Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Legislative Audit and Policy Committee Meeting, Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 34m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1001218121?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

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

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[00:00:06] Good evening. This is April Chandler calling to order the Legislative Audit and Policy Committee meeting for August 20, 2024. We will begin with public comment. Sign up to make in-person public comments occurred prior to the start of the committee meeting. The meeting will be audio recorded and posted in BoardDocs. Today we have one speaker signed up for public comment. Our speaker will have three minutes. Our first speaker, or I should say our only speaker, is Abby Platt.

[00:00:40] did not intend to speak today did not prepare any formal remarks I almost did not attend I'm going to ask one thing of this committee today I'm going to ask you to please please I come here as a mother

[00:01:08] I come here as a parent and I am begging you to not hamper or to make any attempt to to take away my ability as a parent to advocate for my children I do not care about my job I don't care one whit about that job but I do care about my kids I care a lot about my kids and so I'm asking you to take

[00:01:40] that into consideration as you review the policy that's on the agenda today I have worked in a lot of different professional capacities I feel that I have always been able to use discretion and to be appropriate I do not consider myself political I do not consider myself an advocate an activist in

[00:02:15] any way I'm a mom and the only reason that I have anything to do with this school division is because my kids attend here so I am asking you not to get in the way of my ability to participate.

[00:02:35] I am a LEAF representative and attended the meeting last night and someone commented will you be somebody asked will you be able to come again and I said I don't know that I had not considered that that my ability to participate would could be impacted.

[00:02:57] so anyway i appreciate your consideration thank you with that we'll move on to item 3.01 approval of the june 20th or 2024 draft minutes could i please have a motion to approve the june 20th meeting minutes so move thank you and then please have a second second thank you the motion was made by miss donahue and seconded by miss shirnoff all those in favor please raise

[00:03:36] your hand and say aye. Seeing none opposed the motion passes unanimously with all committee members present. We will now move on to our information items starting with item 4.01 Office of the Ombuds Annual Report. The Office of the Ombuds Annual Report summarizes the data gathered from constituent contacts received between July 1st, 2023 and June 30th, 2024.

[00:04:03] The annual report highlights notable observations within the data, shares feedback received from constituents, and outlines focus areas for the 2024-2025 school year. This information is presented for information only. Ms. Carrie Williams, the ombuds will present. The floor is yours, Ms. Williams.

[00:04:23] Thank you. So I'm just going to give you a high-level overview of the report. There's obviously more detail available in the report for your information. And as you stated, this is a summary of the 2023-2024 school year.

[00:04:38] And it is information that follows the fiscal year. So it's beginning July 1, 2023 and ending on June 30, 2024. Next slide, please. And you can go on to the next slide. And so I just wanted to begin by highlighting that while my office, I do believe, supports all of our core values and our strategic goals, I think it firmly supports the trust through listening components, as well as continuous improvement, and provides a platform for community engagement.

[00:05:10] Next slide, please. I would like to highlight the four core values of the Office of the Ombuds, which include confidentiality, impartiality, independence, and informality, which I think is a differing space for individuals to reach out to engage with my office, rather than potentially elevating their concerns through other pathways next slide please and next slide so between my first year so this might be getting my third year of the office of the ombuds year one i had 207 total contacts

[00:05:48] and between year one and year two i had a 78 increase and i categorize those between complete cases and quick inquiries complete cases are where there's two-way communication engagement with the visitor or i might elevate something on their behalf to another office quick inquiries are usually just simple questions um policy pathways information and then i can usually just navigate that through email i did want to highlight the difference in the categories of constituents that i served between year one and year two first year it was pretty much 50 50 whether i was

[00:06:24] supporting student family concerns versus employee concerns but i saw a notable increase between year one and year two in the employee cases and i attest that to attribute that to repeat visitors word of mouth and a lot of staff referrals and you'll see an increase in the conflict resolution support that i've provided for our employees between those years and i think the first year not a lot of people were aware that was part of my role next slide please i've broken down the data by voting district so that the board members can see which which members from their

[00:07:02] constituent groups are reaching out to my office and then also by level of the 369 contacts 316 of those I could attribute to a specific level so I broke it down by elementary middle and high school and the other 14.4% might have been attributed to multiple schools or maybe that information was not shared with me or it could have been a central office employee who might support the whole division next slide please so of the general data I've broken that down into two sections the parent family community and student camp cases I've

[00:07:39] grouped together and then I've grouped the employee cases separately and I have made note of which of those cases were special education or 504 concerns specifically compared to other general concerns I had 35 special education visitors contact my office this past year and that was about a 5.7 percent percent increase from year one to year two but noting that we have over 10,000 special education students within the division and I always work very closely with our special education supervisors central office staff and our parent resource center to support those concerns and so then I've broken

[00:08:17] the rest of the concerns down by topic and I've noted you know I've sometimes add a new category because sometimes I get concerns I'm like wow not heard about that one yet so I might add a new category so that list might change over time in that miscellaneous other category if I start to see a trend I may add a category over time. Next slide please. I did further break down the special education contacts. SEAC had asked for them last year and I meet with the special education supervisors just to give them a little more detail about what those concerns look like

[00:08:51] and 10 of those were specific to IEP matters, procedures and compliance made up eight of those, specific issues with LCPS staff with seven and then sometimes it's just general information procedural safeguards and I provide information based upon what their needs are next slide please our employee cases most of those cases come to me through school-based staff but I did see an increase in central office and support staff between year one and year two and relationships relationships is the theme that I take away from this between

[00:09:31] evaluative racial relationships that's with their direct supervisor or peer and colleague relationships or specific services and administrative issues maybe decisions that were made that they need support and navigating those are the main group of concerns that have come in and I when I'm referred individuals who might be in conflict I do pre conferences with all of the employees it could be two it could be four it could be a whole team and then sometimes we come to the table for a mediation and otherwise I just support and coach them through it because all parties have to be willing to come to the table for that informal mediation. Next slide

[00:10:10] please. So of the actions that I can take I always listen to the concerns and and we talk about options but then beyond some of those options I might provide them information give them a direct referral to another central support employee. I sometimes raise concerns on behalf of those individuals so it might be because i see a trend or a theme within a particular data set but it could also be that they wish for the concern to be elevated but anonymously so i can do so on their behalf and and come back to them with additional information or an outcome um the

[00:10:47] informal mediations in year one i think i came to the table with two or three groups of individuals and then i i had 10 informal mediations last year and so i do anticipate that that will increase over time as well i typically close out the cases in one to five days but some of them depending on the number of meetings one inquiry could lead eight ten thirteen meetings i think is what maybe the the record for how many meetings one inquiry has has produced so those might take

[00:11:19] a little bit longer next slide please so in the report there is additional narrative around the observations but whether it is with our employees or whether it is with our families relationships are critical and making sure that individuals feel that they are being heard and that they are being supported and observation two is around clearly defined processes being appreciated whether it is through policy regulation or a standard operating procedure or if there's some type of guidance or guidance document that we can follow it helps individuals

