Coraggio Consulting Loudoun County School Board, 2nd Tuesday School Board Meeting, Tuesday, June 11, 2024 Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV) Length: 7h 1m (video) Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/957068837?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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:00:01] I call to order this June 11th, 2024, Loudoun County School Board meeting. And we are gonna go ahead and move to item two. Ms. LaBelle will be attending after dinner. [00:00:18] So then we will go ahead and do that remote participation at that time. So we have to do our disclosures again since this is the second meeting. So I will go ahead and start. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. [00:00:49] 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 while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected which i am included i can and will remain 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 mrs chandler thank you madam chair as a member of the loudon county school board i make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and [00:01:29] and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included. [00:01:51] 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. [00:02:21] 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 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. Thank you [00:02:59] 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 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 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. [00:03:36] I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public's interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Chair Straffi. 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. [00:04:03] 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 while 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. [00:04:20] 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. [00:04:44] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health care insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may 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 and now we will move on to agenda item three approval of the consent agenda board members are there any changes to be made to the consent agenda yes mrs griffiths thank you madam chair i'd like to remove [00:05:23] the following items from the or item from the consent agenda this evening and added to action the vsba legislative position i think the board should discuss further thank you i'll be happy to do that um clerk would you please move item 3.04 to action as item 11.01 okay and so now i will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda i move to approve the consent agenda madam chair [00:06:02] thank you miss donahue is there a second second i have a second by miss chandler it's been properly moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda at this time we'll take an electronic vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and display [00:06:32] the vote and that motion passes unanimously with Ms. LaBelle absent for the vote we will now move on to our work session with item 4.01 the gifted education advisory committee update that will be presented by Ms. Hilary Coley, the GIAC co-chair, and Patty Pearson, GIAC co-chair, and Ms. Wendy [00:07:01] King, the gifted education supervisor. [00:07:34] Good afternoon. I'm very fortunate to be here today to support the LCPS gifted education advisory committee co-chairs as they present their spring update. Good evening. Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to address the board. We are here this afternoon to share some information about the work of the Gifted Education Advisory Committee, make some recommendations about gifted education and LCPS, and highlight some of the accomplishments of the gifted staff and students. I'm Hillary Coley. I'm the GIAC co-chair and a [00:08:10] parent of an LCPS gifted learner at Thomas Jefferson High School. I'm Patty Peterson, the GIAC co-chair. I'm also an LCPS gifted resource teacher, and I'm the parent of four of my five gifted learners the gifted education advisory committee serves as a support group to review and make suggestions about gifted programs and to promote community awareness of gifted education school personnel both teachers and administrators community members and parents and family members [00:08:41] serve on the committee we would like to share a quote that drives the work of the gifted education Advisory Committee. This is a quote from the National Association for Gifted Children. [00:08:59] Gifted and talented students need gifted education programs that will challenge them and enable them to make continuous progress in school. On the next slide. In the field of gifted education, we know that gifted learners come from all racial, ethnic, and cultural populations, as well as all economic strata. We also know that gifted learners can have learning and processing conditions that require specialized intervention and accommodation. These students are our twice exceptional or two e-learners. The LCPS gifted education programs look to current [00:09:37] research and best practices in gifted education to identify and provide services for students from diverse backgrounds. Now we're going to turn our attention to the next slide and to the work the gifted education advisory committee geac meetings give members and participants opportunities to work in small groups and to discuss issues related to gifted education and make recommendations about lcps gifted services committee work is grounded in best practices in gifted education to stay abreast of the current research and best practices the committee invites experts both within [00:10:17] our LCPS personnel and outside experts to share their expertise at the meetings. Here are some of the topics that the committee addressed this year: reviewing and providing feedback on the LCPS gifted plan, motivating gifted learners, LCPS special programs introduction, engaging students using intellectual games, strategies for maximizing the strengths of gifted learners, executive function skills, and perfectionism and mindset and how that [00:10:50] affects gifted learners the advisory committee next slide sorry the advisory committee made some recommendations for lcps to consider as we continue to enhance gifted services we hope you will continue to invest in gifted education by providing high quality resources appropriate staffing and dedicated space for programs space for gifted programs has been a challenge it is vital that gifted resource teachers have space for fusion enrichment services and edge groups and at this [00:11:26] time that is not happening in all lcps schools some teachers are being asked to conduct our fusion curriculum in hallways or in the corner of the library while lessons are already being conducted by the librarians it doesn't work well revisit the staffing standard for gifted resource teachers and continue to refine the elementary gifted schedule to ensure equitable workloads for teachers. [00:11:52] The responsibilities of elementary gifted resource teachers have increased as a result of the changes to the program model and the evaluation process. Gifted resource teachers play a variety of roles in their schools. They conduct gifted evaluations, they teach search, edge, and fusion, they support math and English language arts enrichment for grades four and five, as well as serving as resources for staff and conferencing with families. [00:12:24] To ensure that this role is manageable and that we are supporting the needs of all of our gifted learners, adequate staffing as well as collaboration and coordinating efforts are essential. Also, GIAC asks that you continue to support the implementation and expansion of the International Baccalaureate program in LCPS and other special programs that promote rigorous pathways for our students. [00:12:51] Now, we're going to highlight some of the accomplishments of our gifted staff and gifted gifted learners during the 2024 school year. So our first one is Dr. Lindria Bland, the EDGE Coordinator in the LCPS Gifted Office. [00:13:09] She was awarded MSAC's Wendell T. Fisher Administrative Award. Dr. Bland has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to nurturing the talent of students historically underrepresented in the advanced academy programs, and her dedication to supporting gifted teachers and EDGE families has been exemplary. [00:13:26] Dr. Bland's leadership of the EDGE program has been characterized by inclusivity and tireless advocacy for students who have traditionally been underrepresented in advanced academic settings. Next, we have Shirley Fortenbaugh, the gifted resource teacher at Round Hill Elementary. [00:13:44] She was awarded the 2024 William C. Lowry Mathematics Educator of the Year Award from the Virginia Council of Teachers and Mathematics. Each year, VCTM recognizes a classroom teacher from each level of instruction, elementary, middle, secondary, university, and math specialists and coaches for their outstanding work in the field of mathematics. [00:14:04] In addition to teaching experience, nominees have also made notable accomplishments in teaching mathematics. In her role as a gifted resource teacher, Ms. Fortenbraugh teaches math to fourth and fifth grade students as part of the LCPS, Differentiated Classroom Instruction Program. [00:14:21] She also supports math education in kindergarten through grade three, in addition to providing instruction to gifted learners. She also supports the professional development of her fellow teachers so that each student can be better served. Next, we have Patty Peterson and Jennifer Daniel, LCPS's gifted resource teachers. [00:14:40] They presented to the Gifted Education Advisory Committee on using strategy games to challenge and engage students. They also had an article on this topic published in the Virginia Gifted statewide newsletter. And Patty Peterson also presented at the 2024 Virginia Gifted Fall Conference. [00:15:00] Sarah Reeps, an LCPS Division Gifted Research Teacher, also was selected to present at this conference. Her presentation focused on infusing mathematics instructions with opportunities for productive struggle. Ms. Reeps has also been selected to share this presentation with Virginia Supervisors of Gifted Education. [00:15:20] Next slide. Thank you. Now we will highlight some gifted partnerships this year the LCPS gifted education office partnered with the Virginia Association for the gifted to host the Virginia gifted spring conference right here in Loudoun County over 100 gifted educators administrators and parents came together at the academies of Loudoun for a day of learning about a variety of topics related to gifted education Loudoun County gifted learners from across the division shared their experiences in a panel discussion [00:15:56] And Belmont Ridge Middle School gifted learners highlighted their STEM projects, and it was impressive. I will tell you that. Definitely a highlight. It was. This year, next slide, Belmont Ridge Middle School launched a pilot partnership with their existing business partner, Orblinks Academy, bringing Orblinks STEM Academy Innovation Lab into their spectrum classrooms and seamlessly integrating that into their existing spectrum curriculum. [00:16:25] This collaboration aimed to enrich students' learning experiences by introducing hands-on, real-world projects that connect theoretical knowledge with practical applications that challenge students to think creatively and apply their knowledge in real-world context. [00:16:43] Orblinks Academy's Innovation Labs curriculum empowers educators and inspires students through hands-on, project-based learning experiences. Each session, spanning six to eight weeks, covered crucial and relevant STEM concepts while fostering creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and community connection. [00:17:05] Now we will move on to student highlights from 2024. Tolbert Elementary School held its third annual Tolbert Expo, where 60 students from grades three through five, students were from the EDGE, DCI, and Fusion programs, presented self-chosen projects, all focusing on the topic of leadership. [00:17:30] There were many distinguished guests at the Expo, including Mayor Kelly Burke, who spoke about the different leadership styles and tips for being a strong leader. A student at Tolbert was selected to be mayor for a day and made an incredible video about his experience with the mayor. Superintendent Dr. Spence also came to the Tolbert Expo and the school was grateful that he and many other leaders came to celebrate the amazing learning that happens at Tolbert. Other projects included an interview with school board member Lauren Chernoff teaching second grade students how to play chess and portrayals of important leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Hawking, Maggie [00:18:05] Walker, Teddy Roosevelt and John W. Tolbert Jr. to name a few. On to the next slide, other gifted learners recognized this year for their accomplishments included a fifth grade student at Rolling Ridge who won the school spelling bee and fifth grade students from Sully Elementary and Algonquin Elementary who were recognized for their academic achievement and citizenship with the Ruritan Outstanding Student Award. And then we got also going on, Mish Smith, the gifted resource teacher at Catoctin Elementary, took Fusion students to the Old Loudoun [00:18:41] County Courthouse where they participated in fairy tale mock trials. Students took on the roles of attorneys, jurors, witnesses, plaintiffs, defendants, judge, and bailiff. Several other schools conducted mock trials this year with their Fusion students, including Lowe's Island, Frederick Douglass, Evergreen Mills, Algonquin, and Lovetsville Elementary Schools. [00:19:03] Thank you. I keep forgetting. Our middle school students also participated in several occasions this year. The Spectrum students competed in the stock market game from Eagle Ridge Middle School. One team placed third in the state out of over 1,300 teams, and the same team also placed second in the region overall and was recognized as the second place middle school in the region. [00:19:34] They attended the state awards ceremony last month. Step Up Loudon is a county-wide competition that encourages middle and high school youth across the county to identify an issue in their school neighborhood or community create a plan to address that issue and implement the plan the goal is to encourage support and reward the youth of loudon county for making positive changes both in their own lives and the lives of others this competition is an excellent opportunity for students to practice all of their spectrum skills in a real life situation not only are they striving [00:20:13] to solve a local issue, but they are practicing public speaking skills, communication with the public and peers, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Several Spectrum classes participated in Step Up Loudon this year. The Spectrum classes at Lunsford Middle School competed for the second year in a row. [00:20:31] They had three individuals move on to the top 20 at the division level, and two of those students moved on to the top 10 at the county level. There were over 300 submissions throughout the county in grades 6 through 12. One of the students was in the top 20 for the second time. [00:20:49] Students also conducted a Step Up Loud and Expo in March at Lunsford where all students presented to family members and staff. Other schools that participated and excelled in this competition are Blue Ridge Middle School, Smarts Mill Middle School, and Willard Middle School. [00:21:07] At Trailside Middle, Spectrum students participated in the World of 8 Billion Video Contest. This international contest required students to research one of three themes, climate migration, health, or invasive species, and propose a solution. [00:21:24] Students incorporated their research, images, and solutions into a one-minute video. Trailside had 10 entries in the contest, and one team won the State of Virginia Honor Award. Smart Smills Spectrum students competed at the State, National, and World Odyssey of the Mind competitions. [00:21:43] Spectrum students also competed in the Creative Communication Writing Contest. This year's competition medium was poetry. Three Spectrum students were selected for publication. Several Spectrum students participated in an art show sponsored by the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra. [00:22:01] Two Spectrum students competed in the Loudoun Symphony One Planet, One Community Art Show. One Spectrum student won second place for her age group in the art competition, and their artwork is on display this year, this month. And finally, this is one of our sadder things, we are celebrating four outstanding gifted resource teachers who are retiring from Loudoun County Public Schools. [00:22:27] We are going to miss them greatly, but wish them all the best as they enter this new chapter in their lives. Lisa Schmidt from Kontochtan Elementary School, Dr. Wendy Young from Lowe's Island Elementary, and Katherine Murphy from Newton Lee Elementary, pictured here, and Lisa Sharp from Blue Ridge Middle School. [00:22:45] They have made outstanding contributions to our gifted team and they will be missed. And finally, this was one of the saddest things for us this year. We're going to close our presentation with a tribute to Mario Rosanek, who passed away on May 9th, 2024. [00:23:03] She was a dedicated gifted resource teacher in Loudoun County Public Schools for many, many years. She was a tireless advocate for gifted learners, always searching for resources and support to help them reach their full potential. Even as she struggled with her personal health problems, She always put her students first. [00:23:22] We're going to miss her, and she'll always be in our hearts. Thank you. Thank you. It's always hard when one of our beloved educators pass away. [00:23:41] And I'm very sorry for your loss. So I was going to-- on another note also, I wanted to say that I was able to judge the Step Up Loudoun. [00:23:56] And it was a wonderful time. And we have some really impressive students. And I think that if anybody is able to go next year, it is a vent not to be missed. Does anybody else have any questions or yes, Ms. Chernoff? [00:24:14] Hi, guys. It's good to see you. Thank you for coming back and giving us another update. And I've been really excited to hear about your work through the Curriculum and Instruction Committee and then full board. But I will admit, we went through the whole gifted plan and on paper it all looks really great and then we approve it. [00:24:32] But then I had some teachers reaching out to me about some things that have shifted with the master schedule. And so just this past week, I was able to meet with several of those teachers. And they were really coming from a wonderful place of wanting to stretch themselves and support. [00:24:48] And so when you talk about some of your recommendations, it really resonated with me because that was something that they had just spoken with me about. So, and I have to admit, like, I really didn't understand, you really have to talk to the educators doing the work to truly understand it. [00:25:05] And I should know that. But one of the things that really struck me is just the many hats that they wear in terms of the evaluation process and the lessons that they have to deliver, that have to get delivered. Even if there's a snow day or if kids aren't there, they have to make up those lessons with those kids. [00:25:22] That was something I didn't really have my mind wrapped around. Additionally, they have the different programs for the different kids, the Fusion and Edge. And what's the third one? Edge, Fusion, and is it just those two? DCI, that's the one. [00:25:39] Yeah. And then additionally, they are teaching all the students the search lessons. So they're really like have multiple roles as like a specialist would have, it's not special education, but like that of, you know, delivering the services and then additionally all this screening. [00:25:56] So for me to really hear that perspective, and then can you speak to, I guess my question is, can you speak to the shift in the master schedule, because we've tackled that in curriculum and instruction too, and we heard from a lot of search teachers about wanting maybe more time, but now I believe it's shifted from 25 minutes to 50 minutes with some of the lower grades, and there's just some concerns, I think, about they're already spread pretty thin between wearing those three hats, I'm seeing the nodding, how will this impact them and how can we help support that I'll speak for my school which is one of the smaller schools [00:26:35] it's going to be very hard because I'm the only gifted resource teacher there one of the concerns some of our teachers have had is that my you know if I'm tied up for the kindergarten the first the second and the third grade specials blocks when are my when am I going to be available to teach my fourth and fifth grade fusion students well guess what that's when they're going to be having their specials so trying to schedule their classes is going to be very [00:27:10] difficult one of the suggestions was to pretty much go back to our center style of try to do fusion all in one day to make scheduling this for the whole school easier and I'm like that's what we tried to get away from we're trying to have that consistent contact with our students on multiple days so that we really get to know them and they get to know us and trust us as teachers one of the concerns was that our fusion schedules would have to be different for a week and b week and i'll be honest it's hard enough to get the teachers and the students into a routine when [00:27:49] they're the same both weeks and if they're different a week and b week i think it's going to be a nightmare to be honest for my personal work it's going to be very difficult as far as enlarging the first grade lessons the kindergarten lessons have stayed on the shortened time but if we increase the first grade lessons to 50 minutes in order to give the classroom teachers their full cleaning time that's not a problem that's what we wanted because we originally had 45 minute lessons with first grade and we have found that implementing those 25 [00:28:27] minute lessons has been I guess letting leaving us feeling like we're shortchanging our students that we can't really get into a depth of thinking for logic and reasoning it isn't as hard to do a creativity lesson but to really touch on teaching them the concept and then having them apply it that 25 minute time frame was very difficult to work with and I know we've all done it we've tried to do our best but I really believe the 45 or 50 minute time frame is an improvement for us and that will let us go back to that depth of learning [00:29:02] for our students but the fusion schedule is a big concern especially in the schools that are smaller and only have one gifted resource teacher I've spoken to teachers who are at schools where there is a fusion and a search teacher and they're not as concerned they feel like they'll be able to work it out but But I know all of us at the small schools are very concerned about what's going to happen to us. [00:29:30] And it's also, you know, where's our planning time going to be? That's another concern. Are we only going to be able to plan during lunch? You know, and that's not right, and it shouldn't happen. Wow, I really appreciate that, and I'm glad that this was brought to our attention. [00:29:47] I know as a board, we've really talked a lot about special education and prioritizing our kids with special needs. And, you know, but really I think I can speak for myself and probably for the board. It's all children, you know, need to have their differentiated needs met. [00:30:02] And these programs definitely require a specialty. And my concern is that we will, with some of these shifts, that we might start to burn out our gifted teachers. And it really resonated. One of the things that they said was you're not gifted one day a week or you're not gifted every other week in terms of the scheduling issues that you just brought up. [00:30:21] So I just wanted to let you know that it's on my radar at least, and, you know, maybe we can have some further discussions. But in terms of staffing, it's been heard, and it did take me kind of meeting and sitting down with, you know, the people that are boots on the ground. So I appreciate you being honest and vulnerable with us because it's not always easy to say out loud at a school board meeting, but I appreciate it, and I just wanted to bring awareness to that. [00:30:47] Any other questions? Seeing no more questions, thank you very much for your time and for your report. The next item in the work session is item 4.02, the third quarter forecast presented by Dr. Smith, our chief of staff. [00:31:15] All right. Thank you, Chair Mansfield, board members. I'm pleased to share with you this evening the third quarter forecast of board topics. Since the board is on recess during the month of July, the third quarter includes one meeting in August and two meetings in September. [00:31:35] And you'll see here that in August, we're projecting a work session on student pathways and special programs. And these items are some that came out of the last retreat that you've projected and asked for. And this is one of them around student pathways and special programs. We also have a placeholder for the strategic plan metrics that you discussed earlier today. [00:31:54] And as I shared earlier, we'll work with Chair Mansfield given today's discussion on whether that should go to a new committee or if that should come back during a work session in the fall. In September, we'll have an update from LEAF and we'll also review the FY26 budget calendar. Based on board feedback today, we have also added the school improvement process as a potential item for the September 10 work session. [00:32:17] Several of you put the sticky notes up there that you would like to learn more about the school improvement process and some samples there. Later in September, we'll share the preliminary budget fall forecast and provide updates on the work taking place with our English learners and in the Division of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. [00:32:35] Based on board feedback, we have listed potential upcoming topics to the right-hand side. Most of those we anticipate will come within the fourth quarter, but those are ones that we are projecting in the future. Finally, I'll mention that this is an overview of the forecast of board topics for the third quarter. And as noted on this slide, all items are subject to change as the board chair has the discretion and authority over the board agenda. [00:32:55] But we wanna get this out in front of you so you can know the things that we are working on and what we are projecting for the third quarter. So with that, that's all that I have. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. - Thank you, Dr. Smith. Is there a way, and I'm sure that we have it somewhere in documentation somewhere, Is there a way that you could give us, like, the last year of forecasted topics? [00:33:19] And when they came in, I'm sure we have it somewhere. But if I could just get it in one little document somewhere, that would be great. We are happy to share with you what we have. In fact, the forecasting is something that we started when Dr. Spence came on board. And so that is, we've only done that for, I think, two. [00:33:36] We did a first quarter forecast based on the retreat that we had in January. So we came back and did an abbreviated first quarter forecast this year and a second quarter forecast. It's my understanding we have not done forecasts in the past with previous boards, but I'm happy to provide those previous ones that we have. I think something that's important that we think about is, like, where's SEAC's going to do their update, LEAF, all of that. [00:33:56] And, like, that should be, like, a typical normal that we're going to be in October, we're going to see this, we're going to be, you know, just have it all there, please. Absolutely, I misunderstood. And so we do have that for all of our advisory committees and what we're projecting for 24-25 and what that's looked like in the past. [00:34:15] for the advisory committee updates, because we have done those for some time. So I do have that that I'm happy to share with you. That plus this would be fantastic. Anybody else? Yes, Vice Chair Streffi. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Smith. I know about the special programs, student pathways presentation in August, speaking to Mr. Slevin and committee. [00:34:37] Just trying to get some clarity around what follow-up would come after that point, so after that initial presentation. I know that there are some decision points or some prioritization that's going to happen around IB program expansion or some of the other special programs. [00:34:53] And just looking at September onwards, I didn't see anything else. And so I'm wondering what else to expect from a special programs perspective as we look to kind of think about priorities and decisions around, for example, IB program expansion. So I think, Mr. Streffi, if I could, the follow-up will probably happen in two places. [00:35:14] One, I think continue conversations within the special programs committee to try to ascertain specific direction from the board after we've given an overview of kind of what we're looking at, both short and long term. But the second place that will happen is during the budget development conversations, because, for example, IB expansion was one that was pulled back from last year's budget conversation for school year 25, and is one that we might want to revisit for school year 26. [00:35:42] So I think probably those two places are where we'll revisit the conversation. That's helpful. