Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Student Services Committee Meeting, Thursday, February 15, 2024

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 22m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/913687000?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-21. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:04] - Good evening, everyone. I apologize for the inconvenience and for my delay, and I appreciate your patience in waiting here. Those of you who had the choice to wait or not, and for those of you who didn't have the choice, I apologize again.

[00:00:22] I was at a medical appointment for one of my children that went much longer than I expected. So I am now calling to order the February meeting of the Student Services Committee. We will proceed to item two on our agenda, which is public comment.

[00:00:41] Thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process. The school board welcomes comments from Loudoun County residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system. Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers and the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted one minute each for public comment.

[00:01:02] Please be advised that speakers who missed their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, or speaking at the podium or during a break.

[00:01:21] Violations of civility, decorum, and respect include shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting. Obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa. interrupting speakers, attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair, and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees.

[00:01:43] Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, profanity, or other like breaches of respect, nor may speakers target, criticize, or attack individual students during public comment. Speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school official. Additionally, complaints regarding division employees should be directed to the school principal or an appropriate school division official. Speakers should face us here and direct their comments to board members. Per LCPS policy, members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period. Violations of decorum

[00:02:19] or civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting. Repeated or persistent violations of decorum or civility by the audience may result in, on the decision of the chair, public comment being tabled until a later point in the meeting's agenda, limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons, or the public comment period ending for the evening. And with that, again, I thank you for engaging with us. Our first speaker will be Michael Rivera, followed by

[00:02:50] Colin Doniger. In 2021, a politically motivated school board unilaterally adopted Governor Northam's model policies without question. Then school board chair Brenda Sheridan attended a pupil services committee meeting she normally does not attend so that she can tell everyone that policy 8040 was going to be decided by the board regardless of what the committee thought at that meeting. Following that the board quickly put in place policy 8040 despite documented opposition

[00:03:26] from the community, a very heated school board meeting, and vocal opposition from people speaking at a Pupil Services Committee meeting. I reviewed considerable negative feedback about Policy 8040 from parents in board docs, but the administration and the school board lied and said they took all the feedback into consideration.

[00:03:46] That was false. The school board unilaterally dismissed the existing rights of boys and girls to have safe private spaces separated by sex. Today, parents and young girls are still fighting this activist administration for privacy and safety. Thank you.

[00:04:03] Our next speaker will be Colin Doniger, followed by Omer Boot. Thank you. When they implemented 80-40 originally, I want to read a quote from Harris Mahadevi regarding the previous administration's model policies. He said, it's a Virginia law.

[00:04:20] I'm going to support this policy to meet the law. So if that holds as the case, then the new model policies would also be the law, which I do not believe to be the case. But that is what your previous board member said, and I want to bring it to your attention. That said, we need to look at protecting girls' rights.

[00:04:38] We need girls have a right, our daughters have a right to be in a restroom without being exposed to male genitalia. Whatever you think about the whole transgender debate, we don't need to get into that, but they have that right. And children are here for education, and they should learn proper English.

[00:04:56] And they, them is plural. It's not the way that you address one person. They should not be being taught that in a school. They're here to learn and gain that higher learning and be educated properly. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:05:12] Our next speaker will be Omer Boot, followed by Isabella Ortega. Hello, everyone. This is my first time being here. First of all, I would say I apologize. I should have been here a long time ago because other people's daughters are someone's daughter as well.

[00:05:28] I'm a father of a four-year-old daughter, and I'm a Muslim by faith, and I'm a Muslim-American who represent that community living in Loudoun County. There are thousands of Muslims living in this community, and there's about 80,000 students overall in this county.

[00:05:47] Half of them, 50%, are girls, and thousands of them are Muslim girls. We need their privacy in the restrooms to be able to be comfortable and do what they need to do in the restrooms, especially adjusting their hijab.

[00:06:02] And I think this policy affects their way of doing what they need to do in the restrooms, especially affecting our conservative values and our faith. I would really appreciate if you consider making some adjustments.

[00:06:18] Thank you. Thank you. Next will be Isabella Ortega, followed by Madeline Platt. I am a junior, and while I have already addressed my personal concerns in a prior meeting, I want to share another reason as to why 80-40 should not stand.

[00:06:34] Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas from District 62 shared the following testimony of Michelle and Sage Blair when proposing the bill Sage's Law. I encourage you to watch the whole testimony as I cannot do it justice. When Sage was 14, she told her school that she was trans and without informing her parents, the school affirmed Sage and told her to use the male restroom.

[00:06:55] In the restroom, Sage was threatened with rape and even death. Sage then ran away and was drugged and trafficked from Virginia to Maryland to Texas. Months later, when she was found, Sage finally got to go home. This all started three hours away in Appomattox School District.

[00:07:13] How much suffering could have been avoided if Sage had not been told to use the mail restroom? Members of the school board, look us in the eye, look me in the eye, and tell us that policy 8040 is safe. You cannot. Sage's story proves it. Thank you.

[00:07:31] Next is Madeline Platt, followed by Carrie Michonne. hello my name is madeline platt and i'm a sophomore at latin valley high school i'm here to speak about policy 8040 and to express how uncomfortable it is to share a locker room or bathroom with opposite sex i should not have to take off my clothes and change in an area where biological boys are allowed to walk freely and look around i am not okay with this and i'm asking you to give girls their privacy back not only is this happening in my school every day it's happening all over the county a couple months ago at a cross-country meet hosted by another school i was waiting in the bathroom before my race in line. I turned around and saw a huge boy that was in the girl's

[00:08:09] bathroom. I was shocked and my friends and I rushed out as quickly as we could. Equally as shocking was to see him line up on the starting line with female athletes. Even though I outraced him that day, if the boys are allowed to continue to race in women's sports, women's sports will be destroyed. I'm asking you to protect girls' sports and our privacy. Thank you. Our next speaker is Carrie Mishon followed by Elizabeth Ortega. As a mother of seven I mean as a grandmother of seven

[00:08:44] in this county and a street full of high school athletes of boys and girls and middle school athletes of boys and girls I want to say that you have to protect our girls sports and our boys sports for the competition to be equal it's not right and where is all the things that we've fought for. I'm probably older than almost everybody in this room. All the things, all the women's rights that we fought for, now you're going to take down? That is so not right. It's unfair and unethical.

