Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, 2nd Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 6h (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/946552715?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] - Item two, because the board members who have asked to participate remotely will call in after dinner. So we will continue on with item three, with disclosures and I will start.

[00:00:17] 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 item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:00:32] 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.

[00:00:49] 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. Ms. Chandler. 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.

[00:01:20] 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.

[00:01:36] 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. Thank you. Ms. Donoghue? 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 employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:02:08] Specifically, my spouse, my minor children, and I are enrolled in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by any potential changes to employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance. Additionally, my sister-in-law is an LCPS employee who does not reside with me and is not dependent on me.

[00:02:25] These subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which my spouse, my minor children, 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.

[00:02:46] Thank you. Mrs. Griffiths? 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 our health insurance and related benefits in any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:08] 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.

[00:03:26] 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. Vice Chair Streffi. 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.

[00:03:56] 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.

[00:04:14] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Ms. Chernoff. 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.

[00:04:36] Specifically, as a school board member, I'm 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 record of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you We'll now move on to agenda item for approval of the consent agenda board members Are there any changes to be made to the consent agenda before we vote on the consent agenda?

[00:05:14] we have one proclamation to read. Gun violence awareness proclamation will be read by Ms. Donohue. Ms. Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a longtime volunteer for Moms Demand Action and as an individual who grew up in a gun-owning family but has minor children, I am very pleased to be putting forward this proclamation today. The 2024 Loudoun County Public Schools Proclamation declaring the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

[00:05:48] This proclamation declares the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the Loudoun County Public Schools to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and to declare that we as a country must do more to end this public health crisis. Whereas every day, 120 Americans are killed by gun violence and more than 200 are shot and wounded with an average of nearly 18,000 gun homicides every year, and whereas Americans are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries,

[00:06:21] and whereas Virginia has 1,160 gun deaths every year with a rate of 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that costs the state $14.2 billion each year, of which $288.3 million is paid by taxpayers, Virginia having the 34th highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S., and whereas protecting public safety in the communities they serve is the district's highest responsibility, and whereas support for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns away from people who should not have them,

[00:06:58] and whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see an increase in firearm homicides, non-fatal shootings across the country, increased calls to domestic violence hotlines, and an increase in city and urban gun violence. Whereas in January 2013, Hadiyah Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at the age of 15, on June 7, 2024, to recognize the 27th birthday of Hadiyah Pendleton, born June 2, 1997, people across the United States will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange in tribute to Hadiyah Pendleton and other victims of gun violence and the loved ones of those victims.

[00:07:38] And whereas the idea was inspired by a group of Hediyah's friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange, they chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods, and orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life.

[00:07:55] And whereas anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 7th, the first Friday in June 2024, to help raise awareness about gun violence. And whereas by wearing orange on June 7th, 2024, Americans will raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors.

[00:08:14] And whereas we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have access to them and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and communities safe. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board declares the first Friday in June, June 7th, 2024, to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

[00:08:37] We encourage all schools to support their local community's efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives. Thank you, Ms. Donoghue. I'll now entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Ms. Chandler.

[00:08:54] I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. We have a motion by Ms. Chandler to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Donahue. It's been properly moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. And at this time, we'll take an electronic vote. Clerk, will you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion

[00:09:28] passes with six, with two absent for the vote and Mrs. Griffiths abstaining. We'll move to the Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee update presented by Mr. Neal Slevin.

[00:09:49] We are going to be delayed by just a moment.

[00:10:05] Let me check on what's happening. Mr. Slevin, could you bring the mic? I couldn't hear you. We are trying to locate our presenters. I apologize.

[00:10:30] Madam Chair. Should we move to work session first and then? Yes, ma'am. I would suggest since this is a presentation that includes the chair of the CTAC committee that we move on to item six and we can come back when I get noticed that they're here.

[00:10:46] Sounds good to me. Okay, we will move on to item six, the work session starting with agenda item 6.01 from the Office of Superintendent Blue Ribbon Panel.

[00:11:02] And we will start with Dr. Spence. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. We appreciate the opportunity to make this presentation this evening. So when I came to Loudoun County, one of the things that we saw that people were talking a lot about was the concern over safety and security in our schools.

[00:11:21] At that time, I shared an entry plan, and in that entry plan, I talked about convening a blue-ribbon panel. So as you see on this next slide here, just quickly, why I talked about a blue-ribbon panel. This is something that I'd had experience with in another district.

[00:11:42] A blue-ribbon panel is different from a committee or a focus group. A blue-ribbon panel typically is a highly qualified group of people who are appointed to investigate, to study, or to analyze a specific question, generally have a degree of independence from political influence or any other authority, and generally no direct authority that is associated with their work.

[00:12:03] It's a fact-finding panel, which then comes back and provides information to those who've asked for it. This, as I mentioned, was convened specifically at my request in the entry plan, and our director of school safety and security, John Clark, took that work on early in my time here, and he's going to talk a little bit about how that work went and the results, and then I'll come back and talk about our next steps.

[00:12:28] Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, everyone. So the Blue Ribbon panel had a focused mission to examine physical, technical, and cybersecurity, as well as mental health. For the purposes of this panel, physical security covered everything from security personnel and crisis planning to door locks and threat assessment.

[00:12:52] Technical security covered everything from our security cameras and alarms to our radios and our Halo project. Cybersecurity covered everything from network intrusion detection and phishing protection to multi-factor authentication and cyber incident response.

[00:13:10] Mental health covered everything from counselor support and mental health partnerships to anti-bullying and anti-drug campaigns. In addition, the policies, protocols, and procedures for each one of these areas was covered. We began planning for this as soon as Dr. Spence arrived in September.

[00:13:32] and between December and March, the panel met multiple times. During these meetings, we pulled back the curtain and gave them anything and everything in terms of safety and security. In March, the panel provided a set of recommendations that could potentially enhance security here in LCPS. In April and May, we solicited stakeholder feedback on these recommendations. We had an outstanding group of external participants, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, Percival Police Department, the Leesburg Police Department, the Middleburg

[00:14:10] Police Department, Loudoun County Fire Rescue, Loudoun County Fire Marshal, Loudoun County Office of Emergency Management, the Leesburg Office of Emergency Management, Loudoun County Mental Health, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, K-12-6, a cyber organization dedicated to the K-12 environment, and the Williams Center, a local

[00:14:43] mental health support organization. We also had a number of internal subject matter experts whose sole responsibility was to assist with briefings and question and answer sessions. Several central office leaders, as well as principal representatives from all three educational levels, Hutchinson Farm Elementary, River Bend Middle, and Heritage High participated in the process. The overwhelming sentiment from the panel was very positive. They clearly recognized the outstanding work being done

[00:15:20] with safety and security in LCPS. They did, however, provide a set of recommendations that could potentially enhance safety and security in LCPS. The panel's recommendations were broken down into two categories. Recommendations that they believe we should address immediately and recommendations that they believe we should address in the short or long term. These recommendations are listed in no particular order and fall into the address immediately category. Prioritizing safety and

[00:15:54] security and threat assessment training, ensuring that SROs and mental health reps are involved in every threat assessment, assessing public safety radio coverage throughout our schools, creating a basic cybersecurity and social media best practices course, having the school board label the division of safety and security as a law enforcement unit. That term is a little misleading. It has nothing to do with carrying firearms or having arrest powers. This is simply a legal term that designates security videos as such and allows us to share the videos as we deem appropriate with our public

[00:16:33] safety partners. These recommendations fall into the address in the short or long-term category, again in no particular order. Adding more security coverage to elementary schools, adding more security coverage to after-school events, ensuring Wi-Fi coverage throughout every school, creating a full-time supervisory position that is solely dedicated to our security operations center and expanding its size, creating a formal alternative education site, and adding a digital

[00:17:11] analysis piece to all serious and very serious threat assessments. This would take the form of a scrub of the subject's social media and open source data for those threat assessments. Once we receive these recommendations, we begin soliciting feedback from key stakeholder groups. We personally briefed these groups on the blue ribbon panel and received their feedback on the recommendations through ThoughtExchange. In addition, we also asked for general community feedback through the

[00:17:45] ThoughtExchange platform. All of the feedback will be organized and presented to Dr. Spence for his consideration. From a high level, you can see that we had a total of 412 participants, and most of them were parents or community members. The feedback indicates widespread support for Wi-Fi enhancements and providing an alternative education site. These recommendations receive an average score of 4.3 out of 5 stars. The law enforcement unit recommendation and SROs in elementary schools

[00:18:22] appear to generate the most public debate. And I'll turn it back over to Dr. Spence for next steps. Thank you, Mr. Clark. We appreciate that. As was noted, we have essentially closed the feedback segment of this. I have not yet seen the full data set. As was mentioned, that will be handed over as I prepare to present my post-entry plan to the school board.

[00:18:53] And at that time, we'll be talking about which recommendations we want to put forward, but we thought it was important at this time to engage with you all in a conversation about what was done and what was discussed in terms of recommendations and answer any questions that you might have about that prior to coming back to you on this matter in the post-entry plan report.

[00:19:14] So, Madam Chair, with that, we'll stop here and take any questions that you have. Thank you, Dr. Spence. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Yes, Ms. Chandler. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Mr. Clark and Dr. Spence. First off, I would like to express that I appreciate that the panel was able, first and foremost, to identify that LCPS is already a leader in providing a secure learning environment for our students.

[00:19:42] I am so happy that LCPS is operating at a gold standard in safety and security protocols, and that Dr. Spence put in an extraordinary amount of effort at outreach to law enforcement, especially to build bridges and improve our relationships in those areas.

[00:20:00] From the stakeholder survey, I noticed that the top-rated and community-supported feedback included enhancing Wi-Fi coverage and adding the alternative education sites. Those things make a lot of sense to me. I've also heard concerns from some parents about parents not being included in the meeting and the fact that the full report is not available online for public consumption.

[00:20:25] Although I understand the desire for transparency, I will ask the community to please understand that those protocols are part of the protocols that keep our students safe. If that information was widely available, our buildings and our students would be less secure.

[00:20:42] That said, I also would like to express some reservations about the most debated panel recommendations and ask that this be a first step in the conversation and ask that you give some further consideration.

[00:20:57] First and foremost, it's important for us to acknowledge that the traditional SRO model has not been shown as an evidence-based best practice in schools. There is various rigorous academic research that shows that SROs don't stop school shootings and can cause harm to students and criminalize behavior that is typically normal adolescent behavior.

[00:21:23] I'm going to reference some studies. According to one study from the Journal of Adolescent Health, which examined 179 shootings on school grounds over two decades, from 1999 to 2018, the study found no evidence that SROs in schools reduced deaths or injuries from the school shooting incidents.

[00:21:42] These are studies of school shootings that occurred. I also want to mention the unfortunate incident at Robb Elementary School. The investigative committee by the Texas House of Representatives interim report found that although there were 376 law enforcement officers on the school grounds that day, no one was able to stop the gunman from carrying out the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, in part because of systematic failures and egregious poor decision making by nearly everyone involved who was in a position of power.

[00:22:16] That incident resulted in 21 people, including 19 elementary-age students, dying as a result. And beyond that, it's important for us to remember that, again, rigorous and varied academic research has shown that over-policing in schools negatively impacts students of color by contributing to more suspensions, expulsions, arrests, as well as increased absenteeism and decreased graduation rates.

[00:22:44] A study on school discipline that was done by the Brookings Institute has shown that a disproportionate treatment of students of color is not due to any disproportionate misconduct. There is, in fact, no evidence that higher rates of misbehavior among these students account for any higher likelihood of their being disciplined by school police compared with their white peers.

[00:23:07] Research done by the Journal on Policy Analysis and Management also demonstrates that the presence of SROs leads to particularly severe and disproportionate consequences for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students, as well as students with disabilities.

[00:23:25] The Center of Public Integrity also investigated Virginia and found that students in Virginia are referred to law enforcement at nearly three times the national rate. Given that we serve a wonderfully diverse student population at LCPS, I checked the data just yesterday, and according to the LCPS dashboard, LCPS race, ethnicity and race data dashboard showed that 59. 8% of our students are students that identify as an ethnicity or culture other than white.

[00:23:57] We have an obligation to consider the best course of action moving forward by being purposeful and thoughtful and considering the needs of all of our students. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chandler. Are there any other questions?

[00:24:14] Yes, Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. Referring to slide nine, if you could help me out here, can you explain the difference between SROs, SSOs, LCPS patrols, and private firms in regards to the officer's background, training, legal authority, and whether or not they are armed?

[00:24:38] And I'll have another question after that. Yes. So SRO, school resource officers, those are sworn law enforcement officers that work for either the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office or the Leesburg Police Department. They are armed.

[00:24:54] School security officers, or SSOs, those are LCPS employees. They are unarmed. Our safety and security patrols, those are also LCPS employees, and they are unarmed. And then the private firm that we use, Allied Universal, the school-based support that we utilize, those folks are unarmed.

[00:25:19] Thank you. What kind of training does Allied have if there is somebody comes in armed to harm children? Sure. So Allied Universal is certified through the state of Virginia.

[00:25:36] Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, just like every security firm that operates in the state of Virginia. And if any officer other than an SRO is armed on school property, what training do they receive? We have no other officers that are armed on school property besides SROs. And forgive me, I have a couple more. Slide number eight states the following, have the school board labeled the division, has the school board labeled the division of safety and security as a law enforcement unit.

[00:26:15] Can you explain the pros and cons of this? And will this allow law enforcement to bypass FERPA? So the genesis behind that was labeling security videos as such, calling them security videos, and allowing us to share those as needed.

[00:26:32] So it does not bypass FERPA, but I will defer for a further detailed explanation on FERPA to either Mr. Allen or Dr. Spence. Thank you very much. Right. So just quickly, it would, as was noted, allow for streamlining of some information sharing processes with law enforcement, specifically, as was mentioned, security videos.

[00:26:55] But to be clear, that would not result, were we to make that recommendation, that would not result in unfettered access to student records and certainly would not be a workaround to the division's responsibilities with regards to FERPA.

[00:27:10] FERPA, for those who aren't aware, is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and we take the maintenance and confidentiality of student information very seriously. It would not enter into any scenario that would jeopardize that responsibility. Are there any other questions?

[00:27:30] Yes, Ms. Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clark. I have a couple of questions. My first question is with regard to slide eight, the first bullet that says prioritize safety and security, and threat assessment training.

[00:27:48] I'm curious in particular about what the scope of the threat assessment training is. And for example, whether it includes training in de-escalating incidents or emerging incidents, training on dealing with individuals who are special needs or neurodivergent, particularly dealing with students as opposed to adults.

[00:28:17] So can you speak a little bit to that, please? Absolutely. So, yes, threat assessment training does delve into how to deal with special needs students. It does not delve into de-escalation tactics, per se, but it does talk about how to approach threat assessments when you're talking about a student versus a parent versus another adult.

[00:28:39] So it does get into the student mindset. Just to add a little more context to that, if I could, Ms. Donahue. Threat assessment training is a very specific type of training, which is actually related to how we determine whether or not a threat would be a substantive threat or not a substantive threat.

[00:29:01] All of our administrators go through threat assessment training, and it's a requirement every year. We do work with the Center for Campus Safety and Security on that, but there's some very specific elements of that training that are a part of that relative to how we work with neurodivergent students and other students.

[00:29:16] I'm going to ask Dr. Richardson to talk a little bit about some of the work that we do there because we do have planned training for all staff around some de-escalation strategies and she can talk a little bit about what's planned. Thank you, Dr. Spence and Mr. Clark.

[00:29:33] I appreciate that. Mrs. Donahue, most recently in the fall, I believe it was either October or November of this school year, the Student Services Committee, the threat assessment policy was up for revision and the committee specifically indicated the following language be included in the regulation for neurodivergent students or those that are currently eligible under the IDEA.

[00:30:00] So if you were to look at the regulation on line 168, we've added language that when a student with a disability is the subject of a threat assessment, the team shall interview staff who have knowledge of the student's unique individual needs. The purpose of interviews is to evaluate the threat in context and in relationship to the student's impact of disability so that the meaning of the threat and intent can be determined. As Dr. Spence and Mr. Clark have mentioned, all of our administrators in LCPS are trained in the threat assessment process on an annual basis. It requires

[00:30:37] annual recertification and training. The preemptive part to that is the MANT training that we do in crisis de-escalation and certainly prevention and intervention but the threat assessment process does have a more narrow focus once the threat has taken place and it indicates whether there's an imminent need for danger safety and then how we can provide supports following the incident of

[00:31:04] that threat. Thank you and I am also had some questions about the community feedback period. I was very happy to see that we were soliciting community feedback.

[00:31:22] I was a little surprised that there were only about 400 responses considering that we have 83,000 students and 430,000 people who live in the county. So I was curious what kind of outreach LCPS did to make the community aware of the opportunity for feedback and to encourage them to provide feedback.

[00:31:45] I can answer that question. We sent out individual Blackboard messages as well as put it in our newsletter and on social media and asked for feedback from our families. Thank you. Yes.

[00:32:01] Any other questions? Yes, Dr. Deans. I have a question about the after-school surveillance or coverage. Were there specifics in terms of how all the campuses, especially the high school campuses, would be covered in terms of after-school, since that was one of the recommendations?

[00:32:27] there was no prescribed formula for covering the after-school activities it was just an area that they thought we could potentially improve upon so any specific ways to improve upon it so i think it comes down to whether we want to explore adding additional school resource officers school security officers our safety and security patrols or even a private firm to assist with supplementing that coverage, I think it really falls into those categories.

[00:33:10] Are there any other questions? Yes, Ms. Chernoff. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation, and thank you, Dr. Spence, for initiating this. I think it is a worthy endeavor, and I'm happy to see that this was done. School safety, I think, is on all of our minds all the time, and I think this is a good step in the right direction to tighten things up, even though we're on the right path.

[00:33:36] Dr. Spence, I think you said, you mentioned the full data set. When you were talking about that, that we don't have that yet for a full report, were you talking about what was done by the Blue Ribbon Panel, or are you speaking specifically to the thought exchange data, or both? Speaking specifically to the thought exchange data.

[00:33:55] Okay. I know you said you'll access that to look through the recommendations before you present to us. Can we also have access to that full data set? Yes, we can get that for you. - That'd be great. And then in addition with the recommendations considered, was there a report and did it talk about the why those recommendations were made?

[00:34:17] And I understand that some of this as Ms. Chandler said is sensitive and we wouldn't want it out in the wrong hands for sure and I echo that. But I'm wondering if we could also have sort of how they arrived at those conclusions just so that when we're thinking about recommendations as a board that we're fully informed and we have that information to make sure that we're being accountable to that is that possible also so I think the answer to that is yes and it may be that the board would want to convene in closed session for that conversation so as to not inadvertently share any information that may put us in a worsened safety posture but how about I consult with mr.

[00:34:56] Allen and we come back to the board of the recommendation on that after this meeting I appreciate that and thank you I also had a question about I saw that the timeline i think closed out january february for when they were reviewing the safety measures were they able to see any of the new bathroom technology as part of that security review or will that be done separately because the construction wasn't quite finished yet they did not see any of the bathroom technology okay they were briefed about it but they did not see it and then just as a reminder we'll be coming back with the conversation with the board about those after we've finished up with the pilot and gotten feedback on the pilot from the schools that

[00:35:36] participating. Perfect I just didn't see it in any of the feedback so I figured maybe it hadn't been considered. The last thing is that we've gotten some feedback from some of our advisory committee just to piggyback off of the classifying the division as a law enforcement unit. Some people have passed along that that would mean the security video footage would no longer be labeled as educational record but would be security videos and talking about FERPA what would that mean in terms of parents having the right to view it would that change that status

[00:36:10] so can you speak to that and is that seems like something that we should consider i'm gonna actually let mr allenway in here he's um he's got more information on what how ferpa deals with this issue thank you thank you so to to your question ms sure enough uh that that wouldn't impact of families right to see their student's education record to the extent that that record's being used for say disciplinary purposes and is maintained you know separate and apart as an

[00:36:44] education record so that would have no impact but to the extent the law enforcement unit has a copy of that they would still be bound by FERPA and couldn't release that unless it fell within an applicable FERPA exemption so it'd be protected but also the family would still have an opportunity to review it to the extent it's an education record of their student for disciplinary purposes or otherwise.

[00:37:10] Thank you. That's all I have. Any other questions? Yes, Dr. Deans. The thought exchange closed May 9th. When did it open? From when to when was that thought exchange?

[00:37:28] How long was the window open to the students and teachers' parents? I want to say 10 days, but let me check on that for you real quick. She's checking on that for you.

[00:37:49] If I could add a follow-on question to Dr. Dean's inquiry, I was also curious if the communications that we sent out were only in English or if they were in other languages, and if the process by which the community could transmit their feedback to us was only in English or in other languages as well.

[00:38:16] All of our communications that go out through Blackboard are translated into the home language. That said, as it relates to ThoughtExchange, too, I know that they have the ability to translate survey questions as well. So it should have appeared if someone was taking it, for example, on their mobile device in their home language, whatever their mobile device was set to.

[00:38:41] Dr. Deans, would it be okay if Ms. Allen gave that to you later in an email or something later? Okay, so are there any more questions?

[00:38:59] I do have it now. It's April 5th to May 9th, or April 25th to May 9th. So how many days is that? Nearly two weeks. Two weeks. Okay.

[00:39:18] If there are no more questions, thank you, Mr. Clark, for your time. And we will move on to Agenda Item 6.02 from the Department of Academics, Overview of Process to Identify Title I Schools, presented by Dr. Ashley Ellis.