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Oh, did you say? [00:35:58] Oh, no, I said Dr. Smith. Thanks. Okay. So the next item will be item 4.03, Department of Business and Financial Services, FY26 Budget Development, presented by Ms. Sharon Willoughby, our Chief Financial Officer. [00:36:16] Ms. Willoughby. Good evening. don't see the clicker on the table so i'm here to basically present some information regarding the fy26 budget development because we are already beginning to think about the budget we're already [00:36:47] starting initial steps and i wanted to start with sharing information on the timeline so i'm waiting [00:37:06] for the slides to appear thank you so building the budget calendar each year starts with reviewing the county budget timeline. The county budget adoption and setting of the tax rate drives the [00:37:41] budget process not only for the county but also for LCPS. Moving from right to left on this slide, the county must adopt and set tax rates in April so that they are applied to the tax bills that they mail out in late April and that are ultimately due in June. Working backward from that, the county starts their budget process in February. That includes publishing the proposed advertised tax rate. This slide now adds LCPS to this timeline. LCPS then develops our budget calendar starting [00:38:18] with a targeted school board adoption date in early February so that the school board adopted budget is used as the basis for the county's tax rate calculation. This is where we begin to build LCPS's budget calendar. Working backward from the early February adoption date essentially leaves the month of January for the presentation of the superintendent estimate of needs and the school board budget work sessions to occur. It is a small window, but pushing our timeline back any further [00:38:46] isn't without its own challenges. This slide shows the current budget process timeline to include the budget development work that starts in August. So you see in August we internally begin having budget training sessions as well as we start discussions with the departments. In September and October is where we actually begin to receive actual budget requests and we'll also continue [00:39:20] meeting with departments and principals for example off to the side you'll see between the october and november time frame is when we typically hold the fall school board budget work session then in november we have cabinet reviews and that's where we will go through and prioritize needs that will that would ultimately be included in the superintendent's estimate of needs then again off to the left in the yellow box you'll see on december 20th the governor would release his budget and that we would have to take that information into consideration to ultimately [00:39:57] finalize the superintendent estimate of needs that is presented to the school board in early to mid-January and then kicks off the public meetings with the school board and then ultimately with the adoption that occurs in early February. If the timeline was to be moved it would be problematic for a variety of reasons. First we already are an outlier in being the earliest adopter in the region. One impact from this is that we know we show our hand early when it comes to compensation and in this competitive market other school districts that adopt after us can [00:40:31] easily top us in compensation. Second the bulk of developing the budget is completed in December to include the budget team estimating what will be in the governor's proposed budget that isn't released until December 20th with the BDOE templates released later. Not only does this put pressure on the budget team to accurately estimate state funding, but we are also pivoting to make last-minute adjustments if the governor's budget has items not on our radar. Plus, there are only a couple of weeks between the governor budget release and the presentation of the superintendent's estimate of needs. Behind the scenes, there is tremendous work occurring to finalize the [00:41:09] superintendent's estimate of needs book and presentation for the presentation that occurs to the school board and the public. For the budget just adopted, the superintendent's estimate needs was scheduled to occur on January 16th, but it actually occurred on January 18th due to a snow day. Finally, we begin the budget process in August, only two months into the new fiscal year. [00:41:34] Having to start earlier limits our ability to have more timely financial information and trends to help develop the budget. So that is a recap of our process and limitations we have with the calendar. It's our intent at this time to follow a similar schedule as last year, but I welcome school board member feedback on the timeline. The actual budget calendar for the school board public meetings will be brought to the school board in September for approval. I'll also share that the budget team has begun initial prep work for FY26 and preliminary discussions with [00:42:09] departments are occurring. We have heard clearly from stakeholders about staffing flexibility and we plan on looking at all school-based staffing standards from a fresh perspective versus our annual review process. This is one example of many items on our budget list already. Circling back to the school board role and how that actually begins now, the work you did with the Siegel consultant earlier today will be instrumental in shaping the FY26 budget. With compensation encompassing about 90% of the school operating budget, having a clear collective compensation [00:42:45] philosophy will give direction to staff as a prioritized budget is developed, as Dr. Spence described earlier. Additionally, we want more feedback on specific initiatives and ideas you may have. This can be provided by emailing ideas to me directly. I am open to meet with you individually to vet any ideas and just have any conversations to help you in the budget process this year, but really emphasizing that that starts now. Your feedback and ideas will help formulate a more focused discussion and productive meeting with the school board during the fall school [00:43:23] board budget work session whereas in the past we've really brought forward ideas from staff to receive feedback on priorities from the school board and this would give us that opportunity to bring your ideas as part of that discussion in the fall. Finally I will turn it over to Dr. Spence to lead a discussion more about budget priorities. Thank you Mrs. Willoughby. So yeah board members [00:43:50] This is, you know, I often have counseled previous boards that I've worked with that the most important part of the budget development process for boards happens really between now and the estimate of needs, right? Because as you all experienced when you came onto the board, once the estimate of needs is in front of you, it's a very kind of abbreviated timeframe between that and the adoption of the budget. [00:44:15] and that's for the specific reasons that Ms. Willoughby outlined and certainly also revolves around the fact that we get the governor's projected budget and the estimates from the county around that December time frame, which makes it hard to do anything prior to that in terms of an official estimate of needs driven around expected revenues. [00:44:33] So the time between now and then, including the fall workshop that was discussed, but also conversations that we've had today about some budget priorities, things that you've just heard around gifted and other things that are your own priorities that you've been working on conversation about the special programs committee work and what will come in in the fourth quarter in terms of information all of those are pieces of the budget puzzle that administration needs board input on and so when mrs. will be is saying you know if you need to let us know if you'd you know talk with us send us an email have a conversation with us about what your budget priorities are that would be very helpful so part of the plan today was originally [00:45:11] for this to be in on the retreat agenda but we bumped it in order to give you more time to dive into a couple of other things and so we do have some time now if you would like to talk about any budget priorities that you want to capture a reminder that not everything's going to end up in the budget but it's okay to it's okay to brainstorm it's okay to create a list and then we can then engage in conversations about given given expected revenues which of those parts of the list stay and which of those parts go the ones that I've captured specifically from my post entry plan report revolve around behavioral supports additional security [00:45:47] measures and special education support so that's kind of just a starter and with that I'll pause and we'll open up the floor to you all and see if you've got anything that you just want to capture from either today's conversations or things that have been on your mind again these are not you're not beholden to these these are not necessarily going to be in the budget but it it just begins the kind of brainstorming process and it's also good for staff to hear as as departments begin to engage in the early fall in conversations around their needs as well okay we can i can start [00:46:25] the chair gets to start um one of the things that i was thinking and and ms richardson has um we alluded to it earlier talking about transition and transition programs and and um really kind of fleshing that out a little bit for the the kids who are in between and in the cracks who are being lost and i would like to capture those kids and give them more more opportunities and access to things and um that might be staffing it might be flexible staffing for special education [00:47:05] i am also in total favor of behavioral analysts at the elementary school level i also want to make sure that we have enough staff to actually staff our alternative program as well as the recovery school and make sure that we have safety and security in place and those kinds of things as well as you know music therapists or something art therapy um the other thing is something that is um also close to my heart is we're going to be losing funding for all in virginia for tutoring [00:47:44] programs and we will also be uh training a lot of our substitute teachers and pals tutors and all that other and i want to see if we can capture those people and see if we can do tutoring um outside you know after school or something summer school something so that um that it aligns with what we're doing in our schools because sometimes what happens if you is you have tutoring that's completely different than what you're doing in schools and i think more frequent is better than [00:48:21] always different and then the other thing that's been coming up is high contact hours for nurses there there's a lot of high contact for nurses and I'm looking at if there's a way to have some nurse aides of some sort from that big 10 to 1 area 10 to 2 time just flex yeah or it can also be there's an actual training that I know happens for an aid of some sort it doesn't necessarily [00:48:57] have to be a CNA or something else there's other things that can happen so sorry I took advantage of my chairship but we can go down the line and let's start with Dr. Deans over there oh athletic trainers was the other thing well I like the idea of that we that was presented earlier about the [00:49:29] flexible staffing. I see even principals at certain times of the year who may need the extra support, I mean, elbow-to-elbow support, not just, you know, training, but elbow-to-elbow support. So I think that that would be one area that I would want to see more available [00:50:00] trained staff, and also some kind of dedicated staffing for, I mean, the kids are anxious. So I think you mentioned therapists or whatever, and maybe they won't be called therapists, maybe they won't be at that level, but they would be to support therapists and helping the children who are struggling. [00:50:29] And then some kind of summer intervention for those schools that are very, whose scores are very low. And so that's just off the cuff. I'll come up with some more tomorrow. And that's what our email's for. [00:50:49] Ms. Chandler. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will say I have collected a little list, mostly from school visits and also really from having office hours in the community. And I will say I've heard from several of my Title I schools a need not only for more site subs, but also for perhaps a second AP. [00:51:14] They're finding especially the amount of work that the one AP has to do makes it hard to focus on everything that needs to get done. Again, I would like to continue having conversations about covering the fees for families in the arts, particularly band, music, and theater. [00:51:34] I know that's something that we've had an ongoing conversation about. I'd like to continue to have. I've heard from some school counselors a desire to have a realignment in terms of their hours or their pay scale, since they're matched with teachers but expected to work at different times. [00:51:57] There's some feelings that I think in terms of making sure that everyone's treated equitably, that might be a nice way to iron that out. And then, again, I will second the idea of increasing nursing around our high-volume or high-need schools, and second, the allocation for more athletic trainers. [00:52:23] And with that, thank you. Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. How much time do I have? have a whole list here which will get emailed I regurgitate this a lot front facing teachers we hear that all the time but going to the CIP program I'm looking at CTE expansion more programs and childcare courses and assistance may be coming from our high schools with training of course I'm working on another [00:53:02] program that I cannot mention at this time but I am looking at expansion on CTE programs. More on that to come. Money for maintenance on charter schools like for example Hillsboro. Many of us have been to Hillsboro and we know you know the roof was just repaired. You know they need storage. They're using their main area it's their cafeteria their their play area that where they do plays where they play music [00:53:34] they need an expansion so I'm hoping to get them on the CIP program of course and just I'm echoing you guys a lot because really great ideas you know more security and possible pilot program at at one of our elementary schools I am looking for SROs expansion and renovation of classrooms to allow for more students where possible um and you had mentioned um miss mansfield um all in virginia tutoring programs very important to have all that stuff back there should be money that um [00:54:09] goes there um also um and forgive me i'm i'm trying to scroll here and i'm having a hard time uh um and i want to echo again teachers for sped transition audiology speech therapist assistants to do the necessary paperwork on each child, I totally think nurse practitioners and flexible staffing would be fantastic. As I mentioned before, more TAs, supplies for teachers and students. You know, one of my things as a parent is I don't like being asked all the time [00:54:46] when I pay taxes to buy supplies for my kids and when it should be provided. A lot of the supplies. The allotments, we've had a lot of conversations on allotments. I don't want to see teachers asking for supplies at any time, which includes theater. A lot of kids like to do theater. [00:55:07] There's a cost for that. And they take donations, but at the same time, you know, I would like to see more theater expansion as well and music expansion. So whatever that takes. So that's pretty much where i am on um uh my wants my budget priorities i don't know how much further you know i should go but um when we get closer to the budget i think i'll discuss uh cuts you know going through the budget where i think there might be waste and maybe we can move money around to areas that [00:55:42] really need it um and i think that is where i am uh at this time thank you very much madam chair Thank you Mrs. Griffiths. I think Mr. Lewis also know that we're looking at playgrounds to rearrange that in the cap as well. I'm adding on. Okay, Vice Chair Streffi. [00:56:04] Thank you Madam Chair. Love the ideas that are coming out of some of the other board members. I'll reiterate a few. One is flexible staffing, just hearing some of the feedback coming from community members in the schools. Something I was excited about in the current budget, and I'd love to hear more about how leadership is really seeing those flexible staffing or those changes out of the budget really take shape. [00:56:33] IB program expansion. So I mentioned this earlier, but I would love to see IB program expansion to Eastern Loudoun, specifically at Parkview High School. I mean, looking at the reconstruction of the school and all of the energy behind that, as well as the advanced CTE and all of the efforts that we are putting into that. [00:56:49] I'll just, you know, go ahead and call it out. I think it would be so exciting to talk about rigorous access to rigorous pathways or opportunities. I think being able to have IB program at Parkview or in Eastern Loudoun, I think that would be wonderful. [00:57:06] In terms of capital budget process, I noticed that at Rosalie, there was an effort to put kind of the LED signs everywhere, but I didn't see that at Rosalie. I'm just kind of picking up some things that I'm remembering now. [00:57:22] Also, in terms of some of what's scheduled to be improved upon at the schools, I think we're trying to schedule everything out. And I don't have a good picture yet of what that looks like. [00:57:37] But I think just seeing some of the needs that are coming out of our older schools and just giving you a window into how I'm thinking about this, but really just kind of looking at how do we get all of our schools kind of at a place where you can't rebuild every school, but how do we get them to a place where they have kind of those same equitable standards? [00:58:03] And it goes just beyond having the building or having the spaces, but how do we, you know, prioritize some of the older schools? I'll just leave it at that. And then enrichment programs, I talked about this. This is just a bucket area for discussion. I won't go into any detail with this, but kind of after-school enrichment, providing safe spaces and opportunities to learn, as well as summer intervention. [00:58:32] Also, I'd love to see the staffing ratios that are currently under review or will be under review by the leadership team, based on feedback that's coming out of the schools or that's in the hands of our team here, just to really understand what are the staffing ratios that we are looking at, similar to the gifted and talented program. [00:58:55] Second, having additional APs, not just at the high schools, that I think that just seeing kind of the impact of that additional assistant principal at the Title I high schools, I would definitely support that. [00:59:10] Another topic I've talked about is activity buses, not just at the high school level, and just seeing if, is there really a need, and should we look into this more? and more opportunities for transition students. I think that this is something that's a big priority of mine as well. [00:59:26] Thank you. Ms. Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. So many things. I wholeheartedly support many of the other suggestions that have already been made by my colleagues. [00:59:47] If we're talking about, like, wish lists, because understanding that we can't do everything, um in i don't know next year um i don't there's there's a lot of there's a lot of areas that i'm interested in um so i'll just tell you all of them because maybe some will could potentially fit better uh in your in your budget vision for next year but i think it's no secret um we've talked a lot about fixing the elementary school start times uh so i would still and i understand there is going [01:00:20] to be a, you know, a study to come up with some ideas, but I'm still very interested in and dedicated to receiving a proposal for how we fix that so that we don't have kids starting at 7.30 in the morning. I'm also still interested in looking into how many bus attendants we have. [01:00:48] Do we need to have more? Do we have the funds to hire more, assign more seatbelts on buses? still something I'm interested in, gathering more information about whether they would be useful and what the financial impact of that would be. The athletic trainer staffing that's already been brought up, also clinic staffing. [01:01:06] We've been looking at a lot of policies through student services recently that may impact the work that is happening in our in our school clinics and in in those discussions have all it has also come up how overburdened the clinicians are so taking a look at if there's anything we can do about that I would like to look at some numbers to talk about waving out of district fees for LCPS employees to have their kids come to school at LCPS that's like the big the big dream Mr. Streffi mentioned more after-school programs which I also was also on my list more after-school programs opportunities especially for [01:01:45] elementary and middle school and especially for low-income families and And universal pre-K. Definitely not a next year thing, but you're laughing. But I would like to talk about the feasibility of doing that long-term. [01:02:04] Along with IB, dual immersion language programs is also an area that I would like to expand. And, of course, recovery school. It's a good thing you're here for four years. [01:02:25] all right um miss Chernoff thank you madam chair and thank you dr. Spence for opening this up for us to have this conversation I feel like it's a direct response to some of the feedback that we gave at the budget cycle so my first one it comes from some of the work we've done in curriculum and instruction which is um sort of leveling the playing field if you will with art stipends and allotments as it as it relates to elementary schools those have not been reviewed in 20 years and I really feel like it's time to right size that and so we're looking at that in committee and those numbers are going to be worked up for us in the fall so I think that that's something [01:03:01] to consider we have stipends for middle school and high school and so I would like to see the equity there our elementary our elementary music and art teachers do a lot extra for free and I just don't think they should have to I echo flexible staffing and looking at the staffing standards i know we have a differentiated staffing standard but i'm wondering if we really do need to like i mentioned during the work session today dig into some of our mtss numbers and some of those schools that just really need that support because of their high percentages of tier 2 and tier 3 [01:03:37] students and i it's a big concern of mine and we've got to have boots on the ground also i would like to think about expanding our instructional facilitators at the district level we're going one-to-one next year with our schools however we don't have enough to go one-to-one so there's a lot of schools that are left without that coaching support and that's really where the magic happens with the curriculum is in those relationships and that coaching support they also support deep data dives that help to guide teachers conversations to meeting the resources to the needs and facilitating high levels of instruction so i would like to look at that you heard tonight about the [01:04:15] gifted teachers that's something new on my radar so i'd like to explore that another thing coming out of curriculum and instruction is we've been dealing a lot with the master schedule for elementary and i didn't know this but librarians are not staffed at the same rate that they said pe or music teacher is so again looking at librarians right sizing that for our elementary schools will allow for more flexibility between buildings with their master schedule, particularly possibly helping to alleviate that 50-minute block for our primary grades in music where it [01:04:49] has been a struggle. We've had a lot of feedback about that. So that really kind of hinges on the librarian issue, so I'd like to look at that. Deans, I know you mentioned APs for Title I. I've similarly heard making sure that we have deans or special ed deans that we have a look at that staffing standard brought this up during the end of year funds the retention bonuses that is something I still want to value and support because I think we got to keep our teachers here it's really important I'm also been doing a lot of work with the community around homelessness and [01:05:25] meeting with McKinney Vento, Project Belong, who supports our foster kids, and looking at some partnerships potentially that could help to support our family liaisons in terms of the work that they do for outsourcing resources. So there's some really cool programs out there that I'm just learning about. I know we have a partnership with Laws, and I've spoken with them. This would be kind of similar into that vein but to support over the 1,100 kids that are not in a stable home environment in Loudoun County Public Schools and I also support the behavior specialist big time [01:06:03] big star by that one big star by the athletic trainers and then I'll keep going the welcome center expansion I would also like to bring to the table I had a chance to get over there and they presented to curriculum instruction as well I think part of that would fall in the cap and CIP, but I believe the staffing portion would be on our end. And then this is my really crazy idea is around testing administrators for hourly pay. So a big struggle right now we've talked about with our teachers is that there's so many assessments and a big bulk of teachers and [01:06:42] specialists time, particularly reading specialists, is spent sitting, setting a one-minute timer, and listening to them read and then reporting that score into a computer and I honestly question whether or not that is the best use of their time in terms of it versus instruction. These are assessments that you can be trained on to turn around and give. I know there would be some privacy issues likely but I'm wondering if we are taking our highest leverage employees, the people with the most literacy knowledge, or the most English language learner knowledge, or the most special [01:07:19] ed training, and asking them to just keep assessing kids over and over again because classroom teachers can't support it, maybe there's a workaround there. So that's just an outside of the box thing I'd like us to entertain. Appreciate you listening to my list. Thank you, Ms. Chernav. [01:07:38] Dr. Rasheed? Thank you, Chair. You know, we have a lot of land out in Western Loudoun, so I'm really big on having programs that are environmentally involved so I think it'd be really great to have the schools get or the students get involved with programs that deal with the environment another thing I'd like to pursue is there's also a lot of history here in Loudoun so it'd be great to have a program that had students kind of come out and see where a lot of this these landmarks so to say especially out west too I heard there's things underground and everything like that where they could see and learn from our history so [01:08:15] that'd be great to have a program where students can learn from that. A lot of the stuff was mentioned by by everyone here but I mean I'll go into it. I do want to see some special program expansions in regards to other careers. I know that we're involved with GMU, I know we're involved with NVCC and Loudoun, but I'd like to see other careers involved. I know that IT is is already in place but I just want to see a little bit more of the sciences or any of the other ones where students can get more involved so that they can get a step ahead in their careers yes as somebody mentioned and I echo the theater supply room I heard a [01:08:54] lot about that from my constituents theater expansion storage areas is a big one nurse practitioners I heard someone say that here school supplies for teachers teachers for sped athletic trainers I have heard that so many times I spoke with a coach at Stonebridge and he was really he was really talking that the huge need for athletic trainers another one is I am in favor definitely of supporting the charter school maintenance they have something called a [01:09:28] gym gym notorium it's a gym it's a it's a lunchroom it's a gym that I'm in one of these days I know that someone will correct me from there but it's it's something that needs some repair so I mean that's something that I would like to see for those students to flourish on and that's it thanks thank you dr. [01:09:49] shade okay I think that's a pretty nice a good list it's a great list it's a great list it's very helpful and obviously again not exhaustive and this isn't the end of this conversation right it's just the very beginning of this conversation so our next steps we will capture all of that we will have some conversations and begin sort of putting some costing around that so that when we do come back in the fall and begin to have that first workshop we can really like lay that out there and say here's the things that you've talked about and here's costing associated with that and start to really engage in a conversation [01:10:26] around where that would fit within a budget and we will also continue to capture your suggestions so we want to also mention if you're you know sort driving home today and you're like oh man I meant to say that know that again and this wasn't like a one-time conversation. [01:10:44] If you'll just email Sharon, and then we'll try to set up a repository for that that might make it easier for you to also go in and see that and then just add any additional thoughts that you have along the way. - Thank you, Dr. Spence, and thank you staff for that opportunity so that we could give our input as well. [01:11:04] Okay, so we're gonna try and boogie on, and with our last item, our last work session item, Department of Athletics, I mean academics, 2024-25 consolidated grant application presented by Dr. Ellis, Chief Academic Officer, and Scott Meisensal, our School Improvement Supervisor. [01:11:33] Thank you very much, Chair Mansfield. So this evening, Mr. Meisensal will be presenting to you an overview of the consolidated federal grants application, and this is a follow-up to our deep dive into title one we did a couple of weeks ago as a reminder title one is only one piece of the consolidated grant so we'll go briefly through the highlights of the consolidated grant and then in board docs you have the full application and we're happy to answer questions this evening or prior to your [01:12:11] anticipated vote in two weeks and I'll turn it over to mr. Meisensel thank you so Loudoun County Public Schools excuse me completes a consolidated grant application annually to include the title programs, Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV. [01:12:30] Every year, the Virginia Department of Education advises that we use level funding for planning purposes, as official allocations will not be released until the end of the summer, early fall. The purpose of Title I is to provide financial assistance through state educational agencies to school divisions and public schools with high numbers of percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet state academic content and achievement standards as we presented during the May school board session. School divisions receiving Title I [01:13:06] Part A funds must prioritize with at least 75% economically disadvantaged students but can serve additional schools and rank order of poverty rates if funding allows. As a reminder for the 24-25 school year, Loudoun County Public Schools has identified eligible schools based on 55% poverty threshold for elementary and 65% for secondary. As we previously shared last month, two additional schools will be added as school-wide Title I schools for the 24-25 school [01:13:39] year. They are Countryside Elementary and Dominion Trail Elementary. In addition to supporting Title I schools with a per-pupil allocation, divisions are required to use a portion of the funds for additional set-asides. Again, actual allocations won't be announced from the Virginia Department of education until the start of the 24-25 school year. Title I funds are used in Loudoun County Public Schools to support academic success in Title I schools through comprehensive needs assessments, professional development, and evidence-based instructional strategies. [01:14:17] Resources purchased to support literacy will be reviewed this year to ensure that they align with the Virginia Literacy Act. Slide 7 provides examples of how funds from 24-25 Title I grant will be utilized. I want to make a note that there is a correction needed for this slide. [01:14:36] The second bullet should show 1,540 McKinney-Vento students that receive services for the 23-24 school year. Title II. Loudoun County Public Schools utilizes Title II Part A funds to increase academic achievement by increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals through coaching and professional development. Title II aims to increase student achievement, improve the quality and effectiveness of educators and ensure low-income and minority students have access [01:15:13] to effective teachers and school leaders. Funds are used at the division level to support these goals rather than being allocated to specific schools. They're used at the division level. Loudoun County Public Schools primarily uses Title II funds to support the mentoring and coaching program by funding five instructional coach positions and compensating beginning teacher coaches for their extracurricular work. These coaches provide personalized, job-embedded, professional learning for first-year teachers, helping them assimilate into the profession, improve their teaching skills, and ultimately enhance student achievement. [01:15:52] The program includes individualized coaching cycles that involve classroom visits, feedback, modeling, planning, reflection, and problem-solving