[00:09:19] Girls should be able to participate against other girls on an equal playing field. The same with boys participate with boys. And I'm talking about what your born gender is, not what you're choosing to be. When Martina Navitrilova makes a big, huge statement about that, listen, this isn't right, and it's not right for any of the children. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Elizabeth Ortega, followed by Abby Platt. Good evening. Up until this January, I had all four of my children

[00:09:57] enrolled in Loudoun County Public Schools. During Christmas break, my husband and I decided to withdraw and homeschool our two elementary-aged kids. One of the biggest reasons that led to the decision to homeschool were the concerns my son and daughter had when it came to using the bathrooms. In short, they would hold back on going to the restrooms because they worried about who was going to walk in while they were in there. You can imagine what having to hold all of that in throughout the day would do to their little bodies. My daughter was anxious and would try to drink as little water as possible. She could not wait to get home so she could finally relieve herself.

[00:10:31] My son's behavior was becoming troublesome. He was not able to focus and was having trouble completing his work he too could not wait to get home to relieve himself the weight of that has been lifted since bringing them home and it has their change has been huge it is sad though to know that there are others that are still dealing with this on a daily basis like my daughter these are not concerns that any child should have to deal with thank you next is abby platt followed by chris console according to the new draft policy lcps promises to prohibit disclosure

[00:11:09] of information to parents including when a student may be at risk for suicide. I have a couple questions about this. Who determines when abuse or neglect is happening? Where is abuse and neglect defined? What is the level of neglect that's required to cut a parent out of their interaction and decisions that are made at school? Do you believe that a suicidal child is in the right state of mind to provide accurate information about their parents? How do you intend to verify any of this information before cutting out parents who love their child and how are you qualified to

[00:11:48] assume the parental role over a suicidal child all students again according to this new draft it states that all students are entitled to have access to a bathroom and locker room so they can comfortably and fully engage in activities but the question i have and it leaves thank you next is Chris Consall followed by Ken Lutu. I share the concerns of all the parents here who are worried about their safety for their children. I am also worried about the safety of my own son who was

[00:12:25] the target of a Woodgrove walkout in November of 23. I think policy 8040 could be improved to make sure that all of the children whether they are cis or straight or gay or trans have the privacy and the psychological safety they need to be in a perfectly fostering, nurturing school environment.

[00:12:47] My two concerns about the policy are, first, you've completely erased my son from a protective policy. Second, there are many students in the county who are afraid to come out to their own families.

[00:13:06] Outing them without their permission to their families could have them banished from their house. I urge you to revise 80-40 in a way that strengthens it. all of us. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Ken Lokalutu followed by Elizabeth Fugal. Good evening and thanks for this opportunity. I'm a father of five children. I have four boys and my youngest is a girl. She's three years old. This policy has demonstrated to have unintended consequences.

[00:13:45] Loudoun County already has cases of assaults that have happened in bathrooms. That's not news to anybody. The role of education is to educate. I'm a parent. I brought my children into this world.

[00:14:01] I did not give mandate to anybody else to substitute for me. My daughter is precious. It's the only daughter that I have. And I heard the stories of other people here, especially the young ladies here. They absolutely have the right to feel safe, especially in the bathroom. My daughter doesn't change in her bathroom at home with her brothers around. And that applies to the public squares as well. It's a safety issue. This is not an equality issue or anything. We sympathize and empathize with other kids who have gender issues, but we have to remain in the safe policies. Thank you. Our next speaker is Elizabeth Fugall,

[00:14:38] followed by Tiffany Polifko. I too have two young girls and will not be sending them to these schools if this policy remains as is. I fear for their safety in the bathrooms, as many of the other parents here have said, and as these girls have demonstrated, and want to know how many more rapes need to happen before we make a revision to this policy. If the objective is to make certain people safe, then create a safe space for them. But do not, do not take away the safe space

[00:15:15] that is needed for our daughters out there. And I have too much reliance and too much faith in you guys. And I ask that you make the revisions needed to make safe spaces for everybody. thank you thank you next is tiffany polifco followed by michelle meese line 20 of your

[00:15:55] revised policy says that while lcps does not generally encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student's parent guardian lcps will comply with all laws that prohibit disclosure of information to parents including but not limited to virginia code section 22.1-272.1b which prohibits parental contact where a student may be at imminent risk of suicide related to abuse or neglect.

[00:16:23] Oh no, a code is not the law of the land. Constitutional law is the law of the land. United States v. Minker, 1956. Because of what appears to be a lawful command on the surface, many citizens, because of their respect for what only appears to be law, are cunningly coerced into waiving their rights due to ignorance.

[00:16:46] Parental rights are constitutionally protected by the Supreme Court. Troxell v. Granville, 2000, 14th Amendment under the Constitution. I am not ignorant, and I know my rights. And I don't care what Governor Red Vest put in front of you. Thank you. Read these policies and amend them. Fix that. Our next speaker is Michelle Meese, followed by Andrea Weiskopf.

[00:17:04] Hello. My name is Michelle... Really good. Excuse me. If we have disruptions, we will have to take corrective action. Thank you. Hello. Actually, my name is Michelle Meese, like edge, but without the D. I am very much moved by a lot of the conversations here today.