[00:40:04] Good afternoon, Chair Mansfield, members of the board. This evening we are pleased to share with you an overview of Title I, Part A. This evening's presentation is purely informational and is being presented as background prior to us returning to you in the coming weeks with the consolidated grant application that will include Title I and other federal programs that will require your vote.

[00:40:29] Mr. Meisensal, school improvement supervisor, is joining me this evening to share this information about Title I and answer any questions you have. So I will turn it over to him. Good afternoon, Chair Mansfield, Vice-Chair Estreffi, and Dr. Spence, and all school board members.

[00:40:48] Thank you for the opportunity to share information regarding the federal program, Title I, Part A. Next slide. Oh, you have it. It's not working. Jerry, it's not working. Go to the next slide.

[00:41:09] Go ahead, next slide. So Title I, Part A, is a federal program within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, to improve the educational program in schools with higher percentages of enrolled students identified as economically disadvantaged.

[00:41:35] Purpose of Title I, Part A. Title I, Part A provides financial assistance through state educational agencies to school divisions and public schools with high numbers or percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and achievement standards.

[00:42:05] School divisions that receive Title I Part A funds must serve schools that have an economically disadvantaged student enrollment of 75% or higher. A school division may serve schools below the 75% threshold if funding supports additional served schools.

[00:42:20] If additional schools are served, they must be in rank order, beginning with schools with the highest enrollment poverty rate. LCPS evaluates the needs of schools and considers the funding allocated and the needs of our schools with high poverty enrollment rates.

[00:42:36] For the 2024-2025 school year, schools will be identified based on a 55% poverty threshold for elementary schools and a 65% threshold for secondary schools. Title I Part A provides targeted supplemental resources for schools with the greatest needs.

[00:42:54] The data source that's used for poverty rates is the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, identified student percentage, ISP, data that is provided by the Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs.

[00:43:15] It includes a federal multiplier of 1.6. So based on the spring identified student percentage poverty data and the established thresholds LCPS uses to identify Title I schools, two additional schools will be added as school-wide Title I schools for the 24-25 school year.

[00:43:34] And these are Countryside Elementary and Dominion Trail Elementary. Section 113 of ESEA includes a skipping provision that permits a school system not to serve an eligible Title I school that has a high percentage of low-income students if the school meets comparability requirements and will receive the supplemental funds equal to the funds they would have been provided with Title I.

[00:44:02] To provide flexibility regarding the use of funds to address the changing needs of enrolled students and Title I staffing parameters, Robey High School will be skipped in the identification as Title I for the 24-25 school year. This allows the school to adjust the use of funds as enrollment needs change throughout the year without having to submit amendments to the Title I application.

[00:44:31] We are actively preparing the two newly identified schools for the Title I status by communicating the implications of Title I with school administration, working with HRTD to ensure that all licensed staff and paraprofessionals meet the Title I qualification requirements, providing additional staff dedicated to Title I schools per staffing standards, which we will share more information about in an upcoming slide, supporting schools with communication for staff and school communities, and conducting needs assessments and developing a Title I school-wide plan for each school.

[00:45:08] Title I Part A allocations are provided to the Virginia Department of Education based on U.S. Census data estimates. The Virginia Department of Education then provides allocations to each division. It is important to note that a school division does not receive funding based on the number of schools that are served.

[00:45:33] The total allocation for a division is the same regardless of the number of schools identified as Title I. In addition to supporting Title I schools with a per-pupil allocation, divisions are required to use a portion of the funds to support homeless and foster students, facilities that serve neglected students, and equitable services to participating non-profit private schools.

[00:46:03] in the chart, funds received for the 23-24 school year are relatively consistent with the funds that we received back in 2016. Our preliminary reports indicate that there may be a minor decrease in funds for the 24-25 school year. We won't know our actual allocations until the VDOE announces them, which is typically around the start of the school year, end of August, beginning of September.

[00:46:34] Title I funds are to be used to directly impact student achievement. Typical funds include supporting instructional programs and strategies, professional development for staff, additional staffing, extended learning time, technology and resources, family engagement activities, and other school improvement initiatives. Family engagement is crucial for student success and is an expectation for our schools. While this isn't unique to our Title I schools, it is required that Title I schools establish a two-way communication with families and regularly

[00:47:12] engage families with opportunities to be involved in their child's education. This slide includes other examples of the expectations for family engagement. All Title I schools will host a Title I information event in the fall of 2024 where families can learn more about the opportunities at their school. Before I talk about next steps, I did want to mention a little bit about local funds and how local funds are used to support Title I and Title I eligible schools. I think it's

[00:47:49] important to consider the dollar amount that Mr. Meisensol presented on a previous slide. I'd like to think of it about as a piece of as an entire pie and if you were to slice the pie among the number of title one schools they get a certain size of the pie based on their percentage of poverty. If we were to add more title one schools that pie does not change size the slices simply get smaller and so that's where I think it's important for the board and staff to think about how we can also support those schools through local funding and support so in board docs you have an additional attachment that lists the ways that the board currently supports title one schools

[00:48:29] and title one eligible schools and so for example just listed on this slider a couple of examples the staffing standard for school counselors is adjusted for title one eligible schools each title one elementary school is provided a school nurse an RN family liaisons regardless of enrollment each title one and title one eligible school is allotted one full FTE family liaison so those are just a couple of examples that full list is in board docs and that's where I think the board really has influence in in ways they can support title one schools and with that

[00:49:06] I'll just briefly summarize next step so as I mentioned this is purely informational setting you up to receive the consolidated grant application, which is very overwhelming, especially the first time you see one. Mr. Meisensal will come back and walk you through that in a couple of weeks. That does require board approval prior to being submitted to the Virginia Department of Education. So our next step is that we will notify VDOE of the two changes in Title I status that we mentioned this evening and proceed with the consolidated application.

[00:49:39] And with that, I will turn it back over to you, Ms. Mansfield. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. All right. Since we went ahead and, like, skipped the Career and Technical Educational Advisory Committee.

[00:49:54] Oh, first of all, I'm sorry. Board members, do you guys have any questions? Okay. I'll start with Ms. Chernoff. Of course I have questions, guys. First of all, I just, I mean, I've worked in Title I schools my entire career.

[00:50:11] So this is something that is, you know, unique and also near and dear to my heart, but also is affecting Leesburg specifically now with the addition of the three Title I schools this year. So I really appreciate Dr. Ellis and I've had multiple conversations over the last week, really just kind of hashing some of this out.

[00:50:31] I want to be, and I know we've had conversations before, I want to be very mindful of how we are supporting not only our Title I schools, but also our Title I eligible schools. So I know you sort of connected it, but if you could speak to a little bit of what the difference is, if you could clarify the difference between supplanting and supplementing, and what that difference is, and why that's important for us as board members to understand in terms of how when we look at the list, of course, I think we really want to understand who is Title I eligible falling outside of that window

[00:51:08] because they're not getting those additional funds necessarily, even though we are supporting schools in other ways. But if you could just speak to that difference because it was not something that I was aware of. Sure. Excuse me. With supplement not supplant for Title I, we have to, as a division, establish a methodology within our budget that shows that it's title one neutral which means that in no way are we saying a title one school will not receive what a non-title one school will receive because they're title one because they're already getting funding so we can't say we'll provide schools that are above 50 poverty

[00:51:46] additional staffing additional funds unless they're title one because they're already getting funding that would be a supplant concern okay yeah so basically it's like that line is set and then everybody has to get it.

[00:52:01] You can't just target those that are a few below, correct? Correct. Okay, and then, Dr. Ellis, can you speak to specifically, I know the list is there, but specifically other ways that we do address schools that are close to that Title I eligible line?

[00:52:19] Absolutely, and I will add that with Title I designation comes a lot of requirements placed on a school and a school team, and we are always mindful of that. We have been preparing, Mr. Meisensal's team has been working closely with these two new schools and their leadership teams in preparing their Title I plans, and it is a lot of work, so I want to acknowledge that and thank our teams at our Title I schools for the work that they do.

[00:52:48] So, for example, there are differentiated allotments that are calculated in the budget book based on the number of economically disadvantaged students in the school. There's certainly flexibility there to adjust that allotment through the budget process.

[00:53:06] Another example is an increase in administrative support. So, for example, at the middle school level, a Title I middle school receives an additional assistant principal. Same is true for school counselors and family liaisons.

[00:53:23] So through staffing and differentiated allotments, those are the two main ways that we support Title I and Title I eligible schools through local funds. And then just to piggyback off of that, I just want to let the board members know, I did request some data around the chart that we saw in terms of growth data for MAP where we are right now, just so that we as a board, as we make decisions for budgets, for support, for the different creative ways that we can support these schools, I think it will be important for us to look since title one is directly those funds are directly tied to achievement I think it would be very wise for us to look at those achievement numbers especially

[00:54:02] for our schools that just barely don't make that cut so I know we've talked a lot about you know closing those gaps and looking at that and then I have one last question do we know how often the federal funding is re-evaluated as we are adding more and more schools and the pie is staying the same, is there a certain threshold where that would trigger more funding for Loudoun?

[00:54:27] So the funds we receive as a division are based on U.S. Census data. And so the funds are provided from the U.S. Department of Education to each state, to each SEA, and then they reallocate those funds to each division based on the census data for that division. Knowing that the census data comes out once every 10 years, they have formulas that they estimate what the census data likely is during those off years, and that's what they use to distribute funds to our divisions.

[00:55:02] And it's based on poverty data that they have census poverty data for students living within our boundaries of our county. Any other questions? Yes, Ms. Donahue.

[00:55:18] Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you, I'm sorry if you said this already, can you tell us what makes a school Title I eligible? What is the lowest percentage threshold that makes a school Title I eligible?

[00:55:35] Sure. So a school could be served, there are two types of Title I. There's Title I school-wide in which all students benefit from the funds that are received. There's also Title I targeted assistance where the students with the greatest academic need are identified and only those students are served.

[00:55:54] So the bottom threshold for identifying a school-wide Title I school would be 40%, and targeted assistance would be 35%. There are some other, if we wanted to have a school that was below 40%, this is an example, below 40% be school-wide, there are some requests that we can submit to get that approved by the state.

[00:56:21] But in general, it's 35% for targeted, 40% for school-wide. And the assessment of it being by percentage rather than by number of students, is that a state or federal requirement? Can you say that again?

[00:56:37] So my question is, we judge whether a school is eligible for Title I assistance, whether a school is going to be a Title I school or is Title I eligible, based on the percentage of students in the population of that school.

[00:56:54] My question is, why do we do it on the percentage instead of the numbers? And the reason why I'm asking that, for example, is I'm aware of one elementary school where they were previously receiving services as Title I eligible, but when a nearby subdivision opened and the kids that lived in that neighborhood started going to that elementary school, it increased the overall student population body and it changed the percentage demographic of the Title I students versus the not Title I students, but the number of students that that school needed to serve didn't change.

[00:57:34] So my question is, why do we do it based on the percentage and not the numbers? I understand. So we have to serve in rank order of percentage of poverty based on federal guidance of Title I, Part A. It's part of the federal law for Title I. Okay, thank you. Sorry, can I have one more?

[00:57:52] I'm sorry. So my other question is with regard to written parental involvement policies, do all of our Title I schools have those, and where can parents find them?

[00:58:10] Yeah, so all of our Title I schools have this. It's a requirement that they have these. These are to be posted on their school website. So if they're not, that's something a parent could reach out to the principal or myself and request, and we can make sure it is posted.

[00:58:27] But it is something that's done annually at each school. They review that policy that they have for family engagement. And it's something that's created not just by the school, but in the school in collaboration with families. And it's reviewed annually at each school.

[00:58:44] Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, Dr. Deans. So for Title I, that's Part A and Part C and yadda yadda. Have there been any private schools that have asked for any of our Title I funds for this year?

[00:59:05] Yes, well, currently for the 23-24 school year, we have two private schools that are participating in Title I, Part A, through our division. I'm sorry I send out every spring in a tent to participate to all non-profit private schools in our area that potentially serve our students asking inquiring if they are interested in participating in our federal programs this is a requirement by law and then I have consultation with them throughout the year and how the funds are being used to support students at that school

[00:59:40] and there's no it's required by law that you allow them to participate as long as they're a non-profit and the students that attend the school reside within the boundaries of our Title I serve schools. So it's based on students going to the private school that live where our Title I boundaries are. Any other questions? Yes, Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you,

[01:00:13] Madam Chair. I must say I'm a little concerned that we added two schools, Dominion Trail and countryside. So I'm going to echo Ms. Chernoff. I would like to see how that could have happened via scores because I don't believe they were considered Title I last year. Is that correct?

[01:00:37] That's correct. Okay. And per slide 13, parent-teacher conferences, schools should schedule regular parent-teacher conferences to discuss students' progress, strengths, areas of improvement, and strategies for support, how often do these parent-teacher conferences need to take place?

[01:00:59] I don't believe there's a requirement for the number. There is a requirement that families are involved and are engaged in the academic programs for their students and that schools hold activities, engagement opportunities for families, but there's not a set number of those meetings.

[01:01:22] And my last question, how is the ISP percentage calculated? It doesn't seem to match up with the percentage of economically disadvantaged students on the school profiles that can be found on the LCPS dashboard. You're right, it does not. So the ISP, which is part of the community eligibility provision, which comes out of the nutrition office, is a data point that identifies directly certified students.

[01:01:52] So this would include students that are directly certified for free meals because they're in foster care and Head Start, Even Start. They're homeless students, migrant students, runaways, or they live in a household that participates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.

[01:02:13] So those directly identified students feed into the CEP data, which is what we use to identify Title I schools poverty level per guidance from the Virginia Department of Education.

[01:02:28] Knowing that the CEP ISP number is likely lower than what our free and reduced lunch numbers are, that's where the federal government provides a multiplier of 1.6 to the purpose is to even out what the ISP data would be compared to what free and reduced lunch economically disadvantaged data is. And for the other schools that I mentioned before, is that per what you just mentioned as far as nutrition and the lunches? Is that part of it as well? So I just want to

[01:03:04] clarify, there's community eligibility provision, which is handled through nutrition, which is completely separate from title one identification the cross there the connection is that we use their data that they use for their for identifying community eligibility provision schools we share that data we use their data that they provide and that's really the only overlap a direct connection to cep thank you can i just have a clarifying question i think mrs griffiths were

[01:03:37] you under the impression that Title I is identified from scores? From scores or now I know nutrition. So I need, I would like for you guys to clarify that a little bit. I'm really glad that that you asked that clarifying question because the, excuse me, the identification of a Title I school has absolutely nothing to do with academic status of the school or scores. It's solely on the demographic enrollment of students of poverty, economically disadvantaged students.

[01:04:13] It's not a reflection of the school's success in academics. Ms. Chair Mansfield, can I clarify? Because I think I may have caused the confusion. Yes, please. I apologize if I did. The reason that I asked to see the data was just so that we, because it was mentioned that Title I funds directly help with addressing academic achievement, that I thought it would be beneficial for us to also have that LCPS data as it's coming in, as a result, especially with MAP growth data, as it predicts that sort of trajectory of growth, so that where there are schools that may not meet that requirement,

[01:04:51] we might, as a board, if we wanted to, look at that and see how we could help additionally support those schools. So I apologize if I created some confusion around it being tied to academics. That was more for us in terms of next steps as we think about additionally supporting other schools.

[01:05:08] - Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. I'm about next steps on that one, thank you. - Great, me too. - Any other questions? No? Okay, well, thank you. Is it Mr. Meisensal?

[01:05:25] - Good job. - And thank you, Dr. Ellis. And now we will move back to item five, the Career and Technical Educational Advisory Committee. And I will allow Mr. Slevin to introduce-- - Thank you, Chairman.

[01:05:44] - Our presenters. We appreciate your flexibility, and I am very happy to introduce Dr. Lee Smith, our CTE supervisor, and Mr. Brandon Ferris, who is the Business Development Manager for Loudon Economic Development, and our immediate past chair of CTAC, who will be providing the update from the Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee this afternoon.

[01:06:07] Thank you so much, Mr. Slevin. Greetings, Chair Mansfield, school board members, and Dr. Spence. Tonight, we have our CTE, Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee update, and co-presenting will be our immediate past chair, Brandon Ferris.

[01:06:28] All right. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Good evening, board. Dr. Smith. A quick overview of what the CTEC is. Essentially, we meet monthly to plan, implement, and assess the career and technical education programs for Loudoun County Public Schools.

[01:06:46] Just quickly before I dive in, I'd like to say personally that I'm very grateful for the career and learning department. Neil and Renee have done a great job of making sure that we've been fully supported. I'd also like to take a moment to thank Dr. Smith for all of her support in making sure that our advisory committee has everything that we need.

[01:07:05] This report that we provide will show you how successful we've been, not only in the past year, but over the past three years in developing programming that's going to be very critical to the development of our children. As a business development manager, it is critically important that we provide workforce-ready individuals to enter our society to support our county.

[01:07:27] So I'm very grateful for the support from Dr. Smith and the rest of the CTE. Next slide, please. All right, a quick overview of our board members. The board itself is comprised of industry, parents, and other professionals, ex-factual members from LCPS.

[01:07:48] Our current chair, Dr. DeBasis-Bissak, leads our board, and the other council members are made up of parents and of individuals from industry. We meet on the third Wednesday of every month at 8.30 to 10 a.m.

[01:08:04] Moving into the next school year, I believe we're going to add virtual options as well to make our meetings a bit more accessible to other community members. Next slide, please. All right, some of the bright spots from this year. There were so many to choose from, but first up, LCPS Teacher of the Year.

[01:08:24] One of the LCPS Teachers of the Year is Kimberly Poole from J.L. Simpson Middle School. She's a CTE teacher, and she ensures technology is woven into the interdisciplinary environment of her sixth-grade students. She did a great job of that this year, and we're so very proud to have her as one of the members of our CTE team.

[01:08:43] Next slide, please. Also, Dawn Clyde and Eunice Mensah received the TIGBee Impact Award for spring 2024 for using technology to connect with students and enable them to pursue future careers in technology.

[01:09:01] We're grateful for their contributions as well. Next slide, please. And a couple of the student organizations that we have leadership representation from Loudoun County on, DECA, Amelia Greathouse from Riverside High School is the vice president of the Southern Region, and under FBLA, which is Future Business Leaders of America, Nishita Kashep from Stonebridge High School is the vice president of the Shenandoah Region, student leaders that are taking charge.

[01:09:36] Next slide, please. These are events that some of our staff and students have attended the co-curricular state leadership conferences in this past year that we've taken part in. SkillsUSA, DECA, Educators Rising, FCCLA, FBLA, HOSA, and these have been very well attended, and we are implementing the things that we've learned there throughout our courses.

[01:10:02] Next slide, please. Okay, so these programs on this slide and on the next, these are programs that have received their DECA chapter certification. These are all student-driven endeavors that contribute to providing experiential learning in marketing, technology, entrepreneurship for students and gives them a hands-on approach to entrepreneurship and learning in those areas.

[01:10:31] So we have a representation at most of our high schools here listed above. Next slide, please. Thank you. And they continue along here as well. Next slide, please.

[01:10:52] All right. And we're also proud of Project Lead the Way of our distinguished high schools from Briarwoods, Freedom, Woodgrove, Loudon Valley High School, and Heritage High School for increasing student access and engagement in engineering programs this past year.

[01:11:12] Next slide, please. All right, the Health and Medical Sciences Academy is a program that we've been working on and championing for the past two years or so now. And we're finally coming on board. So we've seen interest from over 600 eighth grade students in this past year through the Student Opportunities Portal.

[01:11:33] Three rounds of offers have been made and some have been accepted. and as offers continue to be made, as seats become available. There was a student-parent information night held last week, and we are holding another two sessions next week as well. Summer Bridge Academies, excuse me, activities are coming up to ensure a smooth transition over the next year into the programming, and there will be a white coat ceremony in August of 2024.

[01:12:02] Opportunities for growth, so of course those come along with the leaps and bounds that we've been growing this year. there are some areas in which we can improve upon. So a large area that is a regular feature of our meetings is industry credentials for high schoolers and programs at Academies of Loudoun to make sure that they are meeting up and keeping up with the career demands of our ever-changing environment.

[01:12:26] Also ensuring that we have the proper human resources curriculum and instructional support to support that programming growth, as well as updating equipment to go along with those middle and high schoolers as we prepare them for the workforce and beyond. We're also exploring opportunities in learning labs for early childhood education and exploring further career investigation possibilities as our students enter the seventh grade.

[01:12:52] Next slide, please. Future considerations. So as more funds become available, our advisory committee has identified a few areas in which that we can utilize those funds. So the evaluation and ensuring that current practices and courses are aligned with the strategic plan is critically important as we make sure that, again, that those skillsets and workforces and opportunities match up with the ever-changing environment that we're entering into, as well as reducing and identifying the barriers and access to courses to ensure that all of our students have the best possible opportunities

[01:13:30] to discover themselves and discover their careers as they grow in LCPS. And to go along with that, we're looking for additional investment in staff support to streamline the curriculum and support them with instruction, credentials, and work-based learning experiences to, again, continue that growth along the way.

[01:13:53] All right. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Ferris. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Any questions? Board members? Yes, Dr. Deans. With the health sciences, the implementation is for 2425. Is that correct?

[01:14:13] That is correct. So the Health and Medical Sciences Academy opens in the fall, fall of 2024. There will be 150 students total, 75 at Briarwoods and 75 at Tuscarora. Okay, so all those slots are filled?