[00:11:56] understand the process and what the outcomes and then potential for further elevation or appeal might be and then observation three is around confidential spaces being valued by all parties but specifically by our employees and appreciating a space where they can talk through their concerns not in front of an evaluator and then think about their options before they choose to move forward all right next slide please and then just some of the things that the office of the ombuds will be working on moving forward continuing to expand outreach opportunities with families and with our employee groups that I have not necessarily seen as many

[00:12:35] of during the last two years so I've spent a lot of time this month in particular with our support staff at their large meetings and functions I'm I'll be at a vendor table for one of our EL support fairs in November so I work very closely with our EL support team to find any pocket of information with our head start any opportunity to get in front of our parents when they when their students are younger so that they then know about my office for the entire time that their students are engaged with LCPS going to continue reaching out building those relationships with our school staff I think those those staff

[00:13:12] referrals are crucial and those will continue the more that I engage with our principals, assistant principals, our deans, our special ed supervisors in any spaces where concerns might come to them, but it might not necessarily be in their wheelhouse. So then they know that they can refer individuals to me and then I can help them navigate because oftentimes it's multifaceted and it crosses multiple departments. I'm going to expand professional development opportunities for central office and school-based staff, provide training as needed throughout the year I could come in and I could work with a particular team if they have a topic around conflict resolution that they might need some

[00:13:52] additional support and then I'm planning to create some resource documents to have a little bit of a library on my website so that if people are thinking about how might I tackle or navigate this then there'll be some resources for them to consider before they reach out to me all right so that's just the high level overview and then there's additional detail and some some quotes from some of the visitors that i've worked with in the report i'm happy to answer any questions you might have thank you miss williams are there any questions or comments from the committee mr no thank you so much for the presentation um in our discussions uh before this meeting it was

[00:14:30] helpful when you clarified your role or really your non-role in iep meetings so since you meet with so many special education families and for different reasons could you clarify that distinction of the ombuds role and how it relates to iep teams and iep meetings sure so as an informal resource and the iep process for the actual meetings are formal i do get inquiries to attend on you know on the parents behalf or with the parent but once we have met and i talk them through their concerns and we make connections with the appropriate staff and we might have a pre-meeting but i let them know that i cannot formally participate because i'm not a member of

[00:15:10] that child's iep team however i can help them prepare we can talk about the process they can you know write down the areas of concern and then if they need to be heard prior to the meeting to meet with somebody beforehand so that they're very clear about their concerns um i found that helpful and then there's another staff member who is part of the iep team who's aware of that prior to going into that meeting you're welcome thank you for this presentation it was really um informative

[00:15:43] and i'm excited to see how as you get invested in the lcps community you're really able to offer your services and and to serve it is truly a service to the community and thank you for that i'm curious if you could explain a little bit about your process in terms of how you define or determine a trend or a pattern so i think that most of the items that come to me are very unique to that individual's circumstance.

[00:16:12] But an example that I might have is if around, say, mental health support and maybe trauma awareness training. This wasn't from this past year, but from the year prior. And within about a two to three week time frame, I heard concerns from an elementary, middle, and a high school parent, completely different cases, but it was surrounding trauma awareness and trauma-informed practices.

[00:16:37] So I then reached out to student services to talk through like what does that training look like what is the audience for that training is it making it down to the teacher level if that's where those particular concerns were and then that became part of the conversation when looking at our mandatory PD and training for the following school year to make sure that was part of the information that student services was thinking about when they were designing their training plan for the year so it could be two or three particular cases at a school around a topic and then I would raise that to that principal or maybe to the level office it could be about a particular bus route and then I'm hearing from a few different parents

[00:17:16] and then I raise that to transportation so it really depends on the how large the data set is and and if I'm hearing about it two to three times or ten or fifteen times and then I usually connect with the director or up to the assistant superintendent level if needed thank you so much are there any further questions from the committee well thank you so much for your presentation next Next up, we'll move to our action items, starting with 5.01, the 2025 legislative program.

[00:17:46] To date, the L.A. and P. committee members have reviewed staff recommendations, worked with legislative consultants, determined the disposition of former items and positions, and developed several new items and/or positions. A redline draft legislative program for the 2025 session is being presented to the Legislative audit and policy committee for review and discussion um today we will have dr smith and we are also welcoming our legislative consultant mr charlie jackson um to present uh dr smith the

[00:18:22] floor is yours thank you chair chandler board members i am pleased to bring back the draft of the 2025 loudon county school board legislative program did want to welcome charlie jackson we We also have Wes Allen Division Council and Christopher Moy, our Title IX coordinator that's with us.

[00:18:41] This putting together this legislative program is a large effort. There's lots of different agenda items, lots of information included in there. So it represents really across our school district for our board to consider. This item was presented as information on June 20th and returns today as an action item should you choose to move it forward to the full school board.

[00:19:02] As a reminder, we have rearranged this year's program to begin with five key priorities. They are enact JLARC recommendations and fully fund Virginia's public schools, continued support for a Loudon-based recovery school, audit of higher education teacher preparation programs, comprehensive student mental health policy and funding, and commitments to the teaching profession.

[00:19:25] These legislative priorities communicate the foundation of the legislative program. In terms of our state policy positions, at our last meeting, I highlighted the additions, changes, and deletions. New legislative positions include support for special education transition programs and services, review and evaluate mandated professional learning for teachers, firearm safe storage information for school communities, and parental and community notification of drug overdoses. There was a change to our free school meals for all students as we updated the school meal debt for FY24. Deletions from last year's

[00:20:03] program include diplomas for students with disabilities regional governing board for thomas jefferson high school for science and technology broadband access and hazing education and curriculum the item on title nine regulations was originally considered for removal however has now been included with revised language based on feedback so with that chair chandler that concludes my overview of the 2025 legislative program on today's agenda happy to answer any questions you may have um thank you before i open the floor to comments um or questions from the

[00:20:35] committee i would like to ask if anyone else on the panel would like to comment all right um thank you so much and with that i'll open questions to the members of the committee okay ms sherna thank you chair chandler um i'm very grateful uh for the work that's gone into this and it has been a long process and it's been really exciting to be a part of it and to see some of um even some of our individual dreams sort of come to life in this uh in this ask if you would um the questions

[00:21:15] I have tonight kind of center on the Title IX being brought back up, and I had the chance to meet Mr. Moy and have a discussion prior to this meeting, but I would ask now, if you wouldn't mind, if you would just kind of give us an update on what is happening, not only in the state of Virginia with the injunction, but also with the recent Supreme Court ruling that happened this weekend, in terms of just so that we understand the regulations that were put out in 2020 versus the regulations that were supposed to go into effect August 1st, 2024, and kind of where we are with that situation. If you could just summarize that for us as a committee.

[00:21:54] Thank you. So as you indicated, the federal Title IX regulations were released on April 19th with an implementation date of August 1st. Sometime around May or June, there was a preliminary injunction from a federal court in eastern Kentucky that, you know, had six states, including Virginia, which had a preliminary injunction which enjoined Virginia and the other states from implementing, enforcing, enacting, or doing anything with the Title IX regulations.