[00:17:26] The story about SAGE, I've heard, and it breaks my heart. Hearing the Muslims and their issues breaks my heart, too, because he's right. Muslims, women, everyone has a constitutional right to privacy.

[00:17:42] I don't know why this is not more at the forefront, first of all. Second, the experiment that I have, I have two teenage daughters, and they're both in public schools. One's thriving and doing well, and the other one isn't.

[00:17:58] And the other one is going to a high school that has drugs, that has issues with drug deals. She sees them all the time. The single stall bathrooms for sex, it's for drugs. I don't know if you know all of this, but this is not just her high school.

[00:18:16] It's all of them. Thank you. And Ms. Metsch, I apologize for mispronouncing your name. Next is Andrea Weisskopf, followed by Ann Miller. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer children belong in LCPS.

[00:18:40] Their rights are non-negotiable, and it is up to you to protect those rights, those children. If a child's mere existence makes you uncomfortable, then that is on you, not them.

[00:18:57] these children are already intimidated and marginalized are you going to further intimidate and marginalize them protect our trans children black lives matter thank you our next speaker is ann miller followed by kerry kidwell good evening i'm here as a parent of a woodgrove high school athlete who along with his teammates was forced to change in a football locker room in front of

[00:19:32] a biological female this past fall. These male athletes were never afforded the right to safe, adequate, changing space where they could comfortably and fully engage in their team activity. Policy 8040 creates a persistent, predatory, hostile, and unreasonable environment that coerces students to override their innate sense of safety and security. This policy as amended sexually exploits students in your care on a daily basis, forcing an invasion of their privacy rights in order to participate in school activities. This is antithetical to the name and

[00:20:08] title of your policy. This amended policy does not ensure privacy, dignity, and respect for all your students. I urge you to protect all students. No student should ever be allowed to disrobe in front of any student of the opposite biological sex while in your supervision. Please do not subject your students to further sexual harassment. Thank you. Next is Carrie Kidwell, followed by Shee Van Fleet. There's way too much to say in one minute. I am here to support policy 8040.

[00:20:46] Parents should feel that all children are safe, every single child. I want everyone's child here to feel safe at school. Somehow, this policy was put in place to protect a vulnerable population. It is evidence-based. It was done with psychologists and teachers, students, parents, social workers, educators who came together to create a thoughtful policy for our entire state that LCPS put in place. This is not some willy-nilly thing that people put together.

[00:21:18] This is very thoughtful and intentional. And the narrative has been flipped that we were talking about a deviant and dangerous population. I'm so tired of hearing about, of course we want them all to be safe, but this narrative that if you're going to be in a room to just go to the bathroom near somebody that you were in danger. It's unsafe for all of our children to talk like that.

[00:21:43] Sorry. Thank you. Next is Shi Van Fleet, followed by Rachel Moody. My name is Shi Van Fleet, and I grew up in Mao's China, and I experienced the Cultural Revolution, and I lived through it as a schoolgirl. Some of you may never heard about it. Doesn't matter, because it is here.

[00:22:04] What's happening in America is the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The very fact we're talking about policy 8040 is evident. That is, put politics above the interest of our students, especially girls.

[00:22:23] We send our kids to school. We ask at least they are safe. And I saw a sign behind me saying that equality for all. No, not so. It's the rights of a few over the majority, especially girls.

[00:22:39] 40. Put girls at risk. Girls need safety. They need their own space. They need their own sports protected. Thank you. Thank you. Our final speaker is Rachel Moody. Hi. My name is Rachel. I am an educator, a member of the LGBTQIA community, and a Loudoun County citizen. While there's so much I

[00:23:14] could say right now, one minute's not going to cover it. So I would like to come to some evidence that you yourself put into policy 80-40 in the first place. That privacy and confidentiality are critical for transgender students who have families that do not support or affirm their gender identity.

[00:23:32] You go on to explain that suicide rates are high in transgender youth when they are not affirmed. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among students ages 10 to 14 and the third leading cause between young people 15 to 24.

[00:23:53] I understand that not everyone knows this information and it's not part of their daily lives, but it is affecting your community. There are people who don't have the safety and the reliance that they need. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who provided comments. Your input is valuable to us.

[00:24:14] And I would like to especially thank the students who came, whoever, when young people come out to these meetings to speak about the issues that are important to them. I feel strongly that whatever issue they're speaking about and whatever side of the issue they're on, we should applaud that bravery that is required to get up in front of a room full of adults that you don't know to talk about deeply personal and important issues.

[00:24:43] So thank you for sharing your time with us. Now we will move on to item three on our agenda, which is approval of our minutes from the January 24th, 2024 meeting. LaBelle and Ms. Mansfield, have you had a chance to review the minutes? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Do you have any corrections or additions? No, Chair Donohue. No, Chairwoman. If there are no objections or

[00:25:21] corrections, I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes from January 24th, 2024. I move to go ahead and approve the minutes from January 24th, 2024. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank Thank you.

[00:25:43] The motion has been properly moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Do I have to go through opposed or abstentions? No? Okay. So unanimously the minutes are approved. Thank you.

[00:25:59] So now we will move on to the action items, Section 4 of our agenda. These are the three items that we had on for information at our January meeting. So we will start with item 4.01, revisions of policy 5090, graduation diplomas and certificates.

[00:26:23] Is Ms. Ross here? Ms. Richardson, would you like to comment? Ms. Thank you, Chair Donohue. As shared with the committee on January 24th, there were minor changes to verbiage in lines 2-4, 7-8, 10-11, 14-15, 17-22, 24-27, 29-31, and then finally lines 34-36.

[00:26:51] This policy is set forth to define the obligations of LCPS to award the following: Standard Diploma, Advanced Studies Diploma, Applied Studies Diploma, and a Certificate of Program Completion. The policy does remove the language of Modified Standard Diploma for students with disabilities because that is now referred to as an Applied Studies Diploma through the Virginia Department of Education.