[01:14:29] They are in the process of being filled. Any other questions? Yes. Vice Chair Struffy. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Smith and Mr. Ferris for the presentation. I'm just curious about some of the considerations or the work that you all are trying to do in terms of career investigation possibilities in grade 7, as well as the industry credentials for all high school students.

[01:15:02] Where do we really want to take the industry credentials? What's some of the vision behind credentialing of high school students in these spaces? I just want to understand how big the vision is, how much work there is to be done, and how we can support. - Thank you so much, Mr. Streffi, for that question.

[01:15:20] So we wanna make sure that our students have access to the rigorous credentials that industry offers. And sometimes there is a hefty price tag with some of those credentials. When we think about a CompTIA credential, those can be upwards of one to $200 just for one credential.

[01:15:37] If we consider the retakes that a student is given should be afforded, plus the excessive credentials that they can earn, there is a price tag that comes with it. So instruction, we wanna make sure that the teachers have the capacity through professional development to ensure that students are passing those credentials on the first attempt.

[01:15:56] But in the event students don't pass on the first attempt, we wanna make sure that we have funds so that students are for what it retakes. - And to add further, for practical application, anywhere, at any given point in time in this region, there are 100,000 job seekers in looking for opportunities to employ themselves.

[01:16:14] So a differentiator could be credentialing and certification. So if we give our students access to those as early as possible, that can be the difference maker to them being gainfully employed or not. - Any other questions?

[01:16:30] - Yes, Mrs. Griffiths. - Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you give me the numbers again for Breyer and Tuscarora? - Yes, as it relates for the Health and Medical Sciences Academy card. - Yes, for HAMSAI. - Sure, there will be 75 seats for Breyer Woods and 75 seats for Tuscarora.

[01:16:47] So when we add those together, it's 150 total. - And how many people have you secured so far? So far, as of today, I don't have the exact number, but I can take it back to staff to see what information we're able to share out. Thank you.

[01:17:06] Any other questions? No. Thank you so much, Dr. Smith and Mr. Ferris. I appreciate all your work. Dr. Spence, do you want to take, how long do you think it would be to take some time for your superintendent report?

[01:17:27] Based on what I read, we can knock that out within 10 minutes for sure, if that's what you're asking. Yes. All right. That is what I'm asking. If we could move on to item, let's see, what item is it? Item 12, 12.01 with the superintendent report. Yes, sir.

[01:17:52] All right. I think we're ready. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. It is, of course, my pleasure to share some good news happening around our school division. Up first, the first annual LCPS student equity ambassador and MSAC student delegate symposium was held on Saturday at Heritage High School.

[01:18:09] This was an event designed for students by students. These dynamic student leaders organized this forum to share and advocate ideas and actions to enhance their school communities, and the event featured guest speakers, student-led discussions and presentations, and an information share fair with community partnerships.

[01:18:25] We want to express our thanks to these student leaders for coming together and sharing ideas to help make LCS a more welcoming and equitable community. Next, the Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee held its annual Equity and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April the 27th at the historic Frederick Douglass High School.

[01:18:44] The event featured guest speakers and the opportunity for participants to come together and celebrate. The highlight of the event was the recognition of the 2024 MSAC award winners, which included students, teachers, administrators, and schools. Through their work and actions, these individuals and schools are seeking to make LCPS a more inclusive community.

[01:19:03] We want to especially thank MSAC for creating such a wonderful event and all of those who are striving to make LCPS a more equitable community. The Loudoun Education Foundation recently hosted the annual Outstanding Educators Banquet celebrating the 74 educators nominated for Teacher and Principal of the Year and New Teacher of the Year.

[01:19:24] Teachers and principals accepted their awards and enjoyed a night of sharing some of their favorite moments as educators. LCPS special education teacher Shauna Olafs emceed the event and Amanda Andrade from Apple Federal Credit Union, who is also an LCPS parent, shared her personal experiences and the impact that her children's teachers have had not only on her children, but on the entire family. We'd like to especially thank the LEF for coordinating such a terrific event and want to definitely thank our board members who were in attendance at those last three events. Next, congratulations to Ruben

[01:20:01] Rodriguez Alcantara, a custodian at Elaine Thompson Elementary School, for being selected as the April SHINE winner. Mr. Alcantara was nominated for the support he provides teachers and students at Elaine Thompson Elementary in general and in particular for the support that he continues to provide a special education class by demonstrating and collaborating on a variety of job skill activities. He's formed a special bond with this class, even occasionally joining them for lunch.

[01:20:28] SHINE, which stands for Spotlighting Heroes in Education, is a joint LCPS and Loudon Education Foundation initiative to recognize LCPS staff members who go above and beyond in support of LCPS students and the community. Members of LCPS, including other staff members, students, parents, and community members are invited to continue to nominate LCPS staff who shine. Shine Award recipients do receive a gift worth up to $500 coordinated by the LEF and Apple Federal Credit Union sponsored this month's prize. We want to acknowledge that the Loudoun Chamber honored 118

[01:21:04] community heroes for their courageous, often life-saving actions at the 39th Annual Loudoun County Valor Awards on April the 18th. Two of our LCPS staff members were recognized during the award ceremony. Creighton Corner Principal Brendan Quigley received a Civilian Medal of Valor for providing assistance following a single vehicle accident in December 2023. Mr. Quigley and other accident witnesses demonstrated resourcefulness during this accident. Workplace Relations coordinator Dr. Tawana Black received the meritorious civilian award. In November of 2023 during an event at John Champ High School, Dr. Black and other event attendees provided assistance to an

[01:21:43] individual who suffered cardiac arrest. The actions of Dr. Black and others significantly impacted that patient's outcome and well-being. We want to point out that May 3rd was National School Lunch Hero Day honoring our school nutrition professionals and their incredible contribution to educating our students. This slide shows school lunch hero celebrations that occurred at Hovatter Elementary, Brambleton Middle, and Waxpool Elementary. And around the division, LCPS administrator staff and students showered the nutrition staff with thank you cards and banners. So far this school year, our school nutrition heroes have served over 5.8 million breakfasts and lunches. We're

[01:22:22] pleased to report that LCPS is one of only 13 K-12 school districts nationwide to be celebrated as a part of the Efficient and Healthy Schools Program for their accomplishments in a project improving air quality and energy efficiency. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, LCPS undertook a project at Aldi Elementary to improve ventilation. This project led to additional modernization of the school's building envelope and energy systems, and the project improved the health and comfort of the learning environment while both preserving and enhancing the school's most beloved characteristics. We want to give a special congratulations to our support services team on this recognition, and we want to thank you for seeking solutions that benefit our students,

[01:23:02] our staff, and our environment. And then finally, the Virginia Board of Education has approved funding for George Mason University to launch the Accelerated College and Employability Skills Academy, or Access Academy, a collaborative partnership with Northern Virginia Community College and Loudoun County Public Schools. This lab school will be based in select schools to increase pathways for students from high school to college and on to high demand careers.

[01:23:30] Access Academy will incorporate innovative teaching and learning methods and experiences co-designed with industry partners, researchers, and instructional staff. This is an exciting partnership with the goal of increasing learning opportunities for LCPS students, and we look forward to sharing more information throughout the planning year. And Madam Chair, that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Spence. Just want to give a quick shout out to the Equitable LCPS symposium it was something that was very heartfelt and beautifully done and and the students were just

[01:24:01] inspiring um dr spence gave a quick uh well a keynote speech about kids uh being known seed heard and loved and i think every one of those kids felt that that day and i know i did and it was i i would encourage everyone to go next year because it was just fabulous and if those kids are our future it's really bright so with that um we will continue with item 7.01 and recess for dinner

[01:24:35] until 6 30 the board is now in recess good evening the school board is now coming out of our recess

[01:59:00] um we were we are going to start back up with item two because i have been notified that miss LaBelle would like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting. Ms. LaBelle could you please state your location and whether this is a medical or personal matter? This is a medical matter and I am at home. I am alone in my bedroom with my computer and my husband and dog are

[01:59:31] watching tv in the other room. Hey you know he likes it. Okay that answers my second question of anyone present with you of your location and their names and um i would like to entertain a motion that ms labelle's request to participate remotely be granted so moved yes sorry mrs donahue i move that we allow a remote participation for ms labelle is there a second thank you we have a second by ms chandler it's been properly moved and seconded to approve ms labelle's remote

[02:00:09] participation is there any discussion no at this time we will take an electronic vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and display your vote that motion passes unanimously with uh dr rasheed and miss labelle absent for the vote and welcome to our meeting miss labelle thank you i have also been notified that dr rasheed would

[02:00:49] like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting dr rasheed will you please will you please um state your location and whether this is a medical or personal matter hello i am located in a room i'm isolated this is a personal matter so i think this is dr rasheed's second remote participation i believe for this calendar year for the school board meeting um therefore i will entertain a motion that dr rasheed's request to participate remotely be

[02:01:26] granted dr deans i move that dr rasheed participate remotely is there a second yes miss donahue seconds it has been properly moved and seconded to approve dr rasheed's remote participation at this time we'll take an electronic vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote

[02:01:50] miss labelle will you please state your vote yes please allow miss dr rasheed to attend. Clerk, will you please close and display the vote? That vote passes unanimously with Dr.

[02:02:19] Rashid absent for the vote. Welcome to the school board meeting, Dr. Rashid. Ms. LaBelle, do you have with you your disclosures letter? Yes, I do. Would you mind reading it, please? 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 other discussion that may include or affect the benefits for LCPS

[02:02:58] 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 as 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.

[02:03:24] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Thank you, Ms. Milabel. No problem. We will now be picking up with item 9.01, the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. And before you this evening is the Harper Parks eighth grade course led by Suzanne Cochler featuring students have dedicated three years to participating in the middle school choir. Recently, Harper Park's eighth grade course participated in the district's 16th assessment where they received a superior rating. These

[02:04:03] students you see tonight are a sampling of this advanced curricular choir. At this time, I will ask everyone to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and to remain standing for the

[02:04:12] national anthem.

[02:06:14] The next item on our agenda is the student and staff recognitions. We will start with item 10.01, Department of School Leadership, Schools Recognized for Exemplary Performance Award, presented by Ray Mitchell. Chair Mansfield, Dr.

[02:06:48] Spence, and members of the board. This evening, I will be presenting six of our elementary schools with the Virginia Department of Education Exemplar Performance Award. Five schools for the highest achievement, and one school for continuous improvement.

[02:07:07] For the Highest Achievement Award, a school must be accredited and meet all of the following criteria. The school meets the state benchmark of 75% in reading and 70% in math and science based on the current year pass rate on state assessments.

[02:07:27] All student groups within the school meet state benchmarks of 75% in reading and 70% in math based on the current year pass rate on state assessments, which means for schools with three or more student groups, there is no more than 10 percentage points between the lowest performing group and all other students in the school. And the school demonstrates a current year chronic absenteeism rate of 15 percent or lower. Next slide. The

[02:08:01] Virginia Board of Education's highest achievement award is presented to the following schools and principals. If you all would please join me. Aldi Elementary, Principal Tracy Stevens. Emmerich Elementary, Principal Dawn Haddock. Ms. Haddock has her students receiving her award. Hamilton

[02:08:35] Elementary, Principal Kelly Meisenthal. Hillsboro Charter Academy, Principal Paul Vickers. And Waterford Elementary with Principal Andrew Hieronymus, who could not be here with us tonight. Next, I will be presenting one of our elementary schools with the Virginia Department of Education Exemplar Performance Award for Continuous Improvement.

[02:09:03] Next slide. To receive this award, a school must be accredited and meet at least one of the following three criteria. 1. The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for math, reading, and science for each of the three past years with a total increase across three years of ten points or more.

[02:09:27] Or the school demonstrates an increase in the graduation and completion index for each of the past three years, with a total increase across the years of 4% or more. Or the third criteria, which Hutchison Farm meets, is that the school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for each of the three past years, with a total increase across those years of 10 points or more.

[02:09:59] Next slide. The Virginia Board of Education's Continuous Improvement Award is presented to Hutchison Farm Elementary, Principal Heidi Smith.

[02:10:18] In recognition of these achievements, a report with award recipients was presented to the Virginia Board of Education at the April business meeting, and a page on the Virginia Department of Education website lists the schools as award recipients.

[02:10:33] On behalf of the Department of School Leadership and Loudoun County Public Schools, it gives me great pleasure to present these exemplar awards to six of our elementary schools.

[02:10:57] At this time, Dr. Spence, Chair Mansfield, Vice Chair Estreffi, if you all would join me and the other board members in a picture with these groups of outstanding principals. I'd just like to say a quick congratulations.

[02:13:08] Okay, so we'll continue with 10. 02 Human Resources and Talent Development staff recognitions. Presented by Lisa Boland. Thank you, Chair Mansfield. Each year, LCPS endeavors to celebrate and honor the unwavering dedication and remarkable achievements of our esteemed employees.

[02:13:29] Tonight, we gather to shine a spotlight on those whose tireless efforts provide indispensable services to both our students and our staff. From ensuring safe passage to and from school to offering access to nourishing meals, maintaining pristine learning environments, and furnishing top-notch instructional resources.

[02:13:53] These individuals are the bedrock upon which education flourishes. Now, it is with great pleasure that I invite Carrie Sims, our supervisor for employee recognition, to present the recipients of our operational awards. Good evening, Chair Mansfield, school board members, Dr. Spence, and guests. In the operational awards group, recognition is given to the following categories.

[02:14:23] Bus attendant, bus driver, custodial services, information technology, maintenance, safety and security, school nutrition services, and new this year, support staff. Adding this category allows for all non-instructional employees, as well as central office staff who are not in leadership positions to be eligible for an award. Nominations can be submitted by employees, parents, students, or community members. This year, nearly 100 nominations were received in these eight categories.

[02:14:58] At this time, I'd like to invite our eight award recipients to join me.

[02:15:22] Our first award tonight is for Bus Attendant of the Year. The role of a bus attendant is crucial to the safe transport of students with disabilities. Attendants must be knowledgeable in the use of equipment to secure young passengers as well as have communication skills with verbal and nonverbal students.

[02:15:44] John Walker is this year's Bus Attendant of the Year. He has been with LCPS since 2017 and was nominated by two different parents. In his nomination packet, the following was said about him: John's attention to detail is exceptional. He not only asks questions, but remembers important details such as birthdays.

[02:16:04] and acknowledging special occasions in my life demonstrates a level of personal involvement and thoughtfulness that goes beyond what is expected in a professional capacity. Congratulations, John.

[02:16:22] Our next award is for Bus Driver of the Year. Bus drivers are responsible not only for getting students to and from school safely, but also for the management of student behaviors while on the bus. They are often the first LCPS employee that a student or parent will see each day, and Their cheerful greetings and personal interactions can set the tone for a successful day of school for our kids.

[02:16:45] Jennifer O'Dell is our Bus Driver of the Year. She has been with LCPS since 2007 and was nominated by two parents. The following was said about her. Jennifer's communication skills are truly exceptional. She excels at keeping parents informed and involved in their children's transportation experience, whether it's providing updates on bus schedules, addressing concerns, or For sharing important information, Jennifer's clear and effective communication leaves no room for uncertainty.

[02:17:15] Congratulations, Jennifer. Our next award is for Custodial Services Employee of the Year.

[02:17:31] Custodians ensure that students and staff work and learn in a clean and welcoming environment. They assist in nighttime events and get the exterior grounds cleared after any snow that might fall during a year. These dedicated individuals know kids by name and exactly how a teacher wants their desks arranged. Vladimir Kanedo, head custodian at Riverside High School, is this year's custodial services employee of the year. He was nominated by a teacher at Riverside with several supporting statements from administrators and staff members. Vladimir has been with LCPS for 17 years. The

[02:18:06] following was said about him. Vladimir is the guy who knows everything and will help your event run smoothly. He and his team rearranged the furniture and put everything back in its place. They take photos beforehand to make sure everything gets back to where it belongs. Our school is always clean and in great shape. Vladimir is a hardworking employee. Congratulations. Our next award is for Maintenance Employee of the Year. The support services department includes construction services,

[02:18:46] facilities operations, management and coordination, planning and GIS services, transportation, and environmental health and safety divisions. They provide critical supports to buildings, office grounds, sorry, I'm like, I'm not describing Aaron, but you do all of those things. The employees of the Department of Digital Innovation support the district's strategic technology plan, provide exceptional customer service to students and staff, and solve issues

[02:19:22] that allow instructional programs to continue seamlessly. Aaron Jackson, digital experience specialist at Algonquian Elementary School is this year's Information Technology Employee of the Year. Ms. Jackson has served LCPS since 2015. She was nominated by an administrator and the following was said about her. Whenever called upon, Ms. Jackson jumps to the rescue. If she doesn't know the answer immediately, she is on the computer or on the phone finding the answer as quickly as possible. She fixes everything from student and staff devices to copy machines to phones to radios and assists me in all aspects of testing during the busiest times of year.

[02:20:02] Congratulations, Erin. Our next award is for Maintenance Employee of the Year. As I stated earlier, the Support Services Department includes all of those things that I mentioned, and they provide critical supports to buildings, offices, grounds, and equipment to keep the operations of LCPS running smoothly.

[02:20:27] Jason Pratt, known to all as Jake, is a mechanic at the Central Garage and is the Maintenance Employee of the Year. Jake has been with LCPS since 2007 and was nominated by a supervisor. This is what was said about him. He does much more than what is expected of him.

[02:20:44] He assists bus operations by coordinating bus transfers when they go to service. He knows and orients drivers when they have questions about bus locations or bus operations. And if there's an accident, he arrives at the scene right away to start taking pictures and collect evidence.

[02:21:00] Congratulations, Jake. Our next award is for Safety and Security Employee of the Year. Through the execution of a comprehensive and integrated security plan, the Office of Safety and Security provides an optimal educational environment for students, staff, and community members.

[02:21:24] Myra Villafuerte, lead school security officer at Parkview High School, is the Safety and Security Employee of the Year. Myra, an LCPS employee since 2020, was nominated by a supervisor as well as a Parkview staff member.

[02:21:40] Here is what was said about Myra. She gives 100% every minute of every day. From every student she interacts with, to every report she writes, to every student's life she saves, she's totally committed to making the biggest impact with students, staff, and school.

[02:21:56] Every minute of every day. Congratulations, Myra.

[02:22:10] Our next award is for School Nutrition Services Employee of the Year. Each day, LCPS serves thousands of meals to students and staff and provides programs in wellness, food recovery, and nutrition.

[02:22:26] The program operates independently through meal and a la carte sales along with state and federal reimbursement. Kitchens are held to strict safety and health code standards and its employees are highly trained. Kisun Jang, School Nutrition Manager at Belmont Ridge Middle School, is the School Nutrition Services Employee of the Year.

[02:22:45] She was hired in LCPS in 2008 and was nominated by an administrator. This is what was said about Kisun. Kisun's patience and positive attitude contribute to a welcoming atmosphere in the cafeteria. Even during busy periods, she remains calm and composed, setting an example for her team and leaving a positive impression on students, staff, and visitors.

[02:23:09] Kisun's professionalism is reflected in the admiration she receives from the administration, students, staff and the broader community. Her dedication and competence are recognized and appreciated by all who interact with her. Congratulations Kisun.

[02:23:30] Our final award tonight is for Support Staff Employee of the Year. This is the first year for this award and honors an employee who does not work at a school location and supports the division in its mission through their assigned department. Examples of job titles in this category include payroll technicians, recruitment assistance, procurement specialists, mailroom clerk, and many more.

[02:23:53] We are dependent upon this group in order to keep the operation of teaching and learning consistent on a daily basis. Marjorie von Ehren, known to all as Peggy, program analyst in the Department of Teaching and Learning, is the support staff employee of the year.

[02:24:09] Peggy has worked in LCPS for 25 years, and she was nominated by her supervisor. The following was said about her. She takes initiative to engage in a digital community of job-alike individuals across the country using the same system.

[02:24:28] Not only does she engage in professional learning offered on our management system, but she is often the person responding to others in the network to share knowledge that she has gained through the program adoption. Congratulations, Peggy. Please help me congratulate and honor all of our distinguished employees as well as their guests and family members in attendance tonight.

[02:24:58] Thank you for your support of your loved one as they fulfill a vital role in LCPS. We invite the chair and vice chair of the board and Dr. Spence to come down from the dais and members of the school board to stand for pictures with our honorees.

[02:27:14] We will continue with 10. 03, one LCPS spotlight.

[02:27:42] Student Support Advisors presented by Mr. Neal Slevin, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. Thank you, Chair Mansfield. At this time, I would like to introduce Ms. Carlin Floyd, our School Administration Supervisor, who will be introducing our 1LCPS Spotlight from May with a focus on student support advisors.

[02:28:06] I'm sorry, could you say your name again? I will. I'm Carlin Floyd, C-A-R-L-Y-N-F-L-O-Y-D. So good evening, Chair Mansfield, board members, Dr. Spence. I am Karlyn Floyd, and I am the supervisor in the Office of School Administration, and I supervise the Student Support Advisor Program.

[02:28:28] This evening, I will provide an overview of the SSA program, and then we will hear specific examples of how the SSA is working in one of our middle schools and in two of our high schools, as well as having some students here to hear from as well. Next slide, and the next slide, please.

[02:28:50] The Student Support Advisor program aligns with all six of LCPS's core values and strategic plan. Specifically, this position allows for holistic wraparound support for individual students in Tier 3.

