Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, 4th Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 5h 11m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/908090741?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 2026-10-19. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] Call this to order the January 30th, 2024, Loudoun County School Board Meeting. We will start with Agenda Item 1.2, Remote Participation. And I've been notified that April Chandler would like to remotely participate in today's school board meeting.

[00:00:18] Ms. Chandler, please state your location, whether this is a medical or personal matter. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am currently located in my home in Sterling, Virginia, and this is a medical matter. Is anyone present with you at this location?

[00:00:34] If so, please state their names. My two minor children are home, but they are not in the basement with me. They're upstairs. Thank you. Therefore, I will entertain a motion that Ms. Chandler's request to participate remotely be granted.

[00:00:53] So move. We have a motion by Ms. Donahue. Is there a second? Second. I'm sorry. I didn't hear. I didn't see who rose their hand first. Anyone? Yeah. Ms. LaBelle?

[00:01:09] Second. Seconded by Ms. LaBelle. It's been properly moved and seconded that Ms. Chandler be allowed to participate using medical exemption. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, we will now vote on the motion to approve Ms. Chandler's request to participate remotely using medical exemption.

[00:01:29] At this time, we'll take an electronic vote. Clerk, will you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, will you please close and display the vote?

[00:01:56] Actually, would you? It's all right. one, two, three, four, six, it's all right. The motion passes, six to, I guess, I guess the motion passes, six to one, no, six, it's just six because there's no one opposed the end.

[00:02:24] I'm assuming that Deanna and Ms. Griffiths and Mr. Estruffy are absent for the vote because they didn't abstain. Welcome to the meeting, Ms. Chandler.

[00:02:40] - Thank you. With that, we'll move on to the agenda item 2.1, disclosure, I will start. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and/or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:09] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance related benefits as an lcbs employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well 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 miss chandler thank you madam chair as a member of the loudon county school board i make the the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item

[00:03:48] 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. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected of which i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public

[00:04:23] records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you thank you miss donahue as a member of the loudon county school board i make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries the budget and or health insurance and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, my spouse and I are eligible to enroll in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by many potential changes to employee salaries, the budget, and/or health insurance. Additionally, my sister-in-law is an LCPS employee who does

[00:05:01] not reside with me and is not dependent on me. These subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected of which my spouse, my sister-in-law and 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. Thank you. Mrs. LaBelle. 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 items

[00:05:40] on tonight's agenda regarding budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for the LCPS employees specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which I am included I can and I will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be

[00:06:15] Reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Miss Chernoff 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 these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which i am

[00:06:54] 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 thank you i will move on to agenda agenda item three approval of the consent agenda but before we take a motion to approve the consent agenda i'd like our selected board members to read the proclamations we will start with Miss Donahue who will read the National School Counseling Week proclamation Miss Donahue I apologize madam chair I thought

[00:07:32] we'd be voting on minutes we would be voting on the whole consent agenda first I will be doing the it's all at one time Miss Donahue do you want me to go to Lauren first and then come back or I'm ready okay great whereas school counselors are employed in schools to help students reach their full potential

[00:08:11] and whereas school counselors are actively committed to helping students explore their abilities, strengths, interests, and talents as these traits relate to career awareness and development, and whereas school counselors help parents focus on ways to further the educational, personal, and social growth of their children, and whereas school counselors work with teachers and other educators to help students explore their potential and set realistic goals for themselves, and whereas school counselors seek to identify and utilize community resources that can enhance and complement comprehensive school counseling programs and help students

[00:08:47] become productive members of society, and whereas comprehensive developmental school counseling programs are considered an integral part of the educational process that enables all students to achieve success in school, and whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the essential role school counselors play in advocating and supporting student health and achievement. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board proclaims February 5th through 9th, 2024, as National School Counseling Week in Loudoun County, Virginia.

[00:09:19] Thank you. Next, Ms. Chernoff will read the Career and Technical Educational Month proclamation. Whereas economic and technological changes in society are rapidly reflected in the nature of today's workplace, thereby placing new responsibilities on Virginia's education system.

[00:09:37] And whereas career and technical education provides the Commonwealth students with a career pathway for post-secondary education and workplace readiness in a global economy. And whereas career and technical education gives students experience in practical, meaningful applications of basic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics, which promotes deeper learning and improves the quality of their education, and whereas career and technical education is the foundation of a strong, well-educated workforce which fosters productivity in industry and contributes to Virginia's leadership in the international marketplace, and whereas career and technical

[00:10:13] education offers lifelong learning opportunities that provide individuals with more career choices, expanded earning potential, and greater job satisfaction, and whereas the cooperative and ever-increasing efforts between career and technical educators, administrators, and representatives of business and industry stimulate the growth of the Commonwealth's economy by preparing students for career in high-demand, high-wage, and high-technologically-skilled areas, and whereas the national theme of Career and Technical Education Month, Celebrate Today, Own Tomorrow, demonstrates the crucial role that career and technical education play in readying

[00:10:49] Virginia students for successful careers. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Loudoun County School Board proclaims February 2024 as Career and Technical Education Month in Loudoun County, Virginia. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. I will now take a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve the consent agenda. So Ms. Chernoff has made the motion to approve the consent agenda. Is

[00:11:23] there a second? Second. Ms. Donahue has seconded the motion. It's been properly moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, we'll vote on motion to approve the consent agenda at this time we will take the electronic vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and display the vote oh april

[00:11:59] can you tell us what your vote would be yes please now can we close and display the vote the motion passes eight and with one um with one absent mrs griffiths for the vote we will move on to agenda item four and the fy25 operation budget work session starting with the 4.1 budget

[00:12:37] process and questions dr spence we're going to turn right over mrs willoughby mrs willoughby thank you good afternoon school board i'm going to address the second half of that which are the school board questions first and then i have a very very short presentation related to the budget process you have in front of you and also loaded into board docs is the second school board q a packet. That packet includes answers to 31 additional questions, bringing the total questions so far to 41. We have documented 39 open outstanding questions that the team continues to work

[00:13:14] on, and we are on track to provide the next packet at the next school board meeting on Thursday. You may also notice on the agenda for the work session, there's an item 4.05, which says response to budget questions, which is really where we have earmarked time for further discussion with the school board regarding the budget as well as any additional questions regarding any of the presentations you have seen so far during this budget process.

[00:13:44] So now going back to the actual budget process. At this point, this marks the halfway point of us working through the budget adoption process. There's a line on here which identifies that we are right on the cusp of the February 6th adoption date, which would be one week from today. So far the school board has heard from multiple departments and then there are several more to hear from this evening as well as Thursday. This timeline though does highlight how tight the

[00:14:21] process is and related to that I wanted to provide some additional information that typically we would present after all the departments have presented but recognizing the compressed timeline as well as the newness of the school board that would be helpful to open that discussion now and share that information. Throughout the budget work session process, school board members are able to ask questions during meetings as well as submit written questions during any of the work sessions. Also throughout this process, any questions related to costing for possible budget

[00:14:54] motions or amendments can be submitted to myself for the budget team to work on. However, the action related to any budget motions or amendments would not occur until February 6th. The actual deadline to send any budget amendments would be Monday noon, February 5th, for the budget team to be able to review the motions or the proposed amendments.

[00:15:23] The budget team, when they do this, they're looking at the costing as well as the structure of the motion. It's really important because sometimes the structure of the motion, we need to make sure that there's certain language included. So, for example, if there is a proposed amendment involving a position or position changes, we have to make sure that their FTE information is included in the motion as well as the cost impact. So the budget team, whenever they receive your proposed amendments or motions, they will take that information, they will cost it out, and then we will also return

[00:15:57] back to you the motion of how it could be read during the meeting. Because it is such a short turnaround, again, this will happen on Tuesday evening, that I really strongly encourage any amendments that you are considering to please send those to me ASAP. Even if you're not sure you're going to make a motion on Tuesday but you may be considering it to please send that to us so that we can prioritize and cost those out. If we receive an amendment that seems like it would be very time intensive then we would reach back out to the school board to see if there's a

[00:16:35] consensus because again we have a very limited time for the budget team as they're working on questions as well as the book as well as coordination with the county staff in addition to preparing for the actual activities of February 6th that we want to see if there would be a consensus if there's an item that would take some additional time. It's also important that because the FY25 super intense estimate of needs is balanced meaning that the revenues equal the expenditures to maintain a balanced budget any proposed increases to the budget should have a

[00:17:11] corresponding reduction to the budget or identify a funding source. If there is not a corresponding decrease, then that will result in an increase in the county transfer request. On the opposite side, a decrease in the budget can be proposed with no corresponding increase, and that would result in a reduction in the county transfer request. So historically, we have, when we've entered into the school board adoption phase, we've maintained being very close to the SEOM, but there have been some instances where we have actually increased the county transfer request and just want to make

[00:17:47] sure that the school board is aware that that is what would happen in terms of motions not being balanced it's also providing the proposed budget amendments in advance avoids the predicament of costing the night of budget adoption costing the night of budget adoption could result in an error when trying to do this on the fly so again that's why we really encourage sending those ideas to us ASAP. Finally, a list of all the proposed budget motions have historically been shared with the school board chair in advance of the meeting to help with running the meeting. As you can imagine,

[00:18:26] and this year could be no different, we may have a series of dozens of possible amendments that may be proposed with very specific language. And so by having that consolidated for the school board chair, it allows the chair to help make sure that the motions are as expected, that they're being red as we would expect them to be that we're not missing any important information and again just to help with the the flow of the meeting and again just emphasizing the budget team being able to craft and help craft those motions for you also helps with having to create motions on the fly

[00:19:01] from the dais which can also be complicated so on thursday i will provide more specific information about the actual February 6 adoption steps. I'll also show the tote board that we will use and then the next steps after the budget is adopted.

[00:19:22] But I wanted to make sure that each of you were aware that you can please send any ideas for possible amendments as soon as you have them so that we can start costing those out and preparing the motions for you. And I'm available if there are any questions with this process.

[00:19:43] Before we start with those questions, I think that we need to go back and do a disclosure for Mrs. Griffiths. Are you prepared? Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:20:12] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an lcps employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may who its interests 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 thank you madam chair thank you miss griffiths board members do you have any questions regarding

[00:20:49] Ms. Willoughby's, the budget process, is this about the process? I have another question.

[00:21:06] My second question would be, do you have any questions regarding the last nine presentations we've had as a budget work session? It's more than, okay.

[00:21:21] Yes, Ms. Chernoff, go ahead. I just, I want to thank all of you. This has been a whirlwind. We know that. And you've really been patient with us as we've kind of explored all of this and really tried to figure it out. And I really appreciate the transparency about the timeline and just how all of this works as we enter into a huge lift together.

[00:21:43] I also want to thank Madam Chair Mansfield for working quickly to respond to several of us as board members who felt that we did not have the adequate time for group discussion after the presentations and questions last Thursday. I was a little surprised by the lack of space and time to have such discussion as a new board.

[00:22:00] But Friday morning, I reached out to Madam Chair Mansfield, as well as Dr. Spence, and they quickly responded by setting up this time for us to share out our thoughts about the process, possible amendments in public meetings going forward. I'm very grateful. I just wanted to say, like, at this time, in terms of the way the process is going, I have several apprehensions when it comes to the 9.45 increase that is being proposed in the Sion.

[00:22:25] It's my belief that although I know these proposals are well-intentioned, that we as board members serve as the checks and balances for the budget and have an obligation to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars. I do not take this responsibility lightly and it is also critically important that we have accurate information and understanding the SION before we make wise decisions about the budget as a whole. The timelines are challenging for various reasons so we have to work diligently and efficiently to ensure that we are prioritizing the highest needs in a way that can be measured. To that end, in the SION presentation, several reasons were given for why the budget should not be tied to enrollment if we are instead aligning the ask with the one

[00:23:04] lcps 2027 strategic plan for excellence i would like to understand more about how each proposed increase specifically maps to the metrics for the four goals in the strategic plan this would allow us to measure our return on investment with concrete data defined by the metrics of the strategic plan year after year i would rather we carefully evaluate the current line items for opportunities to streamline and reallocate funds before we propose a budget increase. But that's my opinion. My questions and potential amendments as we go will reflect that. I look forward to listening to the continued presentations and sorting out with my fellow board members what is necessary to address the current challenges we face as well as

[00:23:44] continuing to support the amazing work we do in LCPS. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. Any other questions? Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. I did put a set of questions out to Ms. Willoughby and I thank you so much for answering them. To begin, I want to express my appreciation for the public who took the time to come and speak later today. I share their interest in seeing that the budget process is properly managed. No one wants to see their taxes increase without real need. I have appreciated the presentations from staff and the working

[00:24:21] sessions. However, more time is needed before this budget can be approved. Fewer than 1,000 additional students are expected to enroll in the coming years. School operations have increased 53%. If this proposal is accepted, as presented, the cost per pupil is nearly $21,000 per pupil. It concerns me that the lion's share of the new expenses are dedicated to the upper admin level. I will need to see substantial data that shows how these new positions will improve academic outcomes for students.

[00:24:57] I have submitted a lot of questions, and, you know, I would like to take the time to look at the responses to answer, to the answers. But I still need to see how this budget affects learning outcomes. We are at a teacher low point, and we are opening new schools.

[00:25:14] Since COVID, we also went down in enrollment by more than 2,600 students. While I understand inflation and step increases, funding in this budget appears to be misdirected. There is no rational explanation with the enrollment projection. There will still be fewer students than before the pandemic.

[00:25:36] Too much staff growth outpacing any enrollment increase. I would recommend hiring an outside auditor so that we can ensure transparency and accountability. You should not simply add an entire layer of bureaucracy to the ranks. Thus, I would ask that you delete the director's position within the communications office, which keeps intact his hire to lead the communications office, but takes a highly paid position away to be spent on student-facing instruction.

[00:26:05] I'm going to say that a lot. Student-facing instruction. We need teachers. That is our number one priority. There are too many positions within the ranks that are geared to training. Do you know how many people LCPS employs to only focus on training other teachers?

[00:26:23] In theory, that is great, but these folks should be student-facing teachers, not trainers. Let's focus on training monies for teachers to subsidize conferences that teachers may want to go to and or other training. I ask that you give us more time to this board to review this budget.

[00:26:46] It feels like we just need more time. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Griffiths. Are there any other questions regarding the last nine presentations that we had for the last budget work sessions?

[00:27:02] Any specific questions? Yes, madam. Dr. Rashid. Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is more about, like, it's a little bit of the specifics. Are we going over just the process or just the last presentations that were done?

[00:27:22] Okay. Thanks a lot. I also want to thank all those that reached out with their questions, in their emails, through all other ways of communicating, like let's talk, et cetera. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby, for putting the whole presentation together. I think it's really organized, and it's very helpful to know all the information you presented.

[00:27:42] My question was more of a verbiage question, not so much numbers. So I think it pertains to more of 4.03. It's just very specific. So I really want to be inclusive when it comes to, like, everybody in the community.

[00:28:02] So one of the ones, like, I think it's page 147 in our book, but for, it's under Department of Teaching and Learning, and my keyboard is acting up, and it's under exemplary staff. So I just wanted to make sure that when it comes to the verbiage that says, it's at the top of 147, provided and supported professional, the learning opportunities, I just wanted to rather just say that it's important to include our special needs population in this

[00:28:35] area because I couldn't find professional learning when it comes to just having information for the special needs population as part of the professional learning opportunities. So that was just something that really very much hit home for me.

[00:28:53] I'm sorry, if you're looking for a response, what I would say is that'll be addressed this evening in the conversations about teaching and learning and academics.

[00:29:09] - Vice Chair Struffy. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate the comments already. Thank you very much for the presentations. And also thank you for clarifying the constraints and the timeline that for the most part are out of the hands of LCPS and really just all the interdependencies that relate to that.

[00:29:32] I think that was super helpful. You know, all of us are feeling the pressure and being flustered by the timeline and just being a totally new board. So very much appreciate that. and also the thoughts that you've shared around how we can kind of improve that process in the future and what are the levers and the tools that we might have to influence how much time we have with the budget next year.

[00:29:55] But understanding that this is the reality of the constraints, I was thinking about how we can add additional context. So every presentation, I shared this with you already, every presentation has added additional context to the full budget book and it's been valuable and crucial.

[00:30:12] And I know that not all divisions go through that detail to give those presentations. So I appreciate that. The comment that I have or the question that I have, which was already submitted, but I think is important in terms of context for all of us as school board members is I think we all genuinely are asking questions.

[00:30:31] Some of them are more detailed or more in the weeds. Some of them are higher level. But we're all asking questions to really understand the needs that are surrounding the 9.4% increase in the SEAN. Okay. And we understand that there's, we have all the departmental presentations, but I think for me, what I think would be helpful for myself and potentially all the school board members is to get a breakdown of that 9.4% increase.

[00:30:53] And what I mean by breakdown is to understand first and foremost, one of the levers that we have as a school division is the salary increases across the board, right? The step increases, the one-time bonuses, the sign-on bonuses in terms of trying to recruit new teachers.

[00:31:12] and the or the best teachers across the area that we live any you know the the cost of living update and then how do we how we mitigate the benefits increase the cost of the increases of the benefits so that whole layer if you think of it as a pie chart that is one category for me and I would like to know how much knowing that 90 percent of our budget is salaries right how much is that driving the increase in the Sion? Is it 30%? Is it 50%? Is it 70%? So that I know, okay, we are prioritizing, this is the approach and the mentality of the division. We are prioritizing

[00:31:49] XYZ, which is for the most part step increases and just really understanding that our teachers are fundamentally the ones serving our students. And we need to, you know, that is the way we will influence potentially student achievement. Okay. So that's one area of the pie chart. The second area is well we have two new schools and those two new schools are driving additional costs whether that's staffing standards or whether that's kind of infrastructure of those schools or whatnot and that is the second piece of that pie chart for me as I really develop my thinking around the priorities in the Sion and then the third part is everything else that translates

[00:32:26] into a net new increase which is new positions or new programs or increases in resources in Existing programs and I would look at that third piece of the pie chart and say well these are new Okay, is it ten percent of that nine point four percent increase?

[00:32:41] Is it ninety percent of the nine point four percent increase and that perspective for us as school board members? I think would be really really important because You know we're we're all coming at this from different perspectives and different experiences And so we would look at those priorities and we would say okay we wouldn't jump to two conclusions and we would be able to really just from that level, then narrow down even further into our comments and questions.

[00:33:09] So I think that that's just one thing. I'll get off my soapbox. I know I've been talking for a while, but I think that that would really, really help. And then the other question that I had, if I can stick in one more, is once we get to that third pie chart, right, is all of the new stuff beyond the two new schools and the salary increases, could we get a breakdown of that by department level?

[00:33:35] And so if that is, you know, and that could be asking for too much detail, but just to then understand, again, additional perspective. Department level and then any non-departmental costs that are net new. So thank you.

[00:33:52] Can I ask a clarifying question to that, Arvind? Do you mean departments at the LCPS admin level, or are you talking more school-based versus non-school-based physicians? I meant admin level, everything that trickles down, - Equivalent to the presentations that we're receiving by department.

[00:34:11] - Breaking out by each department. - Yeah, understanding that over 90% of our new positions are school-based, I believe, was what was in the Sion summary. To me, I think, at least by the perspective, I think would be kind of beneficial would be at the presentation level or at the admin department level.

[00:34:32] - Got it. - So, the last year's budget, it looked like there was something like that. There were different columns for all of the different positions and how much they were being paid and everything.

[00:34:52] There were two different sections. They were, like, at the appendix. One was for that was aligned to our goals at the end, and then one was separate. And I can show that to you, and I'm wondering if that will help clarify, help what he's talking about.

[00:35:09] I'm familiar with what you're describing, and we can absolutely take a look at that as we continue answering the questions that are being provided here this evening. Yes, Ms. Chernoff. Thanks.

[00:35:24] I have two questions surrounding school safety that were presented. I believe Dr. Smith presented those presentations. And then I also have two HRTD questions. So I'll start with the conversation of safety. As we're hearing more and more from the community in response to the increased addiction issues and overdose issues with opioids, we are also hearing from various members of staff across the district about what the staffing standard is for SAS employees, SSOs, and SROs.

[00:36:00] And I was wondering if you could just outline that. And then I believe the only increase in this budget is one SSO for the new middle school. If that's correct, if I have that wrong, please let me know. And then if you could just speak to Dr. Smith a little bit about what the cost per SSOs would be.

[00:36:20] I know there's discussion around the nation, around adding safety at the elementary level. If that were something to be thought about, what would that look like? Sure.

[00:36:36] So thanks for the question. I'm happy to try to answer some of that now. I can provide the other part as a follow-up. So in terms of SSOs, that's correct. There's only the only one request for SSO in the FY25 budget, and that is for the new Watson Mountain Middle School because our staffing standard is one SSO at the middle school level.

[00:36:55] In terms of the cost for SSOs, I believe we'll provide that in today's packet in terms of the exact cost. I don't want to quote it because I think I'm going to get it right, but it's around $90,000, a little above $90,000 per SSO.

[00:37:12] We do not provide the SROs. The SROs are provided by the county through the Board of Supervisors. So the exact cost is in today's packet, though. And can you explain the role of a SAS at SAS? I'm going to let Ms. Richardson.

[00:37:29] That comes out of the Department of Student Services. Should I wait? Okay, I'll wait. Sorry. Didn't realize it was separate. And then for HRTV, Ms. Boland, can you clarify about the teacher bonuses? if they are a new teacher a special ed teacher in a title one school would they receive a cumulative bonus then or is it just one no ma'am it is a cumulative lovely and then my other question is i'm very interested in what you presented about the tuition assistance program um i know that's you're going to sort of roll that out year after year you know i don't really know what the timeline

[00:38:06] what the main like the end goal would be and probably there maybe isn't one you would keep growing the program, if you could. Could you speak to what maybe a difference in 300,000 versus 500,000 would do to jumpstart that? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. So it wouldn't necessarily impact the timeline. The team is working on the implementation of a phased approach, something that we could break up into phases based on the amount. And for this first phase, we are going to

[00:38:41] target hard-to-fill positions. So, for example, assisting TAs who may have a bachelor's degree through our I-Teach program partnership with getting a provisional license and funding the cost of that, or our health clinic specialists or LPNs assisting them through a program at NOVA to get their RN certification, so targeting those hard-to-fill positions that have an impact with a low dollar amount.

