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Loudoun County School Board, Student Behavior and Accountability Committee Meeting, Monday, October 28, 2024

Date: Monday, October 28, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 18m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1024207468?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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[00:00:05] As it is now 4:30, I'm going to call this meeting of the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee to order present myself, Carrie LaBelle, Dr. Linda Deans, and Dr. Sumera Rasheed.

[00:00:25] First thing we're going to do is check and see if we have any public comment. No public comment, okay. And we will move on then to approval of the minutes.

[00:00:41] anyone has everyone had an opportunity to review the minutes from the last meeting is there a motion to approve the minutes as they stand I know so moved second my second the motion to approve the minutes as they stand has been both made and seconded so now the motion has passed three to zero and we're going to

[00:01:11] move on to policy 8230 appeals and hearings as ms scanlon already introduced the draft version of the policy and highlighted the most substantive changes that have been made by dr dean's have been made dr dean's made a motion to post the draft policy for public comment this has been done is there any discussion about policy 8230 at this point in time i'm not sure Yes, you may.

[00:01:48] I'm not sure I understand the critique by someone from the Equity Committee. They redacted their name and number, so we don't know who it is, but it is from my committee, so I'm very interested.

[00:02:05] And it says that, or it has a question, after the appeal is heard and the School Behavior and Countability Committee is unanimous, can the superintendent change their mind no it's final right once so when there is an appeal unless that appeal is withdrawn by the parent prior to the SBAC hearing at that point the decision is in the hands of SBAC so we would not change our decision at the point of an appeal

[00:02:42] occurring so the right answer to that would be no the way she phrased the question yes that's correct. Okay. Another question, it says, how long from the time the student requests the appeal to the time the hearing takes place? And I know that can be varying depending on how we can get everybody together, including the parent and the student. So is there a general timeline that is

[00:03:14] follow it? So by code, SBAC must issue its decision within 30 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. So that is the ending point. Typically, we are looking, if we were to receive an appeal today, we would be looking at scheduling that appeal as early as next week. But you're correct, there are a lot of individual calendars that have to come together in order for us to actually get the appeal scheduled and on the calendar but the hard stop is it would need to

[00:03:52] occur at least two days before the deadline for issuing your letter okay and then they go on to say what happens during that 30-day period and I know there's a person at each school that sort of will send assignments am I correct so it depends on what the decision of the hearing officer was but predominantly if there is an appeal before you that decision most likely was a reassignment decision where the student was reassigned to a different school be it a different regular school or an alternative school and the hearing

[00:04:32] officers decision letter does say in accordance with our policy that the student will will actually attend that setting unless and until the decision to reassign the student to that setting is overturned by the board so the consequence imposed by the hearing officer is enacted pending a decision by SBAC it remains in place unless and until overturned so the way they ask it that student is still receiving instruction in some form or fashion right so if a student for example is assigned to virtual distance learning

[00:05:12] and they appeal they are enrolled in virtual distance learning they begin there they're taking getting instruction through that program right up until the point that SBAC issues the decision if a student in this would be unusual but if the student was long-term suspended for example pending an expulsion recommendation then that long-term suspension would continue in effect and the student would receive services through getting assignments from their school through Schoology etc and you're right there is a student support advisor who is on board at each of our secondary schools who would ensure that

[00:05:49] the student is keeping up with the work and that the assignments are going back and forth okay not being real familiar with public comment even though I asked for would we give a response to the public comment questions in any form or fashion there are times that there might be a suggestion or a question that would lead you to perhaps make an amendment to the policy as written. Likewise, there might be times

[00:06:26] that I might see the public comment and think, oh, you know, that's a great point. Let me go ahead and proactively make a recommended change. So that's the purpose of public comment is to, I guess, get us all thinking from different perspectives about how the policy could be improved. So, would it be inappropriate or appropriate for me to answer the questions that you just answered for us in my equity meeting next Thursday? Oh, I think that would be fine.

[00:06:59] Okay. Because it says it's from an equity committee person, but they redacted their name, and so I can say it to the group. Yes, I think that would be fine. Thank you. Also, is it not true, I know that this was also asked in that same question from the same person.

[00:07:22] They wanted to know if we send an email or written notification in the form of a letter. We send both, don't we? Yes, we send both. The email is sent immediately as soon as the letter is processed.