[02:29:08] Next slide. The Student Support Advisors do support Goal 1 specifically around core academic excellence, multiple accessible pathways to success, and care for our students. slide and the next one. Thank you. Two years ago the school division recognized the need for a school-based staff member who collaborates with school and district level leadership to help cultivate a supportive and welcoming learning environment for students in tier three so that

[02:29:44] they may access appropriate opportunities that foster individualized success. Thus the student support advisor was created and we shortened it to SSA. This school year was the first time the 18, high schools received a 1.0 teacher-level contract position for the student support advisor. It is currently a teacher-length contract. However, many will be working through the summer to facilitate credit recovery for students with whom they have built a relationship throughout the school year. While the high schools have a dedicated employee serving as the SSA, the 17 middle schools receive a stipend, which is often split between the grade-level deans or

[02:30:23] added to a teacher's duty to fulfill this role. Next year, it will be 18 stipends to include our new middle school. Tonight, we welcome three of our SSAs to share their work as well as a few students who are here to share the impact of our student support advisor. We have Anthony Long from Briar Woods, Shana Mackey from Woodgrove High School, and first up, I would like to introduce Melissa Dober from Riverbend Middle School. Melissa, next slide, please. Thank you. I'm Melissa dober and i'm the sixth grade dean at river bend middle school and i split this with the eighth

[02:30:57] grade dean jennifer cassander so in the middle school like we said we've combined it with a dean role and it's a stipend position and by the combined role what we've done is we are able to incorporate the behavioral um multi-tiered system of supports the mtss the return to learn member support coordinator like we refer people to the umht meetings attendance support and mentor though I want to say it's difficult to do that mentor role when you're also the one assigning discipline. It would even be more effective instead of a stipend position would be effective

[02:31:35] as a full-time position where we would be able to be more proactive than reactive and I think that's true for the deans as well as the SSA. One of the things we get to do is ensure students who are out of school for discipline remain connected to the school community. We do this through transition meetings with the school that they're being assigned to, Google meets with a student, and meeting to complete the CSSP plan together. Various Tier 3 interventions we're able to do, such as the Comprehensive Student Support Plan that I mentioned, which is the CSSP,

[02:32:10] and MTSS plans. Thank you. Hello, my name is Shana Mackey, and I'm the Student Support Advisor at Woodgrove High School. I'm here tonight to highlight the positive impact this position has had on students and the school community. One focus this year has been to assist in reducing the percentage of students that are chronically absent, and I'm happy to share with you that that percent has gone from 21% last year to 11.3% as of this morning when I checked. That isn't due to a large part to our attendance team, which I am an integral part of. The position has also allowed

[02:32:49] me to work as co-lead on the PBIS team. We have increased our meeting attendance, and we've had a greater impact on staff and student morale by creating new initiatives for positive behavior. With the addition of this student support advisor position, I was able to create a four-by-four schedule for students that has allowed 12 of our at-risk, most at-risk seniors, the opportunity to graduate early. Had this not been an option, some of these students may not have graduated in their traditional high school, if at all. Looking ahead to next year, my goal is to continue to look it, excuse me, continue to reduce Woodgrove's chronically absent rate by below 10%. That is

[02:33:29] the goal. We will continue with our current practices and evaluate areas to improve for next year. Another goal is to have grade recovery every block to give students the opportunity to recover failing quarter grades. At the semester this year, we had 6% of our students failing one or more classes. Our goal for next year will be to go under 4% at semester break. I'd like to thank the school board for your continued support of this position. Thank you. Hi, I'm Anthony Long.

[02:34:01] I'm the SSA of Briarwoods, and I'll reiterate on that. I appreciate the position. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. We've learned a lot in year one, and we have a lot of ideas moving forward. For me, initially, it's what I see the biggest benefit here is the SSA is able to bring all of the pieces in a high school together into one place. There's a point of contact for staff. There's also a point of contact for students who don't know who specifically to ask when you have a lot of departments in the high school. And I think getting the right people at the table for the discussions, for a lot of decisions is tough when you have a lot of things going on. And the SSA has been able to kind of bring that all together. We've helped out.

[02:34:39] We've heard from many different things with the credit recovery, the remediation. One of the things I'm going to highlight that we have been able to implement this year at Briarwoods is our small study halls. We have targeted small study halls. We did six this year with with kids that need uh extra help in in different areas with this year we had 60 students in those small study halls with teachers designated knowing what is the area we need to work on in 2022 and 23 those 60 students had 68 combined f's in quarter one and this year with that small study hall they've reduced it down to 15 total f's between the 60 students strictly with executive

[02:35:17] functioning somebody a mentor that is able to to reach out to them and they are able to ask and not fall behind a lot of times when they get they fall behind in class they feel like their wheels are spinning and they don't have any way to kind of recover from that so we're trying to create that one mentor the person that they could reach out to and ask the questions that maybe they don't even know what questions to ask and how to get caught back up we have resources in those small study halls so if it's targeted to english math behavior attendance we have resources and the adults in the building we're going to implement that even further next year now that we can have

[02:35:53] the structures in place to where every all the small study halls are taking on that structure and we're providing those resources for the students needed during that time we're lucky enough to have one of our students here with us is kai washington and i'm going to speak on him just real quick before he comes up kai is is one that i've had fortunate to be able worked with him for the last two years. One of the things in this role that I really enjoy is it's not just numbers popping out on a report card. I know a lot of students do very well in Loudoun County, but a lot of times there's kids that don't pop out on either end of the spectrum of that. Kai is one that I have had the privilege to get to know. He's an amazing kid. He's very,

[02:36:33] very smart. He takes responsibility, but he is not going to pop up, and he'll be the first to tell you. He is not going to pop up on the highest achieving in the grades, but what I've tried to influence to him is grades are not defining him. They don't define who he is and trying to provide that outlet. I'm excited for what he's, he's a junior right now. He's got some plans for after school and we're going to help him get along there. But Kai is very, very possible. He could do all this on his own. He doesn't need the help, but it's nice to get to know him and have somebody

[02:37:03] that he could reach out to. So Kai came with us. Those small study halls that they set up for kids that having a harder time with the schoolwork is truly a lifesaver. And it's not just because you have an extra block to get your schoolwork done. It's because every single student in that classroom has a teacher that's willing to sit down with them and connect with them and get to understand them on their own level. When I first started working with Mr. Long, he'd sit me down and say, well, you have all these missing assignments. And I'd go, I wasn't worried about

[02:37:41] that. But over time, as he got to know me, he would sit down with me and go, you know, I don't know if you can make this quarter right. And that switch would flip because he knew how to connect with me and he knew what to say and how to get me to start caring about my own grades. And like he said, we both understand that it doesn't refine who I am, but it definitely helps push the narrative that I'm not unintelligent. Every student just needs to be taught differently in every other different kind of way. Some students can look at a screen, but some students need the connection

[02:38:13] and they need the one-on-one time. Thank you very much. And this concludes our presentation. Do you have any questions hi I'd like to thank you for coming up here and talking with us I like you think that that one-to-one relationship with your teacher is extremely important and valuable and sometimes more kids I know I needed it as a kid and so and that made a huge difference in my grades

[02:38:51] so thank you for sharing that board members do you have any other comments or thoughts no thank - Thank you.

[02:39:08] I'm excited to hear more about the small resource. The small, what were they called? What were they called? Small study halls. I think that's a great idea. Thank you.

[02:39:27] All right, and at this time, we will move to item 11.01. Our student school board representative comments. Our student in attendance this evening is Brooke Shofield from Independence High School. Brooke Shofield is a senior at Independence High School and attends the academies of Loudoun.

[02:39:46] She serves as the Student Council Association president. Brooke has been involved in Independence's SCA since her sophomore year and participates in many service clubs within the school, including National Honor Society, Unified Sports, and Pre-Professional Health Honor Society. With her time after school, she works as a server and a lifeguard while also volunteering time at a local food pantry and animal shelter. She plans to study medicine at a four-year college and continue her leadership journey in college. Ms. Schofield, you have the floor. Good evening. Before I start, I want to introduce myself since people here are

[02:40:26] not familiar with who I am. I'm Brooke Schofield, this year's SEA president at Independence High School. This is my third year in SEA and my fourth year here at Independence, so I've had many years to collect knowledge and connections about the community at my school. Over the past years, I've been able to gather further knowledge about the school that I've learned to grow in. From freshman year 2020 to now, the accomplishments and growth that Independence has fostered is astonishing.

[02:40:49] From 31 regional championships, 14 state championships, and a band state championship and Commonwealth Cup, numerous CAPPY nominations and awards for our theater program, and all the way to the distinct way that the school listens to its students, independence has become a home to me and many others.

[02:41:05] The encouragement that comes from everyone at Independence has created an environment in which people enjoy school just a bit more. School can only get so fun, but I am thankful that our school has many opportunities to make coming to school exciting. Motivation to grow comes from being heard, and that exactly is what leaders at Independence strive to do, listen and act.

[02:41:25] Offering multiple opportunities ranging from open discussion from students to teachers, the way that the SCA plans at events. Listening is the driving force that Independence strives upon, which I encourage everyone to actively do in a position of authority. Independence has many clubs, sports, and various opportunities to participate in, as well as events to support.

[02:41:44] With having a star theater department and undefeated girls hockey field team that was the first in northern Virginia to win a state championship, and an SEA of more than 50 members and growing as we have 83 in the next year. The opportunity to branch out and support are endless. Meeting numerous friends from my years in SEA alone makes me thankful for my choice to join in sophomore year.

[02:42:04] Engagement with our community is sprouted through new connections, so I push that you encourage showing up and branching out. For future Tigers and Loudoun County students, I encourage everyone to listen and strive to form new connections. Thank you, Ms. Schofield. At this time, we will move on to item 13.

[02:42:30] with 13.01 public comments starting with virtual 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 strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system speakers must limit comments to the time allotted and based on the number of speakers and agenda this evening all speakers have been allotted two minutes each for public comment please be advised that the speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning

[02:43:09] and the 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, cheering, applause, or other noise which disrupts or dislays 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 otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees.

[02:43:43] Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, defamation, profanity, or other 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 official.

[02:44:01] The school board requests that comments on an individual student 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.

[02:44:19] Per LCPS policy 2520, members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the 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.

[02:44:36] 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.

[02:44:56] 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.

[02:45:21] The live stream of the meeting may be viewed on their website. We look forward to hearing your comments. And we will start with the virtual public comments, starting with Meredith Ray and followed by Tophelia Parker. Good evening. I would like to thank Ms. Chandler for her comments earlier on the safety panel and express my appreciation for her thoughtful approach.

[02:45:48] As a parent invested in the safety and well-being of our children, I would like to express my concern regarding the proposal to station police officers in every elementary school in our district. First, when a reporter asked who served on the panel, LCPS's spokesperson declined to provide that information.

[02:46:06] While I don't think that we need specific names, I do believe that these people's expertise in school safety should be provided or quantified instead of just saying, trust me, bro. In addition, there was absolutely no evidence or basis given for the recommendations or any information about how this would improve safety.

[02:46:27] It reads as a law enforcement wish list. While the intention behind this panel was surely rooted in a desire to enhance security, we must evaluate its potential impact on the learning environment. Placing armed officers in our elementary schools risks normalizing a culture of fear and surveillance.

[02:46:45] It may inadvertently create an atmosphere of intimidation and anxiety rather than one conducive to education and growth. I also ask that you not ignore the disproportionate impact such a measure may have on marginalized communities. Research has shown that students of color and those with disabilities are often disproportionately targeted by disciplinary actions involving law enforcement in schools.

[02:47:08] Introducing police officers into our elementary schools may exacerbate these disparities, further alienating already vulnerable groups of students. Instead of investing in policing our schools, we should increase access to mental health resources and supports for teachers and school administration staff.

[02:47:28] Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Trofilia Parker, followed by Brenda Bankson. We don't have a speaker by Trofilia right now. I'm sorry? We don't have someone by that name, Trofilia, right now.

[02:47:47] Okay. And we will go ahead with Brenda Bankson, and followed by Meethal Gandhi. Does policing improve safety or merely increase surveillance and stigma?

[02:48:10] An Education Week survey of SROs showed insufficient preparation for a school environment, no training on child trauma, and little work with special education students. In the early years of special education in LCPS, I taught ED students.

[02:48:30] A stigma about what is criminal ostracizes students, labels them way too young. Is it really necessary to police elementary schools? Are the Blue Ribbon Panel Results a quality study when stakeholders were not represented?

[02:48:50] Please revisit issues that may violate parental and student rights and increase our efforts at DEIA and SEL. A Cato Institute study said expanding SROs is something all levels of government should be hesitant to do.

[02:49:16] Thank you. Mithil Gandhi, followed by our in-person speakers, starting with Sandy Sullivan. Thank you so much, Chair. I very much appreciate you pronouncing my name pretty much right. That is a big deal.

[02:49:33] My name is Mithil Gandhi. I am an involved dad. I never wanted to be an involved dad, by the way. I wanted to trust the school system and LCPS, but things have transpired in the last few years that made me question it. I am an involved dad.

[02:49:50] I'm a former PTO president. I'm a basketball coach. I'm on the LEAF committee as well. And I've had the pleasure of interacting with several of you. I want to thank you because this is a brand new board, a brand new board, a brand new superintendent.

[02:50:07] But unfortunately, what we still have and what I hope that the superintendent will do in his post-entry plan is have a leadership shuffle. We need leadership that will support your vision. We trust you.

[02:50:23] You have not done anything back to the public to make us question your trust in the school system. But unfortunately, the leadership has and continues to do so. What I ask the superintendent to do, and I know it's tough, this summer, I ask him that he has his team, the team that he trusts to lead our division forward in place for the next academic year.

[02:50:50] Part of next academic year is school times. You have $10 million in additional funding. I ask the superintendent to make sure that LCPS does not have the earliest school times in the entire nation and that we move 2024, 2025 school times down to 745 at least, if not eight.

[02:51:13] Thank you so much. And we really appreciate your commitment to the community. Thank you. We'll continue on with Sandy Sullivan, followed by Becca Koontz. He serves the members of the Loudoun Education Association as their president.

[02:51:40] My remarks would have been more lengthy and included more topics had two minutes been posted. The speakers list states speakers will have one minute. School board, it's time. It's time to pass a collective bargaining resolution. This process for Loudoun educators to gain collective bargaining began two years and eight months ago.

[02:52:00] that's 992 days 992 days you are our second school board in this critical process april 2024 the initial meeting and two unproductive work sessions of the joint committee were held unproductive because it seems the committee had no real ability to make recommendations to pass on to the legislative audit and policy committee la urges you to move quickly pass the resolution through LA&P and onto the full board.

[02:52:32] Delays cannot continue. If you support collective bargaining, make it a reality for our community. Your educators urge you to make the May 30th LA&P meeting a work session where committee members work with us to adopt a meaningful collective bargaining resolution.

[02:52:51] Thank you. Becca Kuntz, followed by Jennifer DiDonato. My name is Becca Kuntz, and I'm one of the co-presidents of Hillside Elementary PTO.

[02:53:10] I'm here today to ask our wonderful school board to use a small percentage of the current budget surplus funding for a new age 5 through 12 playground and to add an age 2 through 5 playground structure at Hillside. Hillside is one of the few LCPS elementary schools that's currently over capacity.

[02:53:28] Our large community's consensus is that our playground is aged, small, and genuinely underwhelming. Additionally, Hillside has never had a kindergarten playground. leaving our kindergartners and preschool program with no age-appropriate playground equipment.

[02:53:45] Many of the schools on the current five-year budget's replacement list have playgrounds that are newer, bigger, and nicer than Hillsides. There are even schools on the five-year budget list that are having LCPS-funded playgrounds replaced. LCPS has never provided our school with a playground.

[02:54:01] Hillside's PTO funded the current playground over 21 years ago before the requirement to comply with the ADA standards for accessible design and before the push for inclusive play. I urge the school board to prioritize the allocation of funds towards Hillside.

[02:54:17] It's time for Hillside to become an inclusive, accessible, and safe place for our students and community to play and grow. Thank you. Thank you. Jennifer DiDonato, followed by Zaina Hutchinson.

[02:54:34] To the board, I am a parent of two children at Hillside Elementary and on the PTO board there.

[02:54:51] The school board should vote to support a new inclusive playground for Hillside for the following reasons. One, our current playground is not inclusive and it's currently woely undersized for our enrollment.

[02:55:08] Two, LCPS has never funded a playground for Hillside Elementary. Three, our playground is over 21 years old, and we are currently not in the capital improvement plan all the way through 2030. That would include a 27-year-old playground.

[02:55:26] Currently, on the list for new playgrounds are six schools that are newer than ours. They are all under capacity, with the highest one at 85%, whereas Hillside Elementary is at 102% capacity right now, with more schools or more developments slated to go to our school next year.

[02:55:46] Hillside is the closest school to the very building that we're sitting in today. I ask each one of you to drive by, take a look at the facility and think, is this inclusive? Will this foster good social interactions between all of our students?

[02:56:06] Is this a sufficient size for the current enrollment at Hillside Elementary? The Hillside PTO would like to engage with LCPS to empower our community to build an inclusive playground to enrich our student lives.

[02:56:23] Thank you so much. Thank you. Hold applause please. Let's see. Zayna Hutchison followed by Ben Spain. Thank you. I'm glad I didn't have my maiden name on there. We'll be here forever. No you're totally fine. Thanks. My name is Zayna Ashrawi Hutchison. I am a mother to two public school children here in Loudoun County and I am here to talk about the Blue Rubin panel that others have discussed.

[02:56:57] I'm extremely concerned, not only about the recommendations, but also about who is on this committee, and how this process was done, and why this even exists. We talk about inclusion, and in this space and others, many elected officials run on diversity, speak and take pride in inclusion and diversity of various cultures, particularly of black and brown people.

[02:57:25] And yet, moves like this only undermines the progress that is already shaken with the trust with the black and brown communities. Within a system that has historically been hostile, if you will, against black and brown people.

[02:57:47] Without our voices being heard, the policing system has been deployed repeatedly, historically, against our communities. And this does not help the progress that has been made. There has been no attempt to reach out to people of color outside of official established channels.

[02:58:08] We were sitting in an MSAC meeting when randomly we heard about this. We were here for something else, and all of a sudden we're hearing about this panel. It's extremely concerning that we are willing to sacrifice the privacy and the rights of our children and us as parents and give them to various organizations that don't belong in the school system.

[02:58:30] This looks more like a prison than a school system. We're supposed to be protecting our kids, not intimidating them. We're supposed to be empowering the parents, not excluding them. But I would like to know why this is here, and I hope it does not continue.

[02:58:49] Thank you. Thank you. Ben Spain, followed by Katie Jewell. Ladies and gentlemen of the board, Dr. Spence and his staff, good evening. My name is Ben Spain. Thank you for having me, giving me a chance to talk.

[02:59:05] I am a United Airlines first officer, United States Air Force Reserve, lieutenant colonel, PTO treasurer at Hillside, and also a substitute teacher part-time in my spare time. I'll have three kids next year at Hillside.

[02:59:20] I'll have a kindergartner, a second grader, and a fifth grader. I've spent the past couple days, thanks to your staff, Dr. Spence, trying to figure out how playgrounds are decided and how the order is determined. And I've learned that primarily it comes from safety inspections and also looking at the general condition of a playground.

[02:59:39] I'm glad to see that numbers are being used. I'm glad to see that an objective system is in place. But I also know that numbers can be myopic. And what I didn't hear in my conversations is, is the playground appropriate? And is the playground adequate? As you just heard, Hillside is one of the few that are over capacity.

[02:59:59] So I'll end with just a quick comparison between two schools. one school is getting a playground this summer, one school is not, and I'm sure you know which one that is. So one school is over capacity, only one of four elementary schools are over capacity. It has 55 more students, which is just shy of 10 percent more students. It has twice the number of pre-k, it has 36 percent more kindergartners, and it is more than double the ratio for economically disadvantaged students. That is the one not getting a playground. At the same time, that one that is not getting a playground has a 57% smaller playground. It has no two to five-year-old

[03:00:35] structure and it is several years older than the school that is getting a playground. I'm not advocating for you to rob Peter to pay Paul. That's not what I want. Some surplus money would be nice if you could throw that towards Hillside. But thank you for the time and have a good night.

[03:00:52] Thank you. Katie Jewell followed by Sam Sharif. Good evening. My name is Katie Jewell. I'm the current Miss Appleblossom teen. I am 17 and in 11th grade at Woodgrove High School. I have recently signed my letter of continuation to continue on my journey as a teacher cadet on my path to becoming an elementary school educator with Loudoun County Public Schools. My community service initiative

[03:01:29] is promoting equitable preschool education opportunities. That is why I'm here to urge the school board to advocate for the expansion of access to preschool in our public schools. I have worked with the local Head Start at my high school for the past three years, and I have witnessed firsthand how much a quality preschool can impact a student's development.

[03:01:53] LCPS has made a commitment to equity as one of its core values. I believe that removing the barrier of finding high-quality preschool will lead to greater access, opportunity, and equality so that each and every student is empowered to make meaningful contributions to our community and the world.

[03:02:11] thank you for your time thank you sam sharif followed by banan m hello everyone hello everyone my name is sam sharif the recommendations brought forth by the blue ribbon panel is a controversial and concerning topic for many reasons the inherent distrust in police that is now bred in our school system must be brought up as students and parents alike grapple with the

[03:02:48] reality of a heightened police presence in our schools and campuses instead of fostering a sense of safety and security, this merely creates an environment of fear and suspicion. What's really troubling is the lack of diverse voices on panel that have been involved in the decision-making process.