[00:39:16] So that additional funding would potentially increase the number of employees we could help support, or it would allow us to adapt another hard-to-fill position or another piece of that program and speed up the timeline on the growth of who we could support.

[00:39:42] Thank you. Just for the rest of the board, I'm really thinking about teacher retention and making sure that we have physical bodies to teach our children. It's kind of important. And so that's why I'm asking these questions and just thinking about maybe where an increase in things that direction might be worth our time thinking about that, as well as also examining some of the safety concerns in our schools and making sure that we are adequately equipped to face the challenges that we're facing.

[00:40:07] Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. Any other questions before we move on? Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you, Ms. Willoughby, go down the timeline again for me and for everybody?

[00:40:24] I just want to make sure I have all the dates, when amendments are due and so on, if you don't mind. Thank you. So, amendments are due by noon on Monday, February 5th. In terms of the questions, probably this, I'm trying to think, I didn't think about a cutoff for questions.

[00:40:48] Recognizing that Tuesday would be the final packet, so I'd probably say probably the same timeline just to keep it easy. So any written questions also by noon Monday. Again, just really recognizing if you submit noon Monday, that gives us just a little over 24 hours to try to turn that around.

[00:41:05] So, noon Monday to basically kind of wrap up, getting all the questions and possible motions from school board members. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. Any other questions?

[00:41:21] Yes, Vice Chair Struffy. Quick one. Ms. Willoughby, thank you very much, Madam Chair. Ms. Willoughby, could you just clarify what was mentioned in last week's presentation regarding the assistant principal staffing standard and its impact on Title I schools specifically?

[00:41:39] So I noticed that Title I schools would receive one additional FTE when it comes to assistant principals. Just from my perspective, right, understanding how much the differentiated positions may have benefited our Title I schools, assistant principals are restricted by that staffing standard.

[00:42:03] And so I was excited when I saw that one additional FTE when it comes to assistant principals would be added. And does that actually translate into an additional assistant principal at each of our Title I schools? Just understanding that, again, there are lots of levers, right?

[00:42:21] We have SSOs, SROs, we have SASs, and all of these different types of positions that can support our students, especially students in schools that have high needs. And the assistant principals can help with all of that when it comes to even just discipline, which, you know, SRI might not get directly involved in discipline, and so I see the need for potentially assistant principals that are Title I schools.

[00:42:50] That's the perspective I'm coming from. Just wanted to clarify. I'll give a brief answer, and then also just share that Ms. Mitchell will provide more comprehensive information during her presentation for the department of school leadership, but in the staffing standards, what was enhanced was for the middle school and high school assistant principal, And so, currently, as an example for the middle school level, if you are a middle school under 1,600 students, you receive two assistant principals.

[00:43:20] If you're over 1,600, then you receive a third. And then, in addition to that, if you are a Title I middle school, then you would receive one additional AP. So, we have two additional to support the two Title I middle schools.

[00:43:35] And then, similarly, with the high school level, we have one Title I high school, and so that's why we have the one additional AP there. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Dr. Rasheed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:43:51] Ms. Willoughby, just out of curiosity, I think maybe I'm just not looking at this right, but from fiscal year 2024 versus fiscal year 2025, there's a table under the organizational section of that binder that you provided, and I just wanted to make sure that the numbers were the same from 2024 and for that allotted for 2025.

[00:44:14] So anywhere it doesn't say adjusted for fiscal year 25 in red, does that mean they're all the same from the year before in that table? Page 52. Can you provide a page number? I want to make sure I'm looking at the right table.

[00:44:30] 52 in the C-on. Oh, it's on page 52, and it's a table or rather like a chart that shows that there's certain values in there that when it's listed in red in bold it says it's adjusted from you know it's adjusted for fiscal year 25 does that mean all the other values are the same for 2024 so and my particular concern was

[00:45:06] for special education it's it's 150 you know in all three columns so i i think that was the same from 2024 and the same thing with teacher classroom supplies for example it's 250 for elementary middle and high school so it's the same from that year too exactly if there is not the red notation either identifying that this is a new allotment or that this has been changed for FY25, then it is a carryover and there is no change from the FY24 rates.

[00:45:37] Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing no more questions regarding the January 25th presentations, we'll move on to the presentations for today. Starting with item 4.2, we will start with information regarding the Department of Academics FY25 budget presented by Dr. Ellis, our Chief Academic Officer.

[00:46:05] Dr. Ellis. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Tonight, I am happy to share with you an overview of the new Department of Academics. I will talk very briefly this evening and dedicate most of our time together to the two large departments up under the umbrella of academics, the Department of Student Services and the Department of Teaching and Learning.

[00:46:25] But first, a little bit about academics. The Department of Academics is a new department since the reorganization of the Department of Instruction and the Department of School Leadership in July of 2023. The department is dedicated to the educational mission and vision of LCPS.

[00:46:44] We continue to work toward meeting the goals of the strategic plan and developing a new instructional framework to streamline, focus, and set instructional priorities. And we are focusing on strengthening our continuous school improvement process to best support all of our schools and instructional staff.

[00:47:02] Students are truly at the heart of all of our work. The most significant aspect of the reorganization for my team was the bringing together of student services and teaching and learning under one umbrella focused on academics for all students.

[00:47:20] I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the collaboration among the Department of Student Services, the Department of Teaching and Learning, and the Division of Research Assessment and School Improvement. This cross-departmental collaboration among these three groups is essential to us achieving our mission and vision, and I'm proud to say we've made great strides in this collaboration in the past six months and have plans for continued and increased collaboration in the future.

[00:47:45] I want to take a minute to go back to Dr. Rasheed's question about professional learning because I think that's a great example. Professional learning happens in teaching and learning. It happens in student services and other areas across the division. This is a great example of that necessary cross-departmental collaboration that takes place to ensure that educators get the professional learning experiences they need for their specific content area, for example, EL or special education, but also for the mission and vision of the school division system-wide.

[00:48:17] So I'm going to talk briefly about the Division of Research, Assessment, and School Improvement and its small budget requests before turning it over to Ms. Richardson and Mr. Slevin for the bulk of the information. This slide shows the proposed personnel in all areas under the Department of Academics and I will focus on the columns in blue for the Chief Academic Officer where you see there are no changes and the division of RASI.

[00:48:47] So in terms of the base budget for RASI, RASI consists of three offices that provide supports for using data, continuous school improvement, and effective assessment practices division-wide. RASI facilitates systematic inquiry to better inform decisions, advance teaching, and improve learning across the division.

[00:49:08] It also provides support for using data to guide the implementation and evaluation of our strategic plan. And this slide and the next couple of slides list some specific work in each branch of the division. So as you can see, the research branch focuses on promoting best practices for the use of data throughout the school division.

[00:49:27] They focus on program evaluations and communicating meaning and implications of data using a variety of methods. The Office of Assessment Services administers and reports on the division's implementation of the Virginia Assessment Program and our locally administered standardized tests.

[00:49:49] They are responsible for complying with federal, state, and local assessment mandates for test administration and reporting. They promote best practices across the division for test administration and student assessment support. They manage and retain assessment materials per state guidelines, and they manage reports and data for inclusion in the student information system.

[00:50:16] And the third branch of RASI is the School Improvement Office that supports schools through the continuous school improvement process to include conducting comprehensive needs assessments both at the division and school levels, implementing and monitoring cycles of improvement, collaborating with division offices to support site-based leadership teams to implement the core principles of improvement science, and a big part of their role is managing and monitoring our federal programs and overseeing state and federal accountability. So at this point in the budget process, you've seen this slide many

[00:50:52] times, and you've heard that the strategic plan drives all of the division's priorities. The Department of Academics is no different. The Department of Academics is a new department, as I mentioned, due to the reorganization that took place in July of 23.

[00:51:08] Starting with students at the center category, as you know by now, this category includes ongoing costs associated with student enrollment changes and opening of schools. The first request is regarding the increase in AP tests completed by our students.

[00:51:32] So as you know, since FY22, LCPS has covered the cost of up to four AP exams per student. Covering the cost for AP exams is something that the previous board was very proud of and staff is very proud of because it provides more equitable access to challenging coursework and the AP exams for all students.

[00:51:53] So the majority of the increase in the Department of Academic's budget is a request for these funds to cover the costs of AP exams. As you can see, since 2021, more students have been taking more AP exams, and this funding will cover those costs.

[00:52:15] Moving on to reallocations for new and ongoing initiatives. Per Dr. Spence's guidelines to staff, I worked with RASI to focus on finding reallocations and savings to fund a much-needed assessment data specialist. We've reallocated funds and requested additional funds to cover this support position in the Office of Assessment Services.

[00:52:38] This position will support a continued increase in assessment services needs across all of the schools, as well as enhance the data integration partnership that we have built with the Department of Digital Innovation. Over the past several years, the student population has grown and additional division-wide assessments have been added and changed constantly.

[00:52:58] Additionally, this team supports the implementation to the locally awarded verified credit process. And that is my very brief overview of the Department of Academics. and I'll turn it back to you Chair Mansfield. Thank you Dr. Ellis. Board members do you have any questions related to Dr. Ellis's presentation? Yes Dr.

[00:53:23] Rasheed. I think I just need to clarify I think I meant to say that it's important to provide like from what I said before it's important to provide practices or to include practices that include students with disabilities to like all the teachers with to all the teachers but not like to special ed teachers solely is what I meant. I just want to make sure I was clear about that. Thanks. Any other questions? Yes, Miss Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Ellis, thank you for your presentation and for the materials.

[00:53:59] I am curious on slide four about the new FTEs for the Department of Student Services and Department of Teaching and Learning, but I am hopeful that they will be addressed in later presentations. I did also have a question about on slide nine, it indicates a 16% percent increase for operations and maintenance. Is that something that is going to be addressed in later presentations this evening? And if not, can you speak to that please? I will ask Ms.

[00:54:30] Willoughby or her team to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that 16 percent in O&M is the addition of the AP test funds that I mentioned later in the presentation. I'm getting head nods. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. I'm seeing Ms. Chernoff. Thank you so much, Dr. Ellis.

[00:54:53] Really appreciate it and all the work that you guys do. Can you tell me, as we add these additional pathways, like IB, there are exams that are associated with those programs as well, I assume. Are those embedded in the cost of the program, or will that be something down the road that we'll be asked to consider in the budget, much like covering the AP exams, or is it not apples to apples at all?

[00:55:16] I'm going to ask Mr. Slevin to address that. If he's not specifically going to address it in his presentation, I think he can address it now. We have not specifically talked about IB exams to date because the program is just beginning. Just thinking forward about those kids taking exams next year.

[00:55:33] Will there be, you know, inequity there? Will kids feel that way? There is definitely a cost for the exams. Yes. And Mr. Slevin has his finger on his microphone. Great. So we recognize that we will have IB courses next year, but we don't anticipate a large cost for exams next year until students particulate to 12th grade.

[00:55:53] And so in the FY26 budget, we may have a specific budget item on this for IB. We have talked about it with the previous board at the Special Programs Committee, letting them know we're making an assumption in planning for FY25 that the board would support covering the cost of tests similar to AP exams.

[00:56:19] And so that is something we could definitely have a conversation about with the new board. Thank you. Any other questions? April, I mean Ms. Chandler, with that we'll move to, thank you Dr. Ellis, we will move to item 4.3, information regarding the Department of Teaching and Learning FY25 budget presented by Mr. Slevin, our Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning.

[00:56:56] Thank you Chair Mansfield, I am looking forward to providing board members in the community an overview tonight of the Department of Teaching and Learning's FY25 estimate of needs. In teaching and learning, the team is proud of the key role the department plays in supporting our students, staff, and families through work tied to our strategic plan.

[00:57:18] We offer aligned curriculum, instructional resources, and professional learning to support our schools in empowering each student to make a meaningful contribution to the world. Through our collective efforts, we support almost 2,500 elementary teachers and 2,800 secondary teachers.

[00:57:33] We strive to be key partners with our school leaders and departments across the division. Our work in teaching and learning is diverse and impacts programs across our schools and across the division. LCPS has been a leader in the Commonwealth in moving towards the vision of reading instruction in the Virginia Literacy Act, and this budget proposal helps us continue our momentum.

[00:57:56] We continue to focus on how we can better serve our English learner families in the Department of Teaching and Learning through enhanced instructional practices and robust family engagement. We have moved to the development of increased rigorous pathways for students with the goal of each student having a pathway to pursue their passion. We've had an amazing first year of our Elementary Dual Language Immersion Program and look forward to offering fully authorized IB courses at two of our high schools next year at Lavon Valley High School and Heritage High School.

[00:58:23] We're also very excited about the opening of our inaugural HAMSI Academy at Briar Woods High School and Tuscarora High School. This budget proposal supports continuing down this path towards increased student opportunity. We support our students in accessing this opportunity through special opportunities of pathways through programs such as BEAM, Summer Math Discovery, Propel and Level Up, and our computer science pipeline. We support our newest teachers through mentoring and coaching and our experienced teachers with a focus on impactful professional learning and coaching. As you can see from these pictures, the impact on student learning and

[00:58:58] well-being at the school level remains the focus of our department. The One LCPS Strategic Plan for Excellence continues to be the driving force for all actions of the Department of Teaching and and learning at LCPS. As we move through the FY25 budget requests, you'll be able to see clear connections between the strategic plan and the requests of the department, beginning with our main priority of students at the center of our work with $4.2 million of our budget, new budget dedicating to meeting the needs of students we serve.

[00:59:28] The FY25 budget priorities also focus on recruitment intention, as shared in inspiring presentations from our HR office and our budget office in a previous work session. And our final priority focuses on reallocation of resources for new and ongoing initiatives for the department coming in at around $2.3 million.

[00:59:49] The department budget is focused on several initiatives that continue to support the 1LCPS strategic plan, which are focusing on goals for robust pathways for student achievement, aligned professional learning and school-based support, and a clear instructional vision supported with underlying resources.

[01:00:08] Changes to the FY25 budget for teaching and learning are reflected in the following needs. We have continued expansion of special programs such as IB, Dual Language Immersion and HAMSci. We see an investment in resources to support interventions in reading and math.

[01:00:26] We are planning for a phased expansion of the STEP program for our youngest learners. We are planning for a phased expansion of registration services offered by the LCPS Welcome Center. And we will talk about a reallocation of resources to enhance our CTE program for all students.

[01:00:42] The increase in the capital outlay budget that you see on this page is related to increases for HAMSI equipment, as well as reclassification of certain digital content tools due to reporting requirements.

[01:00:57] In order to continue to support our schools, teaching and learning has identified some areas of enhancement for personnel needs. This chart reflects the following staffing increases for the 24-25 school year. Here's an overview for each office. In the office of the assistant superintendent, there are no new FTEs.

[01:01:14] In the division of English learners, we have an increase of 29 FTEs. We will talk about these throughout the presentation, but for now we have a welcome center registrar, we have teaching and staff positions to support the phase step expansion, and then we have growth in our EL staffing standard.

[01:01:31] In the division of teaching and learning, we have an increase of eight FTEs. We are proposing moving an elementary science specialist position that exists currently from grant to local funding. We have new positions for Henrietta Lacks and Watson Mountain Middle School with our librarian and gifted positions at each of the schools.

[01:01:48] We have the expansion of dual language immersion to first grade, And we are proposing a reallocation of part-time funds for a program assistance to support the Credit for Testing program and our driver's education program in health and PE. In the Division of Professional Learning, the two FTE increase our school-based positions of instructional technology facilitators for our new schools.

[01:02:09] I'd like to take an opportunity at the start of the presentation to help you get to know the Department of Teaching and Learning. The Department of Teaching and Learning is made up of the Department of English Learners, Professional Learning, and Teaching and Learning.

[01:02:26] For FY25, we are proposing the establishment of a new division of Career and Technical Education. You can see the program areas that are supervised under each director. Also included in the organizational chart is the Office of Special Programs that sits in the Office of the Assistant Superintendent.

[01:02:42] This office plays a key role in supporting the development and operation of special programs across departments and divisions. The Department of Teaching and Learning Leadership Team fosters an instructional environment where educators are empowered to create rigorous, engaging, supportive experiences for students.

[01:02:58] We articulate an instructional vision, create aligned resources, and design professional learning that is responsive to the needs of schools and provides opportunities for each student to explore their passions. The team in teaching learning has a diverse set of skills. They're genuinely student-centered and care deeply about the people with whom they work.

[01:03:17] Their curiosity drives them to be open to learning and encourages innovation in partnership with schools. Our team sees it as a responsibility to reestablish trust and strengthen collaboration across LCPS. We believe in focusing on what truly has an impact, directing our efforts towards meaningful outcomes for each student in LCPS.

[01:03:35] I'd like to briefly review areas of responsibility for each department. On this slide, you see the major work of the Division of English Learners, led by Director Charisse Rosario, our Director of English Learners. Recent accomplishments include the establishment of a tiered English Learner Professional Learning Plan specific to the needs of teachers.

[01:03:54] The department has also established an ad hoc steering committee, made up of various stakeholder groups to inform decision-making within the department. Going forward, the expansion of quality training for English learning teachers is an area in the areas of English and math will be a focus. And they will continue to build on the success of the English learner family and community engagement team through programs such as family rooms and our pet programs or parents as educational partners.

[01:04:19] And you heard a little bit about the FACE program at a recent board meeting. On this slide, you can see the major work areas for the Division of Professional Learning led by Ms. Tina Howell. This year, there has been a focus on the development of our principal induction programs and support for aspiring administrators.

[01:04:38] Additionally, this year, the Office of Mentoring and Coaching supports 737 mentors, supporting 328 novice teachers and 326 new hires with prior experience. Workahead includes refining policy and guidance around instructional technology tools, including artificial intelligence, and the ongoing support of high-functioning collaborative teams.

[01:04:58] On this slide, you can see the major work areas for the Division of Teaching and Learning K-12. This division is led by Jeff Rounsley. Accomplishments of this team include a continuation of support for the implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act, led by the Office of Early Literacy and Elementary Reading and the Office of Secondary English and Language Arts.

[01:05:22] Additionally, the World Language and Cultures team led the implementation of the Dual Language Program at Sanders Corner and Potomac Elementary School, offering students the ability to become bilingual and biliterate by achieving high levels academically. I do want to note that the Dual Language Immersion Program is a collaboration between all contents, offices within the Division of Teaching and Learning to create curriculum and develop resources.

[01:05:44] We also have partners across the division. The LCPS HRTD department partnered for recruitment and retention of teachers for this special program. DDI navigated the incorporation of DLI into the registration process for new kindergarten students and the communication office developed materials and publicizing community meetings.

[01:06:03] The DLI program will expand to kindergarten and first grade and this has been a division wide lift. Workahead includes the math office, will be undergoing a textbook adoption in the implementation of new standards in mathematics for grades K-12 in the 24-25 school year.

[01:06:18] And the Department of Teaching and Learning is leading a cross-departmental effort in the development of an instructional framework. On this slide, you can see the major work areas for the Division of Teaching and Learning Community Connections and Programs, led by Ms. Renee Dawson.

[01:06:35] Accomplishments include the development of enhanced computer science offerings as a part of our computer science pipeline. such as cloud computing courses piloted this year that will be expanded to additional schools in the future. Going forward, we are continuing to refine our engagement with business and community partners to support division goals as we know we need them with us to support our learners.

[01:06:57] This slide includes major work areas that will be under the oversight of the proposed division of career and technical education. I will include more details on this proposal later in my presentation. And finally, the Office of Special Programs led by Ms. Katie Clark, which sits in my office ensures special programs and academies are implemented in alignment to policy, reviews special programs and academy proposals, supports admission procedures and outreach efforts, and serves as the Division International Baccalaureate Coordinator. I'd like to highlight Heritage High School and Ladder Valley High School and their leadership teams and they were recognized

[01:07:35] this past November for becoming authorized as IB World Schools. I am thankful for the leadership of those principals. So moving into the budget proposal. Starting with student at the center, this category includes ongoing costs associated with student enrollment changes impacting staffing standards in the opening of two new schools. So many of the items in this bucket were reviewed in the staffing standards presentation. At this time, I'd like to call out three other areas specifically. In the division of English learners, we see an

[01:08:10] overall increase of 22 FTE teacher FTEs determined by the staffing standards for EL teachers. This is a slide from the superintendent's estimate needs and i recognize it has 23 ftes the 23rd fte is a welcome center registrar which i'll be talking about a little bit later screenings of students who note a language other than english continue to rise year to year this includes students found eligible for el services specifically at the secondary level in january of 2022 the virginia department of education changed the el screening assessment of newly enrolling kindergarten students

[01:08:45] resulting in a decrease of elementary students found eligible for el services rising kindergarten students are now only screened by two of the four language domains in the first semester listening and speaking overall we have seen an increase of 6.4 percent in our el population in lcps english learner student population is reaching pre-pandemic numbers across the county since the pandemic we have seen an increase in middle and high schools that historically had smaller el populations schools that have high el enrollment continue to grow as well As the school board is aware, the EL staffing standard is based on school board approved

[01:09:22] staffing standards that take into account English learner projected growth. Increases in FTEs is commensurate with the growing needs to particularly support students who are duly identified. Students are eligible for both EL services and receive special education services due to a documented disability. Currently 20% of the high school EL population and 22% of the middle school EL population is duly identified compared to 15% at the elementary school level. We are pleased that the school board has adopted the duly identified EL staffing standard at the secondary level in their FY24 operating budget, and I would just like to note

[01:09:57] that this is a great example of the collaboration between Ms. Richardson's department and my team's when it comes to serving students with diverse needs. As you also may know, one of the goals of the school division and the strategic plan is to enhance access to pathways for students in LCPS.

[01:10:15] While this does require the development of new program, which we will be doing and we will be talking about, it is also necessary to invest in existing programs for our students. The geographic informational systems programs offered through our science department is an example of such a pathway. Over the years, we have seen an increased number of schools offering this course, leading to an increased cost for tuition through our partnership with James Madison University.

