Coraggio Consulting Loudoun County School Board, 4th Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, September 26, 2023 Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023 Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV) Length: 3h 52m (video) Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/868420157?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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:00] that we have is for remote participation. I don't see Ms. Corbo online, and I'll just move to the next item. On number two, disclosures. I'll start with Ms. Sheridan. - Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. [00:00:16] 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. Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. [00:00:37] These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected, of which I am included. 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. [00:00:54] Thank you. Mr. Vice Chair, 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 salaries or benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, my spouse is an LCPS employee who may be affected by any potential changes in employee salaries, the budget, and/or health insurance. These subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three whose interests may be affected, of which my spouse and I are included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public [00:01:32] interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Morris. 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 LCPA's employees. Specifically, I'm enrolled in LCPA's health insurance and may be affected by any potential change to health insurance. These subjects include thousands of employees, well in excess of statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which I'm included. [00:02:06] 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. We can move to the next item on the agenda number three. Ms. Oketuk, do we have a motion for the consent agenda? [00:02:25] Yes, Vice Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board approve the consent agenda for this September 26th meeting. Second. Motion made by Ms. Ogudekbe, seconded by Ms. Sheridan. Any questions, comments? [00:02:42] All those in favor, well, actually, we have a new voting guide. So, clerk, could you open up the voting? So, school board members, please go ahead and vote. [00:03:00] We have everybody voted. We can show the results. Okay. The motion passes with all board members present, with Mr. Sirotkin, Mr. Beatty, and Ms. Corbo Absin. [00:03:19] Thank you. Next item we have is the Pledge of Allegiance. This evening, we have the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the Virginia High School League, Spring Individual State Champions from Stonebridge, Lightridge, Tuscarora, Broad Run, Independence, Riverside, and Woodgrove High School. [00:03:43] The students will be recognized later this evening. The National Anthem, this evening we're joined by the Loudoun County High School Chamber Choir, is an audition mixed choir with students in grade 9 to 12, conducted by Willis Rosenfield. [00:04:00] The Chamber Choir is the main public performing group with the regular performance at assemblies, retirement homes, feeder elementary schools, and other local events. With Mr. Rosenfeld, they have won awards for performances in New York City, Chicago, and Orlando. So with that, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, and we'll stay standing for the National Anthem as well. [00:04:19] The public for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all. [00:05:24] Thank you. [00:06:37] to the next item on the agenda number five pass it on to you dr spence for the branding update thank you mr vice chairman and members of the board this evening we're excited to talk about the lcps rebrand so as you all know the brand up until now has been represented visually with an adaptation of the louden county seal in 2022 louden county public schools began to explore the development and creation of a new brand representation to do this the division gathered [00:07:16] feedback from focus groups across the county which included staff teachers principals students and student groups the school board and the community resounding feedback from the research indicated the need for a new logo to represent a division moving boldly forward for everyone a logo that would be relevant for today's students teachers and community as you can see on the screen there the research identified six timeless core values community diversity excellence innovation Opportunity and Agility. And this research was further reinforced when leadership made the decision to provide increased opportunities for student and community engagement and voice [00:07:55] in the rebranding process. So what we're going to do now is we're going to watch a video which showcases that process. 2022 Loudoun County Public Schools began to explore the development and creation of a new brand representation. [00:08:16] The division gathered feedback from focus groups across the county that included staff, teachers, principals, student groups, school board, and the community. The research identified six timeless core values, community, diversity, excellence, innovation, opportunity, and agility. [00:08:38] Resounding feedback indicated a need for a new logo to represent a division moving forward for students, teachers, and the school community. A logo relevant to today's students. LCPS elevated the development of a new logo and marketing materials by launching the LCPS Design Challenge in March 2023, incorporating student engagement and voice in the decision process. [00:09:05] The values and themes identified in the research as important to the community were provided as a framework. LCPS received 115 design submissions from every grade level. Student submissions were selected for use across the division and even informed the development of the new division logo. [00:09:28] The division logo is no longer the county seal. It is now a current, timeless logo, representing a clear vision. The new look builds upon the old by adding a contemporary feel relevant to today and for a bright future. The quadrant arrangement and banner detail pay homage to the previous shield. The new colors represent the following. Vibrant red embodies excellence and innovation. [00:09:57] It pays homage to the red in the county seal. Apricot represents knowledge and honors diversity and a sense of community. Airy blue exemplifies the LCPS commitment to trust building and all six values purple navy balances a sense of creativity grounded in agility and opportunity thank you to everyone staff students and partners for participating in this rebranding process your ideas and feedback were essential and led to a new division logo that represents and unifies [00:10:35] our community and embodies our work to engage empower and enrich our students and community through education so we do have a new logo right over here for our community to take a look at and we want to congratulate our community on this new logo and this rebranding and i especially want to take the opportunity to thank our department of communications and community engagement for their 2022 loudon county public schools began to explore the development and create thank you that's all [00:11:13] right and mr chairman that uh mr vice chairman that concludes that part of this uh and we're to get into our recognitions and we'll take the opportunity during recognitions to step over and get a picture in front of our new logo. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Spence. Board member, any comments, feedback, any questions? No? Ms. Agadekpe? Thank you, Vice Chair. I just wanted to reiterate what you just said. It was so exciting to see the submissions from all of the students and to watch that process as it kind of coalesced into the final selection. So I'm really excited about [00:11:52] the new logo and the process that got us here. Thank you. We have our chair joining us. So Dr. [00:12:34] Spence, we'll continue with item number six, student and staff recognitions. The first item is VHSL Spring Sports Individual State Recognition. I guess Dr. Mrs. Perry. Good evening, Mr. Chair, Dr. Spence, members of the school board. Tonight, we take a moment to recognize individuals who [00:13:08] captured a state championship in VHL athletics this past spring. The long hours and countless sacrifices and dedication to their craft have paid off this year for these individuals. First, we have Izzy Ritaru from Broad Run High School. Izzy won the VHL Class 4 Girls Single State Championship by winning her matches in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Next, we have Izzy Ritaru and [00:13:48] And Sienna Byde from Broad Run High School. Izzy and Sienna won the Class 4 Girls Doubles Tennis State Championship in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. [00:14:20] Next we have Hannah Riello from Independence High School. [00:14:38] Hannah won the VHL Class 5 State Outdoor Track and Field Championship by jumping a height of 5 feet 6 inches. [00:14:55] Next, we have Annika Boraremba, Lauren Thomas, Lindsay Masterneck, and Hannah Riello from Independence High School. This group of girls from Independence High School won the Class 5 State Outdoor 4x100 meter relay with a time of 47.72 seconds. [00:15:29] Next, we have Sid Dabahad from Light Ridge High School. Sid won the VHL Class 4 Boys Single State Championship by winning his matches in an exciting three sets. [00:15:52] Next, we have Aria Ebezebe from Riverside High School. Aria won the VHL Class 5 State Outdoor Track and Field Championship by throwing the shot put 38 feet, 1 1โ„4 inches. Next, we have Ann Sullivan from Stonebridge High School. [00:16:17] And won the VHL Class 5 State Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 800 meter by running a time of 2 minutes, 16.66 seconds. Next, we have Indira O'Neill from Stonebridge High School. [00:16:41] Indira won the VHL Class 5 State Outdoor 300 Meter Hurdles Championship by running a time of 44.28 seconds. Next, we have Alyssa Kerrigan from Tuscarora High School. [00:17:04] Alyssa captured three state championships in the VHL Class 4 Outdoor Track Championships. She won the high jump with a jump of 5 feet 8 1โ„4 inches, setting the new state record at the meet. She won the long jump by jumping 18 feet 6 1โ„2 inches, and then came back and won the triple jump by jumping 39 feet 1 inch. [00:17:33] Next, we have Anna Serling from Tuscarora High School. Anna won the VHL Class 4 State Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the discus by throwing the disc 120 feet 1 inch. And last we have Connor Salmon, Alex Hughes, Brayden Nestor, and Alexander Brent from Woodgrove High School. This group of boys won the VHL Class 5 State Outdoor Track and [00:18:12] championship in the four by 100 meter relay with a time of 41.95 seconds. I want to thank everyone [00:18:27] for their hard work again and congratulations. Okay at this time we'll move to 602 on the agenda [00:20:39] which is the recognition of Ms. Megan Tucker being named as the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year. Mr. Vickers could you turn the mic on? Hello Dr. Spence and members of the Loudoun County Public Schools School Board. I'd like to introduce you to my good friend Megan [00:21:15] Tucker. She is the, well, the National Aviation Hall of Fame announced on August 11th that Megan Tucker, a STEAM Specialist and Dean of Curriculum at Hillsborough Charter Academy in Hillsborough, Virginia, has been selected as the NAHF 2023 A. Scott Crossfield Educator of the Year. The Crossfield Award, founded in 1986 by the, and that NAHF is the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and shrinee Scott Crossfield is a juried annual competition to recognize a teacher for his or her [00:21:55] exemplary use of aerospace in their classroom curricula. Crossfield, who was inducted into the NAHF in 1983, was a renowned test pilot, research pilot, and aerospace researcher. His tests with pressurized suits led to the development of the space suit. The successful nomination was made by Ms. Susan Mallett, Aerospace STEM Education Outreach Coordinator for the Civil Air Patrol, and in 1992, she was the Crossfield Educator of the Year. In her nomination, Mallett said, [00:22:30] Megan is one of those unique treasures who never stops thinking of ways to help others understand, feel valued, and seek to accomplish great things. She is the epitome of a teacher who Scott Crossfield was speaking of when he looked for teachers, quote, who possessed those honorable attributes that we expect from American teachers. [00:22:54] In support of her nomination, Hillsborough Virginia Mayor Roger Vance shared this, quote, As well as being at the forefront of building an award-winning STEM-based curriculum, Megan has infused aviation and aerospace education into a wide spectrum of the school's teaching regimen that enriches traditional subjects and creates an extraordinary level of awareness and knowledge among the young scholars. [00:23:26] we refer to our students as scholars. Megan has ensured that the themes of aerospace engineering are key components in the classroom, and she has demonstrated boundless creativity in activities and projects to encourage and enhance the teaching of aerospace. [00:23:42] Megan's teaching career and accomplishments span almost 20 years in elementary and middle schools in Florida, California, and Virginia, and include the development of engaging science and space curricula, and programs for her schools, students, and other educators, as well as for national organizations. [00:24:01] Megan has been instrumental in building the curriculum at Hillsborough Charter Academy, where she has taught every kindergarten through fifth grade student all aspects of STEAM, with an emphasis on aerospace, technology, and engineering. She's created a club called Girls in Gear, Guiding, Engineering, Aerospace, and Robots, and implemented a plethora of special programs for the students as she collaborated with organizations such as NASA, Civil Air Patrol, AIAA, Project Lead the Way, Girls Who Code, SeaPerch, which is underwater robotics, the Space Foundation, and CASAS, [00:24:40] which is the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. Notably, Megan creatively supported her school's pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic. She ensured that students in her entire school were provided rigorous and relevant STEAM instruction via weekly Tucker Tuesday online sessions that provided innovative lessons and engineering design challenges to students, making sure the tasks assigned could be accomplished with items readily found in every home, a design challenge in its own right. [00:25:15] When school slowly reopened, she innovatively plotted the path forward toward continued hands-on learning and engagement. And Megan was the very first person hired when HCA got its charter seven years ago. [00:25:31] Lars Hoffman, vice president, government of sales at Blue Origin, and Jill Rutan-Huffman, founder and CEO of Path to Flight, said this. What sets Megan apart is not only her ability to effectively teach aviation and STEAM concepts, but also her commitment to the holistic development of her students. [00:25:54] She understands the importance of instilling confidence, perseverance, and a growth mindset in her students, encouraging them to pursue their dreams and overcome challenges. Megan has earned multiple honors and awards for her work with students in science and engineering. [00:26:11] These include being one of 20 selected internationally for the initial group of the Limitless Space Institute's Educator Program in 2022. In 2021, she has the National AFA Rolls-Royce Aerospace STEM Teacher of the Year. [00:26:30] In 2020, the Virginia State Air and Space Forces Teacher of the Year, and the recipient of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association grant in 2020. Mr. Frank Craven, NAHF awards chair, said Ms. Tucker's nomination was unanimously selected for the 2023 Crossfield Award. [00:26:52] After reviewing her extraordinary list of career accomplishments, previous Crossfield winners were truly impressed. Megan's additional addition brings honor to this already prestigious group of educators. And do you know that there are nearly 300,000 teachers, kindergarten to 12th grade teachers, in the United States? [00:27:14] 300,000, okay? This is an international award, so imagine. And that's some serious competition, and Megan stands out. Today, we celebrate Ms. Megan Tucker, HCA STEAM teacher and our dean of curriculum. [00:27:33] And as Ms. Tucker says to our scholars, you need to read this. to infinity oh mrs tucker don't go anywhere just yet okay we're gonna we're gonna do pictures in a minute but first um i i would i i certainly cannot let this go without comments of my own uh it is it has been my pleasure and my honor to have gotten to know you over the past five plus [00:28:11] years as an educator, as my student's teacher, my child's teacher for several years at Hillsborough Charter Academy. And it was my honor to also to personally recommend you for this award and to add my name to the voices of the community who knew that you were deserving of this honor. [00:28:35] And I'm going to briefly read from part of my letter. What I said was that I can't tell you that Megan Tucker is the best teacher in America because I have not met every teacher in America, but I wouldn't rule it out. [00:28:54] What I can definitively say is that as chairman of the Loudoun County School Board, I have had the opportunity to work with many talented educators across a workforce of more than 12,000 employees. And Megan Tucker is the best teacher I've met in my life. [00:29:11] And I stand by that. Congratulations. Thank you. [00:31:22] Board members, without objection, we're going to go back to item 1. 02 on our agenda, which is remote participation, as Ms. Corbo is now online. I have been notified that Denise Corbo would like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting. Ms. Corbo, could you please state your location, whether anyone is with you, and whether this is a medical or personal matter? [00:31:42] Thank you. I'm home. I'm alone. In November of 2021, the school board requested LCPS HRTD evaluate my disability under ADA law, and their recommendation is for remote meeting participation if there is meeting quorum. [00:32:02] Therefore, according to school board policy and ADA law, I'm requesting to attend this meeting virtually due to a disability and ongoing personal health and medical reasons. At this time, I'll entertain a motion that Ms. Corbo's request to participate remotely for a medical matter be granted. [00:32:26] So moved. Moved by Ms. Polifco. Is there a second? That motion will fail for lack of a second. Ms. Corbo, would you like to request remote participation for a personal matter tonight? No, thank you. [00:32:43] Okay, thank you. With that, we will move to our student school board representative comments. And we will start with, give me one moment. [00:32:59] We're going to start with Alba Ventura Martinez, who is the representative from William Obadiah Roby High School. Alba is an 18-year-old senior from Roby High School. This is Johanna's second year at Roby, and she is excited to graduate this January. [00:33:16] Johanna works full-time at Home Depot as a customer service representative while attending Roby full-time. Johanna is bilingual in Spanish and English and is a proud Latina from El Salvador. Roby has helped Johanna balance her adult responsibilities while she completes her high school education. [00:33:35] Johanna believes that without Roby, she would not have been able to finish her high school education, and she is excited to share her experience. Good afternoon. It's my pleasure to be here with all of you. My name is Alba Johanna. I'm a student from Robyn High School. [00:33:52] First of all, I am very grateful to everyone working at Robbie, including my teachers and my principal. I am grateful to all CPS for giving them the opportunity to be the student who represents my school. This is something very important to me, knowing that they choose me, and I feel proud because I'm also representing Latin America here in the United States. [00:34:14] I am originally from Salvador. I came to the U.S. when I was 14 years old. When I came here to this country, everything was very different for me. I started Dominion High School. I didn't know anyone. [00:34:31] I didn't speak more English, and I feel very afraid. Many times, I cried in the bathroom at school because I didn't know what to do in my classes. But at the time I went, I learned many things in my classes. [00:34:55] I was understanding English more, and I feel very happy. When I was a Dominion student, I was working 30 hours this week, and I studied. I started my first job at the age of 14, but I feel tired because after school, I went to work, and after work, I had to do all my homework. [00:35:16] As a fine task, I realized that we're at high school. Would there help you to graduate faster? And that is a better schedule to allow the student to live early and work. Now that I am a early student, I work 40 hours each week and pay for my