[03:03:06] How can we expect to protect the rights and privacies of our students if we're not actively engaging and listening to the various perspectives and concerns that exist within our own communities? It is irresponsible and short-sighted to implement such drastic measures without truly understanding the impact that they may have on those whom they are actually meant to protect.

[03:03:28] So because the Loudoun County public school system has not been able to protect students from reoccurring and ongoing overdoses throughout the high schools, oh, and let's not forget about the rapes that made headlines in the nation a couple years ago, our students will be the ones to suffer.

[03:03:44] We must prioritize the voices and experiences of our students in the community, especially the voices that go unheard, recognizing that true safety comes not from external security measures but from fostering an environment of trust, respect, and understanding through mental health and wellness. I call on the board and you, Dr. Spence, to come together and demand a more thoughtful and inclusive approach to school security without recommendations from the blue ribbon panel. Let us work towards solutions that prioritize the well-being and rights of our students while also holding our institutions accountable for ensuring that power is not used

[03:04:20] to oppress but to empower. I urge you to reject the Blue Ribbon recommendations and urge you to use a more proper and diverse panel. Thank you. Thank you. Followed by Banan M. Followed by Corey Brunet. Good evening. As a parent of an LCPS student, I am deeply concerned about the recommendations put forth by the Blue Ribbon panel under the pretext of enhancing safety and security. The recommendations are vague. They open room for potential misuse and abuse of power

[03:04:59] by already existing security apparatuses. The recommendations are not backed by any published evidence to prove that they work or have worked elsewhere. The recommendations to expand policing of our schools, including elementary schools, are threatening to our students' very safety and to their rights.

[03:05:16] This is not risk management. This is risk inducement. Particularly amid the ongoing climate in Loudoun, in Virginia and nationwide, these recommendations capitalize on a culture of fear and intimidation and mistrust instead of creating a safe and inclusive learning environment.

[03:05:33] I have serious reservations over the membership of some organizations in this panel, the involvement of private and external parties, and over the fact that it is not known whether representatives from community advisory or minority groups were invited to partake in the panel, nor were educators who have more direct experience in dealing with students' needs.

[03:05:53] The recommendation to label the Division of Safety and Security as a law enforcement unit is alarming on so many levels. I'm especially concerned about how these recommendations will reflect on students from communities that are disproportionately affected by abuse of power by policing, especially black and brown students, including Arab, Muslim, Latino, and Asian, in addition to disabled, and students with special needs, and particularly when a student is a combination of two or more of these above vulnerabilities.

[03:06:23] We call on the superintendent, Dr. Spence, and the school board to reject these recommendations. There is no pretext to enhance policing and securitization, involve private and external parties, and expose our children to unnecessary violations of their rights, privacy, and safety. Thank you.

[03:06:40] Thank you. Corey Brunet, followed by Humam Kudari. Good evening. My name is Corey Brunet, and I'm an English learner teacher at Broad Run High School. Are you with the employees of LCPS or against us?

[03:07:01] This is the ultimate question when talking about collective bargaining. are you with the employees of lcps or against us by february of 2023 a majority of licensed employees signed cards requesting collective bargaining a majority february 2023 are you with the employees

[03:07:30] of LCPS or against us. Isler Dare is an anti-work law firm hired to sabotage or otherwise render impotent any negotiating group. You didn't hire them, but you can have them fired. Tell the staff sitting to my right to fire Isler Dare. Are you with the employees of LCPS or against us? LCPS will never outperform its educators.

[03:08:04] Thank you. Humam Kuder, followed by Lynn Davis. Good evening.

[03:08:20] As a parent, we all share paramount concerns of the safety and well-being of our children. It is a responsibility that weighs heavily on us each day. I stand before you with a deep sense of apprehension regarding the recommendation put forth by the blue panel. While intention is bluster, school security is undoubtedly noble.

[03:08:39] We must carefully consider the implications of establishing a unit with the law enforcement privileges in our schools. The recommendation, particularly in the current charge political atmosphere, raises significant concerns about the potential infringement upon our fundamental rights and freedoms. In our pursuit to protect our children, we must not lose sight of the value that define us.

[03:08:59] We cherish the freedom to express ourselves without the fear of repercussion. Placing law enforcement units within our elementary schools could stifle this freedom, creating an environment of surveillance and intimidation. A heavy-handed approach to security may have unintended consequence.

[03:09:16] It could foster the culture of fear and mistrust among our children, especially communities disproportionately affected by policing, undermining the very sense of safety we seek to instill. Instead of resorting to measures that erode our civil liberties, let us explore alternative approaches to enhance school security.

[03:09:34] Let us prioritize measures that promote inclusivity, empathy, and community engagement by fostering strong relationship between the students, educators, and families, we can create a supportive environment where safety is upheld. Introducing armed guards and private security firms, send a chilling message that dissent will not be tolerated and that conformity will be enforced through intimidation. I urge the school board and Superintendent Dr. Spence to reject the recommendations. Thank you. Lynn Davis, followed by Chris Countryman. Good evening. I went on your

[03:10:13] website, downloaded the PowerPoint about the blue ribbon panel update. Under the immediately addressed items or recommendations, bullet two says, ensure that school resource officers and unified mental health representatives are involved in every threat assessment.

[03:10:37] Sounds pretty good. Until you go back to page five, where it shows who the external participants were to this panel. You had 15 people with logos. One was a security consultant. Four were police or sheriff agencies. Two were fire and rescue. One was a state criminal justice agency. Three were county agencies. Three were U.S. government agencies. And one was a mental health agency.

[03:11:14] One out of 15 on this panel was mental health. So it falls very flat that you're concerned with mental health. I have to wonder when you have here near the end about who the stakeholders were.

[03:11:37] And you have just other at 32%. That's a huge number of people to just be othered. It would be interesting to know who they are. I'm over the one minute I thought I had, so I have a little extra time.

[03:11:54] So I'm going to say, I want a playground at Hillside Elementary School. Damn it! Thank you. Chris Countryman, followed by Carrie Kidwell. Good evening.

[03:12:16] I'm Chris Countryman. I'm a proud parent, teacher, and taxpayer in Loudoun County, as well as the president-elect of LEA. At the last school board meeting, I spoke about the work conditions, pay, especially for support staff, and the exponentially growing and unreasonable expectations at the heart of why hiring and retaining teachers and support staff has become so difficult. I am so tired of the excuse that it is the same everywhere. It doesn't have to be. Work with your employees through collective

[03:12:52] bargaining. I have a vision of a news article that's positive for Loudoun County, and it says Loudon gets it, with a picture of all of you, including Dr. Spence and the LEA underneath. Imagine for a moment the talent that we would attract and retain if LCPS was the first school district to work together with the union to create the best bargaining resolution for the state.

[03:13:19] We have the same goals. We are with you as you ask the Board of Supervisors for funding. We are with you on Lobby Day, and we're even with you as you campaign. Educate yourself on how the resolution drafted by the self-promoting anti-union law firm is trying to stop you and your employees from making things better.

[03:13:40] Stop playing into the people that tell you that you are showing weakness if you sign off on a strong resolution. I dare you to show your strength by working with us. I dare you to show to be the first school system in Virginia that says you want more for your employees because you want more for your students. Start working with us on our shared goals to make LCPS the school district of choice for both employees and students. Show you get it

[03:14:12] and show that you understand the urgency to pass a pro-employee resolution. Show that you get it. Carrie Kidwell followed by Sharanya Dutt. Good evening. On behalf of Loud and Moms Demand Action, I would like to thank you for supporting the Wear Orange Proclamation for Gun Violence Awareness. Highlighting this public health crisis and committing to evidence-based strategies is

[03:14:48] critical for community education and safety. As community members who volunteer our time for gun violence prevention, Moms Demand Action volunteers are some of the first in line to advocate for safer schools and community spaces. The Blue Ribbon Panel recently made recommendations for safety insecurity at LCPS. One recommendation was to add school resource officers in elementary schools. Studies show that SROs do not reduce gun violence in schools. In fact, research has identified many negative effects such as criminalizing students, repercussions on student learning, and negative impacts on historically marginalized groups including students of color, students

[03:15:28] with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students. I also thought I only had a minute so I will email you all the data and facts and research studies later. I will take this moment to thank LCPS for the efforts they have made that are evidence-based including adding our be smart information for safe and secure storage on the website and having us join them at different tabling opportunities. 4.6 million children in the United States live in homes with at least one gun that is loaded and unlocked and a lot of these school

[03:16:02] shootings and other events take place with 80 percent of the kids have access to guns from family and friends. So secure storage is a primary and evidence-based initiative that we need to support, and I appreciate that they started that, as well as an increasing mental health support.

[03:16:21] Please continue to prioritize the safety of our students and staff by supporting evidence-based solutions. We thank you for your commitment to our community safety. Thank you. Thank you. Sharanya Dutt, followed by Ann Trong.

[03:16:41] Hi, I'm a senior at Heritage High School, and I'm here with encouragement from my AP government teacher. I wanted to talk about the new pilot program of all-gender bathrooms. As a student at Heritage High School, I've seen the establishment of the all-gender bathrooms and subsequently heard why it's being built.

[03:16:59] Last year, they finished the construction. I was able to see the plan fully fleshed out. They are a step up from public bathrooms to the modern facilities and private aspect. But I've heard from classmates that safety-wise, they still feel threatened. Although I am all for renovating the bathrooms for better facilities, they don't fix the problem they were made for.

[03:17:19] So continuing its establishment county-wide, I feel, is an expensive endeavor if safety is a concern. Thank you. Thank you. Ann Truong, followed by Anna DiDunato.

[03:17:36] Hello. I'm a senior at Heritage High School, and I wanted to talk about the scheduling for lcps schools the scheduling for lcps schools has changed from 9 15 to 9 30 and i heard that it was because it was due to bus driver shortages although it is a small change as a student i've done the routine of starting later and i believe it's not the best schedule for high school students many of my classmates agree that the current schedule leave us with little time for work and other activities i believe that reversing the current order of schedules with middle school students would be better suited for us instead because we're more involved academically and

[03:18:13] after school. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll end with Andrea Weiskopf. Oh, sorry. Anna Didunato and then Andrea Weiskopf. I'm in first grade at Hillside Elementary. I love playing on playgrounds with my friends at the playground at Hillside. It is too small and it doesn't have things for all

[03:18:49] my friends to play together when i go to other schools for my brother's baseball games they have super fun playgrounds we all love together we why doesn't hillside have one too please help us get a playground where all of my friends can play thank you thank you okay guys all right andrea

[03:19:25] Weisskopf. It has been almost a year since Dr. Spence assured educators their access to the LEA, which was taken away by a previous superintendent, would be restored. We are still waiting. It has been more than two years and a school board ago since those same educators petitioned for collective bargaining. We are still waiting. While we wait, palace administrators collude with armed

[03:20:02] law enforcement and union-busting law firms. At the last school board meeting, I asked you, what are you? Why not now? I said, this is the moment to define yourself by affirming each and every student. I am still waiting. Tell our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer

[03:20:33] students that they belong in LCPS. Tell them that you will protect their rights and their safety. They are waiting. Thank you. Black Lives Matter. Thank you. Thank you all for coming out today and providing your public comment. And that will conclude our public comment for today. Board

[03:21:02] members at this time we can take a five-minute recess and we will reconvene at about 7 57 we

[03:29:30] will now move on to our action items starting with 14.04 from the finance and operations committee rfp number r21268 security guard services renewal presented by vice chair streffi chair of the Finance and Operations Committee. Mr. Streffi. Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, I'd just like to make a motion that the Loudoun County School Board renews RFP R21268 Security Guard Services from July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025. I have a motion by Vice Chair Streffi. Do

[03:30:08] I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Chernoff. It's been properly moved and seconded that the loudon county school board renews rfp number r21268 security guard services from july 1st 2024 through june 30th 2025 is there any discussion yes miss donoghue thank you madam chair i have a question um because i have been wondering so this is for this is for allied

[03:30:43] security if i understand correctly and i have um i have been wondering i understand this is a contract for multiple services in multiple locations for LCPS including Allied provides the security for us for these meetings and I have been wondering if we were no longer asking Allied to provide security for us for these evening meetings if that would affect the overall amount of the contract money that we pay them and if so what that change would be. Is Mr. Lewis available?

[03:31:23] Or Ms. Willoughby? The award is for the overall contract. In terms of if we would adjust the contract down based on what you're recommending, I would actually need to take that back to see what the possibilities are because we have already negotiated and worked with the vendor regarding the renewal.

[03:31:51] I did pull, because you had asked about the costs related to providing security at the school board meetings. And for last fiscal year, for fiscal year 2023, the cost associated with providing security for the school board meetings was $68,879, which represented about 3.6% of the overall total cost that we paid to Ally.

[03:32:19] Our year to date for this fiscal year, we have spent $36,860 to date for security for the school board meetings. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. If I could ask some follow-ups. If we have, because I have not read the contract that we have with them, if we have a contract with them for services, how are you able to arrive at the specific numbers of what we are paying for evening meeting coverage?

[03:32:55] When we award the contract and when we did the initial RFP, we provided a scope of service. So we anticipated that there would be security provided at the schools, the school board meetings, in addition to anything else that would be covered in that contract to arrive at that estimate.

[03:33:14] In terms of the contract award, that is what is being awarded is to provide that service. There's terms and conditions in there. And specifically, when I look at the agenda item, we have estimated the value of this contract to be $1.8 million based on those services.

[03:33:34] So hypothetically, if the school board was to give direction that they no longer wanted to provide security at school board meetings, then that would just be a service that would not be rendered. We would not be billed because there's no service, and that's how there would be savings accrued.

[03:33:51] Thank you. And just to clarify, I'm not making a recommendation. just had a question thank you so any other discussion yes mrs griffiths thank you madam chair um I've asked this several times but what training do they have here I have a couple questions here at the school board meetings why are they in elementary schools instead of SSOs are there any allied security guards

[03:34:26] in any of the middle schools or high schools and if so why are any allied guards armed? I've asked that before as well. And what authority do allied guards have in emergency situations? Thank you. Is Mr. Clark still here? I am. Good evening. May have to repeat a couple of those questions. But in terms of the training, again, all of our allied guards are certified through the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. So they obtain that certification

[03:35:02] and training through DCJS. Why are they in the elementary schools instead of SSOs? So currently we do not have SSOs permanently stationed in elementary schools. So these folks were used to supplement security in elementary schools. They are, some of them are based in middle schools and high schools as well. And I think I've asked this before, if they are armed and how would they handle themselves in emergency situations? Yes. So the only allied person

[03:35:40] that are armed are the ones that support the school board meetings none of the allied personnel stationed in our schools are armed and they operate under the same principles as any law enforcement or security agency they can use deadly force if deadly force is being used against them or someone else in their presence thank you okay is there any other discussion yes vice chair Straffi just just a comment just to add a little bit of context to this

[03:36:15] item so this was discussed in committee and it was voted unanimously to send to the full board as an action item and this would just be for the renewal of the it would be the third of four renewals of this contract so it's for my assumption is for all of at all of the allied universal security services so this is the one contract where we use this vendor and if we wouldn't move forward with this then June 30th that contract would expire we'd have we not

[03:36:51] have our allied this vendor supporting those services in terms of the philosophy around you know security in our schools I think that you know my fear is that the the conversation around how we secure our schools narrows to a discussion around SROs versus you know how we secure our elementary schools and the comprehensive mechanisms that we have around securing our children in our

[03:37:25] schools whether that's through training through the the building management and security around the buildings and armed or unarmed personnel so it is that's one of the things I've learned from from you mr. Clark as well in some of our sessions together is that is a comprehensive thing and I think that that you know, the nuance around that discussion is important to me as we move forward, but I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Is there any more discussion? Okay. So it has been properly

[03:37:59] moved and seconded. Clerk, will you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. Dr. Rashid, will you please state your vote? Yes. Ms. LaBelle, would you please state your vote?

[03:38:34] No. Okay. Clerk, will you please close and display the vote? That motion passes six to two with Mrs. Griffiths and Ms. LaBelle in opposition and Ms. Donahue abstaining. We'll move on to our information items starting with item 15.01 Department of Business and Financial Services

[03:39:09] uses of projected FY24 school operating fund year and fund balance presented by Ms. Sharon Willoughby Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Willoughby.

[03:39:42] Good evening I am here to help support the school board continue their discussion regarding the uses of the projected fiscal year 24 year-end fund balance. I want to just recap some of the information that was shared at the last school board meeting regarding what year-end funds are and how they can be used. The year-end funds are the allocated, undesignated, and unspent funds that we have projected to be available at the end of this fiscal year. How they can be used is to align one-time uses with one-time funds.

[03:40:15] that would be the best practice. What that means, as an example, would be a single purchase with no recurring cost, and that also these funds must be encumbered and spent before June 30th. I will also share not only of just encumbering, but that if it requires procurement involvement because of a certain dollar threshold, then we need to make sure that there's time to follow the proper procurement processes as well. The list that you're going to see on the next several

[03:40:52] slides are the same items that was presented at the last school board meeting. The only change that you will notice is that there's an additional column added just providing some additional rationale regarding each item's request. So again, you're just going to see the items such as the computer refresh. There's the compensation study. I won't go through each one of these, but just highlight the band theater storage replacing stadium sound systems I do want to draw your

[03:41:27] attention though to item 11 on this slide the item itself is the same however the dollar amount has been updated the cost has been lowered as the original amount that was presented at the last school board meeting had double counted different options that were being considered so this brings the new staff recommended total of our listed items to 9.8 million dollars if this list was approved by the school board and the third quarter projected fund balance was to hold true approximately 10.8 million would be returned to the county representing 0.6 percent of the budget

[03:42:03] I would also then circle oh sorry I skipped over something I also wanted to share that I did receive several requests for items from school board members and as we reviewed those was finding that the June 30th was the barrier to accomplishing many of the requests that we were receiving.

[03:42:25] There was a common theme, though, associated with playgrounds, and so Mr. Lewis has prepared a few slides to provide an overview of LCPS's playground program. Good evening, board members. I will, sorry.

[03:42:43] So I wanted to take a minute to go over the playground program. I know there have been a lot of questions over the last couple of weeks about playgrounds and the conditions and how we manage our inventory of playgrounds across the county. And that includes all of our elementary schools and some of our high schools with some of the programs we have there.

[03:43:01] But I just wanted to back up a little bit and share the program itself. Before, prior to 2015, all playgrounds were done and installed through the school fundraising efforts, whether it's a PTA or PTO, those types of things. So the school system itself did not provide playgrounds at any of the schools.

[03:43:18] Over time, the philosophy changed on that, and we began including playgrounds with new elementary schools in 2015 and continued that through 2018 and still today. We also did not have a playground policy until 2018, and in that policy, the guidance was for us to add inclusive playgrounds geographically dispersed throughout the county to get as many inclusive playgrounds in the county as possible.

[03:43:47] In 2021, we started including playground replacements within the caps, and that's part of the capital budget that you'll talk about this fall. And then in 2022, staff made a decision to go above and beyond with the policy, the minimal policy, and use inclusive playgrounds whenever we're replacing.

[03:44:07] So anytime we build or replace a playground now, we're using inclusive playgrounds. And I did want to talk a little bit about there's some confusion out there about definitions of ADA compliance and inclusive playgrounds. There's a long description there, but essentially the ADA compliance just means everyone can get to the playground.

[03:44:25] And an inclusive playground is where everyone can get on and enjoy the actual pieces. So there's a description there about how some of those things are accomplished, but there is a little bit of difference in there. And right now, all of our playgrounds are either ADA, completely ADA compliant or capable of doing that.

[03:44:42] In some cases, you'll find we have some mulch issues that we repair that and then bring those playgrounds back into compliance. So as I mentioned, there's a number of questions about playgrounds. And I forgot the number. I think there's 15 inclusive playgrounds on the top half of the slide.

[03:44:58] You'll see these are playgrounds that have already been installed and are totally inclusive playgrounds. And the bottom half of the slide is you'll see the list of playgrounds that we are installing this summer. And some of those come with different types of funding. You'll see there the first three, Lovetsville, Mill Run, and Waterford, are done through the cap and will be installed this summer.

[03:45:19] Countryside was done by a proffer, as were in the Sterling Meadow proffer. But there are four playgrounds being installed this summer through the proffer monies coming from the town of Leesburg. So those are great infusions of funding into our program that help us move forward a little faster.

[03:45:36] So in the CIP, we'll also be talking about that in great depth this fall with the CIP discussions beginning in November. And you'll see that last year, the top half of that is what we proposed in last year's CIP.

[03:45:52] And we were programming to do replacements in Countryside, Lovetsville, and Sanders Corner in FY25. And then you'll see a longer list there for 26 through 30. Over the past year, the repairs that were made at Lovett'sville brought the playground back into compliance, and so we took that off of the list because the repairs that were needed is what was causing the need for replacement.

[03:46:16] And so we revised that down in the bottom left, or bottom right, sorry, that the new list is Sanders Corner, Potomac, and Cedar Lane, where, as I mentioned earlier, Lovett'sville was repaired and Countryside is being done via proffer. So how do we come up with the list?