[00:22:31] As to this state, there are 26 states that have an injunction against them from implementing the Title IX regulations. You know, the DOE did ask for an emergency stay from the Supreme Court, and that was denied on Friday, August 16th.

[00:22:51] You know, at this time, there are oral arguments scheduled, I believe, for October 5th in the Sixth Circuit, which is out of Eastern Kentucky, which is, you know, hearing this case. So it does need to kind of work its way through the appeals, you know, procedure and go through the court case.

[00:23:12] So there's not really kind of a time frame of when this will be issued. You know, I imagine this will probably end up back at the Supreme Court at some point to determine whether these regulations go into effect. Appreciate that.

[00:23:31] And in speaking, we did talk a little bit about how this relates to athletics. I know there's been some case law around athletics in some neighboring counties even as pretty recent. but in terms of the the write-up that we have here can you clarify that this does not involve athletics yes so the the new title nine regs the 2024 regs do not include athletics you know the department of ed had proposed you know title nine athletic rules and they have punted those

[00:24:06] rules to a future time if you know at all but these rigs do not cover athletics thank you that was an important distinction for me so um to my colleagues uh i just i would like to go on the record to say that i i have several reservations at this time with lcps lcps making this part of our collective legislative agenda um i feel like this is uncharted territory and there's a lot of unsettled law involving the highest of our courts and I normally really don't feel that basing

[00:24:44] decisions off of case law is wise because I think that court cases come and go all the time and it's quite frequent especially in this sector and it can make it hard to make concrete decisions for the long term however given that this would be something that we would advocate for and could advocate for in other ways I am hesitant to advocate for this addition also just in thinking about as title 9 relates to the work of 80/40 there are there is overlap there and we as a school board have decided to push forward with focus

[00:25:22] groups to get authentic stakeholder feedback many of those topics with title mine I feel will come up and so I'm thinking that if we are going to ask for stakeholder feedback around a lot of these topics but already take a position on it in terms of being LCPS at large in our legislative policy I feel like that's a little bit of a contradiction and I don't want to undermine that feedback process and I think if we simply move forward with a stance before they have occurred that that could be a possibility so I would just ask that the committee members consider that it may not change your

[00:26:00] mind but for me those are my reservations around advocating for title nine at this time thank you okay I am happy to talk about this just a little bit I do find that I'm supportive of including the language in our legislative program I believe that it aligns most closely with the federal guidance and And although, as we've discussed, I'm certainly aware that this matter will ultimately be decided in court.

[00:26:36] I do also believe from the federal decision that the Supreme Court is expressing an expectation that the Court of Appeals will render a decision in a timely manner. So with that and fully believing in the validity of local control, I would be opposed to striking this section at this time.

[00:27:09] i agree with ms chandler is there any other um discussion on the matter or any any motions for consideration at this time okay oh ms donahue thank you chair chandler i move that we forward the 2025 legislative program to the full board for its consideration thank you i'm happy to second that um all those in favor please raise your hand and say aye aye um seeing um none of the motion

[00:27:48] passes unanimously with all committee members present with that we will move on to item 5.02 policy 3410 office of the auditor general lcps has benefited from having an internal audit division putting in place the formal policy will clearly detail the office of the auditor general's authority the auditor general mr ahmad woods will present mr woods the floor is yours good afternoon And thank you, Chair Chandler, members of the committee.

[00:28:20] Today, I bring back Policy 3410, Office of the Auditor General. The policy was presented to the committee in its June 20th meeting as an information item. And today is being brought back for approval to be presented to the full board. The policy will govern how the OAG will operate and to hold its officer and staff accountable to an approved LCPS policy, specifically targeted to the unique requirements of an internal audit function.

[00:28:46] Thank you, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you so much, Mr. Woods. Are there any questions or comments from the committee? Ms. Donahue? Thank you, Chair Chandler.

[00:29:06] Thank you, Mr. Woods. I noticed that one of the community feedback comments was a question about whether the findings of the Auditor General are available to the public, and I was wondering if you could speak to that. Yes. To the extent possible, all final issued audit reports will go on the OAG public-facing webpage.

[00:29:29] Thank you. I also had a question regarding some of the feedback we received. I noticed in the MSAC feedback, a question was asked if the Internal Auditors International Professional Practices Framework website references, does the policy that we have modeled our policy on reference the 2017 standards or the new 2024 standards?

[00:29:57] The policy references the standards. The standards will always be referenced as the standards by the International Practice Professional Framework. And so in front of me, I have those standards. We are currently working under the 2017 standards.

[00:30:16] And because we are in the middle of a fiscal year and the new standards will be adopted in January 9th of 2025, but fully and wholly adopted by IA after May 2025, we will adopt the new standards in our office in July 1, 2025.

[00:30:34] they will still be referred to as the standards. And when we receive a external peer review they will hold us to the standards applicable at that time. And so the standards will always remain the same. It will just be an updated version. It is similar to how we look at our policies.

[00:30:53] Every five years they're updated. However, policies are still the same. Although there might be some changes between those two policies. But the standards will stay, the language will remain the same. - Thank you so much. helpful are there any further questions or comments could I please have a motion to approve policy 3410 office of the Auditor General to send it to the full board as an information item so moved thank you second the motion was made by mr. and often seconded by Miss Donahue all those in favor please raise your

[00:31:31] hand and say aye aye seeing no members opposed the motion passes unanimously with all committee members present with that we will move on to policy 2610 the Loudoun County School Board aides as part of the fiscal year 24 budget the Loudoun County School Board approved an allocation for board aides that provides that an aid or more than one aid for each school board member the allocation for this budget item is nearly a million dollars to ensure the school board is

[00:32:11] fiscally responsible with this taxpayer funded allocation it is necessary to update this policy to ensure that it is balanced and aligned with the LCPS current practices and responsibilities dr. Smith will present today the floor is yours dr. Smith Thank You chair Chandler committee members this policy was presented as an information item at our last committee meeting on June 20th during the discussion on this policy several edits or changes were recommended and today in the red line you'll see that we've attempted to capture those in that draft so i'd like to provide a brief overview of those changes since our last

[00:32:47] meeting and i'll be referring to the line numbers in the red line document although there is one point i might ask you to refer to the clean document there's several red lines in here so i just want to make sure we can distinguish what changed the first edit is on line 83 of the red line and this proposed strike is responsive to the committee's request to conform this policy to the confidentiality provisions set forth in the NDA.

[00:33:12] So you see that strike there beginning with line 83. The next one is on line 94, and it's specifically in item J. And so listening to the feedback from the committee and looking at the community feedback, we are suggesting to strike the language should refrain from conduct that actively disparage, criticizes, or defames the school board, school board members, LCPS, its employees, either publicly or privately, or that interferes with the implementation of a decision made by the school board.

[00:33:42] So we're proposing to strike that based on the feedback we heard and replace it with should conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the integrity of the school board, its members, LCPS, and its employees. This includes refraining from actions that undermine the implementation of decisions made by the school board.