[01:10:42] As you can see with this graph, we have increased the number of schools that are offering this course, leading to an increase in student enrollment. In 2019, we had 223 students that were able to access this dual enrollment course, we have now increased that number to 368 students across a commensurate number of schools.

[01:11:01] It is important to note that this is an example of an initiative and budget item that was innovated through a community grant that now impacts our local budgets. Our community partners want to support us in trying new programs, but also expect that our school system is investing in them when they become simply part of what we do, when it's no longer innovation.

[01:11:23] The GIS program is a key example. We may see a phased increase in this item over the next few budget cycles, as this budget increase only pays for a portion of the tuition for GIS with the remainder in grant funds.

[01:11:40] An additional example of expansion of access to pathways is enrollment at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. As you can see, we have steadily increased the number of students attending this school. This increase is due to both the increase in enrollment and right-sizing our budget request for tuition.

[01:11:56] In SY 21 and 22, the TJ admissions process changed to address student access. The TJ freshman overall enrollment from all participating divisions increased from 480 to 550. Our current 76 seniors attending TJ were accepted under the previous process with a freshman class of 480.

[01:12:17] Our enrollment for current freshmen, sophomore, and junior classes are larger, 116, 100, 101, respectively. Due to the new admissions process, next year's freshman class should be comparable the larger enrollment numbers therefore after next year the growth should level off the last category are for new or ongoing expanding initiatives as dr spence mentioned in his presentation on the cion departments were asked to focus on finding reallocation and saving opportunities to fund new or ongoing initiatives as you can see from this slide the department of

[01:12:57] teaching and learning has identified over 1 million dollars in savings or reallocations in the operating budget this portion of the presentation will share how we are making strategic investments in our teachers and classrooms phasing initiatives over multiple fiscal years and reallocating resource funds for new priorities as we continue to invest in intervention and specialized pathways it is important for us to invest in our current teachers to fulfill future needs the fy25 teaching and learning budget also includes targeted funds to develop cohorts of employees to gain the ability to serve in hard to fill roles

[01:13:33] this includes developing cohorts specifically for reading and math specialists supporting teachers in meeting the requirements to teach dual enrollment courses and establishing a leadership pipeline for aspiring administrators. Similar to the priority in HRTD, this priority focuses on those areas specifically based on need in filling those roles. To go deeper on one of these lines, the key to expanding access to dual enrollment across our schools is teacher capacity. We need to have teachers that are eligible to teach those dual enrollment courses. If we want to guarantee

[01:14:09] some level of access to dual enrollment across all of our high schools, we need to target support to specific courses and content areas in schools to move towards that goal, and this will help us do that. Our teachers and school leaders have also asked for additional support for intervention in math and reading. Building upon the strategic investment made by the board last year in math intervention, we have included funding to purchase additional bridge intervention kits at one per school for the cost of $325,000.

[01:14:40] For secondary ELA, we are anticipating the opportunity to pursue literacy intervention upon approval by the VDOE as part of the Virginia Literacy Act. While we have not identified a specific product, these funds are earmarked to support the anticipated purchases. I do also want to address a question regarding PALS tutors.

[01:14:59] There is no indication from the state that funding for PALS tutors will be changing at any level this fiscal year. We know that our support for student learning needs is a priority for the board and is of interest, so we will plan to regularly update information on this topic.

[01:15:16] The next section of my presentation are initiatives that we are taking a phased approach with. This means not only have we made strategic investment in prior years for these initiatives, we forecast impacts on future budget years and in future budget presentations.

[01:15:35] First, we have the expansion of STEP, or VPI. The Starting Towards Excellence in Preschool or STEP program is a state-funded, high-quality preschool program for at-risk four-year-olds, funded through the Virginia Preschool Initiative. Loudoun County is one of only three localities in the state to only offer a half-day program.

[01:15:59] Allowing our neediest students to attend full day will result in significant increases in school readiness and will support the families in our community. In addition to supporting students and families, moving to a full-day model will correct current program-length deficiencies that were noted during our review in 2019.

[01:16:15] We appreciate the school board's support for implementing full-day step in a phased approach. Based on feedback provided by board members elect this past fall, staff is proceeding with planning with option two, the phased implementation. The Department of Teaching and Learning is proposing the addition of five classrooms for FY25.

[01:16:34] This will allow half of the program, 160 students, to attend full-day and the other half, 160, will attend half-day. This proposal also includes a step coordinator and a step enrollment manager to support the part-time step supervisor with oversight and management of the program.

[01:16:49] VPI supports funding for this program, and we will provide funds for the other six positions through state funding. This will be teachers and teaching assistants. We do anticipate additional expansion to be considered for FY26 and in future budget years.

[01:17:07] With the opening of the first of two permanent locations of the Welcome Center, the Welcome Center has begun phasing in registration services as planned. Recognizing the importance of providing registration services for schools and families, the Welcome Center utilizes part-time funds to begin phasing registration services to select school. The request of a full-time registrar will allow the Welcome Center to expand services to additional schools across the county. What does that mean? What do they do? The Welcome Center is a one-stop shop for our families, particularly those registering students at multiple schools and levels. The registration

[01:17:43] process is expedited, and the Welcome Center offers 12 months of services with a diverse multilingual staff for our families moving into Latin County. The Welcome Center alleviates school-based registrar and family family liaison workloads and supports the registration of students whose families speak a language other than English or have legal documents in an other language and these are often time-consuming registrations at the school level and the service provided at the welcome center is more targeted and more more efficient and has support for our families moving

[01:18:20] into Loudoun County. We believe this centralized support and technical expertise ensures consistent and equitable practice across the division. Therefore, additional requests for staffing in FY26 will be requested to include staffing needs for the anticipated second Welcome Center location in Eastern Loudoun.

[01:18:37] We know this is a topic of interest and we do plan on talking about the Welcome Center in the English Learner Program in a future CNI meeting. We are in the second year of our phase expansion of our dual language immersion program at Sanders Corner in Potomac Elementary School.

[01:18:54] Dual language immersion will be fully implemented at these two elementary schools in FY29. Dual Language Immersion provides both native English speakers and English learners with core academic instruction in two languages from kindergarten onward. The program provides students with the opportunity to learn to read and write and communicate effectively in both languages while attaining high levels of academic achievement.

[01:19:17] The program follows the district's core curriculum and uses state-adopted materials and grade level standards. Lessons are delivered and taught using one language at a time. Funding includes O&M for instructional materials, curriculum development, and professional learning.

[01:19:32] This also includes a teacher and a language ambassador for each building. When fully implemented, these programs will serve 600 students in a dual language environment across the two schools. The FY25 budget for teaching and learning also includes funding for existing supports that we are proposing to continue into FY25, but with a shift in funding.

[01:19:56] Starting in the top left, we have partnered with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the LCPS Department of Support Services through the Safe Routes to Schools grant over multiple years. There has been recent shifts in availability of these funds, which are causing us to use local funds to continue many of the initiatives that align to that grant.

[01:20:15] This includes walk and roll to school days, crossing guard appreciation days, bicycle safety rodeos, story walks, and the development of in-person presentations on pedestrian safety. The inclusion of part-time funds in the local budget will enable us to continue these programs with part-time support into the future.

[01:20:35] Next we are proposing our existing elementary school science specialist moving from grant funding to operating budget. This is our second example in this presentation of where a community partner encouraged innovation with the understanding that the supports would eventually move into the operating budget.

[01:20:53] This FDE for this position has been grant funded for a number of years. With the increase in salaries over the years and other pressures on the grant, we are including it in the FY25 budget. The Elementary Science Specialist supports over 1,200 teachers across 60 schools in implementing the LCPS Science Curriculum.

[01:21:10] Finally, we are proposing reallocating part-time funds to a full-time program assistant to support our Drivers Education Program in our Health and PE Office and our Credit for Testing Program in our World Language Office.

[01:21:26] These programs are currently supported through part-time funds that will be reallocated to fund this position, making this FTE cost-neutral. The program assistant will support both of these programs through processing associated documents, communicating to stakeholders, supporting assessment events, and timekeeping for proctors across multiple languages.

[01:21:44] I wanted to take a minute to talk about both of these programs as we don't get to talk about many of them publicly, often. To ensure behind the wheel instruction meets Virginia code, we review driver license documents such as driver's logs, final skills evaluations, as well as staff payroll for each student who goes through our behind the wheel instruction.

[01:22:05] That LCPS averages approximately 872 students a year going through our Behind the Wheel program. And this is currently handled by a part-time employee supporting our Health and PE office. As for credit for testing, LCPS allows students with the ability to comprehend and communicate in languages other than English to earn high school credits through the state-approved world language assessments.

[01:22:29] The Credit Through Testing Exam, or CTT, measures students' language proficiency in order to award up to three high school world language credits. The Credit Through Testing exam is designed to assess student language proficiency and is available to students in grades 9 through 12. The exam requires a student to read and comprehend exam instructions and writing prompts in the target language.

[01:22:50] The students must be able to write well-developed essays in the exam language, each consisting of at least three cohesive paragraphs on the topic. Students who demonstrate the required proficiency on the CTT exam will also meet the requirements to earn the Virginia Department of Education's seal of biliteracy at graduation.

[01:23:06] certifying bioliteracy attainments for employees, employers, and institutions of higher education. It is a statement of accomplishment that signals evidence of students' readiness for career, college, and engagement as a global citizen. This has been a growing area of achievement.

[01:23:21] Mr. Slevin, could you bring your microphone closer to you? Because I'm having a really hard time with everything going on back there. I'm sorry for interrupting you. We have the Independence High School Band coming out there, but that's what it is. All right. Thank you for the feedback. This has been a growing, should I start over?

[01:23:42] This has been a growing area of achievement for our students. In 2019, LCPS students earned 519 high school credits through this process. In 2022, that number was 853 high school credits through this process.

[01:23:59] This is an opportunity for academic achievement for our students that we need to be talking about more. We also have gone from assessing 20 languages to now assessing 26 languages. I think this is a great example of how LCPS expands rigorous opportunities for all our students in a variety of ways through innovative programming.

[01:24:19] In this case, led by our Office of World Languages and Cultures. Not only that, but it recognizes the strength that our students bring with them into our school system, and it opens the door for opportunity for our students. This is currently accomplished again through a part-time employee.

[01:24:37] The program assistant will support both of these programs through processing associated documents, communicating to stakeholders, supporting the assessment events, and timekeeping for proctors across multiple languages. The last items I will be reviewing are connected to the development of specialized programs and pathways. In the fall of 2024, we will be opening a health and medical science academy at Briarwoods High School in Tuscarora High School. As you know, the student opportunity portal has opened and we can see that our community is just as excited about this program

[01:25:13] as we are. Next year, we are anticipating 150 students at each school in the freshman cohort. When fully built out at the two schools, we will have 600 students enrolled in the Health and Medical Science Academies. The FY25 budget proposal includes funding for O&M to include curriculum development, equipment, and supplies for the Academy's inaugural year. We are staffing HAMSI through strategic reallocation from existing FTEs within the Department of Teaching and Learning's budget. We are shifting the coordinator for the program from a grant to operating by reallocating positions from our sunsetting adult education practical nursing program this will also

[01:25:49] enable us to provide additional staffing to the high school as the program is developed the teaching and learning budget proposal also includes an enhancement to the strategic leadership of the office of career and technical education first we have proposed to reclassify a vacant current vacant cte specialist position to a director level position that will oversee the offices of career and technical education and adult education we are proposing a realignment of our work work-based learning efforts by reassigning the current experiential learning coordinator in the Office of Computer Science to the Office of Career and Technical Education with a broader

[01:26:26] focus on work-based learning across multiple pathways. Finally, in an effort to keep these changes cost-neutral, we have identified cost savings in our O&M budgets. The Office of Career and Technical Education has had a significant impact on Latin County Public Schools. Staff in the CTE office support competency-based instruction through curriculum offerings aligned to a number of pathways. Career and technical student organizations are coordinated and managed through this office. Work-based learning partnerships and processes are developed by this team. And an often unrecognized assessment component also drives the work through our

[01:27:02] industry credentialing system. While recognizing the significant current impact, we know that there are opportunities for innovation within our career and technical education programs. We can enhance our support in partnership with the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy at the Academies of Loudoun. We need to enhance our pathways starting in elementary school and middle school that lead to these CTE offerings. We need to shore up alignment across our schools, such as the work happening in our early childhood education classrooms. As career and college readiness indicators are now part of the state accreditation system, we need to make sure we are being responsive to school needs and our community needs to see us have alignment of our work-based

[01:27:39] learning opportunities across CTE pathways. Our community has also recognized the need for enhanced support in our CTE program over the years. The school board's career and technical education Advisory Committee has consistently identified areas and multiple updates, which include coordination of industry credentialing across all campuses, an increase in staff and staff capacity to support the development of curriculum and instructional practices across schools, and a thorough review of facility needs on our campuses. Finally, while not all, a significant amount of our aspirational student program will go through the Office of Career and Technical

[01:28:19] education. This includes health and medical sciences, information technology, cybersecurity, data center operations, trade and industry, marketing, and entrepreneurship, which all have potential for specialized pathways, programs, or future academies. Including the Office of Adult Education in this new division aligns with the organizational structure of the Virginia Department of Education. The strategic reallocation of resources within the Division of Teaching and Learning is intended to align initiatives and have senior leadership guiding their work within CTE in teaching and learning. I would like to close by noting the additional savings I've referenced

[01:28:56] a number of times in FY25. Following budget direction for departments to focus on finding reallocation and saving opportunities to fund new initiatives, the teaching and learning team was diligent in reviewing accounts across the department. Analysis was performed on historical spending patterns, projected inflationary impacts, and the need to identify reallocation and saving opportunities. As a result, with the support of the budget office, we were able to identify by additional cost savings of almost $400,000 to support other initiatives included in the superintendent's estimated needs.

[01:29:30] In closing, the teaching and learning team is proud of the key role they play in supporting our students, staff, and families through work tied to our strategic plan. The impact of the teaching and learning team is evident across our school system. I am thankful for the members of our team, across the department, and the dedication they show to teachers and families.

[01:29:49] At this time, I'm happy to answer any questions or go deeper on any topic of interest of the board. Thank you, Mr. Slavin. I have one, well, I have a couple questions. First of all, I mean, of course, I was the one who asked about the PALS tutoring, but I was, mostly I was wondering if it's going to be called VALS tutoring, but also are we going to be increasing our need there at all? Do we have an understanding if there's going to be an increased need for more? My understanding is that it's always based on need, so depending on what the need, we would see a commensurate increase,

[01:30:26] And we don't have any clear notion of what it will be named, but likely it would be renamed. And we would address that through our programming. And also, how many students are in that dual immersion program? There are currently, there are seats for 25 students in each classroom, so 50 per school.

[01:30:52] 50 per school, so 100 students per grade level. So there's 100 students right now? Yes. And my last question, when do you expect a leveling off for TJ? With this cohort of freshmen, we will be fully into the new numbers, and so we anticipate a leveling off going into FY26.

[01:31:22] Thank you. Any other board members? Yes. Ms. LaBelle. Thank you, Ms. Slevin, for your wonderful presentation. I was totally impressed by your CTE programs. I am fully behind that.

[01:31:40] And as a linguist, I love languages, but I do have a question for you. What is a language ambassador? You said we had them and would be meeting them. Yes, so a language ambassador is similar to a teaching assistant.

[01:31:56] So as you can imagine, we have our youngest learners in kindergarten classrooms and a full immersion of Spanish. And so we just have an additional teaching assistant position supporting the students navigate being in that fully immersed program.

[01:32:13] And this is based on the state model for dual language immersion programs. Okay. It's a totally new term. Thank you very much. Board members, any other questions? Yes, Ms. Chernoff. Thank you, Mr. Slevin, for your presentation.

[01:32:29] I was wondering if you could just clarify for me one more time why we're adding so many EL teachers at middle and high but not elementary. I think you said it, but I just need you to restate it for me. So there are two things impacting that.

[01:32:51] Two things are impacting that. One is the change of the assessment in kindergarten. And so because of the screener in kindergarten, we're seeing a decrease in the amount of students that are being initially found eligible.

[01:33:10] And so that's having an impact on the elementary staffing standard. And at the same time, we are seeing growth in our secondary schools. That's a part of it. But we also have a recently adopted staffing standard that provides support to schools that have students that are both identified as receiving English services and special education services.

[01:33:30] And as a result of that new staffing standard, more FTEs have been generated at the secondary level. That's wonderful. And more of those students are at the secondary level. Great. And then I have another question. This is being a former facilitator myself, and I'm getting several questions.

[01:33:46] There is a lot of talk from school-based administrators about managing the many departments and the many facilitators that are specialized within those departments. Some schools have up to six or seven different facilitators that come in and out of their building.

[01:34:02] Many of the facilitators support multiple schools across the year, some as many as eight schools per job. Is there any transition of those positions to school-based? Does that have any budget implications or is that a conversation that will be evolving over the next year?

[01:34:20] I appreciate that conversation and I also know it's of interest of our facilitators and I just want to take a moment to publicly thank them for the work that they do. They were some of our most successful teachers and caring about our students. And so they are an important employee in our system.

[01:34:37] One of the things that I appreciate about Dr. Spence's entry plan is that we're really evaluating how we are supporting schools at that level. We know that that's where the impact is. And there are a number of things that are impacting how we can make decisions about school-based support.

[01:34:57] And one of the areas we're having a lot of conversation is on our continuous school improvement process in collaboration with Dr. Ellis' team in the chief academic office. And so what I've been sharing with the facilitator team is it's about the deployment and it's about the responsibility.

[01:35:17] It's not so much about the position. And I say that as in that we're not really viewing this as a budget item at this time. We're looking at it as more of what makes sense in terms of the assignment, like where are these people placed? How are we making decisions about where these resources are going? And then how are we reevaluating those decisions based on what the numbers are telling us?

[01:35:37] And I anticipate this will be part of the conversation of the post-entry plan. They'll definitely be in conversations that we have within CNI and could possibly be in a full board work session if there were such interest. But we are evaluating holistically our school-based supports and thinking about how we could use those positions.

[01:35:56] Thank you. I know that we have facilitator FTEs recommended in other departments. So I just wanted to get a sense for where that's going as we consider that. If there's going to be big changes down the line or that's something to consider, I do feel that as a board, it might be something to think about when we consider those other positions.

[01:36:13] Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. Any other questions, board members? Yes, Dr. Shade. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Slevin, for that awesome presentation. I was just wondering, on slide five, you have a table with the FTEs listed on all of them.

[01:36:31] And again, this could be like a side conversation. But I was just wondering if you can do kind of like or incorporate any of the FTEs or anything that you anticipate with virtual Loudoun in that table, if you can add that in there somehow, someway. I was just curious to know if I could get some data on that.

[01:36:51] So, yes, and the good news is virtual Loudoun is budgeted through the Department of School Leadership. And so that could be something that we could highlight in that department's budget. And then on slide seven, piggybacking off your last comment, just like what you just said, I was wondering if we, I'm just curious, or rather I'm assuming that Virtual Loudon is a part of that.

[01:37:15] It's the flow chart that you presented. So I'm assuming all of this is kind of incorporated in VLE, or VL, rather. So I would refer to Ms. Mitchell, but we do consider Virtual Loudon a school or program, and it's administered through the Department of School Leaders.

[01:37:34] While we support them instructionally, we support them with resources and our thought partners, they're not within the Department of Teaching and Learning. Thank you. Okay, board members, if we could hold our questions for right now, and we're going to have to take a recess so they can flip the room for the next part of our program today.

[01:37:59] Let's see, what time is it? It's 6.08. So let's go ahead and recess, and then we will come back at, what, 6.38?

[01:38:17] from recess okay the board is now in recess good evening the board is coming out at recess at this

[02:06:26] time and just a little housekeeping we will be moving item 4.4 to our next budget work work session on february 1st so now we will be picking up with item 7 the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem the ensemble who will be leading the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem is the Potomac Falls High School Chamber Choir. The Potomac Falls High School

[02:07:01] Chamber Choir is an audition ensemble made up of students in grades 9 through 12. They sing a diverse repertoire of musical genres including classical folk songs, art songs, multicultural music, Broadway, and original contemporary pieces. This group originated as PFHS in 2010 and is under the direction of Potomac Falls Choral Director of 27 Years, Fawn Phillips. At this time, I will ask everyone to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the National Anthem.

[02:09:47] Thank you so much. That was beautiful. So next we'll move on to item 8. 2, the VHSL Fall Sports Individual and Team State Championship Recognition. It will be presented by Mr. Ferry, our Assistant Director of Athletics and Extracurricular Activities. Good evening, Madam Chair, Dr. Spence, members of the school board. Tonight presents an opportunity to extend our heartfelt recognition

[02:10:22] to the outstanding individuals and teams from LCPS who exemplified excellence by clinching state championships in VHL athletics. Their unwavering commitment, relentless dedication, tireless efforts have culminated in our remarkable achievements this past fall. In the fall of 2023, LCPS captured five VHL state championships. We're going to call them up individually, each team singly, and they'll be taking a picture with our school board and superintendent.

[02:10:56] Our first team being recognized tonight is the golf team from Independence High School for capturing the VHL class five state championship on the Heritage Oaks golf course. This is their

[02:11:07] third state championship title in a row for their golf program.

[02:12:22] Our next team being recognized tonight is the field hockey team from Independence High School for capturing the VHL Class 5 state championship. It is the school's first field hockey championship for independence and the first

[02:12:35] ever for an LCPS school in Class 5.

[02:14:04] Our next team being recognized tonight is the Briarwoods competition cheer team which captured the VHL Class 5 state championship. It is the school's

[02:14:12] seventh state championship in competition cheer.

[02:15:22] Our next team being recognized tonight is the Loudoun County High School competition cheer team, which captured the VHL Class 4 state championship. This was the first competition cheer title in school history. If they can come up, please.

[02:16:31] And our last team recognition tonight is Loudoun Valley High School's field hockey team, which captured the VHL Class 4 state championship. This is the first in school history for their program and the first LCPS school to win a field hockey state championship in class four. It appears we don't have somebody in attendance tonight. Next on to our VHL individual state championships

[02:17:04] champions. Broad Run High School, Tark, Penlock, Kickenham. Triumph in the VHL class four state championship for boys cross country clocking in an impressive time of 15 minutes and 33 seconds on

[02:17:18] the challenging Oakland's 5k course.