rent, medical bills, and all expenses. [00:35:36] I have lived with only my brother for three years. When I was at Dominion, I didn't understand English. Then the pandemic happened and everything was online, So I never practiced English. Then I started to come in person to school, but I feel the classes had a lot of students in the classroom. [00:35:58] And because the classes were so big, I never had the time to speak with my teacher and practice English. When I came to Rory, I feel more comfortable with the teacher because the class was small. With fewer students, we can talk more with the teacher and ask more questions. [00:36:16] Right now, I feel my English is much better than two years ago. Ms. Rivera is my English teacher in Ms. Rivera's class. I feel good because she does a lot of activities during class. We practice reading and speaking with her and the student. She always is worried about students in her class. [00:36:38] I love her because I can see she helps us all learn. Mr. Henry is my math teacher. Mr. Henry is a very good teacher in math. He helped me last year to pass my last mass of classes and all my exams. [00:36:53] He was explaining his unique, we did it in class very well. I am very grateful to him for teaching me very well. Robbie has helped so many students that may have dropped out of school without it for us. Robbie is one of the best opportunities for all life. [00:37:12] Thank you to the school board for the opportunity to speak tonight. My classmates and I are grateful for your support and giving us the opportunity to graduate. Thank you. [00:37:42] I just want to say thank you to Mr. Brewer too. Next, we have Ella Mahaffey, who is a senior at Riverside High School. [00:38:05] She is the Student Council Association president and previously served as the class president for two years. Ella is involved in many other clubs at Riverside, such as Varsity Club and many honor societies. She has been part of the varsity basketball team for three years and is looking forward to her senior year. [00:38:22] After high school, she will be playing basketball at Colgate University. She hopes to learn many new skills this year as president that will help her at the next level. Hello and good evening, everyone. First of all, I'd like to thank my principal, Mr. Anderson, for the opportunity to speak here tonight. [00:38:39] My name is Ella Mahaffey, and I'm Riverside School Board Student Representative and Student Council President. Last year, the Student Council's main goal was to raise the student body's level of participation and bring back the school spirit. I was so happy to be a part of that SCA mission, as school spirit drives so much excitement and participation. [00:38:56] Ever since COVID, our school has been lacking the spirit we used to have. Last year was the first time I saw our school spirit spark. SCA worked really hard to make that happen. We were able to hold all events, traditions, and even expand upon them. This included pep rallies, senior events, fundraisers, and so much more. [00:39:12] For example, last year, a student council planned and executed our very first winter dance, the Frosty Formal. The event was held at Riverside High School, where we decorated the entire school to look like a winter wonderland. The event was well attended and very successful, as many Riverside students are looking forward to the dance this year. [00:39:29] DECA was able to create an event called Powder Buff. The boys created volleyball teams to play each other in a tournament hosted at the school. This event is now a tradition for Riverside High School. We are proud to say Riverside High School has the biggest DECA chapter in the state of Virginia. They had over 40 people qualify for international competition, two students placed within the top 20 at Worlds, and one group placed third internationally. [00:39:52] In total, DECA raised an astounding $20,000. DECA looks to do all of this again this year. Sources of Strength, Peer, and Student Council all partnered together to create a student-versus-staff basketball game. During school, all of the students, teachers, and staff came to watch the game. [00:40:08] I was actually the coach of the staff team. This event was super fun and highly competitive. Lots of excitement was built around Riverside Sports last year. The Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball Team and Girls Varsity Volleyball Team made it to regionals last year. H.G. Trago became a first swimmer on the Riverside Varsity Swim Team to qualify for states in every single event. [00:40:28] Girls Riverside Field Hockey made it to regional semifinals and Boys Varsity Hockey made it to state quarterfinals. Even bigger news, we are super proud to announce that our Boys Varsity Lacrosse team won their fourth consecutive state championship. So much to be proud of here. The best news is Riverside's fall sports are off to an outstanding start. [00:40:46] Our football team is currently 3-0 and was even featured on Scott's 7 News. Scott says, I was super impressed by the energy and atmosphere at the game. The RAM student section was terrific, end quote. Our student council did an excellent job of advertising our first game, creating excitement and driving participation. [00:41:03] As for the arts, Riverside's theater performed its hit show, Into the Woods Junior, in April. The show was terrific and executed perfectly. Lastly, the Riverside Marching Band played at every home football and basketball game. And the Symphonic Band received an excellent two score on the assessment last year. [00:41:19] This year, our student council had 50 new members apply to become a part of SEA. The amount of applicants is a representation of how well our student council did last year. by driving greater interest, involvement, and participation. The Student Council definitely raises the bar every year, and I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish this year. [00:41:38] Thank you. [00:41:48] And finally tonight, we have Lily McBride, representing Woodgrove High School, where she is a senior and vice president of the Student Council. Lily is co-president of a newly formed organization, Woodgrove for Women, that supports women in the school and Loudoun County community. [00:42:04] She is also captain of the congressional debate team and is the state champion for Class 5 debate. Lily plays the harp in the Woodgrove Orchestra and is part of multiple honor societies. Outside of school, she volunteers with the Ladies Board of Loudoun County to support Inova Hospital. [00:42:23] Good evening. My name is Lily McBride, and I'm a senior at Woodgrove High School. I'm currently Woodgrove's Student Council Vice President. First, I would like to thank my SCA advisors, Mrs. Valsak and Ms. Deepoy, and my principal, Dr. Shipp, for supporting me in being my school's representative. [00:42:42] Last school year, Woodgrove had five VHSL state champions for both indoor track and track and field, a championship softball team, and a state champion for congressional debate. The Grove Theater was awarded two cappies for their spring musical, Something Rotten, and our music department earned the title of Blue Ribbon School after superior performances across all disciplines for the second year in a row. [00:43:06] Additionally, three individuals, including myself, qualified for debate nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Since it's my senior year, my fellow executive board members and I have made it a goal to make it our best year yet. We handed out lays to students and staff on the first day of school and play music in between blocks every Friday. [00:43:26] We're in the process of planning our homecoming on October 14th, in which the theme is Dancing Through the Seasons. Each grade receives a subcategory that they voted on, and the class councils then make a mural and photo op to display at the dance, which will then be voted on by the teachers. [00:43:43] The dance is then followed by a spirit week, culminating in a pep rally and our homecoming football game on October 20th. This is one of our favorite weeks of the year that connects the Woodgrove community and brings up the school spirit of each grade. This year, our school theme is Unleash Your Potential. [00:44:01] Woodgrove has created an environment to cultivate growth for both students and staff. While we execute many fun activities and events throughout the year, I believe where we shine is our ability to support students and their journey throughout high school. We have a career center open all day, focused on post-secondary education and job support for anyone who needs it. [00:44:21] Additionally, we have numerous clubs started and run by students to create safe and fun environments by their peers. Woodgrove for Women, a club created to help women in the community, collects and distributes resources to those in need. Our minority student union spreads information about different cultures and religions throughout the world and at Woodgrove. [00:44:42] And works with global ambassadors to execute international food night, which showcases dozens of countries and their specific cultures. We have women in STEM, political philosophy, unified sports, we're all human, and so much more. And that's what I love about being at Woodgrove. [00:45:00] I am at a school where my friends and classmates can choose the path that's right for them. Our school motto is work, honor, and strive. And through all of our events, activities, clubs, organizations, and honor societies, students can carry out that exact message. [00:45:17] As soon as I walk into Woodgrove, I'm given the resources necessary to work, honor, and strive. I've loved every year at my school being able to plan homecoming, participate in spirit weeks, and form great relationships with my teachers. I'm so grateful for the support and resources Woodgrove has provided for myself and others, and I can't wait to see how my peers can unleash their potential. [00:45:40] Thank you. Board members, without objection, we're going to do a couple of things out of order on the agenda. [00:45:59] First, for item 1003 from the Finance and Operations Committee, request to name the broad-run high school softball field the Ed Steele softball field. I've been notified by staff that we have a family member in attendance of Mr. Steele, So we will take up that issue at this point in the agenda. [00:46:20] And I will recognize Ms. Polifco to make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board approve to name the Broad Run High School softball field after Mr. Steele, therefore named the Ed Steele softball field for a period of 10 years. [00:46:38] Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Mejedevi. Ms. Polifco, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that Ms. Steele is in the audience with us this evening. Ms. Steele, I apologize. I don't recognize you by your face, but if you are here, would you please raise your hand? [00:46:55] Thank you so much. Ms. Steele, as the Broad Run District Representative of Loudoun County Public Schools, it is my sincere honor to recognize Mr. Steele this evening, and I extend my sincere condolences for your loss. I did want to share a few pieces of information that I received when the request to name the softball field was sent to me. This is a letter from Mr. Spage at Broad Run High School. Ed Steele taught at Broad Run for 30 years before retiring in 2014. Over that same time period, he guided the [00:47:33] Broad Run softball team to 509 victories, ranking Coach Steele second in Virginia history for the most wins. The Lady Spartans hold four state crowns, three consecutively, accumulating a winning record of 105 to four over a four-year period with two consecutive undefeated seasons. This [00:48:04] included a 61-game winning streak and outscoring their opponents 742 to 23. Ed was all about hard work and having fun. He would say, winning isn't important. It's fun. The kids are what's important. [00:48:22] Ed Steele passed away on February 3rd, 2023 at the age of 78. He was still Coach Steele to all who knew him. Thank you for letting me share that information. And then without further ado, I'd like to go ahead and read the resolution to name Broad Run High School softball field the Ed Steele softball field. [00:48:43] Whereas Mr. Ed Steele taught at Broad Run High School for more than 30 years, retiring in 2014, and whereas Mr. Steele coached softball at Broad Run High School for 30 years, retiring from coaching in 2022, and whereas Mr. Steele guided the Broad Run softball team to 509 victories and four state crowns. [00:49:06] Whereas Mr. Steele led the team to a 105-4 record over a four-year period with two consecutive undefeated seasons, including a 61-game winning streak, and whereas Mr. Steele coached wrestling at Broad Run High School for 20 years, and whereas Mr. Steele focused not on winning, but on the student-athletes themselves. Now, therefore, be it resolved that in honor of his contribution to Broad Run High School community, the Broad Run High School softball field be named the Ed Steele Softball [00:49:39] Field for a period of 10 years. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Seeing none, clerk, would you please open the voting board? And clerk, could you please close the board and [00:50:13] display the vote? That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Ms. Corbo absent for the vote. And the second item that we have to do out of order is slightly less exciting because I was not present at the beginning of the reading meeting. I have to read my financial disclosure for item two on the agenda. As a member of the Lowne County School [00:50:49] 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. Specifically, I'm enrolled in LCPS health insurance and may be affected by any potential changes to health insurance. These subjects include thousands of employees, well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which I am included. [00:51:16] 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 and we will now return to regular order with item eight on the agenda which is the superintendent's report dr spence thank you mr chairman and good evening to everyone it's my pleasure to report on some wonderful things happening in and around loudon county public schools beginning with this my favorite thing to do as superintendent is visiting schools and last week i had that opportunity as i visited Sanders Corner Elementary and Trailside Middle, where I thoroughly enjoyed learning [00:51:53] more about this excellent community and learning more about our students and staff at these two campuses. I also was able to learn more about our local business community at the School Business Partnership Executive Council, where I heard boundless and very enthusiastic support for our schools from our business community. [00:52:09] Their support, which is in the form of innovative thinking, job for a day experiences and internships and other hands-on engagement, truly helps inform our development process for academic pathways. This support helps LCPS to prepare its students to leave LCPS ready to become productive members of our community whether that path is military or government service, higher education or the workforce. On Wednesday night I hosted the first of 18 listening sessions for our staff and our community. I heard feedback about what's working well in our schools including high praise for our teachers and the hard work they do and I want to echo that appreciation. I also heard [00:52:45] feedback on how we can continue to help students achieve their very best. Our intention as educators is to reach all of our students to make sure they have the tools and the opportunities to achieve their hopes and dreams. Our next community listening session is scheduled for Wednesday, October the 4th at Independence High School, so I hope you will help spread the word and plan to meet me at one of the upcoming sessions, the full schedule for which is on the web page listed here. [00:53:11] Next, I'm happy to announce that 82 LCPS students are among the 16,000 National Merit Scholar semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school students have the opportunity to continue in the competition to earn National Merit Scholarships. More than 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT or PSAT, which is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. [00:53:46] The complete list of LCPS semifinalists is on our website, so congratulations to these hardworking scholars. Next, a record 54 LCPS students received an Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma from the College Board in 2023. [00:54:02] An AP Capstone Diploma is based on two year-long AP courses, the AP Seminar and AP Research courses. Students typically take AP Seminar in grade 10 or 11, followed by AP Research. Both of these courses guide our students through completing a research project, writing an academic paper, and presenting that project. [00:54:22] The complete list of students earning a capstone diploma can also be found on the LCPS website and congratulations also to these students. I was happy to have been able to recently attend the Amazon Web Services Think Big Space Community Celebration at J.L. Simpson Middle School in Leesburg. [00:54:39] The AWS Think Big Space which opened in December and is a collaboration between AWS, Loudon Education Foundation and LCPS allows our students and our educators to explore innovative and imaginative ideas through interactive, hands-on technical education and cloud computing training. [00:54:57] Since this space opened, it has already served more than 600 educators, 2,200 elementary and middle school students, and 47 local business owners. The AWS Think Big Space is part of our larger efforts to drive STEAM education. As you all know, LCPS is a national leader in K-12 computer science education having first integrated the computer science curriculum across all subject areas and local elementary schools beginning in 2017. Since then through a 2.4 million dollar go virginia grant lcps education leaders helped create the virginia k-12 computer science pipeline [00:55:34] focused on teaching students computational thinking and problem solving early to prepare them for careers in technology. Given the early success of our new AWS space, AWS also made a surprise donation of $25,000 to LCPS for additional technology and classroom equipment, and they provided another $25,000 to the Loudon Education Foundation for its Innovation and Education Grant Program, which provides $500 to $1,500 grants to educators to help pay for supplies needed to support innovative lesson plans. We're grateful for their support, [00:56:10] support and we are especially grateful for their endorsement of our work in computer science and i'm thrilled that lcps was selected for the aws think big space we know it's going to foster big big things next student council association members from all lcps high schools got together for a little barbecue in time to share ideas at the pando or president's and officers picnic at claudemore park on september the 13th this event was hosted by the office of athletics and extracurricular activities and the goal was to foster collaboration between schools. So students [00:56:45] shared ideas for student events ranging from homecoming to service projects. Some students even talked about establishing some friendly competition between schools and there are plans to hold similar activities throughout the year to share innovation, make programs stronger through collaborative thinking and celebrate student leadership. I am happy to report that the Loudoun County Joint Architectural Review Board presented LCPS with a 2023 Community Blue Ribbon Award on Thursday, September the 21st. This in recognition of the restoration and revitalization of the historic Douglas High School Education and Development Campus. Members of the Douglas [00:57:24] High School Commemorative Committee and the LCPS Support Services Department attended the event and accepted the award. The historic Douglas School was rededicated in May 2023 following a comprehensive two-year renovation project that restored the school originally opened in 1941 to educate Loudoun County's black students. During the renovation project, LCPS collaborated with the Douglas High School Commemorative Committee, members from the Loudoun-Douglas High School Alumni Association, the Edwin Washington Society, and the Loudoun branch of the NAACP, and representatives from Loudoun historical organizations and commissions, all to ensure [00:58:02] the school history was fully honored. I have to say this campus was one of my first stops in the division and was very impressed with the care with which the restoration and new uses were planned and balanced and the intentionality around that process. Moving to our operational update, since the LCPS Mobile Health Clinic started its work this June, it has already served 182 LCPS students at 29 community clinics. The Mobile Health Clinic provides required school physicals and wellness checks to lcps students clinic staff have also been helping families find health care resources [00:58:36] the clinic has been so successful that its schedule was expanded beyond its initial calendar which ended in august clinic dates are