[03:46:35] and that's been there's been a lot of questions about that we hire a third party inspection agency every year to inspect every one of our playgrounds across the county and they do look at the condition of the the playground and also the age and so we want to make sure that we are providing the replacements where they are most needed and where if they were taken out of service the you know the there will still be playground for the children to play on i will point out that all of our playgrounds are that we put in you'll see we have our standard playground is for ages 5 to 12 so all ages kindergarten through fifth grade can

[03:47:13] can play on those playgrounds there's also a need growing for ages 2 to 5 which are before kindergarten and for early childhood programs and so those are things that we can be moving toward as we talk this fall I know miss Manfield and I had some conversations about the policy and we are prepared to bring the policy back through the Finance and Operations Committee to be looking at that to provide staff with maybe different guidance on what our priorities are. And so those are conversations we're happy to have as we go through that year. Also say part of this inspection process is pretty detailed. So

[03:47:50] as we go in and look at playgrounds, if there's a piece or a component that's out of spec or has been damaged or some reason needs to be taken out of service. In some cases that takes a large portion of the whole playground out of compliance and so we have to take that piece offline which means we may be adding that to the replacement cycle sooner rather than later. So it's an annual evaluation that's done each year. Also wanted to share that the playground funding is quite robust.

[03:48:20] You'll see here that it is included in the capital asset preservation plan so that's included in the fall conversations, as I've mentioned. And for FY25, we have $825,000 set aside for that. And you'll see as it progresses through 2029, it grows to 1.2 million.

[03:48:38] So it is quite a robust program to do the replacements. And as you saw earlier, we generally do about three a year. You also see that other funding sources are PTAs, PTOs, other support organizations. We have maintenance that help us with that.

[03:48:55] So we use operating funds through our maintenance program. And then we get proffers, as I mentioned, as well. So I did want to talk a little bit about, there were some questions over the past couple weeks about do we have standard designs? And we do. So every playground starts with a standard design.

[03:49:11] But we go out and meet with Mr. Stocks, our director of management and coordination, is here with me tonight. And him and his team, they go out and meet with schools and start talking about the design, where they're going to place it. And so they have an opportunity to make adjustments to that. But we do have a standard playground that we start with.

[03:49:27] We also have recently changed our standards to include a fence around every playground. And that's a conversation that I've learned a lot over the conversation the last couple of weeks. So I appreciate that as well. And so we did some estimating to say if the school board would wanna put a fence around a single playground, it'd be 40 to $45,000.

[03:49:47] If you wanted to do all of them in the county 66 total, it'd be about $3 million. So we wanted to provide that for context for specifically addressing the offenses around. I will say that when we do our inspections, any ADA compliance issues that are identified, we address them immediately with our facilities folks.

[03:50:06] And Hillside, I know you've had some folks here tonight about that, and that was included in our inspections. And during that process, there were no significant issues from a condition perspective on that, so there were no safety issues for that. So it does not sit at the top of the list for replacement, And we would not recommend that it jump over others because it doesn't warrant that from a condition perspective.

[03:50:32] We did have an ADA compliance issue and we've already written a purchase order to repair an access ramp to one of the pieces, so we're working on that, that'll be done this summer.

[03:50:50] And that is all I have for playgrounds and we'll have to take some questions when Mrs. Willoughby is completed. - So I have one last slide regarding next steps. So we are intending to bring this action or this item back as action to the school board meeting on May 28th.

[03:51:08] Again, the total of the list is $9.8 million and to use the allocated unencommoded year and fund balance for these one-time purchases. School board members may also make amendments to either remove items from staff's recommended list, add items to the list, and or a combination of both, such as swapping out an item.

[03:51:28] Again, just to recap, the projected year-end fund balance based on the third quarter projection was $20.6 million. If the list is approved as is, then we would be returning approximately $10.8 million to the county, which would be less than 1% of the budget meeting our target, if not returning any more than 1% of the budget.

[03:51:50] I also shared previously that we share information and collaborate with county staff regarding year-end funds, and that's how LCPS's internal practice of returning no more than one percent to the county was established. By setting this threshold target, it set expectations for LCPS regarding what level of year-end funds to reprogram for additional school needs and also set expectations for county staff of what amount of funding they could expect to receive to assist with their financial planning. Before this target was set, the fund balance returns to the county fluctuated dramatically. So for example,

[03:52:26] A return one year to the county was $15 million, followed by the following year, it was $77,000. Then it was back up to $12 million. And then a couple years after that, it was $700,000. So again, this was an effort of setting this threshold so that there could be better planning all around.

[03:52:46] And with that, I also would be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I do have a question, ADA compliance versus accessibility versus inclusive because something that's interesting to me is that being ADA compliant basically means a ramp, but then that ramp can go into mulch and there's not much that a wheelchair can do on mulch.

[03:53:18] And so, and, and, and, I'm wondering if there is some stopgap measure that we can think about in our F&O maybe about rubber mat accessibility mats or something so that kids can get into the wood mulch. Certainly that's something we're happy to continue the conversation with I will say that the ADA mulch or the mulch is considered to be ADA compliant but that doesn't make it easy for everyone to to access to understand and that's one of the reasons it was used as a standard for years is because it is considered that if it's maintained properly it does

[03:53:56] work fairly well but we also understand that there are circumstances for certain students and staff members even that may still have trouble navigating that so we're happy to look into what may other be may be available I will say we don't recommend the the port in place surfaces for an existing playgrounds just because something it's it's it's difficult to manage that and then we'll just have to tear it back out when we do the replacement so at this point we haven't recommended to do that but we're happy to continue that conversation um also i wanted to

[03:54:32] make sure that we understood that the fences are now being approved with the playground and built with the playground but that doesn't mean that they that we have money in the cip for the fencing of already existing playgrounds yes ma'am that is correct um to a certain extent i will say though that, as you noticed, I think it was $800,000, $825,000 or something for the FY25 year.

[03:55:04] What we haven't done is priced out the playgrounds that are going to be built in the FY25 year, so there may be additional funds in there to be able to do that. And so that's a conversation that we can have in more detail with numbers attached to it when we talk this fall with the CIP and have a better idea about what we think those projects will actually cost.

[03:55:24] And then my last thought is that I wanted to remember that the reason for the fencing was because it would provide an outside area for kindergartners because a lot of these playgrounds are for five and above, and people think that the kindergartners have to be in that bricked-in area, and that's not necessarily so.

[03:55:51] they can be outside in that playground if it's fenced around which leaves more room for the preschools and then it's also can be used for adaptive PE as well as a timeout break for certain populations of children who may need to decompress in time to self-regulate so with that I just wanted to educate the board members about that because you might be getting an amendment

[03:56:20] it's a prediction so anyone else would like to speak okay mrs griffiths thank you madam chair um i did an informal study to all the principals of all the schools in loudon county and um overwhelmingly they were interested in having the funds having funds amongst all the schools to use at their own discretion and when i say discretion it could be bonuses for the teachers

[03:56:55] and staff. It could be for school supplies, musical instruments, lunch debt, theater and fine arts, repairs and landscaping, technology, and just as I mentioned year-end bonuses for the teachers and staff. Thank you. If it could be considered. Thank you. Mrs. Griffiths, can you tell me a little bit about how many responses you were able to get on this? I cannot because I still have some coming in so um i can give you percentages of what i've had i have so far

[03:57:29] thanks just i just wanted to know the population of the okay yes ms shirnoff um to piggyback on teacher bonuses um that was the first thing that came to my mind after our last meeting and our discussion was um something that i learned through the budget cycle is an unintended consequence when you do something for one group, sometimes another group gets ruffled feathers. So one of the great things that we're doing in our budget that I really believe in is the sign-on bonuses for

[03:58:07] our new teachers. For if they're teaching special ed or title one, we're giving those bonuses and I was very passionate about that, which then our current teachers were like, why don't you have our back, Lauren? So fair, right? And it's a learning process. So that was my first question to Miss Willoughby is immediately the next day I reached out to try and see what we could do in terms of thinking not just about a sign-on bonus for new teachers but thinking about a retention bonus. So teachers that sign their contract but then return to us in August and teach which hence the June 30th would be a hiccup with that because we wouldn't necessarily know that they return

[03:58:47] and I do think that that would be something important to consider. So Miss Willoughby would you just expand upon some of the latest developments in the budget as well as how that may play out as a possibility and i'm going to make this very easy for myself and actually punt this to miss boland and she can share regarding the work that her team has been doing regarding a more comprehensive recruitment retention program and that is supported by funds that is already in the FY25 school board adopted budget.

[03:59:25] - Thank you, Ms. Willoughby. So you may or may not recall, I know the budget was a whirlwind and you were all just learning, but something I made a point to express was we recognized that the sign-on bonus, while we were very excited to bring it forward, we recognized that there was more to do to still work on retention and that the goal would be to continue to not only include additional things in our budget process but to work with current funding as possible to develop whether that be in phases or what the next steps be. And as Ms. Willoughby

[04:00:04] mentioned, part of the state's possible budget was a matched retention bonus. Now that did not come through but the way that we do things in LCPS is to try to not leave employees out. And so we had money put into the budget to kind of match what the state was asking. And right now, that sits at around $8 million. So that money is still there. And my team has been working on several proposals on ways that we can utilize that money from retention bonus strategies.

[04:00:40] Now, $8 million seems like a lot of money, but when you spread it out, if you think of having 13,000 to 14,000 employees after taxes, it doesn't go very far. And we want to get away from one-time bonuses because those really aren't retention strategies. So we do have several proposals which we will look to implement very strategically and intentionally. And two of the main areas we are starting with, just starting with, I want to be careful, we are starting with is special education teachers and staff

[04:01:18] and Title I teachers and staff. Those are our two main areas where retention strategies are needed and necessary. We have pulled attrition rates. We are looking at not just a one-time bonus, but how we not only have a, you have held this position this year, but how we increase our bonuses over time.

[04:01:44] So I'm going to give you an example of what we are looking at, but we're not committed at the moment. So if we just look at $8 million one time, then we're going to have to chunk it out, and it's a much heavier bonus. If we look at a phased approach, we're talking about how do we use our sign-on bonus to also include anyone that's transitioning from a gen ed role into a special education role and or a Title I role.

[04:02:11] And then from there, the goal would be something similar to year two, you get $2,000. Year three, you get $3,000. Year four, $4,000. Year five, $5,000. And every year you stay in special education or Title I, you get $5,000 beyond that five years.

[04:02:31] Now, there, of course, will be a criteria, eligibility. You wouldn't get it until May or June of the year. you'd have to have an effective evaluation. And if you decided to leave the position and come back, you would have to reset or start over.

[04:02:50] All that being said, this is just the initial phases of working out this phased approach. And of course, we would hope to continue to grow every retention strategy we have. But that's kind of what Ms. Willoughby asked me to make sure to be prepared to speak to this evening.

[04:03:08] I appreciate that. And I just, sometimes I think there's a perception that when we ask questions, maybe that we're not trusting. And I just want to clear that up for myself. That is not where my questions are coming from. My questions are coming from what is this list and where, what was the rationale behind it?

[04:03:25] And we have ideas, you know, we're excited to be here. Part of the newness is that. And as soon as I came to staff with that idea, it was encouraging to me on so many levels that you're thinking you're already there. So this can be a partnership, and I want it to be, and I want our teachers to hear that that's what we want, because I think that's what I found through the questioning, is that, you know, there's just different priorities sometimes, but questioning that doesn't mean that that's not what we want.

[04:03:54] We just want more information. So I just really appreciate that, and I appreciate the dream, and that you already kind of had it in a plan, which was honestly a way better dream than I had myself. So thank you for that. I have a few more questions. Should I keep going or pass the torch?

[04:04:12] They're related to playgrounds and stuff. Okay, go ahead and then Dr. Rasheed. Just a couple. Just real quick, Mr. Lewis, is school capacity part of the annual review process? That was mentioned by our speakers tonight, and I just didn't see that in the presentation.

[04:04:29] Thank you for that question. So it is not. So our inspections are based completely on the condition of the existing playground and where it fits into that process. I will say there are a number of schools that have put their own playgrounds in over time, so some schools have more than one, and so we're focusing on one at each school first.

[04:04:47] But right now, we are just focused on the condition and the safety of each playground. Okay, great. And then my next question is, for the third party that reviews that, has that been consistent year to year, or have we used multiple different third parties for that?

[04:05:03] I believe it's the same company, but I'll ask Mr. Stocks to confirm. Yes, same company. Thank you. And then that kind of goes to my next sort of overall budget question. And just philosophically, as I'm looking at this and just trying to understand, I'm kind of seeing a trend with outsourcing of panels and studies frequently.

[04:05:27] We had the Blue Ribbon panel. School renaming through the last board had a panel, a company that they paid. there's a compensation study on here a transportation at our school board retreat we had a third-party facilitator I know we chose as a board to do focus groups for 80-40 for Dr. Spence's evaluation we have a third party involved so is this something that we should expect in a district this large and is it best practice because I just I'm seeing a trend and I just want to understand Ms. Chernoff does that have to do with what we're doing right here with this

[04:06:03] particular it does in terms of understanding what the needs are if those I'm trying to understand if those are necessities for the procurement and the compensation studies that are added and the transportation study so this wasn't a playground yeah no sorry I'm jumping now to compensation study procurement and transportation study okay just trying to understand so I think I would answer that yeah that'd be great yep this is this is fairly typical practice in school divisions, both large and small, recognizing that we have both expertise and capacity in a lot of

[04:06:40] areas and not expertise and capacity in other areas. So for example, I have confidence that if we were to allocate several of our positions to work on a compensation study full-time over the course of a year, we could probably do that internally, but then the other work they're doing would not get done. So you talked about the retreat facilitator. We can certainly facilitate meetings we have people who can facilitate meetings sometimes when you're asking school board members to have uncomfortable conversations people who work for you directly don't want to be

[04:07:15] in line in the line making those conversations happen so it's normal very normal for school boards to have facilitated retreats as an example because you brought that up as far as the transportation study that's that that is almost always the case that you're going to bring in an external group to help you understand your routing to help you understand ways that you may not be thinking about routing that make it more effective I've certainly seen that in every district I've ever worked in and then just generally inside of the budget there are consulting services for a variety of issues where we may look at it and just say we don't actually have the expertise

[04:07:52] or capacity to do that that's outside of the scope of our normal work I appreciate that I just I've been seeing it a lot and I just wanted to you know name it and see if there was you know if that is a best practice and also in terms of trying to prioritize if there is an amendment you know thinking about what we would add or take away I'm also trying to prioritize what what that would be so in terms of necessity of where we are as a district that would is a helpful answer to know that that's you know something that we have throughout

[04:08:24] thank you well and I think if I could just add to that very quickly so I think when you're prioritizing I don't know that it's so much about whether or not you're prioritizing consulting services i think it's really whether or not you're prioritizing the information you would get from that work right so in in our conversations i've had conversations with some of you individually it's i think it's really important for example for us to have a really clear picture of compensation in the division that looks across all employee groups that looks across our scales and that comes back with some recommendations in terms of how we should

[04:09:01] be thinking about our budget and the conversations that we need to have about compensation as we move forward so that would be one i would say would really drive some productive budget conversations and i think the board probably needs that information i do think there are other things on this list so the disparity study would be good for us to know i don't know it's a top priority for us to know today but it would be good information for our procurement team to have so they can look at their own practices but if i were prioritizing like amongst studies i would would say that would be lower on the list for me, and so on and so forth. I mean, that's how I would

[04:09:38] approach looking at consultant work, not whether or not consultant work is necessary, but the information that you get, how important is it to you at this time? I appreciate that. That's really helpful feedback. Anybody? Dr. Rasheed? I have a question, or rather a comment for Mr. Lewis.

[04:09:59] For the playground, I'm not sure if you had mentioned this, but I think it's really important to consider, perhaps, I don't know what they call it, like a hood on top, because we do have, you know, many students or even special needs students, that mobility could be a little bit of a challenge.

[04:10:18] So maybe the mobility could might be even like slower on the playground. So having a hooded playground, I don't know if that was considered or would be considered in making these playgrounds just to kind of protect from the heated sun or from, you know, drastic weather.

[04:10:35] - Dr. Rasheed, are you talking about like a shade? - Yes. - Yes. - So Dr. Rasheed, thank you for that question. And that question has come up just recently about placing those shades over the playgrounds.

[04:10:53] We have not been doing that in the past and that's the first time we've heard about maybe a recommendation to do that. I know that was also included in the SEACS report. We do have a few schools that have some of those shades put in there and I think that's something that we would want some more information both from the instructional community and from the board on that.

[04:11:13] And I think that's something we can certainly have a conversation about when we talk through the policy. Okay, any other questions? Yes, I have one. Okay, Ms. LaBelle. This one's from Mr. Lewis.

[04:11:29] I wondered if you could, I missed seeing Hillside on your list of playgrounds. When was that due to be refurbished, replaced, made accessible and inclusive?

[04:11:49] Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. So at this point, it is not on the immediate list to be replaced based on its condition. It will be replaced. I don't have the year that it would fall into, and that's something that we could get more information on.

[04:12:06] and then when it would be it is already ada accessible and we have a couple of issues there that we that we will be addressing immediately on the mulch but also with a a new ramp this summer that will will bring that back into compliance and then when it gets replaced it will be done with an inclusive playground okay thank you oh one more thing about the mulch and wheelchairs I am in a unique position right now, and I can tell you that wheelchairs do not roll over mulch, especially wet mulch.

[04:12:44] So please keep that in mind when you're making your replacements. Thank you. Vice Chair Streffi. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Willoughby. Just another comment to piggyback off of your previous comments around the capital budgeting process in the fall, and just stating that, you know, a lot of these conversations around priorities and how we approach playgrounds, I think that's something I can appreciate, that, you know, the crux of those conversations happening around how we prioritize

[04:13:22] and how we approach this whole topic, and just the historical context around the playground program and the fact that, you know, there's been a lot of changes in the last few years in terms of how we approach and how we fund our play structures. I will say, though, that for me, our play structures are a big priority in terms of how I see play and the role it has in early childhood development, especially when it comes to the inclusive playgrounds and our ability to really understand what that can do for our young learners.

[04:13:58] So I've tried to... I haven't sent a large survey to folks, but I've tried to kind of ask around, at least in the district, around what the needs are regarding some of the play structures. And I've gotten a lot of inquiries as well around some of the schools not having enclosures, fencing, some of the schools not having the early learner play structure, and some schools having two playgrounds, and we've talked about that.

[04:14:22] And so I'm looking forward to those conversations in the fall. I will just ask, because I didn't get a chance to ask you this previously, Is there any precedent around using end-of-year funds for replacement or repairs of play structures?

[04:14:41] I just want to be able to understand if there is some history of that. I know you sent the list, but I just want to confirm. Yes, sir. Thank you. I'll confirm one time. It was Sully? Correct. We were doing Sully Playground and supplemented the playground.

[04:15:02] So we had a project plan to replace Sully's Playground. The existing playground was much larger than our standard playground, so the funding we had allocated wasn't enough for that. So we did supplement that one playground with some year-end funding a couple years ago to make sure that we had that playground whole.

[04:15:18] So it was already budgeted and in progress, I would say? It was in progress in terms of design and planning, yes, sir. And then when we got the quotes in, it wasn't enough to fund it, so then we looked through year-end funding to supplement the funding. - Okay, and then last question. It's specific to the DDI priority around computer refresh.

[04:15:39] It was a little under 1.5 million to replace devices. And just wanted to ask the question around, is this a need that wasn't, I know refreshes are scheduled out and they're kind of funded. Is there anything special about this request using end of year funds?

[04:15:58] Or is this how we typically fund refreshes? So for the past several years, this has been how refreshes have been funded. Basically, when we hit supply chain issues, this allows us to front load those orders now to cut those POs out of this end of year fund versus waiting till July one, where those POs may not get out till July 14th to those vendors.

[04:16:19] And then we have kids coming back that need those things. So this really helps us be able to make sure that schools are ready for the start of school. So that's how we've traditionally been doing that over the past several years is, It's been about $1.5 million out of end-of-year funds, and that just kind of goes into the bucket of all of the money.

[04:16:39] It takes about $16 or $17 million to buy all the computer refreshes we need to do for the district. Okay, and this has been the historical kind of mechanism for you guys to do the refreshes, but there is a set process for the refreshes, a set schedule, so it's not like it's something that's already standardized anyway.

[04:17:00] - That's correct, all of our refresh cycles for all of our equipment is actually, you can find it on our webpage, so I'm happy to send that to you. That includes student devices, lab devices, staff devices, enhanced learning space equipment, just all sorts of different equipment, classroom Promethean boards, and all of those have established refresh cycles.

[04:17:18] So yes, this would just be aligning with that, and that's just how we've been able to fund it, so we're able to cut those POs, like I said before, that early July timeframe. - Thank you. - Any other questions?

[04:17:34] Okay, seeing none, this will come back for action May 28th, and be ready with your amendments. Thank you. We'll now move on to item 15.02, Human Resources and Talent Development Committee, Revision to Policy 7712, Sick Leave and Deletion of Policy 7714, Personal Leave, presented by the Chair of HRTD, Mrs. Griffiths.

[04:17:58] Thank you, Madam Chair. The HRTD meeting met on April 25th, 2024, So today, we're going to have Ms. Bolin come up and discuss revised policy 7712, sick leave, and deletion of policy 7714.

[04:18:16] Personal leave were both information items at the March meeting. After reviewing, the committee voted to bring both policies back as an action item. So HRTD, the HRTD, from the HRTD committee. The policies were made available for public feedback via Loudoun County Public Schools website.

[04:18:35] Policy 7712 and policy 7714 feedback is included. The committee voted 3-0 to send the revised policy 7712 and the deletion of policy 7714 to the full school board in the information item on May 14th, which is today, May 14th, 2024.