[00:27:19] It also defines the GED program, which is the General Education Development. This policy was posted for community and advisory committee feedback for two weeks, and we did receive comments from MSAC. Have committee members had the opportunity to review the feedback from the community and the advisory committee? And if so, do you have any further recommendations for staff to consider? No. Thank you, Ms. Richardson. Thank you. Yes, we have reviewed, and no, we do not have questions. Thank you. Thank you. Then it is the recommendation

[00:27:59] of staff that the committee consider moving policy 5090 graduation diplomas and certificates forward as an information item to the full board so members of the committee do you have any questions or comments as to these proposed revisions no okay in that case I will entertain a motion to send this to the full board as an information item so moved thank you zero second second thank you motion has been

[00:28:37] been properly moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Unanimously, we have unanimously approved that the proposed revisions to policy 5090 will be sent to the full board to be an information item at an upcoming full board meeting. Next we will move on to item 4.02, revision of policy 8410, immunization requirements. Ms. Richardson. Thank you Chair Donohue.

[00:29:07] This policy was bought before the committee on January 24th for minor changes to lines 11, 12, 26, and 27. The new verbiage, and as you may recall, we had conversation about the plurality of physician's assistant versus physician assistant.

[00:29:28] And so you will see the newest red line and clean copy does capture the terminology correctly. It is physician, no S, assistant. And then the new policy does refer to what was a licensed nurse practitioner is now an advanced practice registered nurse.

[00:29:54] There are no impact. This policy does not have any impact to immunization requirements for students at this time. As with the first policy, it was posted for community and advisory committee feedback for two weeks.

[00:30:09] And you will see that we did receive some feedback from LEAF as well as MSAC. And I do hope that the committee has had the opportunity to review the comments and recommendations for consideration. And are there any considerations that you wish for staff to take at this time?

[00:30:28] Ms. Bansfield. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do. On line 20, MSAC's recommendation of shall accept as opposed to may accept.

[00:30:46] I think that that's valid. If they may accept, that gives leeway from building to building. Shall accept is not so much, and it builds in more consistency. And it's that one and as well as line 56.

[00:31:10] Any thoughts from counsel or Tadra or Mr. Bridgerton? So the proposed new wording on line 20, I'll go back to line 18 to read it fully.

[00:31:28] If a child attended another school or school division and has records which show that a certificate of immunization was furnished to the previous school, the principal shall accept the school records as verification for proper immunization is how you would like for that to read.

[00:31:46] okay that's my thought i don't know okay and then on line 56 any student whose immunizations are incomplete shall be admitted conditionally if that student provides documentary proof at the time of enrollment of having received at least one dose of the required immunizations accompanied by a schedule for completion of the required doses within 90 calendar days Yes, ma'am.

[00:32:22] I agree with Ms. Mansfield's recommendations, and I suggest or encourage that we adopt the proposed changes, the changes proposed by MSAC.

[00:32:40] I have no other comments. Anyone else? Chair Donohue, just as a point of clarification, the May language tracks the language in the code of Virginia, section 22.1, 271.2, at least in the second.

[00:32:56] So just for your awareness, you would be requiring more than what's required by law. Mr. Allen, will that cause difficulties for the division if we were to do that? Because I don't want to cause problems, but I share the concern raised by MSAC about the possibility of inconsistent results if the language is May.

[00:33:22] Thank you, Chair Donahue. I defer to staff since they're more aware of the practicalities of that for input there. Thank you, Mr. Allen, Chair Donohue and committee.

[00:33:45] This does cause some inconsistencies. Certainly at the beginning of the school year is when we see the bulk of sort of a delay and a backlog with our medical providers in our community. And then parents having the ability to get in and have the appointments and get the immunizations within a timely manner.

[00:34:05] most parents would do a wonderful job about providing us the scheduled information so that we know their students are scheduled to go for these immunizations within the first 90 days we do work with our schools on processes and expectations for maintaining safety and health right a healthy school setting for all especially when we have larger amounts of students that have not been able to meet the immunization requirements.

[00:34:35] So while Mr. Allen has certainly noted that the change, the proposed change in language from May to Shao does, would place LCPS within a higher rate of compliance than the law requires, I could see where it does support consistency.

[00:34:53] Most times principals already have processes in place. They work with families. We do our due diligence. We were fortunate this year to have our mobile health clinic that was able to assist with immunizations.

[00:35:09] But certainly folks cannot get in any quicker than what our medical providers are able to accept them. So we will have some instances where we will have to work with families as they work with their medical providers to meet the immunization requirements.

[00:35:30] So, Ms. Richardson, what did you mean? So are you saying that while we're a higher standard, it would still be, it would help with consistency or?

[00:35:46] The process would remain very similar to what we have in schools. Currently, students need to be in schools. And so we work with families for them to come to school while they're working with their medical providers to get the immunizations that they require. So you're saying like standard operating procedure would be another something.

[00:36:05] Yes, we send out mass communications through ParentVue. We send out newsletters, principals send out newsletters. We work with our local Department of Health to get these immunizations done. And then, of course, parents have the right to go to their own private providers. But our priority is students being in school.

[00:36:25] So we don't let the lack of not having all immunizations be a barrier to students accessing the educational setting. And your thoughts about if a child attended another school or school division and has school records which show that a certificate of immunization was furnished to the previous school, this is, I think, more of a sticking point with me.

[00:36:47] The principal may accept. I mean, if it's accepted in another division, another school, I'm thinking that it should probably be accepted at the current school. Yeah, it says that the earlier point of clarification only tracked the second may to shall.

[00:37:12] It doesn't track the language in terms of what the principal may or shall accept that provides clarity. So, Mr. Allen, are you saying that the language in the current version on lines 56 to 59 does not track the code language?