[00:07:40] It's sent both to the parent. If there were an attorney, it would be sent at the same time, and certainly to school staff who have a need to know, and then that same day, or if it's at the very end of the day, perhaps the next morning, a paper copy is put in the U.S. mail.

[00:07:57] And to address this person's last suggestion, where they are saying it shouldn't be at the chair's sole discretion to make decisions, we generally, I can't think of any time we haven't discussed something among the three of us, but then it is the chair's duty to make the statement of what we're planning to do. So this one wanted to know about whether why you can't have a written statement or why you had to have it in person or, and, you know, thinks that it

[00:08:37] shouldn't be a chair decision. And I think part of the problem is it makes it look like it is a chair decision and he doesn't realize that we discuss all this when we're enclosed and then I make the statement I think that's what the problem is there does that seem like it to you I think that perhaps this person is talking about in the moment in the hearing at times a parent might or a student might wish to present you with additional documentation that could include for example written statements and you have the discretion to say of course we will

[00:09:17] take that and we will consider that or you would have the discretion to say in that moment no we're not going to accept that evidence of course as the chair at your discretion you could in that moment before the family and the school have your conversation and make a decision but the way the policy is written is ultimately whether or not to accept that additional information would be the chair's responsibility okay that question was from MSAC how do they get

[00:09:52] their response back so that they would be clear that's my question the question she just asked was from MSAC not from equity so okay sorry I'm gonna ask miss Gettleman if there is a tradition or an expectation that responses are written and sent out for public comment or is it really typically it's comment made to invoke conversation and thought before the committee the comments are usually received and then considered by the committee there is no response given to

[00:10:31] the person who submits it okay any other discussion on this policy is there a motion to approve this policy as written? So moved. Second. The motion to approve the policy as

[00:11:02] written has been made and seconded appropriately. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed, seeing no opposition, consider this policy complete and we will move forward with the next policy maybe chair LaBelle the procedures to have it go to as an information item to the full board okay thank you this will move forward as an information item to the full board and now we can go on to our next policy I

[00:11:41] think this one is student technology acceptable responsible use policy do you want to speak to that sorry again we're bringing back so this was an information item at the last student behavior and accountability committee meeting we're bringing it back tonight as an action item it was posted for two weeks for public comment we received the six or seven comments that are here none of these some of them are just no comments at this time or no questions there are

[00:12:16] some specific items that we that really don't fit into this policy just a reminder that this policy is being revised it's only about nine or ten months old at this point so but at the time it was revised policy 86 55 student personal device usage policy didn't exist so we're just reviewing this policy to align with that policy so minimal feedback other than that happy to take

[00:12:44] any questions any questions okay my comment is that I've visited multiple schools in recent days and the policy is is working i went to tuscarora i went to broad run and i went somewhere else chant and going in and out of the classrooms the phones are in the

[00:13:19] couches and that made me smile that's good that's the whole reason for policy 8655 anecdotally i was at other schools on friday too and heard the same feedback and i will say not directly related to this policy but we do plan on collecting that feedback on the anecdotal impact of policy 8665 as we get into maybe the December time frame so we can see really see how that has been impactful in the schools but that's good to hear that it's well received so at this

[00:13:51] point do we need to take any action yes similar to the last one you can consider whether you want any amendments or you want to approve it as written and send it to the full board as an action item you know when my kids don't like it that means it works exactly exactly but yes I so motion to approve policy 8650 their second I second thank you the

[00:14:30] motion has been made to approve it as written and it has been appropriately seconded all those in favor of passing this motion say aye aye aye those opposed no opposition therefore this motion passes three to zero and will be moved forward for an information item to the whole board thank you is there any new

[00:14:58] business before this board ding oh okay good can you tell me what the usual reasons are when parents withdraw their appeal or their request for appeal? So sometimes a parent sort of wants to put a placeholder and meet the timeline to appeal in the event that they

[00:15:34] actually wish to move forward. When that happens, they might have some questions about the decision and they just put in their appeal until they feel those questions are answered. At times, particularly when there is a reassignment as the result of a charge, a community-based charge, at times before the case gets to SBAC on appeal, the court has taken certain action that makes the situation moot.

[00:16:06] Any other questions? No. New business? Seeing as that we have completed all the business that we had on our agenda today, i would like to go ahead and close the sip uh forgot the date october 28th meeting of the s back committee at this time 546. thank you 446. oh okay 446. my apologies i'm just looking the wrong way

[00:16:44] thank you thank you bye-bye

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