Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Specialized Programs & Centers Committee Meeting, Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 47m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1035831941?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 2026-10-20. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to call this December 3rd meeting of the SPCC, Special Programs and Centers Committee, to order. My name is Dr. Samara Rasheed, and I'm the chair of this committee, and we appreciate your presence here today.

[00:00:17] The purpose of today's meeting is to discuss the Access Academy update, and to also discuss school counseling, their roles in special programs, and to make decisions on the review of the policy of policy 5150 adult education so before we proceed we value public input if there's anyone from the public who wishes to address the committee you can fill out a speaker card at the registration table speakers must limit their comments to the time allotted based on the number of speakers and the agenda this evening all speakers have been allotted one minute each for public comment so please be advised that speakers who miss their

[00:00:54] time slot will not be called at a later time we'll now open the floor to public comments if you wish to speak please come forward state your name and limit your comments to one minute our first speaker Paul Vickers followed by Aaron Dunbar hello I'm Paul Vickers the principal of Hillsborough Charter Academy I come to you today to discuss two important items HCA was placed on the fifth and final tier to have the campus fencing added to our elementary

[00:01:33] school I was sent a photo of the aerial view of our campus with the potential fencing added I was directed to contact the assistant director of facilities maintenance with any questions I was very surprised to be told that the school board quote hasn't yet decided if the charter schools are going to get the fencing I expressed that our combined 288 students deserve to be as safe as those at all other LCPS elementary schools again he just said it was it would be a school board decision I'm appealing to you to please bring this forth to the full board for approval so the children of Hillsboro and Middleburg experienced the same level of safety as the children in all other

[00:02:10] elementary schools in Loudoun County I would also like to formally request that the school board include HCA and its playground renewal program through the CIP our playground is over 25 years old and our school recently spent close to $90,000 toward playground equipment you Aaron Dunbar followed by Steven Robinson

[00:02:31] All right, taking off the school board aid hat, because this is off topic, but I went back and listened to the November, I think it was the 12th meeting the other day, because I missed the last half, and you all were talking about the bell start times, and I just wanted to, as a parent, speak in support of what you said, Samara.

[00:02:54] Carrie and I have talked about the TJ issue a lot, and I think she or one of you brought it up at a prior board meeting, and it was kind of, you know, knocked down as, oh, well, it's not equitable to make those kids drive themselves to TJ. And I don't understand how it's inequitable to have those parents take their kids to a school outside of our county.

[00:03:15] It's a Fairfax County Public School, not Loudoun. So I don't know how it's inequitable to ask those parents to do that, but it is equitable to allow kindergartners to sit on the road in the dark at 6 o'clock in the morning waiting for their bus. So I just wanted to voice my support for that and say that that really is something that everyone needs to be considering because it's not equitable to our students to have that happening.

[00:03:37] Thank you. Stephen Robinson. Good afternoon. Just like what Paul Vigors stated, I'm the principal of Middleburg Community Charter School and just want to kind of support also the same measure regarding the fencing for our school.

[00:03:56] On November 8th, I met with Jimmy from LCPS Facilities to go over the plan, got the plan in place for that. As far as the new fencing, where it would be located, the gate and whatnot, they came out from the long fence on November 13th and began construction, taking the fence down.

[00:04:13] But then I guess middle of the day, they put it back up and then left our site without any kind of conversation from LCPS. So I kind of get some answers as far as the reasoning why, you know, that we are included in that project. Initially we were, but all of a sudden something changed where we no longer are receiving that security and safety upgrade for our school and our site as well.

[00:04:33] So just like the security festival we had this past summer, that was fantastic. They did a great job with that. Want to be considered for this project as well. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you to everyone who provided the comments. Your input is valuable. Thank you so much.

[00:04:53] Moving on, we do need to approve the minutes from our last meeting. I believe it was November 5th. Has everyone had a chance to review the minutes, and are there any corrections or additions? If there's no objections or corrections, I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from November 5th.

[00:05:10] Do I hear a second? Second. And they have been seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay, and the minutes have been approved. Okay, so let's go ahead and begin by reviewing our agenda, which I briefly mentioned earlier about us talking about Access Academy, the update and school counseling, the school counseling role in special programs, and then we'll be making decisions on policy 5150 adult education.