now available through september and october with plans to continue into november and december the mobile health clinic was made possible through a virginia department of education community schools grant and partnerships with inova and the george Washington School of Nursing. These partners together with LCPS nurses, registrars, and interpreters are helping to make sure our LCPS students have access to health care and are serving a vital role in the LCPS community. We want to thank our dedicated partners and staff for making this [00:59:14] resource available. Next, a reminder that the adoption process for literacy resources for grades K through 2 is ongoing. All eight VDOE approved resources have agreed to participate in our adoption process and those resources are available for review here in the admin building or online. [00:59:33] As the selections narrowed down we anticipate shipping materials from the top vendors to all 59 LCPS elementary schools for display around November 1. We plan to bring a final recommendation to the school board for approval by December of 2023. This timeline allows for professional learning on newly adopted resources to begin with delivery of those selected materials in the early to mid-spring of 2024. And next steps are for us to embark on a resource review and adoption process for grades three through five. Once VDOE releases their approved curricula, [01:00:08] we anticipate that for early 2020-24. During our last board meeting, an update was provided that outlined three items in the state budget awaiting the governor's signature. We're happy to note that the governor signed that budget without changes, which included in the state budget one-time funding to support the all-in Virginia plan. The three areas of the plan as you can see here are focused on attendance, literacy, and learning. There will be a statewide chronic absenteeism task force in addition to our local efforts to address chronic absenteeism. There will be a continued emphasis on implementing the Virginia Literacy Act and the governor is investing in an [01:00:47] intensive statewide tutoring initiative to support divisions in accelerating student learning back to pre-pandemic levels. School divisions are expected to receive funding tied to each area of the All-In Virginia plan. Additionally, VDOE is providing recommendations and playbooks to support school divisions. Locally, we have already begun to address karnic absenteeism and implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act. We will also participate in task forces and acceleration of implementation wherever possible. Regarding high-dose tutoring, we have participated in webinars and Q&A sessions that the VDOE has provided, and we have formed a local task force [01:01:25] to plan for how we will recruit, train, and schedule tutors to support our students. Staff intends to update the board with more details as they become available. The state budget also included funding for 2% pay increases on top of the 5% already in the state's budget. A reminder that LCPS's fiscal year 24 budget provided pay increases averaging 5.8%. LCPS will also receive additional funding for additional support positions from increasing the support cap to 24 per 1,000 students from 21. We are awaiting official numbers from VDOE with this new budget. [01:02:03] We do anticipate bringing a supplemental budget item to the October 10th board meeting. Thank you and that concludes my report. Thank you Dr. Spence. That will bring us to item nine on the agenda which is public comment. Thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process. [01:02:23] 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. Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers tonight, which is seven, and the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted three minutes each for public comment. [01:02:45] Please be advised that speakers who miss 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. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium, or during a break. [01:03:02] 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. [01:03:29] 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. [01:03:45] 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. [01:04:04] 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. [01:04:33] 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. 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. [01:04:54] And the live stream of the meeting may also be viewed on the LCPS website. So for the fourth Tuesday meetings, we start with virtual speakers, but we have no virtual speakers signed up for tonight's meeting. So we will go directly to our in-person speakers. [01:05:10] And we will start with Brenda Bengston to be followed by Sandy Sullivan. Good evening. Two weeks ago, it was embarrassing to hear speakers disinvite our new superintendent, Dr. Spence. [01:05:34] They unwelcomed him, complaining about cost. It does not cost anything to be kind. Displays of contempt with hurtful words or harmful behaviors might be attention-seeking or learned. [01:05:52] But the spirit of this community is about helping children and young adults. We reject attacks on public education that are propagandized with the politics of fear and loathing pushed as news. I do not know where the perceived disdain for public education originates, but exclusionary, damaging, and biased edicts are not an answer. [01:06:19] Most Loudners do not want to emulate Florida, where LGBTQ students are deemed unworthy and AP African American history courses are erased. Loudners do not wish to be like Texas, with takeovers of school districts, elected officials canceled, and libraries turned into detention centers. [01:06:43] We do not need to use PragerU's cutesy history videos rife with disinformation or to change what's working to adopt a narrow curriculum viewpoint from Hillsdale College. We value setting a vision, a philosophy about teaching and learning to benefit all students, teachers, staff, and parents. [01:07:07] We strive to help students attain goals, develop intellectual curiosity, and gain social emotional well-being. Public education still matters. Libraries still matter. [01:07:23] Amanda Gorman says it beautifully in her Banned book. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. So we lift our gazes, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. [01:07:43] We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so that we can reach our arms out to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. [01:08:01] So once again, welcome, Dr. Spence. And thanks to the school board for understanding it doesn't cost us to be kind. Thank you. Sandy Sullivan to be followed by Tina Wade. [01:08:19] Good evening. I'm Sandy Sullivan, an elementary school teacher who currently serves the members of the Loudon Education Association as their president. School board members, we look forward to your discussion and vote on policy 70-30 staff time schedules this evening. [01:08:35] The policy in its current form and in its potential future form deeply impacts your employees. The language in the policy needs to be clear. Occasionally, on lines 49 and 71 of the red line policy is very vague and gives administrators latitude to require responsibilities and duties to go well beyond the workday. [01:08:55] Ensuring administrators know policy and how to abide by it and enforce it is critical. Guidance for administrators is needed, but not simply through guidance provided to them at the beginning of each school year. Clear language in policy makes expectations transparent for all employees. [01:09:13] In order to work toward being the employer of choice LCPS strives to be, in order to prevent LCPS from developing and revising policies in ways that are ultimately not educator-friendly, and in order to ensure LCPS does not move forward in a way that will ultimately harm its ability to retain current employees, this language must be revised or deleted. [01:09:35] Please be reminded of what you already know. Your educators are devoted to working with their students and fellow educators, but as additional work continues to be added, an added expectation, and nothing is taken away, you cannot expect the best from your educators. We need the best for our educators, students, and community. [01:09:55] Thank you. Tina Wade to be followed by Renee Crawford. Renee Crawford to be followed by Abby Platt. Good evening. I'm Renee Crawford, Heritage High School, starting my 35th year in the classroom, my 31st in Loudoun County. Tonight I come to you to talk about the Loudoun County Public Schools grading policy. The policy was adopted as is the current educational trend to acknowledge student and parent confusion regarding grading practices in Loudoun [01:10:34] County. Because of what I assume were unfair grading practices by some teachers, the county has adopted a one-size-fits-none policy that dumbs down education and eradicates the educational professionals expertise in handling their own classes. I could talk about a lot with the grading policy, the only thing I have time to talk about tonight is the fact that we are not allowed to grade formative assignments. Formative assignments can be classwork or homework, but whatever they are, they cannot be graded. They cannot even be counted towards the grade because heaven forbid we grade behavior rather than output. For some reason, that is viewed as being harmful to our [01:11:11] students. No one seems to consider the fact that not grading or counting these assignments is in fact a greater harm to students than grading a behavior would be. Teachers, even at the high school level, now do not assign homework practice because there is zero incentive for students to complete it. When you have 10 to 15% of your students completing a problem set for say Algebra 2, you as a teacher cannot move on. You can't. It will be educationally a bad decision to move on when the majority of students have not even attempted the work. So what happens? The teacher assigns the work to be completed in class and by using that class time the teacher has [01:11:48] effectively slowed down the pace of instruction and therefore cannot cover the same amount of material in a year. Since the implementation of the homework policy, my English classes cover one to two fewer texts a year than we did before the policy was enacted. Assignments that I would have in the past given as homework, like grammar practice, vocabulary practice, reading assignments, all have to be completed in the three to four and a half hours of instructional time that I have during the week, so I simply cannot cover the same amount of material as I could prior to the policy. We pride ourselves on being the school system that prepares our students to be citizens of the world, but with the grading policy, we are teaching them that those citizens only need to give the bare minimum effort to be successful. [01:12:28] We are not preparing them for college. We are not preparing them for the workforce. We have simply given them the choice to not apply themselves and still be rewarded. And on top of that, we have taken away teacher autonomy and the ability of a teacher to understand and work with their students towards mastery and success. [01:12:43] I have watched a lot of trends come and go in my 35 years in education. It seems like every time someone makes a decision about something that is educationally progressive, is a backlash five to ten years later where people realized that it didn't actually work. Usually when these policies are enacted at the head of the complaints against the policies there are teachers. Teachers whose input was not considered when the policy was adopted. I do not know a single teacher in Loudoun County who supports this grading policy because the grading policy does not actually work. It dumps down the education students are receiving in Loudoun County. The pendulum will swing back at some point. At some point... [01:13:18] Thank you. Abby Platt to be followed by John Brewer. John Brewer to be followed by Andrea Weiskopf. And Andrea Weiskopf is our final speaker. [01:13:43] Being summoned to the principal's office is rarely good news when you are in middle school. Being summoned to the principal's office when you are a middle school teacher is never good news. Why had I not, he demanded to know, attended any after-school events? I was expected to attend at least one a month and my attendance was tracked. [01:14:13] According to my principal, volunteering at a middle school dance was needed to ensure the proper functioning of the school. A principal, the saying goes, is a god in his own building. If the school board votes to reaffirm policy 70-30 next week, the same scenario will play out. [01:14:39] What is occasionally? If I always do something, that is 100%. percent. If I often do something, 70. If I sometimes, 50. If I occasionally, 30. If I never, zero. If a principal is able to occasionally assign work beyond contract hours, that's 30 percent. HRDD is attempting to [01:15:14] define occasionally but such policies such definitions are not binding policy and may shift yearly whether you are a kneecapper for the union it's me i'm the problem whether you are a kneecapper for the union or someone who believes that teachers eat bonbons during work policy 70 30 is wrong its anti-worker sentiment should engage and enrage those who stand with the worker for those who said collective bargaining was unnecessary because LCPS and the board were already [01:15:50] negotiating in good faith? Your words and your faith are false. Once you vote to respect educators, I urge you to consider how to resist Youngkin's unjust model policies that seek to demean LGBTQ students in hopes of eventually erasing them. His modeled policies are state-sanctioned harassment. This board and superintendent must ensure that each and every student knows that they belong in LCPS. This [01:16:25] board and this superintendent must actively protect our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students. Black Lives Matter. Thank you. And that was our final speaker. So that will conclude public comment for this evening. We will now start on our action items starting with 1001 from the Department of Business and Financial Services, school board calendar for the development [01:16:57] of the fiscal year 2025 annual operating budget. I'll go ahead and make a motion that the Loudoun County School Board adopt the staff recommended calendar for developing the FY25 annual operating budget. Second. Seconded by Mr. Morse. So I had, board members, as you'll recall from last meeting I had asked staff to present a alternative option which is in available in board docs that would delay the superintendent's FY25 estimate of needs presentation to the school board to [01:17:35] shortly before the counter administrators proposed budget presentation to the county and then with the presumption that the county administrator would use that as the baseline in their budget uh but i've i as i said last week i don't have strong opinions one way or another i just wanted that to be an available option to the board but i've gone ahead and made the motion for the regular staff recommended calendar which is more or less the way we always do it although i will note that uh the in the staff recommended version the presentation of the superintendent's estimate [01:18:09] needs is scheduled for Tuesday, January 16th, 2024, which is a week or two after it's traditionally been done. So that will give the incoming school board a little more time where they won't have to do what we did, where, you know, we took the oath of office on a Monday and then got the budget dumped in our laps 48 hours later. So even with the normal operating procedure, the incoming board will still have a little more time than that to get settled before getting the superintendent's [01:18:41] estimate of needs. Further discussion? Mr. Mahedmi. Thank you, Chair. So my thoughts are that if this board were to continue, let's say this was option available for us earlier this year when we were doing the budget, I would have supported the option too because then I think we would have at least an understanding with our superintendent that the budget is not going to change much. But I think since the board, you know, fairly could have all nine new board members, I think they could have [01:19:20] the opportunity to make the adjustments to the to the budget versus just relying on the superintendent's budget. So there's pros and cons of that. So I'll just support the motion that you made tonight. Additional discussion? Seeing none, we'll place the matter to a vote. Clerk, could you please open the voting board? And board members, please record your votes. And clerk, please close and display the vote. That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Ms. [01:20:00] Corbo absent for the vote. We'll now move to 1002 from the Curriculum and Instruction Committee Revisions to Policy 5080 Class Size. I move that the school board approve the staff recommended revisions to Policy 5080 Class Size. Is there a second? Seconded by Mr. Mejedevi. I don't have too much to add to this from our discussion two weeks ago. These were almost entirely staff [01:20:35] recommended changes to clarify, to comply with code, and the committee did make one amendment to the first paragraph to also include information about where the annual adopted staffing standards can be found on the LCPS website in case people are interested in looking for the targeted or average class sizes as opposed to just the maximum class sizes, which is largely what is contemplated by this policy. Additional discussion? Ms. Polivko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to [01:21:13] make an alternate motion to postpone this policy due to the fact that SEAC has not been able to provide their feedback yet and won't be able to do so until, I believe it's October 4th. Their request. The request from Liz Crotty, the chair of SEAC, is to move this to, I believe, it's the October 10th meeting. So I would like to request that we, and I'd like to move, that we postpone this action item for this evening. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Beatty, was that you? Seconded by Mr. Beatty. Ms. Blivko, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes, this policy encompasses all of our students, and given the fact that SEAC has a little bit of a different [01:21:52] set up when it comes to their coordinated times when they sit down and meet to discuss policy, to discuss any changes or any amendments that they would like to see incorporated in the policy, and then are able to provide their feedback to the full board, often does not coincide with other committees. So in the spirit of equity, I would like to go ahead and support SEAC in their desire to be a part of formulating this policy in its amended state. [01:22:20] Dr. Ellis, could you briefly describe what the policy review process for this policy was and when it was first discussed by the CNI committee and when it went out for advisory committee and public review? [01:22:37] Yes, sir. Thank you. So it was posted for public feedback on May 9th through May 23rd, and the CNI committee saw it several times, actually, April 10th, May 1st, June 5th, and August 28th. [01:22:55] And when was it sent to advisory committees for review? It was sent May 8th, the day before it was posted publicly on the website. May 8th? Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. Board members, any additional comments or feedback on the motion to postpone? [01:23:14] Mr. Morse. So if we sent a draft to the public on May 8th and we had four CNI committee meetings in between where we talked about it and looked at it, I would, it was C&I, right? C&I committee. [01:23:32] Yes. So I would have expected significant changes to occur during that time frame. Did it go out to any of the committees after the final vote from the C&I? Because typically coming out of other committees, they would have either a finished product or it would be ready for action. It sounds like there were significant changes following the May version. [01:23:54] Dr. Ellis. Thank you. Sorry, I'll clarify. So it was posted for public feedback May 9th through the 23rd, and then the C&I committee saw that feedback, incorporated changes on June 5th, and then voted on it on August 28th. [01:24:15] And just to follow on to that, the only amendment we made in committee was the sentence that was added on lines 6 through 8. There weren't any significant changes that were made in committee. And I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So did we have feedback from the committees? Did we were did the other committees provide feedback from that May reading? [01:24:40] We did receive committee. We did receive committee feedback. It's posted in board docs. I believe we received it from MSAC. And then there were a couple of public comments from it being posted on the Web site. Thank you. Additional discussion. Miss Polivka. Thank you, Mr. Chair. [01:25:00] To clarify, the reason that we do not have feedback from SEAC is because their bylaws function a bit differently than other committees. and they do not meet in the summertime. Their committee does not meet at all over the summer months. And their request, due to that difference amongst other committees, their request is for us to hold so that they can provide their feedback prior to our making a vote on this policy. [01:25:28] Further discussion? Mr. Morse. Thank you. Ms. Polifco, can you tell us when the SEAC has met between May and today? How many times? They have met in September, but they have not been able to convene to provide their feedback for this particular policy, and they will not be able to do so until October 4th. [01:25:53] Further discussion? Ms. Sheridan. I'm not against giving SEAC an opportunity. My only concern is the precedent for constantly pushing something out when it's something that is a policy that's timely and has an impact on students. [01:26:20] It's concerning, and I don't believe MSAC, meets during the summer. The equity committee did not meet during the summer. So I'm not sure that the comparison is accurate in this case. I guess I just like, I'm concerned with setting a precedent that we're just going to always wait when members of SEAC could have also participated during the public comment period as individuals and not as SEAC as a group. Further discussion? Mr. Baby. [01:26:54] Just to respond, I think that SEAC is a special role mandated by state code. So I think it's different than those other committees, so I think it's more appropriate to give deference to SEAC because we're mandated by law to have one and to take their advice under consideration. [01:27:13] So I think that's the difference in setting, making this different. Mr. Mahedvi. Thank you, Chair. I know this sort of came up in our Student Services Committee, too, and I think we work to move it forward. [01:27:35] Again, as Ms. Sheridan mentioned, we do want to offer all the advisory committee the opportunity to provide feedback, but at the same time, I think for three or four months, I think the board work has to continue. [01:27:51] So I know, I don't know if Dr. Ellis or Mrs. Dr. Smith, I know I can provide some feedback on how many, how many policies that are we collectively waiting for SEAC or, because I think there's. [01:28:12] Yeah, I'm happy to share. I actually had a conversation with Ms. Crotty today around this. There was eight policies they asked for us to pause. In terms of our process, as Ms. Polifco shared, they did not meet over the summer with the exception of September. [01:28:30] And so there was eight policies that they asked us to pause on at that time. I did share with them that was many of them board action had already been taken on at committee or by the full board and kind of opportunities for them to continue to submit feedback. And we would upload it to board docs as we have now, just depending on where they were in the policy review process. [01:28:52] Ms. Reeser. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question for staff. Is this the first year that we've run into this problem? I'm trying to remember if we've had this issue before. Thanks for the question. No, this is not the first year. In the past two years that I've been here, we did have this issue last year. [01:29:12] We did also consult with Division Council to make sure we are following the guidance in the state code in terms of making sure that we've provided SEAC an opportunity to give that feedback, and we've done so in a timely manner, and we've worked with council to make sure we've done that appropriately. [01:29:28] Thank you. I just want to make two points, and then I'll go back to Ms. Polifko. The first is there was a point made that SEAC has a special role under state code, and they absolutely do. With regards to policy review, that's called out specifically for review of special education policies, and this is not designated as a special education policy. [01:29:53] While, of course, it affects all students, including special education students, by that logic, all policies deal with special education students, but that's not the intent of code and of what SEAC is mandated to review. That is not to say that we can't send additional policies to SEAC for review, and in fact, we do, as we did in this case. [01:30:16] But I have a really hard time slowing down the process by months when they had adequate time to review and didn't. I understand that SEAC doesn't, takes a couple of months off from meeting and reviewing policies, but we don't control that. We don't, that has to do with their bylaws and they can meet every day and review policies if they want to. So I, there are some times where we try and revise policies very quickly, but in this, in this case, this was sent out for public review in May, and I feel like the advisory committee has had adequate time in this [01:30:54] case. So I don't think in this particular case I'm going to support the motion to postpone. Ms. Polivko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to reiterate, SEAC was proactive in their request for the submission of policies up for review. SEAC reached out to staff on March 17th, specifically requesting any policies that might come up between May and September that would need to be reviewed so they could provide timely feedback and at that time they did not receive any response. They did not receive anything until after their last business meeting on May 3rd when [01:31:28] they got six new policies for review. The last three weeks CX policy and compliance subcommittee has been actively meeting and discussing each of those policies. This was correspondence from Friday, September 22nd in an effort to cover all the policies that came out during their final business meeting in May of last year. I'm going to point to the Code of Virginia 8VAC20-81-203D2E, which states that review the policies and procedures for the provision of special education [01:32:02] and related services prior to submission to the local school board. Policy 5080 is directly related to the provision of special education for our students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are first considered general education students. There is no reason that this policy does not have anything to do with the provision of special education services, and I'm pointing to Virginia law in this case. This is not a difficult decision. Is there any additional discussion? And [01:32:34] we're on the motion to postpone. Ms. Reeser. I'd just like to ask our division counsel so that I'm not substituting my own opinion for how that law applies to this situation. If you could please clarify. Thank you, Ms. Reeser. Chair Sorokin was right, 8VAC 20-81-230. Specifically, that's the regulations governing special education programs for children with disabilities in Virginia. It does specifically provide for policies pertaining to the provision of special education and related [01:33:11] services. This isn't part of applicable just to special education children. It's applicable to all students. 8VAC 20-81-40 does talk about specifics to staffing requirements about special education students, and that's not what is conceived by 5080. So we're in compliance with the law. Additional discussion? Seeing none, we'll place the motion to postpone to a vote. [01:33:47] Clerk, would you please open the voting board? And clerk, would you please close the board and display the vote? That motion will fail. Okay, so this is going to be a tie vote, 4-4, with Sorotkin, Mejedevi, Sheridan, and Reeser opposed, and Ms. Corbo absent for the vote. [01:34:16] So pursuant to Virginia law and our policies regarding a tie vote with a member absent, this will be brought back. We'll have to hold the discussion of item 1002 here, and we'll bring it back during our first October meeting for a re-vote. [01:34:39] So 1003 we heard earlier tonight, and so this will take us to 1004 from the HRTD committee, revision to policy 7030. staff time schedules. Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you, Chair. So I would actually like to make a motion to send this back to committee. We, the full board, had received a number of questions this afternoon and I didn't get a response from staff until the middle of the meeting and I'm [01:35:17] not able to read my email and digest the response while I'm attending to the meeting. She seconded. [01:35:33] Second. Would you like to speak to your motion? I jumped ahead and spoke to the motion while I made the motion, but I'll just reiterate that I'm making this motion to move it back to committee for further discussion and consideration, considering there were some late questions on the policy that I'd like to make sure that we are paying attention to. [01:35:53] I'm sorry, who seconded the motion? Ms. Reeser. Okay, thank you. Now, Ms. Okademi, sorry, I interrupted you, but anything further to speak to your motion? I think, okay, I'll say it one more time, but there were some questions that came in this afternoon, and I would like to send it back to committee so that we have adequate time to discuss continued concerns around the policy and making sure that we are putting forth a policy that is fully thought through. [01:36:29] Thank you. Any further discussion on the motion to refer? Ms. Polivko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I absolutely support that, and I will speak to some of the feedback that I got. I got feedback from teachers. I got feedback from librarians, from counselors, MSAC, and all of their concerns are the same, and those concerns have not been addressed thoroughly in the draft format of this policy. [01:36:54] So due to their concerns, specifically with the definition of occasionally, we need to hammer that out, And employees need to be made very well aware of what this policy is covering and what it is not. [01:37:10] And I do agree. I believe it was Ms. Weiskopf who reached out to the board and spoke about the differences in power between the employee and the employer. And it should not be the burden of the employee to have to figure out what occasionally means. [01:37:29] And I agree with you. So I agree with Ms. Ogadegbe. I think this policy needs to go back to committee, and we need to formalize and operationally define some of these terms and include some of the concerns of the counselors and the librarians who have different schedules than our teachers. [01:37:49] Librarians work six more calendar days than teachers. That information is not covered in this policy, and so we're leaving holes that are providing confusion amongst our employees. Thank you. Additional discussion? Seeing none, we'll place the motion to refer back to the HRTD committee to a vote. [01:38:11] Clerk, would you please open the voting board, and board members, please record your vote at this time. And clerk, would you please close and display the vote. [01:38:27] That motion will pass unanimously. Board members present with Ms. Corbeau absent for the vote. That will bring us to 1005, which was requested by Ms. Polifco to come back as an action item and supported by other board members regarding regulation 50-40. [01:38:49] Ms. Polivko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board direct staff to clarify the school counseling participation opt-out in accordance with Virginia Code 8BAC20-620-10, enhance the ease of access via lcps.org, and develop a parental opt-out form for second-step social-emotional learning lessons K-8 and any or all future SEL programs adopted by LCPS. [01:39:19] Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Beatty. Ms. Polifko, would you like to speak to your motion? Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you. The first two parts of this motion are pretty cut and dry, and we covered this last meeting during the information items. I would like to see some language clarifying our counseling participation opt-out, particularly under those items where it states that the counseling opt-out does not exclude students from, So, for example, the prevention lessons or anything that's taught by a school psychologist, a student assistant specialist, school social workers. [01:39:53] So, while parents are able to opt their children out of these types of lessons, it's not clear in this opt-out form. And so, I would like to see some language clarifying that as well as ease of access on LCPS.org. It's very difficult to find this form for someone who's searching for it. [01:40:11] finally where we get a little bit gray is in the area of sel lessons so i do have a few questions for staff before we proceed number one do we notify parents ahead of time when any survey or screener is given to students yes we do thank you dr ellis my second question is how do we handle parental requests to opt their children out of those surveys or screeners my understanding and [01:40:50] i may have to ask dr tyler to jump in my understanding is that they work with the classroom teacher to opt out. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. My third question is, did the Virginia Department of Education compel our district or any other district in the state of Virginia to adopt the SEL standards when they were mandated to complete them by the General Assembly back in 2020? Certainly I was not present here in LCPS in 2020, but I do not believe that the school board [01:41:24] or the school division was compelled to adopt these standards. Thank you, Ms. Richardson. My last question is have we done a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of the Second Step program that's being funded across all elementary schools and middle schools in LCPS has the board been given any sort of hard evidence on the effectiveness of this program to date staff currently collect data on a [01:41:57] annual basis to assess our participation of students in second step certainly at the elementary level it's done through our morning meetings and at the middle and high school level, it's done through our advisory. So we are monitoring the number of students and the lessons that are covered. [01:42:16] - Thank you, Ms. Richardson. So to be clear, we have not been provided, the board has not been provided with any sort of hard data or evidence related to the effectiveness of this particular program and the lessons that are being conducted daily across all elementary schools and middle schools in the county. [01:42:36] - During my tenure, no, I do not believe that the board has been provided an update, but certainly should it be the will of the board for us to create a presentation, we're more than happy to do so. - Thank you, Ms. Richardson. If parents can opt their children out of SEL screeners, and this is not a direct question for you or for staff, without debate, they may opt their children out of any SEL lessons. [01:43:03] If this instruction that our kids are receiving is being driven by results of any of these screeners or these surveys that are given, I would say that we are in violation of FERPA or PPRA If we're questioning or surveying students or requiring them to answer any questions specifically regarding any of the following topics that parents may have opted out of. [01:43:29] So I'm going to list these topics right now. Mental or psychological problems of the student or student's family members. Illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior. Critical appraisals of their family members, close friends, and legally recognized privileged relationships such as lawyers, doctors, and ministers. [01:43:46] Students' religious affiliations or beliefs or income levels, race, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or family structure, and or socioeconomic status. And the reason I bring this up is because these topics are all covered under FERPA and PPRA as being able to be opted out of by parents if they wish to do so for their children. [01:44:12] If they do not, if I don't want my child being talked to about gender identification or sexual identification, and I have brought that forward to the school in writing, then under FERPA and PPRA, they cannot talk to my child about those topics. So what I'm getting to here is that there are absolutely topics in SEL lessons that include questions about the above-mentioned topics. [01:44:32] So I'm going to direct you all to the Learning for Justice website, which is a recommended and outlined program associated with Second Step that includes lesson alignment charts. They actually encourage teachers to use their materials in tandem when they teach their Second Step lessons. [01:44:52] And if you go to the Learning for Justice website, which is linked to Second Step, you will find free resources on these topics, race and ethnicity, religion, ability, class, immigration, gender and sexual identity, bullying and bias, rights and activism. [01:45:10] Six of those topics are those that are listed under FERPA and PPRA that are covered for a parent to opt out of. That means no questioning, no surveys. That means if a teacher gives a questionnaire to a student that says, what are your preferred pronouns? [01:45:27] and the parent has already contacted the school or is in the process of doing so and says, "I do not want my child surveyed "or questioned on this material." There's no debate on whether or not we can or cannot. So who is responsible when this fails? [01:45:42] I mean, I'm just wondering, who is accountable? Who is held accountable when this fails? It's not gonna be the school system, it's gonna be the parents. So if we have a very small percentage of parents who are contacting their child's administrators and specifically requesting for their children to be opted out of SEL lessons, we should honor that without question. [01:46:11] There should be no debate on that topic. If a parent contacts the school and says, I don't want you to discuss with my child gender identification, sexual orientation, family structure and socioeconomic status, religious affiliations, illegal or antisocial, self-incriminating, demeaning behavior, mental or psychological problems, then we need to honor that request from the parent. This is just simply a matter of following federal law. LCPS is not above the law. So I will finish there. I don't have [01:46:48] anything else to say other than that if parents want this instruction for their children, it's available. We've already brought it into the school system. It's here. But for those parents who do not want that instruction for their students under no circumstances should we be denying them the ability to opt out. Thank you. Additional discussion. Mr. Mahedmi. [01:47:13] So before I kind of go back, I think, I think I've spoken the last time too. And before I sort of give, I don't know, I'll give Ms. Richardson's too, you know, because I think the board member previously kind of talked about certain laws and I think our counselor refuted that. So I'm going to give the staff another opportunity to just kind of provide a good clear understanding of this versus a rhetoric that's been presented so far. Thank you. As we shared at the last board [01:47:48] meeting, there is currently no Virginia code to afford parents the opportunity to opt out of social and emotional learning. Now, with that being said, on an individual case-by-case basis, our schools do work with individual families. I need to set the record clear. Here in LCPS, we do not conduct social and emotional screeners nor do we use any of the surveys that students might participate in to drive our SEL instruction I also want to be clear that our social and emotional learning curriculum while it [01:48:24] is second step we do not support the lessons from learning for justice our teachers are not encouraged to integrate those lessons into their second step concepts. So Ms. Richardson, so we don't talk about anything but what Ms. [01:48:49] Polifco talked about in terms of the criteria for doing the screening, can you explicitly talk about that? Certainly, so we do not have a screener for social and emotional learning so when elementary students go to morning meetings we're not asking them these questions. We are in full alignment with PPRA. We have vetted all of our practices through legal counsel. We would never want to violate the rights of a student or their families. Thank you. That's very helpful. [01:49:22] Additional discussion? Mr. Morse. I'm struck by the use of the phrase, we do not encourage our teachers to use Second Step K-8 materials from the social justice site. That's not very comprehensive. That is more of a default answer. Well, we don't encourage it, but do we discourage it? Do we forbid it? Do we restrict it? Are there any restrictions at all, or is it just not a topic that we discuss with our teachers? It has currently not been a topic [01:49:59] that we have discussed with our teachers. We have adopted the Second Step curriculum, and so we stay aligned with the scope and sequence of that program, and so teachers are not encouraged to add on any supplemental material, but we have not explicitly stated that they cannot. [01:50:21] Additional discussion? Ms. Polifka. My one final question is that if the surveys and screeners, meaning those that are unaffiliated with Second Step, for example, Panorama is one such affiliation that school systems often use when they are screening students. [01:50:45] I know Fairfax County uses it. I know we don't use Panorama. But when we conduct climate surveys, for example, or when we are surveying students, what is driving the instruction when it comes to social emotional learning? I