Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Legislative, Audit and Policy Committee Meeting, Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 26m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1096067401?rel=0

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 2026-10-13. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] good evening this is April Chandler calling to order the legislative audit and policy committee meeting for June 17th 2025 we normally begin with public comment but there are no in-person public comments tonight the meeting will be audio recorded and posted in board docs we will move on to item number 3.01 approval of the April 29th 2025 draft minutes may I please have a motion to approve the april meeting minutes i move to approve i move to approve the april meeting minutes i second the motion thank you very much um the motion was made by miss donahue and seconded by

[00:00:40] miss chandler all those in favor please say aye aye all those opposed hearing the uh the motion passes unanimously with mrs shurnoff with mrs shurnoff absent for the vote um next we'll move on to our action item number 4.01 policy 2310 committees of the school board this policy governs the structure efficiency and effectiveness of the committees to support the work of the board and the school division miss Allen our chief communications and community our chief of communications and community engagement

[00:01:19] will be presenting oh pardon me mr. Dr. Bergen will be presenting tonight thank you for the clarification I'm dr. Bergen the floor is yours sure and I'm also going to my colleague mr. Allen at the other end who has done a lot of the work on the language in this policy to answer any questions I think you're both familiar with this policy from previous discussions of this we first started in on this policy because the administration was looking to find a way

[00:01:55] that we could codify the work of the school business partnership it does exist it is an advisory to the administration it's a very effective group to help inform our programming but we didn't have any we didn't have a codified in policy how we could capture the work of a group such as the school business so that's where this started and then as we dug into this there's been a lot of discussion with this committee and others about the paragraph on SBAC and the work on the discipline committees and so at this point I'm going to turn it

[00:02:26] over to Mr. Allen to carry it from here. Wes? Thank you, Dr. Bergen. I'll hold this up myself.

[00:02:42] If you can give me a moment. I'm rushing from another committee meeting. Okay, well, that's fine. While you continue to look into there, Wes, for our board members, I would just refer you to the red line version on the second page, Section 7, Paragraph C, Student Behavior and Accountability

[00:03:17] committee so you currently prior to any revisions to this policy school discipline hearings are heard by by SPAC as a three-member committee and they liaison with student support services for ease of scheduling and to make sure that there's timelines involved with hearing these discipline committees they have to happen in a very prescribed cadence there's been some interest from other school board members who might like to serve on discipline committees

[00:03:47] And so we've been in conversation between various board members about how can we keep the work consistent with SBAC to make sure that the hearings are conducted in a very consistent manner and in a timely manner as needed by prescribed timelines and allow other board members the opportunity to participate in discipline committees if they're so inclined.

[00:04:08] And so as it's written, you can see the wording itself, but it essentially would establish that the SBAC chair would be the chair for every discipline committee. A second member of SBAC would be two of the three members. And then for another board member who's not a part of SBAC, if they're so inclined and want to participate, they would be invited to join in so they could understand the process and hear cases.

[00:04:30] If no one outside of SBAC was interested in hearing cases, then it would fall to the three SBAC members to carry on as they currently do. Does that sound about right, Wes? That's correct. So that's a major change to this policy that we're bringing forward to you.

[00:04:47] In addition to another change, as I alluded to earlier, is a way to codify the work of the school business partnership by establishing that there is such a thing as advisory committees established by the administration, as opposed to advisory committees established by the board.

[00:05:06] So SEAC, as an example, an advisory committee established by the board, that's three board members appointed by the board that has lots of community members and staff that support their work. Different for a school division administratively created advisory is the administration establishes the membership of the committee and the board appoints a liaison, a single board member, to be a liaison to the work.

[00:05:36] And that's how it works now. So Mr. Streffi is the board appointed liaison to the school business partnership. He regularly attends their meetings and is well informed about that work. And then he can report back to the board about what he's learning and can provide input as what he's hearing from board colleagues.

[00:05:54] Those are the two major changes. Some of the rest of this was, Wes, had we spelled out previously each of the advisory committees and their responsibilities? Because I see they're all in red line. Thank you, Dr. Bergen. Yes, the staff made an effort to harmonize or make sure that these descriptions were consistent based on input we received from the community at a prior LAMP meeting.

[00:06:21] And so we took that to heart and provided updated language just to have more consistency in that approach. And then moving down to Section C, or up to Section C, for select committees, you'll see proposed language for this committee's consideration just to provide more information and clarity on chairship and membership of select committees which staff and its review of this policy with fresh eyes noticed might be helpful for clarification but of course that's just for this committee's consideration

[00:06:58] you're welcome to provide additional or alternative language as you see fit thank you dr. Bergen and thank you mr. Allen for refreshing our memory since it has been some time since we met together in committee at this time I'll ask well I would like to propose a motion I am referencing the updated red line at

[00:07:32] line 286. I would like to incorporate the SEAC suggestions so we would remove receiving special education services and replace that with with disabilities and then I would suggest that we delete lines 287 to 289 and replace it with the functions of SEAC are as follows: a advise the local school division of needs in the education of children with disabilities participate in the development

[00:08:08] or b participate in the development of priorities and strategies for meeting the identified needs of children with disabilities c submit periodic reports and recommendations regarding the education of children with disabilities to the division superintendent for transmission to the local school board d assist the local school division in interpreting plans to the community for meeting

[00:08:31] The Special Needs of Children with Disabilities for Educational Services, and E, review the policies and procedures for the provision of special education and related services prior to the submission to the local school board, and F, participate in the review of the local school division's annual plan as outlined in subdivision B2 of this section.