[00:05:37] um are there any adjustments or additions to the agenda okay uh let's go ahead and move on to our agenda item and we'll first talk about our action item which is policy 5150 adult education and i'll turn it over to mr slevin for any comments thank you dr rasheed we are bringing this policy back for action as you may recall policy 5150 is up for its five-year review that's why we're bringing it to the committee we sent this policy out for public comment and we received no public comment

[00:06:15] so we don't have any recommended changes from our previous meeting in november if this was to be approved in by action today it would be on the agenda for the full board at the next scheduled board meeting as an information item thank you mr slevin any questions i just have um just one or two I was just wondering if the required number of credits I noticed it went from ten to six is that a decrease that was ordered through a system and that's why there was a decrease and I think this was answered before I just wanted to make

[00:06:52] sure thank you for that question so in speaking with the adult education team one of the things that they have noticed that student is that students that require ten or credits as well as passing standard of learning tests often struggle to meet that requirement and the time it takes to finish 10 credits through our adult high school is approximately two and a half years to fulfill the necessary requirements and many of those students end up dropping out.

[00:07:23] Even though they have the option to taking classes simultaneously they don't often do that just because of the demands of life. In contrast students that have taken need six or fewer classes has demonstrated more success in meeting the adult high school diploma.

[00:07:40] the tent change from 10 to 6 would prevent students from enrolling in adult high school but there are other options students that would come to the adult education center would be counsel to enroll in the GED program where we would see a better chance of success for those students to get their high school equivalent GED so that's why the recommended that's why that it's recommended to change in the policy and I noticed it was at the end of one of the I think it was item E, same paragraph, that it said something along the lines of a fee is charged for the tuition.

[00:08:17] So I'm assuming does this get -- is this per credit? And if so, this obviously decreases their tuition? Yes. The tuition is per class, so the overall cost would be less. But the students that would require over six, as I shared, would end up going into the GED program.

[00:08:37] Thank you. Thank you. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve this item agenda to be brought forth to the school board for further approving second and so approved Q mr. Slevin and now I'll move on to the next agenda item and they will move on to our next agenda item which is 5.01 access Academy update I'll turn it over to mr.

[00:09:16] Slevin for any comments and to present thank you thank you again dr. Rasheed I would like to turn it over to miss Katie Clark our director of academic programs who will be providing an update on progress towards our access academy and i'll turn it over to her while i transition the slides thank you mr sloven good afternoon thank you for allowing us some time to give you a quick update on our accelerated college and employability skills known as the access academy as a reminder this is a lab school in partnership with george mason

[00:09:53] and Northern Virginia Community College. Next slide, please, one, yep, perfect. We're excited today to introduce you to Jeremy Shugart, an experienced educational leader who has joined us as the ACCESS coordinator.

[00:10:10] Jeremy brings extensive expertise in admissions, data analysis, and outreach. He previously served as the admissions director at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, where he successfully led the implementation of a new admissions process and promoted equitable access through community engagement.

[00:10:31] With a strong background in managing large scale data and developing strategic action plans, Jeremy has a proven track record of enhancing student opportunities and outcomes. His previous roles in student test management, technology integration, and classroom teaching further demonstrate his ability to lead complex initiatives.

[00:10:51] And we are so excited to have Jeremy here with us this afternoon. I also want to point out that we have some other important people in the audience today. We have Dr. Wolf, who is the principal of Potomac Falls, who is helping us with this initiative.

[00:11:06] And I think she just stepped out, but Anna Single is also a key player and support with this program. So as a reminder, the Access Academy is a lab school focused on supporting the transition of at-risk learners into college and high demand careers in the field of information technology. This initiative, again, is a collaborative effort between George Mason and Northern Virginia Community College along with us here in LCPS. As announced back in August at our SPC meeting, Potomac Falls will be our host site for

[00:11:44] this program. And as a reminder, we use the same selection process that we have used in selecting our other host sites for our special programs. And lastly, the academy will be open to all students in Virginia and the program will commence in the 25-26 school year enrolling 30 students per grade level from 9th to 12th grade here are a few updates regarding the progress with the Access Academy as we just announced we hired Jeremy who has been an amazing addition to our team