[00:37:38] That does not. The may to shall shall or may is in code for that section. But I think in terms of what doesn't track the code or what isn't established by the code, it's the made of the shall and the 18 through 20.

[00:37:53] The principal may accept the school records as verification of proper immunization. That's not contemplated in that specific code section. What about should? If it's not contemplated in that particular language, I don't think that it matters if it shall.

[00:38:18] It's the other one that it has tracking, right? That's accurate. That resuscitation, yes. Thank you.

[00:38:36] I have no problem with holding Loudoun County Public Schools to a higher standard than the state documents. I think shall provides consistency among schools, and that also lets parents know that we're all on the same page.

[00:39:00] The word shall does not mean that we're not working towards getting these immunizations for the children. It just means that we shall consider anything that parent provides us of previous acceptance is acceptable.

[00:39:27] Are there other comments or concerns? I mean, I think I would like to change the 19 from May to shall. I'm on the fence with the other one, but I do agree with SEAC.

[00:39:48] I want to keep as consistency, and I'm also with Ms. LaBelle in keeping to a higher standard. and it sounds like our standard operating procedure is a higher standard anyway. So are we all in agreement that we would suggest editing both portions to shall, from May to shall?

[00:40:14] I don't know if that requires a motion at this point. It does, okay. Okay, I move to change May to shall on line 19. The principal shall accept the school records as verification of proper immunization.

[00:40:32] And then again, on line 56, any student whose immunization are incomplete shall be admitted conditionally. Is there a second? I second.

[00:40:47] Motion has been properly moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. The motion to amend is unanimous. We would like you to make the changes. Ms. Richardson. Thank you, Chair Donohue and committee members.

[00:41:05] So at this time, it would be the recommendation of staff that we would make the proposed amendment and changes to line 19 from May to Shell, line 56, May to Shell, and that with knowledge that staff will make those changes, that you still move policy 8410 forward to the full board as an informational item at the next board meeting.

[00:41:30] Thank you, Ms. Richardson. Committee members, do you have any other concerns or questions or comments regarding these proposed revisions. Then I will entertain a motion to forward these revisions as amended per our last vote to the full board to be an information item at an upcoming agenda.

[00:41:53] I move that we put the amendments in and forward the entire document for an information section in the next board meeting. Thank you. I will second that motion.

[00:42:09] The motion has been properly moved and seconded. those in favor say aye aye aye the motion unanimously passes we will we understand staff will make those changes that we voted on and then this item will go to the full board to be an information item at an upcoming full board meeting thank you we will now move on to item 4.03 revision of policy 8415 blood-borne contagious communicable or infectious diseases. Ms. Richardson.

[00:42:46] Thank you, Chair Donohue. As you recall, this policy was also presented to the committee back on January 24th for minor changes to Lines 20, Line 53, and Line 54. Again, we had some dialogue and conversation about the reference to physician assistant and the change to advanced practice registered nurse this policy was posted for community and advisory committee feedback for two weeks and we did receive feedback from MSAC LEAF and most recently SEAC voted on feedback which was posted SEAC voted last evening and

[00:43:25] their their feedback was posted for the public and the committee today so if you Do you have any recommendations for staff at this time based on the community and committee feedback for staff to consider?

[00:43:46] Ms. Mansfield. Ms. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am wondering about CX recommendations. If a student has a 504 plan or an IEP, the case manager shall consider whether a meeting is needed to revise the plan for all students.

[00:44:01] I know that there's a policy that says that. Is that something that we should be putting in here as well as a reference? So there was extensive conversation at SEAC last evening. It is important to note that as a division, we already have a standing practice that after three days, school-based teams come together to do a return-to-learn plan.

[00:44:22] And so that would automatically include the educational stakeholders that provide services to students. I see that that would be somewhat redundant, but certainly it's up for the committee to consider.

[00:44:37] I just wonder sometimes if when we go hunting for things, if it's less clear or more clear. And that's always been my problem is, okay, if I have to go hunting for something, if it's not referenced here, then I don't know.

[00:44:57] So I'm just wondering if there can be some reference to that other policy or that procedure. I can see how that would be more clear and more helpful for people who are looking at these policies. And so as the policy currently stands, lines 57 and 58 is the section of policy that's in question.

[00:45:21] They currently state an alternative instructional plan may be made available to the student if the absence is expected to exceed two consecutive weeks per policy 5360. And then the cross-reference of policy 5360 is our homebound and home-based instruction policy.

[00:45:40] I also, I understand that MSAC was thinking about will be encouraged on line 41. I just don't know that we can force the issue and force people to see medical care.

[00:46:00] It says medical diagnosis or treatment by an authorized health care provider or the Loudoun County Health Department. It says will be encouraged. I know that they would like shall be required. I just don't know that we can force people to do that.

[00:46:17] That would be correct. That's why the proposed language is we'll be encouraged to seek medical guidance.

[00:46:34] Ms. Richardson, I have a question about the MSAC, no, shoot, yes, the MSAC feedback on lines 52 to 55 of the policy.

[00:46:53] A statement may be required from an authorized health care provider where there was feedback suggesting "shall be required" instead of "may be required"? Can you speak to staff preference or input on that issue? Yes, so the current language in the policy starting on line 50, the student may return to school at such time as the student's condition does not jeopardize the health and safety of other students or staff. A statement may be required from an authorized health care provider

[00:47:27] to include the student's physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, and or the Loudoun County Health Department certifying that the student's condition does not jeopardize the health and safety of other students or staff. Again, that goes back to the fact that not everyone believes that they always need to seek medical assistance.

[00:47:52] And so we left it as may and not shall to afford for those opportunities. And certainly we would work with families on case-by-case basis to make sure that their students are not exhibiting the signs of not being well or healthy to be able to come back to school.

