that's what we wanted to provide to parents.

[00:37:38] All of the middle school counselors are explaining that process and communicating that process, but we felt it was important to lay it out here as a reference. And then when you get to Section C, just clarifying what the effects of the expungement are.

[00:38:00] It's final and irreversible. Once they're expunged, no high school accredited course may be reinstated, and we've had those requests on a high school student's academic transcript. And then two, while a high school accredited course as well as the grade the student earned that is expunged shall be removed from the student's high school transcript, the course and the grade will remain on the student's middle school transcript; however, the grade earned will not be used to compute their high school grade point average.

[00:38:35] Three, a student shall not be required to repeat a high school credited course that has been expunged from their transcript unless it's needed to fulfill a graduation requirement or a prerequisite for another course. So that's that course progression that we really need to pay attention to.

[00:38:55] We've added the test scores that are associated with the high school credit courses and explained that they will not be expunged from the student records. So really just to highlight, we wanted to add more information about how parents will learn this process.

[00:39:18] We have all rising 8th graders and all rising 9th graders are getting this information from their counselors and extending the deadline from August 15th to the end of the first quarter, following the completion of the course, but not later than the end of the first quarter of 9th grade.

[00:39:35] And like I said, it allows for more time for the counselors to connect with students and the family. And then the students have an opportunity to change a course if needed. And it will help with students in repeating courses. So I know there's a lot that I could have read to you.

[00:39:53] I didn't want to do that to you. So that is all in summary. But I'm open for questions. Thank you. Thank you for sharing this. I'll open it up for board member questions. But I think this is, I really appreciate that as a parent who missed the deadline and living through the challenge of missing the August 15 deadline and living with a grade that we would have been able to expunge.

[00:40:22] I think this is a, I mean, having the first quarter in the ninth grade, I think this is really, really helpful. So I appreciate that. Ms. Sheridan? So, and perhaps I missed it, and I do thank you for not just reading it to us, but perhaps I missed it.

[00:40:39] Is there a requirement that the grade that is expunged is a not passing grade or is it a B can also be expunged just because so there's no yeah we have a lot of requests for students who want to remove a B because they haven't oh the value of getting a B I'll just put that or or an A minus because it's not as good as an A I'll just make sure my mic is on that really bothers me that we promote that I'm just going to put that out there that we

[00:41:15] promote the fact that an A minus is is not good enough so you can expunge it you know to all the parents out there deep sigh so so no i appreciate that i mean i think that if if you were not doing it all but i think given that this this sort of exists uh be and makes a huge difference when it comes to gpa that's what i'm learning with for my senior right now so i'm i'm i'm living because as a parent i'm i'm responsible for for this anyway so do you have any questions comments

[00:41:52] i'm looking at something um just give me one moment i will just say that we don't promote dropping expunging a minuses it's usually the family that is recommending that and we support our family's wishes yes so to that point someone who is aware of the policy and is concerned about gpa is going to take advantage of it and somebody who is not because we don't promote it just all

[00:42:22] of that is the bigger deep sigh from Mrs. Sheridan. And I do have some of the virtual out-in data that my team pulled together, which I thought was interesting, which was during term three, there were 87 middle school students who dropped courses. They were often taken by middle school students for advancement or to try to get a better grade or to allow for additional electives in their schedules, and they take the seats from the students who may be credit deficient and need that course to graduate. So that's why we really

[00:43:00] want to be specific with who can and what are the courses you can take and expunge yes so I'm I also just am a little um I mean I know you know having a 4.0 is a great thing to aspire to but these are not bad grades and I think the other thing is I don't think it's on and as far as I'm aware it's not on the agenda again but I know that there are often kind of recurring questions about grading

[00:43:36] policies and our, you know, retakes and so forth, which I know, you know, my kids take an advantage of as well. But I would be curious, like, what the proportionality is, like how many people are asking to expunge A-minuses and Bs versus Cs, Ds, and Fs.