[02:17:50] Our next state championship state champion is Joe Johnson from Heritage High School secured the victory in the VHL class four golf state championship by delivering an outstanding performance. He shot a remarkable 66 at the Williamsburg National Golf

[02:18:04] Course to claim the state title. Joe Johnson from Heritage.

[02:18:38] Our last individual state champion is Ben Baker from Briarwoods High School emerged victorious in the VHL class five golf state championship with an exceptional performance. He also shot an impressive 66 at the Heritage Oaks

[02:18:55] golf course securing the state title. The last recognition for tonight is the Claudia Dodson VHL Sportsmanship Ethics and Integrity Award. The Claudia Dodson VHL Sportsmanship Ethics and Integrity Award recognizes member schools that have established policies, procedures that make

[02:19:34] sportsmanship a priority and an expectation within the school and school community. This year Independence High School was recognized by at the VHSL fall membership meeting as one of the five schools throughout the entire state to receive this honor. I'm asking Mr. Ryan Rogers, the athletic director, and Principal John Gabriel to come up and take a picture.

[02:20:08] Closing, we'd like we extend our congratulations to each and every individual and team for their outstanding achievements. Your dedication, perseverance, and unwavering commitment have brought honor to yourselves, your schools, and the entire LCPS community. Congratulations once again. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to

[02:20:39] Mr. Michael Pearson. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to recognize a very fine band program tonight. Since Independence High School opened, the band has grown from its first year of 60 members to over 150 and competed against and won regional competitions across the nine-state region from New York down to South Carolina. This year, the Independence High School marching band competed at Liberty Music, Liberty University against bands from across the state of

[02:21:17] Virginia in the Virginia Marching Band Cooperative Championship. They took the 5A class, won that class, and became state champions. Subsequently, later that day, the winners from classes 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A all competed with the class 5A groups, and independents came home with the Commonwealth They won the whole entire thing.

[02:21:43] This is the first time this has happened in Loudoun County and public schools, we're very proud of that. I have with us tonight the directors. I'd like for them to come up. Kyle Harrington and Amanda Young.

[02:21:58] And along with, we have just, this is not 100, we didn't bring all 150 members tonight, but we do have a selection of some of the student leaders. There are a lot of activities for students in a band like this to have success and make everything work.

[02:22:15] very smoothly. So with us tonight is Michelle Wyant, Daniel Kim, Ashley Vreblik, Abigail Koffer, Alex Heisler, Sitara Tepley, Andy Joseph, Om Shah, CJ Laksa, Arnav Arella, and Ryan Jastrzemski.

[02:23:41] Truly that's the highlight of our time here as school board is our kids and honoring our kids and our students and our teachers and everybody who supports them. So bravo, well done. So with that we will move on to item 9.1 on our agenda the advisory committee update the loud and education foundation update presented by miss nadler okay bye i don't know why that wouldn't be so important

[02:24:21] so exciting okay so we'll go back and to our item 9.

[02:25:37] 1 on our agenda the advisory committee update the Loudoun Education Foundation update presented by Ms. Nadler, the Loudoun Education Foundation Executive Director. But I understand that Mr. Slevin will come and introduce Ms. Nadler.

[02:25:57] Thank you, Ms. Bansfield. Throughout the school year, the school board has the opportunity to be updated by the various advisory committees. While the Loudoun Education Foundation is not an advisory committee by policy, they are a key partner of Loudoun County Public Schools. And so tonight, I'm excited to introduce Ms. Danielle Nadler, who will provide you an update on the work of the Loudoun Education Foundation.

[02:26:21] My apologies, Ms. Nadler. Thank you so much. This is great. Thank you for having me. I have been, Danielle Nadler, been Executive Director of the Loudoun Education for about three years now, and I'm loving it. I feel like it's, I at least feel like it's a good fit, and I hope most people agree.

[02:26:39] So thank you, again, really good to get to know you all over a few one-on-ones. But briefly, just I wanted to share that the Loudoun County School Board actually started LEF in 1991, and they started it as an independent 501c3 with the idea that LEF would really be the charitable arm for LCPS.

[02:27:01] So LEF has its own board, its own bylaws, its own staff, but clearly collaboration with LCPS is key to our mission and effectiveness and two big parts of that is the superintendent Dr. Spence is one of one of our voting board members and and also in Donahue at large school board member is also one of our board members and that's a key setup and also Neal Slevin is our liaison so we have with all those folks involved we really have ongoing conversations to ensure that our fundraising efforts are aligning and really targeting the top

[02:27:37] needs of LCPS students and educators and we raise more than three million dollars a year which is pretty incredible as we talk to other education foundations where I think we're strategically located here in Northern Virginia and we have a really generous community that we're that we're thankful for and really in short LEF is a connector so we connect the generosity of business leaders community members with the needs or maybe it's innovative programming within LCPS and that connection has really resulted in some good strategic fundraising if you don't mind going to the next slide this

[02:28:15] one kind of shows the four areas that we target that or that we work with LCPS to target that three million toward it's four areas of focus one is student health and well-being you might hear some of this it aligns with our strategic plan aligns with LCPS strategic plan two is curriculum enrichment, three is teacher enrichment and support, or sorry, teacher encouragement and support, and then four is scholarships. In this slide, I feel like presents, we support so many different programs, but this is a good snapshot of some of the top programs that we raise funds for, and then also some of our key

[02:28:52] collaborators and partnerships on the right that help make some of this possible. Support for our educators, we've really worked hard to increase the funding in these categories. Support for our educators includes innovation and education grants, which is really a fancy term for classroom grants.

[02:29:14] This year we're going to give out a record 80,000 for those. And then another is our continuing education grants, and that's everything from LCPS classified employees to also licensed employees who are looking for their administrative license or degree.

[02:29:30] So we really try to run the gambit to try to support LCPS educators. And then a new one that we have this year is called SHINE, and we're working, it stands for Spotlighting Heroes in Education, and we're working closely with Carrie Sims, employee recognition supervisor on that.

[02:29:46] Every month, we're going out with Dr. Spence, and LEF is presenting a $500 value gift to an LCPS educator who's been nominated for the SHINE program, and that's just been, that's been a blast 'cause it's a chance to, I know that's just one teacher a month, but we're really trying to provide more, just a spotlight with the goal of retention in mind.

[02:30:14] Inspiring quotes. We can go to the next slide. And one of our programs that I really wanted to highlight, you might have heard of the Backpack Coalition Program. That's one of LEF's largest programs, and we are the largest student food provider in the county.

[02:30:30] There are a few others, but we really ensure that any school that's not already partnering with a church to get weekend meals. LEF, we ran it to Fueled. It used to be Backpack Coalition. It's now Fueled. LEF provides those meals. So we feed about 1,500 students a week, and we do that through weekend meal bags and also in school pantries.

[02:30:51] And in total, we serve students at 41 schools. This is just a quick example of really LEF being a connector. the LCPS student services office won a VDOE grant to start the mobile health bus and that in order for those grant funds to be to go further we helped connect LCPS with Inova Loudon and also the George Washington University School of Nursing who's providing both of those folks are providing

[02:31:25] in-kind donations such as access to this bus and that's and now for year two of that grant as it runs out, LEF is now working to raise additional funds to keep that bus going, and you'll hear more about the Mobile Health Clinic, and it is providing free physicals and wellness checks for students and families in the Sterling Park area with the goal of just getting them in school, giving them the required health checks to get them in school. So this slide covers about three-fourths of our budget, but just to say that on the micro level, we are providing classroom grants or

[02:32:03] scholarships, but on the macro level, these are the programs that really touch thousands of students. I'll jump down to one of the last ones, the K-12 Computer Science Pipeline. That's LEF won a $2.4 million Go Virginia grant, and that now is infusing computer science into every one of our schools.

[02:32:23] So you'll, of course, hear quite a lot about that. I'm sure you have already and are familiar with it. Others, just to briefly highlight, BEAM, Summer Math Discovery Program, really some good excitement in the community with supporting that propel and level up same after that's after school STEM enrichment program and then of course you've heard and are excited about the new Health and Medical Science Academy that we've done everything from from write and win grants to help get to help sorry fund this planning year to also planning roundtables to get the

[02:32:58] feedback from industry experts to help inform curriculum and then of course the AWS Think Big Space, which is located at Simpson Middle School, and that is a hub for teachers to learn how to teach computer science. So those are just a few of our spotlights. So this is obviously just a brief overview, but I hope it provided just a little bit of an idea of what LEF does.

[02:33:22] I'm so looking forward to working with all of you. I think we'll get to know each other very well, and thanks so much for having me. Thank you, Ms. Nadler. Board members, do you have any questions for Ms. Nadler regarding the LEF update? Yes, Ms. Donahue.

[02:33:39] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Nadler, for your service to the community and for your update. How was the event at Old Ox on Saturday? Oh, thank you. It was called Old Ox Rocks. It was an LEF event, and we raised, we met our goal of $7,000, and it all goes toward those innovation education grants.

[02:34:03] So it was a hit. It was rock bands, and it was loud and fun, and raised good money for those grants. So we're excited about it. Thank you for asking. Yes, Ms. Chernoff. I want to thank you, Ms. Nadler, for your work and for reaching out to us literally, I think, the day after the election solidified.

[02:34:22] You were in our inbox, you know, eager to collaborate and hear our ideas and our experiences. And I've been blessed to see your work in many schools and actually was at Simpson on Friday and was able to see the Think Big space. And I want to commend you for not only, you know, we hear so much about students and their exploration, but when I stepped into that space, it was teachers exploring.

[02:34:44] And that was just really cool to see. And they were so excited to share what they were doing. And they were so grateful that someone thought of them and that someone provided a space for them. And so I thank you for that. The work that you do is so expansive, is so rich and deep in the community. And we just really are looking forward to partnering with you.

[02:35:03] Any other questions or comments? Thank you so much. Thank you, Ms. Nadler. With that, we will move on to item 10, our student school board representative's comments with Sarah Kelly, our student representative from Loudoun Valley High School, Ms. Kelly.

[02:35:24] Good evening. My name is Sarah Kelly, and I'm a senior at Loudoun Valley High School. When I spoke at the January 9th meeting, I was pleased to highlight the many accomplishments of my peers over the past year. Today, I wish to begin by focusing on how, as a student, I see every day the hard work of my teachers. As the budget for this year is being finalized, I hope that you will take into account the dedication of every teacher and ensure that they're compensated for the love that they put into their job. At Valley, we have a very strong staff who care deeply about their students. Our teachers are welcoming to questions, often arriving early in the mornings to aid students who need extra help on understanding materials. In addition to these extra efforts, the

[02:36:04] classes in which I have learned and grown the most were those with teachers who challenged us to go above and beyond the curriculum. I hope that you as a school board will work to encourage the work of these teachers who think outside the box and inspire creativity and imagination in their students. As I said, my favorite classes have been those in which I had the instruction of teachers who went beyond the basic rubric of a class and allowed us as students to truly grow in our learning, rather than simply meeting a letter grade.

[02:36:28] I'm not a science person, however, I chose to take AP Physics this year because I knew the teacher and I felt that the class would be an interesting challenge. While I still have no plans to become an engineer, I have been challenged to think about my own growth within a classroom setting and have been able to take risks when doing projects without fear of a failing grade.

[02:36:46] Even when one of my experiments failed to properly work, I wrote an analysis of what went wrong and what I could do differently next time. The class is structured to the AP curriculum, but my teacher still finds time to answer every question and even gave us an extra presentation on black holes simply because it interested her students.

[02:37:03] I hope that you as a school board see teachers like my AP Physics teacher and continue to nurture a learning environment in LCPS such as her classroom and those of many other teachers across our county. Another aspect I would like to bring to light as budget decisions are being made is the need to continue feeding the humanities programs of our schools and working to further them.

[02:37:21] Our county offers many opportunities for students interested in the STEM fields, and I feel that there should be more offerings for the humanities. MATA and AET offer many really cool programs that are incorporated into a regular high school curriculum. However, there aren't as many options for students interested in humanities to study at the academies.

[02:37:38] I feel that there should be similar experiences for those who are interested in studying English or history alongside science or math within LCPS. Nationally, we are seeing colleges and universities removing their humanities programs. In our county, and as a student planning on studying journalism and anthropology, I don't want our county to become another statistic of lost or non-existent opportunities.

[02:38:00] I have been lucky to work on my school newspaper, which allowed me to expand my field of knowledge in writing and journalism. However, there are other schools that don't have programs as robust as ours. I hope that all of you will take note and work to offer more opportunities for students interested in English, literature, philosophy, history, and more.

[02:38:17] I remember my grandfather saying, engineers can tell you how to build something, but people who have studied the humanities can tell you whether or not it should be built. I hope that our county will educate our students in all subjects and continuously encourage them to ask why in safe environments that foster learning rather than perfection.

[02:38:34] I'm extremely grateful to be a representative of my school out in county tonight and to have spoken. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Kelly. And I think I can speak for most of us that we're very interested in keeping our humanities exploring and keeping those in their hearts okay at this time we'll move on to agenda item 11.1 the superintendent report that is presented by dr. Spence dr. Spence thank you thank you madam chair and members of the school board it's

[02:39:13] my pleasure this evening to share with you again some good news from around our school division we'll start this evening by letting our community know that Wes Allen has been named LCPS Division Counsel. Mr. Allen began with LCPS in 2022 as the inaugural Assistant Division Counsel and has served as Acting Division Counsel since September of 2023.

[02:39:34] He brings with him to this position years of experience in civil litigation and education law, having worked at firms in the metropolitan Washington area prior to joining LCPS. Mr. Allen has a law degree from William & Mary Law School and a master's degree in education from Harvard University. Congratulations, Wes. Next, Social Science Supervisor Danielle Graham was honored with the Public Educator of the Year Award by the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area for her commitment to sharing the history of this region. Since taking on the role as supervisor, Ms. Graham has worked with community organizations to bring local history to students throughout the county.

[02:40:11] She's been instrumental in connecting teachers with Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area staff and making schools aware of the historic resources available here. Ms. Graham was presented with her awarded VPHA's annual Heritage Hero Award Ceremony in Upperville in early January, and we congratulate Ms. Graham. Next, the Virginia Council for Social Studies has recognized two Belmont Ridge Middle School history teachers who distinguished themselves in teaching history. Dr. Laura Brown is the recipient of the 2024 Betsy Barton Teacher of the Year Award. Throughout her tenure in the classroom, Dr. Brown has demonstrated a commitment to fostering a deep understanding of history

[02:40:48] among her students. James Eric Sasek is the recipient of the 2024 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Excellence in Teaching Award. Mr. Sasek utilizes engaging lessons, interactive activities, and collaborative projects that foster independent thinking and strategic skills to impart the social studies curriculum. Dr. Brown and Mr. Sasek will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to social studies education at an awards ceremony on March 1st at the VCSS conference at Longwood University, and we congratulate both of them. Earlier this month, Tony Smino Johnson, a Rockridge

[02:41:28] High School theater teacher, was inducted into the Virginia Thespian Society's Hall of Fame. This honor was in recognition of his service to Virginia thespians. His contributions to theater education have been recognized nationally, and Rockridge High School was honored with the Excellence in Theater Award from the Educational Theater Association, indicating its status as one of the top theater education programs in the country, and we congratulate him on this recognition. Recently, one of our students, Addison Miller, a Loudoun Valley High School senior, returned to her middle school, Blue Ridge Middle, to conduct the school's orchestra,

[02:42:06] which performed a song which she wrote. The song Marvel's backup song is Addison's second orchestral composition. Her love for creating musical compositions has blossomed since she created her first one as an eighth grader at Blue Ridge Middle. Addison credits her Blue Ridge Middle music teacher, Jennifer Galong, for helping her set her on this path of musical creativity.

[02:42:32] And while I hope that those examples are great examples of how LCPS continues to support the humanities, we do also continue to support STEM as well. I had the opportunity to join more than 100 students at a recent event, Elevate Loudon, which was a one-day computer science internship fair held at Loudon Valley High School on Monday, January 22nd.

[02:42:52] 16 business partners supported the event, and students engaged with industry partners, discussed internships, explored experiential learning options, learned about job openings, and honed career-related skills such as resume review. LCPS is fortunate to have so many business partners who are willing to share their time and expertise with our students and provide them insight as they think about their future plans and we want to thank the office of computer science for organizing this event just this past weekend more than 550 lcps parents staff and community members participated in the sixth annual lcps

[02:43:28] mental health and wellness conference and resource fair participants had the opportunity on saturday to learn from more than 40 mental health and wellness professionals on topics such as improving communications with teens daily wellness practices dealing with eating disorders healthy relationships and much more in addition over 80 local businesses county agencies and lcps offices provided information to support parents at the resource fair this conference was coordinated by the office of student mental health services with support from other offices within the department of student services their months of preparation and planning truly paid off for a great community event that

[02:44:06] was a service to all who attended and participated so kudos on a job well done to our team and madam chair that concludes my report thank you dr spence at this time we will move to item 12 which is public comment thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process the school board welcomes comments from loudon county residents and believes that the 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 and the agenda this

[02:44:45] evening, all speakers have been allotted one minute each for public comment. Please be advised the speakers who've missed their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium, or during a break. Violations of civility, decorum, and respect include shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting, obstructing speakers from being able to see the

[02:45:21] 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. Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, defamation, profanity, or other breaches like breaches of respect, nor may speakers target, criticize, or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public comment. Speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school

[02:46:00] official. The school board requests that comments on an individual or employee-related matter not be shared at public meetings, where the disclosure could violate applicable confidentiality requirements. Speakers should face the dais and direct their comments to the school board. Per LCPS policy 2520, members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during public comment period. 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.

[02:46:37] Repeated or persistent violations of decorum or disability 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.

[02:46:59] 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. The live stream of the meeting may be viewed on the website.

[02:47:29] We look forward to hearing your comments. We'll start with the in-person speakers, starting with Brenda Bankston.

[02:47:58] Her second speaker is Lauren Ziegler, followed by Bill Ziegler. When we were here three weeks ago, we had a lot of optimism that this fight was going to be over. We really believed that this new board would make a difference for mental health.

[02:48:16] And yet, we have emailed you every day for three weeks, and we have received no response. People all over North America have emailed you, and yet you continue to ignore us and everyone else. What no one can figure out is why. Why wouldn't you take action to support mental health, especially after LCPS just hosted a conference on mental health with a session on the benefits of sports and a young person's mental health? We just cannot make any sense of this. You have it in writing from VHSL that the prior board did not apply proper policies to Lilly's case. Who is telling you you can't do anything

[02:48:52] about this? Because you can, you can make this right. Why you're in those seats is to do the right thing. How can you look at my daughter and tell her that her mental health doesn't matter? If you can explain it to her, please have the decency to do so, because you are ignoring us and not doing the right thing. Thank you. Bill Sigler, followed by Emily Faulkner.

[02:49:18] Good evening. LCPS announces before every game that the VHSL rules govern and tells the players they must abide by them. But in deciding athletic waiver requests, LCPS doesn't apply the VHSL rules. The LCPS staff told the prior board that the county would lose its VHSL membership if it granted waivers like my daughter Lily's. But LCPS doesn't keep track of how it decides waiver requests or report that to VHSL. You just hosted a mental health conference that Dr. Spence just mentioned and told the public at that conference that youth who exercise and participate in sport

[02:49:57] have a positive physical mental health and cognitive correlation. But the staff ignored Lily's doctor's professional opinions that her participation in sport is necessary for her mental and physical health. The superintendent in this board has said they want to foster transparency and serve the needs of each student, but for nine months now, no one has responded to our request to talk about Lily's issue. She, a 17-year-old girl, is able to stand up here publicly and talk about her struggles. Well, the staff will say nothing, and they're in this room tonight.

[02:50:26] Thank you. Emily Faulkner, followed by Beth Hess. As a longtime friend of the Sigler family, i'm outraged at the way lily is being treated by this board and your refusal to grant the proper waiver she is entitled to my question is why why is the school board so determined to cause greater harm to this child to what end please don't turn a blind eye to mental health that is more of the same which is not what this county needs you've indicated because of the pending legal case you're unable to speak on this matter that's not only false but the siglers have said repeatedly they

[02:51:04] will drop the case if the board would agree to reconsider lily's case using the proper rules There's no legal reason to avoid engaging in dialogue. Two years ago, my son was an 8th grader at Willard when one of his 7th grade peers tragically took his own life. Have we already forgotten this as a community?

[02:51:20] Does his life have no impact on decisions that you make regarding mental health? Do better. Make this right. That is why we voted for you. In response to my letters, two of you asked me to consider the position you were in. So I did. And from where I'm standing, I see the position you're in as one of power.

[02:51:35] Because the voters of this county put you in those chairs you're sitting in, You have all the power to do the right thing. Beth Hess, followed by Darris Hess. Hello, new school board.

[02:51:51] Almost every department within LCPS is asking for a budget increase, with the majority of the budget slated for employee salaries. Dr. Spence is requesting to add to the Diversity and Inclusion Department, which has yet to show any proof that it actually does anything. And communications requests additional staff, which is on top of our overly paid director.

[02:52:12] A 400-plus page, $1.8 billion budget is no doubt overwhelming, but that's the point. Superintendent Spence wants you to be overwhelmed and simply rubber stamp this budget. But you have a duty to the Loudoun County taxpayers to be fiscally responsible. Taxpayers of Loudoun are here to remind you to continue asking questions and not rush this budget process.

[02:52:34] Maybe it's time for a rationalization of every single job at the admin building. Every position needs to be analyzed to be sure that they are needed positions, fulfilling a 40-hour work week, and if not, eliminate these positions. This pattern of increased spending every year is unsustainable.

[02:52:53] Thank you. Darris Hess, followed by Lily Sigler. Good evening. A 9% budget increase should be a non-starter for this board. One of the arguments for more funding is that Virginia schools receive less compared to national and regional averages.