[00:48:10] We have most recently updated our websites to have, you know, what it is to be healthy and when to come to school and when not to come to school so that we do keep our communicable and infectious diseases to a minimum. Thank you, Ms. Richardson.

[00:48:28] Although this paragraph 5, even if the language were changed to will be required, would not require treatment, correct? At most, it would require a medical provider to say, this person is healthy. That would be correct, as it is currently written.

[00:48:46] It does not mandate treatment, because we cannot do that. And Mr. Allen, would that create legal issues if we were to require students who may have been suffering from a contagious communicable or infectious disease to provide a medical provider's note, ensuring that they are healthy before they are allowed to return to school?

[00:49:16] It's a potential concern. To Ms. Richardson's point, there may be families that don't have an authorized health care provider at their disposal. So I think may give us the flexibility and allows for a case-by-cases individualized approach.

[00:49:39] Thank you. Kind of think of it as the flu or something that's communicable, that's infectious, a cold, And you wouldn't necessarily want to have, need a doctor's note to come back to school.

[00:49:59] That is fair. There may be other diseases that you would want to know that someone is rid of them. That's a fair point.

[00:50:15] Ms. Lebel, do you have thoughts? Is it possible that upon the return to school, the student could be checked by the school nurse to make sure he's absent of any of the symptoms of the disease? Again, we would want to handle that on a case-by-case basis, working with the families to make sure that they would be comfortable that we have their student to be seen by the school nurse or someone else from Student Health Services.

[00:50:49] So could we say with the consent of the family, the student will be seen by either the school nurse or School Health Services upon return to school to check for absence of illness.

[00:51:09] Is that a possibility? So you could look at line 52, and we could work to add that language if that was the consensus of the committee.

[00:51:30] So along with a statement may be required, we would want to craft some language for the committee to consider about the parental notification and involvement with access to the school nurse or someone from the Student Health Services team.

[00:51:50] I put that back to the committee to provide staff the direction that you agree upon. Ms. Mansfield. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have this really, like, I think it's just going to start bogging things up if we have to require everybody to say, okay, I have a cold, and we're going to require this from a nurse, or you need to go see the nurse before you come back to school.

[00:52:17] I think that some of these are going to be, that's just my, that's my biggest thought with this is I can just see how it could bog down the schools, bog down the nurses, bog down more paperwork, that kind of thing.

[00:52:37] Because most of these things that we're talking about is not going to be, you know, I don't even know an infectious disease that I can say right now. So that would be that big of a problem.

[00:52:53] So if I could ask a question, Ms. Richardson, would it, since the only action we would be taking tonight if we take action is whether or not to forward this to the full board, would it perhaps be possible to collect some information?

[00:53:14] Could we potentially go ahead and vote to send this to the full board? And in the meantime, before it gets on the agenda of the full board, could we ask you to collect some information potentially that would shed light on Ms. Mansfield's concerns.

[00:53:34] Certainly. So staff could take either direction of the board. It could be that we take this policy back to student health services and work with them on the impact of the language that you have sort of talked about this evening, and you not refer it to the full board or we could do that work with student health services and you refer it to the full board and we would present our findings at the time of the full board as it's presented as an informational item.

[00:54:07] Staff would be comfortable to do either. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think we also have to look at, let's look about kids who might have HIV or hepatitis or something like that.

[00:54:25] I think that while that could, that is, you know, could be communicative in certain ways or contagious in certain ways, we might not necessarily want, there are medications that can help that child and we might not need a doctor's note.

[00:54:45] I mean, I'm just, I know I'm pushing back on this, but I really kind of feel strongly. So I would be comfortable with them, with taking more data and forwarding this off.

[00:55:04] I think that we don't actually need the words, a doctor's note, especially if they're coming in and the school nurse is looking at them, taking the temperature, checking the color of the skin, the eyes, whatever, and saying, okay, this one's fine. As long as we have some sort of check that says, no, you know, this child is still sick, take them home, put them back to bed. I think that a written note from a health professional or a doctor

[00:55:40] might be a little much. Some cases, yes, but not necessarily every case. As we talked about, oh, they had a cold or they had the flu. That would be an advisory type of thing. I'm allowed to make a motion, right?

[00:56:02] I move that we advance the proposed revisions to policy 8415 to the full board for their consideration as an information item with the direction to staff to gather some statistics and concrete information about what kind of conditions we are seeing keeping kids out of school and what input student health services has on whether requiring a note or a visit to

[00:56:40] school services before a return to school would be um advisable appropriate uh or unnecessarily gumming off the works is there a second i second thank you the motion has been properly moved and seconded um i guess i'm supposed to say is there any more discussion please say no uh all those in favor say aye aye okay motion passes unanimously for us to forward policy 84 15 uh to the full board to be an information item at an upcoming meeting with additional input

[00:57:19] from staff thank you I realized the time is later than when this meeting was scheduled to end so committee members are you able to stay any much longer I can stay for 10 minutes but before we get to this next one I would like to be what are you looking to speak to miss Bansfield I would like to well okay do

[00:57:54] Do we have, I don't know how to do this, I want to get to saying something about item 503, but I also want, I would like to ask if my fellow committee members have thoughts or discussions about 501 or 502, and I don't know how that works.

[00:58:17] Mr. Allen. Yeah, as a point of clarification, if you'd like to take an item out of order, you could move to suspend the rules to do so, if that's what I'm hearing. sorry it is it is in that category but um so if if we can move on to the or if our Ms. Mansfield you said you can stay for maybe 10 minutes yeah sorry I'm reading ahead Ms. LaBelle are you able to stay for possibly 10 more minutes I'm already uh going to be late for

[00:58:52] my other appointment for this evening so I suspect 10 more minutes would be fine I apologize that's okay I appreciate it's not you I appreciate your flexibility So moving on to section 5 of our agenda, information items, item 501, new policy 6640, emergency first aid, CPR, and AED certified personnel.