[00:12:19] as far as the MOU status we are actively working with our partners and legal teams to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding. We hold regular monthly meetings with all stakeholders in LCPS, so all the different departments come together once a month to discuss the progress and any action items. We also hold ongoing weekly meetings with both George Mason and Northern Virginia Community College so that we can address program logistics. Jeremy joining our team along with Dr. Pomis the director of the Access Academy they have digital

[00:12:57] diligently finalize or finalizing the curriculum for each grade level in the next slide we will give an overview of a potential admissions timeline where we think we will be able to start advertising once we have a signed MOU and our DDI department is working hard to develop the necessary application through student opportunities as far as logistics we continue to collaborate with transportation and food services to ensure that we have all of those necessary things in place for our students next fall and then lastly the

[00:13:33] communications teams from both LCPS George Mason and Nova are working on a logo and website to promote this program so next you'll see a potential admissions timeline our goal is to eventually have this program aligned with our other programs in the future but for this coming year we are hoping to have outreach efforts in approximately February have the program interest window in March where students would sign up and then in April do the lottery and emissions and then have ongoing emissions throughout the month

[00:14:09] of May we do have we do want to ensure that we get our students enrolled as there are some summer courses for our rising juniors and seniors that will need to be in completed prior to the start of next school year and so with that that completes our update on the Access Academy and we would be happy to answer any questions you might have at this time thank you so much for that presentation are there any comments or questions yes yes Mr. Astreffi thank you Dr. Rashid thank you very much for the update just had maybe you can kind of

[00:14:48] refresh our memories I know we covered this initial in the initial presentation can you remind me or what the admissions criteria is going to be and then the outreach efforts to to kind of promote this what we were envisioning for that is the DEIA department involved I know that we're trying to reach kind of students that wouldn't normally have these types of opportunities or at risk or underserved so just wanted to see kind of how that all ties together it's all start and then if Jeremy has anything to add I would allow him to do

[00:15:27] that as well as far as the second part of your question DEIA they are involved our monthly meetings so they will definitely be part of that and Jeremy will work closely with all departments in the outreach efforts George Mason will also be supporting us for our out-of-county students that are interested so it is a joint effort for the outreach but there will be some intentional work especially at the different high schools with guidance counselors and just making sure that we're reaching all the necessary students that might be interested in this program again we are a little bit

[00:16:04] behind on our outreach efforts but we'll have a real push hopefully in February where we can get out and really communicate about about this program and I'm sorry can you repeat the first part of your question admissions criteria admissions criteria so we are still working on that it is a lottery system but we are we have an on-ramp for 9th 10th 11th and 12th so it might look a little different at each grade level to ensure that students are able to graduate with a high school diploma and still be part of this program so for example admissions for an 11th grade student those requirements might be different

[00:16:44] than a rising ninth grade student if that makes sense I would just add it it bears repeating that this is a new and innovative type of programming in Loudon but also in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[00:17:01] It is a lab school, a governor's lab school that we're trying to launch. And unfortunately, we don't have the local decision-making that we do for, say, our HamSci Academy, for example. So there are a number of moving parts, working with George Mason and Northern Virginia Community College, and all that is happening with good faith.

[00:17:19] It's just taking time to sort out this unique partnership. But there is confidence that it's gonna be an innovative program, but there's also the realization we're definitely not on the timeline we want when it comes to recruiting but once we do get it launched understanding that we want representation across our from our county in our programs they'll be right slotted in with our regular recruitment efforts and in timelines in the future so that is definitely our aspiration thank you so much I had two questions and maybe you might have even

[00:17:57] answered some parts of it are there any plans to have the Access Academy at other schools other than Potomac Falls High School thank you for that question at this time we do not have any immediate plans to expand the program however like all of our special programs will monitor it and see the success and community need and there's always a possibility for expansion of any of our programs and just out of curiosity was there a particular reason why Potomac Potomac Falls High School was chosen just out of curiosity I'm sure I can

[00:18:32] walkthrough we we do have a process that we have in place so back in I think it was June we held two principal sessions with all of our high school principals where we provided information about the program they were sent an interest form where they could show interest in in being the host for this program and then we have a school committee or a committee that comes together and looks that for criteria your area so we look at alignment with the community survey that was given school leadership interests so that form that the