[00:33:58] The next change you'll see on line 164, recommending the addition of while the board at large may not have oversight over individual board aides, policy 1035 board members could dis face disciplinary actions such and give some examples there for the acts of their respective board aid conduct online 198 there's an additional suggestion regarding confidential information that you can see included and just says within board members discretion and only as provided in the NDAs board members and board aides execute so you can see

[00:34:37] that there lines 277 and we're just making a note here that these should be indented as subsections to the above paragraph since they speak to policy 7524 and so that policy and language from that policy was added here the suggested title for this section we would recommend changing it to participation in political activities and then it adds sections a through h and i'm not going to read all of this but it does in the initial section it talks about how aids are not employees of lcps and should shall generally be governed by policy 7524 in the following regards and it does

[00:35:17] give those examples there are several items there all the way through i believe number nine there that talks about examples and some of those has come from language from 7524 there's a lot of discussion around what are political activities what are some examples of those what does it mean and so we've taken that from policy 7524 and then on line 333 of the red line uh the suggestion here is to place a section two and entitle that other employment um as the the header there we've strict we've recommended striking some sections there and um it just talk about board aid shall

[00:35:52] consult with their respective board members and any other concurrent employment and such respective board members retain discretion over such matters and then i believe the last one is line 353 and And the suggestion here is to group these together under Section 3, entitled Limitation on Scope of Duties.

[00:36:11] And so again, we provided the red line, we provided you a clean copy to see what that could look like, because there were edits originally, and then there's been subsequent edits since the last time we had a meeting on June 20th. So happy to answer any questions you may have.

[00:36:28] Thank you, Dr. Smith. Let's see, are there any questions or comments from the committee? Ms. Donahue? Thank you, Chair Chandler. Thank you, Dr. Smith, and to your staff for taking our concerns and feedback as seriously as you have done, and for putting the effort into making the revisions to the policy.

[00:36:47] I was very happy to see the updated version. That being said, I do have a couple of questions, and also some additional suggested edits for consideration by this panel. My first question is with regard to, I'm looking at the Clean Policy, Lines 109 and 111 of the Clean Policy.

[00:37:15] Line 109, this is under the Budget Compensation and Benefits section, C4. Line 109 mentions with respect to hours worked and leave taken. But then 111 in Section 5 makes it clear that board aides do not receive compensatory time or personal leave.

[00:37:37] So I had a question about that language as I feel like it's slightly contradictory to mention leave taken, but then board aides don't have compensatory or personal leave. Thank you for that question and thanks for the kind remarks.

[00:37:54] I will say here, I think what that is intended to mean, and I can see how it can be taken in a different way was that the board member is responsible for monitoring when they've worked and really when they haven't worked. So not necessarily leave taken 'cause you're right. They don't have access to annually, personal leave, that type of thing.

[00:38:12] But I believe what it's trying to say is have knowledge when they're working and when they're not working, which is same, which is leave taken, but happy to work on some language there if you have some suggested one, but I also defer to division council unless there's other thoughts around that.

[00:38:28] Mr. Allen. - Thank you, Dr. Smith. As a further clarification, given that board aides are political appointees and non-employees at the LSA standards would not apply. So that's part of the distinction as well.

[00:38:45] - I would suggest possibly just taking out and leave taken if that's agreeable, if there are no concerns with that change. - Ms. Donahue? - I'm sorry, Ms. Chernow? - The only other thing I would say is like hours charged because they charge their hours.

[00:39:01] they have to submit their time card so if it needed to be clearer about working hours versus not you might want to reference that process but I'm not sure if that's something that would change in the future but I think that that's the way it's going to continue but I'm also fine striking it so that also seems like it would work if there's if staff has a preference or a recommendation as to which avenue would be better no the staff

[00:39:33] has a preference either way it offers that clarity and then in the following section subsection 6 on lines 114 to 115 of the clean copy it talks about work authorized by the school board member by whom they were appointed and then in parentheses or to whom they are officially assigned and I was curious about that also since my understanding is the board aids only work for their

[00:40:10] individual member I was wondering if it's if the parenthetical notation is necessary to include that Ms. Donahue thanks for pointing that I think we could we could probably strike that as well skipping ahead to line 200 in the clean copy is on page six of the clean copy in the middle of the page this one

[00:40:46] says board age shall immediately notify the respective school board member and division counsel's office I didn't know if that was a typo or if it should say notify their respective school board member or the aides member rather than the respective school board members struck me as a little bit using it's down here we'd be amenable to that as well if you feel like that would offer more clarity to put there or you say their respective or however you'd like

[00:41:22] the word that they're respected and then for lines 308 to 309 of the clean version about the non-disclosure agreements the very end of the policy states that board aides will sign NDAs on an annual basis in June and I was just curious why we have that requirement that they have to sign them every year

[00:41:54] Thank you, Ms. Donahue. I believe there was a request to update just so that the NDAs and their terms and conditions are fresh in both the board and the respective board aides mind for the upcoming year.

[00:42:16] But, of course, if it's the will of the committee to strike that or amend that, accordingly, staff can certainly do so. Yes, Ms. Chernoff. Is there a reason we wouldn't align that with the terms of the board members?

[00:42:32] june feels like it's smack dab in the middle of our terms whether you're coming in or leaving um would there be would it be better suited if we were going to have them re-sign it to be more in line with when they might come on or leave or like reorganization or yeah with yeah in january or by february 1st or you know busy month with budget but squeeze it in maybe i don't

[00:43:00] know as soon as I said it I was like the staff have a preference I do think January can make some sense I think it's it's helpful to revisit it just to refresh and I do think with the alignment of terms and bring that bring that back in January makes some sense to me but yeah we can go either way on that I'm agreeable to that okay if I may chair Chandler I have two more yeah go

[00:43:36] for it I did the easy ones first so on the clean copy of policy in lines 30 to 33 subpart II the current language says board aides should be aware of policy 1030 and policy 1035 I personally feel like that is not strong enough and I would like it to say are required to conform to or must abide by these policies and we can have a carve out that you know except for those portions that are on their face only applicable to members because I am aware there are portions of both of those policies that very clearly can only apply to the

[00:44:16] elected members of the board obviously that is not an expectation that we can or should put on the aids but to the extent there are portions of both of those policies that can be applicable to either members or aids I would suggest that this that the language here needs to be stronger I had that on my list as well and I am happy to go on the record to say I agree I was interested in what should be aware legally means but I am pleased with the suggestions that miss

[00:44:49] Donahue has made and would be happy to go along with that I'm sure enough I would be open to supporting it if we could see which we will I guess when we when it's written but if they're if that language could be really parsed out because I do think we cover a lot of these things in policy 1030 as you read through it a lot of 1030 is referenced in the policy in terms of the consequences in terms of the confidentiality and making sure spirit of harmony which I am going to address myself but there's a lot of language that was pulled from there so I