[02:53:13] That is irrelevant. Do you want to be like Illinois, California, or New York? Those school systems are mired in mediocrity, and all they do is throw more money at the problem. Regarding FTE, the board should say no to additional admin positions, especially for the DEI office. We know that corporations across the country slashed DEI hirings in 2023 because the value add could not be shown to investors.

[02:53:36] LCPS is no different. I know that all of you ran for this job because you want to make improvements and improve the system, and that starts right here, right now, with fiscal responsibility. LCPS must prove it can deliver improvements with the resources currently available, and that includes a comprehensive analysis of the administrative structure in this system.

[02:53:56] If someone isn't adding measurable value, restructuring needs to occur. That's how they do it in the corporate world. Thank you. Thank you. Lily Sigler, followed by Abby Platt. Hi, everyone.

[02:54:12] I know that not everyone is a words person, so I decided tonight I wanted to explain some pieces of my situation in numbers. There are three weeks, 21 days, 504 hours, and 30,240 minutes until lacrosse tryouts. It has been 274 days since I applied to transfer schools.

[02:54:29] It has been 180 days since I was denied my waiver to play lacrosse. A mental health advocacy nonprofit just published a post about my story. In just four days, it has received 4,817 likes and 254 comments full of people providing me support and encouragement during this process.

[02:54:47] I have been in this process for far too long, and time is simply running out. Do not let me become a number myself, adding to the number of students you could have helped. Thank you. Abby Platt, followed by Sandy Sullivan. Let's go back to the last meeting and address something that was totally glossed over.

[02:55:11] On budget page 19, which is the executive summary, accounting errors total more than $300 million. With a nearly $2 billion budget, the executive summary is where average people look to see what's in the budget. These are the same numbers that the superintendent used to justify his ask for a 9.4% budget increase.

[02:55:33] Now, I'm not an accountant, and I'm certainly not the chief financial officer, but this is a material problem. The chief financial officer called the missing $315 million a suppression in the system, a housekeeping error. Now, no one asked any questions, and the presentation continued.

[02:55:52] I have questions, a lot of questions. And as a taxpayer being faced with the potential of increased taxes to cover a 9.4% increase, I am deeply troubled. An outside accounting firm must investigate this budget to confirm its accuracy and clean up any other housekeeping suppressions.

[02:56:11] Thank you. Sandy Sullivan, followed by Daryl Dawson. Speakers from the Loudoun Education Association Compensation and Climate Committee will present some of our recommendations regarding the budget and items that cost nothing while improving the climate for your employees.

[02:56:32] LEA recommends a step and a 5% market scale adjustment for all LCPS employees. Your educators, as they always have, continue to work well beyond the student day to ensure student success. All your educators should be able to afford a middle-class standard of living in Loudoun County.

[02:56:49] An item from our recommendation with no budgetary impact is ensuring that unencumbered planning days are protected. These days are often taken over by administration, which keeps educators from completing critical work those days, classroom setup, lesson planning, and completing report cards.

[02:57:06] Safeguarded time provides for productivity and allows educators to use their professional judgment to best serve the needs of our students. On another note, policy 60-30 in its current draft is an anti-worker policy that stifles communications. You've already received an email from me with LEA's concerns and suggestions.

[02:57:24] Thank you. Daryl Dawson, followed by Karen Terrell. Good evening. My comments are in regards to the top-of-the-scale salary cap and the possible 1% bonus.

[02:57:40] I see three problems with that. Possible, 1%, as a bonus. Last week, the London Times Mirror, I saw four positions related to something I would qualify for, with a starting salary listed 30% higher than what my current salary top-of-the-scale will be.

[02:57:57] I've got about six or seven high-quality years left. To be candid, I'm seriously considering it. It is expensive to live here. Costs do increase. With 20 years in LCPS teaching, I get it.

[02:58:13] It's a truism of Northern Virginia living. But to make it possible means that it can also be not possible. And keeping it as a bonus not only devalues my worth, but makes it an optional. Well, my expenses are not optional.

[02:58:30] Are yours? My budget increases more than 1%. Does yours? Thank you. Karen Terrell, followed by Larissa Lemp. I'm Karen Terrell, a digital experience specialist at Belmont Ridge Middle School and a member of the Loudoun Education Association's Compensation and Climate Committee.

[02:58:57] First, a bit of nomenclature. All LCPS employees are educators, but not all educators are teachers. They're referring to employees, particularly in our schools, as teachers and staff. really doesn't work we are all educators and have an impact upon our students no matter our specific job titles secondly the committee would like to recommend that we rename our teacher assistants to instructional assistants changing the specific title of these educators to ai's is more in line with what they actually do in the classroom assist instruction rather than assisting the teachers

[02:59:33] lastly please play our pay our employees a living wage in the compensation and climate packet you receive, there's a link to the living wage calculator. This was developed by a professor at MIT for each county in the nation. A living wage should be the floor for our classified staff pay. Thank you. Larissa Lemp, followed by Alexa Severo. Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, Dr. Spence. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening. I wish to direct your attention to the disparity in co-curricular stipends. First, the Officer of Elementary

[03:00:09] Education pays all general education grade level and specialist team leads an annual stipend of $1,061. Further, the Department of Instruction pays annual stipends to middle school salts, $1,819, and high school department chairs are arranged between $2,026 to $4,053. However, Elementary Education special education team leads currently do not receive a stipend for the same work. This is because the Office of Special Education did not include this slide item in their budget. I'm asking you, despite this oversight, then might you consider amending the budget so all team leads are compensated equally. In the

[03:00:49] same spirit, I am also asking that you consider awarding stipends to other co-curricular team leads who provide for the welfare of our students, leading school board-based PBIS, SEL efforts, National Honor Society, and compliance with MANT training. Thank you. Thank you. Alexa Severo, followed by Jo Claire Marshall. Hello, my name is Alexa Severo. I teach second grade at Sugar Land Elementary.

[03:01:15] Thank you all for serving on the school board and for all the hard work that you'll be doing with the budget. I'm speaking today on behalf of LEA. First, I want to stress the importance of being realistic with educators' time. Specifically, limit meetings and trainings to avoid loss of teaching and planning time. Adding transition times into the elementary master schedule for classes and for specialists so they can prepare for their next class. Respecting educators to control their CLT time with what they need to work on, not just checking boxes, and also limiting unpaid meetings outside of contract hours. We all know educators work well beyond contract hours, but having meetings after school

[03:01:53] is way more than necessary, especially when most meetings could just be an email. Lastly, I want to say that any new position should be student-centered. We don't need more facilitators telling us how to do our jobs. We need interventionists working with our students to help them learn and grow. Thank you. Thank you.

[03:02:13] Next we'll have Jo Claire Marshall followed by Daniel Brubaker. Tonight I'd like to talk to you about caseloads and staffing standards in our schools. The standards for setting class size for classrooms with ELs and SPED students needs to be adjusted for multiple reasons. Students in these programs require more of the teacher's time and attention and should carry more weight than a student in the formula for calculating class size yes at times an EL teacher or special education staff member may be present to support these students but these students often have large chunks of time during the day that they do not

[03:02:51] have additional staff present to help address their needs special education caseloads should be examined and adjusted to ensure that students needs can be met in their least restrictive environments with fidelity we are often staffed for needs that are present at the beginning of the school year and are not staffed to address changes in IEPs as the year progresses if students need more support or for when more students are found eligible. Students may move into the county during the school year who require services resulting in these numbers to increase. Where is the room for growth? We can't

[03:03:23] start out at maximum or near maximum thresholds. Thank you. Thank you. Daniel Brubaker followed by

[03:03:42] Robert Bennett. Robert Bennett followed by Brandon Michon. Good evening. My name is Robert Bennett.

[03:03:58] Our family moved here over 10 years ago, and the last two of our eight children graduated from Loudoun Valley High School several years ago. My professional career in Boston was a chief financial officer of an international chemical engineering and pump company for almost 40 years. I've seen my fair share of budgets, financial reporting, budget analyses, and you can imagine massive tax returns.

[03:04:21] The proposed budget for 2025 is over $1.8 billion, and that's a staggering amount of money. And its presentation in official publications, and certainly disseminated to the public, needs to be accurate and transparent, certainly if you want the trust of the taxpaying public.

[03:04:39] The current version, with over $315 million missing from the report, is very problematic. And in my opinion, the error in proofreading this document before dissemination is egregious and borders on dereliction of duty. My entire professional career, I have never seen a more gross violation of the public trust in financial reporting.

[03:04:59] Thank you. And I ask that you correct it. Brandon Michon, followed by Susan Cox. Susan Cox, followed by Beth Bernat.

[03:05:18] We need sound spending, not extravagant, wasteful, toxic spending. DEI is a multimillion-dollar industry that has become detrimental. It has been injected into early childhood education all the way through our top elite universities. Viewing everything through a racial lens is not helpful, neither is the oppressor-opressed narrative.

[03:05:39] Let's learn from history. As Booker T. Washington said, quote, "There is a certain class of race problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well, for as long as the disease holds out, they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public."

[03:05:56] End quote. I implore you, make sure you are not guilty of this temptation. Fund the child and programs that truly benefit all students. Judge and hire based on merit and character. Increasing the budget, especially when enrollment is down, doesn't make sense. we need accountability and transparency in all areas and that includes spending we need a school system that works for the students teachers parents and community we need programs that aren't divisive we need teachers to focus on the thank you thank you beth bernett

[03:06:26] followed by elizabeth boyco elizabeth boyco followed by julie cacciola i currently work as a cafeteria monitor in my two youngest kids elementary school i am in the fortunate position of not needing to return next year when you cut our pay from Band 5 to Band 2 in the hourly banded rates.

[03:07:04] And I won't return. You should know why cafeteria monitors are valuable as this is a difficult position to fill. There is a lot of turnover, and you will lose many of them. We provide a clean and safe environment for hundreds of children over a period of 2 1⁄2 hours. There are numerous safety concerns, spills, food allergies, choking, just to name a few.

[03:07:23] Elementary school children are needy. They require a lot of help, reminders, assurance, discipline. We are continuously responding to not only their immediate lunchtime concerns but also social and emotional needs. We have to be prepared for emergencies and we've had at least one this year that required EMS in our cafeteria. While you continue to expand the budget and create more cushy admin jobs taking the focus off the students please remember the employees who are actually in the schools with students because without students you wouldn't be sitting in your ivory tower.

[03:07:54] Thank you. Julie Caciola, followed by Megan O'Meara. Megan O'Meara, followed by Lee Stewart.

[03:08:17] Good evening. I want to thank Ms. Chernoff and Mr. Estraffi for your immediate and thoughtful response to my colleagues and my comments at the last meeting regarding the need for more robust support for LCPS students who are struggling with opioid addiction. We are encouraged to know that this is a priority and that the district is already advocating for funding for a regional recovery school and is considering housing a program for Loudoun students in the North Star building.

[03:08:53] We are also pleased to learn of the telehealth partnership between the Williams Center and Parkview High School. These are all important steps towards supporting our students long term, and revising policy and regulation 8240 to reflect the current climate of student opioid use should be among them.

[03:09:08] I would like to reiterate that in the meantime, while at-risk students are still in our schools, providing a dedicated student assistance specialist and an additional school security officer to every high-needs school is an immediate action that can help mitigate the burden on staff who are trying to stay ahead of the next crisis. Thank you. Thank you. Lee Stewart, followed by Jennifer Byron. Oh, Siren, sorry. I'm a teacher at Parkview High School, and yesterday I was reminded of how

[03:09:44] lucky I am to be a part of the Parkview community. A former student of mine came up to me between classes to share a poem with me, and it wiped me off my feet. It was just a small moment, but it was one of many such moments at Parkview that mean the world. Amazing things are happening at Parkview and I'm so proud to be there. Like other schools in the county and all over the country, however, some of our students struggle with drug addiction and other mental health concerns. They need more help from the community at large. I want to thank Dr. Spence and other school board members for making moves to help our struggling students and I want to urge you to keep going. For example,

[03:10:23] Parkview would greatly benefit if we had a student assistant specialist assigned to our school full time. Our current SAS is an amazing person who does so much for our students, but she splits her time between two high-need schools. Please hire additional SAS staff members for Sterling Park and for schools all over the county. Thank you so much. Jennifer Siren, followed by Michael Kotelnicki. Hi, my name is Jennifer Siren, and I'm a parent of two LCPS high school students, and I'm an English language teacher at Parkview.

[03:11:02] I was really pleased this week to read in the paper that our state representatives have already proposed legislation to start a recovery school in Loudoun County next year. It was really encouraging, and I want to thank the board and Superintendent Spence and all of the other administrators who've worked hard on that to get this through in such a quick and timely manner.

[03:11:26] I would also like to thank you for your collaborative work with the Williams Center that I read about this week where you're piloting a mental health kiosk at Parkview High School. We're really encouraged that that'll help reduce some of the barriers so students can get help in a timely manner. And finally, I would encourage you to continue working on developing programs and modifying policies to support our students who struggle with opioid addiction and other addictive substances. And it's going to take a long time, took a long time to get here. So I hope that you'll be with us. Thank you. Michael Koltenecki, followed by Joseph Smith.

[03:12:05] Good evening. I'm Dr. Michael Koltenecki. I represent the Virginia Athletic Trainers Association and talking about getting athletic trainers additional ones back on their budget. My two-year-old boy loves Frozen and the song is to do the next right thing. Dr. Spence mentioned in the Loudon Dial on January 18th that the focus will be students, the new hires and new positions. This is the exact definition of that, to hire new people for the focus of the athletic trainer to the student. We have a federal bill coming and three commonwealth bills that are going to need the talents and knowledge and the education of the athletic trainer to help our students in the

[03:12:42] county. Neighboring County Fairfax has hired more. Frederick County, rural county, has hired more. And now we are doing the right thing. Our federal government is doing the next right thing. Fairfax County is doing the next right thing. Frederick County is doing the next right thing. It's now time for Loudoun County to do the next right thing for our students after school with the addition of athletic trainers back into the budget. Thank you. Thank you. Joseph Smith followed by Michaela Smith. Hello everyone. To echo some of the previous statements, I'm here to put a request

[03:13:21] for an additional athletic trainer for all the schools. From a coach's point of view, because I was a coach at the high school for several years, where I saw that the athletic trainers do have an increased role and responsibility greatly over the years that I was there. It also exposed some unsafe conditions because they can't be, one athletic trainer can't be everywhere at any given moment for all the sports teams and everybody that's needed because they treat everybody that comes on campus. And finally, to address the ongoing opioid epidemic, the need for an additional certified medical professional on the grounds after the school day into the

[03:14:00] activities at night is imperative. So my humble request is really just to ask you all to meet with the trainers, the athletes, the coaches directly to get the pertinent information from the boots on the ground people and see what's going on. I thank you for your time and I thank you for all your hard work and efforts. Thank you. Michaela Smith followed by Susan Orlett. Hi, I'm a senior at Heritage High School. I played varsity softball all three years. I'm here to talk about the need for a second athletic trainer in schools.

[03:14:35] During one of my games sophomore year, I crossed home plate and broke my ankle. Thankfully, Mr. Owens, the athletic trainer at Heritage, happened to be at the softball game at the right time. He was able to help me right away assess my injury and get me splinted and sent to the ER for an x-ray. While he was helping me, he was unable to assist anyone else in the other many games being played, leaving other athletes at a greater risk than I was during my injury.

[03:14:55] Although seeing a doctor outside of school was beneficial to get a proper diagnosis, taping my ankle before every single practice so I didn't injure myself further was essential. Every day we had practice or a game, I would get dressed in the locker room, make my way to the training room, and wait about 30 to 40 minutes to be seen. With a second trainer, more than one athlete would be able to help at a time and allow for athletes to get prepped for games and practices quicker.

[03:15:16] With a second trainer, any time multiple injuries or crises occur, at the same time, a certified professional such as Mr. Owens can be available. He is an invaluable resource to all the students on and off the field, and the problem is there's just not enough of him to go around. Thank you. Thank you. Susan Ouellette, followed by Corey Brunette.

[03:15:37] The school board must not rubber stamp the superintendent's bloated budget request. A 9.4% spending increase when there's a 1% growth in student enrollment? This is madness. 53% of our 4th to 8th graders aren't proficient in reading, and 49% are not proficient in math.

[03:16:00] This, with per-pupil spending up 53% since 2019. Where's the accountability for the school system's systemic failure? Don't kid yourself. The extra millions in the budget won't go to the classroom.

[03:16:15] It will go toward funding an already bloated administration and woke social engineering initiatives. The school board needs to cut everything from this budget that isn't directly related to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Because as it stands, Johnny can't read, Johnny can't write, and LCPS can't do math.

[03:16:36] Thank you. Corey Brunette, followed by Jose De La Oh. Good evening. My name is Corey Brunette, and I'm an English learner teacher at Broad Run High School. I would like to talk about policy 6330, the anti-worker policy no one asked for.

[03:16:55] This policy would not allow LEA or any other union free access to its members, another example of how LCPS continues to stifle communication instead of fostering it. We employees are more likely to stay at a work site when we feel heard and understood, and feel like our voice matters.

[03:17:14] We want to be part of the solution. Change agents for student learning conditions. When issues come up, we want to resolve them in our work sites, not transfer somewhere else. Let's look at Fairfax County for a moment. Fairfax has multiple educator unions, and they are all allowed access to employees during non-instructional time.

[03:17:34] If it works for them with multiple unions, how about a similar policy for Loudon? LCPS will never outperform its educators. Thank you. Jose DeLeo followed by Cole Powell. Good evening school board members and Dr. Spence.

[03:17:59] My name is Jose DeLeo. I participate in cross-country, spring track, baseball, and swim. My athletic trainer is Anthony Lucas. He has helped me through all the sports I've been in with me getting an injury to my head and me getting shin splits. He has treated all my injuries. I've seen every single athlete that has been there in his clinic and every time I see him every time I'm in there i see how many how many student athletes there are there are probably 10 or if not there's more than 10 and with every game he's at there's always multiple games either a soccer game a

[03:18:37] baseball game or a softball game there's only one athletic trainer and there's 841 student athletes if there was more if there was a there was another athletic trainer then there could be more than they could be in each game analyzing what's happening and helping each student athlete there thank you. Thank you. Cole Powell followed by Suzanne Satterfield. Hello. Thank you. Good evening distinguished school board members and Superintendent Dr. Spence. My name is Cole Powell

[03:19:13] and I'm the head athletic trainer at Rockridge High School. I would like you to picture my room right after school lets out around 418 when there's anywhere between 20 to 50 students trying to get ready for their sports maybe get some rehab so that they can return to their sport or get diagnosed or evaluated for a concussion, a traumatic brain injury.

[03:19:35] I would ask you to add the additional athletic trainers back into the budget. As you've heard people before me talk about the need. If I had a little bit more time, I could go into some personal experiences. But I would urge you to come to some of our major events, to any of the wrestling meets that we might have in the rest of the year or the the winter and uh season and then i would urge you to come to some of the spring events where at rockridge i know i'm going to have 11 teams by myself that i'm going to be taking care of

[03:20:08] thank you suzanne satterfield followed by andrea weiskopf i told spence that i was concerned about him bringing his bad spending habits from virginia beach i stated that the chief of comms and ombud salaries at the time combined took well over 360k out of the classrooms and he shrugged it off

[03:20:33] He now dares to ask for a 9.4% increase with $90 million for more admin bloat and pet projects like an elementary science specialist while kids can't read and cafeterias monitors pockets are paying the price from the poor food sales.

[03:20:49] They are not hired to sell food and they do not report to food services. They are there to clean and assist students because teachers can't and admin won't. DEI is admin's secret weapon to siphon money from taxpayers in the name of funding education. DEI has actually failed students by lowering standards, discipline, and hiding secrets from parents.

[03:21:08] All of this attributes to the rise in mental health issues. With DEI, the focus is on teaching kids that it doesn't matter how you perform because we fix the outcomes for you to come out on top because if we look good, you look good. Thank you. Andrea Weiskopf.

[03:21:33] In order to learn the direction LCPS intends to take the English curriculum, I had to take personal leave from my job, and I am an English teacher for LCPS. Holding a committee meeting at 9.30 in the morning prevents educators from attending and participating in public comment.

[03:21:57] Additionally, draft policy 6330 will also silence educators by limiting their ability to freely discuss education business with their union. educators are student advocates do not silence educator advocacy and so while i still have a voice to our lgbtq students if no one else has told you today that you matter and you belong i will you belong here black lives matter thank you and now we'll move on to the virtual speakers

[03:22:36] We'll start with Scott Pakula, to be followed by Tim McClintock. Good evening. Good evening.

[03:22:54] I'm here to request the reinstatement of the Virtual Distance Learning Elementary VDLE program and ask that access to the program be made to any LCPS student who wishes to participate. This program caters to children who thrive in a socially interactive, least restrictive environment.

[03:23:12] The VDLE program uniquely mirrors the in-person learning experience with live classes and immediate support for students with IEP, 504, ELL, and mental health needs. Sadly, the program was discontinued last year with no notice or reasonable alternative offered to families.

[03:23:28] It is our responsibility to provide all students with the best possible learning environment, and the VDLE program is a proven solution that should be made available to all students who wish to participate. Therefore, I ask all to stand with equity, stand with the Virtual Distance Learning Elementary program.

[03:23:44] Thank you. Thank you. Tim McClintock, followed by Jannie Cho. A confusion about the costs associated with virtual distance learning elementary, specifically the cost for 24 full-time employees to teach only 80 students.

[03:24:03] So how did it come to that? Back in 2022, as the school year was winding down, students of the program were told it was not coming back for the 22-23 school year. However, after parents advocated for the program, the school board decided to continue it after all. Unfortunately, not many people knew the change in decision.

[03:24:19] Even most LCPS staff didn't know. Administration signed contracts for enough teachers to handle 200-plus students but neglected to tell anyone it was still available. The window to sign up was very short and requests to join after that date were rejected. So LCPS was under contract to pay 24 full-time employees when it could have been done with as few as 7.

[03:24:37] So don't let the price tag fool you. Managed correctly, the cost per student would have been half the county average, as it was in the 21-22 school year. Price is not the barrier here, recognizing the real need for the program is. So please reinstate Virtual Distance Learning Elementary.

