Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Student Behavior & Accountability Committee Meeting, Monday, October 27, 2025

Date: Monday, October 27, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 29m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1131055900?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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[00:00:15] Good afternoon welcome to the October 27th Student Behavior and Accountability program. It is now 4:00 p.m. and I'm calling this meeting to order. Do we have any public comment today doesn't look like it.

[00:00:32] All righty no public comment has everyone had a chance to read the meeting from our last minute read the minutes from our last meeting it was a long two hours. Everybody read it no corrections everybody's good.

[00:00:52] All right fine well let's move to action item and I don't see anything listed there. So with that let's move on to the information item. Review of student policy 8655 student personal device use.

[00:01:10] Before we get to that would you like to make a motion to approve the September minutes. We could do that thank you very much. I got the other motions in. You did. I did. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting.

[00:01:26] So moved. Thank you is there a second. Second. Thank you the move the motion has been approved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Now we can do the review policy 8655 the student personal device use.

[00:01:52] I understand that since we have information from the governor we need to take a look at that. Am I correct Ms. Scanlon. You are but the expert on all of that is actually Erin Smith who is here to present this policy to you.

[00:02:09] Thank you so much Mr. Smith. Well good evening board members. We are bringing policy 8655 student personal device use in front of you tonight as an information item. As you may recall we brought policy 8655 to the committee earlier this year and it was approved as an action item to be sent to the full school board.

[00:02:27] However after that vote was taken LCPS was made aware of new state code section 22.1-79.3 1 students cell phone and smart device possession and use policies development and implementation which conflicted with the policy approved at that time.

[00:02:43] Please note that the updated state code is included in the board doc item and I believe it's in your packet as well along with the red line and clean line version of the policies. The previous or the current LCPS policy was guided by VDOE model policy which afforded more latitude in the implementation for the division.

[00:03:01] It gave us the ability to be flexible. Now with the updated state code or state law we are much more restricted in what we can do. The team reviewed the code change with division council to ensure that a policy that we brought tonight was in alignment and posted a thought exchange to gather feedback from our community to identify any gaps.

[00:03:20] While we don't have much flexibility in implementing the changes we heard some clear topics from our community that students having access to devices during commutes bus rides and walking was very important so before and after school access and also that the policy needs to be enforced consistently across schools.

[00:03:35] The I have a little bit more sorry my mouse jumped around. All right. The new code specifically identifies that no student in grades K through 12 can have access to a personal device during the school day while at school.

[00:03:52] Specifically the law makes these definitions. Bell to bell which means after the first bell rings at the start of the school day to begin instruction time until the dismissal bell rings at the end of the school day. Bell to Bell includes lunch and in between class periods. And smart device means any personal electronic device that can connect to the internet and wirelessly can collect process and transmit data.

[00:04:13] This includes smartwatches tablets laptops any personal device that could possibly have an internet connection. So both of these are changes to the existing LCPS practices. The current policy restricts access to cell phones for students in grades K through 8 from Bell to Bell and restricts 9 through 12 graders from using cell phones during instruction but does allow high school flexibility for use at other times including during lunch also our existing policy allows students to use smart watches and personal laptops instead of the LCPS provided Chromebook most students take an LCPS Chromebook about ninety nine point four percent of students but many choose to work on

[00:04:50] their preferred devices such as a personal MacBook or Windows laptop this new law restricts all personal technology devices with any sort of internet connection so students will not be permitted to use any of those technologies from bell to bell including tablets smart watches personal laptops and cell phones.

[00:05:07] Students are permitted to use personal technology before or after school. Devices will be allowed for students in need of an accommodation specifically lines 22 through 25 in the red line version which states only students with documented accommodations for individual education plan IEP section 504 plan individualized health care plan or limited English proficiency plan may possess and use a personal device on school property to either monitor or address a health concern or as an accommodation or assistive technology support.

[00:05:40] After discussion tonight the policy will be posted for public and advisory feedback and we will bring the policy and the feedback to the November 24th SBAC meeting as an action item. The timeline goal is to have the full board approve the updated policy at your December 16th meeting which is the last meeting for this board and allow LCPS to begin implementation of the updated policy on January 5th when students return from winter break.

[00:06:05] So now I am finished so thank you and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have okay thank you very much um do we have any questions yes Dr. Dean I just had one thought should we designate who in the building gives those exceptions uh should there be a person in each building to give those exceptions for use of those personal devices so they would be documented as part of the official plan in Phoenix so whatever team is managing whether that's a medical accommodation an IEP those are

[00:06:42] different individuals based off of what those plans are but it would need to be an officially documented accommodation for those students right but but I'm thinking like the kids who have the monitoring their blood sugar the glucose monitors they might have need their phones to keep up with it right but what are there any comments saying that they can't let someone else use their phone

[00:07:10] I'm just saying kids play games with rules and I just wonder if anything needed to be said about the passing off of those who are allowed to use their personal devices. So in that instance that student would need to have an accommodation documented in their medical accommodations list via the school nurse or health clinic assistant or whomever in that school is doing that for them to have access to that device and their device would only be able to be used for that purpose.