[00:08:51] Ms. Donahue? Ms. Chandler, Chair Chandler, if I could ask a clarifying question. Sure. Are you proposing this as one consolidated amendment or separate amendments?

[00:09:10] One consolidated amendment. I think given that SEAC is one of the parent advisory committees that exists as a result of being required by the Virginia Department of Education and I believe as codified in the law, it does seem important to me to include the description of their work that their committee proposed and voted on in the policy.

[00:09:38] Second. thank you if I could sure so my I I'm not opposed necessarily to the change but it it is it is adding a lot more specifics into the until the into the description or definition of SEAC that we don't

[00:10:09] have with regard to the other advisory committees I don't know if there was desire to add more information to any of the others or if there's particular reasons other than just this is what SIAC requested if there is other reason why we would want their their paragraph here to be more detailed and specific than the other from

[00:10:46] my perspective it is really just an issue of they have offered this recommendation for the policy and I do feel that is important to honor their recommendation it seems important to me that said I would be happy to hear if staff has any concerns or issues that they would like to have us consider before we vote thank you chair Chandler the one item I will to two

[00:11:21] considerations there are other advisory committees that are required by the Virginia administrative code and have and all of these are referenced so the The language that you referenced, which is from, I believe, 8VAC 20-81-230, Section D, that is cited here as a legal reference.

[00:11:44] The one concern or consideration that the committee and board will want to keep in mind is as there's various statutory or amendments to the Virginia Administrative Code, They may require more or less, and the policy could be not addressing those or over-addressing, as the case may be.

[00:12:10] But it's certainly within this committee's purview. And if there would like to be consistency for some of the other advisory committees that are required by law, such as the Gifted Education Advisory Committee and the Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee, We might want to kind of spell those out and kind of we made efforts in light of the public comment to make sure these were consistent and copied language from each of these advisory committees bylaws.

[00:12:41] But if that's kind of the direction the committee would like, we can refashion these to make sure they're kind of consistent with what's set forth in the Virginia Administrative Code. Have we actually taken the step of asking the committees that are required by law what they would like, how they would like their work to be described in policy?

[00:13:06] Thank you. I don't believe we have. I think that's a fair recommendation or consideration. Ms. Donahue, would you like to make that offer to the committees? It may delay this policy and committee further.

[00:13:23] Thank you Chair Chandler. I'm a little conflicted about that because while I like the consistency of the current draft, if there is a thought of making changes to all of them to still be consistent but more detailed, I'm certainly not opposed to that, but this policy has been in committee for a little while already and even if we move it forward to the full board today, it will still not get voted on until August.

[00:13:57] I really was of the mindset that I would like to vote this policy out of committee today even though I am saddened by the fact that that means we will have to do it on our own without our partner miss Chernoff but given that it will go before the full score school board as an information item could we please ask staff to consult with the committees to get receive their feedback and then we could incorporate some changes or present some information to

[00:14:35] allow the full school board to consider any proposed language sure we certainly can in summary what I'm hearing is and I appreciate the optics missed on here you've got this with all due respect to see act they're gonna have a very long description of their work and then a two-sentence description of the of the other advisories and it was meant to be concise and policy does not have to captured literally everything that we do. And using a truncated description of SEAC would not

[00:15:09] limit them to everything that you just read, that that is their work. That will continue to be their work whether we codify that in the policy or not. This policy is simply trying to help the public understand we have a number of advisories and generally this is what they do. So the staff recommendation, I was very comfortable with the staff recommendation that is not any disrespect back to our advisories for the feedback that they've provided we value their feedback and we regularly incorporate feedback from our advisories across all of our policies I sort of tilt with Miss Donahue on this one that this is a

[00:15:47] rather lengthy description and and just for the optics of all the others we can to your question go back and ask each of the other advisories to help us make a more robust description of all that they do but I'm not sure that it's necessary for policy there they have bylaws they they have their own practices we're not going to capture literally everything that they do so speaking only for myself on rep on behalf of administration we were happy with what we brought you but if you if you'd like us to expand on all the other definitions we can and we can

[00:16:25] have that ready we can try to have that ready for the next school board meeting when this comes forward for information thank you for that dr. Bergen I would be curious if there are any other aspects that well I guess we should vote on the motion so the motion has been properly made by Miss Chandler and seconded by Miss Donahue all those in favor please raise your hand and say aye aye all those opposed no okay I'm seeing as there is no possibility of breaking this

[00:17:04] stalemate the motion fails so one to one given that we know some of our advisory committees don't meet during the summer getting feedback from them for the next board meeting might be difficult so but are we thinking date timeline wise like when you would hope to have that I was just good point but