[00:59:16] Ms. Richardson. Thank you, Chair Donohue. This is pretty straightforward. This is a brand new policy. So you'll see for background, this is modeled after the VSBA model policy EBBA.

[00:59:32] It's the foundation for policy 6640. it is a brand new policy for lcps it was drafted in collaboration with human resources and talent development the impact that this policy would have emergency first aid cpr and aed certified personnel is guidance to school buildings with staffing ratios of 10 or more and fewer than 10 it gives a prescriptive measure of the number of staff that are required to be trained in emergency first aid, CPR, and AED.

[01:00:06] It also goes on to define the number of staff that are required to be trained for the administration of insulin and glucagon. Thank you, Ms. Richardson. I'm very happy that we're putting this policy out there.

[01:00:28] I think it's a good thing to solidify and make consistent across the division. I did have a couple of questions. If you happen to have any information immediately available to you, my only concern was we say at least three employees will have the training or at least two employees related to administering insulin.

[01:00:55] Do you have any information about if it is three employees in a facility, what are the odds that there will be so many employees out on a particular day that there might not be anyone in the facility trained to use these measures if needed.

[01:01:16] I'm happy to get that data from Student Health Services. I do have some access to data, but it is extremely outdated. It would have been earlier this fall, maybe September or October, where the Supervisor of Health Services had provided us information.

[01:01:34] So I can ask for an update and certainly can bring that back to the committee next month. Thank you. Ms. Mansfield, did you have questions or concerns? I do. So I'm wondering, does this apply for after-school activities, thinking intramural sports, that kind of thing?

[01:01:58] Yes, because the way that the policy is currently written, so for school buildings with an instructional or administrative staff of 10 or more, we have to have a minimum of at least three employees trained in CPR and first aid and AED, as well as at least two folks on staff able to administer insulin and glucagon.

[01:02:19] So we would apply those same measures across the school day for any LCPS-sponsored event. But what about after-school activities that aren't necessarily LCPS-sponsored? Like in elementary schools, they have after-school activities or drama or whatever.

[01:02:40] What happens then? Certainly, we would work to make sure that we have knowledge of the needs of students and staff members that would be participating in such after-school activities to make sure that we have the appropriately trained staff present.

[01:02:55] That's a natural practice that we have. Athletic trainers, are they permitted or required to have training, this training? Yes. Okay, thank you. Ms. LaBelle, any further questions or comments?

[01:03:19] Ms. Mansfield? I will then entertain a motion to have this be an action item on our next agenda. Oh, thank you. Okay, then I would like this to be an action item on our next agenda, please.

[01:03:40] Moving on to item 5.02, new policy 6650, personnel training viral infections. Ms. Richardson. Thank you, Chair Donohue. Again, this is another brand new policy for LCPS that is based, the foundation of this policy is the Virginia School Board Association Model Policy EBBB. It was drafted in collaboration with LCPS Human Resources and Talent Development. The impact of this policy provides guidance for personnel having direct contact with students that personnel would be required to participate

[01:04:18] in training about the causes, prevention, transmission, and effects of bloodborne pathogens. So, in working with human resources and talent development, this is something that we would integrate into our annual yearly required trainings.

[01:04:42] Thank you. Committee members, do you have any questions, concerns, or comments about this policy? Neither do I. I would like to move this also to be an action item for our next committee meeting.

[01:05:04] So moving on to item 5.03, Revision of Policy 8040, Rights of Transgender and Gender Expansive students. Before I turn this over to you Ms. Richardson, I would like to take a point of privilege to make a couple of comments about this policy and this process. So I think as many and possibly all of you know our committee inherited this from the previous outgoing committee members and when I was advised

[01:05:41] that the instruction from the previous Student Services Committee had been to revise the policy or prepare advanced prepare proposed revisions to this policy. I did start to wonder if that was necessary for us if we are obligated to follow that recommendation as we are a new group on this

[01:06:07] committee um and and or if we do want to revisit 8040 if making revisions is best way to go about doing that so when i put this item on the agenda for discussion at the january meeting what i had hoped to do there was to start a conversation about whether we should leave 8040 as it is whether we should repeal it with or without some kind of replacement or whether we should revise the policy in some way.

[01:06:46] And we did not have a chance at that meeting to get into discussion, particularly about what path we might want to take. But this policy, I think, is very important for all of our students in the division.

[01:07:05] And I feel very strongly that we need to take our time thinking about it and make sure that we get it right. And because of that, we do not have time to go through all of the proposed provisions now because my fellow committee members and I will need to leave and staff will need to leave soon.

[01:07:32] I want to put this on for discussion at the next meeting. And I would like to talk about options for how to proceed. And in particular, I have been considering the possibility of scheduling work sessions for our committee to discuss what we want to do with this policy.

[01:07:56] Rather than simply saying we will vote on staff's revisions and what that might look like if we chose to have some meetings that were devoted to being focused on deciding what we're going to do with 8040.

[01:08:15] Ms. Mansfield. So I think that, so our policy 1030 is conduct for school board members.

[01:08:31] And item two says that the public expects that our first and greatest concern is to be in the best interest of each and every one of these young people without distinction as to who they are or what their background may be. And I think we all know at this point that at this time the ACLU has filed two lawsuits against the VDOE over Governor Youngkin's policies for transgender and non-binary students.

[01:08:54] I do think that the court guidance on this will be important before moving forward, and in the interim, I think it would be helpful to get the student and community voice around this as we consider next steps. So, I am in agreement in discussing this a little further.

[01:09:12] I don't think that it should be something that we jump to right now, and there's possibilities for, there's possibilities. So I'm happy to. I was going to make a motion, but I think I will wait on that motion for right now and move towards a little bit more discussion so that we can be more thoughtful.