think that's another piece that's missing for me. [01:51:01] If we are funding this program, where are the results, and what is it that's driving the instruction? Because without some sort of pre-assessment or without some kind of assessment in place, there is no data to show a baseline of what students need to learn, number one. [01:51:20] And number two, if we're not conducting some sort of formative data-based analysis of the effectiveness of the program, we have no evidence to demonstrate that what we're doing is actually effective. And my last statement on this topic this evening will be that the instruction is there for parents who want it for their kids. [01:51:44] It's already in the system. My motion is simply to provide parents who do not want that instruction for their children to have the ability to opt them out. Thank you. [01:52:01] Additional discussion? Seeing none, we'll place the matter to vote. Clerk, could you please open the voting board? And board members, please record your vote. And clerk, please close and display the vote. [01:52:21] That motion will fail 3-5-1 with Okadegbe, Sarotkin, Mehedavi, Sheridan, and Reeser opposed, and Ms. Corbo absent for the vote. Board member, at this time, let's take a short break. [01:52:40] We will recess until 8.40 p.m. Please be back on the dais ready to go at that time. [02:04:21] Okay, the board is coming out of recess, and let's proclaim some stuff. [02:12:09] We'll pick up with 10-06 from Department of Student Services, Bullying Prevention Month Proclamation. Mr. Mahedvi. Thank you, Chair. I've moved to the Lowndon County School Board, adopts the proclamation recognizing October 2023 as the Bullying Prevention Month, and I'll read the proclamation. [02:12:35] Bullying Prevention Month, October 2023 proclamation. Whereas school bullying has become an increasingly significant problem in the United States and Virginia. And whereas one out of every four students in the United States are estimated to be involved in bullying each year, either as a bully or as a victim. And whereas students who experience bullying are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep, difficulties, lower academic achievements, and dropping out of school. And whereas bullying can take many forms, including [02:13:09] verbal, physical, and in cyberspace, and can happen in many places on and off school grounds. And whereas it is important for parents, students, teachers, and school administrators to be aware of bullying and to encourage discussion of the problem as a school community, and whereas the Loudoun County School Board is committed to providing for an equitable, safe, and inclusive learning and working environment, and affirms a commitment to this principle for all persons, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, [02:13:44] or related medical condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, age, genetic information, or veteran status, and whereas LCPS has adopted a policy on bullying prevention and education to encourage positive behaviors and maintain a safe and affirmative school environment where every school students feel safe, happy, and cared for, and to eliminate bullying behaviors. [02:14:10] Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Loudoun County School Board recognizes the month of October 2023 as Bullying Prevention Month, with the intention that the issue of bullying and its prevention be discussed in all LCPS schools and classrooms during that time. [02:14:26] Is there a second? Seconded by Ms. Ogadegbe. Mr. Mahedvi, would you like to speak any further to your motion? No, thank you, Chair. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, we'll place the motion to a vote. [02:14:42] Clerk, could you please open the voting board? [02:14:54] And board members, please record your vote at this time. And clerk, could you please close the board and display the vote? That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Ms. Corbo absent for the vote. We'll now move to 1007, also from the Department of Student Services, Disability History and Awareness Month proclamation, Mr. Morse. [02:15:20] Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board adopts the proclamation recognizing October 2023 as Disability History and Awareness Month. And I will read the proclamation. Whereas the Virginia General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution 321 in 2009, designating October as Disability History and Awareness Month in the Commonwealth of Virginia. [02:15:43] And whereas the Virginia General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution 488 in 2023, designating October as Dyslexia Awareness Month in Virginia. And whereas the General Assembly recognized the importance of increasing public awareness and respect for people with disabilities, informing the public about the many contributions to society made by people with disabilities, and emphasizing the abilities of people with disabilities. [02:16:09] And whereas a specific learning disability related to a deficit in the phonological component of language, dyslexia is a neurobiological origin and causes problems with decoding and identifying speech sounds and understanding how they relate to words and letters. [02:16:26] And whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was enacted to end disability-based discrimination and promote inclusion, full participation, economic self-sufficiency, and equality of opportunity for all people with disabilities. And whereas Loudoun families include one or more family members with a disability who meaningfully contribute to and enrich the lives of their family members, as well as the Loudoun community. [02:16:52] And whereas the Commonwealth's most precious resource is its children, and dyslexia is the most common of the language-based learning disabilities affecting one in five in the United States or 20% of our population. And whereas the achievement gap between typical readers and dyslexic readers occurs as early as first grade and is critical to provide effective teaching approaches and related clinical educational intervention strategies for individuals with dyslexia. [02:17:27] And whereas early screening for an early diagnosis of dyslexia can ensure that individuals with dyslexia receive focused, evidence-based intervention that leads to fluent reading, the promotion of self-awareness and self-empowerment, and the provision of necessary accommodations to build success in school and in life. And whereas in the 2023-2024 school year, Loudoun County Public Schools is serving approximately 9,750 students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. [02:17:55] And whereas LCPS teachers, related service providers, administrators, and staff are working collaboratively using effective teaching approaches and related educational intervention strategies to support the unique learning needs of all the students with disabilities. [02:18:10] And whereas research has shown that students with disabilities encounter more difficulty being accepted by their peers, making friends, and being involved in school and community-based clubs compared to students without disabilities. And whereas in LCPS, more than 70% of our students with disabilities spend more than 80% of their time in the general education setting where inclusive practices are promoted. [02:18:35] And whereas in an individualized education plan, an important blueprint for all the school educators and leaders includes the expectation that students with disabilities pursue higher academic standards, which is reflected by a greater than 96 percent of students with disabilities graduating on time and more than 89 percent of the students continuing to gain full employment, college or other post-secondary educational opportunities during the 2021-2022 school year. [02:19:05] And whereas all LCPS students with disabilities need, deserve, and have the potential to excel by receiving support, understanding, acceptance, and being meaningfully included in the life in their school community. Whereas Disability History and Dyslexia Awareness Month is an opportunity to acknowledge educators specializing in effective teaching strategies and to celebrate the perseverance and many achievements of adolescents, students, and adults with disabilities. [02:19:35] Now, therefore, be it resolved that LCPS supports and promotes the interests of all students with disabilities at all times and further supports Disability History and Dyslexia Awareness Month to increase appreciation, respect, and inclusion for people with disabilities. [02:19:51] And be it resolved further that LCPS supports informing the school community and the public concerning the many valuable contributions to the school environment and to society made by people with disabilities, including successful individuals in business, government, sports, and entertainment. [02:20:10] And be it resolved further that Loudoun County school principals, administrators, and educators are encouraged throughout education and other appropriate activities, programs, and events to promote and highlight Disability History and Dyslexia Awareness Month in the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as the value that the people with disabilities bring to their specific schools and communities. [02:20:34] And be it resolved finally that a copy of this resolution be sent to each Loudoun County Public School so that it may be discussed, shared, and prominently displayed online and in the school during the next month of October, during the month of October. And so that principals, administrators, and educators may plan disability and dyslexia awareness activities to increase inclusion and acceptance of students with disabilities throughout all LCPS. [02:21:01] Is there a second? Seconded by Ms. Okedegbe. Mr. Morris, would you like to speak to your motion? Thank you. I appreciate the board members' flexibility and the adjustments that we made. Some adjustments were made based on the 2023 joint house resolution 488. [02:21:18] The verbiage there was captured in here to make this proclamation more consistent. Thank you. Thank you. Additional discussion? Seeing none, we will place the matter to a vote. Board member, the voting board's been open. [02:21:36] Board members, please record your vote, and clerk, please close and display the vote. That motion will pass unanimously of board members present with Ms. Corbo absent for the vote. [02:21:54] That will conclude our action items, and we will shift to our information items, starting with 11.01, the 1LCPS Strategic Plan for Excellence Goal 1 update on items 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. [02:22:14] And I will turn it over to Mr. Slevin and team. [02:22:35] Good evening, Chair Sorokin and school board members. We are delighted to be back in front of you this evening sharing the progress of goal one of our one LCPS 2027 strategic plan for excellence. [02:22:54] My name is Lenny Compton, the proud principal of Watson Mountain Middle School. I am joined this evening by Ms. Tedra Richardson, assistant superintendent of student services, and Mr. Neal Slevin, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. Next slide, please. [02:23:18] Next slide, please. [02:23:35] You will notice that the Goal 1 presentation is broken up into two parts. This evening, we are presenting an Aligned Action 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. Aligned Action 1.1, Core Academic Excellence, which contains student achievement data, will be shared with you as part of the annual student achievement presentation on October 10th. [02:23:59] You will receive an update on Goals 2, 3, and 4 on October 24th. As part of our presentation this evening, we will review data for the 2022-23 school year in comparison to the previous school year and where we are in relation to meeting our goals or targets. [02:24:18] Then we will discuss strategies and actions we plan to implement in support of the aligned actions and data. In Board Docs, you have the following documents included. This presentation, strategies and actions supporting aligned actions 1.2 through 1.4, metrics and targets, and data infographic. [02:24:40] Next slide. As always, we ground our work in our vision, mission, and core beliefs. 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. [02:24:58] Goal one is centered around empowering students through core academic excellence, providing them with multiple accessible pathways to success, prioritizing care for students, and creating opportunities to amplify student voice. [02:25:14] Through our actions, we aim to prepare students to make meaningful contributions to the world. - Thank you, Mr. Compton. Aligned Action 1.2 states that our goal is to expand student access to participate in specialized programming opportunities in LCPS. [02:25:39] We will do this by developing accessible specialized programming, developing targeted supports to prepare students to access specialized programming, and revise the program of studies to expand electives and new course offerings and develop college and workforce readiness through enhanced transition programming. [02:25:59] We will start off by reviewing data from each aligned action. We are comparing three different sets of information this evening. The 21-22 data is represented in teal. The target we set out to achieve for the 22-23 data is represented in maroon, and the 22-23 data is represented in yellow. [02:26:19] We aim to summarize the data from the 22-23 school year in comparison to the 21-22 school year as well as to the target for the 22-23 school year metric 1.2 states that we will increase the percentage of students enrolled in advanced opportunities for example international baccalaureate dual enrollment honors or advanced placement courses as you can see on the slide we have surpassed the 22-23 enrollment and the target for 22-23 for enrollment and honors courses and advanced placement courses we have seen an increase in enrollment for dual enrollment courses during [02:26:55] the 22-23 school year compared to the 21-22 school year and have met the target the percentage of students taking a high school course at middle school remains at 54 which was also our target aligned action 1.2 states that we will increase the percentage of students participating in targeted supports to prepare students to access specialized programming for example propel and level up our computer science pipeline summer math discovery empowering diversity and gifted education college achievement, and multicultural program for unique students known as campus, etc. [02:27:34] When looking at the data, we have surpassed the percentage of students participating in 22-23 when compared to the 21-22 school year in the target in Propel, Summer Math, Discovery, and Edge. We did not increase in student participation or meet the target in the following areas: Level Up or the CS pipeline. Although we increased one percentage point in enrollment for campus, we stayed right on target which is seven percent aligned action 1.2 c as you can see states that we will increase the percentage of students who graduate with post-secondary credit or certified [02:28:09] credentials in 21 22 we had 86 percent of students graduate with a post-secondary credit or certified credential our target for the 22 23 school year was to increase that to 87 we were happy to report that we have met the target for this metric aligned action 1.2 d states that we will increase the percentage of students with disabilities participating in school-based transition experiences. Here the focus is on three transition experiences. Community and Schools Together, CAST for short, Project SEARCH, and Community Independence Instruction, CII for short. [02:28:44] When comparing the data from last year to the previous year, we increased participation in CAST by one percentage point, but we did not meet our target. Likewise, participation in Project SEARCH increased, but we fell short of meeting the target by three percentage points. Although participation in CII increased, we did not meet the target for that program either. We will now talk briefly about a number of strategies and activities planned to support Aligned Action 1.2. Regarding Strategy 1, Accessible Specialized [02:29:19] Programming, we are supporting our International Baccalaureate program development through verification visits that are scheduled for Ladinke Valley High School and Heritage High School this fall. These visits will determine if we become designated IB World Schools. For dual enrollment, we continue to partner with higher education partners and purposefully expand higher education partnerships through those relationships. We would like to target expansion of dual enrollment course offerings and staff credentials to support the expansion of offerings across all 17 of our campuses. The planning for our Health and Medical Science [02:29:57] Academy is taking place this school year, with students being able to show interest in the program starting on December 1st through our Student Opportunities Portal. We have robust community engagement plans related to our special programs. We have our inaugural Special Programs Secondary Fair scheduled for this Thursday evening at Heritage High School. [02:30:18] We have presentations scheduled for LEAF, MSAC, and SEAC to share information regarding these new opportunities. And we will be visiting each middle school to host an assembly for information about the programs in October and November of this fall. [02:30:35] For strategy two, targeted supports to prepare students to access specialized programming. Our campus program is developing an indicator for first-generation college students to help determine which students are eligible. We are building a network of community stakeholders to leverage support for current and future campus students, such as Latin Laurels, the Northern Virginia Community College, our school links platform. [02:31:00] For EDGE, we are collaborating with the Research Assessment and School Improvement Office to improve data collection to assist with program efficacy. And we're adding new instructional resources to all edge class interest in applying to the academies of Loudoun or Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology. [02:31:22] And we are having more expansive mentorship program for this school year. Our CS office provides the following school based supports, either a coaching model or a consulting model. [02:31:47] Use up all my words on that microphone. Is adding an additional level up school so that we will now have six level up programs throughout the county. [02:32:08] For strategy three, regarding our program of studies, the primary responsibility for the program of studies has shifted to the Department of Teaching and Learning in partnership with Student Services. This will enable us to better... [02:32:26] It won't pick up on the recording. [02:32:59] And finally, for strategy four, enhanced transition programming, we have expanded our Community Schools Together CAST program at the Academies of Loudoun, which brings our total to eight CAST programs. [02:33:16] The additional program starts with five students, so that is five more students who now have access in CAS program this school year. Thank you, Mr. Slevin. [02:33:45] Our commitment to our students' well-being and success is at the heart of everything that we do. As a division, we have made a commitment to ensuring a safe and affirming learning environment for all students by implementing a system of supports to address their academic, behavioral, and social and emotional needs. [02:34:05] Next slide. The first metric that we will review is 1.3a. LCPS set a target of increasing the percentage of positive responses to questions about school climate on the annual student stakeholder survey. [02:34:23] On our target for year one, implementation was 86% participation among elementary school students and 84% participation among secondary students. As a division, we met our target of 86% participation at the elementary school level, and we also met our target at the secondary level with 84% participation among our student population. [02:34:52] It is important to note that high school and middle school students alternate participation in the survey annually. For the 22-23 school year, high school students participated in the survey. [02:35:07] In this current school year, middle school students will participate in the survey and our targets for participation are 87% at elementary school level and 86% at the secondary level. [02:35:23] Next slide. Our second target is 1.3B. LCPS set a target of decreasing the percentage students receiving office discipline referrals in-school suspension and out-of-school suspension. [02:35:42] Office discipline referrals, we established a target of no more than 7% 2023, which is a reduction from 2022, which was 7.45%. Our actual rate of office referrals for 2023 was 9.88%, which met our overall goal of all student groups being under the 10% mark for office referrals. In school suspensions, we established a target of no more than 2.4% of our students for 2023, [02:36:21] which is a reduction from 2022 of 2.5%. Our actual rate of in-school suspensions was 2.79%, which exceeds our target by 0.39 percent. Out-of-school suspensions as a division, we established a target to decrease all student groups to be below 1.5 percent of our student [02:36:51] population. Our rate of out-of-school suspension for 2022 was 0.76 percent, and our actual rate of out-of-school suspension for 2023 was 0.83%. We met the target for all student groups with the exception for Black American students and Pacific Islander students. The suspension rates for these two subgroups were 1.84% for Black American students and 2.73% for Pacific Islander [02:37:26] students. Next slide. Our next metric is 1.3 C. As a division, we established a target to increase and maintain the percentage of students participating in social and emotional learning lessons and prevention education opportunities. For student participation in social and emotional learning at the elementary level, we set a target of maintaining 100% participation and we met this [02:38:00] target for student participation in social and emotional learning at the secondary level we set a target of increasing to 80 percent participation and we met this target for 2023 for student participation in prevention education such as signs of suicide and substance use education we established a target of 84 percent between middle and high school students and we exceeded this target with 94% of our secondary students participating in prevention education. [02:38:38] Next slide. Our next target is 1.3D. As a division, we established a target to maintain the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities in LCPS. [02:38:57] As measured by the required Virginia Department of Education Indicator 5 on the State Performance Plan. Data utilized from 2020-21 school year had LCPS at the following levels. 