[00:45:28] I am caught cautious not because I don't want them to adhere to the things in 1030 a but it is a school board specific policy and I do believe that the work has been done and clarify if I'm wrong to pull those things out that did apply to the aids throughout the rest of the policy so unless there's additional things that you feel that need to be pulled out I just don't we've talked a lot about redundancy and I want to make sure we're not being redundant in those things but I do think we need to clearly define what is school board specific and what is the aid because they are very very very different roles held to very

[00:46:01] different standards is that something that we could ask staff to work on for future iteration thank you miss on you I am inclined to agree with miss Chernoff's take I believe staff has incorporated to the extent possible various items from 10:30 and 10:35 and to the rework of 2610 but certainly if school board members feel there's specific provisions that aren't

[00:46:39] addressed they can have conversations with staff to make sure those get proposed if we were to change the language from should be aware to must be aware would it strengthen without muddying the conversation I think that's a consideration madam chair that this committee could make in terms of a proposed amendment it does seem must is has a different connotation than should for sure I would be agreeable to that and I think it it helps with the

[00:47:15] redundancy piece thank you miss Donahue probably all right I guess given that it's my suggestion we'll consider that a two one and ask that that edit be included pardon me I'm just going to make

[00:47:45] my notes. Okay. Ms. Donahue, do you have one more? I do have one more. With your permission, Madam Chair. Thank you. And my last suggestion is with regard to section D5, which starts on line 142 of the clean policy. And I have given this a great deal of thought since the policy was first brought in front of this committee and policy part d5 talks about oversight of individual board aids

[00:48:23] and this particular portion states that the board does not have general oversight over individual board aids and i understand why we have the draft this way and i agree that in the first instance if there is a question of any improper conduct on the part of a board aid it should be the member who is in the position of responding to or dealing with that potentially improper conduct in the first instance my concern is that hypothetically if there were a situation where an aid engaged in

[00:48:58] some sort of inappropriate or improper conduct or conduct that violates our policies and rules and the member assigned to that aid chose to do nothing about it i i am uncomfortable with the notion that there could potentially be no recourse and I would encourage my fellow committee members to consider if staff does not feel like this is a terrible or unworkable idea that perhaps there could be a mechanism for consideration by the board as a whole if if there were a question of alleged impropriety or improper conduct on the part of an aide

[00:49:36] where the member the individual member has chosen not not that the individual member has concluded that there is no violation but if the individual member has chosen not to react or hold the aid accountable for a potential violation that that could be a decision that is revisited in some way by the rest of the board.

[00:50:00] Ms. Chernoff. wondering if in section 221 to two lines in the amended redline version 221 to 232 addresses exactly what you're talking about when it talks about the injunction portion it is that was one of my questions too but it is my understanding that that that process would come from the school board and would be covered is that correct or is it is it that the individual board member of that aid would have to bring that to the school board it was my

[00:50:37] understanding that the school board at large could act can you clarify for us mr. Allen yes thank you miss Donahue and miss Chernoff pursuant to that the NDA it does provide that there's an agreement that if the board believes that there's an unauthorized disclosure or use of confidential or highly confidential information then that is remedy available to the board to move to enjoin or prevent further disclosure of that information that's been marked as

[00:51:12] confidential or highly confidential by the board aid so that would just be in relation to releasing confidential information not necessarily what miss Donahue is suggesting any infraction that's correct it's one remedy but I don't think it addresses miss donahue's concern thank you um i had actually had this issue on my list as well and one of the ideas that i had was to add the clause if corrective action is not

[00:51:47] implemented and i um i'm going back it's the same line one it's 146 in the clean sure um would that i guess answer both miss donahue's question and mine does that give the ability aside from if confidential information is shared outside of an injunction does it give the school

[00:52:16] board the ability to provide a logical consequence if the school board member has not decided to implement corrective action thank you miss chandler uh could you repeat that specific proposed considered amendment at line 146 after the word conduct i'm suggesting we add if corrective action is not implemented mr is this section that we're talking about though it says while

[00:52:56] the board at large may not have oversight over individual board aids per policy 1035 this is about board members facing disciplinary action are you you're speaking about board aids facing corrective action correct miss donahue is is that i am i confused so mr i am i confusing that i am talking about discipline because this is specifically about us being punished for their discrep their indiscretions you are correct so maybe it is more maybe if there is a change to be made it's more

[00:53:32] appropriately made uh in part four instead of part five that is the part with uh corrective action for AIDS does line 138 sorry yeah does line 138 not cover that however nothing in this policy shall prevent the school board and or LCPS from taking any action to protect protect property and resources I'm performance I would be concerned that that does not sufficiently cover potential

[00:54:11] violations of our rules protocols policies and norms okay so you would add to that list there potentially? I liked Chair Chandler's language. Mr. Allen, do you see an appropriate place to add that clause that would give us more accountability in the policy? Thank you, Madam Chair. I do believe

[00:54:44] that D4 would be the appropriate location for this considered amendment and language. I will say nothing prevents the board from convening a closed meeting to discuss and consider the performance and or discipline of a political appointee that's under 2.2 3711 section 1 if we wanted to carve that out to give more you know flexibility without being too prescriptive to the board but i do think legal would need to kind of review further parameters around

[00:55:22] proposed amendments with respect to what's appropriate and proper thank you mr allen Thank you, Ms. Donahue. Ms. Chernoff. Thank you, Chair Chandler.

[00:55:40] I, too, have a couple of clarifying questions and one proposed change or amendment. One of the things that I've appreciated about this committee and through our policy work as we're sort of getting our legs under us is the effort to provide clear cross-references to definitions in other policies but also define things within policy.

[00:56:03] so I'm reading policy now with that like well what does that mean so a lot of my questions come from that my first question is for mr. Allen and it is about clarifying on line 91 in the amended redline version and that's the version I'll be working off of for the entirety of my comments just for clarity though the statement spirit of harmony and it's actually bothered me in 10:30 also for us because it feels a little bit loose and subjective and actually as

[00:56:39] I read through the policy I am seeing that like we might not need it and we might be able to defer to the lines that really outline the definition which is right below it so in section let me pull it up here so section H says in LC LC members and LCPS employees in a spirit of harmony and cooperation in spite of potential differences and opinion that may arise on various matters. But I actually think that the definition to me of spirit of harmony is actually defined in J. School board aides should conduct themselves in

[00:57:17] a manner that upholds the integrity of the school board, its members, LCPS, and its employees. This includes refraining from actions that undermine the implementation of decisions made by the board. And so as I was kind of searching for a definition of the spirit of harmony, I sort of thought that Jay kind of answers that question for us.

[00:57:35] So I'm wondering if the committee would be open to striking lines 91 through 93 and just making Jay H. And then, Mr. Allen, did you have anything else to add in terms of where the spirit of harmony really, what that encompasses and how it would add anything?

[00:57:55] Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. As you indicated, that language is lifted from 1030 or 1035, and so to the extent that the committee believes this is duplicative or supervolous in light of the newly phrased language under J, I think it's a proper amendment.