conversations. Title III. The purpose of Title III funds is to ensure that English learner students, including immigrant children and youth, attain English language proficiency and meet the same challenging state academic standards as their peers. These funds support initiatives that enhance English language proficiency and academic achievement, develop effective language instruction [01:16:28] and educational programs, provide professional development for educators, and promote parent, family, and community participation. This comprehensive approach ensures that EL students receive the necessary resources and support to succeed academically and integrate effectively into the school community. Loudoun County Public Schools has identified the use of Title III funds to enhance support for English learners through various initiatives. This includes employing a family and community engagement supervisor and two FACE, family and community engagement [01:17:07] facilitators, to coordinate family engagement activities and events. Additionally, funds will support EL instructional facilitators across elementary, middle, and high schools, provide instructional materials and digital content, and offer professional development opportunities for teachers. A cross-district cohort with George Mason University will also be funded to help educators earn ESL endorsements. Title IV. The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, Title IV, Part A, program provides funds for programs and activities to improve students' [01:17:45] academic achievement by increasing the capacity of local school divisions to provide all students with a well-rounded education. Title IV funds are to be prioritized for schools that have students with the greatest needs and the highest number of students from low-income families. Considering Title I schools will increase by two more schools for the 24-25 school year, and as Title I funding is not expected to increase, Loudoun County Public School plans to transfer all of the Title IV funds into Title I, which is allowable. This transfer aims to continue improving academic [01:18:21] achievement for the most at-risk students, leveraging data that shows ongoing growth for our Title I schools. Next steps. This past May, we reported the changes in Title I school status to the Virginia Department of Education. The next steps will be to submit to the school board as an action or consent agenda item on June 25th. The deadline to submit the approved application to the Virginia Department of Education is July 1st. [01:18:54] We will receive actual allocations from the Virginia Department of Education in September and submit an amended application with the updated allocations. - And with that, we'll turn it back over to you, Chair Mansfield. [01:19:12] - Thank you, Dr. Ellis, and thank you, Mr. Meisensal. Okay, so I'm wondering about the support for the reading specialist cohort. Are we sure that that cohort has evidence-based, is gonna be aligned with the VLA? [01:19:30] Because there are some colleges and universities that do not. In fact, the majority don't. - That's a great question that that cohort is being overseen by the secondary literacy office. [01:19:48] And so I can follow up, we can follow up with them to ensure that that program aligns with the Virginia Literacy Act and provide that information to you. - Thank you for that. And then all of the changes for interventions and the programs and everything are going to be changed by next time? [01:20:10] Yes, and just for the benefit of the group, there are a couple of references to programs that individual schools purchase that are not on the list that was recently published by BDOE. So we will work with those schools to replace those with programs that are approved by the BDOE. [01:20:33] any other questions thank you no okay I'm wondering if we should have those come back to us for action next time we'll just come back for action next time to make sure that those well the reason I go to consent is because I want to make sure that those corrections are in there first not that I [01:21:08] don't trust them I just just for my own I just want to have it there just to see beforehand if That's all right. Thank you. All right. I appreciate y'all. Thank you so much for doing this and for explaining these to us. Okay. And this will come back for action next time. [01:21:30] And so we will continue with item 5.01 and recess for dinner. And the board will reconvene at 6.30. [02:00:02] The board is now in recess. Test one, two. Good evening. We are coming back. The board is coming back from dinner and recess, and we are going to start with remote participation, and then we're also going to do a disclosure. So I have heard that Ms. LaBelle is here to, would like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting. Ms. LaBelle, can you please state your location and whether this is a medical or personal matter. [02:00:46] Can you not hear me, Ms. LaBelle? Okay, I can't hear you either. Can you hear me now? [02:01:01] Oh, yeah, there we go. All right, Jeff had muted me. Anyway, I am here in my home in Lovettsville, Virginia, and this is a medical matter. Is anyone present with you at this location? [02:01:17] If so, please state their names. My husband, Michael Seidelman, is here with the dog, and they are in the front room of the house and cannot hear what's going on back here. okay we have um so therefore i will entertain a motion that miss labelle's request to participate remotely will be granted to have a motion yes mrs donahue thank you madam chair i move to approve remote participation for ms labelle is there a second second my old mission was was fast so we [02:01:53] it's been properly moved and seconded to approve ms labelle's remote participation at this time we we will take an elect oh is there any discussion no seeing no discussion at this time we'll take a electronic vote clerk would you please open the vote board members would you please record your vote clerk would you please close and display the vote and that motion passes unanimously with [02:02:26] miss labelle absent for the vote vote and welcome to the school board meeting miss labelle would you mind reading your disclosure, please? All right. 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 an item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance [02:03:04] and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected, of which I am included. [02:03:20] 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. There you go. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. And now we will continue with item 7.01 with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. [02:03:41] And the Parkview High School Patriot Singers are a combined ensemble consisting of students in grades 9 through 12 and each of the three chorus classes. This is a group of fiercely awesome and passionate people who love hanging out together and supporting each other and have made a family out of our choral program. [02:04:02] This is their first year with Mrs. Spilletta and they are ready to build this choir program into something epic and noteworthy. At this time, I would like to ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. [02:05:25] Thank you so much for that beautiful performance. [02:06:27] Thank you for having us. The next item on our agenda is the student staff recognitions, item 8.01, 1 LCPS Spotlight, Broad Run High School, Positive Experiences and Educational Relationships Program, presented by neil slevin assistant superintendent for teaching and learning thank you chair mansfield at this time i would like to invite the team from broad run high school led by mr john walker to the [02:06:58] podium miss jennifer evans school board members chair mansfield vice chair estruffy and dr spence i'm jennifer evans the director of student mental health services and i'm very excited to be here [02:07:32] to talk to you about peer positive experiences and educational relationships next slide please [02:07:47] So what is PEER? PEER is a program within all of our high schools, I'm proud to say, that trains seniors, juniors, and sometimes even sophomores to become helpers within their school. So what they do is they go through a training protocol and they learn how to implement helping skills within their own group of peers as well as go to the middle schools and the elementary schools to mentor other students. [02:08:11] But one of the most exciting things that I see is the campaigns that they do within their schools to raise messages and raise awareness about really important things that are going on, mental health, substance use, healthy relationships, suicide prevention, and many, many more. [02:08:29] So who we have here today is our Broad Run High School students and advisors and social worker. They have done a healthy relationships campaign this year that reached over 1,500 students. We have Christine Wiggins here, who's the sponsor. [02:08:46] We also have Lucia Blackford, Danielle Qureshi, Abby Jamon, and they are our peer leaders. So thank you for being here. Next slide, please. So the peer program aligns perfectly and seamlessly with our core values and our strategic plan for excellence. [02:09:08] Next slide. And as you can see, it hits on many of these holistic support for our students so that they have a safe, happy, and cared-for environment, trust through listening, and again, just that continuous improvement on it's much better when we hear students sharing the message versus adults in the classrooms. [02:09:28] So they are much more well-received than some of our staff can be. Next slide, please. And where you look at this in goal one is you'll see we're prioritizing the care of students by ensuring a safe and affirming learning environment for all. [02:09:44] And PEER allows for that regular opportunity for student voice. They meet on a regular class schedule. These students are not getting credit for this course. I think that's important to acknowledge. They are volunteering their time because they're passionate about helping other people and sharing a positive message. [02:10:01] Next slide. So what is PEER? described it to you and I'm not going to read what's on the next slide. It talks about all of the things that they do within their school building with the support of the adults that are that are helping them and guiding them on their way. We also encourage them to partner with community partners. So what you'll hear tonight is about a partnership of laws, domestic violence, and sexual assault services. Next slide. Next slide. And at this point I am going to turn it [02:10:38] over to their sponsor, Ms. Wiggins. - Good evening, thanks for having us. Next slide, please. I'm Christine Wiggins, and I'm the sponsor of Peer at Broad Run High School. [02:10:54] Our 15 peer students are selected through an application and interview process. We meet every A-Day during third block, and during the year, there are three main things that we accomplish. We welcome new students at Broad Run. [02:11:11] So at the beginning of the year, our peers get together, We gather up a welcome goodie bag for students who are new to our district, new to our school. We also host a new student welcome lunch for those students. And then throughout the year, as students come to Broad Run on the day that they register, we match them up with a peer who meets with them, takes them on a little tour, and just gives them a point of contact. [02:11:35] Probably the most important thing we do is our student-to-student counseling. And for this, our peers go through extensive training for the first quarter with our school social worker, Mr. Perez. And then of course our monthly campaigns. [02:11:50] We run monthly campaigns to focus on positive school climate and on social, mental health, and emotional issues that our students face. And so today, that's what we're here to talk about is one of our campaigns that we ran in February on healthy relationships. [02:12:09] Next slide. Here's just some photos of our peers doing what they do. And if you look in the corners, you'll see our bulletin board, which is located centrally near the main office, and so lots of students. [02:12:25] This is how we get our campaign messages to our student body through the bulletin boards. So today, our peer helpers are gonna tell you a little bit about our February campaign. - Yeah, next slide, please, sorry. [02:12:42] Yeah, this one, thank you. My name is Lucia, I'm a senior at PEER. I've been in PEER for two years now, and both years that I've been here, our Healthy Relationships campaign has been one of, if not our biggest one. [02:12:57] This one's really, really important, I think for high schoolers especially, because as you're entering high school, you're entering a lot of new kinds of relationships, whether with teachers, with new peers, possible romantic relationships, there's a lot of change. [02:13:13] And it's really important to be able to understand what's healthy or unhealthy in some of the new relationships you're forming. So the main thing we want to communicate from our Healthy Relationships campaign is the ability for people to be able to recognize unhealthy or healthy traits. [02:13:29] We also think it's very important that they hear it from us as their fellow peers since we're kind of going through the same thing with them. So it can be a little more relatable and understandable. So we're going to tell you guys about some of the ways we did that in this campaign. Hi, my name is Daniel Karishi. [02:13:51] I'm a sophomore, and this is my first year in peer. Next slide, please. So, PSI Love You Day was an idea that was brought to me by one of my teachers, and upon, you know, researching about it a little bit myself, I found out that PSI Love You Day is actually a pretty, you know, sizable, non-profit organization in New York, and their whole mission is to eradicate the stigma around mental health. [02:14:15] So, you know, PSI Love You Day is, you know, not only a day that raises awareness for, you know, mental health, but it's also a day that's meant to communicate positive relationships and healthy relationships, not only with others, but also, you know, a healthy relationship with yourself. [02:14:32] So I brought the idea to Ms. Wiggins, and we both agreed that this is definitely something that peers should do, something we should take part in. So we brought the idea to Broad Run by organizing an activity where students could communicate positive messages on these little paper hearts and then we hung those up on our monthly bulletin board. Next slide please. These are just some images of students partaking in the activities that we organized. Hi my name is Abby Jaymon. I'm a sophomore at Broad Run and this is my first year in [02:15:10] Pierre. Next slide please. So coincidentally during this time we also had a visit from LAWS and they routinely come every year and they give us a presentation about healthy relationships versus toxic relationships and gender roles and how they play a part into health into your own relationship. So we had a visit from Ms. Katherine Parker and she provided us with a lesson and an activity where we had to migrate to either side of the room based on a scenario that she gave us and it really helped us understand what our perspective was and our peers perspective was on different [02:15:48] scenarios that we were given and it also really helped us just like shape our campaign and understand what we wanted to get across. So kind of the final piece of our whole campaign that helped to tie everything together and again presents to our school was our bulletin board. So we do a bulletin board for every month and the main thing is the bulletin board has to be relevant to the campaign but it also has to be eye catching something that people notice when they're walking by because it can be easy otherwise to just pass by it so the way we kind of were thinking of doing it before laws came even we had [02:16:27] this idea of spinning off of this popular show called Powerpuff Girls that a lot of people my generation watched when they were little there's the the slogan from the show that talks about the ingredients chosen to create the Powerpuff Girls and so we were like oh what if we spend that and make it ingredients for a healthy relationship so that was kind of already the idea we had for a bulletin board and then when Miss Parker came for laws she saw that idea and she actually helped us out a lot because she had these little recipe cards that kind of they'd also talked about healthy relationships and they had [02:17:03] little different activities game nights you can do to help foster promote a healthy relationship so we were able to hand those out to supplement the bulletin board we had already created. And those things kind of really tied together to make it engaging and something that people would look at when they pass in the hallways. So yeah it all came together and we were so excited because this campaign we were able to reach students a number of different ways. As we mentioned the bulletin board, but also through interaction with the students through the PS I Love You Day activity where students were able to [02:17:39] interact and provide their input, the recipe cards, and then we were given the opportunity to provide a lesson for our Spartan seminar which is our advisory that happens weekly and so we created a little lesson a quiz and that led to discussion among the students and teachers and I got some feedback that there was really good discussion so we were really happy with this campaign and all the ways we were able to touch the students and give them the message and as we wrap up our presentation we would also like to thank and acknowledge the Staff and members who are here from Laws, Domestic Violence, and Assault Services. [02:18:19] Catherine Parker, Diana Rodriguez, and Jen Farmsworth. Thank you. [02:18:37] I have to say I love this. P.S. I love this. I love that healthy relationships with others as well as yourself, because that's something that I think is lacking. And something I hear Dr. Spence talk about a lot is for our students to feel felt, seen, heard, and loved. [02:18:57] And I think that's something that goes right into this. So thank you for that. Any other questions or comments? All right. And with that, we will move on to item 9.01, the superintendent report presented by Dr. Aaron Spence. [02:19:17] Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. As always, it's my pleasure to be able to present to the board some good news from around the school division. We'll wait just a second to get that up. [02:19:40] All right. So there we go. So first, I am pleased to note that Uzma Ascari has been named the new principal of Rosalie Carter Elementary School. [02:20:00] So most recently, Ms. Ascari has been the assistant principal of Selden's Landing, a position she's held since 2019. Previously, she was a dean at Cardinal Ridge Elementary and a reading teacher at Potomac Elementary. She has her bachelor's degree in education from York University in Toronto, her master's in curriculum and instruction from George Mason University, and a graduate certificate in educational leadership from Shenandoah University. [02:20:26] Next, I want to congratulate Ashley Barkley, who has been named the new principal of Aldi Elementary. Most recently, Ms. Barkley was the assistant principal at Lovettsville Elementary, a position she's held since 2015. [02:20:43] Ms. Barkley began her career with LCPS as a school counselor at Sterling Middle School. She's got a bachelor's degree in psychology from James Madison University and a master's degree in counseling from Marymount and an education leadership certificate from George Washington University. Next, I also want to note that Daniel Lanny has been named the new principal of Lovitzville Elementary, congratulations. [02:21:10] Mr. Lanny has been the principal of Evergreen Elementary School since 2019. He began his career as an educator, teaching first grade in the Bayshore School District in Bayshore, New York. Mr. Lanny has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Messiah College, a master's degree in reading from Long Island University, and a graduate certificate in reading recovery from New York University at Columbia, as well as a second master's in educational leadership administration from shenandoah university so all three of these leaders are actually here tonight i'd just like to ask them to stand so we can recognize them collectively and thank you all [02:21:49] for being here and thank you for your guests who are here as well uh moving on i would like to recognize that dr michael grubbs has been named the director of career technical and adult education in the department of teaching and learning congratulations to dr grubbs there we go sure Dr. Grubbs has served in Baltimore County Public Schools since 2015, first as Supervisor of Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing Education, and most recently as the Coordinator for Career and Technical Education. [02:22:22] Dr. Grubbs began his career as an engineering and technology teacher in Rex, Georgia. He earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degree in Technology Education from the California University of Pennsylvania. He received an educational specialist certificate from the University of Georgia in workforce education and his doctorate from Virginia Tech in integrative STEM education. [02:22:42] I know you will all join me, although he won't be able to join us tonight in welcoming Dr. Grubbs to LCPS. He'll begin his tenure on July the 1st. Next, we want to celebrate the College Achievement and Multicultural Program for Unique Students or the Campus Program, which held its 2024 senior celebration honoring the 151 campus seniors on Tuesday, June the 4th at Stonebridge High School. [02:23:09] Campus is an academic and college preparatory program designed to remove barriers to higher education for students who will be the first in their families to attend college. The highlight of this ceremony had to be the recognition of the campus seniors, and following the recognition of those seniors, the Loudon Laurels Foundation presented a $40,000 scholarship to Diego Chavez of Potomac Falls High School. [02:23:32] Loudon Laurels Foundation is dedicated to developing future civic leaders through scholarships and mentorships and annually provides scholarships to campus and advancement via individual determination or AVID students. Jordan Grandison of Tuscarora High School and a member of the AVID program also received a $40,000 Loudon Laurels scholarship. [02:23:51] Since its establishment in 2013, the Loudon Laurels Foundation has awarded 29 scholarships to LCPS, totaling nearly $1.2 million, and we are certainly grateful for their support. Next, the Special Education Advisory Council held its annual Recognition of Excellence in Supporting Special Education Awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 5th at Rockridge High School. [02:24:15] The awards ceremony recognized over 70 educators, students, programs, and community members who demonstrated excellence in the LCPS special education community. These individuals, groups, and programs were identified as having gone above and beyond what's expected to be meaningfully inclusive. [02:24:33] Next, Briarwoods High School successfully completed Cognia STEM certification, making Briarwoods the first traditional high school in Virginia to receive this certification. To achieve the STEM certification, Cognia connected Briarwoods with Engineering Consulting Services, a locally based company that specializes in geotechnical construction materials, environmental and facilities engineering. [02:24:54] Briarwoods' partnership with ECS has allowed the school's teachers to include project based learning with authentic tasks that connect to real world in their lessons. Next, we want the board to know that LCPS is participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program. [02:25:12] Meals will be provided at eight locations throughout Loudoun County. Meals are provided at no charge and are provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Children must remain on-site while consuming those meals. And this slide shows the dates and locations for the Summer Meals Program, and we'll make sure that information is also shared out widely. [02:25:32] And then we also want to make note that two new schools are slated to open in just a few months here as we begin the 2024-25 school year. I and members of the LCPS leadership team had the pleasure of visiting these newest schools last week, Henrietta Lacks Elementary and Watson Mountain Middle, both of which are scheduled to open in August. [02:25:52] Henrietta Lacks Elementary School principal Lee Boyd showed us around the new elementary school, which will be the home to an anticipated 960 kindergarten, first and second grade students. Over the past several months, the staff of Henrietta Lacks Elementary has hosted several community events, including meet and greets, principal at the playground events, and a spirit night. [02:26:11] And Ms. Boyd reports that families are eager to be involved in the school community. The most unique feature of this new elementary school is that it's specifically designed for kindergarten through grade two, as such all classrooms have a great deal of collaboration space. And Henrietta Lacks is approximately 200 feet away from Hovater Elementary, which will house grades three through five in that pattern. [02:26:31] Henrietta Lacks Elementary, like Hove Adder, is also going to be the home of the honeybees. And both schools are on the same campus as Light Ridge High School. We also had the chance to visit Watson Mountain Middle School with Principal Lenny Compton, who gave us a tour. For the 2024-25 school year, that school will open with nearly 606th grade students. [02:26:52] The following school year, it will house 6th and 7th grade students. And by the 2028-29 school year, there will be approximately 1,450 students in grades 6, 7, and 8. Mr. Compton shared that over the past several months, they've hosted a number of community meetings and many have expressed enthusiasm and joy at being the inaugural students and parents of such a unique building. [02:27:12] Watson Mountain is, in fact, the first four-level school in LCPS and features innovations such as built-in collaborative learning spaces that will allow for students and teachers to conference on projects and learning goals. The mascot of Watson Mountain is the Yeti, and the school motto is, Be a Legend, Leave a Positive Footprint. [02:27:31] We look forward to the opening of Henrietta Lacks Elementary in Watson Mountain Middle in August. And that is the conclusion of my report, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Spence. We will now move on to item 10, our public comment. Thank you for engaging with the school board through public comment process. [02:27:49] The school board welcomes comments from Loudoun County residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system. Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted Based on the number of speakers in the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted one minute each for public comment. [02:28:11] Please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium, or during a break. [02:28:29] Violations of civility, decorum, and respect include shouting, heckling, jeering, 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 or otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees. [02:28:55] Speakers shall 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. [02:29:16] 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. [02:29:33] 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 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. Copies of materials for board members [02:30:13] should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the boardroom before the start of the meeting. Please provide 12 copies of the materials. Under no circumstances may a speaker approach the days. The public is reminded that access to school board meetings is available through lcps tv on comcast channel 18 and verizon fios channel 43 the live stream of the meeting may be viewed on the website we look forward to hearing your comments and we will start with the virtual public comment the first two on my list are wendy mckenna and brenda bankston [02:31:07] do we have a wendy mckenna i'm still muted i'm mute as well charter academy is a proud loudon [02:31:48] county public school with loudoun county public school teachers and students or scholars as we call them hda has been awarded many accolades in its eight years to name some virginia board of education's highest achievement exemplar award three years national civil air patrol aerospace connections and education school of the year virginia children's engineering council elementary school program of the year project lead the way distinguished launch school for five years Technology and Engineering Educators Association Elementary Program of the Year Award. [02:32:18] International Technology and Engineering Educators Association Excellence Award for five years. International Technology and Engineering Educators Association Elementary Program of the Year. I ask that you approve a charter agreement with a commitment that LCPS will fund HCA to expand and improve our school facility. [02:32:37] The experiment of HCA is over. It is a success. It is time to put them on par with the rest of Loudoun County Public School. We are a Loudoun County Public. Thank you. Our next, it will be Brenda Bankson, followed by Elizabeth Clarkson. [02:32:58] Things that take time, sorry, Loudoun's motto, I bide my time. [02:33:15] It's hard to reconcile things that take time, energy, and planning with the fast pace of information, need for instant gratification, and influences. Let's hope that groups who research school renaming recommendations won't have to wait as long as it took to integrate LCPS after Brown v. Board. [02:33:36] Let's hope that final measures for collective bargaining don't linger much longer. Let's hope that DEIA, SEL, and Policy 8040 continue to help students combat bullying and racism in time. [02:33:52] High school students told Larry Ferlaso in Education Week what's important, being considerate, making a connection, having patience. These deserve time. Thank you. [02:34:09] Elizabeth Clarkson, followed by Megan Tucker. Banded facility. Prior to HCA's establishment, Hillsborough Elementary had an enrollment of 52 students and did not need capital improvements. [02:34:26] Almost a decade later, HCA is a thriving LCPS learning community with full enrollment in a lengthy waiving list. It is now time for LCPS to demonstrate its commitment by funding improvements commensurate with the school's enrollment and the impact HCA is having on its learners in Loudoun County. [02:34:41] We receive international awards for our STEAM curriculum, but our STEAM lab is best described as cramped chaos. We do not have a gym, and our PE teacher uses a tiny desk in her closet. Our stage doubles as our music room. The art cottage is a temporary trailer that has serviced the building for 25 years. [02:34:58] Our wonderful counselor's office is through another classroom and doubles as a teacher's lunchroom. If you cannot approve the charter renewal with a commitment for expansion and improvement, please continue working on the agreement and not rush it just for formality and convenience sake. While other Loudoun schools of similar size and age have received millions of dollars in improvement, LCPS board should not deny HCA the same share of capital improvement funding. [02:35:21] Thank you. Megan Tucker, followed by Pat Murr. I urge you to approve the charter renewal of HCA, but only with the provisions that ensure the commitment to an updated and expanded school facility. [02:35:38] As the STEAM Specialist and Dean of Curriculum at Hillsborough Charter Academy, I'm proud to affirm that HCA is among the finest elementary schools in our county, even in the nation. My perspective is not just professional, but personal, as my child is also a scholar here. I moved to Virginia