[00:19:09] principal filled out we look at building capacity and then we look at location and transportation ease so all of those things were what went into the decision of Potomac Falls High School that's amazing a lot went into it obviously for obvious reasons all right well thank you so much yes mr. Straffi Thank you, Dr. Rashid. So just if you can add -- give us a little bit more context around the programming. What I remember was that the program would focus on employability and

[00:19:45] kind of an applied curriculum. Is there any specifics that you can give in terms of context as to what we can expect and additional information that come out -- might come out around the program itself? yeah thank you so we're looking at a couple of different pieces that really come through that an alignment of the courses that are going to be offered at the fuse center looking at industry certifications credentialing looking at the possibility of how far we're able to progress students towards an associate degree looking at how this transitions for students

[00:20:22] that might directly go into george mason but there's multiple different tracks or multiple different avenues and and pieces of what we're trying to look at so if we go back to the original students that were targeting for this is as though at-risk students those students who may not have considered this type of program in the first place and want to be able to build and successfully move them through the program to to include potentially opportunities of advanced employment right out of high school how that looks and how that feels is still being worked on so we're We're really working and digging into the curriculum

[00:21:00] to make sure each of these pieces align both from a high school student perspective, but also an entry into the college and university setting from the courses that they're taking, and trying to make sure that there's an alignment and there's also intentionality. So how does this work with the business partners that potentially will be brought in?

[00:21:20] How do we make sure that those students are receiving the types of courses or credentials that are going to make them more employable they leave the program and potentially as they take that next step that may not have been originally a plan for the student but now it may become a reality for them because of where they're at within the process last question from my side do we envision another presentation to the committee at some point prior to roll out like you know starting admissions to really get some more context around not just programming but the whole process we do

[00:22:00] now so i'm happy to work with dr rasheed on agenda setting but i think as this progresses we want to make sure we do have a good communication strategy and conversations at this committee are always a part of that so i'm sure there'll be times where we want to bring it back for conversation to this committee and potentially the whole board at some point either through a weekly update or other other information awesome thank you so much boatload of information and helpful information we'll move on to our next agenda item which is 5.02 school counseling role in

[00:22:37] special programs and I'll turn it over to Heather Ross and miss Heather Ross to present thank you good afternoon my name is Heather Ross I'm the school counseling supervisor for Loudoun County Public Schools and I'm thrilled to be speaking to you today about the role of the school counselor as it relates to special programs and centers so the role of the school counselor and LCPS is multifaceted school counselors have three domains in which we focus on to support students in academic success personal and social well-being and

[00:23:12] college and career readiness the work school counselors do to support college and career exploration and readiness directly aligns with the LCPS core value of individualized success in which all unique strengths skills and passions should be celebrated encouraging diverse pathways and support readiness after graduation. This exploration of a wide range of course pathways that LCPS offers, including the special programs and centers, allows for students to make valuable connections between their current skills, interests, and their

[00:23:48] post-secondary successful or goals to be successful in post-secondary world. The decisions they make today in the classroom can help them achieve their post-secondary success. So we believe the academic advising and college and career readiness directly relates to them seeing themselves in future successful pathways. School counselors begin college and career readiness in kindergarten by delivering lessons. In elementary there are three lessons per year that focus on

[00:24:21] the college and career readiness and they do this until graduation. In these lesson school counselors help students explore their current skills hobbies and interests through self-exploration and self-assessment to include and to include college and career interest inventories and development of short and long-term goals students also plan for their future courses and are asked to keep their post-secondary goals in mind while choosing their course pathways as part of the college and career readiness lessons school

[00:24:56] counselors begin to integrate information about LCPS special programs beginning in fifth grade and then every year after. This helps students anticipate the steps that they may need to take in their courses to reach their goals and possibly applying and being accepted into a special program.