[03:24:54] Thank you. Jani Cho, followed by Qian Cheng. Good evening. I am a parent with two children who are attending different virtual programs.

[03:25:12] One attends LCPS Virtual Middle School and other VAVA K-12. With VDLE discontinuing last year, I felt my only choice for my elementary student was the VAVA K-12 program. Since the beginning of the school year, I have been very unhappy with the school's support from VAVA K-12.

[03:25:30] Regardless whether my son has a documented IEP, he does not get the direct teacher support he needs. Instead, he attends or completes online asynchronous work with minimal face-to-face instruction with his case manager. I feel that Baba Kato lacks the hands-on teacher support versus what LCPS VDLE program gave for him last year.

[03:25:51] I am requesting the board to reconsider and bring back the VDLE program for all students because the other virtual program options lack equity. Let's all stand with equity and stand with VDLE. Our kids need this program back. Thank you.

[03:26:08] Chan Chang, followed by Haley Smith. I appreciate the opportunity to address you today regarding the critical importance of funding virtual distance learning for elementary school students for the upcoming 24-25 school year.

[03:26:24] Our son has a rare neurological condition that puts him at high risk for developing seizures and strokes if he becomes sick with COVID-19 or other viruses. This could cause irreversible brain damage and atrophy, potentially proving fatal. With the risk of COVID-19 still present and the emergence of new variants, continuing to offer the VDL program is critical for ensuring he and other children with health issues have access to a safe, effective, and supportive learning environment.

[03:26:50] Over the past few years, our son and daughter have thrived in the VDL program. This program has allowed them to receive high-quality education while minimizing the potential health risk of in-person learning. The decision to discontinue the elementary program in the 23-24 school year is a major setback for our family and many others in our community.

[03:27:08] I urge the school board to reconsider this decision. It's essential for providing an equitable learning opportunity for all children, regardless of their health status. Thank you. - Thank you. Haley Smith, followed by Kipan.

[03:27:39] Kipan, followed by Mary McClintock. - Turn off the Virtual Distance Learning Elementary Program.

[03:27:56] This program, a lifeline for many families, including mine, offers a fair and safe education, free from bullying, and mirrors in-person schooling. Reinstate the virtual distance learning elementary program and ensure it's available for everyone.

[03:28:15] I ask you all to stand with equity, stand with the virtual distance learning elementary program. Thank you. Thank you. Mary McClintock followed by Heather Hughes. The IB program are amazing options for LCPS students to thrive and be challenged.

[03:28:37] For this special education update this month, One out of every eight students has a disability. Children with disabilities should have options, too. VDLE is an amazing program providing equity for children with disabilities and anxiety. When the program entered our homeschooled and denied our 8-year-old American Disability Act accommodations, we withdrew our child from the school district, emailing the admin bill to Hawaii.

[03:28:58] SEAC, MSAC, LEA, and Land for All have spoken in support of VDLE. Faith is a right. Why was VDLE discontinued without parent input? Why was the program not advertised? A lack of enrollment was cited as reason to close it. Why were requests for contact close or PTA refused?

[03:29:15] Why can't we support VDLE, AOL, TJ, and IB? Why can VDLE secondary return based on academic preference and VDLE not be reinstated to guarantee FAPE and LRE? Stand with equity. Stand with VDLE. Thank you.

[03:29:31] Heather Hughes, followed by Sundas Ahmad. Please reinstate virtual alumni elementary. So many children have benefited from this wonderful synchronous program. A lot of families were placed back into the building or are in another virtual school that is not equitable to the virtual lab in elementary.

[03:29:50] The virtual lab in elementary was part of LCPS. There are families that are no longer in LCPS. I have a child that is immune compromised in elementary and is now going in person. Since he no longer has the virtual elementary option, he has missed over 15 days of school due to being sick.

[03:30:07] I have another child that we are working on placing back into secondary virtual due to many medical needs. She has been on homebound before, but that is also not equal. She will lose her language credit if she is placed on homebound. Why can't these fragile children get an equal education?

[03:30:23] Every day, I feel like I'm fighting to keep my kids safe with their health. This should not be the case. Thank you. Thank you, Sundar Samad, followed by Kathleen M. I would like to request that we please allow virtual distance elementary to start back up again.

[03:30:45] My elder daughter did it for two years and is now in virtual middle school. My first grader now would really benefit from this program as she has some health issues that don't allow her to be in person. I know my family and so many others can benefit from it, not just for health reasons, but for many others.

[03:31:03] And I know that the budget will allow it if we all stand for it. Let's all stand for equity and stand with BDL. bdl eat thank you for the opportunity awesome thank you kathleen m followed by william m hello good morning good morning and thank you for being here um i may be a little girl but does not

[03:31:33] mean i can i cannot advocate please i used to love virtual elementary but it has gotten taken away from me please bring it back thank you thank you william m followed by elisa a please reinstate virtual distance learning elementary kids like my sister have a right to an education thank you

[03:32:12] elisa a followed by farooq ahmad evening i want virtual distance elementary back because it was amazing experience my teachers my teachers were awesome i had it for two years and i i had a very good time. I really want it back for those people that cannot go in person. I also want my sister to join as well. I would encourage the board members to please have this back as there is a need for it.

[03:32:40] Let's all stand for equity and VBLE. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Farouk Ahmad, I think that's the last person who will provide public comment for today. Thank you all for coming out and providing your public comment. That will conclude it, our public comment for today. We will

[03:33:19] now move on to our action item for tonight with 13-1 curriculum and instruction committee revision of policy 5125 alternative paths to attaining standard units of credit with dr ellis presenting dr ellis thank you madam chair i have no additional information since i presented this as an information item i'm happy to answer any questions do the board members have any questions

[03:33:47] seeing no questions do i have a motion to adopt the staff recommended changes to policy 5125 5125 alternative paths to attaining standard units of credit. I move that the policy adopt the staff changes policy 5125 alternative paths to attaining standard units of credit. I have a motion by Ms. Sharanoff. Is there a second? I second. If y'all wouldn't mind just raising your

[03:34:26] hands so I can like see somebody. Who was it? Dr. Rashid. My apologies, Madam Chair. I second. the motion has been uh properly moved and seconded uh to the motion to adapt staff staff recommended changes to policy 5125 alternative paths to attaining a standard unit so credit has been properly moved and seconded is there any discussion seeing none we will now vote on the motion to

[03:35:05] adapt staff staff recommended changes to policy 5125 alternatives passed to attaining standard units of credit by electronic vote and clerk will you please open the vote board members will you please record your vote. Ms. Chandler, would you please state your vote? Yes. Clerk, will you please

[03:35:34] close and display the vote? That motion passes unanimously. We will now move on to item 14.1, Department of Business and Financial Services, FY24, second quarter financial review and COVID

[03:35:54] funds update presented by Ms. Willoughby. Ms. Willoughby.

[03:36:16] I'm here to present the second quarter financial review for the school operating fund, the school nutrition fund, and the self-insurance funds. My presentation this evening will focus on the highlights of the projection with the full report that is available within BoardDocs. In the full report, there is a narrative supporting each fund's projection accompanied with that fund's financial forecast. The financial forecast presents revenues and expenditures by their various categories. The FY24 revised budget is shown along with the FY24 actual amount as of December 31st, 2023.

[03:36:50] For expenses, any FY24 encumbrances are shown, and then an updated FY24 balance with a percentage shown for either the percent of revenue received or the percent of expenditures spent to date. Then there are three columns for the projection that projects activity for the remainder of the year.

[03:37:12] Projected revenue or expenditures are shown an updated projected year in total, and finally a projected balance showing a surplus or shortage in revenues and an under or over in expenditures. On the bottom of each forecast, the fund balance calculation is also shown.

[03:37:31] Now that I've oriented you to the report, I would like to present some highlights for the school operating fund. The state revenues have been revised from the first quarter based on updated state projections that were released in December.

[03:37:48] As a result, sales tax were reforecasted to be below budget, and basic aid funding from the state is less based on actual enrollment being less than budgeted. Personnel costs are projected to be under budget by 2.6% due to vacancy rates.

[03:38:06] We also continue to experience higher sub-usage with this area projected to be over budget. Overall, O&M accounts or operations and maintenance accounts are projecting a surplus of about $9.8 million across the district with a large savings of $2.9 million forecasted from fuel savings based on favorable pricing achieved earlier.

[03:38:28] This projection only captures activity for the first half of the fiscal year through December 31st or the actual activity and then projections for January 1 through June 30th. The projections will continue to be refined as we move through the last half of the fiscal year.

[03:38:45] The projected fund balance for the school operating fund is $41.1 million before the $12 million budget carryover that is included as part of the FY25 budget as a funding source. After deducting this amount, the fund balance is projected at $29.1 million, or 1.7% of the total budget.

[03:39:06] This would be the amount returned to the county as required per the Virginia Code. Our target is to return no more than 1% of the operating budget. For FY24, that would be no more than $17 million. It's around this time that we also begin identifying needs that could be funded from the projected fund balance, similar to the activity that occurs with the county.

[03:39:31] Since the fund balance is one-time funds, the best practice is to use them for one-time expenditures, such as a capital equipment purchase. They cannot be used for recurring costs, such as a new position or a pay increase, nor can the funds be transferred to another fund.

[03:39:49] LCPS has identified a preliminary list of items for your awareness. In the upcoming months, a formal action item will be brought to the school board seeking approval to use the fund balance for one-time purchases to meet additional needs of the division. The list is tentative and subject to change.

[03:40:08] So far, we have computer devices that were pulled from the FY25 Department of Digital Innovation budget to allow for an earlier purchase. So instead of it being an FY25 budget, we're going to basically make that purchase earlier if the school board approves that.

[03:40:25] An expansion of TeachTown special educational software and an expansion of the Bridges math kits are also on the list. funding to coordinate and piggyback off a county procurement disparity study is included as is a comprehensive compensation study encompassing salaries benefits and regional comparisons the total of these items is roughly six million dollars and again we will continue to refine this list and this is an action that occurs each year where we bring items to the school board for

[03:41:00] consideration. For the school nutrition fund, approximately two-thirds of funding is derived from cafeteria sales with the remaining third from federal funding from the USDA. The second quarter projection has improved from the first quarter as we see an increase in projected cafeteria sales from increased meal participation rates. Compared to last year, this review projects sales to be 6.1 million higher. Expenses in this fund show the impact of vacancies with

[03:41:35] the $2.8 million projected savings and personnel costs. Other costs are fairly in line with the budget. The fund balance for the School Nutrition Fund is projected to be $22.9 million, with a drawdown of the fund balance of $9.4 million. Most of the drawdown, though, is associated with capital expenditures associated with an approved VDOE spend-down plan that utilizes funds that is actually identified in the beginning fund balance. The USDA caps the fund balance for the School nutrition fund at three months of expenditures. And if the fund balance exceeds this three-month

[03:42:13] cap, school divisions would submit a spend-down plan to VDOE for their approval to spend down these excess funds. The spend-down plan is a request to utilize the excess federal funds for capital expenditures and may span multiple years. Currently, there is evolving guidance from VDOE regarding the fund balance calculations. Regardless, though, our calculations are pointing that we will have an um that we will exceed the three month cap and should that occur we are prepared to submit another spend down plan to vdoe for their approval for the self-insurance funds there

[03:42:52] are four self-insurance funds the first fund is the health self-insurance fund the employee employer and retire premiums are the primary funding source to cover the medical vision dental and prescription claims the plan administrator fees and other related program costs each employee that participates in the health plan brings with them revenue to the health self-insurance fund via premiums paid by them in lcps as well as claims expense for most employees the claims they incur are less than the premiums with higher vacancies we have less participants that impact the revenue

[03:43:31] stream as shown with the 14.9 million dollar shortfall compared to budget but also impacts expenses with the 3.4 million dollar surplus in claims specifically we are seeing medical claims are coming in lower than budget, but that they are offset by higher prescription costs.

[03:43:51] For the workers' compensation self-insurance fund, the school operating fund transfers funding to the workers' comp fund to cover employee workers' compensation claims, third-party administrator fees, and related program costs. Claims are under budget, but this is an area that can fluctuate easily.

[03:44:11] The fund balance here is projected to meet the two-month minimum reserve as required per our policy. The short-term disability self-insurance fund is also funded by a transfer out of the school operating fund. The funding is to cover employees' earnings throughout any period of disability resulting from a non-work injury or illness.

[03:44:34] The short-term disability benefits are for employees participating in the Virginia Retirement System Plan 1 or Plan 2 retirement programs. Claims are pretty much on target with budget, and the fund balance meets the two-month minimum reserve. The last self-insurance fund is the Virginia Local Disability Program.

[03:44:55] Again, the school operating fund transfers funding to the VLDP fund to cover employees' earnings throughout any period of disability, also resulting from a non-work injury or illness. These benefits are for employees that are participating in the Virginia hybrid retirement system.

[03:45:12] These last three funds combined forecast modest expenditure savings when compared to budget. But as always, staff will continue to monitor activities in these funds. We have also used the quarterly financial reviews as an opportunity to keep the school board updated in terms of where we're at with the COVID funds that we have received.

[03:45:37] This information is also kept up to date on the LCPS website. So of the 25 awards that we received related to the COVID pandemic, 22 of them have been fully spent, and we have three active awards, totaling $19 million.

[03:45:57] These are the three active awards. As you can see, all three of them have expiration dates that will be later on in this calendar year, and we are on track to have all three fully spent by the dates listed.

[03:46:14] The ARP Homeless 2 Award, the allowable use, it talks about how there was a specific plan submitted regarding how this would be used, and it was for about $500,000. And again, we are on track to have that fully spent by September 30th.

[03:46:29] The ARPA CSLFRF Ventilation Improvement Project is funding that went into the CIP fund, and there is $16.9 million for HVAC renovations that is on track to be completed by the end of this calendar year.

[03:46:46] And the third category is the ARP ESSER III unfinished learning that also is on track to be fully spent by September 30th of this calendar year. And we will provide updated information related to the COVID funds to the website to keep this up to date.

[03:47:05] And with that, that concludes my presentation, and I am happy to take any questions. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. I'm asking about that one-time use of funds at the end of the year. is there a consideration for independent living learning labs for all high schools that we could use those funds for? I'm not familiar enough with what type of an expenditure would be associated with that. If that's a one-time or if there is recurring, is it a one-time capital expense or if there are recurring operational costs associated with that, those would be the considerations we

[03:47:44] would need to look at to see if it would be eligible. Okay, thanks. So we can take a look. Anyone else? Yes, Ms. Chernoff. On slide two in the first bullet, it says state revenue is forecasted to miss by $9 million based on December sales tax, re-forecast and below budget enrollment.

[03:48:04] So I'm reading that correct. It's because of both things? Correct. So what might the impacts of that be on our budget cycle now? Should we be thinking about that possible impact now, or are you thinking that for next year? So when we received this information in December, this was part of the governor's proposed budget.

[03:48:23] So while they look at, he's proposing a budget for the next two years, they also do a re-forecast for the current year. So the FY25 budget has already taken into consideration what their sales tax forecast would be for next year and the following year, as well as the basic aid has been re-benchmarked, and all of that has been taken, basically it's all included in the numbers for the FY25 budget. Okay, I appreciate that. And then I heard you use the phrase a couple times, high vacancy rates. Can you just expand upon what that means? So in terms of, so I'll use the example

[03:49:03] of school nutrition, since it's a little smaller scope, a smaller fund. There's about 400, there's about 400 employees in there. And when we prepare the budget, we prepare a budget assuming that all four, all 400 employees are filled. Okay. The reality is what will happen is that we are not going to fill all the positions and that we will also have um lapse and turnover so what is happening here in the school nutrition fund we are seeing i think it was the impact of the vacancies we're seeing about a 2.8 million dollar projected savings as a result of positions not being

[03:49:39] filled or there's the turnover and so there could be maybe it could a position could be filled for a few months maybe it sits vacant for a few months and then it's filled again that would be the lapse period it could also be um well the turnover since i'm explaining the three the turnover is associated with if somebody should happen to leave during the middle of the year and they were a more tenured employee and they were at the top of the scale and then we fill the position with somebody who is relatively or is new to the organization that maybe brings not very much experience so they come in at a lower amount and so that would be the turnover that we experience

[03:50:19] Is there a standard for deciding what becomes a high vacancy rate, or is that just like a generic term to explain the process you just explained? For school nutrition, we are experiencing, I don't know if there's like a clear definition, but we definitely are experiencing in that fund, I would say a high vacancy rate.

[03:50:36] In terms of the school operating fund, I would probably need to lean on Ms. Bolin's expertise. I'm so sorry. Can you repeat the question? Just, I think you answered it. I think with high vacancy rates, is there like a threshold that creates that term to be triggered, or is that just sort of the generic term for, you know, the process that she just explained, turnover, the gap of turnover, and then, you know, positions that just can't get filled? Yes, ma'am. It's kind of similar to that. There's no set ratio where we establish, okay, this is the line. Now high vacancy. Okay, thanks.

[03:51:15] any other questions is april on i mean is miss chandler on i'm here i don't have any questions thank you okay all right if there are no more further questions we'll move on to our next information item thank you miss willoughby our next information item 14.2 curriculum and instruction committee elementary three through five literacy core resource adoption recommendation presented by miss neil supervisor of early literacy and elementary reading and writing

[03:51:54] and mr slevin thank you miss mansfield and board members This evening's information item is coming to the full board at the recommendation of the CNI committee, chaired by Ms. Lauren Chernoff.

[03:52:28] Tonight we're gonna review with you options and a recommendation for next steps related to our three five literacy core resource. I am joined tonight by Ms. Catherine Neal, our supervisor of early literacy and elementary reading and writing, who will walk us through the presentation.

[03:52:50] - Good evening. We are excited to share with you our updates regarding our grades three to five literacy core resource adoption. I wanted to begin by providing some background information on the work that has been done to fulfill the requirements of the Virginia Literacy Act. In December of 2023, the VDOE released an updated version of the approved core instructional program guide. This updated version includes the approved core resources for

[03:53:25] fourth and fifth grades. The Virginia Board of Education was presented with a draft of the revised English standards on January 25th, and the Virginia Department of Education will host a variety of public comment and feedback sessions regarding the proposed SOL revisions. Some of these sessions will be held in person across the state. However, some of those sessions will also be offered virtually. Next slide. In March, the Virginia Board of Education will vote to approve

[03:54:03] or not approve the 2024 SOLs. It has been shared with literacy supervisors across the state that at this meeting, the Virginia Board of Education will also be presented with the first draft of the Intervention and Supplemental Materials Guide for grades K through 8.

[03:54:22] This guide is anticipated to be approved during the April meeting for the Board of Education. Per the Virginia Literacy Act, all school divisions will be required to select supplemental and intervention materials from the approved list, similar to the selection of the approved core resources by fall of 2024.

[03:54:43] Additionally, the Virginia Literacy Act requires that all school divisions create a division-wide literacy plan. At the start of the school year for the fall of 2024, school divisions will be required to implement high-quality instructional materials in all K-5 classrooms, per the Virginia Literacy Act.

[03:55:07] Teachers will also be required to implement the approved 2024 English standards of learning. However, these standards will not be assessed on the spring 2025 SOLs. Additionally, the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System, VALS, which is our statewide literacy screener, will expand to include third grade.

[03:55:29] All students in grades K through 3 will be required to participate in this assessment in the fall, winter, and spring testing windows. With the VAL screener, all students who have been identified as high risk on the literacy screener will be required to have a student reading plan.

[03:55:48] We are excited that during their December board meeting, the LCPS school board voted unanimously to adopt HMH into reading as our core literacy resource for grades K through 2. The adoption of HMH into reading will fulfill the requirements of the Virginia Literacy Act to implement high-quality instructional materials.

[03:56:13] Since the December school board meeting, the Elementary Reading and Writing Office has begun to work with various stakeholder groups regarding professional learning for all K-2, general education, English learner, and special education teachers, as well as for elementary administrators.

[03:56:30] We continue to work closely with administrators and teachers to determine needs for successful implementation of interreading. I've shared a brief overview of our accomplishments and work so far as it relates to the Virginia Literacy Act, but what's next?

[03:56:48] Our most immediate and crucial next steps is to identify a high-quality instructional material for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students and teachers. As I shared in the December school board meeting, we have two options for moving forward, with identifying a resource for grades 3 through 5.

[03:57:07] We can move forward with an in-depth review of HMH interreading for grades 3 through 5, or we can review all seven instructional resources that have been approved by the VDOE for grades 3 through 5. Knowing the magnitude of this decision, we felt it important to seek feedback from our LCPS stakeholders.

[03:57:26] A survey was sent to all teachers and administrators asking for whether they prefer option A, review HMH into reading, or B, review all seven approved resources. You can see on this screen a breakdown of scores. A total of 497 staff members completed the survey.

[03:57:45] The staff members who completed the survey represent a wide array of job titles that support literacy instruction. They are outlined on the screen. In total, 57% of staff favored moving forward with HMH Interreading.

[03:58:02] Option A focuses on an in-depth review of HMH Interreading. On the screen, my team and I have identified a variety of pros for moving forward with Interreading. You can see that a review of Interreading will provide early onboarding and professional learning opportunities for grades 3 through 5. Additionally, having one core resource for all K through 5 students would provide consistency in practice and expectations. It would be supportive for staff members who support students in varying grade levels, and it would provide consistency in assessment practices for students. Additionally, a common core resource would

[03:58:39] provide increased flexibility and options for ongoing professional learning support for teachers and administrators, while also being the most fiscally responsible option. Option B would include an in-depth review of all VDOE approved 3-5 materials.

[03:58:58] A pro would be an increased awareness of other approved instructional materials. However, awareness of other programs does not necessarily guarantee that we would find a resource better than HMH Interreading. Out of the seven approved resources from the state, LCPS reviewed six products as part of the K-2 adoption.

[03:59:19] The seventh resource added to the VDOE list was Savvis MyView. As you can see, reviewing all materials for grades 3-5 may have a significant negative impact. While this is not an exhaustive list of potential cons for reviewing all approved materials, some of the most important to mention are the continued feeling of uncertainty for our 3-5 teachers and administrators, the condensed timeline available for these teachers to receive materials and support, as well as the challenges of navigating multiple vendors for supporting professional learning to different grade levels.