[01:09:41] Yes. Thank you, Ms. Mansfield. Ms. LaBelle. I think what we have here is a moment where we can move forward to do the right thing for all of our students in the division. I think we need to be thoughtful, not hasty.

[01:09:59] look at what the children and the students have to say because they are at the center of this. This is not at this point. We've heard from adults. We need to hear from the actual children being impacted by this. So I, too, would like to wait and look and gather more information before we come up with a policy that will impact all of our students.

[01:10:28] Thank you, Ms. Labelle. So we will have this for discussion at our next meeting. Point of clarity from staff.

[01:10:44] So I heard two things. Point of discussion for our March 2024 Student Services Committee. And then I also heard the proposal or consideration of works sessions solely for the review of 8040 by the committee.

[01:11:03] Are we doing both, or are we just starting with the point of discussion in March? And if we are having it as a point of discussion, are we not considering the proposed revisions that were directed by the previous Student Services Committee and just going back to the start of the process and the review of current policy?

[01:11:27] I just need clarity so that I can make sure that things are organized for the committee. I appreciate the question, Ms. Richardson. And in fact, that hits on the reason why I was attracted to the idea of having work sessions devoted to discussing this, because this is an important issue and we will want to gather input from various parts of the community.

[01:11:50] And because of that, while I want to take appropriate time, and as Ms. LaBelle said, not be hasty in our work with this policy, I also don't want to focus so much on this policy that we're not able to do the other work that this committee needs to do.

[01:12:08] And I have had some concerns that if we continue to incorporate 80-40 into our regular committee meetings, that we will end up swallowing our time to do the other work, or as is happening right now, we will run out of time to be able to address 80-40.

[01:12:27] So I do welcome thoughts from my fellow committee members as to whether we should put this on the next agenda for the regular meeting or have some kind of special meeting to discuss how to proceed.

[01:12:49] Ms. LeBeau. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think a work session with the full board would be appropriate because this is not something that three people should be worried about to present to a whole board.

[01:13:05] the whole board needs to be involved, as well as the community and the students. Thank you. - Ms. Mansfield. - So as it, because the way the process is, as making policy is going through committee first and then going through to the board, I think that we need to focus on the committee first and then move it to the full board.

[01:13:32] I do have some ideas about that that I think that we should discuss. And it's 7.05 right now, and we all need to go. So if we could just have a discussion about that, put a stop on the process, have a discussion, and I can potentially make my motion and think about it, I think that would be great.

[01:13:58] So two points, I suppose. I might have miscommunicated, but when I was mentioning a work session, I was thinking just our committee. Obviously, other board members would be welcome to attend, as would anyone else in the public.

[01:14:16] But, and certainly other board members can provide us with input, you know, prior to and following any such work session. But I was envisioning, just through this committee, assuming that that is something that is permissible. And I had wondered if that would be an appropriate time to engage in a discussion about what shape any type of further work would take.

[01:14:47] That sentence made no sense. But if you want to make a motion now, we can entertain it, or we can table for later.

[01:15:03] Okay. So, Madam Chair, at this time, I'd like to make a motion that the Student Services Committee refer this matter to be studied further and direct the superintendent or designee to get feedback from LCPS students and the community members by engaging an outside, non-LCPS organization to facilitate and conduct focus groups, consisting of LCPS students and community members, to gather such additional input.

[01:15:29] Specifically, the outside organization conducting such focus groups should be afforded discretion in otherwise forming and conducting such focus groups and should share a synthesis of its collected focus group input with the superintendent or designee in a de-identified manner.

[01:15:47] Such information will be subsequently sent, be sent to the Student Services Committee for its consideration of the proposed revisions to Policy 8040. That's my motion. so moved uh is there a second i second before we vote i would like to make a comment i suppose

[01:16:15] um i i'm not prepared to support that motion right now because i only learned about it today and don't feel like i've had sufficient time to think through if i think that is the best way for us to move forward i may come to that conclusion um but i'm not prepared to do that

[01:16:52] right now is there other discussion if i remember robert's rules of order not to be a killjoy it's not my favorite book but we do have a motion on the floor that has been properly presented and seconded so we have to decide what we're going to do with that motion am i correct mr allen

[01:17:24] you are correct thank you so but part of that process is if there is discussion on the motion right so do you have any discussion on the motion I do I think we have a historic opportunity to bring this policy to bring this problem I won't even talk about policy this event that's facing

[01:17:54] all of our children about safe spaces privacy respect to the right answer and i think we need to have the time to have discussion to look into it to get it right for everyone and that is so important this is an opportunity a single moment excuse me a single moment in time that we can do the right thing for all of them, and we need to do that. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. A question for

[01:18:32] clarification, Ms. Mansfield. In your proposal, do I understand that essentially the primary responsibility for gathering facts and information would fall to the superintendent and the administrative staff? No, it would be a third party, an objective third party, that we would engage an outside non-LCPS organization to facilitate and conduct focus groups that vote

[01:19:11] those that or that outside organization would be the one would be afforded the discretion and or otherwise forming and conducting those focus groups so i'm thinking it would be an objective third party do you have any further discussion ms labelle i move to close discussion and move to a vote as to whether to give us more time

[01:19:48] and follow the plan outlined by Chair Mansfield. That's been a motion. Does it need to be seconded and voted on? Or can we just move to voting? Call the question. So the motion on the floor, as I understand it, is Ms. Mansfield's motion, and that's up for table.

[01:20:14] Can we move to a vote on Ms. Mansfield's motion? Yes. Thank you. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? No. Motion carries with and Donahue in opposition carries two to one.

[01:20:37] So that is, we will table discussion of item 5.03 here and move on to item six, new business. Is there any new business?

[01:21:00] In that case, the February 15th, 2024 meeting of the student services committee is adjourned. Thank you all.

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