89% of students were included in the regular classroom, 80% or more of the day. 2% of students were included in the regular classroom, less than 40% of the day. And 1% of students served in a separate public or [02:39:30] private school, residential, or home-based or hospital facility. For 2023, LCPS was at the following levels. We had 81% of our students with disabilities being included in the regular classroom 80% or more of the day, 5% of students were included in the regular classroom less than 40% of the day, and 1% of our students were served in separate public or private school, [02:40:00] residential home-based or a hospital facility next slide our next target is 1.3 e as a division we established a target to ensure that all students identified in need of intervention are provided an intervention plan to receive the necessary support as measured by the percentage of students who receive tiered intervention to address their academic behavior and/or social and emotional and mental health needs. [02:40:39] For the 22-23 school year, LCPS supported the following interventions in Tiers 2 and 3 of the multi-tiered system of support. For Behavior in Tier 2, we supported 461 students. [02:40:57] For Behavior in Tier 3, we supported 61 students. For Literacy in Tier 2, we supported 2016 students. For literacy in tier three, we supported 1,997 students. [02:41:14] For math in tier two, we supported 1,098 students. Math tier three, 920 students. Social and emotional mental health tier two, 1,458 students and tier three, 338 students. [02:41:34] Our sixth and final metric for care of students is 1.3F. LCPS set a target to increase school-based meal participation rates across the division. The baseline data from 2018-19 reflected 35% of our students bought meals from our school-based nutrition program. [02:41:58] The target established for 2023 was an increase to 40% of our students participating in the LCPS nutrition program. We exceeded our target with 43% of our students participating in the school-based nutrition program offered in the division. [02:42:21] Next slide, please. And here we have an overview of our supporting strategies and activities. For MTSS, the LCPS multi-tiered system of support, which is an educational framework that is designed to provide a structured and systematic approach to addressing the diverse needs of students in the areas of behavior, academics, and mental health. [02:42:47] Our focus for this year is to provide all schools in their use of the MTSS system module to document literacy, math, behavior, and mental health for students. 50% of our schools began implementation in 22-23 school year, with the remaining schools being onboarded for the 23-24 school year. The focus for this area is also to develop and provide professional learning to support teachers with addressing student behavior and accountability [02:43:21] within the classroom. For culturally responsive framework, we're centering equity in our instruction, division-wide training for equitable instructional practices that provides access, opportunity, and knowledge with critical focus on English language learners and students with disabilities is being held during the November Staff Development Day. Ongoing opportunities for traditional and independent professional learning and culturally responsive practices, such as support for evaluation standard number six, which is culturally responsive teaching and [02:44:01] equitable practices, the asset-based approach to instruction holding high expectations and unpacking the culturally responsive framework will also remain available to staff across the division. Classroom teacher learning series cohort has also started this year culturally responsive learning communities. In the area of mental health and social emotional learning and nutrition the implementation of sources of strength across 31 secondary schools 16 high [02:44:37] schools and 15 middle schools we have expanded training capacity and sustain ongoing implementation by offering a training for trainers we onboard and support the remaining middle schools by bringing all elementary and middle schools to full implementation of the second step social and emotional learning curriculum. Our department has also developed a new click app focused on student attendance and engagement which will provide a holistic view of students and aid in early identification and intervention. We're also focused on providing professional learning to [02:45:17] administrators and teachers through collaboration with our community partner Stop Child Abuse Now or SCAN, and the required tier system of support trauma modules. As a division, we are looking to explore district-wide systems for navigating access to mental health care for students and their families. Our school nutrition services hired an executive chef to direct staff culinary training to improve the quality of food served. And Turbo Chef pizza ovens were installed in all [02:45:54] secondary schools to improve the appearance and the quality of the pizza served. For our inclusive environment, which is essential to ensuring that all students, regardless of their background, abilities, or identities, have an equitable and meaning learning experience, the Office of Special Education will be utilizing the LCPS Inclusive Practices Survey Information to drive professional learning, to provide an overview of disabilities in special education, [02:46:27] strategies to foster inclusive practices, and targeted learning and specialized in instruction for students with disabilities for general and special education teachers. Also in inclusive environment, recent revisions were made to the gifted evaluation process to increase access and opportunity for every LCPS elementary student, including those from historically underrepresented populations. [02:46:59] Changes include the universal screening of all third-grade students for gifted eligibility, the use of local norms, and providing talent development lessons to front-load skills and provide students with exposure to the types of tasks included in the gifted evaluation process. [02:47:22] The practice of front-loading has been identified as a promising strategy for shrinking excellence gaps and developing talent. These lessons and activities have been developed to provide exposure to the specific skills needed for performance on the gifted portfolio assessments. [02:47:45] Also, students identified for gifted services in 4th and 5th grade, which is Fusion or DCI, receive instruction and support to address their academic, social, and emotional needs by providing time to learn with intellectual peers and instruction in the unique characteristics of gifted individuals. [02:48:06] The Fusion curriculum highlights the achievements and contributions of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds through multidisciplinary units of study. And lastly, the gifted staff participates in continuous professional learning on topics that support the various needs of gifted learners to include twice-exceptionality, best practices in equitable talent development, executive functioning, and promoting rigor within the classroom. Many of these topics are also [02:48:40] shared with parents during our gifted advisory committee meetings so parents can support their children's needs at home. And now I will turn it over to Mr. Compton for an overview of 1.4 Student Voice. Thank you, Mrs. Richardson. Align Action 1.4 focuses on student voice by creating regular opportunities to hear and act on student interests, experiences, and dreams. Strategies that support this aligned action include conducting reviews of co-curricular and extracurricular activities, developing ongoing and frequent listening structures [02:49:18] with students, administering annual student surveys and using the data to inform decision-making, and establishing and implementing a consolidated annual report capturing student feedback to inform system-wide priorities. Metric 1.4 states that we will increase the percentage of positive responses to questions about student voice and choice on the annual student stakeholder survey. Although we did see an increase in positive responses for elementary students, we did not meet the target by one [02:49:51] percentage point. When you look at the 2023 target for secondary, baseline data was middle school data from which the targets were developed. It is important to note that the secondary survey is conducted on alternate years. Middle school students respond in years ending with an even number and high school students are administered in years ending with an odd number. Therefore, the 2023 data reflects high school responses only. For secondary students, our target was 82% [02:50:22] and 72% of students responded positively to the survey last school year. Metric 1.4 states that we will increase the percentage of students participating in activities as evidence in the Phoenix CIS student group module. Please note that this metric was not measured in previous years. [02:50:43] Therefore, 2023 served as a baseline year. Targets for 2024 through 2027 have been set and can be seen in the target document. We do want to clarify the 6% response in activities as there are nine activities eligible for VHSL competition. [02:51:03] They include debate, film, forensics, magazine, news magazine, newspaper, Scholastic Bowl, theater, and yearbook. We anticipate increased participation in these activities in the coming years. [02:51:20] Metric 1.46 states that we will increase the number of non-VHSL clubs and activities created based on student interest and feedback. This metric also was not measured in previous years. Therefore, 2022-2023 served as a baseline year. [02:51:39] Targets for 2024 through 2027 have been set and can be seen in the targets document. Metric 1.4D states that we will ensure that all schools have principal-led student focus groups. As our division goals include increasing opportunities for student voice, we want all schools to provide students with opportunities to give input, voice concerns, and be a part of the decision-making process. [02:52:07] The 2021-2022 school year was a baseline year. We set the targets for the 2023 year with an idealistic mindset, hoping that we had formalized processes in each school. 50% of responding schools reported having a formalized, principal-led student focus group. [02:52:28] We also understand principals employ multiple means to involve students and may have needed clarity on the student focus group term. I can personally attest to that need for clarity. Moving forward, we will clarify with schools what constitutes student focus groups and will provide supports necessary for implementation. [02:52:53] We would like to highlight strategies and activities to support our aligned actions in 1.4. They include, if you look under athletic fees and Special Olympic Unified Sports, the school board eliminated student activity fees to remove barriers for students to now explore interests without fees that may have discouraged participation. [02:53:16] and we have seen an increase in participation from students. Unified sports programs are at several schools. Under Middle School Intramural Sports Pilot Program, I'm pleased to announce four schools, Harper Park, River Bend, Seneca Ridge, and Smarts Mill, are engaged in intramural sports. [02:53:36] Under Student Activities, we have seen an addition of 41 clubs in the Student Information System. And if you look under Fine Arts, we are pleased to announce that the United Sound, currently at Stonebridge High School, with potential expansions this year at Dominion High School. [02:53:52] And under student leadership, there are a number of things, but I would like to highlight the WOWD student leadership conference in November at Dominion High School, with student-led breakouts on topics of student choice. 38 breakout sessions were student-led. And the last I would like to highlight, something that Dr. Spence had mentioned, the quarterly presidents and officer meetings with high schools have been held and will continue to be held. [02:54:17] Next slide, please. We look forward to sharing with you an update on our Align Action 1.1 Core Academic Excellence on October 10th. This concludes our presentation this evening. We are happy to answer any questions you might have. [02:54:36] Thank you, Mr. Compton, Ms. Richardson, and Mr. Slevin for the overview. Board members, I'll open it up for questions. Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Great, great information, great update on the metrics. A couple flags for me. [02:54:52] The first was the discussion on the least restrictive environment. That was a significant drop. Do you have any thoughts as to how that occurred and how we can get that back into the 89-90% range? Certainly. Thank you for your question, Mr. Morse. [02:55:10] Over the course of the 22-23 school year, we experienced significant growth in the eligible students with disabilities, with most of our students being found eligible requiring specialized programs. [02:55:26] And so certainly when students require specialized programs, they require more intensive supports, it takes us some time to move them out to more collaborative settings so they know what to expect and so that they can engage meaningfully within the learning within that classroom setting. [02:55:46] Okay, so we'll definitely keep an eye on that for the next year and see how the trend is. is trending. A couple comments. The computer science pipeline, it looked like we were missing numbers there, so I hope that maybe we're expecting to expand that to more schools. That might be the possible solution to getting the metrics to where we want them to be. I'm concerned a little bit about some of the new programming to make sure that the teachers that we have have received all the training, that we're not opening up programs where we don't have a qualified instructor, whether that be an AP or an IB or anything else. [02:56:25] We've run into that difficulty before where the school year starts. We have very difficult positions to fill, and they're vacant. So if we could really focus on making sure we've got the staffing in place before we open up any of the new academic efforts. [02:56:41] And lastly, well, two things. Attendance is not covered in a metric under goal number one. Is that covered somewhere else? We hear about that. You can get back to us on that. I just I believe we have a attendance metric somewhere, and I think that that's going to be something we're going to be focused on based on the governor's recommendations. [02:57:05] And the last comment was our comparison of metrics when you go from a middle school to a high school population don't work. So we need to figure out how we're going to tell that story, whether it be in every other year evaluation so that middle school is compared to middle school and high school is compared to high school. But unfortunately, the populations are very different, and it's probably difficult to capture a metric for middle schoolers and then apply it to a high school population. [02:57:30] Thank you. So we do appreciate that feedback. I do want to note that attendance metrics will be discussed in October when we bring back 1.1. I just want to follow up on Mr. Morse's question about the computer science pipeline before I open it back up. [02:57:47] Because particularly at the middle school level where the participation percentage went down from 47% to 42% in one year, that seems like a huge year-over-year decrease. So I'm wondering if we ended a program or stopped offering a class or what would account for that dramatic decrease just in a year? [02:58:08] - So I could get additional information for you, but essentially the way we approach that metric are, it's measured by schools that have a computer science goal in their school improvement plan. And so a school may make adjustments to their school improvement plan based on competing priorities. [02:58:27] They have a need that may come up when they're doing their annual review of their needs. And they may choose to de-emphasize computer science within their school improvement plan. And so likely the drop meant one school perhaps set a computer science goal in their school improvement plan and decided the school year not to do that. [02:58:47] But I could give you more information on what exactly happened with those numbers. Okay, thank you. Additional discussion? Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you, Chair. And thank you for the presentation. Just a couple of questions and a comment. [02:59:04] I think it was helpful to hear the response to Mr. Morse's question about the numbers for the for the least restrictive environment and that context was really helpful so I would just say I know there's so much to get through but as much as possible if you can include those pieces of context up front I think that's really helpful for the board to understand what they mean because the [02:59:37] numbers by themselves there's you know a lot to look at I to that point I have two questions one was related to student voice so understanding that this the numbers for 22 23 are really reflective of secondary numbers because the elementary survey was in a previous year am i understanding that correctly on [03:00:05] slide 18 where the 2023 data shows 80% for elementary students and 72% for secondary reflected positive responses, but it's really only the secondary schools that the data is from last year. Is that right? So I'll speak for Mr. Compton. You can correct me if I misspeak. [03:00:32] The 72% accounts for the high school students who participated in the survey during the 22-23 school year, where the 22 data for secondary was middle school. So what we're saying is, in terms of a possible reason for the discrepancy in the secondary data is that it was a different level of students that took the survey. [03:00:56] I see, because we're reporting separately on middle and high school. So the survey, the secondary survey that we use for this metric alternates year to year between middle and high school to lessen the burden of surveys on survey fatigue for schools. [03:01:12] Okay, so I would agree. I think that needs to be separated out then for reporting purposes and I think I'm curious what do we think the reason is I mean so we're ten points off from our goal there do we have some analysis or thoughts about what it is that led to that one theory could be again a shared [03:01:49] definition of what student voice is as mr. Compton referred to in the student focus groups there may be different definitions from how we intend to ask the question in the survey with what actually students see as student voice we we may intend a certain instructional strategy to bring in more student voice and a student may not understand that that's what we're trying to do through decisions we're making so maybe clarity on what are what are the opportunities for student voice there are some new initiatives that were started last school year such as the superintendent student advisory group that hopefully will start [03:02:27] having an impact but may not have during the time of the survey but we could definitely look look into your question and provide additional information okay i'd also be interested to see like which specific questions on the survey are are combined to build this metric my other question is back on page 15 so for metric 1.3 e baseline year for the students in need of [03:03:04] intervention. It says that it would be measured as a percentage of students who receive tiered intervention, but we have raw numbers. So if you can provide the percentages as well, that would be great. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Madby. Thank you, Chair. I have a question, then a comment. So my question goes back to Ms. Richardson on 1.3b, where office discipline referrals, and I think [03:03:35] you spoke about out of school suspensions um so again he kind of broad strategy but i guess i'd just like to understand that i mean i think our goal was to reduce it but i think we did see a little bit of a increase uh from 7.45 to 9.88 that's one and second i think you mentioned about the subgroup for out of school suspension so you know again what is a plan to um you know kind of address it or is it some, you know, what's the challenge, I guess, if you can speak to that, [03:04:11] it'll be really helpful. Certainly. Some things that come to mind first as strategies and activities would be the expansion of positive behavior intervention supports across all of our school buildings and then certainly the expansion of restorative practices with our students when they have a disciplinary infraction. So in lieu of, we could institute some restorative practices um school-wide positive behavior intervention supports really speaks to the entire school culture speaking the same language about x about expectations and norms about [03:04:49] behavior so that is certainly an initiative that we need to spread to all of our schools now i know it's not that this is not a topic but i think we should definitely have a little more discussion on restorative practice at some point too in terms of how that's working what the feedback is because i you know heard mixed feedback on that too so how you know how much of that we are looking to implement to help reduce that i think that was something to think about uh the same thing you would say for out of school suspensions for the subgroup as well yes thank [03:05:26] you um my comment is i think you know i do want i mean this is probably the first one we're doing after a year as a update, I believe. I mean, we did initially update it on a quarterly basis. There was a question asked, I mean, in terms of what are some of the good things that the board did. I think the strategic plan and I think putting in these KPIs, I know the number, I know we have heard feedbacks as far as how we're targeting, whether the numbers are meaningful or not meaningful. I do think that this is a great start. Many of the [03:06:05] numbers are meaningful we had to start somewhere to start tracking them and measuring them so at least we can see the progress of how we can go forward with it so I just wanted to just acknowledge that I think as a collectively as a board that the the strategic plan and not only a strategic plan but setting up these metrics and goals I think it is going to be going to continue improving on knowing that the targets but hopefully the the KPIs themselves too so just my comment thank you for the staff and i just want to commend the board [03:06:39] also for for making this thing happen too thank you i have i started with a much bigger list of questions but i the board was uh of a similar mindset about some of the data i do have a couple left the ap advanced placement participation rate that i was pleasantly surprised to see such a large increase there year over year. And I might have even expected a decrease given that we added in international baccalaureate. So I wouldn't have wanted to see it, but I could have seen [03:07:16] potentially that number going down a little bit if people chose to do IB or some other program instead. But instead, not only did we add international baccalaureate, but the percentage of students taking AP classes also went up by 5%. [03:07:32] And I'm wondering if there's anything in particular that would account for that increase compared to last year. So I do want to be fair. We are pre-IB. We are still going through the authorization program. So students actually aren't taking full IB courses yet. [03:07:49] We're hopeful that we will be fully credentialed and authorized this school year. And we'll be offering our first IB courses and hence exams next school year. And we'll definitely be, that is something we will be mindful of, the idea of AP and IB existing in the same school. [03:08:10] When we visited some other schools that were starting, that have had established IB programs, that was a tension that was shared that we need to manage. But school, both Heritage and Valley, will continue to offer AP courses as well as IB courses. So that will be something that we monitor. [03:08:26] Okay. The second question on slide 15 on 1. 3 care for students, whenever I see the multi-tiered system of supports graphically depicted, it's always a pyramid where everyone gets tier one, a smaller number of students get tier two, and an even smaller number of students get tier three supports. [03:08:49] When I look at the numbers for literacy and for math between Tier 2 and Tier 3, it does not seem to decrease drastically between those two tiers, whereas it does for behavior and it does for mental health. [03:09:07] So I'm wondering why, if it's a different model, or why we don't see that same decrease in the number of students who get Tier 3 services for literacy and math. Certainly. The constructs taught in literacy and math do take longer for students to grasp. [03:09:29] The curriculum and the intervention that we have students to move through is at a different pace, whereas behavior is a little bit more concrete. They're really having to work and really getting sort of double-dosed with English and math content while they're in the MTSS model, but certainly I can work with staff to provide more detail. [03:09:51] Well, let me ask it this way. Is that the data for literacy and math between Tier 2 and Tier 3, is this commensurate with what it was in previous years? Yes. So we typically have a similar number of students getting Tier 2 and Tier 3 services? [03:10:10] Yes, for literacy and math. Okay. And then finally, the new initiative that was mentioned during the student voice section about the intramural sports in middle school pilot, I'm wondering what the plan is for collecting feedback about that, about how it's going, and student participation and recommendations for either expansion or not going into next year. [03:10:37] I know that this season they're starting with flag football, and I know that Mr. Fieri is working with those four schools to get feedback. I do know that the majority of those schools have had over 70 participants apiece, and they want to expand that. So that's something that we'll take back and get some information back to you. [03:10:54] Thank you. And I was actually going to ask for an update to be provided to the CNI committee, but just given that it was on the slide tonight as a new initiative, as part of the strategic plan, I just wanted to put that on the radar that I was going to inquire about that further. Additional questions or discussion? Mr. Beatty and then Ms. Reeser. [03:11:13] Chair, I just want to echo Ms. Ogadega asking for the raw numbers, and if I may, also having the population that this comes out of for the high school, I assume for AP, that's just high school students, but for some of the honors classes, if it also includes middle school, just be good to have more context for just the raw percentages. [03:11:34] So I'd appreciate that, and when we get the next update for 1.1. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the presentation. I have a question regarding item number, let me scroll back up, 1. 2, multiple accessible pathways to success, specifically with regard to the CAST program, the expansion of community and schools together at the Academies of Loudoun. [03:12:02] Could you please tell me what is available to students there now? Yes, certainly. We know that we were afforded the position last year, but we did not have success hiring a teacher, so we were happy that we were able to hire a teacher for this year, and we have started with five students. [03:12:31] They will be able to possibly get certifications in nutrition services as well as custodial services, and there was two more. Sorry, I didn't hear the second one. I heard nutrition. And custodial services. I've also mentioned information technology and computer science. [03:12:53] So could you just tell me a little bit more, like certification in IT, is that? They will begin to broaden their skills to assist and sort of shadow at the IT genius bar that's housed over at the academies. [03:13:11] And when did the students start in the program? They started the first day of school. At the beginning of the school? Yes. Okay, and you said potentially, did you say something about increasing the number of students? We would like to grow the program up to eight students. [03:13:31] And will you need support in the budget for that? No, we're fully staffed. Okay, thanks very much. Thank you. Any additional questions? Ms. Polipko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is related to item 1.3, Care for Students, specifically under the mental health segment of that slide and the training for teachers on mental health awareness. [03:13:55] teachers are increasingly finding themselves with more and more being added to their plate. And so my question is with the mental health awareness, what type of training in particular, or if you could give me some examples of what types of trainings are being required of teachers and what the expectation is of the county on the output for the teachers. [03:14:17] So we all know that teachers, they didn't go to school to become mental health professionals. And we know that this topic is becoming an increasingly heavy burden on their plates. And so I think it's worthy of a discussion in terms of what are we looking at for their performance as teachers, meaning what more are we adding to their plate? [03:14:41] What is the expectation of these trainings? How are we measuring their efficacy and effectiveness? Thank you. Absolutely. So the few strategies and activities listed specifically are that we're going to be providing professional learning to administrators and teachers through a collaboration with our community partners for SCAN, that's Stop Child Abuse Now, and the required tiered system of support trauma modules. [03:15:16] We have had feedback from teachers across the system with an increase in behavior. Certainly, we need to provide some professional learning to help our staff members to distinguish behavior from mental health, which sometimes is very, very difficult. [03:15:36] So really focused on trauma-informed practices and trauma-sensitive schools. Any additional questions? Seeing none, thank you again for the update and looking forward to getting the 1.1 update next meeting. [03:15:59] With that, we'll move to 1102 from the Department of Business and Financial Services, FY25, Preliminary Fiscal Forecast. [03:16:30] Good evening. So as part of the annual budget process, staff prepares a preliminary fiscal forecast for the upcoming year. [03:16:51] This forecast includes high-level estimates of emerging budget requirements, initiatives, as well as revenues. I have a short slide presentation regarding the preliminary fiscal forecast. I want to highlight, though, that we are very early in the process. [03:17:07] We're roughly one month in the current school year, and we are already discussing the needs for the next year. Having said that, I want to highlight the cautionary points that's included on this slide. As I go through the forecast, you're going to see very high-level estimates of expenditures as well as revenues. [03:17:26] And it's really important to highlight that this is to illustrate potential expenditures for the upcoming budget year. It's also that these are not necessarily recommendations. These items may or may not be included in the FY25 superintendence estimate of needs. [03:17:42] And the total of the potential expenditures identified in this presentation should not be interpreted as a recommended change in the budget. Next slide, please. So having said that, we'll start with expenses. [03:17:59] And so we have categorized these into five buckets here. The first would be enrollment growth. So the preliminary outlook typically utilizes the enrollment projection for the upcoming budget year as forecasted in last year's CIP forecast. [03:18:16] The start of this current school year, though, has shown a dramatic dip in enrollment when compared to the projection for this school year, emphasizing the importance of having the official FY25 enrollment projection that will occur, and we'll have that information in October. [03:18:35] Until better information is available, though, a range of student enrollment growth for next year is assumed. On one end is no enrollment growth to occur at all, so a flat enrollment. And then on the other end, last year's multi-year CIP forecast is used that projects a student population of 84,225 students, which would be 1,164 additional students above the current projection for this year. [03:19:03] So if we were to assume a flat enrollment, that's where we come up with a zero cost. And if we were to assume the CIP forecast from last year of the additional 1,100 students, we would arrive at the $23 million cost. [03:19:19] That calculation for the $23 million applies the FY24 cost per pupil rate of 19,905 students and simply multiplies that times the additional 1,100 students. Again, it's a high-level calculation to identify the additional funds needed to maintain current service levels, including maintaining the class sizes at the levels set forth in our staffing standards. [03:19:47] However, adjustments to this calculation would be anticipated due to potential economies of scale, meaning each additional student does not typically cost the full average cost per pupil. But with the lack of more specific data, we try to estimate using the cost per pupil. [03:20:04] So again, to recap, the flat enrollment would be zero. And if we use the CIP projection, we would have additional costs of upwards of $23 million. The next category is salaries and benefits. This outlook assumes a continuation of recent compensation initiatives. [03:20:23] So we have outlined here for a total cost estimate of $77 million, an additional step increase for eligible employees, a possible two-and-a-half market adjustment to all the salary scales, as well as the one-time top-of-scale payment for employees on the top step of their salary scale, the ongoing classification reviews, and an estimated 8% health premium increase. [03:20:51] Moving on to operations and maintenance in the capital outlay category, we have $15 million estimated here. While this preliminary budget forecast is assuming a flat operating and maintenance request, we are applying a 6% inflationary factor. [03:21:11] We have also included the reinstatement of technology purchases that have been removed from the FY24 budget and purchased out of FY23 year-end funds. Also included in this category are the additional costs associated with the ongoing multi-year initiatives, such as the dual-language elementary program, the IB program, and the Health and Medical Sciences Academy. [03:21:36] The next category is enhancements, and for this forecast, we have $15 million that has been estimated for initiatives to support the one LCPS strategic plan. Further refinement of these initiatives is ongoing and further detail will be provided to the school board throughout the budget process The final category is other possibilities And again, it just should be noted that providing a preliminary fiscal forecast Definitely has its disadvantages primarily due to unanticipated items not yet considered So we currently have 15 million dollars programmed in this category [03:22:16] and so for example a new school board coming in and the upcoming state biennium budget could bring new initiatives that have a significant budget impact these last two categories of the enhancements and other possibilities total 30 million which is not a small number by any means however it's important to put it in perspective of a division our size 30 million would represent approximately a 1.7 percent increase over the current FY24 budget. These are very high level estimates and this is early in the process. It is best to estimate on the higher end because we are this [03:22:54] early in the process. A few broad areas where funding could be directed would be to ensure that we have adequate staffing in the schools and safety and security could be another area and again just a few examples. Also the new one-time funding to support the state all in Virginia plan could morph into initiatives that LCPS would want to continue when the state funding ends. [03:23:19] So the total estimate of the expenses range from $122 million to $145 million. Next slide, please. Moving on to revenues, starting with state funding, state funding is unknown until late December when the governor introduces the FY25-FY26 proposed biennial budget. [03:23:45] We have estimated a range of $9 million to $14 million of state funding at this time. Up to $9 million in state funding could be expected from the recent increase to the support cap with the additional $5 million resulting from the enrollment increase if we use the CIP projection. [03:24:07] An example of two items that can impact state funding to LCPS but that it is just too early to forecast would be our local contribution index or lci and sales tax with the new biennium our lci or local contribution index will be recalculated the lci is the measurement of the local jurisdiction's ability to pay for public education our current biennium lci is 0.545 meaning the county should should cover 54.5% of the cost of public education, and the state would cover 45.5% of the state [03:24:43] mandated costs. Except for the COVID era, the LCI had been decreasing, meaning the state was providing additional funding. If this trend were to continue, it would have a positive impact to LCPS funding from the state. On the opposite end, another area that would be concerning to us would be what the state will do regarding the removal of the grocery sales tax that occurred last year for FY24 this current year the state provided funding to hold school divisions harmless from this action and for LCPS that hold harmless funding amounted to 16.3 million dollars [03:25:22] so these are just a few examples of the other state funding streams that we are watching but that are difficult to determine at this time moving on to the other categories listed on the slide for federal and miscellaneous we expect minimal change and for the carryover at this time we're assuming no change compared to what we had in this current year's budget so the total revenue excluding you know any request from the county would be upwards to 14 million dollars this leaves [03:25:56] a gap or a county funding request ranging from 113 million to 131 million year over year increases in the county's transfer to LCPS is generally estimated as a percentage of the county's net new local tax funding. For FY24, 60% of the net new local tax funding was used, and we expect 60% to be used again for FY25. The county will release its first official revenue budget projections in November, and we will provide an update to the school board during the November 28th budget [03:26:33] budget work session. Finally, as we develop the budget, our ongoing work includes meeting with senior staff and principals at least twice between now and the end of the calendar year to obtain their feedback. And as you approved earlier, the budget calendar includes a budget work session with the school board in November. There is much to be done over the next three months, and these numbers will continue to be refined based on better information. And that concludes my update i will also just add this information will be transmitted over to the county [03:27:06] as well and i'm available for any questions board members any questions mr mad me thank you chair um miss phillaby i think going back to um not the expenses but i think one of the things that we've talked about and i think the board has talked about the salary lag that we have compared to our neighboring divisions. [03:27:32] I remember going back, I think, in 2022 budget cycle, the dollar amounts was somewhere going to be an additional $25 million. Again, that's the number that was there. If we were to get back to catching up with our neighboring county, I don't know how the board feel. [03:27:52] I mean, all nine of us may not be here next year, but I know it was my desire, and I know some of the board members' desire to kind of catch up with the salary lag between us and Prince William and Fairfax. I hope that, I don't know, the next update you would share this or in the work session, but that would be my hope that I know it's going to be quite a bit about dollars to add to catch up to that, but that option is presented as we go through the budget development life cycle. [03:28:23] So that's all. Thank you. Additional questions or discussion? So I feel like every year someone brings up the possibility of changing our carryover so that it's back to being 1%. [03:28:41] I think it was originally anticipated to be 1% or a tenth of a percent, whatever it works out to, of the overall operating budget. And