[03:59:56] Based on the pros and cons of both options, coupled with feedback from our LCPS teachers and administrators, we would like to recommend moving forward with an in-depth review of HMH inter-reading for grades 3 through 5. Thank you, Ms. Neal.

[04:00:14] Do the board members have any questions? Yes, Ms. Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Neal, for your presentation and for your work for our school community I did have I had a couple of questions about the survey so you indicated that 497 LCPS members completed the survey how many was it open to it was open to all elementary teachers it was sent out to principals and they were asked to share it with their staff

[04:00:53] so anybody could have filled it out from those schools and you it says in your presentation of 57% of the staff feedback favored moving forward with HMH into reading. What was the rest of the feedback? Were there general categories that you could tell us?

[04:01:14] So really they just had two options. They had the option to move forward with HMH into reading or look at all seven programs that were approved on the VDOE list. So the other 43% favored looking at all seven options.

[04:01:32] Is that right? That's correct. From those who filled out the survey, that's right. Thank you. Ms. Chernoff. And I just want to emphasize that 57% even more from the work that I've done in the schools recently in the last month.

[04:01:52] Every school I've visited, I've talked to teachers and staff, and this has been a long road. This has been a very heavy lift. We've had to depend on the state, actually wait on the state for many of these things. The general sentiment is to move forward, and I am very confident that this is the right decision for our district and that it will provide you know next steps for onboarding and pathways as well as having a consistent k5 curriculum which was built to spiral and the content areas build on one another and you know elementary teachers don't stay in the same grade level forever so I think it's

[04:02:29] really important to remember that when you if you were to switch from k2 to 3 5 and the resource was completely different we're talking about a whole another training and adding more so that consistency is not only important for teaching but also in terms of assessment practices to make sure that we can ensure that there's validity there so I worked on this work a long time with with Miss Neal as my boss so I have a little bit more background but I feel very confident which is why we suspended the rules and want to move forward so just adding my yes just as a point of clarification the recommending the The recommendation tonight is simply to what to review going forward.

[04:03:10] If we did review all materials, it would be a much more comprehensive process and lead us into making a recommendation probably later in the spring and we would lose the benefit of time. So the initial feedback is let's take a deep dive into HMH 435.

[04:03:27] The process would be a four-week review period. The public would still be able to weigh in on the pros and cons of HMH into reading. we would do outreach to our teachers, we would have instructional materials for 3.5 available to our teachers to review. There'd also be an online opportunity to provide feedback.

[04:03:46] And we would come back to the board at the fourth Tuesday in February with our final recommendation for action. So the decision tonight is really about, are we focusing our review on HMH 3.5 or do we wanna open it up further?

[04:04:03] And we are just sharing staff plans proceed with the HMH 3-5, and we were looking for feedback from the board. Any more questions? Yes, Ms. Chandler. Thanks. I'm just wondering if you could speak to, as a point of clarification, why we weren't able to accept this model as a whole elementary unit, and why has it been presented separately in these two categories? Sure. I'll start, and I'll ask Ms. Neal if she

[04:04:40] could fill in any gaps essentially the virginia department of education is approving instructional materials that school systems can adopt in alignment with the virginia literacy act and they had divided the review of the materials for k2 and 3-5 and so we had the k2 list earlier we wanted to prioritize getting that decision made so that our teachers could start being supported with new materials and as with many things with the virginia literacy act we are partnering with the video we and we are waiting for guidance provided to them and that was released in

[04:05:14] december in december of 2023 so we're coming out of into the new year with this recommendation for three five would you add anything thank you so much are there any more questions so how do board members feel about moving this to the con to the consent agenda at our next board meeting or just

[04:05:46] getting them to move on with a review of hmh into reading three through five can i get a thumbs up if you agree no yes miss griffiths thank you madam chair are you familiar with ultimate was

[04:06:09] that a choice was that one of the seven no that was not one of the seven okay board member absent was with the straw poll can we go ahead and without miss donahue here can we go ahead and move on to the next or should we wait for Ms. Donoghue to see if she gives a thumbs up or thumbs

[04:06:43] down? Madam Chair, thank you. You can proceed as you can with your discretion based on the vote that you've, or the thumbs up that you've received. You needn't wait for Ms. Donoghue.

[04:07:00] Well, then it looks like we will be reviewing HMH only into reading three through five for your deep dive for the next four weeks. Thank you so much for your work. I know it was a heavy lift being part of it as well we will now move on to 14.3 from the finance and operations committee adoption of the new policy 6330 distribution of information and posting within schools on school grounds or during school sponsored events and deletion of policy 865 presented by

[04:07:38] mr lewis mr lewis thank you chair mansfield um as you are probably already aware policy 8-65 and its new replacement 6330 is a fairly complex policy with lots of different stakeholders and and passages throughout that we had an ex probably an excessive amount of conversation in cabinet and developing policy 6330 the previous board through the finance committee had several

[04:08:16] meetings where we went through that it is a complex topic we had a number of public comment on the policy when it was out there so staff is bringing it forward here as a direction from the previous finance committee however we recognize that this board had did not have the ability to be a part of that conversation because it was a previous board and so over the past week we've had a number of questions I've talked to a number of you about that and so if it's will the board the staff is in support of returning this to the finance committee so that this board can take ownership of that policy and be familiar with all the ins and outs of it thank you Mr. Lewis

[04:08:54] any questions how do board members feel about this going back to the finance and operations committee to continue to work on this policy may i get a thumbs up to send this back great it looks like we will be sending this back to fno to work on this policy a little bit more thank you mr lewis we will now move on to agenda i am 14.4 department of support services fall

[04:09:32] 2024 opening of henrietta lax elementary school to be presented by ms mitchell and mr lewis or just Mr. Lewis? I think I've got it. So thank you, Chair Mansfield. So this is another complicated issue.

[04:09:49] And what we're bringing forth to you tonight is a little bit of the background that Henrietta Lacks was designed and planned to open to serve grades K through 2 and Hope Outer Elementary School would then serve grades 3 through 5. Backing up a little bit more, we spent several years looking for a property to put on what ES32 was and then came to the board with the recommendation to combine those two buildings onto the one campus right side by side.

[04:10:17] So the two buildings, as you're probably aware, are very close to each other. The school board then took a look at some comments from the community talking about the continuity of the facilities for some students and they adopted a one-year variation of that so that the Henrietta Lacks school would open this fall, 24 through 25, with just K and one, and the second grade students would stay at Hovater so that they wouldn't be, if you can picture if you're a kindergartner this year and you're at Hovater Elementary School,

[04:10:53] then you would move to Henrietta Lacks next year for the 24-25 school year and then back to Hovater for the 25-26 school year. So the board responded to the folks that were asking about that. and took action to provide that one-year variation where the students that are in grade one this year would stay at Hobart for their grade two and then continue on through grades three through five.

[04:11:21] So we, as staff, we supported that, and we provided the information to the board to support that as far as enrollments. That took place in October of 2023. So moving forward into the fall and into the winter, in December, on December 12th, the school board took action for the new attendance zone boundaries for the Henrietta Lacks and the Hovatter space and provided more students into that attendance zone.

[04:11:51] I will own this. I should have advised the board that their December 12th decision affected their October 10th decision. It did not occur to me, and I did not do that. So essentially what they did is the realignment of the attendance zone in December overcrowded Hobart Elementary School.

[04:12:09] In your information item here tonight, we provide that information about the attendance. And you can see on the chart where we have the projected enrollments that Hobart Elementary School, if you look at the bottom of that chart, is expected to have 1,074 students in it for the fall of 2024.

[04:12:26] And so that's just too many. The building's built for 960. If all 1,074 of those students would be good and attend to Hovater, it would essentially result in class sizes of 28 or 29 students per class and really be a hardship for the students in that class as well as the teachers managing that process.

[04:12:47] So what staff is looking at, if you look at Henrietta Lacks right above that in the chart, you'll see that they only have 557 students if the second graders do not come next year in the fall of 24. So what we're proposing, if you see there in the grade two column, there are currently 262 second graders that will be in those buildings.

[04:13:10] And so what we're proposing is, in lieu of leaving them at Hovater and having that school overcrowded, that we go ahead and move those essentially right across the parking lot to the Henrietta Lacks School and equalize that enrollment. I do want to stress that the buildings are side by side.

[04:13:28] We've had a lot of concerns about going to different schools. The students will ride the same bus. So if you have siblings in both schools, and one's in second grade, one's in fifth grade, they'll still ride the same bus. They can still ride in their parents' car if they get dropped off.

[04:13:45] The drop-off spot is the same, so they would literally go in one door rather than the other. So we do believe with that in mind, there is some consistency there. They will be in the building next door. We do believe it's better for the students and the staff to be able to manage that enrollment for the year.

[04:14:06] We have some other attachments there that just show the numbers that you can see from the CIP. Again, this is my mistake. It was my oversight when the school board took action, and so I apologize for that and bring that back to this board to have to deal with that, whereas the previous board could have had that discussion in December.

[04:14:23] So with that in mind, the next step we were going to do is we're going to have a public meeting at hovatter elementary school invite the community we sent out notices on friday to alert folks that on february 7th we're gonna have a public meeting and we'll go over all the numbers as we have here tonight and be able to share with the parents what the advantages are of making that change and making sure those students are not overcrowded in those classrooms subsequent to that we've come back to the next school board meeting for action the school board the previous school board did take action to do that so your your role would be to rescind that action and then reassign those students the second graders to Henrietta Lacks so that would be the

[04:15:01] recommendation that comes to you on February 13th or 14th whatever that date is and that's really all I have as far as presentation I'm happy to take any questions you may have but let me just add that we received 13 emails to the publications that we sent out and the notices to that so we had 13 and one was actually in favor so just for context for your awareness thank you mr. Lewis board members do you have any questions yes dr. Rasheed I don't have a question but just for clarification so currently kindergartens are attending Pinebrook first graders all the way

[04:15:40] to fifth graders are at Hoviter am I correct right now that's correct okay so then in the fall once the fall opens up which Henrietta lacks will open up that will be K through first okay through second and then third grade all the way to fifth grade will be at Hoviter that would be the case if If this board takes action to do that, right now what's planned is K through 1 would be at Henrietta Lacks and 2 through 5 would be at Hovater.

[04:16:09] Okay, so is it safe to say that the current rising second graders at Hovater will have to go to Henrietta Lacks and then for their third grade the following year will then have to go back to Hovater again? That's correct. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And just for, again, if you can reinforce the logistics, they'll be riding the same bus?

[04:16:27] Same bus. The same bus, and the vicinity of the two schools are in the same parking lot, I guess you can say. They're on the same property. They're maybe 200 feet apart, and then so there's going to be a single joint drop-off area for parents, and so there'll be a canopy there so the kids can get out and walk one way or the other.

[04:16:47] And that's one of the reasons we wanted to have the meeting at the Hovatter campus is so folks could see just how close the building is because the building's up and nearly finished. Okay. And because I had received some constituent emails about there won't be any overcrowding if we were to leave it as is where the second graders stay at Hovater. But if we look at the data that you presented, you said that, correct me if I'm wrong, in that table that you have, currently it's 1,074, so it's way over capacity. So to offset that, you're mentioning the 262 number in that table?

[04:17:20] That's correct. If we leave it as planned right now, it would be 1,074 students at Hovater and only 557 at Henrietta Lacks. If we move the other, the 262, that will even them out about 800 apiece. Okay, and just for clarification for everyone, the 1,074, if we were to leave it as is, how much of a teacher-to-student ratio around are we talking about if we were to leave it as is?

[04:17:45] In conversation with Ms. Mitchell's folks, we believe it could be as many as 28 or 29 students per classroom in certain grades. Okay. All right. Thank you for that. The other thing that I didn't mention is if we have continual enrollment there, it's a possibility that we could be regionally assigning some of the kids out of that building as well.

[04:18:03] And so that would be something that then has the children in a different cohort than what they are. And in this case, they will be going to the same school with their same cohort. So once they go over to Henrietta Lacks and back, it'll be the same classmates that they're in with. Yes, Dr. Deans.

[04:18:23] Yes, Dr. Deans. But you did say that it's a safety issue if it's overcrowded, right? I'll hesitate to call it a safety issue. I think it's more of an instructional hardship when we have so many kids in the classroom.

[04:18:41] The building, from a fire egress perspective, is able to handle that if that's what you're meaning. But it's more of an instructional thing where you have the teacher-student ratio is higher than if we were to move them over into Henrietta Lacks. Don't we have to add another assistant or something if it's over a certain, like, 26 or 27?

[04:19:02] Is that correct? There is a number. I'll ask Ms. Mitchell to help me with that. Ms. Mitchell. Yes, so we do have staffing standards. And when they exceed for any particular classroom or set of classrooms, we would have to add an assistant.

[04:19:17] It doesn't necessarily mean that there would be one in every classroom, though, even though those classrooms could be a little over the staffing standard. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Ms. Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Lewis.

[04:19:35] Like Dr. Rasheed, I've received a number of constituent emails about this proposal, and several of them have suggested that the current first graders at Hovetter, if we accept your recommendation the result would be that that class would end up going to four different elementary schools of four years is that correct so as dr rasheed pointed out some of the students are all the kindergartners right now are going to pine brook so if you started at pine brook they would have gone to pine brook and then back to hovater and then to henrietta lax and then

[04:20:15] to hovater i think the important part of that is they would be in four different buildings well three different buildings with with four four changes however it would be with their same classmates and so that is one of their moving as a cohort there so you know they wouldn't always be in the same class but it's not like they're going to a different school with folks that they're you know completely not familiar with and it's also with their neighbors and that's usually where we hear a lot of the complaints is where we're moving folks from one neighborhood to another school and their neighborhood is going to a different school where in this case they'll all be going together yes Mr. Chernoff um first just a comment I just want to thank you for owning

[04:20:55] it. I think that that shows a lot about who you are and your integrity and you know this is a big district and sometimes we just have to own it and I'm sure each of us will have those moments. I know I will. So I just wanted to thank you for that. For your transparency about what happened and the timeline and it is complicated I think but maybe we can uncomplicate it. One thing this I'll bring to Ms. Boland's attention might be a perk your interest here. I had some teachers reach out today. I think they saw it on the agenda from the school that are supporting K2. And they are

[04:21:31] concerned that they have to go through the entire hiring process again to get a job at Henrietta Lacks, even though the students, like the argument, I think the thing, the sensitive thing is that the students that are using the argument like, well, it's right next door. It's the same students. Just get off the bus. And, but the teachers feel like they're being held to a different standard and that they have to go all the way through the hiring process first of all is that true so that is absolutely not true and we actually i am not sure what time they reached out to you today but

[04:22:03] we actually had staff um hrtd staff that support both recruiting and staffing meet with teachers today at the school to discuss this very topic okay can you provide some clarification around it Is it that they will, like, do they get first dibs on those jobs as they move over?

[04:22:24] I mean, in a simplified way, can you help us understand? In a simplified way, yes. So essentially, it would be they would have the opportunity since part one of the internal transfer process has already closed.

[04:22:43] However, due to the lateness of this, we have made an exception, and we are allowing them an opportunity to decide on their own whether or not they would like to voluntarily transfer over to Henrietta Lacks. They do not have to apply for those positions. They could opt to internally transfer, yes.

[04:23:00] But we are not forcing them to transfer or requiring them to transfer. Okay. Did they have to go online and resubmit all of their stuff? I think that that was a thing, too, just for clarification. No, as part of the internal transfer process, they don't resubmit any type of documentation.

[04:23:19] I appreciate that. Thank you so much for clarifying. Are there any other questions from any board members? If there are no further questions, we'll move this for action at the next board meeting on February 13, 2024.

[04:23:35] Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Thank you. We will now move on to item 14.5, Department of Support Services, Town of Leesburg Proffer Funds, presented by Mr. Lewis. Yes, thank you. Me again. So tonight we're bringing to you also another item that has crossed over from the old term to the new term.

[04:24:01] And so I'll just start with a little bit of background. A proffer is something that is identified by the state of Virginia as collection by a municipality for impacts to a development. So when a developer wants to build a number of houses that may exceed what's currently approved, then he asks for contributions to mitigate the impact of that.

[04:24:20] And in that process, in many cases, there are triggers to some of those proffers. In some cases, it's cash that's submitted by the developer and gets identified for specific uses. The town of Leesburg has a number of those things that they identify that they will use for the school system as long as it's used for a school physically located within the town of Leesburg.

[04:24:43] And so that's some of our parameters with this item is anything that we do has to be located in a building that's inside the city limits of or the town limits of of leesburg so we have benefited greatly over the over the years uh 6.3 million dollars in the past years for different things some of those listed in the item we we did the rjrotc building at long county high school with that we did some design work early design work for the north star school playgrounds at catoctin cool spring and frederick douglas so those are all things that we have done in the past with these proffer funding

[04:25:18] including some tracks as well so every so often our team led by miss tate in planning they reach out to the town of leesburg and they look and see so what is in the in the coffers right now are there proffer monies available and so currently there are about two million dollars in in the proffer fund that is eligible to lcps so the process to utilize those funds is one of three steps. First thing we do is we reach out to all the schools, the principals, and say what projects do you need? And so they respond to us and say we'd like to have this, we'd like to have

[04:25:56] that, and then some of those are eligible for the proffers and some of them are not. So it depends on what they are. There's specific rules that it has to enhance the instructional program. So we bring that list and that list is attached. It was in the October board item that the previous board looked at and said here's the list of the principals and we are asking permission to submit them to the town for consideration so they did we we submitted them all the town staff looks at them and takes the the criteria of the proper and says these apply and these do not these are eligible and these are not and so we're left with a pretty small list because most of them did not

[04:26:34] comply with the parameters of the proper and so what we are bringing to you tonight is we had the list from the principals we took it to the town now it's back and now it's back to this board to decide which projects we actually move forward with and so what's right now left in the list that are was provided to us by the principals also things that we had identified in a cip that maybe we can use proper funding for and not have to use cip funding and free that up our inclusive playgrounds and that would be at balls bluff evergreen mill tobert and leesburg elementary schools practice field turf and lighting so at

[04:27:14] each of our high schools we have a program to put a second lighted turf field in at each of our high schools in addition to the stadium so there could be a practice field and those would be at Heritage County and Tuscarora all three high schools that are inside the town limits and then also tennis court lighting at County and Tuscarora. Heritage tennis court lighting is going to be provided by funding that was provided by the board of supervisors that's why it's not on the list.

[04:27:39] So as you can see in that the values of that for the playgrounds is a total of about 1.2 million the the field turf and lighting is nine million dollars for three fields and the tennis court lighting is 1.6 so with a balance of two million dollars we can't afford to do all of them and so that the task before us is to figure out what we're gonna do the tennis court lighting let's just say if we've got a balance of two million the the playgrounds are 1.2 we still have 800,000 left to to spend And we could do one or the other of the tennis court lightings.

[04:28:19] However, we're not quite ready to, as a staff, we're not ready to recommend that because we have some engineering to do. Athletic lighting, sports field lighting is a very hot topic, and not everyone likes it. So the town of Leesburg has some strict rules.

[04:28:34] So we need to do some engineering to decide whether or not we can actually place them at Loudoun County, in particular because it's so close to the property line. So what my staff is recommending that as we move forward, we focus on the playgrounds, spend the $1.2 million.

[04:28:50] We will get the engineering back on the tennis court lighting and come back to you another time to see what the board would like to do with the other $800,000. The other possibility is by the time we do that, there may be more proper money and we can do them all. So what we would recommend, and we would come back, and you see that at the bottom there, you see a recommendation that the projects include, and we would pencil in right now our recommendation to the board, but it's obviously your decision that we move forward to the playgrounds, and then we'll spend the 1. 2, and then we'll come back to the board when we have the engineering done on the tennis court lights.

[04:29:27] I know that was a lot of information, but I'm happy to take any questions. Well, I'd like to have that plug for those inclusive playgrounds myself. um second um are there any other questions from anybody no miss chandler no questions all right if there's no more further questions we'll move this for action at the nest board meeting on february 13th 2024 thank you again just to clarify we'll we'll pencil in for the recommendation to

[04:30:02] move forward with the playgrounds at the 1.2 you want a thumbs up for the playgrounds we do not have a full thumbs up for inclusive playgrounds so we'll just vote on it then all right thank you

[04:30:27] thank you all right we will now move on to item 14.6 department of academics all in va tutoring update with dr ellis presenting dr ellis and it's not midnight thank you for that good evening chair mansfield members of the board this evening i am providing you with an update on

[04:31:07] are plans for the Governor's All-In Virginia Plan, specifically the All-In Tutoring component. As a reminder, the Governor's All-In Virginia Plan has three areas of focus, attendance, literacy, and learning. Regarding attendance, the state has launched a chronic absenteeism task force, and LCPS began addressing this issue locally in earnest at the end of last year and continues to do so. Literacy, the state, as you well know, is focusing on accelerating the expansion of the Virginia Literacy Act through grade eight. We also have a plan that we've shared

[04:31:45] with you regularly over the past several months, including this evening. And learning. This area of focus is on an intensive statewide tutoring initiative to support school divisions in accelerating student learning to pre-pandemic levels. The governor's signed bill came with one-time funding for each school division to use toward addressing these areas of focus.

[04:32:10] The Virginia Department of Education provided a division allocation as well as recommended target distribution of funds that you see here on this slide. School divisions are not required to follow this distribution and are encouraged to distribute the funds to best meet the needs of our students in these areas.

[04:32:27] The school board approved our plan in November and our plan was subsequently submitted to and approved by the BDOE. Note that the funds may be used over three years, but when the funds are used, they are gone. They are one-time funds.

[04:32:43] We plan to tutor through the rest of this semester and look at opportunities throughout the summer as well. This slide shows the actions that we took in the fall from the time we learned of the governor's bill to now. We are continuing to take action steps to ensure a smooth implementation and I'll talk about those steps shortly. For the first time and perhaps the only time, BDOE has defined three new proficiency levels to determine which students in grades three through eight would be eligible for the all-in tutoring program. This is different from the not proficient

[04:33:21] and proficient categories and cutoffs that have historically been used and continue to be used for accountability purposes. Until September, school divisions had never heard about this low proficient category. Low proficient indicates a student that scored between a 400 and a 440 or 445 on the SOL.