[00:07:40] because we do not want a student to have their device for one thing and then use it for other things. So that would be clear as part of that accommodation. So I can take that back as a note and talk to Mr. Allen and see if we need to include some clarification there around that. Just you know I have a 15 year old that plays games between her mom and me and my granddaughter and I just they just have so many little quirks where they're always trying to get around the rules until I was just asking.

[00:08:31] So yes so the teachers are still made aware of any students that have accommodations via their IEP and or a 504 and so we do have some students that if they have to access a different type of electronic device to communicate or do work or things like that the school is made aware of those accommodations and my understanding is that cell phones are not used for these medical

[00:09:05] accommodations is that correct currently at we do have some situations for students for example that have the diabetes sensor and they have to have their phones for those types of things so when there is something that calls for a student to be able to access for example in a situation like that we would make those accommodations but for the most part the students have their devices their one-to-one devices their Chromebooks that they would use for instruction and things like that so because of the guidance teachers have to

[00:09:44] create assignments where students might have to do videos or things like that where they can use their Chromebook and not need to access their phone because of the policy and the law thank you I was I was merely asking because if as Dr. Dean said that you know they're giving their phone to somebody else when they are only supposed to be using it for a medical emergency the teacher would be aware that that students not supposed to be holding that phone so that would

[00:10:17] be correct yes that is correct and because even prior to the policy we had some schools that were kind of piloting off and away so now that we've had the policy for a while most schools not all but most have some type of storage or lockers so to speak that goes over the door where students can put their phones so during class time so there is a way that teachers will know if a student has their phone what that phone is for and if they don't need it for an accommodation

[00:10:56] then they have to abide by that policy thank you I was at a school the other day where they had an abundance of unused lockers and a student was given a bank of lockers outside her door and the students were to put their phones in those lockers and then she closed them so that was a good way to handle that I think any other questions from board members seeing none shall we vote to

[00:11:28] send this out for review by other entities here so moved second it although All those in favor of moving this policy forward to be reviewed aye aye aye Anyone against seeing no nays we will call this motion approved three to zero Okay that was the minutes I think we've done everything we need to do to

[00:12:07] Oh no we have another information item the policy review I had to turn the page sorry Ms. Scanlon do you want to tell us about that Thank you Ms. LaBelle Oh and thank you Mr. Smith Thank you yes the second policy that you are reviewing this evening is policy 8205 currently called discipline authority which I am suggesting a name change to that policy among other revisions the suggested new name would be authority to take disciplinary and other action against students.

[00:12:43] This policy sets forth the criteria that have to be in place in order for the school system to discipline or otherwise take action against a student as you know the vast majority of time that any action is taken against a student it is taken because the student has engaged in some kind of misconduct at either on school property or that occurred during an LCPS sponsored activity so we do in recommend revisions to further define and clarify what is meant by school system property so that there's

[00:13:23] no misunderstanding that that would include for example our football field our bleachers our school buses etc. We also further clarify what is meant by a school activity we expand that not just to a specific school activity but to all LCPS activities which is what the code permits and then we tie the definition of those activities to the policy that sets forth an actual definition of an LCPS activity.

[00:13:55] The policy also is inclusive of the specific criteria that would need to be in place for a student to be disciplined outside of those times when the misconduct occurs on school property or at an LCPS activity.

[00:14:16] And those are very specific occasions under the law when students can be disciplined for misconduct that occurs outside of those times and each of those specific criteria are listed so that there is no confusion question or ambiguity about what criteria has to be in place for students in those occasions.

[00:14:42] - Any questions Dr. Dean.

[00:15:24] - So I think it's important to frame that in the context of this policy, which is disciplinary action. When a student expresses that they may be considering self-harm, that is typically not met with student discipline.

[00:15:46] It's met with intervention. It's met with UMHT support as opposed to a disciplinary action, which is why the self-harm reference isn't included in this policy. If he had something in his possession that would hurt others it may be also be something that would be of danger to himself.

[00:16:25] Some. I mean. Yes you're correct. So a student who had for example a weapon in his possession on LCPS property would be subject to disciplinary action under A1.

[00:16:43] The misconduct at question would then be the possession of the weapon on LCPS property which is defined. The section that you're speaking of I believe is under A4.

[00:17:01] If the student's misconduct is detrimental to LCPS's ability to provide secure learning environments. OK. So the reason that is there is that is contemplating a situation where misconduct occurred off of school property outside of an LCPS activity.

[00:17:30] So there is no jurisdiction under A1 or A2. Most misconduct is going to fall under A1 or A2. But A3 and A4 what the purpose of those is is in contemplating that at times misconduct occurs completely off of school property outside of the school day outside of a school activity that may for example be detrimental to our ability to provide a secure learning environment.

[00:18:04] Let me give you an example. On occasion we may have a student who on the weekend outside of school on his or her own time sends a threatening message to do harm to another student at school.