[00:17:42] tracking what just happened the vote to the amendment to the base motion failed so just for point of war I think that takes us back to the base motion which would be to accept the revisions as presented so I guess that was my question does it negate that because it sounded like they still might want to get feedback from advisory about what it says about them even though this didn't passed but I might be confusing that no I mean I my request still stands I do

[00:18:21] think it's valuable to reach out to the committees and ask for their feedback if we haven't done so yet as today okay which we work for the pleasure of the board so we are happy to Natalie's point we're gonna have difficulty communicating with most of these organizations until August anyway so are you opposed to taking any action on this policy today as presented and then we can bring back revisions in the future if you want to consider it again I'm just following your lead

[00:19:01] madam chair thank you for that dr. Bergen I am I have struggled a great deal with this policy and some of the revisions I can't necessarily say why I just want to make sure that we get it right I am willing to have it go forth in to the full board and I'm willing to do that today would be supportive of that so we'll see what we can do and we'll see how it goes and I'm sure if people care enough to provide feedback they will okay is there

[00:19:40] any more discussion on the policy no I have expressed some of my reservations I am going to vote in favor of moving the policy forward today more out of timeliness than necessarily expressing any positions you may find that what I say in front of the full school school board may reflect different a different perspective but I do want to make sure that we're timely with our work and continuing to move it forward so is there a motion to be made regarding

[00:20:17] moving the policy I miss Donahue thank you chair Chandler I move that the legislative audit and policy committee approve the staff version red line of policy 2310 and send it to the school board for consideration as an information item I'll second the motion the motion has been made by Miss Donahue and seconded by Miss Chandler all those in favor please raise your hand and say aye I'm seeing none opposed the motion passes to with two members present and

[00:20:55] Ms. Chernoff absent for the vote and with that we will move on to our information items we'll begin tonight with item 5.01 office of the Auditor General draft fiscal year 26 audit plan the purpose of the audit plan is to improve the transparency of the internal audit function and to keep the audit committee and other stakeholders informed about audit management and the draft audit plan has identified some potential audits for the fiscal year 2026. Mr. Audit, I'm sorry, I'm such a headache. Mr. Ahmad Woods, the Auditor General, will be

[00:21:31] presenting. Mr. Woods, the floor is yours. Thank you, Madam Chair. What we have here is a list of 15 audits that we've identified, or audit topics that we've identified in the audit universe. The listing was developed using a series of surveys administered to senior staff, principals, and board members and out of those surveys we came up with a listing of 15 potential audits today we're just sharing that universe nothing else needs to happen today so between now and our next L.A. and P. meeting we have two months which is plenty of time for committee members to review the the list

[00:22:10] of audits to come up with audits they like to see also during this period if there's any audits that are not on the list you are more than welcome to provide topic or an audit title to me and we can add it to the next meeting and discuss there for approval and so right now we ask that you just take a look and if you have any questions regarding the universe I'm here to thank you thank you mr. woods so I understand our assignment for the next committee meeting would be to have an idea of what our priorities would be so that we can have a more

[00:22:48] fulsome discussion correct also please note that the universe as presented is just a count they are not categorized in any risk or priority it is just a listing of the audits that we've developed thank you for that clarification are there any questions or comments from the committee okay thank you so much given we will move on to our next item which is 5.2 the legislative update this update aims to inform the committee in the community about updates that have occurred since the end of the legislative session mr.

[00:23:26] John Sutton our coordinator for government relations will be presenting mr. Sutton the floor is yours thank you madam chair very quickly this will be this will be even quicker than the audit the audit piece I just have a brief update for the for the committee this time let's go around we're in the early stages of planning both our legislative priorities for next year as well as next next year session as well as up the upcoming legislative breakfast I know that's a very important very important thing for our community and our delegation so the legislative breakfast has been tentatively scheduled for

[00:24:04] November 14th I'll send something out very quickly to give you guys the heads up on on that and as these plans work out as they flesh out I'll be more than happy and look forward to sharing further details thank you mr. Sutton are there any questions or comments from the committee seeing none we have completed the items on our agenda for this meeting is there any new business miss Donahue thank you chair Chandler we have discussed previously in this committee and also it came up briefly at our board retreat the question of public

[00:24:43] comment our public comment policy and if it would be a potentially in the best interest of the division and the community to consider making changes and And I would advocate that we should consider making some kind of changes.

[00:25:01] As you are well aware, we've had several instances this year where a very large number of public speakers have signed up to come out to our meetings. And while it is fantastic to have the community involvement and to hear from the members of the community what their priorities are and you know what is of the most importance to them I have struggled with how to balance that in light of our other responsibilities and I have thought

[00:25:40] of you know we've we've done research on what other boards other school boards and other you know other bodies the way that they do public comment considered a number of possible changes and in my in my mind I would suggest that we consider possibly dedicating one night month as a public comment mate just as a thought well thank you for bringing that forth as new business I would be happy to add

[00:26:16] that to the agenda for the August meeting and I'll look forward to engaging is there actually I will ask mr. Allen is there any parliamentary procedure that's required or is it's my purview as the chair to determine the agenda that that's correct I just want to make sure thank you for that clarification with that seeing no further business we are adjourned thank you

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