[00:44:05] I would like that by school. We can look into that. Because I think that would speak to the haves versus the have-nots and the informed versus the uninformed. So what actual grades are expunged?

[00:44:24] What are the grades? And then by school. It would be middle school students taking high school level courses. I will also be really curious to see what the public feedback is on this one when it goes out for public feedback.

[00:44:49] So it would be interesting to see what the public thinks. And we can get that data to you. I know we have it. I just don't have it with me, so we'll get it to you. And we also have developed a standard operating procedure so that there's fidelity and consistency across all of our schools.

[00:45:08] Yes, Ms. Oguedagma. I just think to echo what Ms. Sheridan said about who's taking advantage of and who knows that this is an option. And I don't know, you know, is every middle school student who's taking a high school level course informed when they register that this is, you know, we know that this is maybe sometimes a stretch to take a high school level class when you're in middle school.

[00:45:37] And these are kind of things to consider so that they know that. Or with this change where they have until the end of the first quarter of their freshman year, can there be kind of a intentional outreach from the guidance counselors to all of those students to let them know, you know, we know you have a high school credit from middle school.

[00:46:00] Let's have a conversation about it in that first quarter. Ms. Sharon? Ms. Evans. I was going to just share that we do have a systemic expectation for all of our middle school counselors to monitor that, explain it to families.

[00:46:16] I'm a middle school mom, so I get that communication. And I did have my son who wanted to expunge this summer, and they walked me through that process. So we do have that expectation for counselors to explain that process to students and their families and then follow up.

[00:46:34] Ms. Evans, since you opened that can, I did not get any of that information. So, I mean, credit to your counselor for sharing that. I think that's something, that's where I was going to come back to. I mean, I think I hear the sentiments of the board members, but the communication is not consistent.

[00:46:52] And I think that's, I think we've talked about having a consistent communications from the counselors and communicating that out. Whatever the board member decides, you know, again, this is collectively of, you know, I may agree, disagree, but I think collectively, whatever we decide.

[00:47:08] but I think the communication and information should be consistent across to all students, regardless of how we change the policy for that. And I am disappointed to hear that you didn't receive that communication. However, I'm looking at this team over here and what they've developed, and that is their expectation moving forward.

[00:47:26] So the SOP was last spring, and you were probably before that. So we're going to be monitoring that and making sure it happens moving forward. Ms. Sheridan? Is the expungement opportunity part of code, required by code, or is this just something we're extending to our families?

[00:47:48] There's code, a legal reference at the bottom. Is it a requirement of code, or is it allowed by code? I guess I'd like to know the difference, and I don't expect you to give me a legal answer. I just would like to know the difference. Yes, I believe it is. If I can cite the code, I cannot do that. I can cite the code because it's on the paper, but you don't have to interpret the code. If we could find that out for next time, that'd be great.

[00:48:12] Required versus allowed versus interpretive. Yeah. Thank you. I can see a lot of discussion on 5035 coming back. Fair enough. Awesome. I guess moving on to item number six.

[00:48:28] Any new business tonight? I do. Sorry. Yes. It's not really new business. I just wanted to make the committee and staff aware that I'm not available on 1019. So I just want to make sure that there would either be a quorum or if not, if you wanted to consider asking staff to find a different date so I just wanted to make the committee aware publicly that I was not available on the 19th I just if we want to do it here in the committee or if we want to do it via email through staff looking for their dates I can let staff know through emails fine yeah I

[00:49:06] just wanted to put that out there okay thank you I just had a question I wanted to see if staff could bring back any updates around the work that's been ongoing with laws to this committee.

[00:49:26] - Okay. - I can certainly provide it in writing, but I do wanna let you know that we are like this close to our signed MOU, which will expand what we're offering. - So maybe we can get an update, I guess, next meeting. - Yeah, I'll put together something for Tedra to give to you. - Awesome, thank you.

[00:49:44] Any other new business items? I guess no further, we can adjourn the meeting.

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