[00:25:16] For an example, a student's math and science choices in middle school may directly relate to a strong application for certain special programs including AET or AOS so early information for students and families is essential. Beginning of fifth grade school counselors begin individual academic advising so they sit down individually with students and connect with them about what their future goals are, what their skills and their interests are, and what pathways they may navigate in LCPS to help reach those goals. While some of our LCPS students may choose to

[00:25:52] participate in special programs our goal is that all students and families are aware of the opportunities that are available to them this is why school counselors help in the communication and outreach of information regarding special programs and school counselors are wonderful resources and helping to assist the actual logistics of the program applications as well additionally a school counselors collaborate with special program staff including the coordinators to help support communication and outreach and again once students have been accepted into the program at that time school counselors will assist with the transition over to the special program

[00:26:31] to ensure that if there are any course selection changes that need to take place or which I'll talk about in later slides any social emotional or personal social needs that may need to be addressed as well next slide please While all school counselors help with special program education outreach and application process assistance, as well as transition support, the school counselor's role may differ in high schools that host special programs.

[00:27:03] The school counselors at the host high schools may have additional responsibilities depending on the complexity of the special program. Special programs such as IB or International Baccalaureate, for example, have significant nuances when it comes to curriculum progressions and it requires counselors to track additional diploma requirements and really have a pulse on curriculum changes.

[00:27:30] School counselors collaborate with the special program coordinators to ensure that the students are receiving the most accurate information at the time when they're meeting with students and families. School counselors must also be informed on the rigor of the courses and the high school level but also in the special programs and pathways.

[00:27:53] It is important that school counselors are aware of how to integrate these requirements for each special program to meet graduation requirements and also to ensure that students with diverse course histories are able to access programs if they wish.

[00:28:10] School counselors in high schools that host special programs must also integrate the requirements of special programs into their academic advising practices which is an additional ask for school counselors and they're getting quite good at it so they must be able to help advise students utilizing diverse data sources to include student strengths, interests, and post-secondary goals and how their course histories and course plans align with their short-term goals and then also their long-term goals and post-secondary goals. When a student is in a special program communication

[00:28:45] is essential so especially for those students who are partially off campus maybe it's every other day like the academies model or for students who are attending a school outside of their home zone school counselors connect with counselors at the other sites also staff and students and families to ensure that students have access to all student support services and they are also on to graduate. Next slide please. Students attending a school other than their

[00:29:22] homeschool can pose some unique considerations. So school counselors help students through this transition and also families as well. This may be a student moving from one middle school attendance zone to a different attendance zone like the IB model or attending every other day like the academies model and anything in between this transition while extremely beneficial can have some unforeseen personal and social or mental health challenges on students so it is essential the school counselor is an intricate part of facilitating peer

[00:30:00] relationships and connections with the new staff and the new school environment they must also build rapport with the students and collaborate with the school counselors from the schools in which they had previously attended to ensure that the transferring student has a successful transition school counselors also are touch points and support students and their families during the transition just like students families get a bit anxious about the change that they might have and may feel disconnected or have concerns on who to

[00:30:40] go to. They learned one school culture and now they're trying to learn another. So we really see school counselors as the heart of that transition and supporting families as well. We want to make sure that the lines of communication are open and also welcome families into the new environment while also including them in any academic advising processes, processes that we have and are informed about the progressions of the special program and how to help support them through the transition all right the staffing standard for school counselors

[00:31:18] at elementary level is currently 375 count counselors students to one counselor at the middle school level is 300 to 1 and at the high school level is 250 to 1 with one career center assistant also known as a CCA and a director of school counseling which is an administrative position all title one schools are staffed at a 250 to 1 ratio as special programs continue to grow on LCPS the impact will continue to be felt on the role of the school counselor not

[00:31:55] all special programs require a significant amount of additional professional development or job responsibilities but some some do some school counselor or I'm sorry school counselors have adapted to the changes and support of students and the LCPS staff through the many changes that we've had all very beneficial as special programs and LCPS grows considerations for enhancement to the school counselor staffing standard may be needed at the elementary level to support the academic advising that is necessary for college

[00:32:33] and career readiness and helping to assure families and students are aware of the special program opportunities and also at the high school level specifically at those schools hosting a special program with more significant changes to the course progressions that is my time for today thank you so much for inviting me and I will now love to answer any questions you may have thank you so much I really appreciate all the you know the work the data all of that

[00:33:11] that is that you brought forward in your presentation I did have you know I I guess, more of a comment of the ratio of the student to counselor ratio, which is quite high. I mean, is that normal for an elementary slash middle slash high school?