[00:58:21] Thank you chair Chandler I take your point Ms. Chernoff spirit of harmony is to me a somewhat clunky phrase but but I will say what I took from it and the contrast between the language of H and the language of J is J says refrain from actions that undermine the school board and to me right refrain from action that's a an absence of doing anything right like don't get in the way of the school board.

[00:58:52] board being able to do its business and to me that is a little different than H says cooperation in spite of potential differences of opinion to me H sounds more proactive like we expect our aides like our members to work together for the good of the district as opposed to just not do anything that makes it harder for the board to do their work which is how I read J so I don't I don't know if that's persuasive to you or anyone else um i i'm certainly i'd be open to changing the

[00:59:28] language of spirit of harmony but i i do like that there is a line in here that specifically says i we want the aides to cooperate with with each other with the members with the employees despite differences of opinion ms jernoff um i i can't say that i love the phrase but i do believe in the intention and I think it's aspirational for me I understand there

[01:00:05] are certainly factors in the political climate outside of this building in this district that are outside of our control but as much as we can continue to work together I I do also with Miss Donahue's position madam chair if I might in hearing your perspectives I would propose following language language for consideration on 91 and 92 to strike in a spirit of harmony and cooperation throughout the rest of the line for 93 so it would read I guess starting from

[01:00:43] my 90 board aides should show respect for the work for sorry show respect for and work with school board members and LCPS employees and should conduct themselves in a collaborative and cooperative manner in spite of potential differences of opinion that may arise on various matters is that clearer. I definitely think that is a clearer definition and I would be happy with that language Ms. Chernoff. I agree and I appreciate that I do think you know while we do aim to be aspirational I do worry about that in policy and especially when we're talking about a board being able to

[01:01:20] decide you know potentially if there's been an infraction or something else in a spirit of harmony gets really hard to decipher so I would appreciate that. I'm amenable to that change great okay so we're in agreement do you have any further comments or questions it's a couple more okay there is in the same version that I mentioned when we're talking about lines 295 to 297 can you

[01:01:56] just sort of clarify what that means as it relates to and I think we kind of hit on this before with Ms. Donahue about what is the charged working hours, just looking at what is the difference between doing the work for the school board and then being on our own individual time.

[01:02:15] Because I do think that sometimes there is that overlap, and I know we've gotten into this with expression and things, but people wear T-shirts, people support different causes, and they may even be politically aligned with something that is on our agenda, them personally.

[01:02:31] Where do we draw those lines in terms of charging those hours for the board if you're doing those things versus not? Thank you, Mr. Chernoff. My understanding of this language is that it's certainly not to quash any exercise of conduct of an individual board aide's personal lives, but rather it's to set forth and make clear and essentially ensure that taxpayers' dollars aren't used to fund board aide's participation in such conduct while they're engaged in school board activities or board aid activities or business and that's to

[01:03:08] say you know when they're wearing their board aid hat they're wearing their board aid hat and being paid for their board aid activities. Thank you for clarifying I just want to make sure that we put in that distinction especially since we got rid of the lines of what they do on their personal time and then in lines we talked about the injunction already and then in line 296 if you could just clarify the word support again just looking for what does support entail can you clarify how that relates to working administrate administratively on issues that may come before the board as in preparing a

[01:03:47] board member versus supporting the issues themselves personally sorry 296 in the amended copy do I have that wrong oh oh it is 298 I apologize my apologies I did not read my screen correctly 298 the word support as I view it miss Chernoff it all goes back to witch hat the board aides wearing if a board aides engaged and school board or board a business and the board aides on

[01:04:24] the clock and receiving school word funds for that work this language wouldn't allow them to further a political cause or campaign or support any issue on a a referendum matter. That board aide can certainly do so when the board aide isn't wearing their board aide hat. That is in the board aide's personal life. But as I understand it, the thought here again is to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are not used to fund board aide's participation in such conduct while they're wearing their board aide's hat. That's not to say a board aide couldn't help or be tasked with researching a matter that will or is before the board for their agenda.

[01:05:04] It's just saying here the board aides shall not use their positions to further a political cause campaign or support any referendum matter. My last one. My last question is about lines 200 to 209 and talking about the confidential information.

[01:05:24] I know that it mentions here specifically now that they won't be able to have access to highly confidential information. Just as a point of reference, I went back and looked back at my emails for the past seven months, and I think I saw one that was highly confidential.

[01:05:41] Obviously, attorney-client privilege in the NDA is also included in those things, and I understand that. But what is the threshold, and how is highly confidential information differentiated from just confidential? Thank you for the question, Ms. Chernoff.

[01:05:57] This language actually tracks the language of the current nondisclosure agreements between school board members and their respective board aides. It's my understanding that the term highly confidential allows for flexibility to safeguard that information, which LCPS administrators believe in their professional judgment, is extremely confidential.

[01:06:18] Additionally, as you indicated, Ms. Chernoff, the term highly confidential includes any legal advice, attorney-client privileged communications, and attorney work product. However, the way the NDA and the policy, of course, which again attracts the NDA, are worded they could safeguard sensitive information relating to certain proceedings concerning students or personnel or facilities property matters but when in doubt I don't see a reason why a school board member could not ask on a case-by-case basis what the rationale about a certain communication being highly confidential and inquire whether that determination

[01:06:56] could be reconsidered so that the board aid could potentially review that information that's been designated as highly confidential if the board member thinks it'd be pertinent to do so thank you um okay um i noticed that we're over six o'clock and i know that there are lots of things going on in the county tonight so i'm going to try to be quick and many of my concerns have been addressed um i found it interesting today and as i was preparing to come to this meeting um my staff aide did some research on the background of this policy and i

[01:07:33] was surprised to learn that it goes back to 2016 and that the position was actually eventually created in 2019 and the goal was to encompass a range of responsibilities including producing complex documents preparing and communicating information to other parties arranging events assisting with constituent services and maintaining the schedule of a school board member the Loudoun County School Board staff aid policy was eventually adopted in 2020 prior to the any positions being filled um and at that time um before any board members had the

[01:08:11] ability to hire or work with any aides um the the aides were only budgeted for about seven hours a week since that time and in conjunction with the school board and lcps's shared goal of increasing responsiveness transparency and communication with parents stakeholders in the community This position has grown in scope and the budget allocation allows in appropriate conditions for the staff aid to work up to 40 hours a week based on the need and discretion of the individual school board member.

[01:08:45] As such, the school board has an obligation to protect the taxpayer's investment of just under a million dollars by ensuring the policy reflects both the increased responsibilities that have grown in the role and the increased fiscal commitment the division has made of the taxpayer dollars to support this role.

[01:09:06] I must say I'm really quite pleased with how the edits came together over the course of the recess. I find that this iteration of our document is particularly responsive to the community's desire, as we heard from our ombuds, to be clear and to clearly define expectations and clearly and consistently set the terms of how we work together.