I feel like every time it gets brought up, it's been too late in the process to do anything about it. So I'm wondering, maybe this is our time to strike, and we can, when we send this over, if it's the will of the board, when we send this preliminary fiscal outlook over to the county, we can include just baselining that carryover at 1% of the current year's operating budget. [03:29:11] So, I don't know if that discussion has been had with the county recently. I know it would only be a difference of, you know, a couple of million dollars in the carryover, but I wanted to see whether, I guess, what your thoughts about doing that were and if it's a discussion that's been had recently with the county. [03:29:29] I think it starts with what we expect to be available at the end of this fiscal year. So, last year, so for the last several years, we've had our budget carryover at $12 million. [03:29:46] And in prior years where we were experiencing larger surpluses, the discussion was definitely brought up regarding, you know, increasing our carryover amount versus the return back directly to the county. I think what has happened, and I think whenever you see the final year-end report that we'll present for FY23, you're going to see that the margin continues to shrink in terms of how close we are. [03:30:18] with our fund balance so saying all that we will be bringing the first quarter financial review in October and I think that'll be a good opportunity of seeing where we are projecting in terms of what the fund balance will be because we will continue to assume for this first quarter projection a 12 million dollar carryover and then we can see what additional falls out I'll give you one quick highlight the fact that we are approximately I think the last numbers or I [03:30:54] think the numbers that Mr. Lewis has shared regarding the day 10 enrollment compared to the budget was about 900 to 1,000 students less than what was budgeted also means we're going to receive less state funding a high level number would be about if it's a thousand students it's about four million dollars in revenue that we thought we would receive that we are no longer going to receive. So those are some of the factors we'll need to review and balance out in terms of what our fund balance will be and whether or not we can make a recommendation to increase the [03:31:29] carryover. Okay thank you. Mr. Morse. Just real quick that's a good good point in that your slide the first line in the slide was between zero and 30 million dollars depending on growth. So would that be minus minus five to 25 million if we assume flat enrollment then it would be no additional revenues and very roughly i hate to say no additional expenses but roughly no additional [03:32:04] expenses realizing that even with flat enrollment if we want to do just a step increase and just the compensation section alone for things that you know the school board had been committed to over the last several years is 77 million dollars so even with flat enrollment that's the second line but addressing the first line which was growth only the fact is we may we may reduce the enrollment size by 1 000 possibly yes whenever we have that i don't know that we're planning it could [03:32:39] absolutely it could be a negative number to your point especially considering it would reflect on You know, our enrollment went down 1,000 for this year, but we have the funding in hand for that extra 1,000 students for this year. [03:32:55] So, I could see where we might have a negative in that category as well. Thank you. Additional discussion? Seeing none, thank you for the update. We'll now move to 1103 from the Finance and Operations Committee, Town of Leesburg Proffer Funds. [03:33:16] Mr. Morse. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Each year, Leesburg provides to LCPS additional funding that they got from proffers for construction of new homes several years ago. This started about 15 or 20 years ago, where a portion of the proffer was brought in from Leesburg and was dedicated to school projects. [03:33:40] They have been providing LCPS funding for projects within the Leesburg footprint for several years now. There's a list of them that are captured in today's board docs of what we've done previously, which includes some of the design work for the Douglas School and other projects all around the high schools and things like that. [03:34:04] So the NJROTC building, that was also partially funded by this proffer. So, I'll turn it over to Mr. Lewis for more details, and hopefully we can get the Leesburg representatives to provide their feedback on this as well. [03:34:20] Mr. Lewis. Thank you, Mr. Morris. The only thing I would add is that what we have provided with the board tonight is a listing of projects that were either identified in our capital program, either in the proper CIP or the CRP or even just those two areas. [03:34:40] And then we also pulled our school principals that are located within the town of Leesburg. That's one of the key things that only schools that are physically located in the town are eligible. And so the process will take place that we take this list now and with the board's consent, send those over to the town council or the town staff for them to determine whether or not these projects are eligible for this proffery. [03:35:05] And so once we get that back with the board's consent with the list we're going to send over, We get that back and then we'll try to figure out a priority. So any guidance the school board could give us tonight on priorities. You're not voting on a priority tonight. You're just voting for us to send these lists to be evaluated for eligibility. [03:35:26] And then once we get those eligible, let's say we send over 10 or 15, they send back, say, all but one or two. Then we'll just take those off the list. Then we'll try to look at those and prioritize those and bring it back to the board for that consideration. I know, Mrs. Ogedegba, you had mentioned, and Mrs. Corbo, as well, that you prefer for these to be focused towards playgrounds. [03:35:46] Those are the type of comments that we are looking for that will help us, once we get the eligibility back, to recommend to the board some priority. We'll also put cost estimates at that so we can know. We spent about $6 million of proper money to date. There's $2 million currently sitting in the kitty, and we anticipate that will grow over time, so we'll take these off a little bit at a time. [03:36:11] Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Board members, any questions? Ms. Okedegbe. Thank you, Chair. Not really a question, but just an acknowledgement. This was something that we've been emailing about for probably six months now. [03:36:28] I think I had originally received an email from some parents at an elementary school who were interested in how can we do the same that other schools have done. Ms. Corbo and I exchanged some emails as well and looked at some information that Mr. Lewis had shared. [03:36:48] I think understanding the process more clearly through the exchange of emails earlier this month, I do understand we'll send this to the town first. They'll let us know of these projects, which would be eligible. And I think it would be helpful to hear back the assessment of costs for us to consider when we're prioritizing. [03:37:09] So if, for example, one project would take all of the money versus five could be prioritized to kind of spread the wealth, so to speak, that would be an important consideration for us to have. Thank you. I just have a question. There's one line item that it just says athletic enhancement. That seems pretty vague, and I don't know what that means. Is there additional detail that you could provide on what's being enhanced? So that's a category of projects, so there are a number of things over the different categories. So an example would be [03:37:47] to a stadium scoreboard at Loudoun County High School or Stadium Water Fountain, those types of things. So we would group those in, but those are just general categories because the list we have has several different types of projects on there like that. And so we were just trying to make that, consolidate that list into types of projects. [03:38:05] Mr. Mahatby. Thank you. I don't have any comments in prioritizing, but I did see one interesting thing was the exterior marquee and digital sign. I know that's something I'm glad to see that LCPS is taking the initiative on and helping versus the PTAs, raising the money and building that on. [03:38:25] That's all. Thank you. Additional questions or discussion? Ms. Okedekbe. I would just ask, you had shared with me the playground inspection matrix. That would be something that would probably be helpful for the full board to have as well. [03:38:42] Thank you. So is it, oh, Mr. Morse, go ahead. Oh, were you just pointing at Mr. Beatty? Okay, Mr. Beatty, sorry. So, Mr. Lewis, I'm thinking Heritage is outside of the Leesburg zone, but it serves students in Leesburg. [03:39:01] Do they get consideration for these proffers, or are they out of luck? Heritage High School is actually located within the town, so it is in the boundaries. It was actually annexed into the town when we built the school back in 2000, so it is there, and so it is eligible. [03:39:20] I was just going to ask about pickleball courts and see, but I guess they're all going to be up in Ashburn, so we're okay. Additional discussion? Seeing none, is this ready for school board action next meeting, or are there additional steps with the town or internal with staff that need to occur before that happens? [03:39:39] Yes, sir. So we're asking for the school board to take action that we would take this list and send it to the town to have the eligibility determined. Then we would come back after that and go through an information and action item again. It is a lengthy process, but we want to make sure, and we've gone through this a couple of times, and we've just developed this process to make sure that everyone has a voice in the process. [03:40:02] Okay. Board members, is there interest in placing this on consent for our next board meeting? Okay. Thumbs up, so we'll place this on consent for our first October board meeting. And that will take us to our final information item, 1104, from the Department of Support Services, Fall FY24, opening of Henrietta Lacks Elementary School. [03:40:27] Thank you, Mr. Sorokin. So tonight we're bringing for you some consideration. As you recall, the Henrietta Lacks Elementary School is co-located with Hovater Elementary School on the campus next to Light Ridge High School. It has been designed to support grades K through 2, and then Hovater will shift to grades 3 through 5. [03:40:50] So what we're proposing tonight is that for the school year of 24-25, the first year of the opening of Henrietta Lacks Elementary School, that it serve only K through one and the reason for that is this current students that are in kindergarten now will go to grade one next year and then I mean grade one now will go to grade two next year and then come back to Hovater so they would be in in Hovater for grade one go to Henrietta Lacks for two and then back to to Hovater so what we're proposing is to just have Henrietta Lacks serve K and one and mr. Morris you and I were at a meeting one time where some parents brought that up and so we've heard about that from a [03:41:29] couple of different meetings we've been in and staff is supportive that I've talked with dr. Ellis and her team and they're supportive of it and so we're here tonight to recommend that the board take action on that and in in advance of the boundary process you're getting ready to start so we'd have that information when we produce the numbers for you thank you mr. Lewis mr. Morris yeah and thank you mr. Lewis this is the other piece of this is they start at at Pinebrook for their kindergarten year. [03:42:01] So you're talking one school, second school, third school, fourth school, four different schools, four different years. So this makes a lot of sense. The community was supportive of this. So I think it just makes sense, especially before we get into boundary discussions. And this is the, we did this very similar model with Watson Mountain Middle School because of the same concern, where otherwise kids would have been bounced to one school and then back to their old school and then to their new school again so uh yeah the the school board previously endorsed that plan for watson mountain i i certainly think it makes sense to do [03:42:38] here for the same reason so i think it's uh to the point where i thought we had already done this because i guess we had done it for watson mountain and it's essentially the same plan so that's uh this makes sense to me board members any additional discussion seeing none interest in placing this on consent for our next board meeting we're good with consent for this one That will take us to item 12 on the agenda, board member comments and committee reports, starting with Ms. Reeser. [03:43:10] Thank you, Mr. Chair. The L&P committee will be meeting on Monday, October 2nd. I hope and believe that we will be finalizing our discussions on collective bargaining and bringing back that item for presentation in committee and then eventually sending it on to the board. [03:43:35] we are also finalizing our legislative program it was presented last time there were some changes made and we'll bring it back for discussion and a vote also on October 2nd and we will continue working on some policies that we started editing last time thank you thank you Ms. Sheridan I do not have any new updates this evening thank you thank you Mr. Morse yes just a reminder to those that there may still be availability for advertising at the Loudon Education Foundation Golf Tournament, which is next Monday. [03:44:11] A great opportunity to get your name recognized and to support an effort, the foundation, which is strictly about teachers and students and supporting them. So I highly encourage those of you that are interested in any means in participating, go on the LEF website, take a look. [03:44:32] I think we still have some sponsorships available so with that said I hope that I hope that we have a good golf outing last outing I did three weeks ago there was a hole-in-one on my team so I'm just letting you know it wasn't me thank you thank you Mr. Beatty thank you chair the technology steering committee met last week no yeah last week on the 21st there was discussion about the new student technology acceptable use acceptable responsible use policy changes the key thing is now that TikTok is banned by the state of Virginia, so we're putting that in a policy. We also had a [03:45:08] small discussion about AI and some of the updates of that and some education that we're giving out to teachers about how to look for it and think about it in their classes, and then a small discussion on student cell phone use, and that's something that we're continuing to study. It looks like it's, at the moment, a school-by-school decision in terms of how it gets controlled, and so there's a lot of work that's being done to sort of see what works, what doesn't, And we'll get a report back, I think, at the end of the year about that. [03:45:39] And then, finally, the small business partnership meeting met last week as well. And it was really nice to welcome Dr. Spence. So that's my report. Thank you. Mr. Mahedby. Thank you, Chair. [03:45:55] The Student Services Committee met on September 21st. The last meeting, I think we were pretty, there are a number of policies that came up to action items. So we have a couple more coming up to the full board, policy 8140 and policy 5170 should be coming up to the full board as well. [03:46:15] We also reviewed about a number of four policies too, which we did, you know, we were presented for the first time in the committee. Policy 8250, bullying prevention education, policy 8290, policy 8115, and policy 5035. [03:46:33] So those will be going through all our advisory committee and going through that. So we'll be pretty busy with that. Our next meeting, I think we'll be working on, there's conflict with some board members. So we'll be working to make sure that we find a good date that we can meet up. [03:46:51] And so keep an eye on for that. I also got a chance to attend MSAC on September 20th. I think it was a really well attended MSAC meeting as well. Um, besides that, and the same day, I also got a chance to attend with Dr. Spence and his community listening session too. [03:47:11] Um, you know, again, that was also, I, um, we as a board and I think Dr. Spence on this journey to really hear from, from the community. I think we heard, um, really good feedback from both from staff and, and from the community as well. [03:47:27] So, um, those two items and, and the next, um, and the next sort of meeting. We'll be setting up the agenda for the next Student Services Committee meeting. I know one of the items that's been talked about is the governance model policy. [03:47:43] I think that will be some of the things that we'll be talking about in the committee as well. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Okedekbe. Thank you, Chair. In May at our last regular board meeting, there were some updates shared by staff around the process for policy review. [03:48:02] And I'd like to share that this past month, the advisory committees were offered a preview of what policies will be coming up over the course of the year, potentially, to helpfully aid in their planning purposes for thinking about policy review. [03:48:22] I think this gets back to some of the discussion that we were having earlier today around SEAC. So they have that full list along with the other advisory committees. In terms of things that are coming up this week, the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee will meet tomorrow at 6 p.m. [03:48:39] and the HRTD Committee will be meeting on Thursday at 5.30. The agenda for HRTD has a number of policies coming back for action that were discussed in the last meeting. So I'm looking forward to reviewing the feedback and having some discussion on those this Thursday along with now Policy 7030. [03:49:04] And as Dr. Spence previously shared, he will be hosting a series of community listening sessions with three scheduled in Leesburg. The first Leesburg session will be held at Tuscarora High School on October 26th. There will also be sessions at Loudoun County on January 17th in Heritage on March 20th. [03:49:24] Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Polifko. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The next SEAC meeting will take place on October 4th at 6 p.m. in this room right here where we will hear a presentation on specialized reading instruction and updates in LCPS and identifying struggling readers. [03:49:44] Our next communications and outreach committee meeting will take place on October 2nd from 5 to 6 p.m. Here in this room as well where we will be revisiting an information item that I brought forward at the last committee meeting last month regarding putting the camera back on the public comment at the podium when people come in to deliver their public comment. And I'm hoping that we can go ahead and move that forward to action to bring it back to the entire board. The next listening session with Dr. Spence will happen on October 4th at Independence High School. [03:50:15] The community session will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. and a community meet and greet will happen after that from 8 to 8 30 p.m and finally I was very happy to see the WTOP put out an article about the teachers at Catoctin that spearheaded the initiative to introduce UFLY and that this what a great phonics based reading program that is so I just want to thank them for their leadership and also the support staff that helped them make that happen and come to fruition. Thank you. Thank you. The next meeting of the curriculum and instruction committee is scheduled for October [03:50:50] second. We haven't entirely finalized the agenda yet, but anticipating at least one information item regarding how we report the capacity of grade levels versus the capacity of the building as it relates to the information that we get during special permission appeals, because sometimes there's a discrepancy between those numbers, as well as action on two policies, policy 5060 textbooks furnished free and policy 5125 alternative paths to attaining standard unit of credit. Next week I'm excited to be returning to Goshen Post Elementary School to [03:51:30] assist their third graders with a project-based learning project on civics. I did that last year and it was a lot of fun talking to all the kids and I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. And then finally, I would just note that early voting has begun in the Commonwealth and would encourage all eligible community members to go out and vote either early or on election day, especially as all nine members of the or all nine seats on the Loudoun County School Board are up for election this November. And that will conclude my report. So that will take us to item 13, new [03:52:08] business. Is there any new business tonight? Seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com