specifically to take this job. In the eight years we've been at Charter, we've done amazing things like hosted Miss America, had multiple helicopters land in our field, hot air balloons, robotic dogs, flyovers, an actual airplane, dairy cows. [02:36:00] And next year, our tiny school will talk to the International Space Station, one of nine in the nation. We had senators from the Virgin Islands visit our school to see our steam innovation. Software developers test their products at HCA. We've had the chief innovation officer of the Space Force come to talk to our scholars at HCA. We've asked questions to NASA astronauts. [02:36:16] We were featured on NOVA during the eclipse. And the list goes on. We do big things in a space that is so small. Imagine what we could do if there was space to spread our wings. It's hard to fly drones and code robots when sharing a space with PE music in the cafeteria. We are literally bursting at the seams. Thank you to infinity. [02:36:33] Thank you, Pat Muir, and then we will start with our in-person. Our charter academy is the little school that could. My husband and I are proud grandparents to five grandsons who have either graduated from or are presently attending HCA. [02:36:50] The dedication of the faculty is evident in the many awards presented to the school. Personally, I have seen the spark for learning that the programs at HCA instill in the scholars. I ask that the board approve capital improvement funding to Hillsboro Charter Academy, as they have for other Loudoun County elementary schools, to provide for an updated and expanded school facility. [02:37:16] My question to the board is, why would you not? Thank you. Thank you. And we'll start with our in-person, starting with Sandy Sullivan and followed by Stacey Chapman. Good evening. I'm Sandy Sullivan, an elementary school teacher who currently serves the members of the Loudon Education Association as their president. I attended the majority of today's school board retreat. During part of Dr. Spence's post-entry presentation, I was pleased that he stated that collective bargaining is a strength of LCPS. He envisions all stakeholders [02:37:56] coming under one tent to do the best for our students, educators, and community. Loudon Education Association wholeheartedly agrees. The union looks forward to next week's legislative audit and policy committee where the collective bargaining resolution will be acted on. School board members, so many of you campaigned on collective bargaining for educators. Many, since you have taken office, have worked toward collective bargaining. Your employees look forward to engaging in meaningful collective bargaining with you to provide the best working conditions for your employees and the best learning conditions for your students. Thank you. [02:38:32] Stacey Chapman, followed by Corey Brunet. Good evening. I'm Stacey Chapman. I moved to Loudoun County in 1992. My children attended LCPS, and I'm here having served on five different naming committees. [02:38:52] I myself started school 20 years after Brown v. Board of Education and grew up attending fully integrated schools. I believe that the committees of the last few decades were made up of good, well-intentioned volunteers. Seven of the schools up for review were named at the same time that the names Margaret Mercer, John Ryan, and Cecilia Warfield were set aside due to unanswered questions should you move forward with the renaming process i hope you will follow ms tate's guidance and create committees that mirror her excellent system for new schools i hope that public listening sessions are held for all the schools on the list i was on the committee for belmont station it was named for its location where the w and od crosses belmont [02:39:31] ridge regarding belmont plantation i ask you to consider this it passed through the hands of a slave owner, an abolitionist, an equestrian farmer, and a residential developer. If you're looking for a name to illustrate how far we've come, Belmont is arguably it. [02:39:48] Corey Brunet, followed by Erin Kunkel. Good evening. My name is Corey Brunet, and I'm an English learner teacher at Broad Run High School. Yesterday, I was going through old photos on my phone and came across an email from a former school board member dated January 12, 2021. I had evidently asked earlier if we could have a collective bargaining discussion, and I took a picture of the response. Hi, Corey. Yes. How about sometime next week? Early mornings work best. This was an ordinary email response from an ordinary school board member, and the reason I bring this up is because of the date. January 12, 2021, more [02:40:27] than three years ago. LCPS educators have been fighting for this for over three years. I bet none of you were even thinking about running for the school board three years ago. While I was here, as were so many LCPS employees talking to the previous school board, just like we do with you now, about collective bargaining for over three years. The freshmen I was teaching that year are graduating on Saturday. It is time to vote yes for a collective bargaining resolution. LCPS will [02:40:54] never outperform its educators. Thank you. Erin Kunkel, followed by Yoko Jolly. Good evening. [02:41:13] In LCPS's ongoing commitment to fostering inclusive, respectful, and forward-looking educational environment, we must reevaluate the names of schools that honor figures or entities from the Confederacy. Renaming these schools is not merely an act of political correctness. It is a crucial step towards ensuring our educational spaces reflect the values of equality, unity, and respect for all individuals. Schools are places of learning, growth, and development of young minds. They should inspire students with the ideals of justice, freedom, and the pursuit of knowledge. When schools are named after Confederate figures, it sends a conflicting message to our students, particularly those who are from marginalized communities, who may see these names as symbols of oppression and exclusion. [02:41:53] It is about creating a learning environment where all students can be proud and feel represented. This changes the step forward towards addressing these historical injustices and systemic racism that have long plagued our nation and this country. As a black woman whose ancestors came to this nation and the state enslaved, it matters. Thank you. Thank you. Yoko Jolly followed [02:42:16] by Stacy Schirra. Stacy Schirra followed by Bradley Schirra. Bradley Schirra followed by [02:42:50] Palmer Jolly. Palmer Jolly followed by Brayden Jolly. Brayden Jolly followed by Angela Naubahar. Angela Naubahar followed by Joe Lupino Esposito. [02:43:22] Joe Lupino Esposito followed by Susan Cox. That's tough. No opener. I'm Joe Lupino Esposito and I'm the president of the Hillsborough Charter Academy Board of Directors. You know we submitted our proposal for a renewal to I guess to the old board officially in December but then officially to all of you in January and you know we've waited [02:43:59] to engage with this board asking you to empower our students and our faculty to help them enrich their education. I hope you see what I did there. What we want to ask you to for tonight is to take a second look at what's being proposed right now the proposal in front of you is to move it forward as staff recommends without any changes and without including any CIP funding so tonight I ask you instead to change your action item to include HCA into the CIP funding in the next coming year that can be accomplished over the summer or in the alternative you can move an action item to extend the current agreement without any conditions and further direct staff to actually do all the studies that are necessary in order to [02:44:38] get us onto that CIP plan come the fall. We are an LCPS school. We are proud to be, and we would like you to treat our students, scholars, and teachers the same. Thank you. Susan Cox, followed by Darius Hess. Stop with costly renaming that causes division and confusion. The political activist group Loudon for All justifies these changes because Virginia was a slave state. Well, it's not anymore. I don't want to rename it. If you look hard enough, you can find a reason to rename anything. This is a Marxist tactic. Literacy rates are down. There's fentanyl [02:45:16] overdoses, bullying, fighting, sexual assaults. You haven't fixed these issues and you say you can focus on more than one thing. Prioritize literacy and safety. Change hearts, not historic names or beloved schools. Others feel like I do but are afraid to go on record for fear of being docs. Why does Loudon For All want to follow the advice of a former governor who wore blackface and KKK attire? Enough is enough. The reason why people are pulling their children from from LCPS is not because of the school's names. Fix those issues. Listen to Scott Taylor, who runs the Black Heritage Museum in Arlington. Quote, I think we are tearing down history. You don't just [02:45:55] get rid of it. That's not how you calm, quell, or fix things. Let's learn from our neighboring counties. Thank you. Darius Hess, followed by Peter Liarni. Peter Liarni, followed by Suzanne [02:46:19] Satterfield. Suzanne Satterfield followed by David Milam. What? Peter's here. Oh sorry. The school board is supposed to use money to support education and learning in our district including the funding of teachers. I asked then why is Loudoun County High School facing a staff cut due to supposed lack of funds. Loudoun County High School is not offering any Latin classes in the classroom only [02:46:54] online starting in the fall due to cutting funding for staff. This is no way to learn. It's ridiculous. They're in a public school building and they have to learn online. This is directly impacting students like our son, who's gotten Latin awards last year and this year consecutively. [02:47:11] Next year, he will not have the opportunity to take Latin 5 in the classroom with the teacher because they cut funding for staff, in an area where the enrollment is supposed to increase next year. This directly impacts someone like our son who'll be applying to competitive tier one schools. [02:47:27] Not having further upper level Latin classes will make him less competitive send them back in college admissions. Sacrificing teacher staffing and course offerings for school naming changes is sort of questionable to me. Does naming school changing have anything to do with that? Suzanne Satterfield followed by David Milam. Please you are done sir. Thank you. You are finished. Please sit down. Thank you. Transparency, respect and dignity are more than lacking among this board and administration. False narratives and scare tactics are more prevalent. As the [02:48:05] communications and community engagement department grows we actually get less communication and engagement. A public meeting was held today, but not live streamed. How many of the 13 comms employees does it take to flip a switch? Money was wasted for a comms study that put out a mostly prefabricated report with bad excuses and lists community social media accounts as a threat. [02:48:28] 20,000 students have low proficiency in reading and math, but you blame it on their school names instead of addressing how to help these students. Safety should be a priority here. Last month was the three-year anniversary of the rape at Stonebridge. The no-questions-asked open-door 80-40 bathroom policy is still in place. A school board in Maine reversed their policy that was similar just last week, and they met with constituents. No one is born in the wrong body. [02:49:01] David Milam, followed by Mike Glenn. First of all, thank you for your service. Really appreciate you putting in your time and efforts to do this work. As a pastor, one of the things that is important to me is the Ten Commandments. Go figure. Not because they're traditional or conservative, actually because they're radical. The Tenth Commandment asks us to not covet one neighbor's household. Household is the key word in that. It's really, in the Greek, [02:49:32] it's oikos, which is the word for economy or ecology or ecumenicalism. And so as you consider the collective bargaining agreement that is before you i i urge you to be urgent about it the time will come when the budgets will be getting set in the fall and it'll be really important for the negotiations that go with collective bargaining to have that opportunity to be completed so please do that with expediency value your neighbor's household Thank you. [02:50:09] Thank you. Mike Glenn, followed by Andrea Weiskopf. Retain the name of the schools. [02:50:26] Mark the schools with a plaque that describes the place name and memory of the people related to the place. Include references to slavery being practiced at the original plantation. Include a note of regret that it happened at all in the history of the place. [02:50:42] This connects history with now. Look forward in the naming process. Use names of well-respected, accomplished citizens, historically well-known places, even if there's a long-ago connection to slavery. Over the years, family members related to the families that the schools are named after may have made significant contributions to American freedom in the American War of Independence, the Civil War, or subsequent wars by military service, risk of death, death itself. [02:51:15] People are not perfect. They make mistakes. People from the families associated with the names of the schools may have made mistakes regarding slavery and other things. Maybe recognize the mistakes, but move forward to build a better nation. And the last person will be Andrea Wisekopf. [02:51:32] Thank you very much. Please yield the microphone. Last week was disappointing. At the June 7th LAP committee meeting, the LCPS attorney delayed collective bargaining discussions because he claimed he needed to research an LEA proposal, a proposal that has been discussed at earlier meetings. Lying is unbecoming. [02:52:03] Delay is a union-busting tactic. Delay is also a tool of equity deniers, and those equity deniers are seeking to hijack the equity committee. At the June 6th meeting, the committee discussed priorities for at least the third month, and some of those proposed priorities were actually against equity equity committee members should at the very least understand what equity is the equity committee should be leading the charge for equity not waiting to meekly support others it is time to decide your course black [02:52:43] lives matter thank you and i believe that we'll uh thank you all for coming today and providing your public comment and board members at this time we'll take a short recess until 7 30 and [02:53:03] we'll come back at 7 30 about seven minutes thank you says and we will now move on to our action [03:01:43] items starting with 11.01 from lanp it will be presented by um chair chandler from the lanp Thank you, Madam Chair. [03:02:03] VSBA positions are submitted by school boards to be then approved by the VSBA Board of Directors and eventually voted on by the VSBA Delegate Assembly. Our school board, through the LAMP Committee, has presented three proposals to go through this process, including presented by Chair Mansfield, a higher education literacy audit, a proposal presented by Ms. Chernoff to streamline or to assess whether or not state mandated teacher training should be reviewed and should remove trainings [03:02:40] that are no longer appropriate or overly burdensome and from Ms. Donahue a proposal that school board should require their districts to provide information on safe firearm storage to their communities with that said I am I'm happy to offer Dr. Smith the opportunity to follow up on any of the procedural processes or to move forward. [03:03:07] Before we could make a motion and then discuss after it's seconded. Do I have a motion? Yes, Ms. Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the school board approve the VSBA proposed legislative priorities to submit to VSBA. [03:03:28] Is there a second? I second. - Thank you, Ms. Chernoff, it's been properly moved and seconded that the board approve the recommendations for the BSBA position changes. Do we have any questions? Yes, Mrs. Griffiths. - Thank you, Madam Chair. [03:03:44] I only had some questions where it was a little vague. The wording in the proposal to adopt an official position on the school board's enact requirements that districts provide instruct information on firearm safe storage laws evidence-based best practices to the students and families in their communities I just had a couple of questions because it was a little vague and I wasn't there for the LNP meetings the sentence that says shouldn't act requirements I was just curious to know what that meant and maybe miss Donna you can answer some of my questions and I could go one by one whatever you prefer [03:04:23] mrs. Griffiths I'm happy to I'm happy to answer if you if you want to go one by one. That's fine. I would, should enact, I would suggest is, I would suggest that the VSBA advocate for a, for the General Assembly to pass a law and the governor to approve a law that would require each school district in the Commonwealth to pass a policy that would require its division to produce to distribute such information within the district thank you so much i'm just trying to [03:05:01] understand um and thank you for helping me to understand um i also uh was curious about what are the current firearms safe firearm safe storage laws in case i missed it um is it possible to get a copy i'm looking for the laws for each school board member if they don't have it already yes So with regard to that question, Virginia does have safe storage requirements. [03:05:34] It is not, so Virginia's, the Virginia Code states it shall be unlawful for any person to recklessly leave a loaded, unsecured firearm in such a manner as to endanger the life or limb of any child under the age of 14. [03:05:54] and also says it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to authorize a child under the age of 12 to use a firearm except when the child is under the supervision of an adult. So those are the current state of Virginia's safe storage laws. [03:06:13] Thank you so much, Ms. Donoghue. And one more question. Where does the evidence-based best practices originate from? I'm not sure I understand the question. I mean, so, for example, I am aware that there is a group called Be Smart that has come to before the prior board and expressed interest in presenting their presentations either to this board or to individual schools. [03:06:42] They have, in fact, presented presentations at certain schools at the request of certain PTOs. However, I did not think it was appropriate to specify one specific program or organization, which is why I went with the language of evidence-based best practices to allow different districts to have some choice in what they feel would be the best, the most appropriate fit of putting together this information for the benefit of their communities without requiring one specific program or one specific vendor. [03:07:23] I want to thank you so much for answering those questions for me. Thank you. Of course. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? So the motion on the floor is that we go with the recommendation that the board approves the VSBA position changes. [03:07:43] Clerk, would you please open the vote? Board members, would you please record your vote? Ms. LaBelle, would you please state your vote? [03:07:59] Yes. Clerk, please close and display the vote. And that motion passes unanimously. We will now move on to our action items, starting with 11.01 from the Department of Academics, ensuring adequate professional development for teachers in 2024-2025, presented by Dr. Ashley Ellis, Chief Academic Officer. [03:08:32] Thank you, Ms. Mansfield. The only additional information I have since this was presented as an information item for the second time is in board docs is a draft of how staff would use the total professional development days if the additional four days in the motion were to be approved this evening so that is in there for your review we have worked with schools and the school leadership office and the teaching and learning and student services departments to draft this [03:09:05] schedule and it incorporates the VLA modules the new math and ELA standards and additional required professional learning we have not received any additional feedback since we last spoke and so that is the that's all I have in terms of additional information thank you Dr. Ellis do are there well do I have a motion yes Ms. Chernoff I move that the Loudoun County School Board approve the 2024-2025 revised calendar that includes four additional [03:09:44] professional development days october 4th 2024 november 4th 2024 january 28th 2025 and june 16th 2025 in order to ensure adequate professional development time for teachers thank you we have a motion by miss schernoff do i have a second second i have a second by miss donahue it's been properly moved and seconded or is there any discussion seeing no discussion um clerk will [03:10:14] you please open the vote board members will you please record your vote ms labelle would you please state your vote yes clerk would you please close and display the vote and that motion passes unanimously next we'll move on to item 11.03 the finance and operations committee school name review [03:10:46] process presented by kevin lewis our chief operations officer thank you chair mansfield I do have a couple of things to update the board on since our last Discussion with this with an information item. I did want to point out that the the Recommended action in the in the item tonight is a little lengthy So I wanted to go through that and make sure everyone understood That what is written there is a recommendation as a school board move forward with the potential renaming of non schools and that would include all the schools in groups a B and C and then [03:11:25] Begin that process with the first two schools that have already had their town halls Conducted which was Francis Hazel Reed and Mercer Middle School and that we would come back staff would come back in the fall with a Revised schedule to outline to the board our proposal for how the board would address the remaining seven the action also goes on this to further ask that the School board take no further action or that staff take no further action on schools in group D Which is the only one that was in that area was John champ high school or any other schools not identified in groups a B or C [03:12:05] At this time so the board would certainly have the option to come back later and revisit those but that was just the Initial for at this time. I also want to point out that this is not Tonight's action is not an action to rename any of the schools I know we've had some questions on there and a little bit of confusion. [03:12:22] So we wanted to clarify that tonight's action is only to begin the conversation. And so we have outlined that. And then so you would take, you actually have three different actions that you would take during this entire process. One tonight to begin the conversation. [03:12:39] The next one would be to establish the naming committees. And there's outlined in the policy of how the naming committees are constructed, who gets invited. each board member would have a member to appoint as well and so the second vote would be to establish that naming committee that would begin the conversation and then the third vote would be to accept or to not accept the the committee's recommendation once their work is finished and I did want to talk a little about a bit about the recommendation the policy is very clear on on how that process works the committee is to come back to the school [03:13:16] board with a preferred name for the school and at least two alternate names and it's also very clear that the but the board is not bound by the the committee's recommendation and also that any one of those three minimum of three at least two alternates any of those could be the current name of the school so the board could take action to keep the name as it is currently and so those are all opportunities for this board to be able to thoroughly have the conversation with the community talk amongst yourself listen to the community and then make decisions so you're not you're not forced into any [03:13:54] particular decision based on tonight's conversation the policy also requires a third-party review and that has already been done on the ones all the schools listed in a B and C and thanks to miss Donahoe for the conversation this afternoon to remind me that we've already paid for that so there's a question this week about how much money would be incurred just to have the conversation for for those schools and in groups a B and C and D as a matter of fact have already been incurred and the history has already been done so there be no further cost and the only expenditure would be staff and school [03:14:27] boards time to do so in the item you'll see that there is a school renaming process planner so we've outlined a schedule that we would begin the process with and this and the one that's in your board item is specifically for Frances Hazel Reed and Mercer middle school and acknowledges that the town halls have already been conducted for those and so you also notice that in that schedule that the public engagement would begin starting in August so even though the board would be taking action here in June you take a break in July so we would come back and begin that process you know after the school year [03:15:04] begins so I wanted to point out that and so all those are identified as how we would go through that process as it stands right now and then in the fall I mentioned a moment ago that we would come back in the fall with a planned schedule for the other seven schools and it would reflect the same items on this with a schedule for those as well the board will be needing to be thinking about how many of these we can do at a time and so that's those are conversations we can have the fall as well the last thing I wanted to point out is that the town hall process was very specifically written as town hall and not community meetings in the policy. [03:15:43] And the expectation of that by the board that crafted that policy was that these meetings would be conducted by the board members with particularly the hosting board member of the area the school has since served. So that's how the policy was intended and I just wanted to share that as well. [03:15:59] And so that concludes my overview and I have to take any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Any questions? No, I will entertain a motion. Yes, go ahead, Mr. Straffi. [03:16:14] Vice Chair Straffy. Yes, Ms. LaBelle. Madam Chair, I move to amend the base motion and move that this item be taken up as an information item at the board's next meeting in order to allow for further discussion by the board. [03:16:33] Ms. LaBelle, can you wait for that until after we make our first, because we don't have a base motion yet on the floor. So let's make our base motion on the floor seconded and then you can, and then that will be part of the second discussion. okay thank you um yes go ahead vice chair straffy thank you i move that the loudon county school board move forward with the potential renaming of any of the nine schools identified as groups a b and c in 2022 by the black history committee including francis hazel reed elementary school mercer middle school belmont ridge middle school belmont station elementary school selden's landing [03:17:13] elementary school sully elementary school hutchinson hutchinson farm elementary school Balls Bluff Elementary School, Emmerich Elementary School, and Emmerich Elementary School. Specifically, as town halls have already been held for the schools noted in Group A, staff is directed to move forward at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School and Mercer Middle School. [03:17:38] The renaming process will follow Policy 6510. Further, staff will return for board direction in Fall 2024, providing process timelines for the potential renaming of the seven remaining schools in groups b and c further staff is directed to take no further action on group d john champ high school or any other school not identified in groups a b and c at this time i have a motion by vice chair straffi do i have a second i have a second i have a second by dr deans it's been properly moved and seconded now is there any [03:18:10] discussion miss labelle yes madam chair i move to amend the base motion and move this this item be taken up as an information item at the board's next meeting to allow for further discussion by the board do we need a second or do i get to talk about why well we'll we need a second and then we well okay yeah we need a second and then um and then we can have discussion do i have a second second i have a second by mrs griffiths um it's been properly moved and seconded Okay, now, do we have any discussion? [03:18:51] May I? Yes, please, Ms. LaBelle. So far, I have found several errors in the information that has been provided to the board about the history behind some of these schools. I think we need to take a little more time to look at this. [03:19:11] I've also received over 1,500 emails saying not to rename the schools. So taking all of that in context, I think we really need more time to talk about the names, why they were chosen, you know, whether we need to rename them or whether we should go ahead and keep the names. [03:19:35] I mean, there are so many opportunities here, but keep the names and make the real history, all of it, good, bad, and ugly, known to everybody in the school and in the community. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. Is there any other discussion? Yes, Ms. Donahue. [03:19:56] Thank you, Madam Chair. I would respectfully disagree with Ms. LaBelle. This item was already on for information at our previous meeting of this board, and I would suggest that the conversations that she wants to have are important, but that they are more appropriately to be held within the process of renaming within those committees. [03:20:20] Thank you, Ms. Donahue. Any other discussion? Yes, Dr. Deans. I, too, disagree with Ms. LaBelle, and I think that while much of the work for the first two, at least, that work has already been done for us, that it has already been set in motion, and I would like for us to go forward with the previous background work of those first two schools. [03:20:48] Thank you, Dr. Deans. Is there any other discussion? Yes, Ms. Scherner. I have sort of a discussion back to the base motion. Would you like me to wait till we vote on Ms. LaBelle's amendment before we get back to that? Yes, ma'am. [03:21:03] Let's keep the conversation to germane to what we're voting on right now. Okay. Is there any discussion on Ms. LaBelle's amendment? Seeing none. Ms. LaBelle, would you please restate your amendment because I don't have it here in front of me. [03:21:20] Sure. Oh, just a second. Let me pull it back up. I just want everybody to know what they're voting on. Madam Chair, I move to amend the base motion and move that this item be taken up as an information item at the board's next meeting to allow for further discussion by the board. [03:21:48] Okay, we've already, that motion has been made and seconded. She restated it, so now that we know what we're voting on, clerk, would you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. [03:22:08] Ms. LaBelle, would you please state your vote? No. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Can you clear the board again? Just clear the board, please. Yeah, it's just for the amendment, but let's clear it because I think there was a misunderstanding. If you are voting for the amendment, you would vote yes. If you're voting against the amendment, you would vote no. And so [03:22:42] have you cleared the board? The board's not. And Ms. Lebellion, when you said no, that was like, well, maybe we need to restate that. I was like, wait a minute, which are we voting on? [03:22:56] hold on okay there we go okay now if you're voting in affirmative for miss labelle's it would be a yes if you're voting um i think you'll understand now right okay all right so board members go ahead [03:23:34] and put your vote in now miss labelle what would you like yes yes yes okay clerk would you please close and display the vote. Okay, that does not pass with Mrs. Griffiths and Mrs. LaBelle to affirm and then Dr. Deans, Ms. Chandler, Vice Chair Struffy, Chair Mansfield, Ms. Donahue, [03:24:11] Ms. Chernoff, and Dr. Rashid are opposed. All right, and now we go back to the base motion. And would you like for Vice Chair Struffy to repeat that base motion, or are we good? [03:24:33] We're good? Please repeat it. Oh, you want to repeat it? Okay. All right, Vice Chair Struffy, you can repeat the motion. Thank you. I move that the Loudoun County School Board move forward with the potential renaming of any of the nine schools identified as Groups A, B, and C in 2022 by the Black History Committee, including Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School, Mercer Middle School, Belmont Ridge Middle School, Belmont Station Elementary School, Selden's Landing Elementary School, Sully Elementary School, Hutchison Farm Elementary School, Balls Bluff Elementary School, and Emmerich Elementary School. [03:25:05] Specifically, as town halls have already been held for the schools noted in Group A, staff is directed to move forward at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School and Mercer Middle School. [03:25:20] The renaming process will follow Policy 6510. Further, staff will return for board direction in fall 2024, providing process timelines for the potential renaming of the seven remaining schools in groups B and C. Further, staff is directed to take no further action on group D, John Champ High School, or any other school not identified in groups A, B, and C at this time. [03:25:41] We had a motion. It has been seconded, and we can have some discussion. Yes, Ms. Sharanoff. I appreciate the clarification from Mr. Lewis. We had a long conversation about what we were voting for. [03:25:59] And last time, honestly, after our conversation on the dais, I was confused about what that motion would be. And that's why I wanted it to go back to committee, because I was just very unclear about what we were deciding. So upon doing more research and figuring out what the motion would be, I do think that this is a community decision. [03:26:19] And to that end, one of the communities that I have heard from from my district is Frances Hazel Reed. they've been going through a lot of change they're getting a new principal they also are title one eligible when as they weren't when this was first coming up I'm not sure how that plays in but also in speaking to my predecessor mrs. [03:26:39] Ogedegbe only four people attended the town hall one was the principal and one was miss Ogedegbe so that leaves really two people from the community that live in Leesburg that attended and so many feel that by bypassing the town hall that that would eliminate a very crucial step to hearing from the community at this given time I can't speak particularly for Mercer we have a recording of Mercer so and it seems like there was a fair amount of people in attendance so I feel like that's a little bit of a different situation but I would like us to consider whether or not we would be willing to move forward [03:27:19] with re having the town hall for FHR before moving on so I can make the amendment if you would like me to have the language would you like me to move forward or what is there other discussion I don't know if we should discuss that you can I think we shouldn't make it let's just keep it organized and make an amendment sounds good and then um so I make an amendment to the motion to remove the language specifically as town halls have already been held for the schools in group a staff is directed to move forward at the [03:27:56] start of 2024-25 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School and that would leave Mercer I guess the renaming process will follow policy 6510 so basically just to move Francis Hazel Reed out of that group that would not have that town hall so I might need some specific help on that mr. Allen thank - Thank you, Mr. Chernoff. [03:28:29] I believe as you stated it, it's clear. Your intent is to leave the motion otherwise untouched except to move out that Frances Hazel Reed, is that correct? - Yes, but I think then we would also have to move, the staff will return board direction for, would Frances Hazel Reed have to be added into that next statement, where it includes groups B and group C. [03:28:58] Basically, maybe we should just move francis hazel reed into group b and that would solve it would that be a better amendment so scratch that motion and i'll make a new one i move to amend to add francis hazel reed to group b so that it will follow the protocols of group b instead of group a um is there a second second [03:29:34] miss donahue seconds it um now is there any discussion yes mrs griffiths thank you madam chair uh while changing the names of the schools is highly unpopular and unnecessary i think our constituents would be okay with the following suggestion um as a history person there's nothing like walking into a school that has a display case with display case wait mrs griffiths i'm sorry to interrupt you but is this have anything to do with the amendment that's on right now i would like to [03:30:04] have further discussion okay for this amendment just discuss this amendment whether it is for town halls for francis hazel reed or not not okay is there any other discussion just for this amendment yes mr vice chair stoffee yeah so i just want to maybe a point of clarification maybe staff can assist um there's nothing in in the policy related to the renaming that would limit because the policy is pretty clear. [03:30:43] There's nothing that would limit our ability to go back and do those additional town halls. I just want to be clear. We would be fine there. Thank you, Mr. Estreffi. Yeah, that is correct. There is no limit to that, and we could do that. I think the simplest thing may be is we would come back in the fall, in August, and provide a new schedule. [03:31:05] One clarification that would include the time for that town hall, the one clarification that the current motion does have is that we would be moving forward with the first two. So the question I have, and then follow up with the seven. So the question is, are we moving forward with one and following up with eight, or do you wanna just delay the start of the two and allow time for the town hall, if that made sense? [03:31:32] - I mean, if I may, Madam Chair, from my perspective, I don't know how the rest of the board feels. I think having the two start at the same time, but entertain the town halls as, as the starting point, you know, as the starting point would be, uh, I think just for, for clarity and just to keep the same base assumptions of that original recommendation, I think is, seems to be the easiest, um, from my perspective, but happy to consider other options. Yes. [03:32:10] Yes, Ms. Lobel. Um, I'd like to see if we're going to take Francis Hazel Reed and have a town hall and take her off the list to start. I'd like to just also take Mercer off and let everybody have an opportunity once again to chime in because I don't think they all were paying attention back then. I think that removing all of them, letting them all start at the same time is a better choice. [03:32:42] Any other discussion? Yes, Dr. Deans. I think that that's a delay tactic and I would like for us to move forward with at least one of them where the work has where the town hall has already taken place and I assume that town hall is acceptable in terms of the number of people who showed up so I would like for the committee to at least go forward with one of them which would be Mercer I [03:33:19] think okay okay um any other discussion yes Ms. Chernoff I just want to clarify that for my end I just want to be clear that there's no assumptions this is not an effort to delay this is an effort to get appropriate feedback and the only reason I was willing to move forward with Mercer is because we got that feedback on record and I listened to it but FHR has no such record so I just want to make sure from my perspective that everyone understands is not to delay but to make sure [03:33:51] that the community is heard. I wasn't referencing your I was referencing taking both of them off would be a delay. So my suggestion would be to move forward with the Mercer, since it seems to satisfy the fact that they've already had the town hall. Okay. Ms. Chandler. Thank you, Madam Chair. [03:34:18] As a point of clarification, I would like to ask Mr. Allen to piggyback on Vice Chair Streffy's point. Is there anything that needs to be changed in the base motion that would prevent, or I guess i should say as the base motion stands do we need to change the language in any way to allow for a town hall to occur if that school board member in the district where the school is held would like to have an additional town hall i mean i would just like to point out that um although four [03:34:57] participants is not a great deal of participation it is a choice to participate or not and i'm sure that um all of these i mean i i don't have direct knowledge but i'm sure following our policy as we have that we have at least adequately um reached out to the community in that in that case so um dr spence would you like to weigh in well i'm just wondering if the board's okay if i try to offer some specific language that i think gets at what you are looking for as as uh perhaps uh sure enough you could mend your language a little bit if i just suggested the following [03:35:37] that you leave the first part of this motion intact, that the Loudoun County School Board move forward with the potential renaming of any of the nine schools, and then it names those schools. And then the second part of that, which says specifically town halls have already been held for schools noted in Group A, staff is directed to move forward at the start of the 2024 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School and Mercer Middle School, that piece of it. [03:36:03] I think if you just strike that as two town halls, as town halls have already been held for schools noted in Group A, Just strike that from the motion and then simply say specifically staff is directed to move forward at the start of the 24-25 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School and Mercer Middle School with a town hall to be held for Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School. [03:36:27] Perfect. Did you write that down? That should offer clarity. Did you write it down? Can you send it to me? I didn't, but I can repeat it. Thank you, Dr. Spence, for doing that. [03:36:42] Let me repeat it for you, Ms. Chernoff, and then perhaps you can just amend your request. Okay. I would say in the second part of the motion, which is under recommended action, you strike the words, as town halls have already been held for the schools noted in Group A, that you then keep everything else intact, and at the end where it says Mercer Middle School, you simply insert a comma and say, and hold a town hall for Francis Hazel Reed Elementary School. [03:37:09] I think that will get at what you're trying to accomplish without other significant changes to the motion. [03:37:27] Specifically, staff is directed to move forward at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year with the formation of two committees to respectively consider renaming Frances Hazel Reed Elementary School and Mercer Middle School and hold a town hall for Frances Hazel Reed Elementary School. [03:37:49] Does that sound okay? Second. Yes. Mrs. Donohue. Madam Chair, I called the question. We were almost there. [03:38:07] So now if you call the question, what I have to do, what, two-thirds to call the question? We have to vote to call the question. So that means that I think it's... So Lawrence needs to officially amend her motion anyway to amend as stated first. [03:38:30] I move that we strike the words specifically as town halls have already been held for schools noted in Group A, and to add after Mercer Middle School a comma and hold a town hall for FHR in paragraph two of the base motion okay so moved is there a second okay we have a second [03:38:57] by Ms. Donahue um okay so we can go ahead and vote um on that amendment clerk would you please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk oh Ms. LaBelle would you please state your vote is this on lauren's amendment or the base amendment yes ma'am this is on lauren's [03:39:29] amendment with when it says uh the words are i got that part i just needed to know which one okay uh yes okay so um okay and then clerk would you please close the vote and display it okay that That passes seven with Mrs. Griffiths and Mrs. Donahue in opposition, and the base motion [03:40:07] will be amended as such. So do we have to vote on the base motion again, or just because we have voted on it, it's done? Mr. Allen. Thank you, Madam Chair. By operation of that vote, that makes the base motion amended as such, and therefore you don't need to take another vote. [03:40:27] okay great we can move on i apologize i also had an amendment to propose i did not realize that in that last vote we were voting on the base motion as well as amended i thought we were only voting on she voted to amend the base motion so okay i have a another i'm in the same position that mrs donahue said i thought we were voting on ms shernoff's amendment not the base motion itself [03:41:02] Mr. Allen, would you please educate us on this? Yes, Madam Chair. The base motion has been amended as such, but nothing precludes another motion to amend that base motion as amended. [03:41:18] So, do we have another amendment? Yes, please, Madam Chair. Yes, Ms. Donahue. Thank you. I would propose that we amend the base motion as amended by directing staff to move forward with this renaming process for groups A and B, but with the direction to hold off for now with [03:41:44] groups C and B. Okay. There's a motion on the floor. Do you have a second? Second. It's been seconded by Ms. Chernoff. Is there any discussion? Could you review what the groups are in A and B? [03:42:11] I know we have Francis Hazel Reed and Mercer. What are the other schools that we're looking at right now? So, Ms. LaBelle, Group A is Francis Hazel Reed and Mercer Middle School. Group B is Belmont Ridge Middle School, Belmont Station Elementary School, Seldon's Landing Elementary School, Sully Elementary School, and Hutchison Farm Elementary School. [03:42:33] Group C is Balls Bluff Elementary School and Emmerich Elementary School. And Group D is John Champ High School. Yes, Mr. Struffy. Vice Chair Struffy. Thank you, Madam Chair. just so i can understand the the amendment um this is to um move forward so this the original base motion is to approve all schools and groups a b and c um for the uh name review process um [03:43:08] and uh is your motion removing groups b and c from that uh from that for consideration and just starting out with moving forward with a the base motion as i understand it is to approve all three of those groups but to await board direction on timeline for groups b and c and so we would approve a b and c in the base motion but only move forward in terms of timeline with a in august maybe if you can just help me understand the amendment certainly thank you for the question [03:43:47] Mr. Vice Chair I am not suggesting that we remove group B I am suggesting that we move the schools in group C to accompany group D and so my I'm madam chair if I may yes sir um so group D was removed from the um base uh last week it was in consideration I mean in the last board meeting was in consideration but it is not being there in the base motion it says further staff is directed take no further action on group D so the only one left would be C just wanted to clarify one more [03:44:25] time I would my proposal is to move the group C schools to the same category to be with as with group D instruct the staff to take no further action with regard to those schools at this time thank you for clarifying and one of those being Emmerich correct that's correct um yes Mrs. [03:44:55] griffiths thank you madam chair um i thought we were going to have further discussion and i did have a proposal that i wanted to make so west can you tell me if i can suspend the rules what can i do to discuss my proposal instead of going forward thank you mrs griffiths uh procedurally right now i believe miss donahue has proposed an amendment to the base motion as amended is that correct [03:45:30] has that received a second it did receive a second we're currently in discussion for that so mrs griffiths is your are you making a an amendment to the amendment proposed by mrs donahue currently i am not but i had a proposal that would halt not delay but another idea rather than going ahead with uh proceeding to possible name changes so and procedurally in - In order to do that right now, as you have the floor, [03:46:09] the way to do that would be to propose an amendment to the amendment proposed by Ms. Donahue. - Am I able to do that? Because there's been two amendments already. - So we, thank you for that. As a clarification, we closed out the amendment. [03:46:26] So we amended the base motion. And so Ms. Donahue's amendment is the first layer of amendments currently on the base motion amended previously so I'm not able to make a proposal is that what you're saying so mrs. Griffiths you you are allowed procedurally to make an amendment to miss Donahue's amendment currently well as far as amending the amendment my proposal and I was going to ask the board to consider history day [03:47:02] plaques murals field trips that would basically take the students to learn the history of these schools it's called the history day for the land you walk on so I would like the board my colleagues to consider that rather than going ahead with a drastic name changes of schools and instead teach the history instead of going into communities that formed around these schools and changing the [03:47:32] names do you have a motion is that a motion is that a motion that's a motion Okay. Would you please put it in a motion format that you make a motion to? [03:47:47] I would like to make a motion that we consider history day for the land we walk on or plaques and murals instead of taking drastic measures to change the names of schools. Thank you. [03:48:06] Okay. Is there a second? Second. okay so uh it appears that there is an amendment to consider history day for the land we walk on and or plaques and murals instead of renaming schools is that correct that is correct thank you and it has been seconded any discussion okay we will go i think you just did but okay um i wanted to add that just in general um you know and i did say this previously but just in [03:48:44] general um these communities were named after the civil rights movement um they were named in the some of them in the early 2000s, there was no ill intent with the namings of these schools. Committees were formed and communities were formed around these schools. [03:49:03] So if you start renaming schools, you're really going into the communities and destroying the communities that were built around these schools. So while I'm a history person and I enjoy history displays, murals, plaques, My suggestion, again, is to not take drastic measures and rename schools and instead consider something that teaches history. [03:49:32] And as far as Belmont goes, field trips to the burial site, which is not far from the school, would be beneficial to the students of Belmont Station and Belmont Ridge. so those are my suggestions it's significantly cheaper than changing names even though i i understand some of them are already done i just do not feel like we should be intruding on the communities that formed around these schools and i thank you for i thank my colleagues for considering this proposal history day for the land we walk on thank you thank you mrs griffiths [03:50:09] Okay. Is there any other discussion? Ms. Chernoff. I'll make it quick. I just wanted to say, I understand where you're coming from, Ms. Griffiths, in terms of honoring the history. And again, I just want to reiterate, we're not voting to rename the schools tonight. We're voting to engage the community in those processes. And so I would like for, I don't know what the, I don't know if the policy would preclude that being part of the conversation, but I know that my hope is that we will learn about our history here in Loudoun through this process and that that will be a part of the process as we engage those communities so [03:50:47] while I will not support that motion I do support the idea of learning about the history and making sure that we are that the communities are engaged in that process so I value the idea very much but I don't want to take this out of the hands of the community I think the communities do need to speak. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. Yes, Dr. Deans. I just want to share that even at this time, fourth grade history students take that field trip to the Belmont Cemetery for the [03:51:23] enslaved, but because it's done with specific educational narration or narrative, they understand it. [03:51:44] So I'm saying history's already been taught related to some of them. That's what I'm saying. And I'm saying that it does not change the history. We continue to teach the history, but I think at the time that these schools were named, the freedom of the community was not such that everyone had a voice. [03:52:09] And so I think that we need to move forward with allowing the conversation to go forward because in the early 1900s, there was not freedom in the minority community such that they had the freedom to speak openly. [03:52:29] Thank you, Dr. Danes. Okay, if there's no more discussion, we'll go ahead and put... Okay, go ahead. In speaking with some of the previous committee members that helped name these schools, they would disagree with you that when they were naming these schools, they were not trying to destroy history or, as I said, have any ill intent. [03:52:56] So they would disagree, and they spent a lot of time and hours coming up with names and trying to decide what would be best for the community. So, again, I think continuing, not just a fourth-grade class, but just continuing to teach the history instead of erasing it. [03:53:15] Because I feel like if you do rename schools, it's erased. You need to teach the history. That's how we learn about history. And I understand where you're going, where you're going to involve the community. [03:53:31] But the community did this 20 years ago and named the schools. And as I said, there was no ill intent. So that's my last word on that. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go ahead and take the vote for Mrs. Griffith's amendment to amend the base motion considering History Day for the land we work on or plaques and murals instead of renaming the schools. [03:53:56] Madam Chair. I'm sorry. Can I just clarify where this vote is to do with Mrs. Griffith's proposal, not with mine? Yes, because we have to go, she did it the last, then we're going to vote on hers, and then we'll vote on yours, and hopefully we will be done after that. [03:54:14] Thank you. Okay. All right. So, unless anybody else has one. So, here we go. This is, if you vote, yes, you will be voting to amend this. And, yeah, go ahead. [03:54:32] Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please. And then Ms. LaBelle, would you please state your vote? For Mrs. Griffith's amendment, yes. [03:54:56] Clerk, will you please close and display the vote? That motion does not pass with Dr. Deans, Ms. Chandler, Mr. Sefri, Chair Mansfield, Ms. Donohue, Ms. Chernoff, and Dr. Rasheed opposed. [03:55:15] All right, now we will move back to Mrs. Donohue's amendment. that takes, I believe, Emmerich and Balls Bluff and takes them out of and asks that staff take no direction on them at all. [03:55:39] Is that correct? At this time. At this time. Yes, thank you. Okay. Is there any more discussion? Yes, Ms. Donahue, go ahead and discuss. Yes, please. Thank you, Madam Chair. [03:55:55] I just, I wanted to say, We've already alluded to the fact that we've received a lot, I believe everyone up here has received a lot of community feedback regarding this action item. For me, most of the feedback that I've seen from individuals who are opposed to the proposal to rename schools, those concerns have fallen into two categories. [03:56:18] One, a concern that it is a waste of money, and two, a concern that it is erasing history. I did have a very helpful conversation with Mr. Lewis earlier today because I wanted to address the first of those concerns, which is, is this going to incur any cost to the division? [03:56:35] And my understanding is that for the juncture that we are currently at, it will not. The background information about the current school names, we have already received those reports. We have already paid for those reports. What we are voting on tonight is to form committees to investigate the possible renaming of the schools. [03:56:55] That is no cost to the division. Cost may come into play in the future if we go down this path and a future committee comes back and says, yes, we recommend renaming this particular school with this particular name. Then there will be a cost incurred to the division as part of the renaming process later. [03:57:13] But that is not what we are voting on right now. The second concern that we are erasing history, I strongly dispute that. We are not erasing history. we are reviewing and reframing the context that we are teaching history to our students in our community. The mothers and fathers of our country and our commonwealth were brilliant, complex, fallible people, and we can admire them and their amazing accomplishments while still acknowledging that, like most of us, they were imperfect human beings. They made mistakes. They did bad things. [03:57:48] Some of those were small and some were significant. I support the measure to rename the schools because naming public buildings after people is a way of honoring those people. I do not believe we should be honoring people who fought to support the continued institution of slavery and people who themselves enslaved others, or that we should be naming buildings after plantations where people were enslaved. [03:58:13] I believe there is a detrimental effect on young people of color, particularly young black people, when they walk into government buildings and institutions of learning when those buildings are named after enslavers of the past. And I believe we have an obligation to address that harm. [03:58:30] I'm also not aware of any suggestion there would be a corresponding detrimental effect on students who are not part of the black community if we were to rename some of our schools. Those are the reasons why I'm supporting this overall measure. That being said, I am proposing to, or I'm moving to change Group C because to me those schools based on what I have the information that I have read available to me seem a little bit different than categories A and B where category A is named are schools named after individuals who actually owned slaves and supported the confederacy and category B [03:59:08] are schools that are named after plantations where people were enslaved. My understanding is that Balls Bluff is named after a Civil War battlefield. That is a historic place, although I understand it was a battle that was won by the Confederacy. And as for Emmerich, again, the reading that I have been able to find, my understanding is that Emmerich was a superintendent of LCPS during Jim Crow period and was, I believe, the longest serving or one of the longest serving superintendents in LCPS history. So in doing some more reading and there's a report Loudoun County Courthouse [03:59:47] Path to Freedom Justice and Racial Equality and I'm happy to send this to you. The one thing that I find particularly egregious is on page 74 it says local support for separate but equal remains strong. The school board and superintendent O.L. Emmerich attempted to withhold funds for new and improved schools for african-american children and then it says in january 1956 the loudon county school board and board of supervisors attempted to use their control over funds for school construction to persuade african-american parents to accept segregated public education at a joint [04:00:27] session members of the two boards threatened to abandon a proposed bond issue to cover costs of new and improved schools for african-americans unless parents expressed their support for our considerate opinion that their education can be promoted better by their school continued school attendant on a segregated basis and that's where i have a problem with superintendent emrick so i will not be supporting that measure any other discussion if i may yes miss labelle oscar emrick [04:01:02] was the first supervisor of laden county public schools he moved to consolidate schools uh he got the black teachers the same pay as the white teachers. Yes, he was the superintendent all during the Jim Crow period. Jim Crow was the law of the land here in Virginia. When Brown versus Board of Education was passed in 54, it took a full year for the Congress to get it up and running. [04:01:40] It was passed, but they had to come out with the regulations. Then it was sent to the different legislatures in the country. The Virginia legislature under Harry Byrd started his movement to reject integration. [04:02:00] At that point in time, Oscar Emmerich made the decision to go ahead and resign. fine. He said there's no way he was going to continue under Harry Byrd's segregated school system. It was turned in in June. I'm sorry. Yes, June of 56, if I'm not mistaken. I don't have that paper in front of me at the moment. But you have to look at the dates. You have to look at what was [04:02:34] going on and compare it side by side. As I said, there's a lot of information that's been put out. you can look at it from both directions. And I think we need to take the time to do that before we make any decisions about name changes. And it should be up to the community where the school is located. It shouldn't be people from one side of the county making decisions for people on the other side. It has to be a local decision. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. I think that that would be part [04:03:08] of the town hall process that would be for that particular school as well so let's go ahead and take a vote on Ms. Donahue's motion yes Ms. Dr. Deans did you want to say something yes Dr. Deans I just wanted to share that in addition to names and in addition to the to the the years and the [04:03:38] time frame. There are also studies that indicate the emotional effect or impact on minority students being required to live under the auspices of these historical names. So there is additional research that can be done and presented that will give us additional information. I just wanted to [04:04:08] it thank you dr deans any more discussion no okay so um the motion as stands miss donahue would you like to restate your motion so that we all remember it and um i know it's already been uh it's been we also have a second it's been probably moved and seconded but would you please repeat it so that we know what we're voting on yes thank you madam chair i move that we move the schools in [04:04:44] or I move that we amend the base motion to direct the staff to take no further action at this time regarding the schools in group c as well as group d thank you okay we're going to go ahead and vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote Ms. LaBelle would you please [04:05:14] state your vote yes clerk will you please close and display the vote and that motion does not pass with Dr. Deans, Ms. Chandler, Ms. Griffiths, Vice Chair Struffy, Ms. Mansfield, and Dr. Rashid in opposition. [04:05:38] Okay, so then we go back to the original base motion as amended by Ms. Chernoff. Are we good? I think we're done with that one. [04:05:58] So vote for finality. The base motion as amended. All right. Board members, will you please? um record your vote you're voting on the motion as it was amended by lauren uh miss libylle would you please state your vote yes clerk please close and display the vote and that motion passes with [04:06:38] mrs griffiths um in a post all right so wow now we will move to our information items okay so we'll move on to our information items starting with item 12.01 office of superintendent our post-entry plan presented by dr spence our superintendent thank you madam chair vice chair straffi members of the board and of course our community i'm happy to present this evening a [04:07:12] post-entry plan report which was also presented earlier today during the retreat my goal tonight is going to be to share an overview of the plan a significantly abbreviated overview of the plan with the with the notion that the the report earlier was both recorded and is also available in board docs will or is already available online and we certainly would encourage folks to take a look so again just a reminder this past year has been really kind of an amazing journey of listening and learning and laying the groundwork for our continued successes my entry plan involved as you all know visiting with stakeholders from all over Loudoun County and engaging directly with [04:07:51] students families staff and community members and ensuring their voices were heard through these interactions I gathered valuable feedback began to assess the current state of our schools and departments and work to understand community and staff concerns while I've had the opportunity to meet with members of this community in many many settings I also especially enjoyed the staff and community listening sessions that we hosted at each of our high schools these provided invaluable insight into the hopes and dreams we hold for our school division as well as practical actionable ideas and suggestions about how we might leverage our strengths to address opportunities for improvement. So I hope this post-entry plan serves as the next chapter of our journey together as a [04:08:29] school division and a foundation for the work ahead and with that let's dive right in. Just as a bit of process the voices of our LCPS community members and staff were again a top priority as I developed my post-entry plan. To this end I'm grateful to everyone with whom I had the opportunity to meet who also shared thoughts via community listening sessions a thought exchange and family and staff surveys from october 2023 through april of 2024 our team conducted a series of 19 listening sessions with the lcps community and our staff to better understand our hopes and dreams to understand what lcps is doing well and also to reflect on how lcps might improve as i already stated i i continue [04:09:09] to believe it's really important that we build this uh this common culture of trusts within the lcps community and these listening sessions really helped me understand what the community people in our community are looking for these sessions were generally well attended and the feedback providing during these sessions has been carefully documented reviewed and analyzed and it's a foundational component of this report additionally our team launched a thought exchange activity on may 23rd to all lcps community members and staff to both validate what we heard in the community's [04:09:43] listening sessions and also provide our community the opportunity to give additional feedback and rate the feedback provided by others. In February of 2024, our team also distributed electronic surveys to LCBS parents and staff to collect data about the perceptions of our families regarding some of the school climate factors that influence student achievement. Questions included topics like teacher-student interactions and relationships, roles and expectations, communication in school environment. And these responses provided yet another invaluable source of information for this post-entry plan. I also, during this period, launched several initiatives, such as a blue [04:10:22] ribbon panel on school safety and security, a communications audit, an educator's cabinet, and the development of a committee to begin working on an instructional framework, just to name a few. And I continued to meet with various advisory groups throughout the year as well. And the VDOE also conducted an audit of our special education program. And if you take all of these things together these different sources of information did provide opportunities for feedback and voice in numerous ways and it's all helped inform the recommendations that are in the report. Before I get to those recommendations however I just want to summarize what I've learned starting with our community hopes and dreams. It's clear again to me that our community [04:10:58] hopes our students can grow and develop into productive and prepared and problem-solving adults in safe and supportive environments that we provide. Overall our community believes LCPS can serve as a safe and welcoming space for equitable growth and development with every party focused on preparing the citizens of tomorrow. Our staff similarly aspire for a supportive, equitable, and communal climate and division culture that both recognizes their expertise and also their hard work. And attracting and retaining staff at LCPS is a key goal of our staff members alongside regionally competitive salaries and benefits. So a deeper analysis [04:11:35] revealed three broad areas of shared hopes and dreams for LCPS, learning and opportunities, climate and culture, and career and development. Our stakeholders desire for students to have opportunities and pathways, to have a love of learning and curiosity, as well as equal opportunities for staff and students. Additionally, our community expressed a desire for LCPS to have a tighter focus on learning, to ensure strong academics and curriculum, for students to experience engaged learning and enjoyment, and for LCPS to expand its programs and offerings. The second theme under hopes and dreams can be categorized as climate and culture. In this area, stakeholders shared that they want our students and staff to feel like they belong, that they're thriving in a [04:12:13] supportive environment, they feel safe, they have access to mental health supports, and they're empowered to share their voice, and that also there's a sense of responsibility and accountability in a culture that fosters diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Under career development, our stakeholders want students to have real-world experiences, to be prepared and ready with 21st century skills for the future, to express citizenship and civic engagement, and for us to offer robust career and technical education experiences. So in addition to identifying and understanding these hopes and dreams, it's also important to try to understand what we're doing well. I always believe that approaching the work through a strengths-based lens and [04:12:53] understanding where we are already succeeding as a school division helps us build on those strengths to take on our challenges. So what are we doing well? The LCPS community and staff underscored a positive outlook on the overall effectiveness and supportiveness of the school system and they highlighted significant areas where the organization excels. In other words, as a school division, we do a lot of things really well. For example, I heard overall positive perceptions of the academic opportunities and programs offered by LCPS, which highlighted the division's commitment to providing diverse and rigorous and inclusive experiences that prepare students for future success. And the LCPS community and staff appreciate the variety of [04:13:31] extracurricular programs offered and specialized programs like those that we have through our science technology engineering and math that are STEM initiatives. Overall the feedback I collected reflects a strong appreciation for staff support and the mentorship programs in place highlighting their role in fostering the development integration and retention of new teachers within division. [04:13:51] Staff feel equipped with the tools and resources needed to perform their jobs effectively and new teachers often feel more confident and competent in their roles due to the support they receive. Overall LCPS professional development is perceived as robust and highly beneficial to educators and contributes to their professional growth and instructional effectiveness. [04:14:10] Professional development sessions are valued for their quality and they are diverse and address multiple skills and innovative teaching practices. And importantly, LCPS demonstrates an ongoing commitment to professional development improvement for their educators. I received feedback around technology integration, reflecting a strong positive sentiment with regards to technology in the school division. [04:14:31] Access to devices and support systems, professional development, and innovative programs contribute to a modern effective and inclusive educational environment and it was also noted that we have established an artificial intelligence work group to provide common learning experiences around these emerging technologies. I also heard a strong positive response to the division's efforts in communication and engagement of note most what came out of the communications audit that has been shared with the board and of note communication from the central office and school administration has improved, and it was noted that LCPS does make concerted efforts to communicate and celebrate [04:15:07] achievements and to engage with the community. We also found areas of strength in our commitment to school improvement, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and certainly in our commitment to safety and well-being. In fact, the stakeholder input that I collected reflects a high level of satisfaction with the division's efforts to promote safety and well-being, and comprehensive measures and proactive communication strategies contribute to a secure, healthy and supportive environment for our students and staff. One of the most frequently repeated themes was about the quality of our staff. I heard overall high regard for the quality of LCPS staff and [04:15:47] teachers, combination of professional expertise and dedication and a supportive attitude contributes significantly to the positive educational experience for our students. I also heard feedback that reflects a very strong and positive sense of community within lcps and we we heard generally positive feedbacks and overall satisfaction with the divisions facilities and resources and and staff and community members appreciate the emphasis on maintaining modern and well-equipped and safe environments it was noted that there is a strong commitment to ensuring student success within lcps and that there is a combination of high quality teaching comprehensive support services [04:16:25] innovative programs and a positive school culture that contributes to the academic and personal achievement of our students there was some positive feedback about school board governance particularly because nine new board members came aboard and were able to take time to participate in an onboarding process that allowed them to begin developing relationships and work together and the community took notice and there are positive comments there were positive comments about the school division having adequate non-staffing resources with the county fully funding the fiscal year 25 school board adopted budget the last time for which was in fiscal year [04:17:04] 16. we also noted that the legislative audit we also heard that people were pleased that the legislative audit and policy committee continues to work towards the adoption of a resolution for collective bargaining something which the previous school board voted to move forward and which for which the LEA continues to advocate. [04:17:21] So with all of that for context, we know we have much to celebrate LCPS. The staff and community members also rightly set high expectations for the school division and are not afraid of calling attention to areas that need improvement. Our community frequently commented on increasing students' access to opportunities, such as academic programs and extracurriculars, and modifications of division policy and priorities, such as budget special education support grading and assessment and discipline practices our lcps staff center their areas of improvement on competitive pay that would attract and retain qualified professionals on english learner support as well as changes to division schedules and start [04:18:00] times grading and assessment policies and the need for additional access to professional development and division consistency and continuity lcps stakeholders would like to see improvements in the way we allocate and manage our resources and how we develop apply and evaluate policies to to support our learning objectives and treat individuals equitably. [04:18:20] So to just quickly summarize these areas of improvements, stakeholders in LCPS want increased clarity and consideration of fairness as budget and resources, including staff positions, are allocated throughout LCPS. While identifying resource gaps was common, a more specific concern was how staffing ratios were often blunt instruments that did not consider varying levels of student need. [04:18:40] LCPS stakeholders want reduced class sizes and more individual attention for students. They want bright, modern, and updated learning environments spaces including classrooms and outside environments that support more flexible or hybrid learning models they want increased staff retention and recruitment and improved discipline and behavior systems clarity on division policy and governance they also want grades and assessment policies that set clear expectations particularly around the 50 floor formative assessments and retakes they also are looking for realignment of the administration or school administrators role policy and actions to support teachers and students. [04:19:19] They want to know that administrators and teachers and central administrators are working collaboratively through the school improvement process, for example, to make it a more meaningful process between and among school leadership and central office staff. They also are very interested in schedules and time management that allow for more collaboration or planning and increased flexibility. [04:19:41] LCPS stakeholders would like to see increased and improved opportunities for students and staff to develop. and the figure in the center shows eight of the more frequently provided themes in this area. Specifically, LCPS stakeholders want to better ensure that equity and equal opportunities are provided for students and staff across all schools. They want different opportunities and pathways for students' academic and post-academic success. They want robust academic, extracurricular, and other formal programs and offerings across all and not just some campuses. [04:20:12] They want teachers to be better positioned to offer alternative ways for students to learn and complete tasks based on students' abilities and interests, which is broadly defined as differentiation or individualized learning. Our community and staff want better English language learner support, and they want more integrated special education that promotes staff collaboration and meaningful plans for students with disabilities. They want improved or expanded mental health and support resources, and they want professional development and learning opportunities for staff members that are efficient, targeted to specific roles, and relevant to ensure up-to-date knowledge, and that helps staff advance to fill critical roles. Like the hopes and dreams [04:20:50] section of our listening sessions, our stakeholders called attention to the ways in which our structures, supports, and cultures that support successful schools and organizations need improvement. Climate and culture can be both visible and also invisible, less formal and harder to see at first glance, and the figure here shows 10 of the more frequently provided themes in this area. For example, LCPS stakeholders offered comments that spoke to the need to create a strong climate and culture, including overall quality and character of school life in broad terms. They also want greater transparency and openness and communication [04:21:26] between LCPS administration with all stakeholders. They want improved communication skills for our administrators, staff, teachers, and students. They want increased consistency and continuity and high and consistently applied expectations and standards for staff, administration, in students that support a culture of continuous improvement. They want the development of a culture of responsibility and accountability that supports high expectations, particularly with our students. They want leadership and empowerment so that increased trust is created and authority is given to individuals who have responsibility to make decisions and take action [04:22:02] on behalf of themselves or others. In particular, our teachers want to be trusted as professionals. They want compensation and recognition for staff that reflect the value they provide to our students in our community and reward staff for making a difference. They want increased balance in the level of effort being expected of staff, students, and others to promote well-being. [04:22:22] They want increased or improved physical, personal, or psychological aids to staff, students, and family members to ensure a supportive environment. So with those understandings, with the understanding of where we want to go, with the understanding of where our strengths are and where our opportunities to improve are, and as I've described in this plan, what I've learned through the listening sessions and through engaging in our entry plan actions and the audits and the reviews and the community listening sessions, my aim here in this section is to provide you with what actions we might want to consider first that will move us forward. [04:22:58] So we've learned a lot, and it is important that we don't try to tackle everything that we've learned. It's important that we don't try to tackle a large laundry list of next-level opportunities, because I think trying to do too much might lead to confusion and, quite frankly, would run counter to the concepts of focus and coherence to also ensure that we remain focused on our strategic plan what I'm going to do is I talk about these recommendations is frame the top priorities for LCPS's next level opportunities within the goals of the strategic plan and it's also just important to say that we need to work together to prioritize even these priorities [04:23:32] because again we can't do all of this at one time or we risk losing focus so I've identified five next level opportunities for empowered students first that students and their families need to be supported to navigate and explore the multiple pathways and unique opportunities that we do and will provide at LCPS campuses now and in the future. As our students advance through their academic careers, teachers and counselors should work with them and their parents to explain options, what the prerequisites are for those options, and how those options will help them attain graduation and post-secondary success. We should also revisit our curriculum and instructional practices to ensure we're consistently teaching [04:24:10] using evidence-based approaches, providing students with rigorous and appropriately challenging materials and exposing them to content views and perspectives that balance time-tested foundational texts and culturally relevant and current voices. Importantly, we need to realign assignments and assessments for students and our evaluation practices for teachers to reinforce our desire to instill a love for learning, for problem-solving, and for critical thinking to prepare students for their next path. We also need to re-examine our alternative pathways, our career and technical education, and other valued and unique programs like HAMSAI and [04:24:46] the academies of Loudoun to determine whether these programs have suitable space to meet current and anticipated demand from students and families, as well as whether or not they're geographically distributed evenly across our neighborhoods. I know we were having conversation earlier this evening, for example, about the expansion of IB into the eastern part of Loudoun. When certain models appear successful or oversubscribed, we should find ways to expand them and replicate them on additional campuses. Students also need to be educated on digital citizenship and held accountable when they make mistakes. We need to set clear policies on personal device use, including cell phone usage, something you'll be talking more about this evening, [04:25:21] and the appropriate use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. These policies should not decide between an outright ban or complete permission, but should allow students to know when they can use technology and when they should not. As we chart a path towards more individualized and differentiated learning, we need to find ways to break down silos that can sometimes exist between classroom instruction and specialized supports for students, for example, with disabilities or English language learners and newcomers. [04:25:47] As we do that, we should lean into the conversation we were having earlier today about deepening our engagement with our multi-tiered systems of support framework and exploring the increased use of best practice co-teaching models, flexible academic schedules to maximize students' time in the classroom, and opportunities to engage with their peers. [04:26:06] I've identified four next-level opportunities focused on our second goal of exemplary staff. We understand that teachers and staff need a balance between their professional and personal lives and they also need balance within the school day. So we need to have an honest conversation about schedules and identify ways we can support our educators to achieve a balance between teaching and supporting students and having the time needed to plan for instruction and accomplish other tasks. [04:26:29] We should also continue to evaluate and improve our hiring practices to ensure we're attracting candidates that reflect the students we serve and that fill critical positions at campuses so they do not remain unfilled. We should examine the support we provide to recent hires and explore ways to make sure those recent hires are connected to the principals and supervisors, master teachers, grade and subject matter teams, and newly hired peers. We should also ensure that all staff have access and choice in professional development that's relevant to their position and their experience. And finally, then although compensation is not the only key to retention, there's no doubt that it's important. So as funding and policies allow, we need to examine our compensation package [04:27:06] to ensure that all staff can afford to live in our community and are rewarded fairly for their work for professional advancement i've also identified three next level opportunities focused on an enriched school division goal three of our standard strategic plan we should scrutinize our budget through the lens of equity and equal opportunities ensuring that each school is equipped with the funding and resources to address the needs of the students attending that school to reinforce our desire for positive school climate and culture we should create spaces and leverage existing time in the school year and school day for teachers student and other members of each campus community to connect and build relationships with one another and we should be administering [04:27:44] research validated surveys of our students parents and staff to gauge their sense of belonging and whether they feel they have agency and voice in the decision making processes at their schools to continue to uplift safety and security is a top priority we will work with the school board in our schools to implement many of the recommendations from the work of the blue ribbon panel on safety and security which was commissioned during the entry plan process and then finally I've identified three next level opportunities focused on goal four which is an engaged community. First, we should renew our focus on family engagement strategies and begin by identifying the common touch points for families with school staff and identify promising [04:28:20] models in our schools and across the division for resolving concerns, whether that's more formal or informal meetings, opportunities with principals and teachers, leveraging existing positions like our school-based parent liaisons, or continuing to ensure the division ombuds office is well understood as a resource for our community, staff, and families. With existing resources, I do intend to create an office of family and community engagement that brings many of these functions together to make it easier for families and community partners to access the resources they need to engage with LCPS. Just as we set high expectations for students we should also set high expectations for ourselves so we should be tracking and reporting our progress towards goals [04:28:58] representing multiple robust measures of success. We appreciate the opportunity to work with the school board today to begin identifying these priorities for progress monitoring and look forward to that continued work and at a minimum I know that we will be thinking about how to report whether all students have access to the opportunities we provide and we must also seek to better understand how our graduates are faring academically financially and socially as they have been prepared to leave us and pursue post-secondary programs and careers and then we must also reinforce our values of creating a culture of trust openness and accountability by working [04:29:34] together the administration and the school board to use these meetings as we've been doing tonight for example, to thoughtfully address our biggest challenges and concerns, and we should not shy away from difficult topics. We should be okay with that, and we must work together on strategies to keep these conversations structured in ways that remain productive. So as we conclude this important chapter of listening and learning, I just want to say that I have been moved and inspired by the aspirations shared by our community and our staff for the future of Loudoun County Public Schools. [04:30:07] I think the hopes and dreams of this community reflect a deep commitment to creating an environment where our students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. And it's clear to me that we all share a vision of LCPS as a place of dynamic learning and robust support and equitable opportunities for all. It's clear that together we envision a school system where students are prepared for the next steps in their academic journeys and are equipped with the skills and values necessary to become the productive and compassionate and innovative leaders of tomorrow. So as we move forward together again, let's build on those strengths that have made us a beacon of excellence and let's acknowledge that our commitment to academic [04:30:45] rigor professional development innovative practices will continue to drive our success I want to thank the school board for your partnership in this journey I want to thank our community and staff for the same and I look forward to the great work that we will do together moving forward thank you Dr. Spence board members do you have any questions no okay So we will move on to item 12.02, Department of Business and Financial Services. [04:31:21] Oh, Ms. LaBelle, did you have a question? I can't hear you. You're muted. [04:31:42] Sorry. I was just reaching to go back to my agenda on my computer here so I could see what we were coming up to next. Oh, sorry. Okay. Then I had to go back to this particular screen to unmute. [04:31:57] Sorry. Sorry. okay we'll move to item 12.02 department of business and financial services fy 25 budget supplementals resulting from final fy 25 state adopted budget presented by ms sharon willoughby our chief financial officer ms willoughby thank you due to timing differences between the county budget adoption process and the state budget process lcps adopted its fy 25 budget on february 6 based on the funding levels included in the governor's proposed budget as the general assembly [04:32:34] convened and deliberated the potential for an additional 19 million dollars in state funding was identified subsequently on april 2nd the county board of supervisors voted to fully fund lcps's fi 25 budget with one change that change was to reduce the county transfer by 19 million and increase state revenues by 19 million bringing the total state revenues to 530 million 811 thousand six hundred and fourteen dollars on may 13th the fy25 state budget was finally adopted that included a final appropriation to lcps which increased state revenues to 532 million eight [04:33:13] hundred eighty nine thousand six hundred twenty six dollars approximately two million dollars more than what is currently adopted in the fy25 budget therefore staff recommends that the school board seek a budget supplemental for the additional $2,078,012 of state funding for the school operating fund for FY25. [04:33:35] Unless otherwise directed, this item will return as an action or consent item for the June 25th school board meeting. If approved, the supplemental request will be transmitted to the county board of supervisors for their consideration and action in July before their break in August. [04:33:52] If the county board of supervisors approves the budget supplemental, funds will be loaded to the non-departmental budget for use in FY25 with funds targeted to enhance the pay of certain summer school part-time positions such as teachers recognizing the hiring challenges we've experienced hiring for these part-time positions. The market is competitive for these hard-to-fill positions and our part-time pay was significantly lower than our neighbors so the timing of these funds to support this important and important initiative is is valuable fine finally we've had a similar [04:34:26] situation before so i do not anticipate any questions or concerns from the county with this supplemental request and with that i'd be happy to answer any questions thank you miss willoughby does anyone have any questions seeing no more questions can i get a thumbs up to move this to consent for our june 25th board meeting this will be for a thumbs up for consent okay it looks like [04:35:02] will go to action for the June 25th board meeting. Next, we will move to item 12.03, Specialized Programs and Centers Committee, Hillsborough Charter Academy Renewal Agreement and Application, presented by Dr. Rasheed, Chair, Specialized Programs and Centers Committee. [04:35:24] - Thank you, Chair. The Hillsborough Charter Academy's Charter School Agreement is due for renewal by June 30th. It's the third renewal since the charter initially granted in 2015 and the charter agreement is revised and reviewed for renewal every five years it was it was voted at the june 4 2024 committee meeting to forward the agreement to the full school board with their recommended staff changes I will turn it over to dr. Ashley Ellis for any additional information thank you dr. Rashid I can provide a little bit more background and [04:36:02] then mr. Allen and mr. Lewis and I are happy to answer any questions that you have I did want to mention that on February 6th, the SPC committee received an overview of charter schools in Virginia and in LCPS as background prior to receiving the draft charter school agreement. [04:36:23] As Dr. Rasheed mentioned, this is the third renewal of the Hillsborough Charter Academy Agreement since the charter was initially granted in 2015. The charter agreement is revised every five years, for renewal every five years, excuse me. I did want to provide a little bit of background on what was shared at the February SPC committee. [04:36:44] That background is all in board docs for that meeting, and it comes from the Virginia Code and BDOE guidance on charter schools. The public charter school is responsible for its own operations, including but not limited to budget preparation, contracts for services, and personnel matters, as are specified in the charter agreement. [04:37:06] I'll also share that in board docs, there are several documents, so I wanted to make sure you were aware of what each of those documents is. You'll see the HCA renewal application that is quite thorough and is required by board policy 5410. The HCA renewal and additional supporting information was shared by the hca principal and hca board chair at the spc committee meeting in april we also shared and it's in board docs for you this evening the redlined version of the agreement [04:37:42] that hca proposed at that time as well as a table of the recommended edits hca brought forward that was discussed at the in committee a list of staff recommended changes to the hca recommended version is also in board docs for your review and then a redlined and clean version of the agreement that includes staff recommended edits to the hca recommendations that was approved by the spc committee as dr rasheed mentioned at their june 4th meeting at the at the meeting in april the hca [04:38:18] principal and board chair shared all of the wonderful work happening in the hca community I do encourage you to go back and see that presentation and watch the video that's in board docs. Most of the edits were not of concern to staff, but staff did share concerns with the HCA recommended language that would include the HCA property in the Loudoun County School Board's CIP. [04:38:42] And as I mentioned, I'm happy to answer any questions and Mr. Lewis and Mr. Allen are available as well. Board members, do you have any questions? Yes, Ms. LaBelle. Ms. LaBelle, you need to unmute pretty please. I want to make sure I was getting the mic on. Does the clean copy reflect all the changes that we need to have done for the charter in order for it to be included in [04:39:16] the CIP, all the recommended and agreed on changes? No, ma'am. That is one of the concerns that staff brought up to the SPC committee and those amendments were not included in the version approved by the SPC committee. Thank you. What were some of the concerns? Thank you. Mr. Lewis [04:39:51] is going to address that question. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. So the request for the project to be included in the CIP, which can be found in paragraph 29.1, is a list of requirements that have been identified by the charter school committee, but are not included in your current agreement or the current lease with the facility in addition to that they are not uh have not been defined and and as as we have had a number of conversation in the spc committee that that represents a risk for the school board by not knowing what the cost of those those improvements [04:40:27] could possibly be we don't know if the request the requested improvements would even fit on the property we don't know how much they would cost and so conversations like these are better had with the school board during the capital budget conversations that will take place this fall with this board. [04:40:45] And at this point, we are not able to recommend and including those in the agreement because it's undefined. And at this point, it is not what was meant intended by the previous board when introducing the lease. What started that initially was the Hillsborough School was determined to not be needed for by one of the previous boards. [04:41:09] that school was closed and so therefore those students were would be moved to other schools and we would not continue to do improvements to that facility so those are costs that were not intended by the previous board when the charter school was created thank you is there any other questions yes Mrs. Griffiths Hillsborough Charter School is a top school in Loudoun County I'm just curious to know why is this why is this not a higher priority than renaming [04:41:45] schools as part of the CIP program. So I think Ms. Griffiths if you if you understand what Mr. Lewis was saying previous agreements with the HCA previous charter agreements with HCA reflected what he was saying which was that there was no intention for HCA to be included in the CIP for the kinds of expansions that are contemplated in their suggested language in paragraph 29.1 it was actually clear that HCA was accepting the building where is as is and would be responsible [04:42:24] for maintenance of that and we have provided additional layers of support through the cap over the years so I'm trying to kind of interpret your question about why this would not be a greater priority compared to other schools so we have a capital improvement program that capital improvement program is approved annually by the school board this one that we are currently operating under was approved by the last school board because it's approved in the fall of each fiscal year that capital improvement program is the list of priorities for the work that the school division intends to happen relative to the replacement renovation and remodeling of schools across the [04:43:02] school division right so that's where you see if you look in the capital improvement plan the list of projects that are planned out over the course of the next six years that conversation happens every fall with the school board and the priorities are determined during that conversation so right now there is no contemplation of HCA as a part of those priorities if the school board wishes to engage in that conversation it's been staff's position that that conversation would need to happen during the CIP process in the fall and generally as a part of the cap process which has been the agreement between HCA and the school division what the concern that mr. Lewis was expressing is is [04:43:40] that there's an extensive list of asks and the proposed language of this agreement for example permanent facilities for music for art for steam based learning, permanent facility for counseling, innovation services, a gymnasium, permanent facilities for faculty workspace and lunch area, and ensuring ADA compliance for the primary school building, ground, and future facilities. [04:44:00] It also obligates the board in the immediate term to agree to move classroom space that may be installed elsewhere in LCPS to HCA's campus, and it also says that that may be waived if permanent facilities, as described, what I just talked about, are scheduled to begin construction less than two fiscal years after the date following the ratification of this agreement. So contemplating that we would displace other priorities inside of the capital improvement plan to put HCA ahead of those within two years, or else we would need to move and [04:44:34] provide classroom space from some other facility to HCA. All of that is presented without zoning plans all of that is presented without architectural plans without contemplation of cost and obligates the board as Mr. Lewis expressed to unknown cost and to an unknown timeline and to unknown zoning requirements and it has been our requests that we continue to communicate that if the if this were to be something the board wants to contemplate which would be a break from previous [04:45:09] agreements understand and and that's certainly the board's prerogative that that happened during the cip process so that that is taken into account when looking at all other lcps facilities which need renovation remodeling and replacement and so i think the conversation is not whether or not this should be done at this point it's simply that it needs to be done in context with all of the other facilities to your point of like what are the priorities that's what the whole cip process is about well my understanding is they fundraise to fix items in their school and they shouldn't [04:45:47] have to fundraise so i do ask my colleagues on the board um and i'm i'm guessing a lot of you have been there and you saw what the building looks like i'm asking that we reconsider um and i understand what you're saying cip in the fall but these changes need to be made now so i ask that we consider whatever we can do to make these changes at this time before we go ahead on this information item. [04:46:16] Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Griffiths. Any other discussion? Yes, Dr. Deans. Yes, I have visited the school, but I also have asked questions and read. [04:46:32] The charter, there is space for every charter school student in other LCPS buildings without overcrowding them. So rather than take money that we might be able to, and that we have currently in the CIP, and use it for the charter schools and neglect those schools who need some classroom changes, storage for the band and fine arts, et cetera, [04:47:07] I would recommend that we adhere to the initial agreement with the charter schools which indicated that we would not maintain the buildings. So I think to change in midstream to maintain the buildings of the charter school would be a distraction from some big projects that we have in our other school buildings in the county. [04:47:44] So that is my position, is that those students can actually be taught and educated and accommodated in other buildings within the county without overcrowding. [04:48:00] So could that not be a consideration of the charter schools versus us taking money and putting it, investing it into the maintenance of those buildings, whereas the initial agreement was that we would not? Hold on. Ms. LaBelle, I see you. You've had a chance to speak real quick, but is there anybody else to speak before I... Yes. Ms. Chernoff, let's get everybody a chance to speak once and then I can come back to you, Ms. LaBelle. Thank you. I just want to make... I have a [04:48:37] clarifying question, and I think I know the answer, but I want to make sure I understand that when I'm looking at the additional staff recommendations for HCA charter renewal, when it talks about page six and the replacement of the language, when it says the school board agrees to annual consider the school building, nothing in that language removes our ability to make it a priority annually. [04:49:02] That's what I'm understanding, correct? That annually we can consider these requests like we do all requests in the CAP and CIP and determine that. Is that correct? Sorry. With one slight clarification, that on page six on section 3.3, is specifically referring to the capital asset preservation plan, which is the cap. [04:49:25] Okay. And that includes, those are our minor repairs that we have been doing in the past. Yes. So we would not be able to consider it at all for CIP based off of this new contract? [04:49:42] That's what I'm trying to understand. Is it both? So you're saying just in that section it's cap, but can you point to where we would talk about CIP? Yes, and that's in paragraph 29.1. Okay, I apologize. And that is on page 28 and 29, and you'll see there a list of permanent facilities that Dr. Spence was listing out earlier that is the cause of our concern and the risk that we're sharing with the board that those improvements are not identified in terms of cost or scope [04:50:18] and are not able you know if the school board were to agree to that at this point this evening we couldn't guarantee that those projects could even be done on that property without a thorough thorough evaluation and then to Dr. Spence's point the board would then have to make decisions based on priorities that may push out other projects that are already in the capital plan. Thank you. But it would not take that opportunity off the table for us at some point if that were a priority down the road. If we wanted to systematically prioritize different [04:50:55] projects and find out what those costs were and put that into a priority list, we could still do that. This contract would not eliminate that opportunity completely. That's correct. And what we've been talking about, if this conversation is better suited during the capital budget when the board has a better view of all the other priorities that are that are fake you know that you you'll be proposed to to look at and be able to compare those against all the others um in in that context rather than just in the context of this agreement where you don't have that comparison okay i just wanted to make sure that we're not signing an agreement and i apologize for not listening to [04:51:34] the meeting ahead of time but um signing an agreement that would eliminate a chance for that at all because i agree that it is it is a unique situation it is a wonderful school it does offer unique opportunities um the data we spent a lot of time looking at data today the data really speaks for itself i mean they're really a high performing school so um i would just be nervous if we couldn't do it at all but i mean i think this really highlights some of the needs and we can then consider that as a board but i just wanted to make sure that wouldn't eliminate that opportunity. So I appreciate the answers. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. Ms. Chandler. Thank you, [04:52:13] Madam Chair. I would appreciate it greatly if someone could offer me a concise explanation for how oversight from the school board and the division differs in a charter school versus a traditional elementary school. Thank you, Ms. Chandler. So the charter school is, let me get to [04:52:44] my notes the charter school is overseen by their own separate charter board the staff is lcps staff but they are supervised by the charter school principal not by lcps and trying to find other things that may be helpful the principal as i mentioned supervises all of the employees in the school there is additional oversight of special education services and staff by lcp by the lcps [04:53:19] Office of Special Education. LCPS Business and Finance provides oversight and guidance in financial matters. And the Director of Elementary and Charter Schools provides guidance to the charter school principal, but does not supervise the charter school principal. That person is supervised by their own board. And then I will add one other thing. The next information item is an annual agreement between the lcps school board and both charter school boards regarding [04:53:53] technology support and support services and so the charter school is responsible for for those items we enter into an agreement and the charter school pays for certain services that are outlined in both the tech services and the support services agreements thank you that's very helpful yes miss when did the staff inform hca about the process that we're looking at now oh this was handed in [04:54:25] in december to uh the school board can you give me a date a timeline of when they have come up with all of this what i'm what i'm go ahead yes i believe that the draft and the application was submitted in December. And then given the timing of the new school board being onboarded, the SPC committee met in February. They received an overview of the charter schools in LCPS because [04:55:02] they are unique and not LCPS schools. And then the SPC committee received the charter agreement as an information item in April and then an action item in June. Was there any mention of the CIP in uh your proposal that you return to them the mention of the cip was in the draft presented by [04:55:34] the charter school board okay um have you done any negotiation with them about how they plan to to move forward can you can you repeat that question miss labelle has lcps done any negotiation with hca or uh have any plans to meet with them about you know the project finding out cost all the other things the zoning all of that is there any plan to meet with them about any of this so [04:56:13] staff did meet with the hca board president and principal prior to the spc committee we discussed some of our concerns and agreed to bring the conversation to the spc committee i have not been a part of a con of any conversations about zoning or other projects that you mentioned Well, I have to say that this is a new board and this is a new agreement. [04:56:44] I don't see that we have to be bound by anything that has gone in the past. I think HCA has proven its value to the community. All the accolades that we've heard, all the things that they've done. I think we need to do something to help this school stay in a condition that the children can use it, that they can expand upon what they're doing. [04:57:11] I think that possibly we need to amend the charter renewal agreement and keep this going forward. In the event that the charter school agreement or any of its associated agreements lapse, parties agree that they will operate under the prior respective agreements for at least six months and see if we can iron any of these problems out. [04:57:44] Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. Is there any other discussion? Yes, Ms. Griffiths, and then we're going to move on. As far as, you know, CIP money, the renewal, it's up for renewal. The HCA is up for renewal. [04:58:00] And this was a little fuzzy as far as their renewal and contract. We've been able to find money in other areas that weren't needed. Solar panels is one. I think that we should find the money for this and make the repairs that they need. [04:58:23] They should not have to fundraise to fix leaky roofs, to renovate bathrooms, to, you know, they have a, their gym is their music room, their plays, it's all in one room. [04:58:41] We need to expand on HCA because it is a top school. for Loudoun County and we should be supporting we should be supporting this school and Loudoun County students. So however we need to do it I'm going to suggest to my colleagues that we try and find the money to do this because I know it's there. You know I ask for things all the time as far as the CIP goes and I think that the money is there. You have a big budget so I'm asking that [04:59:14] we try and find the money so these kids can go to a nice school renovated thank you thank you mrs. Griffiths um okay uh I think no more discussion oh yes Dr. Rashid um I just had a question if um you know I I think if I'm not mistaken HCA is in charge of their own budget planning I just wanted to verify that and make sure of that before I keep going yes ma'am okay so thank you so it would be great if we can bring any type of numbers to the CIP [04:59:54] in the fall if possible I just wanted to lay that out there before anything thank you dr. Spence do you have anything to add no ma'am I think we've we've we've largely covered it I do just want to point out relative to the idea that HCA is fundraising for repairs for example of leaky roofs that that may be true I don't actually know but but but and the there are significant investments through the cap that have occurred and are intended to occur with HCA for example [05:00:30] the replacement of a roof for $280,000 that happened a few years ago so there have been investments through the cap on the part of LCPS with some of these things and what I would also just say one more time is HCA is not the only school facility in Loudoun County that is in need of repair and work and that is something that should be considered when the school board now again it is the board's prerogative if the board wants to prioritize the charter school over other schools in terms of repairs without any discussion about need against other schools that would be the board's direction but the reason we continue to ask for this conversation to happen with respect to the CIP process is so [05:01:09] that the board can look at needs of its other schools other schools which have things like multi-purpose gymnasiums that are also used as cafeterias and also used as as music rooms and other things and so i just think a broader better informed conversation about the other needs of the school division against the needs of the charter school and a better informed understanding of what the costs of the things that they're asking for are so that that can be properly placed within those priorities is not an unreasonable ask on the part of staff they were billed for that roof to be fixed you guys came in and fixed it but they were [05:01:49] then build. We have the money in CIP. I'm sure of it. I'm sure we can find the money to help renovate HCA. Okay I'm assuming this is not going to move to consent for our next meeting so it will go to action for our next meeting. Moving on. Next item is 12.04 Specialized Programs and Centers Committee Middleburg Community Charter School Revised 2024-2025 School Year Calendar presented by Dr. Rasheed Chair of Specialized Programs and Centers Committee. Thank you Chair. The Middleburg [05:02:28] Community Charter School MCCS suggested their calendar to allow for professional learning days and I believe this is in lieu of the video requirements for staffing during the 2024-2025 school year and having additional staff training days in the calendar and I will turn it over to dr ashley ellis for any additional information if any thank you i don't have any additional information this is pretty straightforward when mccs heard that we were adding professional development days to address teacher training they have the flexibility in their calendar to do the [05:03:03] same and still meet the required student hours and that is what you have before you today would you guys like to move this to consent for the june 25th movie yes okay dr deans would you Okay, unanimous, removing this to consent for the next one. [05:03:29] Our next item is, oh, and Dr. LaBelle as well. The next item is 12.05, Specialized Programs and Centers Committee, Hillsborough Charter Academy and Middleburg Community Charter School Technology and Support Services Annual Agreements presented by Dr. Rasheed. [05:03:49] Thank you, Chair. The HCA and MCCS have a technology and support services annual agreement, and it's renewed every each year, and it's due by June 30th, and the specialized programs and centers committees suspended the rules on June 4th to move the items to the full school board as an information item. [05:04:11] The contracts consist of, I believe, associated rates provided to HCA and MCCS. It's updated annually, and it also incorporates stats-proposed revisions. And I will turn it over to Dr. Ashley Ellison to see if there's any additional information. [05:04:26] Thank you. I don't have any additional information, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Lewis can answer any specific questions about their agreements, but like Dr. Rasheed said, this is pretty straightforward. you have several attachments there are eight because there are two charter schools and two agreements each a clean copy and a red line copy for your review thank you dr. Ellis board members do you have any questions no okay so what we'd like to move this one to consent for the June 25th board meeting dr. Dean oh okay [05:05:05] mrs. Griffiths does not want to move it to consent for their next meeting so it will be moved to action all right I would like to move a little bit around um I would like to recommend jumping to 12.08 first because I think that that's important and they're all important but this one I think would be we would need to do now so that we could get it in place later [05:05:38] because i'm thinking that i would like to come back to 1206 1207 and 1209 maybe for the next since we have a closed would you guys be amenable for that yes yes yes oh yes miss chandler thank you madam chair i'd just like to point out um 1209 um i believe it didn't go right to consent because it's the first time this is coming before our school board, but this is a very established procedural issue for Head Start, [05:06:17] and we've gone through this process for 31 years, and I believe the deadline is approaching quickly, so it might be beneficial to address this one tonight. My understanding is that we could do them either June 25th or August 13th. [05:06:37] Dr. Ellis, would you mind telling us when this one needs to head start, Grant needs to, or Ms. Richardson? I believe, Mr. Slevin, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we could potentially move it to June 25th. [05:06:53] However, we would need to do it at that date, so then it could be approved in August and be submitted by September 1st. I mean, I'm happy to go ahead. i mean okay all right well then let's let's move to the first one and then we'll come back to 1209 and that's that's the one right head start and then um and possibly 1206 and 1207 can we wait till another to the next meeting is that okay fine i would like to point out that um 1206 policy 8273 [05:07:30] is um overdue if you want to hold it off until our next meeting you know but it is one that is overdue i do also think the one about uh personal devices are very very important okay 655 i was just trying to keep it moving and get us some time because we have a long closed okay so let's move on to 1206 student behavior and accountability committee revisions to policy 8273 student speech and expression presented by kerry labelle chair of student behavior and accountability [05:08:07] accountability committee all righty um this policy has been created in response to feedback from students staff in the community it was presented first as a review to the student behavior and accountability committee in april and uh feedback's been received the policy was revised and the second reading was in may um i'm going to turn it over to uh what was it i was turning [05:08:39] over to ash miss ellis no it's me miss lavelle ray mitchell oh ray mitchell thank you ray you're welcome it's a long night and i'm in pain right now so i'm sorry if you see funny faces that's what it is it's okay thank you so this was a policy it outlines the process for students to safely exercise their right to freedom of speech during non-instructional times and outside of classrooms this policy will also be cross-referenced with a regulation that is in draft form that [05:09:15] addresses student demonstrations as a form of student expression the regulation will include general considerations for demonstrations with a focus on ensuring student safety which is done by each school providing a safe supervised and designated space for students and these demonstrations must be conducted during non-instructional times and in a manner that does not create a substantial disruption to school activities thank you miss mitchell [05:09:47] does anybody does the board members do you have any questions yes miss donahue thank you madam chair I have several questions about these proposed revisions first of all the policy the proposed policy sorry I'm trying to find the right tab states that students have the right to free into a speech during non instructional times and outside of classrooms or other areas where instruction is occurring and I had [05:10:25] some concerns about that language. I realize that doesn't look like an edit from a previous version, but I am not a constitutional law scholar, but I would think that students have the First Amendment right to freedom of speech at all times, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, which can include not during instructional time, but I'm a little troubled by language appears to suggest that students do not have the right to freedom of speech during their instructional time. Aside from that I have some other concerns [05:11:02] which is why they why there is language that appears to have been proposed but then removed related to assemblies rallies and debates. I'm concerned that there is no definition in this proposed policy for pornographic obscene or hate speech I have questions about what it means the portion of the edits that reference personal humiliation and invasion of the rights of others none of that is defined and I have a lot of concerns about putting a policy like [05:11:37] this that affects rights this significant into place without a little bit more guidance and and this is not a question but I I understand that in our role we do not have any authority over the regulations but i would like to see the regulation and i can anticipate that i will likely not feel comfortable voting on this policy revision if i have not had a chance to at least see the regulation thank you oh not a problem students of course have the right of freedom of speech in their classrooms as long as it's not disruptive [05:12:15] to the classroom itself. That was one of our big discussions. Obviously, if it's a topic that's coming up in school, we're talking about it in class, you have the right to express yourself. You have to do it appropriately. If you take a look at the bottom of the policy, we have several cross-references that will explain and clarify a lot of the things that you are looking at um as as things you're concerned about um a lot of the other things that you're looking at [05:12:53] um where am i here the non-instructional times we're talking about their lunchtime we're talking about uh activities period we're talking about before school after school during uh classroom changes in the halls all of those are non-instructional time okay so you have the right to freedom of speech there. We're not going to tell you what to say. We're not barring [05:13:24] anything. What we are concerned about in this particular case, our biggest discussion was over student walkouts. One of the things that we were worried about was that students that go out of the building on a walkout, we don't know who they are. And yet we, the school, are responsible for their safety in local parentis. When they go out, we don't know who goes out. When they come back in, we don't know who comes back in, who belongs back in, who comes back in, who doesn't belong here, [05:14:01] who's missing, and even more important in this world that we live in today, who's hiding in the bushes to take pot shots or something like that. We do not have any of that information. We are totally responsible for their safety. We have to keep it inside the building. So we're not saying you can't say things. We had in our discussion talked about many ways that students can express themselves. You can have rallies. You can have debates. You can have newspaper articles. You can [05:14:37] have art projects. You can have poetry slams. You can have raps. There's a lot of ways you can express yourself. We're talking about where you can express yourself, not what you can say or can't say. So it's mostly an issue of safety that we are looking at for this. If you double check the cross-referenced policies below, those are other policies that are very specific to some of the questions that you've asked and provide clarity. But if you feel that we need to go back and take [05:15:12] a look at that this has already been through oh i forget how many pages of of uh comments we got when we looked at this um i'll be be more than happy to provide you with them thank you miss also um i mean this is going to action next time and you can always uh look for amendments and things like that miss donoghue if you'd like to continue the discussion go ahead no i'm i've said what I need to say. If anybody else has questions or anything like that, feel free. If I could [05:15:50] briefly respond, I did click on all of the cross-referenced policies and Virginia code sections. The cross-referenced policies, one is to the student dress code, which is not even referenced in this policy. One is to policy 8360, which the link does not work. So I don't know if that policy has been repealed or moved or just the link in that in this doesn't work and as for the code references one defines harmful to juveniles one defines obscenity neither one [05:16:23] describes defines pornographic and I frankly have concerns over the definition of obscene pornographic and harmful to juveniles without the qualification that that we have put in other policies that references to the fact of people who exist who identify as lgbtq plus do not that that does not on its own make something obscene pornographic or harmful to juveniles okay that [05:16:54] wasn't even something that came up it was just everybody knows that however if you want to go back we'll take a look at it we can do some revisions we'll be more than happy to do so And just a reminder that the board recently approved recent updates to policy 8630, which we could put in there with definitions which defines obscenity, and sexually explicit back in, I mean, 8360 back in February, and sexually explicit content. [05:17:31] I think that you helped craft some of that language as well that maybe we could put in there. Certainly we could put it at the bottom as a cross-reference. That's cross-dressed friends. Okay. Madam Chair. Yes, ma'am. [05:17:47] I would like to make a motion to send this back to committee for further review and revisions. Okay. We have a motion on the floor to take this back to committee for further revisions. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Chernoff. [05:18:05] Okay. And would you, Clerk, would you please open the, I'm sorry, it's getting late. [05:18:21] Would you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close. And, oh, Ms. LaBelle, can you state your vote? [05:18:37] I'm sorry. I'm going to abstain. As chair of this committee, I feel that I have a hand in this, so I should abstain. I should recuse myself. Okay. All right. [05:18:55] Clerk, would you please close and display the vote? Okay, that motion passes with Dr. Deans, Mrs. Griffiths, Mrs. Chernoff opposed, and Mr. Estreffi absent for the vote, and Ms. LaBelle abstaining. [05:19:21] So that will go back to the committee. All right. Okay, item 11.03. I think that's, oh, where are we? [05:19:38] Good question. Thank you. The item is 1207, Student Behavior and Accountability Committee, Revisions to Policy 8550, Parental Notification Concerning Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry, presented by Carrie LaBelle, Chair of Student Behavior and Accountability Committee. [05:20:01] This particular policy, we have to provide to parents the opportunity to find out if there are sexual offenders and crimes against minors, people who have committed them in their neighborhoods. [05:20:19] Now, the way we do that is we provide a link on the LCPS website. Dr. Spence makes that available and makes that information available to our parents and families. And then they get to click on that and find out the information that they want for themselves. [05:20:39] Because this is provided, it provides a link to the sheriff's department and the state police. They update these lists continually. So it is not possible for us to contain the lists on our website, but to give you the opportunity to go to those sites and find out if you have a concern. [05:21:04] This takes you directly to the state police or, if you use the other link, to the Loud and Sheriff's Department. So that's how this works. If you want to check it out. And if, Ray, if you want to add anything to that. [05:21:24] Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. And just to state that all of our schools register with the Virginia State Police each year for these sexual offender alerts. And as Ms. LaBelle stated, the parents can also sign up to receive that information. And we annually notify parents also through the students' rights and responsibilities. [05:21:45] Thank you, Ms. Mitchell. Board members, do you have any questions? No. Would you like to move this one to consent for the June 25th board meeting? Yes. Dr. Deans? [05:22:02] Yes? Okay, unanimous. We're going to move that to consent for the June 25th board meeting. Next, we have item 12.08, Student Behavior and Accountability Committee, Review Policy 8655, Student Personal Device Use, presented by Carrie LaBelle, Chair of Student Behavior and Accountability Committee. We took a good look at this one as well, reviewed it, and also received feedback from parents in the community, teachers, students. And what ended up happening is we feel [05:22:38] that there needs to be something in place, something concrete in place when they come back to school in the fall. And so we decided to go ahead and bring this forward to the full board. We also made a plan to look at additional devices, additional methods of using personal devices or controlling personal devices in the classroom in the future. But that is not part of the policy right now. This is the policy that we're just going to go forward with to have in place in the [05:23:17] fall. If changes need to be made after that, we can always do that. Ms. Mitchell, anything you'd like to add? That's actually Mr. Smith who's going to add. More than happy to add. Thank you, Ms. Mitchell. Hello, Mr. Smith. Excellent. Thank you. So good evening. I'm pleased to present policy 8655, student personal device use, a new policy to LCPS, to the board tonight as an information item. The policy clarifies when student devices can and cannot be used during the school day with the goal of providing consistent practices and expectations for our staff and students. [05:23:53] One important note, that this policy only applies to student personal devices and does not apply to any technology or device issued by LCPS to support student learning. Also, it is not the intent of this policy to interfere with any personal technology that supports a medical need or those included as part of official documentation, including IEPs and 504s. The policy does outline practices at each school level. Elementary school students, if this policy were approved, elementary school students would not be permitted to use personal devices while at school. Middle school students would be required to store their devices in their lockers for the day and would only be [05:24:28] allowed to use devices before or after school. And high school students must keep devices silenced in a way in a backpack or classroom cubby during instructional time. Devices could be used during non-instructional times for high school students based on clear communication expectations from school administration. The policy was presented to the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee as an information item on April 22nd and posted for feedback from the 23rd through May 7th. [05:24:55] Significant feedback was received, including over 400 Let's Talk submissions and feedback from MSAC and SEAC and various other emails and methods. The themes for this feedback include overwhelming support for the policy from parents and staff, support from students, parents, and staff for consistent process and practice. That's one of the clear items we heard from students. They want consistency of practice across schools. Based off of this feedback, lots and lots of feedback, the policy was updated with changes based. The first item, parents requested that students be allowed to wear smart watches. Some parents mentioned that they used this tech to track [05:25:33] their child's location. Also, it can be difficult for teachers to determine what is and is not a smart watch. Lines 20 through 24 were added to allow this technology as long as it is not a distraction in the classroom. There was consistent feedback that high school students and devices should be separated in the classroom. [05:25:49] The original policy stated that could be on their person. So the language in lines 37 and 38 were changed to state that high school students must keep their devices in their backpacks or in a classroom copy off of their person. Requests for clarification on disciplinary practices associated with the policy were also made. [05:26:06] Language was added in lines 61 through 63 to clarify where these practices are already outlined, including the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, the Code of Conduct, and Policy 8210, Student Discipline. The updated policy was brought back to the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee on May 30th, where one change was made. [05:26:23] The committee voted to change line 72 of the red line version. This references high school teachers using technology. High school teachers who would like students to utilize personal devices for instruction must consult with and get approval from school administrators prior to using that technology. [05:26:45] The policy was approved 3-0 to be brought to the full board as an information tonight. Staff are hopeful that the policy can be approved by June 25th so that we can begin a communication campaign regarding this change in July for staff, students, and parents as we navigate this shift at our schools. [05:27:03] With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Board members, do you have any questions? Yes. Ms. Chandler. Thank you. I want to start off by saying I'm very excited about this. And I think, especially after reflecting on the feedback across the board, I think families and staff and teachers are going to be excited about this. [05:27:25] I think we're starting to understand in a way that perhaps we didn't before how detrimental or without necessarily passing any judgment, understanding that something about introducing these devices into adolescent development has caused disruption. [05:27:45] I would like to say I personally feel a little hesitant about Line 71 allowing high schools to use the devices in the classroom. If every student in the county has a one-to-one device, allowing personal use feels like it's an opportunity for abuse. [05:28:09] And also it's an opportunity to reinforce inequality if not everyone has devices. That's something that, of course, I will be reflecting on and hope to come perhaps with a suggestion on. And I will be hoping to understand how, and I guess this would be a helpful point, all of the consequences are currently outlined in the SR&R. [05:28:40] The goal of this policy was not to create overlapping disciplinary practices. So as far as disciplinary practices, I might have to ask Ms. Mitchell to help me out as the IT guy, not my area of expertise. But the goal was not to create confusion about do you do this or do you do that. [05:28:56] So reference where it's already presented and existing practices that are already being followed. That's fine. I agree with you that unless there is something set forth where there is an infraction that we need to enforce the students' rights and responsibilities or the code of conduct, we would do that. [05:29:23] I've gotten some feedback from teachers who are concerned that not having the appropriate levels of accountability will cause this policy to not be as impactful as it could and especially in the secondary schools where students aren't with their same teachers and they go from place to place who's to say how many infractions a student could have in a day so I would hope that we would consider clear expectations and perhaps looking at Phoenix or e-hall pass as a [05:29:55] way to track infraction so that we could have a clear accountability yes and so for example if you have a student that in high school that travels from class to class and they have an infraction in one class and then another one and another class and so when that is communicated to an administrator and and they're looking at what they're entering into Phoenix for any discipline, whether it's a student meeting or it is some type of discipline assignment, what have you. [05:30:30] So that creates kind of like an informal data to show how many infractions a particular student is receiving. And then the school administrators can look at, are they seeing trends in that? And if that's something that they need to address as a school to make sure that the policy is being enforced appropriately classroom to classroom grade to grade. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? Yes, Ms. Donahue. [05:31:03] Thank you, Madam Chair. I echo Ms. Chandler's comments. I was so incredibly happy when I heard that this was in progress, this proposed policy. This was an issue of significant concern to a large number of people during the campaign last year And also, you know, since subsequent to the election, since we got onto the board, I know a lot of people have been looking forward to this coming out. [05:31:33] And I'm very excited about the proposal. I'm thrilled that we're doing this. have a couple of questions so so my one of my questions was early on it references not using devices unless there is an approved special circumstance and accommodation so I had a question about that or a couple of questions about that which were namely is this are we referring to like 504 and IEP accommodations or medical accommodations like what are we talking [05:32:08] about here and who who is approving the special circumstance and making those accommodations so those accommodations would be things like for example like a glucose monitor that may be included in a medical record that needs to be with a student and that would be something documented in the health clinic office in Phoenix as something that's needed by the student that would be that type of documentation and along with anything that's in a 504 IEP to support that students I will say that again we provide a lot of devices to students through our assistive technology team so this would not interfere with any device that's provided from that team it would be if a personal technology [05:32:46] device is written into an IEP or 504 plan okay thank you I wondered if it would be helpful to have definitions or at least cross references for the definitions of inappropriate in section A4 and cyberbullying in section A5. I understand that for students who are violating this policy there are references to the SR&R for discipline. I kind of related to that I was wondering about I guess do we need to have something specific in here about staff's [05:33:25] options when students are violating I noticed there was a lot of those questions in the feedback that if right if you have if you have this in place and there is a student who is blatantly ignoring it what is the teacher allowed to do if they just say stop and put your phone away what happens if the kid doesn't do that are they allowed to take it are they allowed to take it and put it in the backpack or the or the pocket on the pouchy thing on the back of the wall of the classroom or what I'm wondering if there needs to be something in here that guides educators on what they are permitted to do if in the event [05:34:03] that they are facing some intransigence and also I wondered if there is going to be any any discussion in this about if there are staff who are not enforcing this policy miss Chernoff and I were lucky enough to have a conversation with Dr. Ross out at Loudoun Valley High School about how her her approach to the use of cell phones at Valley has been going and we in the course of that meeting we had the opportunity to speak with some current students there and to to my surprise and delight the students that we spoke with said that they had [05:34:39] really enjoyed the implementation of that practice at Valley because it allowed the students to be more focused on their schoolwork be more focused on each other on actually interacting but one of the things that they had to say was it was challenging when they were in classrooms where the teachers were not enforcing that practice so is there I don't I'm certainly not saying like we should be punishing teachers but if there are instances where there happens to be an educator who is perhaps repeatedly not enforcing this policy [05:35:17] what would the remedy for that be um miss donahue do you want to talk to do you want to hear something from do you want to hear some weighing in from dr scott yeah if i could just weigh in on probably those two issues before you um if you got others um so relative to the latter um if there are issues of non-enforcement i i would say one of the things i've heard most frequently from teachers is they're happy to enforce it as long as there's a consistent division policy and if we provide that consistent division policy they will enforce it and where they haven't is when that hasn't existed [05:35:51] because they don't want to be the bad guy we've kind of heard that from time to time and so i i would hope we'd see less of that i would hope we'd see less of that and also that's where we lean into our school administrators to make sure that that teachers are adhering to the expectations set by the division so that that would be a situation where they'd have to have that follow-up conversation with the teacher and then with regards to the first one i know this isn't your favorite answer But in particular, in this case, because this is new and we would be working through it as we begin to implement the policy, we're going to need to put those kinds of questions about, you know, where they're stored and those sorts of things into regulation. [05:36:31] And we're going to need to be able to adjust that on the fly to just make sure that we're tweaking and getting better as we go. Thank you, Dr. Spence. That's very helpful. And I understand the need to have some flexibility and put specifics in regulation. [05:36:48] Although that being said, I don't think that it's a good idea to specifically include backpack in the policy. Based on what we saw at Valley and other feedback from the community, including the public feedback that we have reported here, it seems to me that it would make more sense to say that they have to be, like, not on the student's person, whether in the pocket or, right, if your backpack could be on your back or just on the back of your chair, and then it still is very easily accessible unless it's somewhere in the back of the room or a different part of the room. [05:37:27] Yes, Dr. Deans. One of the things, and help me, Ms. LaBelle, if I'm wrong, one of the things we talked about is that all schools don't have enough lockers for all kids so they don't have a choice to tell them that they don't have I mean that they can put it in their locker the other piece is that we were going to investigate the cost of the pouches and we don't have that cost yet so as a result this is the beginning of the policy and as we [05:38:04] move forward, we can further differentiate between where the phone will be kept versus on the person. So the locker, the locker is out because all kids don't have a locker. [05:38:21] The backpack is the next enclosed item versus their pockets. So that's why backpacks were referenced. Is that what we talked about, Ms. LaBelle? What we were talking about is a device best known as Yonder. It's sort of like a Faraday cage in that it keeps whatever's inside of it from being impacted by any electronic waves. So we did some research, looked at various school [05:38:58] systems that have implemented these pouches, provide them, the students are expected to put their phones in the Yonder pouch and lock it. It has a lock on it, sort of like a magnetic lock when you go to a clothing store and they've got a lock on it that's stuck on that piece of clothing until they remove it with a special magnet. So if we had that, we were going to be looking into its cost, how useful is it, how much does it improve student focus and performance. In other [05:39:36] words, if we have to spend an enormous amount of money on these pouches, and yes, oh yes, it improve student performance, but maybe only by 4%. Well, what's the payoff on that one? So we were going to be looking into that, and that was not included in this particular policy. As I said at the beginning, we wanted to look into other innovations, the ways other schools are dealing with this, what kind of things are out there, and we can always make additions and changes. This is [05:40:09] more or less since it's a brand new policy it's a starting point for us and we're hoping to uh keep a close eye on it and move forward that way so if you want to look up yonder y-o-u-n-d-e-r uh there are several school systems already using it you can anyone can find out more about that does that answer any questions yeah um dr spence would you like to just just say one more just quickly because there are various opinions about yonder floating around and I just want to make sure we're not putting out in the community that we're right now thinking [05:40:46] about yonder pouches I think oh no we have questions yeah right yeah at my level of comfort with policy is that it would say something like classroom storage space is an option in policy and that administratively we would then try to operationalize what does that look like and try to arrive at the best solutions. Okay. Okay. Wrapping up, are there any other questions? Okay. Ms. Chernoff. I have two quick questions. One, I actually tend to agree with Ms. Donahue on the backpack. It's not really [05:41:20] about the locker, where they can keep it, but we had, I had from two schools, very specific feedback where they tried the backpack and kids have them and they're sneaking it. And it's just, I think having it in a separate classroom storage would work for me. Um, the like pocket chart pouches seem to work well. Even saw it at a school where they had a fire drill. The teacher took the whole pouch out with her so that they still had them in an emergency situation. So I think that that could work, but I do not love the backpack phrase either just because we had very, very specific feedback [05:41:58] to take that out. Um, so maybe we can work on that. My other question is about AirPods. Um, so This was an iffy thing in our focus group, too, because some teachers do let kids work and listen to music at the same time. I just want to clarify, would Section B2 preclude teachers from making case-by-case decisions to let kids listen to their AirPods during work time? [05:42:27] Not in this policy, and so some thought behind that is if you separate the phone, it's away from the student. There are instructional uses of connecting your AirPods to your Chromebook, so you can Bluetooth connect and listen to audio just as you could plug headphones in. So if the device is separated out, then the AirPods become less connected to whatever they're doing on their phone and more connected to whatever they're doing instructionally. [05:42:52] Okay, but the teachers would not need to get approval as said in Section B2, is that correct? Correct. Okay, thank you. And that would also go for universal design, too, so that they could listen to what they needed to hear through the AirPods. [05:43:12] Okay, so any more discussion and we can move on? Okay, I'm hearing that's probably not going to be on consent for the next time, so we'll move that on to action. Okay, the last information item is 12.09, Department of Teaching and Learning Head Start Annual Training and Report and Grant Application presented by Mr. Neal Slevin. [05:43:37] assistant superintendent for teaching and learning excuse me yes it would have to be on consent for the next time in order to get it ready for the new school year is that right mr smith it would have to be on action action yeah it could be on action okay thank you chair mansfield are you ready for me yes sir so for this item in order for latin county public schools to receive available funds from the federal government for the head start program it is necessary to submit [05:44:12] a grant application and budget by september 1st 2024 the head start policy council has reviewed and approve the 23-24 head start annual training and report and the py32 grant application and budget and are submitting them as an information item tonight for the school board meeting for review and approval and i'm happy to answer any questions school board members do you have any [05:44:38] questions no no questions okay so we can forward it as a consent agenda item for june 25th can i get a thumbs up mrs griffiths okay that will come back to action the next time all right so that [05:45:12] concludes our information items and we will be moving to closed session um we'll move to item 13.01 motion to convene a closed meeting ms chandler do you have a motion thank you madam chair i move that the loudon county school board recess this public meeting and enter into a closed session pursuant to 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia for the following discussion of the [05:45:45] performance of a specific public employee as authorized by 2.2-3711A1 of the Code of Virginia. Ms. Chandler has made a motion. Do I have a second? Mrs. Griffiths has seconded. It's been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board go into closed session. [05:46:11] is there any discussion no clerk can you please open the vote board members please record your vote miss labelle would you please state your vote yes clerk could she please close and display [05:46:45] the vote that motion passes with miss vice chair streffi absent for the vote we are now enclosed [06:50:03] okay the board is now coming out of the closed meeting dr deans do you have a motion i move that the closed meeting be adjourned that the lawton 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 do i have a second second is there any discussion discussion it's been properly moved [06:50:38] and seconded um would you please clear the board yeah i'm sorry i didn't i there he's going okay um so clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and [06:51:16] display the vote that motion passes with uh vice chair streffi and miss labelle absent for the vote dr deans do you have another motion i move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting whereas the loughton 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 Information Act and whereas [06:51:53] 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 Loughton County School Board hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies, [06:52:29] and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Loudoun County School Board. I have a motion by Dr. Deans. Do I have a second? I have a second by Ms. Chandler. Is there any discussion? No discussion. We will take an electronic vote. Clerk, would you please clear [06:53:00] the vote and then open it? Yes, ma'am. Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote. That motion passes with Vice Chair Struffy and Ms. LaBelle absent for the vote. Dr. Deans, do you have another motion? I move that the Loudoun County School Board declines to affirm and adopt the recommendation set forth in the superintendent's [06:53:33] designee's decision dated may 17th 2024 for employee 306-1124 as discussed in a closed meeting i have a motion by dr deans is there a second second i have a second by um ms donahue is there any discussion seeing no discussion we'll take an electronic vote clerk please open the vote [06:54:06] board members please record your vote clerk please close and display the vote and that motion passes with vice chair streffi and miss labelle absent for the vote okay we will now move on to item 14 which is board member comments and committee reports board members given late hour which i would like to see if you would like to forego the board member comments and committee reports [06:54:43] board members would be able to send any comments or reports for sharing and posting in board docs would you like oh um thumbs up you guys yes mrs griffiths would you like to forego the committee reports that's unanimous um moving on to new business we'll move on to agenda item 15.01 new business is there any new business for tonight yes miss miss donahue thank you madam chair i [06:55:21] apologize for this not being on the agenda in the normal place but I would like to ask you my colleagues to consider a proclamation recognizing the Juneteenth holiday which is upon us next week I have a draft proclamation here that I would gladly read if given the opportunity and I will also be moving to suspend the rules to treat this new business as an action item for voting on tonight so i'm hearing [06:55:57] that thank you for the overview and i'm hearing that you want to suspend the rules to put this item for action without any further discussion we will vote to suspend the rules it's not debatable do i have a second after the second there cannot be any more discussion we'll move straight into a vote to suspend the rules and make this an action item and i think two-thirds would be five of us all right so i have a motion i have a second um clerk please open oh is there any oh no discussion [06:56:32] clerk please open the vote this is a motion to suspend the rules board members please record your vote clerk please close and display the vote and that motion passes six with miss griffiths opposed, and Vice Chair Struffy and Ms. LaBelle absent for the vote. Okay, the rules have been suspended. Ms. Donahue, would you please make your motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the [06:57:08] Loudoun County School Board adopt the following proclamation. Whereas on June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved people in Texas were free more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by president abraham lincoln on january 1st 1863 and whereas the history of slavery in the united states will not be forgotten denied or banned from our nation's conscience and whereas this year marks the third anniversary since president joe biden named juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021 and whereas juneteenth has been recognized as a state holiday in virginia since 2020 [06:57:47] and whereas juneteenth is a symbol of the end of slavery in the united states and a celebration of black culture, history, resilience, joy, and freedom, which are American values, and whereas African Americans make up 8.2% of residents in Loudoun County and 7.3% of students in Loudoun County Public Schools, and whereas the celebration and recognition of Juneteenth highlights the unique historical experiences of African American, African, and black people, and whereas it also provides the opportunity for our community to engage in learning that will ensure improved relationships and respect now and in future generations, and whereas, especially during [06:58:27] Juneteenth, we acknowledge and highlight the many achievements and profound contributions made by African Americans to the economic, cultural, educational, and political development of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the entire United States, and whereas Loudoun County Public Schools has a commitment to equity in order to ensure success for every child, to create student responsive environments where all students can see representation of themselves and identity to have a collective sense of belonging and to ensure freedom from prejudice and hate. [06:58:57] Now, therefore, be it resolved, we, the Loudoun County School Board, do hereby recognize the Juneteenth holiday 2024 in Loudoun County Public Schools. Be it further resolved that the Loudoun County School Board strongly encourages our staff, students, and community to learn about, observe, recognize, and celebrate Juneteenth. In witness whereof, the Loudoun County School Board issues this proclamation to celebrate and honor Juneteenth and to recommit to working together to eradicate racism and inequity wherever it is found. Thank you, Ms. Donahue. Now that we know that what we will be voting on, do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Dr. Deans. The motion's been [06:59:35] properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? No discussion. Okay, so clerk, would you please open the vote? Board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote and that motion passes with Ms. Griffiths opposed and Vice Chair Struffy and Ms. [07:00:11] LaBelle absent for the vote. Yes ma'am. May I? Yes Dr. Deans. May I make a statement related to the? I think we can consider that new business kind of. Okay. The Juneteenth celebration will be next Wednesday, June 19th at 9.15, the opening remarks. At 9.30, the March for Freedom from the new courthouse grounds to the Orion Anderson lynching memorial. And at 10 o'clock, there will be a [07:00:50] program at Rafflo Park at 345 Harrison Street in Leesburg. And there will be a lunch reception immediately following the program thank you dr deans is there any more business no seeing no more business the june 11th 2024 marathon meeting of the lcps school board is now adjourned thank you for your work and drive home safely ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com