[01:09:39] so I am grateful and will only ask a few questions I'm working from the clean copy so the lines that I will reference are related to the clean copy in section to be on line 17 and 22 board aides are not subject to LCPS policies including the grievance policy as a clarifying point does this change when they work more than 20 hours a week and what is the distinction between the benefits that are considered excluded in that section in the first section and the ability if

[01:10:17] you work more than 20 hours with 20 hours to participate in the voluntary benefits thank you madam chair with respect to your first question I believe as indicated and to see board aides are not employees as defined by the FS FLSA and their political appointees so irrespective of the hours they work and I think that governs your first inquiry this as to the second the benefits I

[01:10:55] believe are set forth later on in the policy under C7 on page 4 which on the version you're looking at is set forth in lines 117 and 124 and sets forth a A board aide whose regular assignment is for 20 hours or more per week are eligible with respect to certain benefits.

[01:11:15] So that's carved out and indicated there. Thank you for that clarification. I'm also hoping that you can explain the nuance and differences between lines 148 to 152 in Section E communications and the lines 169 to 176.

[01:11:33] I believe the Section 4 confidential information. I'm curious how these sections work together or if there's any discrepancy. And I'd also like to know what does the phrase in an emergency situation where the need for communication is immediate mean?

[01:11:53] Thank you, Madam Chair. This language that was proposed in Section 4 here under confidential information was informed by the committee's guidance and direction to take the information or the provisions that are set forth in the nondisclosure agreement rather than what preexisted here, which prohibited all confidential information from being shared with board aides by their respective board members.

[01:12:26] I don't see necessarily that there's any conflicts here based on this language. It leaves a lot to the board members' discretion. And we talked a little bit about, in response to Ms. Chernoff's question, the distinction between confidential versus highly confidential information.

[01:12:48] And I believe you had one more question. Well, so in the terms of the phrase, we're in an emergency situation where the need for communication is immediate, does that contemplate a situation where a school board aide might be sharing confidential information?

[01:13:09] Is that contemplating that that's allowable? Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe, and if you could direct me to the specific line again, 152.

[01:13:24] So as I read this, my understanding is that the school board member could share information with their respective board aide in an emergency situation without getting concurrence from the superintendent, ultimately.

[01:13:54] So if there was a health or medical or emergency, security emergency, a board member could pass along that information to the board aide with respect to addressing that from a board member's standpoint, however they might be inclined to address that situation without first kind of taking the measure to reach out to the superintendent to get approval to do so.

[01:14:22] I think I would be more comfortable if we were to strike that phrase from, what was it, line 154? 152. Or 152. Thank you for that clarification. And I also wondered if it would clarify to add, after the second mention of the superintendent on that line, the phrase cabinet or superintendent's designee.

[01:14:56] Thank you, Madam Chair. I should say as context, I believe this is a holdover from prior versions, so I don't have the context as to why this is necessarily set forth here, but if I understand your proposed amendment, would it then read, starting at line 149, in no situation shall a school board aid forward messages of confidential matters from the superintendent slash cabinet without concurrence from the superintendent or designee?

[01:15:29] I would be comfortable with that. All right, I hear the board is in agreement. Thank you very much. Or the committee is in agreement. I only have two more questions. Thanks for your patience. Beginning on line 222, what does, must not adversely affect the performance of their duties mean?

[01:15:55] Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe that this language harkens back to, again, are the board aides engaged in their board aid activity or our board activity and which hat they're wearing.

[01:16:22] And so to the extent this line reads, while board aides have the right to engage in political activity, we can read in their personal lives when they're wearing not their board aid hats, so to speak. Their participation in such political activities must not adversely affect the performance of their duties as a board aid and shall be in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

[01:16:47] So I think there is some room for interpretation there. So to the extent or purview of the committee to tighten up that language, please feel free to propose amendments as you see fit. I'm not sure that I have a proposal.

[01:17:07] I'm just wondering, I feel like we're sharing a lot of the similar concerns around, like, when you're being you and when you're being a school board and, like, I don't know, it's not a Jekyll and Hyde situation, hopefully, but I, do we just need some kind of language, like, a phrase that may need to be reused in a couple of instances that says, like, when they're charging hours as a school board aid versus when they're not?

[01:17:31] I mean, I think it's really that simple. I don't think it needs to be more complicated. If I could add one thing to that, I generally agree with you, Ms. Chernoff. My overarching concern going over this policy is two subparts, which one is, is the school division paying for your time while you're engaging in personal or political whatever activities that are not directly related to your employment through your role as a board aid and two are you making is it clear that you are not speaking with your board aid hat on like

[01:18:09] you are not representing the view of your member or of the school board if you are engaging in this personal or political or whatever other activity conduct that is happening on your non-board aid time so my understanding that you would prefer that that be like a disc like a disclaimer that someone would have to say I'm trying to I don't want to get too in the weeds here right like I want us to be able to trust the professionalism of our employees, and I really do think that we've battened down the hatches pretty good here. Personally, I think that we have, but I understand

[01:18:44] what you're saying, but is it not enough that if that activity occurred outside of a time that was charged, that that would suffice? I mean, are you asking for more is my question? I'm not sure because I think it would depend on the circumstances. I don't think in prior years, honestly, when people didn't know who the board aides were. It was easier, I think, for an aide to maintain anonymity, for there not to be a presumption because everyone knows who the aides are. But it seems to be

[01:19:20] different now with our group that the identities of our aides have been FOIA'd. It's public knowledge who each aide is. And in certain circles, in certain circumstances, I think, unfortunately, it is going to be obvious that there is a board aide present, even if it's not in a LCPS facility or during LCPS charge time, there may be a question in the mind of the audience.

[01:19:46] Is this person here speaking on behalf of their board member or on their own? And I don't know how we address that to answer your question. I don't necessarily want to say, yes, every aide must have a disclaimer every time they talk outside of their, you know, because that's not workable.

[01:20:03] It's not realistic. So I don't know what the answer is. but that's my I wanted to join in with I second your concern about the you know what is being charged to LCPS time and and then the other part of my concern which is is it clear that this person is speaking for themselves and not on behalf of the board or a board member well the last question I had definitely relates to this conversation and I would like to to sort of look at two specific examples and I I will go back to our public comment and refer to the question that was asked

[01:20:38] um in after this policy is implemented if it's approved by the board how does the language in lines 237 to 241 pertain to some activities and and the activity that I was questioning was back to school night um when you might volunteer to hand out political party or candidate flyer just in distribution um but I also wonder if the staff aid is clearly not billing for their time when engaging in activities like that or engaging in public comment does this

[01:21:13] policy contemplate that that's allowable thank you madam chair and to the extent uh asking a clarifying question what sort of activities and i i guess can you further frame the question well i'm really framing the question around whether or not the staff aid is billing

[01:21:44] Thank you for that clarification. My read of this policy indicates that a board aide should not charge for their time if they're engaging in such activity. So they would have to prorate, for instance, that time if they're not.

