Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Student Behavior and Accountability Committee, Monday, November 24, 2025

Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 36m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1140257068?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 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] Good afternoon I apologize for being late but we will start the meeting at 11 minutes after 4:00. Thank you for coming in to the November 24th meeting of the Student Behavior and Accountability Committee.

[00:00:19] To my left is Dr. Samar Rashid to the right is Dr. Linda Dean. Do we have any people signed up for public comment. No public comment today. Okay thank you.

[00:00:39] Has everybody had an opportunity to read the minutes. Yes. All right. Do we have a motion to accept the minutes as written. So moved. Second. Second. Thank you the minutes are approved.

[00:00:55] All right we have two action items today. The first is policy 8655 student personal defense device use. I may talk a little bit later we'll see.

[00:01:11] action item I do not have any questions about 4. 01 okay I do have a question in

[00:01:51] terms of how lenient are we going to going to be on implementing a new policy in january do we have we had those discussions with principals yet where you are beginning conversations with schools and principals that was part of the feedback loop that we gathered and so i'm working with ray mitchell on what that can look like and having some of those conversations

[00:02:26] but it will be part of the communication plan too that we are reaching out to schools the principals have already been made aware this policy is coming our school communities were made aware in the newsletter that were sent out last week so we're trying to ramp up knowledge about this I'm putting posters in place at school so that they understand what the new expectations are going to be and then figuring out what that kind of looks like once it's a policy it'll be the restrictions will be in place but we're still having those conversations around what that looks like on January 5th the students return if the policy is passed on December 16th my concern is

[00:03:03] that we don't want a balloon of discipline referrals we want all all teachers to implement it as the principals instruct them to so that kids won't look for exceptions to teacher B when teacher A let them do this.

[00:03:23] So I just can see a balloon of discipline referrals being sent to the deans and the assistant principals related to this unless it's done across the board by everyone.

[00:03:39] And that is the plan when it's a policy is that it'll be coherently implemented across schools and that's what we'll be sharing with all of our principals and kind of setting the expectations and really like I said Department of School leadership really driving that because at that point it really isn't like a technology related item.

[00:03:59] It is more like a classroom behavior discipline school management item which is more in their area of expertise. Dr. Rashid. Thank you. Chair LaBelle.

[00:04:14] You mentioned about dress with assessing.

[00:04:28] we just in the system already in through a so.

[00:05:02] The question Dr. Is going to sort of the students with medical conditions stand out and be ostracized because of their use of the of the technology device and are is there anything in here that would give disciplinary action to those students for loaning or allowing other

[00:05:33] students to use their device so the four accommodations are IEP 504 medical and EL and those would be the only four populations of students that could use those devices for a document of accommodation and the devices would only be allowed for use for that for example just because you need a glucose monitor doesn't mean you get to have texting all day so if they're doing something other than what is prescribed via that accommodation then that would be

[00:06:02] also against the policy okay any other questions comments thoughts that was for different policy I'm sorry thank you yeah I know that SEAC wanted an accommodation did you see that Ms. Scanlon they wanted to remove the word

[00:06:41] policy are you speaking of an accommodation related to policy 86 55 student personal device use yep then I would defer to mr. Smith on that they're the concern the only one that I see that see yeah because the sea I feedback is included as part of the item is in reference to cyberbullying and possibly removing that out or changing that I just got the feedback to myself from SIAC last week and I've had a chance to confer with mr. Allen about that yet so

[00:07:21] that feedback is the only that I see that they have shared and obviously we've taken care of that considering that this is now a state law as opposed to just a Loudoun County policy I think it would be made useful to have it made perfectly clear in discussions with principals teachers and students this is the state law this is the expectation that we have and that I think we've done

[00:07:52] Ms. Scanlon's done a wonderful job in enumerating the four cutouts anybody else have anything they want to say just that the SIAC did not have any recommendations for 8205 2130 and 3410 okay no I know that I spoke with Shanaz no she was looking at it and she it she said it looked like every student could use their cell phone except special ed students and I said no it's