[04:18:54] Ms. Bolin, if you will. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Griffiths. We are proposing changes to these policies that we believe would be beneficial for staff by allowing greater flexibility for personal leave for our 10- and 11-month staff.

[04:19:11] We are not recommending that a different model of leave, such as PTO, be implemented because under VRS rules, that would disallow employees who are retiring from purchasing additional months of service utilizing their sick leave payout.

[04:19:28] I do want to emphasize that because we do get asked quite often why we can't just offer PTO, and it is due to VRS restrictions. For historical context, the possibility of increasing sick leave and personal leave for our 10- and 11-month employees has been part of fiscal year 24 and fiscal year 25 budget discussions.

[04:19:51] But as you can imagine, there is quite a large cost associated with adding leave, and these have not made it forward. At this point, we are seeking to provide a cost-neutral way to afford more flexibility to this employee group by combining personal and sick leave days and permitting 10- and 11-month employees to use up to five days of personal leave.

[04:20:18] We are able to provide employees with the flexibility to take leave as appropriate to their circumstances. The number of total days of leave will remain the same, but will all be housed under sick leave and the personal leave policy will be deleted.

[04:20:36] And I'm available for any questions. Board members, do you have any questions? No. Yes. Ms. Donoghue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I see in the feedback documents that are on board docs that LEA stated no feedback at the time that you were collecting feedback originally, which was, I imagine, at least several weeks ago since this has come through HRTD committee to to get here. Has there been additional feedback

[04:21:14] either from LEA or from individual LCPS employees or educators about this proposal? There's been no additional feedback and the way that the policy process works is after it's an information item at HRTD committee it goes out for feedback and then it comes back to HRTD committee as an action item and there were no recommended changes by the committee when it was an action item so the policies that went out for feedback are the same policies brought before you

[04:21:47] tonight thank you and i i think that i asked a question at one of the hrtd meetings where this was on the agenda but under what circumstances would a request to use sick leave as personal leave be denied? So there is an associated regulation with the personal leave policy and if this policy, if the sick leave policy and the deletion of personal leave policy were to go

[04:22:26] through if the board would take action on that that regulation would remain in effect and it does prescribe that five days prior to the start of school five the five last days of school it it prescribes what i would call blackout dates and that regulation would remain in effect and would have a change of name and policy number thank you school members do we have any other

[04:22:56] questions? No. Can you, do any of you want to put this on the consent agenda for the May 28th, 2024 meeting? Thumbs up for yes. Okay. That is not unanimous, so we will move it to action next time. 15.

[04:23:20] 04, move on. The Department of, sorry. I got it. I got it. It's just not, My computer's not cooperating.

[04:23:49] Okay, so 1503, Department of Academics, Ensuring Adequate Professional Development, Time for Teachers, 2024-2025. I'm presented by Dr. Ellis and Ms. Lisa Boland.

[04:24:16] Good evening, Chair Mansfield, Dr. Spence, members of the board. This evening, Ms. Boland and I will share some background information on new requirements from the Virginia Department of Education and a draft plan for how LCPS might effectively implement these changes and the new requirements in addition to the current requirements placed on our teachers.

[04:24:43] This information does also include a recommendation for potential calendar changes to support this important work. So we'll start with a little background on the new requirements. The Virginia Department of Education has announced several significant changes and new initiatives for the 24-25 school year.

[04:25:05] These changes and new initiatives that I'll explain in more detail in just a moment will take a significant amount of staff time to learn and implement. This will require a significant amount of additional professional learning for most of our teachers. In addition to these new requirements coming from BDOE, educators have consistently shared, and I know each of you has heard this from teachers, that there is already not enough time in the teacher calendar devoted to the required and recommended professional learning teachers participate in to continue to strengthen their practice.

[04:25:37] Given the importance and volume of these changes and new initiatives, as well as our current landscape of professional learning, LCPS is looking at ways to provide sufficient time for educators to learn, process, and plan so they can best serve our students. I do want to emphasize that these new requirements are important for our educators to participate in, and ultimately, if implemented thoughtfully and with sufficient time for our teachers to learn and plan, these new requirements will positively impact our students' learning experiences in our schools.

[04:26:11] The challenge is there is simply not enough time for our educators to realistically accomplish all of these requirements we are being asked to do. To start, there is a significant requirement associated with the Virginia Literacy Act, or VLA. I know you're familiar with the VLA from previous presentations from Teaching and Learning, but I will note that school divisions have only recently been made aware that the VLA will require next year up to 27 hours of required training in the form of training modules for large groups of teachers, not just reading teachers, in grades 6 through 8. Additionally, LCPS was fortunate enough to be a pilot school system for the

[04:26:50] Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System, or VALS, assessment. So while it will not be new for many of our K through 2 teachers, it will only be the second year of implementation for them, and it will be new for all grade 3 teachers and any new teachers in grades K through 2.

[04:27:05] And finally, related to the VLA, LCPS is implementing a new core instructional resource, recently adopted by the board. While we are very excited about this new resource and how it will support reading instruction in LCPS, it also comes with added training for teachers to ensure they're comfortable with the new resource and can confidently use it in their classroom instruction.

[04:27:30] In addition to the requirements associated with VLA, VDOE has also announced not one but two sets of new standards of learning that will be implemented on a tighter timeline than school divisions are used to. School divisions will be implementing new math SOLs with implementation of the new standards and instruction next school year. And the piece that's on a tighter timeline is that students will also be assessed on these new standards in the same year that they're implemented. In the past, we've had an extra year to train our teachers, become familiar with the standards, and allow students and teachers to be more comfortable. We don't have

[04:28:07] that time this year. Similarly, VDOE approved new ELA standards with implementation next year and it is still unclear if students will be assessed on these new standards next year. We are currently working under that assumption given the lack of any additional clarification at this time. And finally, while it is not on this slide, I also want to mention that VDOE is releasing a new school accountability framework this year with some significant changes. That's a topic for another presentation I promise to bring to you in the future. And our team feels really good about the alignment of our own school improvement process with the changes coming

[04:28:44] from BDOE. However, it is another change worth noting. All this being said, we started by looking at all of the professional learning and training as a whole. We've put together a collaborative group across academics and HRTD and other departments, and we're looking at what we have control over and how we might adjust. While we were doing this, it was helpful to bucket the professional learning into four buckets you see on this screen. Starting in the top left, the first bucket is what is required by code or law. These are trainings such as the popular blood-borne pathogens training. I've taken it every year since I became an educator and will continue to do so to

[04:29:23] keep my license. We likely have no flexibility in this bucket, but we are looking to see if these trainings could be skipped periodically and are trying to make them available to employees as early as July 1, in case teachers prefer to complete them before they return to school in August. That would be on their own time. I'll mention that. The second bucket is training that is required by LCPS, whether that's through policy or other local requirements. As an example of this, this would be around professional conduct in alignment with policy 7560, or perhaps safety and security training. I don't think any of us could argue that this training is important for

[04:30:03] staff to complete. It's extremely important. That being said, we may have a little more flexibility in this bucket and the team is looking at ways to reduce time spent. For example, it might be possible to require employees to complete training in their first year and then perhaps every three years or on their evaluation cycle, just as an example of what we're looking at. The third bucket is probably the largest. That is all of the other training that is recommended by LCPS and includes specific content area training, for example, hands-on science training or English language

[04:30:38] development or ELD standards training for teachers who support English learners. Again, I would argue that this professional learning is extremely valuable, but recognizing that this coming year has so many additional requirements, we are working to reduce the number of professional development commitments teachers have. I'll add that we're also looking at what we can even offer as optional and whether we even need to offer it as optional because we have some really go-getter teachers and even if something is optional they feel the pressure to do it. And the fourth bucket

[04:31:12] is what I've already alluded to in terms of the new VDOE requirements. This is very important for us to plan for and we are still awaiting additional guidance from VDOE regarding the timelines and the specifics which is making it a little challenging to plan ahead. This information as we gather it will continue to drive next steps.

[04:31:33] This training is essential for teachers to have dedicated time to learn it, to process and plan instruction with the new standards and the new requirements of the VLA. It's time-consuming but extremely important to ensure high-quality instruction for our students.

[04:31:49] So given all of that information, I'm now going to turn it over to Ms. Boland, Chief Human Resources Officer, who will walk through other planning we've done to address this issue. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. Now that we've outlined the professional learning expected of our teachers, both existing and new, I want to emphasize our understanding that time is a significant stressor for our teachers.

[04:32:13] As we prioritize student success, we recognize the crucial role teachers play in helping students achieve their educational goals. Therefore, it is imperative that we provide educators with the time they need to prepare to be successful in their roles.

[04:32:30] Our goal is to provide support that enables teachers to fully participate and engage in these professional development requirements. In the following slides, I will present some of the options we've explored and the proposal recommended by staff.

[04:32:46] Our teams began by asking, "How can we best assist LCPS educators in meeting new VDOE requirements while ensuring thorough engagement in professional learning, all while considering the needs of students, staff, and families.

[04:33:03] As we brainstormed, various options emerged for consideration. These included implementing early release days for students, adjusting arrival times for students, adding extra contractual days for instructional staff, and making use of the three unassigned work days already included in the teacher contract.

[04:33:29] As you can imagine, with each potential solution, concerns naturally arose. Considering early release for students raised questions about high school athletic schedules and after-school activities. We also recognized the logistical challenges for families if high school students remained in school while younger siblings were released.

[04:33:50] Additionally, we considered the availability of our bus drivers, many of whom have other midday commitments. While Virginia Code permits the standard ten-month teacher contract to encompass 200 workdays, adding those three days to LCPS's current 197-day teacher contract would pose a significant budgetary challenge, making it an unviable option.

[04:34:17] Furthermore, assigning the three current unassigned workdays was not feasible, as these days are already being utilized by teachers for required trainings, planning, and other necessary tasks. This ultimately led us to explore adjusted arrival times for students.

[04:34:36] This option would maintain a familiar schedule for families, students, and staff, while allowing after-school athletics and extracurricular activities to continue without interruption. Tonight you have before you a proposed revision to the 24-25 school year.

[04:34:56] This proposal introduces 16 adjusted arrival days for students aimed at providing teachers with the additional time needed for professional development. Considerable thought went into selecting the days for these adjusted arrivals, prioritizing minimal disruption and maintaining consistency by scheduling them mostly on Wednesdays.

[04:35:20] It is important to note that this proposed calendar does not alter student start dates or end dates, nor does it affect other workdays or holidays. It maintains 179 instructional days for students and 194 scheduled workdays for teachers.

[04:35:44] Additionally, no adjustments would be needed for the end-of-quarter dates or the A-B day schedule for secondary schools. So we recognize that this is a significant change that staff is proposing.

[04:36:03] However, we do believe that it's in the best interest of our staff to give them the time they need to learn and process new expectations and plan high-quality instruction aligned with all of these new expectations. And ultimately, in the best interest of our students' education who will be positively impacted.

[04:36:21] We have many next steps, and I will mention a few key next steps on the next slide. I'll start at the top left corner. Pending board direction, staff recommends bringing the draft calendar that Ms. Boland shared and is a separate attachment in board docs to the board as an action item on May 28th. We understand that families will likely have the most questions and staff has developed detailed FAQs for families to begin addressing some of these questions. The Department of Community Engagement plans to send out a communication to families tomorrow morning that summarizes this presentation and will link to a page on our

[04:37:01] website with FAQs. As we continue planning, we will update the FAQs accordingly. We anticipate that morning child care or supervision of students on the adjusted arrival days will be a topic of concern for families. The team will continue to develop plans to address these anticipated challenges. I do want to note that the school nutrition team has already confirmed that they can provide grab-and-go breakfasts on the adjusted arrival days for students who typically receive breakfast at school each day. We have also confirmed with our transportation division that they will plan accordingly for any changes on adjusted arrival days, and I'll note that this

[04:37:38] is a relatively easy pivot for the transportation team as they are used to doing this adjusted arrival on a relatively short notice in case of inclement weather. Finally, staff is developing specific guidance for schools on the implementation of the adjusted arrival professional learning time.

[04:37:54] This will look different across levels and content areas, depending on the specific requirements. Our goal is to create sufficient time and space for teachers to complete annual required training, meet new requirements by the state, and also have adequate time to plan for implementation of the new standards.

[04:38:11] We believe the only way to do this successfully is to intentionally allocate time for this to happen, and we appreciate your consideration of our proposal. And Ms. Mansfield, I'll turn it back to you. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. While I'm totally on board with the training and everything, I do have some concerns about special education and their hours and services. And I see that Ms. Richardson isn't here. But so, and also reading services, like, because often what happens is, like, when we have holidays and things like

[04:38:46] that, the kids don't get their speech, their PT, their OT, or their reading services. And so I just want to know if there was any thought about um special education and how they can get their hours in so um special education was a part of the work group will continue to be a part of the work group and miss richardson and dr carter have um assured us that we we can plan so nobody loses their hours and all requirements are met okay any other questions yes miss chandler thank you madam

[04:39:25] chair thank you for this presentation and for going in depth and trying to find creative solutions to problems that we're facing that are unavoidable problems I want to also say I appreciate your taking a look at the training that's required by our teachers and sorting them into buckets and I'll look forward to hearing more about that I think that's definitely a great way to alleviate some of the pressure especially in this difficult year that we're facing next year. I was curious if we've gotten to the point yet where we tangibly know what the arrival time is going to look like. I mean, we have elementary schools that are on

[04:40:04] different schedules and middle schools that are on different schedules. Do we, can we quantify in any way the amount of time? Yes, thank you for that question. So I'll ask Mr. Lewis to weigh in if I missed something, but essentially it will be a two-hour delay schedule for students, and we already have bell schedules for two hour delays and so we would use those schedules okay thank you for that that's very logical that's good and and I appreciate that we already have experience with that structure and it should feel comfortable I do have a couple more questions if that's okay I

[04:40:42] heard reference to the a B allocation of days I'm curious if you could speak to that a little bit more? Do we know that the AB days will fall out in the same tangible way?

[04:41:03] So HRTD worked very closely with the Department of School Leadership who their level directors and team was already working on the AB schedule for next year. And so together they were able to work through what these early adjusted arrivals would look like and there would be no need for them to readjust their schedule that they already had planned it would and the impact would not it would not impact one more than the other it's approximately the same number of am yes ma'am okay and then because we're doing this enough in advance it's not going to disrupt the master schedule so that

[04:41:43] if a librarian we're seeing their classes they're not going to lose the opportunity to see half their classes on Wednesday because we have enough time they can plan adequately for that yes ma'am okay and then my last question I promise is are we tangibly planning to collect feedback in the way that we always do do we have time for that no ma'am unfortunately we do not have time for that and and to be honest with you I'm not sure there are very many other options as we presented as we went through the various options we considered there are a number of

[04:42:21] concerns with with many of the other options and and there isn't a lot of time thank you for that I completely acknowledge the challenges in the time frame I just will reflect on the fact that almost everybody feels that change is hard and socializing this feels very important to ensuring that it's successful um thanks for entertaining all my questions any other questions? Yes, Ms. Chernoff. Thank you guys for the presentation and I know I can speak personally

[04:42:58] to the sense of urgency that we've all had but especially you all in being proactive in solving this issue. I don't think it's a surprise, you know, a secret that teacher morale is, you know, it's low and there's just a lot on their plates and VDOE is adding more so we have to do something And I also have been sort of sometimes critical of loss of instructional time through our calendar.

[04:43:25] I've spoken to that. So I know that there is loss of instructional time. But on this one, I just, I feel like we got to support this for our teachers right now. Because we're still within the hours. So I know, I'm seeing you. I know what you're going to say.

[04:43:41] We're still well within our hours. But that feeling of taking more time away, I think, is real. And we do hear that from the community. and I just I commend you for finding a solution because it felt nearly impossible on April 11th when the VLA requirements came out and then additionally there's all these other new things and it really is unprecedented I want the community just to understand how much this really is of a heavy lift. I've taught before. I know bloodborne pathogens very well also. It's

[04:44:21] sort of like an inside joke with teachers, but it's hours and hours and hours of modules and now more. And I am supportive of PD that is going to strengthen our core instruction, which is going to help all learners in the end. So maybe some short-term pain for some much-needed long-term gain. And so if we could kind of rally together to try and see that perspective. I am hearing from some people since this was posted at three o'clock already about the specials issue and just coming from the curriculum and instruction committee we have tried to tackle the master schedule struggles

[04:45:00] in terms of that elementary schedule that was rolled out. So I know there are librarians and music teachers who are already voicing some concerns but to Ms. Chandler's point hopefully we can be proactive in addressing that as well I'm not sure if movable Wednesdays are a thing but who knows we're creative district so I just wanted to put my two cents in and say that this is this is not make-believe this is a heavy heavy lift and it is a big ask of our staff but in the end I think good will come from our staff having this very important training and getting back to

[04:45:38] a somewhat normal schedule in the future so thanks. Thank you Ms. Chernoff I echo a lot of your sentiment as well. Any other questions? Yes. Yes Ms. LaBelle. Yes I'm still here. I was wondering we had mentioned possibly doing some of the modules on spare time over the summer. Is there any way we could arrange a series of these modules that they might complete on their

[04:46:13] own time and perhaps reward the teachers for doing them on their own time, possibly by extra days off or personal days off, things like that, or monetary bonuses for completing so many of them at home or on their own time.

[04:46:35] I think that that would take away some of the pressure they're feeling, and if we are going to be using our movable Wednesdays there, at least that will be not for stuff that we've had so often in the past.

[04:46:50] I know personally how many times I've sat through blood-borne pathogens and how to deal with allergies. So those things that we have to do every year, if they could be done on personal time and they'd get credit for it one way or another, maybe even with credits, I don't know, that would help.

[04:47:16] Thank you for that feedback, Ms. LaBelle. Just a couple of things in response to that. So we do have professional learning exchange days that teachers are allowed to do just what you just described, participate in training over the summer on their own time in exchange for time during the year, perhaps a work day.

[04:47:39] One of the challenges with that is that there's not enough work time built into the school year for teachers to actually utilize the professional exchange days beyond more than perhaps two days. one other thing one other challenge we're running up against in this particular situation is the rollout of the modules for vla from vdoe many of the modules are not promised to school divisions until september and so that makes it impossible for teachers to even if they wanted to and had

[04:48:12] the time during the summer to utilize the summer to do those modules thank you for that ms ashley any other questions yes vice chair strappy just a short comment i know this is uh probably on everyone's minds but um just to want to echo and acknowledge that we want to be solutions oriented but i can't just help but want to reiterate you know how much i feel that this is going to be such

[04:48:46] a tough pill for families to swallow and i think that um if i understood um miss chandler's comments I would echo what she referred to as, you know, I think the success here will be getting the families really on board and the communication and really understanding how we can support, you know, them through this.

[04:49:07] Because I know it is all our first priority. It's impossible to put this on the backs of our teachers, right? This is, we know this. But we, you know, I think we have to acknowledge also that this is going to be really difficult when it comes to the families as well. Yes, I really appreciate you saying that, Mr. Streffy.

[04:49:26] and I'll just emphasize that the team is really committed to working through issues that we think parents are going to experience, for example, child care in the mornings. I wish I had answers to that right now, but I am committed to working through that and finding potential solutions, and I think communication to families early and often is going to be key, and so I really appreciate the work of the communications team to get those FAQs up and running first thing tomorrow so that won't solve everything um but we'll we'll do our best if i can just add to while

[04:50:02] there's not time for formal feedback in the way that we have traditionally gotten it i in no way mean to dismiss the feedback that we are sure to receive we are open to feedback we have a way to receive feedback in numerous ways. We do have a team that is committed to making this work.

[04:50:26] We have initially tried to wear our various caps as parents who will be in similar situations where our young children are at home, and we are not. So we have tried to wear our various caps to try to come up with issues but we recognize there there is no way for us to identify them them all and as we receive feedback we will continue to work to to help our families solve those problems and just to add a little bit to what Ms. Bolin just said I wanted to mention too that we will

[04:51:04] have a let's talk form open for families to give us extra feedback as part of the web page that goes up tomorrow and as part of the communication that goes out tomorrow so to that point we're not going to have a survey with multiple options and that kind of thing but we do want to hear from families about anything we might not be thinking about or any struggles that they need to have have addressed so that we can then address them thank you all for this and i'm just going to put a little plug in real quick that the reason we have to do this is because we didn't get this in

[04:51:38] our teacher prep programs and there was supposed to be legislation to have that be done and and nobody wanted it and so here we are so that's something that we need to look to in the future is legislation for this that's my little plug all right dr sumer dr rasheed and then we need to continue on i'll make it brief thank you so much for the presentation um with the alarming rate with how teachers are leaving, I just, I just want to, you know, I do echo what Ms. Bolin said.

[04:52:13] I just wanted to also add to it that it's just, you know, we're losing a lot of teachers. It's just important to really, really consider, you know, the timeframe that they need to have allotted in order to get this training possible. Although I do understand what the families would go through.

[04:52:32] So I do like how we'll have the Let's Talk form back. I know how we'll get feedback through that, through that method. You know, and again, some of these things, especially the fact that we have collective bargaining, that is an issue right now. I think it's just really important to add to that, that it's really important that we hear how the teachers feel about this topic as well.

[04:52:55] Thanks. Okay. And we will, instead of asking for it to put this on the consent agenda, I want to give some room and some, for some feedback, and this will go into action. But please know that we will be looking at your feedback at that time. All right we will move on to item 15.04 Department of Support Services abbreviated elementary school attendance zone change process Lansdowne Boulevard rezoning

[04:53:22] presented by Kevin Lewis Lewis our chief operations officer.