[00:33:30] Is it not? And if so, if not, then what do, what is the norm for the most part? That's a great question. so are the american school counselor association their best advice to support a comprehensive school counseling program through evidence-based programming is a 250 to 1 ratio and while we have met that at the high school level we're not quite there with the middle school and elementary i will say we're extremely fortunate in

[00:34:06] laden county to have these the ratios that we do but we would love to continue to aspire towards the 250 to one at all levels because as we know the elementary students have just as many needs as the high school students they may look different it's definitely a different job however every student deserves an effective school counselor um so 251 we are extremely fortunate in loudon to have uh at least one level that is at 250 to one and the middle school very close to that

[00:34:45] um but in other districts like in california there's uh you know 876 to one is the average So we do, we do, we are grateful, but always aspiring to meet the national standard.

[00:35:04] 801. Wow. Wow, that's horrible. But yeah. Yeah, I guess we are fortunate, but we always do better. We always do better. Any comments or questions? Yes, Mr. Streff. Thank you, Dr. Roushid. Thank you very much for the presentation. I actually had the opportunity. So I was doing a tour of Stonehill Middle School.

[00:35:27] And it just so happened that there was one of the special programs presentations that was happening at the school in the auditorium. That's where I bumped into Ms. Clark. I think Mr. Grant Schaefer was presenting as well. And so I got to sit through a lot of that presentation, which was fabulous.

[00:35:44] And one of the things that I appreciate is that it is progressive. And so it starts off at the fifth grade level. And, you know, the students have the opportunity to kind of hear about these special programs, hear about these pathways and then explore their own interests and then potentially work with a counselor to really identify what their strengths or interests actually are, align those to special programs potentially, and then develop their goals, right? And so I just want to hear a little bit more around that career exploration, how those kind of conversations take shape, and specifically

[00:36:22] at what points are families engaged, parents or caregivers, and what does that dialogue actually look like in the middle school level? Thank you so much. I could probably talk for a very long time about this, so I'll try to be brief. In elementary school, there are three lessons in college and career readiness. In that fifth grade year, we view as a transition year. Students will begin academic planning for their next school year they also do something called an academic career plan portfolio in which they compile a significant amount

[00:37:00] of data and artifacts that they have done for the past six years in elementary school to help really underline what their goals their post-secondary goals might be and then their academic planning goals as well then in the middle school we really work on the same thing so they have an ACP or academic career plan in seventh grade in sixth grade they're planning for the next school year and they're then they're all and then in seventh grade they're planning till graduation really so with all of that said the college and career

[00:37:35] readiness we utilize a platform called school links we had used previously used a different platform we have seen a significant amount I'm actually presenting at the next board meeting regarding some highlights from our usership benefits but I'll give you a little bit of a preview we had over 3,000 percent increase in student usership at the middle school level they find the platform to be extremely interactive and they create goals and they are all led and supported by the counselor through lessons but they're able to log in on

[00:38:12] their own they take career interest inventories they take values and skills interest inventories and they're really able to navigate what career cluster they may be interested in when they know a career cluster they may be interested in now all of a sudden they're connecting to special programs so all of that is also visible to our families as well and we saw a significant amount of family engagement increase from our old platform to our new platform we will continue to support families as they learn this new platform because we

[00:38:48] really want families engaged in this process as well when students can take an interest inventory realize that they are really supporting a career cluster and thinking about going that way then we can also try to integrate the special programs into that and then also they can see themselves after graduation in a really exciting career and then also they can explore college opportunities at a very young age as well so they can take virtual tours and input their goals in place right into school links so we're trying to connect all of that when

[00:39:25] we're doing it's really college and career readiness is self-exploration and self-discovery and at a very young age we feel that that is extremely important And students have been very engaged and excited about this opportunity. That's amazing.

[00:39:41] Thank you for sharing that. And I think as parents, we get, as you're hearing it, I get more nervous than I'm sure that my child will be at some point. Just hearing about all the things that we'll have to go through. Thank you. For our transition center, I was wondering if, when we are to apply this to our transition center, especially for our special education population, would it be the same ratio?