[00:18:21] Once that threat is placed at school that is adversely impacting the school system's ability to provide for a safe and secure learning environment and an environment where that the target of that threat or the parents of that threat feel safe going to school and so what this does is it envisions a situation where that misconduct which did not happen on school property did not happen during the school's sponsored activity can still result in school discipline because it adversely affects our ability to provide safe

[00:19:00] learning environments for others. I accept your explanation, but one of the recent things that we had was a kid who had all of her drugs with her, not, you know, she's supposed to take one in the morning and one at night, and she took them to school with her. That was, to me, I said to the parents that you should be concerned because she may have been contemplating taking more than the

[00:19:32] prescribed amount. So it's okay. I accept what you said. I'm fine. But I just think that there also needs to be concern when there is a harm to the child himself or herself. Yes, agreed. And I would say in that kind of example, regardless of the motivation of the student in bringing that medication to school having that medication bringing that medication to school is a violation that would fall under a 1 that possession is a violation

[00:20:08] of our code of conduct then our policy and regulation 8240 provides for the school a range of responses to that that would enable them to consider all factors I was looking at a 3 and a 4 and I'm wondering if that includes students waiting at a bus stop if somebody's there with a knife or somebody who's been prescribed from trespassing

[00:20:45] on school property bus stops aren't necessarily school property but that could be impacting our students that are waiting at a bus stop how how does that work out can we can you clarify that yes thank you so school bus stops are considered de facto school property at such times that students are there either waiting for the bus to arrive in the morning or they're being dropped off in the afternoon so in that very narrow time frame and in that very narrow location the school bus stop anything that were to happen at that location during

[00:21:24] that narrow timeframe we would actually be covered jurisdictionally under A1 because that stop is considered school property during such time as students are getting on to or exiting the bus or waiting for the bus.

[00:21:40] What A3 does is it expands the concept of ensuring that our students can get to and from school safely to not just that location of the bus stop but also to getting from the bus stop home.

[00:21:56] Often students have to probably all the time have to walk from the bus stop some distance to their front door. It also ensures that everyone understands that a student who maybe doesn't take the bus who is a walker and has to actually walk from their home to school or is walking home after school following some school activity that any misconduct on the part of one of our students to interfere with that child's ability to get to or from school safely also can be met with student discipline.

[00:22:36] Do we need to put that in the policy so that's perfectly clear. I mean a lot of students might think okay he's off the bus you know now I've got him that kind of thing I don't know. Well that actually is the intent of A3 saying that a student is subject to disciplinary action when the student engages in misconduct that impacts any student or staff member who is traveling to or from school.

[00:23:08] The reason we didn't want to say home from school is we want to cover wherever that child is going after school. So some students after school may be going to a friend's house they may be going to work. They may be going to see a movie.

[00:23:24] We want them to get wherever it is they're going safely.

[00:23:28] most of the time they're going home but not all of the time. Dr. Dean. The students rights and

[00:24:04] responsibilities handbook how is it delivered to the parents at the beginning of a school year or a new enrollee or any first contact that family has with the school system? So the students rights and responsibilities it is done electronically as a part of like the first year packet that all parents sign off on through permission click and so there are a series of things that they have to acknowledge before they can move further in through parent view and so the srnr is a part of that

[00:24:39] process so it's done every year and i believe erin is still here i don't know if he has the question that i believe um as you are new to the division because it is a part of other information that parents must sign off on. It is done when you're new to the division or even if you withdrew but you're coming back. So every time you do that, you have to, the parents have to sign off on that.

[00:25:06] Okay, and it says SRNR plus the regulations or the regulations in that same area where the Student's Rights and Responsibility Handbook is it has two it references two set of rules that they should follow.

[00:25:35] And where I say in paragraph three. So the SRNR references and tries to simplify the rules and the regulations that are set forth in these various policies and regulations.

[00:25:55] So the policies and regulations and the link to the policies and regulations that's provided in this policy goes to one area of our public internet site where it lists all policies and regulations so that a parent could find any policy or regulation that they wish to find.

[00:26:17] There is also a link, and it is a separate link, that's going to a separate part of our internet site. So they're both housed on our internet site for the public review. But the policies and regulations are on one page, and then the SRNR is on a different page.

[00:26:37] And who at the school checks to see that every parent has signed off? My understanding is that's all done through permission click. so schools get a report of students who have and have not and students are not able they're not able to access like they can't log into parent view and see grades this is something they have to do in order to get to that point so at the beginning of school we open it about three or four weeks before school and we try and get I think this year we were about 90% of families had approved and ready for that and then the schools work with the remaining 10% to get them

[00:27:12] to make sure that they've done the process any other questions thank you very much for that Ms. Scanlon at this point in time is there any new business that we'd like to bring up or do we want to wait before we go forward yes that's what I was just going back are we ready to send this policy forward all

[00:27:46] those in favor of sending the policy forward and if I could clarify to by sending it forward you mean sending it forward to public comment yes is there a motion to send this forward for public comment motion to review motion to send this forward to public comment and review thank you Dr. thank you Dr. Deans all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed seeing no opposition we

[00:28:22] will send this forward thank you very much now seeing as there's no new business and that we've sent both our policies forward we have run out of things to do and so we're going to adjourn the meeting thank you meeting adjourned at 4:30.

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