[01:22:06] So, and to go back to your original question as to G1, perhaps it sounds like starting on line 221 of this clean version, it would read, while board aides have the right to engage in political activity, board aides should not participate in political activities while or during, and we pick up the language, during the hours in which they are being paid with school board funds and shall be in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

[01:22:38] Thank you, Chair Chandler. thank you for that feedback mr allen i i just have a couple of follow-up questions about this the proposed change that you were suggesting um so first in response to chair chandler's question which which i understood essentially to be as a hypothetical hypothetical example if a board aide wanted to hand out campaign literature at a back to school night for example is that allowable and I thought I understood your response, Mr. Allen, to be yes, it's allowable as long as

[01:23:14] the aid is not charging for the time, but the plain language of Part B starting on page 234 seems to say no because it says nor shall board aides distribute campaign materials during school hours or LCPS-sponsored events. So that makes it seem like the answer to Ms. Chandler's question would in fact be no, even if they're not billing, they still could not engage in that activity because it's an LCPS sponsored event that was one question I had for clarification and then my other question was with regard to our public comment earlier and Miss

[01:23:53] Chandler's question this part G only pretend pertains to political activities so if a board aid wants to come and speak as a public commenter at a board meeting or committee meeting on a personal issue is that allowable it it seems to me that this policy doesn't prohibit that because that would be personal conduct not political conduct but since we're talking about the issue of what is being charged to the division perhaps we need to add something into

[01:24:26] this policy that says if if an aide is engaging in personal comment to the board or something of that nature that that also is something that should not be charged to the division although maybe we're getting too much in the Thank you. And again, I would say it goes back to kind of this metaphor of what hat are you wearing, right?

[01:24:53] So when you're engaged in board aid activity, which is related to the board and the duties as a board aid, then that's chargeable. And when you're not, no matter what it is, if it's your own individual political activities or your own personal concerns, then you wouldn't be charging, right?

[01:25:13] And so maybe just clarifying that in here would be helpful is what I'm hearing. Almost 6.30.

[01:25:32] I know. So I'd like to hear if there are any further comments or concerns. Do we feel like we've gotten our edits clearly delineated so that we're able to move this forward?

[01:25:50] I would like to. In other committees, we have voted to send policies to the board for information, knowing that we have asked staff to make some changes before it actually appears in front of the full board.

[01:26:09] So I realize we've asked for a lot of changes now, so I'm subject to Chair Chandler's opinion. Perhaps we should ask staff if it's reasonable to ask for those changes to be made and have this on a full board as an information item or not.

[01:26:25] But I think this update is important, and I know we're making a lot of changes, and I do want them to be done thoroughly and correctly and the way that we want them to be. But I also don't want to slow the process of updating this policy.

[01:26:41] Dr. Smith? If it's the will of the committee, I think we can get the changes. I would like to run through to make sure we are clear on what those changes are, so we're on the same page if that's the will of the committee. Yes, please. Okay. I'm going to start. I'm going to go with the clean version. I have the clean version, so I have a change on line 30 from should to must.

[01:27:01] We then jump to line 84, and we've scratched in a spirit of harmony and have added and should conduct themselves in a collaborative and cooperative manner in spite of political potential differences.

[01:27:19] All the way down at the bottom of that one, 109, we've stricken, worked, and taken, leave, and just replaced that with charged, for hours charged. line 114 and 115 we've stricken or to whom they are officially assigned for the section d4 um i was unclear there if we are coming back with um an amendment there on on that one it might need

[01:27:51] some clarity on that one um i have on line 151 and 152 we've stricken or in an emergency situation where the need for the communication is immediate and replace that with or designee um on the section g1 and i don't mr allen i don't have the exact language you propose there um you could that for us sure dr smith it starts in on line 221 after the colon while board aides have the right to

[01:28:29] engage in political activity board aides should not not participate in political activities during the hours in which they are being paid with school board funds and shelby and then it picks up on line 223, and she'll be in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

[01:29:03] Okay. And then the section we were just talking about, which is G1B, we're going to clarify charge time there. I don't know. We don't have the exact language, but we talked about clarifying charge time.

[01:29:18] And then the last edit that we have is on line 309, the very last line of this policy changing June, striking June, and adding January. Dr. Smith. Oh, sorry. there was just one minor online 200 we were going to change the respective to their respective yes thank you I did see that I added the I and they are so thank you and then based on my understanding of our conversation around in the spirit

[01:29:50] of harmony I think we were looking at adding some proposed language there I had around instead we struck in a spirit of harmony and added and so it says school board members and LCBS employees should conduct themselves in a collaborative cooperative manner in spite of potential differences of opinion are you saying there was additional language to that that mr. off is that adequate for your needs yeah I'm comfortable with that mm-hmm okay so that it looks like we've caught all of the edits that we're asking for thank you so much with that

[01:30:28] I missed on you I apologize chair Chandler dr. Smith had asked for some additional clarification around d4 and whether we want to add additional language or not regarding potential recourse for alleged improper conduct by board aides so we will add that to the list do we have any language from the committee to consider at this time we'll ask for that clarification as we get closer but I'm sure my understanding was the direction is for staff and legal to

[01:31:05] don't take a further look and see what's appropriate and not and come back with proposed language. Good. Okay. Ms. Chernoff? In light of Ms. Donahue's comments, in terms of section G1B, do we need to reconcile that since it says you can do it and then you can't do it if it's on certain LCPS hours and property? Is there a discrepancy there, in your opinion, Mr. Allen? Should we look at that? Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. This language comes from policy 7524,

[01:31:39] Um, and so I think it's a further clarification, uh, as set forth in that policy while they should not use their positions, dot, dot, dot, um, as a further clarifier, fire, um, at any time board age should not distribute campaign materials during school hours or LCPS sponsored events, uh, almost as if the subtext is that that's implicitly using, um, or it could be conceived that they're using positions, um, to further political cause campaign, um, except where that's relevant to the curriculum and current candidates for the same

[01:32:12] officer treated equitable okay thank you okay we have reached a point where we are comfortable with the proposed edits and look forward to further updates with no further questions could I please have a motion to approve moving policy 2610 Loudoun County School Board aides and send it as an information item to the

[01:32:39] full board. I so move. Thank you. Ms. Donahue. Second. Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. One clarifying point, if you don't mind, we did have the ombuds annual report. That's not required for action by the committee. It could be. If there's consensus of the committee, we could forward that to the full board as information, but we didn't get clarification on that when she presented, so I just wanted to ask for clarification. Okay. We'd be happy. Do you have any reservations? It was presented for information, but it would also be presented only for information for the full board.

[01:33:07] that's correct so does that since it's not if I could ask a question since it's not on for action would we need to suspend the rules and vote to send it to the full board or we're not we're not asking for action just if there's consensus to go and send it to the board we can we can talk with chair Mansfield about that just as just information report yeah absolutely comfortable having that go to the full board thanks for the clarification sure thank you very much the motion has been made by miss Donahue and seconded by Ms. Chernoff. All those in favor please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Seeing none opposed

[01:33:42] the motion passes unanimously with all committee members present. We'll move on to new business. Is there any new business? Nope. Seeing none. We are adjourned. Thank you for coming out and have a good night.

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