[04:33:44] Not proficient is a score below 400. Across the Commonwealth, 62% of students are in the not proficient or low proficient category in reading and 66% in math. As you can see here in LCPS, the combined not proficient and low proficient for reading is 53% and math is 57%. And then just to be clear, any score in the low proficient or high proficient category is still considered

[04:34:15] passing. So then we took a look at how that would look in LCPS. This table summarizes how many students in grades four through eight because we did not have the SOL score for third grade students because they don't take an SOL in second grade. So this again grades four through eight how many students would fall into the not proficient or low proficient category in reading and math and then total number of students that fall into one or both of those categories. So you'll see the

[04:34:51] number the total number at the bottom 19,673. It was actually higher than that when we added the third grade students once we used the VGA scores. At the time of the previous presentation those numbers were not available. So looking at these numbers and the funding that we had been allotted and also considering how many tutors we would need for that many students, it was about 2,000 tutors, if we were using BDOE's original guidance, we began thinking through realistic approaches to ensuring that we're meeting each and every student's needs. In doing so we also took into

[04:35:27] consideration our existing robust MTSS or multi-tiered system of supports that we have in place. We have the system in place to ensure that each student gets the remediation and support they need and this is tracked through our MTSS module that is now in place at every school this year. Additionally the VDOE significantly backed off of their original guidance that was sent to schools in the form of the all-in playbook in October. They began and encouraging divisions to look at multiple data sources, and prioritize the students

[04:36:02] who have the largest amounts of unfinished learning, as well as those students who are not currently receiving other interventions. This slide is a screenshot of one of the frequently asked questions that VDOE has posted on their website, specifically addressing how school divisions should address large numbers of students who qualify for tutoring.

[04:36:29] So with that guidance in mind, we asked our principals to work with their staff to look at multiple data sources, consider which students were already receiving interventions, and if there was a need for additional supports. And for the students not receiving interventions, would tutoring be beneficial?

[04:36:46] I want to be clear that having an IEP and receiving interventions did not automatically rule out tutoring. But existing interventions and supports were certainly considered in the process. So many students who are already receiving interventions were not identified for tutoring.

[04:37:04] The appropriateness for tutoring is really an individual case-by-case consideration that we asked principals and staff to go through. And I do want to note here, I would encourage families that have questions about tutoring to reach out to their child's teacher and their school administrator.

[04:37:22] So this is the guidance and the questions that we asked our principals to consider. In addition to identifying the students that would receive tutoring, another task was obviously to determine how the tutoring services were to be provided.

[04:37:40] As I mentioned to the previous board, finding the time and the talent to provide tutoring services were going to be our two biggest challenges. This table illustrates the options principals considered at their school. There are benefits and challenges to each model during school hours, before and after school and summer school and each principal took into consideration the unique factors at their school. As you know time during the school day is a very precious resource and it is a challenge to fit in one more thing on top of the small group instruction enrichment remediation and support

[04:38:16] that already takes place in a busy school day. And I'll just reiterate as I mentioned earlier BDOE has allowed school divisions to carry over these funds so we plan to in addition to what schools are doing during this school year incorporate expanded tutoring opportunities into summer school and ESY. We will provide the school board updates on that in the coming months.

[04:38:42] So I wanted to share, now that tutoring has begun with the start of second semester, where the schools landed in terms of their models being implemented. So we have 23 schools, again this is all elementary and all middle schools, 23 schools are tutoring during school hours, 14 schools are tutoring after school hours, and 42 schools are doing a combination of during school and before school. The next big challenge was identifying enough people to serve as tutors.

[04:39:22] We discussed and have planned for multiple pathways for this, recognizing the challenge that this would be. Schools have hired part-time hourly tutors. These could be retirees, part-time employees, or others who are available before, during, or after school. Some schools have existing partnerships with their cluster high school and or other volunteers who are already providing services and who are now providing tutoring services. We have also partnered with university instructors to hire site assigned tutors for each school that has requested one. These site assigned

[04:40:01] tutors are at the school each day and provide tutoring services during the day. And finally, through a partnership between VDOE and Varsity Tutors, we are able to provide free on-demand tutoring for any student in grades K-12, as well as school-assigned one-on-one online tutoring to students who requested.

[04:40:24] This may be for students who are eligible for tutoring but perhaps cannot attend during their busy school day or after school is inconvenient or impossible for them to attend, or perhaps a student who was not eligible but has requested additional tutoring support, they would have access to this service. I wanted to talk a little bit more in detail about the university instructors tutors who are being placed in our schools. So LCPS has requested a total of 100

[04:40:59] tutors from university instructors. At the time this presentation was posted on Friday, there were 28 tutors who had been placed and cleared and were started in schools. That number has now increased to 34, I'm happy to say, just since Friday, which tells you how quickly they're trying to move. These tutors have gone through UI's intensive vetting and onboarding process and have begun tutoring at their assigned school. In the next few days, the 37, and that number is now

[04:41:32] up to 40, who are in the onboarding process will also be cleared and placed in schools. And an additional 14 tutors are in the onboarding process right now. I do also want to mention that there were some tutors who were dropped from the process. UI has screened over 350 candidates for Loudoun's tutoring, and many of those did not meet the high standards and rigorous instructional standards that UI has in place for their tutors. I say that because they are working really hard not just to fill the

[04:42:12] numbers, but quality matters as well, and we appreciate that. That has also led to a less than 1% turnover in the tutors, so we're keeping the ones that they are hiring. Additionally, I did want to mention that they, and I have the percentages here if you want, but it'll take me a minute to find them. They all have either a bachelor's, master's, and a small number of them have doctorates. They have an average of eight years instructional experience. They are not

[04:42:48] necessarily licensed teachers. I do want to be very clear about that. They may have instructional backgrounds outside of public education. They may have previous tutoring experiences. They do go through a rigorous process, but they are not necessarily licensed teachers. They are not necessarily trained in special education or EL services, and we are sure that we're getting the highest quality tutors. So while I would love to say that we have all 100 placed, we do not.

[04:43:21] We're working really hard on that. UI is confident that they will continue to hire tutors over the next several days, and we will have them in place in the next week or two. So we will continue to provide updates on that as well. And then I did want to go back to the varsity tutors because we are excited about this update. As you may recall from previous presentations, VDOE has partnered with varsity tutors statewide to provide free on-demand online tutoring services to all students

[04:43:56] in grades K through 12. So this is separate from the high dosage tutoring. It is free to all students. Currently, it is available as of this week to each LCPS student through LCPS Go so they can access on-demand tutoring in reading, math, the core subjects in all grade levels, essay reviews, SAT prep, etc. In addition to that free service through Varsity Tutors, LCPS has purchased a number of school-assigned virtual tutoring sessions. As I mentioned, this is available

[04:44:34] for students who perhaps the in-person tutoring is not an option or a convenient one, or perhaps someone who was not eligible for tutoring but would like to receive tutoring. They would work with their school to be signed up for this option. These students would receive two sessions per week in either reading or math, so two hours per week, or if they needed tutoring services in both, it be an hour for each. We did prioritize in-person tutoring for this plan for a number of reasons, including the previous board's focus on in-person tutoring. But we also recognize that in-person

[04:45:13] tutoring is not possible or desirable for each student, so we're glad that we're able to offer this option. And then I'll just close with this last slide that we have been using to track our our next steps. There is still work to do to be fully implemented, and we are excited about being able to provide this service to our students. And with that, I will turn it back to you, Chair Mansfield. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. I do have a couple of questions. Do we know about, and I'm sure you

[04:45:51] could forecast what I'm going to ask about literacy do they are they are these tutors aligned with the Virginia Literacy Act for lack of a better thing yes I appreciate that question so they have not received specific training in the in Virginia Literacy Act or the science of reading necessarily say some may have knowledge and expertise in that area but that was not a

[04:46:25] requirement for them to be a tutor for university instructors same for varsity correct other board members do you have any questions yes miss donahue thank you madam chair thank you dr ellis for your presentation how was um university tutors selected and were other organizations considered thank you for that question so we got many many many inquiries from companies offering tutoring

[04:47:04] services. We were under a significant time crunch given when the bill was pushed out and when we were expected to have plans submitted to VDOE. And we had an existing partnership with university instructors through HRTD. And we had positive experiences with them. They have been super responsive both on the HRTD side and then as soon as we began with tutoring. So we were able to use that existing contract and get things expedited. If we had waited, gone through an RFP

[04:47:40] process, we still probably would have been in that process and not had these, the tutors that we do right now. Thank you. Do you know what any other divisions, particularly in our area, who they're getting tutors from, anyone that's using university or has selected other providers and what those experiences? How it's working out in those divisions? Great question. So all of the school divisions plans are posted on the BDOE website. Most of them are vague, so it's unclear what

[04:48:19] specific vendors they are partnering with. You can read between the lines and determine which school divisions are contracting with vendors because of the line items. I do know because we specifically asked university instructors if they were working with any divisions in Northern Virginia, because I was very concerned that we would be competing with them for tutors.

[04:48:42] They are not working with other divisions close to us, and we are the largest division they are working with in terms of tutors, and the only one in this area. So I was comforted by that, because we aren't competing for tutors that live in this area. In terms of varsity tutors, I do know that a couple of neighboring divisions had existing relationships with them, positive ones, and then statewide, the divisions across the state are using the free version.

[04:49:15] And last one for me, I promise. What is our agreement with them like? For example, if in six months we feel like the tutors they're providing are not meeting our needs, will we be able to pivot?

[04:49:35] thank you, to something else, to someone else. So, like I said, they have been very responsive. Now that tutors are in place, there is a specialist from UI that is going into the schools each week to monitor the tutors, to talk with the principals and the leads on tutoring in the schools.

[04:49:59] If there's ever concern about a tutor, the principal has a direct contact, not only to me, but to a contact at university instructors. To date, we've had one concern, and it was addressed immediately and has not been a problem since then.

[04:50:17] So we are confident that they will meet our needs. If that continues to be a problem, we can certainly have that. I mean, if it is a problem, it's not. We can certainly have that conversation. I have a couple more questions. is this following any of the recommended hours or anything from the guidance these tutors like four days a week five days a week depending on what their score was so they are following the guidance in the hours these tutors are essentially become part of the school community

[04:50:55] they're there five days a week all day long schools that are doing after school programs there are the tutors hours are shifted so they start later in the day so they can then stay for the after school program. So just to be clear like one kid who has to have like three days a week that tutor is working with that child three days a week. Yes ma'am. And also on for each school I know that they all have different kind of plans. Are the parents aware of those plans and are they put on a school website of some sort what that plan is and what they're providing and how they're providing

[04:51:30] it. Thank you for that question. So principals have been communicating with parents about how the tutoring is taking place. It is, I don't think it's safe to say that it's published on every school's website, but it has been communicated by the school to the families. Would it be possible to communicate, to have that on someone's website so that we could, so it would be more transparent. So like if a parent looked on, they could say, oh, we have this available. I think the challenge is that we don't have web developers who are able to get that out

[04:52:08] to each individualized school website moment but we can work we can work with our team to see what we can do that was going to be my next plug that perhaps we needed more better web developers well that's why they're in the budget yes yes dr. Deans thank you madam chair what about the virtual tutoring sessions is Is there a way to track it to determine if they spent X number of minutes or X number of hours?

[04:52:46] Thank you for that question. Yes, there is a way to track it, and I will have access to that information, and the school principal will have access to that information as well. If a student is not utilizing their sessions, that account, for lack of a better word, can be assigned to another student who would perhaps use it.

[04:53:11] Yes, Ms. Chandler. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Dr. Ellis, for giving us this update. I'm curious particularly about the free tier of support and how that information has been disseminated to families.

[04:53:32] If you could speak to that, please. Yes, thank you. So it was live in LCPS Go earlier this week. We did a press release, and we have in the queue a blackboard message that will go to all families K through 12 tomorrow, I believe.

[04:53:52] And then we also have given materials to principals, flyers that they can disseminate through their normal channels and other materials. We've also included it on our LCPS all-in tutoring webpage for families to access.

[04:54:09] So students can access directly through LCPS Go, and families can go to the webpage for more information if they have questions. Thank you for that clarification. Mr. Steffi. Madam Chair, thank you, Dr. Ellis, for this important update.

[04:54:27] Just curious, what does the in-school or during-school, how can that type of tutoring play out in school. And then for students that are already receiving interventions, depending on how each school determines how they identify students who need additional interventions or who aren't being served currently with interventions, if, let's say, there are students, based on how the school is identifying the students, if there are students that already have interventions but will get additional tutoring, how could that play out?

[04:55:06] And then for schools that are choosing to do afterschool tutoring, the transportation complications, how are schools dealing with that? Do you have any information on that? - Yes, thank you for those questions. So to address your first question, it is a challenge to find more time in the day to provide tutoring services, and the schools are working through that.

[04:55:32] That's why I think the schools that have the full-time university instructor are appreciating that full-time support because they can work within their existing schedule. The tutor can pull out small groups of students to tutor during remediation time, during power up time, they can be in the classroom and tutoring in a small group.

[04:55:57] So they are working within their schedules that way. school is a little bit easier they they can utilize their resource block that every student has and just the schedules a little bit more flexible and then in terms of transportation the Department of the Division of Transportation has been extremely helpful again at the middle school level it's a little bit easier because we already have activity buses running and students who participate in tutoring after school can ride their activity bus home and then at the elementary level, there are currently not activity buses running. So the transportation

[04:56:35] team has been working with the schools individually and scheduling those transportation routes. So transportation is being provided for schools that are doing after school tutoring. Are there any more questions? Yes, Ms. Chernoff. I have a couple of questions. So in the part-time hourly tutors during and after school, it is my understanding that that is also still being offered to our school-based teachers and staff that want to participate correct and substitutes is that true

[04:57:10] that is correct as long as it's not um they're not being paid for tutoring during their normal workout right the outside yep um do we have any numbers on how many have offered or are participating in that you can get back to me I will get back yeah it's fine um and then my other question is uh is there any sort of progress monitoring required with this tutoring in terms of guiding the instruction, does that fall on the teachers? Where does that fall? Because it's great to have extra hands, but to have to give a lesson plan and then provide progress

[04:57:46] monitoring would specifically guide the next steps of the instruction would be key to its success, in my opinion. So the tutors are monitoring, and we also want them working closely with the teachers, recognizing that it is extra work for the teachers, but I think that connection between the tutor and the teacher is still very important so yes they are they are tracking and monitoring progress um miss donahue asked about pivoting i'll ask the same question if schools get down a certain road with a certain plan but feel that it is too much of a burden on their staff or feel like it's they're not seeing growth or effectiveness what what is the contingency

[04:58:24] plan is there one how are we soliciting that feedback so i'll try to answer that question That was a lot. That was like 20 in one slate. So principals have pivoted already, and we encourage them to make sure they are monitoring and making adjustments as needed.

[04:58:45] So for example, one school originally requested a university instructor tutor, and then after working with their staff and looking at their schedules again, decided that they were able to get the part-time resources and do it in-house without the support of a university instructor.

[04:59:04] That's fine. Some schools want another university instructor because they have a higher number of students, so we are able to pivot that as well. So schools can continue to pivot if they find that it's not working. And then last question is, I must have had a misunderstanding.

[04:59:22] I thought that this had to be done by June, but you're saying there can be a rollover and now we can apply it to summer? Did I misunderstand that on the front end? No, I think it was communicated both ways, actually. So originally, the focus was on tutoring this school year.

[04:59:39] And the funds are able to be used over the next three years. And that's the totality of the funds. So looking at chronic absenteeism and literacy, for example, we are able to use the funds that we have set aside for the literacy component in FY25.

[04:59:59] So both are true. The high-dosage tutoring is for this year, and the funds can be used over three years. But the tutoring itself cannot be used after June, or it can? We can apply it to any of the three? It could be applied if you have funds left over.

[05:00:15] Okay. Do you anticipate that we will? No. Tutoring is quite expensive. It's taking up all the funds. Especially the number of hours in students. And all schools are participating? Every single elementary and middle school is participating. Okay. Thank you. Yes, Dr. Sheet.

[05:00:37] Maybe you already said this before, it's only for math and reading, right? That's correct. Is there a reason why it's not offered for other subjects? I'm just curious. When the state, or I guess the governor, published the all-in plan, he was focused on achievement gaps and learning loss, as they said, in reading and math.

[05:01:00] Okay. Any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, Dr. Ellis.

[05:01:16] I appreciate it. We will move on to item 15, board member comments and committee reports, starting with Mrs. Labelle. Ms. Labelle, if you could use your mic, thanks.

[05:01:38] Yep, got it. The Student Behavior and Accountability Committee met last night after our retreat. we had a program detailing all the data that was collected last year on various types of infractions within the school some of the focus that we had when we discussed this was the decline obviously during the 2020 years but the actual

[05:02:12] rapid rise following the students returned to school another area that we focused on was the use of in-school suspension we noticed that it was plateauing that it really didn't seem to go higher or lower and we also talked about the use of restorative justice we'll be moving on to other sections and and other ideas coming up in the next session, next month.

[05:02:44] Any questions? No. Thank you, Ms. LeBell. Okay. Dr. Rasheed. I have no updates. Ms. Chernoff. The Curriculum and Instruction Committee met.

[05:03:02] The big thing out of that was what we talked about tonight. We also discussed an option for middle school adoption of new literacy resources, and they are going to move forward with option two, where LCPS will consider an off-cycle textbook resource allocation adoption for middle school during the 24-25 academic year of all the VDOE-approved programs with implementation plans in 25-26.

[05:03:28] So that's exciting that they're jumping on board as well. I also just wanted to give a plug that I am going to be hosting my first town hall at Rust Library next Wednesday, February 7th, from 7 to 8 p.m. There's been some questions about if all people from the district can attend.

[05:03:45] they can. I happily pass those concerns on to my fellow board members, but it is located in Leesburg. And I just wanted to thank Leesburg Elementary, Tolbert Elementary, Catoctin Elementary, FHR, Evergreen Mill, Smarts Middle, Simpson Middle, Heritage High School, Loudoun County High School, the Academies of Loudoun, Hillsborough Academy, and I will see Frederick Douglas tomorrow.

[05:04:08] I want to thank you for inviting me out for the visits, for the tours, for seeing the kids, seeing the teachers. It has been the greatest joy of this work to see all of the amazing work that you do, and let's keep it going. Ms. Donoghue? Thank you, Madam Chair. The Student Services Committee had our first meeting, and we looked at proposed revisions for three policies regarding graduation diplomas and certificates, immunization requirements, and bloodborne

[05:04:46] contagions, communicable, or infectious diseases, all of which will be action items at our next meeting on February 15th. Also, at our next meeting, we will be looking at, for information items, proposed revisions to first aid CPR and AED training policy and personnel training for viral infections and proposed revisions for LCPS policy 8040.

[05:05:16] I am looking forward to that and also wanted to say that I very much enjoyed our day in Richmond when we went down together as a group to meet with the members of our state delegation in Richmond.

[05:05:33] I came away from that feeling confident that our elected representatives are going to work hard to support full funding for us, for our schools, for all the schools in Virginia and fight for our priorities in Richmond.

[05:05:53] And that was a good experience. And Ms. Chernoff had invited me to attend her listening session in Leesburg next week, which I did want to do and was going to do until I heard about the Henrietta Lacks Hovatter listening session on the same evening.

[05:06:10] So, because I can't be in two places at once, I will miss the town hall, but I'm very happy that you're having one, and I hope that you get great turnout. Thank you. Vice Chair Struffy.

[05:06:27] Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Finance and Operations was supposed to be the first committee to meet after the new year, but because of the snow days, we didn't have that opportunity, but I'm very much looking forward to having our first committee meeting next week and the important work that we'll do on that committee and also echoing how much of a great experience it was to be down in Richmond with all of you and with some of the team members and I'm excited for what's to come thank you no updates thank you we had I had the gifted education advisory committee that Amalia is on to and we

[05:07:07] learned about executive functioning which is one of my favorite things to to learn about and study and it was a great presentation then I also went to the mental health and wellness this last what Saturday it was fantastic they did a really fantastic job about with all of the different booths and all the different presentations and of course I went to the one with the music therapist because that's what I am and so and I was very excited to see that they actually had music therapists there um board certified music therapists and then um went to high anxiety

[05:07:45] high functioning uh presentation and then the fentanyl one and i really did thoroughly enjoy myself and i'm looking forward to next year and if you guys can attend i think you should i saw dina and dr deans there ms griffiths and dr deans so um with that uh how about you ms griffiths do have any updates thank you madam chair nothing at this time ms chandler thank you madam chair i was so pleased to have the opportunity to meet for the first official time with the head start

[05:08:21] policy council it was really great to meet their community and to learn about their very important work i was also fascinated to hear about their federal review process which they are currently undergoing at the moment. We also had our initial meeting of the LANP committee. We were very excited to get started on convening our joint committee on collective bargaining and look forward to finalizing that at our next meeting. I wanted to take an opportunity to thank Dr. Spence for our

[05:08:57] very productive listening session at Potomac Falls. Thank you for the time that you invested in building relationships in the Algonquian community. It was a really delightful conversation and I think it went a long way in building connection in our neighborhood and I'm grateful for your time. And I also appreciate all the efforts that were put into including me in the retreat from yesterday, even though I couldn't attend in person. And I'll look forward to seeing you all on thursday very highly heavily masked um and i will be having office hours on saturday

[05:09:35] at the cascades library from one to three if anybody would like to stop by and see me thank you dr deans while the equity committee has not met yet um we are in the process of identifying the membership since we had to collaborate with the community to have membership from specific um populations but we have worked and the um staff liaison um dr ellis williams and her office

[05:10:13] have um supported me by not knowing by me not knowing the loughton community as well as others may so it has been it has been ongoing but exciting thank you very much all right so we move on to agenda item 16 new business is there any new business for tonight i it does not look like there is any more business so seeing none the january 30th 2024 meeting of the

[05:10:52] lcbs school board is now adjourned thank you very much and drive safely home

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