[00:40:09] or would it be a little different I'm just learning out loud here so the same school counseling ratio it really depends on for when I say all students it's all students so that includes any student on a counselor's caseload regardless of an IEP 504 or any other specific need so we do try to meet students where they need to be met and support them through those three domains

[00:40:45] and I would add I would I would anticipate at some point in the spring we likely would be bringing a conversation to this committee around the transition center and like while it's not specifically a special program it is a unique educational offering and a program that requires thoughtful deliberation in terms of putting in the pieces together so that'll be a part of future conversation in terms of staffing needs what the what that program would look like and I would anticipate that coming before the special programs committee sometime in the new year awesome thank you so much this is a very

[00:41:23] hopeful and you know I'm always learning as we go along and then with that we will move on to our next agenda item which is 6.01 reflection on work and goals of the committee and I wanted to see if I'll turn it over to you mr.

[00:41:40] Sullivan if you have any thoughts on this item so just as we're ending our first year with the special programs centers and and centers committee we wanted just to take an opportunity to hear any feedback on how the committee has been working for you all as board members any particular accomplishments that you would like to talk about or thinking about going forward what what direction you see this committee going in what might be some potential future agenda items recognizing that there is a organizational meeting that will

[00:42:18] happen in the new year just wanted to give the committee a chance to reflect a little bit or think forward about the work of this committee no commitments obviously but just an open discussion would be helpful for us Thank You mr.

[00:42:35] Sullivan I'll open the floor for discussion mr. Struffy did you have any comments or anything you wanted to add thank you madam chair thank you mr. Slevin and the team I think the first thing that we've had these conversations already individually I think and I brought them up in committee as well as what one of the areas that we think about is how do we expand some of our special programs or it's decision-making or board direction around which programs

[00:43:09] programs to expand, how to expand them, the overlap between special programs and CTE programs and the different models that we're looking at when it comes to our CTE programming, the advanced CTE options, comparing that with expansion of academies or other centers.

[00:43:33] I think one of the areas that I've been curious about is decision-making around where we host special programs and what goes into what thought goes into where we host them and where certain needs might be when it comes to which schools host which types of programs. I know some of our initiatives are grant start off with grant funding and so how do we mature those programs and how do we understand success metrics or you know don't want to use buzzwords but like key performance

[00:44:11] indicators or whether we choose to expand a program or not beyond the initial grant funding and how we look at those student outcomes yeah those are just some some thoughts that I had. Thank You Mr. Streffi I'd like to well to piggyback off that I'd like to see when it comes to academies of Loudoun how we can make it more accessible to students especially AOS the AOS program and the AAT program and how we can make that more available to students and perhaps more innovative

[00:44:50] ways to make that accessible to students. Another thing is that out west we have a lot of land. I know Ms. LaBelle and I had spoken about this. There was farms out there. It would be nice to see some more programs that deal with agriculture and more expansion of that.

[00:45:11] we've just got a lot of beautiful land out there and maybe even an agricultural program that we can bring perhaps it could be a pathway another thing would be maybe even exploring mini pathways where AOL could have or academies of Loudoun can have some sort of I guess a mini pathway of how students in our middle school can be more involved with such accelerated programs so that we can make students, you know, be enticed and more interested in our county, learn from our county and our

[00:45:48] community. And again, just thinking out loud. So those are, those were my thoughts. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Streffi, go ahead. Thank you for that, Madam Chair. I really appreciated the one, all the presentations are wonderful, but the presentation around environmental and studies and sustainability and the, just the anecdotally, the thought process of how do we strengthen some of the curriculum as an initial first step and then iteratively build upon that to see where it goes and potentially maybe a center but I really like that approach

[00:46:25] of kind of dipping our feet into the water and figuring out how do we strengthen what we have across all schools and then trying to determine from there what the interest levels are you know what each school community does with that type of with with those investments and then you know building from there. That's, that appealed to me just anecdotally. Thank you, Mr. Streffi. Now that we concluded our discussion items of 6.01 reflection on work, I can't really say your favorite part of the meeting, which is our next meeting. I can't really say that because I don't

[00:47:04] have the date and the time because I know everyone was hanging off their seats for that. But so if there's no further business, I entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor of adjourning say aye. Aye. And the meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming out.

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