[04:53:47] Thank you Ms. Mansfield. So tonight we bring to you a recommendation to utilize the section of policy 6530 for changing the school attendance zone to take advantage of what is identified in there as the abbreviated attendance zone policy process and there are in the policy there's a several different ways that we can comply with this policy some of those are changing charter school conversion new residential development minimal overcrowding or cluster alignment are reasons for the board to invoke that process to do an abbreviated change and essentially what that means is we come tonight with an

[04:54:26] information item we come back on the 28th with a public hearing and then a an action on the 28th as well and so the the significance of the phrase new residential development means there's no one that lives in the area that we're talking about right now so if you look at the maps that are included on there you'll see there is there is a development that's been approved by the board of supervisors at the intersection of lansdowne boulevard and riverside parkway and it is currently in the northwest corner of that intersection very close to innova hospital and it's just been recently approved by the board of supervisors in december no one lives there so

[04:55:06] we're proposing to move that out of the stewart weller attendance zone which you see the chart in the item which is running about 85 percent enrollment and move that into selden's landing which is in a 60 percent enrollment category so we believe this is a good move for the school board and for the future students it looks like there's about 22 students expected to come out of this from our our calculations based on what the residential development is planning and you can see there that there's 72 units 72 single family units and 48 multi-family units and again

[04:55:42] that will result in approximately 22 elementary school students again we're proposing to do this before anyone moves in so there's no one affected we wouldn't anticipate anybody coming to the public hearing because there's no residents affected by that we would move forward with advertising in the local media and on the website and as I mentioned before come back to you on May 28th for the public hearing and then action for that item that's essentially review of the information. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them. Board members,

[04:56:16] do you have any questions? Looks like no questions. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. So this will come back for action on May 28th. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. We will move on to item 15.05, Department of Finance and Operations Committee, approval of contract between LCPS and Thomas Jefferson High School, presented by Vice Chair Struffy, Chair of Finance and Operations Committee. Thank you, Madam chair this information item basically addresses the contract that we have with

[04:56:52] Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology we go through a process every year where LCPS notifies FCPS Fairfax County Public Schools no later than June 1st if it intends to continue participation in sending students to TGA High School for each academic year and the application process for students then begins in SY 2026 in this year for SY 26 begins in September 2024 and so this is part of that process that we go through every year it was decided in the last Finance and Operations Committee meeting to suspend the rules and bring

[04:57:31] this presentation as an action I'm sorry as an information item to the full board to really just kind of have a refresh of what that partnership with TJ High School looks like and the costs around it and all of the information around it and the recommendation would then be to forward this as an action item on the consent agenda for May 28th to the full board and this will allow the staff to notify FCPS of the school boards decision to continue that partnership by by the June 1st deadline I'll pass it on to you all thank you

[04:58:09] Mr. Streffy based on the conversation at the LNP committee last week we put together a brief presentation to provide the board some background and information on our relationship with Thomas Jefferson High School. Tonight I am joined by Ms. Wendy King, our gifted program supervisor, who will share the information and then we will be available for any questions at the end of the presentation. All right, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. So TJ is one of 19 regional academic year governor schools in Virginia.

[04:58:47] The Virginia Department of Education, in conjunction with localities, sponsor regional academic year governor schools, which serve advanced high school students during the academic year, and it's not to be confused with summer residential governor schools, which are summer programs. Governor schools provide students with acceleration and exploration in areas ranging from arts to government and international studies to STEM, which we'll talk about tonight. The regulations governing educational services for gifted students mandate differentiated

[04:59:24] instructional opportunities for gifted students in grades K-12 and the governor's school programs are an important component to offering differentiated instruction. Most school divisions incorporate an academic year governor's school as an option for their students. So as a regional academic year governor's school, the Virginia Department of Education requires that TJ be available to eligible students who are legal residents of the counties of Arlington,

[05:00:00] Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudon, and Prince William, and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park. The Virginia Department of Education further requires that the Fairfax County School Board enter into cooperative agreements with each of the participating divisions regarding the control and operations of TJ. Here's a timeline of the actions related to the cooperative agreement and the TJ tuition, invoice, and payment process.

[05:00:30] So by June 1st of each year, LCPS determines if the division will continue the cooperative agreement for the following school year, meaning LCPS students, or excuse me, LCPS will support a new cohort of 8th grade students applying for acceptance for the following year.

[05:00:48] So we're talking now about for school year 25-26. In September, LCPS receives the actual cooperative agreement or contract from Fairfax County Public Schools, and the school board reviews it, reviews the agreement, and votes whether or not to approve it.

[05:01:06] In November, LCPS receives the tuition invoice for the current school year students who attend TJ and payment is due to Fairfax County Public Schools in December. So decisions about continuing the cooperative agreement are made prior to the application process for students, which begins each year, usually third week of October, and final decisions are made immediately.

[05:01:34] in approximately late April of each academic year. So now I'm going to get into the weeds just a little bit, but I'm going to give you a brief description of how seats are determined for incoming 9th grade students.

[05:01:52] So each cooperative school division receives a provisional allocation of seats for the entering class. These are called allocated seats. There are allocated seats for each LCPS middle school based upon 8th grade enrollment. For example, if a middle school has 562 8th grade students, it may have approximately 8 allocated seats, which is about 1.5% of the 8th grade enrollment.

[05:02:19] Students are first evaluated against other applicants from the same school, and the students with the strongest evaluated applications from that school will be offered admission to TJ with the allocated seats for that school.

[05:02:35] In the event that any school has fewer eligible applicants than its number of allocated seats, the difference will be treated as unallocated seats. So that's this other bowl or bucket of seats. So these other seats are called unallocated seats, which are offered to the remaining highest applicants.

[05:02:57] And there are 550 seats for each incoming 9th grade class of students. And just for a little bit more information, when you're thinking about the admission process for TJ, it's based on a variety of indicators, including GPA, prerequisite courses, rigorous coursework, short answer and essay responses to prompts about the applicant's experiences relating to a portrait of a graduate and 21st century skills with, obviously, additional factors.

[05:03:30] Okay, so here is historical view of LCPS TJ enrollment. You might notice a bump up in enrollment for school year 21-22. That coincided with the new TJ admission standards for that year.

[05:03:47] But we do expect the enrollment numbers to level off as of next year as the new standards will have rolled up through grades 9-12. And transportation for students attending TJ is the responsibility of and at the discretion of the cooperating school division in which the student resides.

[05:04:10] In 2024, just so you know, there were eight buses allocated for TJ runs from Loudoun County. Thank you, Ms. King. Next slide, please.

[05:04:26] So next steps for the board include taking action at the May 28th school board meeting to vote on renewing the cooperative agreement for the 25-26 school year. If the school board would like to take a different action or a step such as capping enrollment, it would be appropriate to do so during this action item.

[05:04:48] Looking ahead to the fall, based on some questions at the LMP committee last week, by September 30th is when the board, if they wish to do so, should take action to direct staff to inform potential applicants for the rising ninth grade class that transportation may or may not be available if accepted into Thomas Jefferson High School.

[05:05:10] That concludes our presentation, and Ms. King and I are happy to take any questions you may have. - Board members, do you have any questions?

[05:05:26] Okay. We will move that on to action for the May 28th, 2024 meeting. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Now we go to 15.06 equity committee charter presented by Dr. Linda Deans, chair of the equity committee. Dr. Deans.

[05:05:48] In the equity committee charter, it indicates that the appointments and nominations will be made annually and expire on December 31st. Well, we see that for this year, it took the month of January to get the nominations, and so the work did not start until March because it had to come to the board.

[05:06:19] So what we are proposing is to set aside that that is in the charter, that it will occur annually, and in order to see some positive results from the committee, we are asking that the equity committee members remain for two academic years versus one calendar year.

[05:06:47] And therefore, the work that it is doing can realize some positive results or negative results, but there will be results. As it is now, it's sort of like it stopped in the middle of the previous committee and started back with a new committee.

[05:07:08] And the time just runs out before the committee can complete a full round of discussion on any topic. So I move that the rules that are in the charter of the equity committee be set aside and the committee would be allowed to operate for two calendar years versus one.

[05:07:39] Dr. Deans, would that be so accept the recommendations to allow for two-year functioning committee? That's what you're asking. Yes. Two years with the same committee. Yes. Board members, do you have any other questions?

[05:07:57] It's not a motion. Anybody? Do you have a question? Yes. Ms. Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair and Dr. Deans. I had heard that there have occasionally been some challenges in the past because the equity committee is so large with it being able to attain quorum and conduct business.

[05:08:26] Have you found that to be the case, or if Dr. Ellis Williams is still here, or has that been a problem in the past? That has not been a problem since February, this school year, with us.

[05:08:43] And one of the reasons it's not a problem is that in the charter, a quorum is two of the three board members make the quorum, not the 33 committee members. but even with the 33 committee members they sign so that makes them accountable when they walk into the meeting and I or my staff aide speaks with one with all of them one of us will speak with all of them from one month to the other we actually have a telephone contact process in

[05:09:20] addition to their coming to the meeting thank you so we have not had that problem at this point Thank you. Yes, Vice Chair Streffi. So if I had one comment to this, I was thinking about this, and I do acknowledge that this would definitely solve for the issue that you've presented.

[05:09:46] I was looking at some of the nominating organizations or committees or advisory committees that would nominate a member to the equity committee. And I'm just wondering if how long those folks would serve on the committees that they're on already, or perhaps they're not even on those committees, but they're nominated by that committee as a member of the community.

[05:10:14] So I'm just wondering if there could be like a crosswiring where the person's no longer serving with one of the organizations or committees, but is still serving a two-year kind of term as a member of the equity committee. But in either case, I mean, they're free to leave the committee at any time.

[05:10:32] And I think it's still fine. I just wanted to note that. Dr. Ellis-Williams has contact with each of those organizations. And if an organization, in the rules, it also says if they miss two consecutive meetings without contact, then we replace them.

[05:10:48] and because Dr. Ellis Williams has contact with those organizations we brought a name to you at our last school board meeting to replace a person and we will continue to bring a name to replace a person if and when it occurs. Makes sense. Yes Ms. Chernoff. I think that kind of answers my question but I'm more thinking like so your vision is more of just like a two-year commitment but to be rolling and staggered if need be not to like recalibrate next year with a two-year commitment you would want this to go into effect now and then offer that to the current members to extend

[05:11:28] their members their membership for two years and then build from there on is that correct yes okay and the ones who are currently on the committee have made the commitment for two years we had a conversation before bringing it to you to ask you know how you we get a straw vote here we got a straw vote thumbs up awesome just wanted to understand that thank you any other questions for dr dean's dr ellis williams okay um well talking about a thumbs up how about a thumbs up

[05:12:01] to put this into consent agenda for the next yes okay so that was uh we have unanimous for consented to put this on the consent agenda for the may 28th 24 meeting 2024 meeting And now with that, we will move on to item 16.01, a motion to convene a closed meeting.

[05:12:26] Mr. Vice-Chair Straffi, do you have a motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board recess this public meeting and enter into a closed meeting pursuant to 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia for the following.

[05:12:42] Discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the governing body as authorized by section 2.2-3711A3 of the Code of Virginia.

[05:13:00] Vice Chair Streffi has made a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Donahue. It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Clerk, please open the vote.

[05:13:18] Board members, will you please record your vote? Dr. Rasheed, will you please state your vote? Yes. Ms. LaBelle, will you please state your vote?

[05:13:33] yes clerk please close and display the vote that motion passes unanimously and the board is now in

[05:13:48] closed session thank you the board is now coming out of the closed meeting vice chair streffi do

[05:36:51] you have a motion yes madam chair thank you i move that the closed meeting be adjourned that the loudon county school board reconvene its public meeting and that the minutes of the public meeting reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed meeting we have a motion um by vice chair streffi to adjourn the closed meeting do i have a second second we have a second by

[05:37:27] miss donahue so any discussion no discussion clerk would you please open the vote board members will you please record your vote oh wait is dr rashid and miss labelle are they back with

[05:37:56] us oops clerk would you mind clearing the board we'll wait until they get on is all right should we wait wait I mean but they were here but they were here I don't know what mr. Allen can you give us some do we have to wait for Ms. LaBelle and dr.

[05:38:26] Rashid because they were enclosed with us this is the motion to come out okay let's go ahead and well that first motion to adjourn that mr. Streffi will go ahead and and we did have a second and this is still on the board so why don't we go ahead and continue this um clerk would you please go ahead close and display the vote

[05:39:00] and that motion passes um unanimously with dr rasheed and miss labelle absent for the vote now we do have to wait for them for the second for certification of the closed wes would it be okay

[05:39:38] if i took a pull a straw poll to see if people want to um oh my goodness um do their committee reports or move on can i can do that okay do you guys want to do a straw poll to see if you want to

[05:40:00] do the you you want to do your committee reports okay all right do we have to certify first or can

[05:45:07] we just go ahead and do committee meetings the three minutes for each board member i'm sorry Okay. Ms. Chernoff, will you start with your committee, your committee? Yeah. Three minutes.

[05:45:33] All right. Thursday, May 2nd was the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting. We had three information items. The first was a presentation from Trailside Middle School, who will be piloting a new schedule for next year. Since 2004, significant changes in resources, student learning, technology, standards, and specifically the student school calendar have changed. They believe that with new instructional framework being developed, this is the optimal time to pilot an infrastructure in which teachers have students every day and for shorter periods of time. The shorter time will tighten up instructional practices with a hyper focus on student learning versus filling an 84 minute block. I was excited to hear about this pilot. I know this pilot will be a significant shift from the current

[05:46:11] block scheduling but I think it is rooted in a response to a clear need to help meet all student needs with increased continuity of learning. I personally followed up with a visit to trailside to get more information and feedback from staff. We look forward to getting updates on this progress in fall. next we had an update on the division literacy plan as well as the rollout of the new reading curriculum and grades K through 5 HMH into reading the requirements for the Virginia Literacy Act should be fully implemented beginning this fall in preparation for next school year LCPS has drafted a division literacy plan and the purpose of the DLP is to communicate with all stakeholders the progress the school division is making towards VLA's implementation this plan was presented to us at a high level but all the

[05:46:50] documentation can be found in board docs lastly I asked for a review of our fine arts programs as a part of our agenda. We have a fantastic art program here in LCPS. That being said, in my opinion, after hearing from many arts teachers, there's room for growth. I believe a comprehensive arts review is needed and ask staff to present on what could and should be reviewed so that we can have more information on possible areas to enhance. The goal was to learn about arts allotments and stipends as well as to evaluate how staffing is assigned and managed. Did you know that fine arts allotments have not been reviewed in LCPS since 2004. That's 20 years. That was surprising to me and I feel like this kind of review is long overdue. I've asked that staff work with

[05:47:30] HRTVD to review allotments and statements and come back to with us to us with some data and possible avenues for making fine arts more accessible and equitable. The committee members agreed to this next step. We can also expect that report this fall. I was honored to attend the outstanding educators banquet sponsored by the LEF. Big thank you to Danielle Nadler for including us in this uplifting event it was a lovely evening honoring over 75 educators this past Saturday I was honored to attend the first ever student equity symposium where MSAC student delegates presented on how they have tackled issues such as reduction of hate speech and racial slurs as well as increasing engagement through clubs these students impressed me with their innovation hard work and

[05:48:09] commitment to making their schools better and safer I will rapidly fire through my school visits and purpose I went to Willard Middle School for Literacy Day, Cedar Lane for Poetry Celebration, an LCHPTA meeting, Rockridge Behind the Scenes Frozen Tour and the Production, Heritage High School Matilda Production, Interview with Fusion Students at Tolbert ES about being a community leader, Tour of Blue Ridge Middle School and Trailside Middle School, Smarts Mill Project-Based Learning Student Presentations, Lightspeed Software Pilot Program at Harbor Park. And I'll let Anne tell the next one. Thank you, Ms. Sharnoff.

[05:48:44] Ms. Donoghue. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's a lot of pressure, Lauren. Okay. So I had office hours on April 27th, which were very successful and good turnout and successful meetings.

[05:49:00] I have office hours scheduled again this Saturday, May 18th. I believe our slots are full, but then we'll have office hours again on June 1st. and there is already a sign-up out or will soon have a sign-up out for anyone who wants to sign up to come and talk to me at office hours.

[05:49:20] I'm doing them in libraries in different parts of the county, and obviously I also encourage anyone to reach out to me by other means. I also was privileged to go to Willard's Literacy Day on April 30th, which was just a fantastic event, and I'm so glad that I was able to go.

[05:49:38] I loved the fact that they did it. I loved how engaged the students were. It was really a pleasure to be part of that. I also attended a Loudoun Interfaith Bridges lunch on April 30th with some other county elected representatives and school officials from both LCPS and from some area private schools.

[05:50:01] There was an LEF Board of Trustees meeting on the morning of May 2nd, and the Joint Committee on collective bargaining had another lengthy meeting on the afternoon of May 2nd the the joint committee is not having any more meetings and we are going to be in some fashion making a report back to the LANP committee and moving into the next steps of the process which is exciting

[05:50:33] Um, I went to a labor event on the evening of May 1st, May Day, for, uh, uh, labor, for a labor event, uh, that was sponsored by, among other organizations, um, New Virginia Majority and, uh, and the LEA.

[05:50:52] Uh, I also thank, um, thought, I, I was thrilled that LEA, or LEF, excuse me, hosted the banquet for Outstanding Educators on May 3rd. I had planned to be at that event, although I had two events that evening, and unfortunately I did not end up being able to make it to the LEF banquet.

[05:51:15] But I've seen the pictures, and it looked amazing. I had a couple of other things. Ms. Chernoff and I went to a meeting with Dr. Susan Ross at Loudoun Valley High School this morning to talk to her about their cell phone practices and guidelines there and uh and that was a really incredibly useful uh meeting and i'm looking forward to um hopefully having another one with her in in the future they're doing some

[05:51:52] exciting things there at valley and i know i heard the beep but um uh i had like two other things shoot beep totally threw me off um um oh uh the request for proposals from the procurement department for the 8040 focus groups is public and live we've already received a handful of proposals anyone any individual or organization can submit a proposal uh in response to the public

[05:52:26] request it is on the lcps procurement page and it will close on may 22nd so any one individual or organization who has an interest in responding and putting in a bid is allowed uh and able to do that that's my uh that's my advice and there's student services committee meeting on thursday thank you miss donahue all right um vice chair straffi thank you madam chair um no comments or committee report from me. I appreciate you chairing last week's Finance and Operations Committee meeting and looking forward to this upcoming Tuesday's

[05:53:03] Finance and Operations Committee meeting as well. Thank you. In the effort, in the time, I'm going to go on to Mrs. Griffiths. Nothing much here except for visiting some schools. I really enjoyed going to Loudoun Valley High School and also Broad Run along with Seldon's and Belmont Station to attend their counseling meetings so I intend to hit some more schools but it's it's been

[05:53:38] great meeting everybody I also want to ask everybody I emailed information on that surplus so if you can consider what I listed for the surplus that would be great and that's all I have to add thank you thank you Mrs. Griffiths Mrs.

[05:53:54] Chandler thank you for the most part over the last few weeks I've been busy with school visits as well have enjoyed visiting Dominion River Bend Belmont Ridge Middle School River Bend Middle School I think I'm getting fairly close to having been able to visit most of the schools in Algonquian district I also enjoyed attending the cell phone tower public hearing last night it was very interesting really a great opportunity not only to receive the information as a

[05:54:33] neighbor since the cell phone will be near my home but also to hear it's just a great way to receive community input and let the community know that we're open to receiving input as well so that very interesting process and looking forward to graduation so happy to see the robes and with that I really don't have any committee reports given that we aren't meeting until the end of the month so thank you yeah sorry Dr. Deans

[05:55:05] um I gave the the motion related to the equity committee and the equity committee over the last three months have come up with a list of number one priorities that they'd like to see for the school division and what we're doing now is putting they gave first second and third priorities and what we did it was took the first priorities and tried to connect them to the strategic plan and that's what we will discuss at the next equity meeting um i am in the process of calling each of

[05:55:44] them i'm trying to make a personal contact with each of them over the month and um i've gotten hooked in with the chamber of commerce so I'm going to their lecture series and I'm enjoying that as well. Thank you Dr. Deans. We're going to be doing something a little unorthodox for the certification of the vote. We are calling our other school board members and putting them on

[05:56:20] speaker to help certify the vote. Okay Ms. LaBelle are you there? I sure am. And Dr. Rashid are you here? Yes I'm here.

[05:56:42] Okay so let's Dr. Mr. Estreffi will you please make a motion to certify the closed motion the closed meeting. Yes thank you Madam Chair. I move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting whereas the Loudoun County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of

[05:57:19] Information Act and whereas 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies and only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Loudoun

[05:57:53] County School Board. I have a motion by Vice Chair Streffi. Do I have a second? I have a second by Ms. Chandler. Is there any discussion? No discussion. We'll take an electronic vote. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please record your vote. Dr. Rashid, can you please state your

[05:58:19] vote? Yes. Ms. LaBelle, can you please state your vote? Yes. Clerk, can you please close and display the vote and that motion passes unanimously um we will move on to item 18 new business do we have any more new business for tonight no new business and with that we the may 14th 2024 meeting of the

[05:58:57] lcps school board is now adjourned thank you for your hard work and drive home safely

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