[00:08:32] just the opposite and we went through that and apparently they solved it before they sent in these recommendations so okay I just want to make sure that that was taken care of anything else is there a motion on the floor to pass policy 86 55 as written yes motion to pass this policy as written is there a second second there is a motion on the floor to pass policy 8655 as written all those in favor say aye aye aye all opposed seeing no

[00:09:11] opposition policy 8655 passes as written thank you now we're going to be looking at policy 8205 discipline authority if you want to pull that out and take a

[00:09:37] a look at it and we can see if there's any discussion on it is there a lot we have to worry about on I think that we can probably get through both of them at this point by five o'clock because I really only would need probably no more

[00:10:15] than five minutes to do the info item okay looking at the authority to take disciplinary and other actions against students.

[00:10:30] I have the red copy in hand and I also have the final copy. Anything that you see on this that you feel needs discussion. I just I just wanted to ask Ms. Scanlon a question if I may.

[00:10:45] Ms. Scanlon of the feedback we received from MSAC I of the ones that was incorporated into the red line copy which of the feedback if you're able to locate located I'm just looking directly at the document that they had provided there was I believe two from MSAC one from an LCPS parent of the feedback and the other one from leaf is there something specific from MSAC in policy 8205 that maybe I missed because I don't see what the what the issue is with this per the person with the two ticket numbers that

[00:11:24] was incorporated into the red line copy from MSAC okay so MSAC as you know provided a variety of feedback with four different recommendations for policy 8205 I did draft for your consideration only some possible amendments if you would like to take that feedback and include it in the policy so what you see before you is a draft of possible amendments that one of you could make if if you wish to make it as well as a separate red line of what that amendment would look like inside of the policy.

[00:12:02] In terms of what has been incorporated because I did not draft amendments for all of the language or for all of the recommendations I should see simply because I personally would not recommend that all of the recommendations be adopted but we can certainly discuss that.

[00:12:23] from recommendation one there was interest in inserting the term material disruption into the policy. And you'll see that I drafted for your consideration a motion that would change directly and substantially to directly materially and substantially.

[00:12:50] So that incorporates the preferred language of MSAC if you would be interested in doing that. That's in subsection A4 so that the sentence would read beginning on line 43 occurs off LCPS property and outside of school hours if the student's misconduct is detrimental to LCPS's ability to provide secure learning environments adversely affects the student discipline process or directly materially and substantially

[00:13:29] disrupts normal school operations. So that incorporates if you are interested in adding that that recommendation. Then there are a number of recommendations that they made that I would suggest to the extent you wish to incorporate them in the policy they can be combined into one sentence and included in the introductory paragraphs.

[00:13:55] Specifically that would be from recommendation 1. MSAC is interested in ensuring that school administrators consider certain circumstances about a student in making disciplinary decisions including the student's age intent the context of the incident etc.

[00:14:14] From recommendation 2 affirming that LCPS strives to equitably apply student discipline and the way those. Oh and then from recommendation four language affirming LCPS's commitment to restorative discipline whenever possible as opposed to exclusionary discipline.

[00:14:41] So in my view you could if you wish efficiently take those three separate recommendations combine that language and put that in the introduction as the last sentence of the first paragraph.

[00:14:58] The school board expects LCPS administrators to apply student disciplinary policies equitably and to consider a range of relevant factors including a student's age developmental level disability status and other relevant circumstances when determining an appropriate response.

[00:15:16] Whenever practicable that response should prioritize learning accountability and restoration over exclusion from school. DIRECTOR HARRIS: Fair if I may.

[00:15:37] And then the separate paper was already what's incorporated in the policy. Am I correct in red. DIRECTOR HARRIS: So those are amendments that you could propose be made if you would like the language I just reviewed to be included.

[00:15:55] So. DIRECTOR HARRIS: But it looks like it's already in there. DIRECTOR HARRIS: Oh I was just doing that so you could see what it looked like. If you chose to make those amendments, but it's already in red. It's already in the red line copy. That's what it looks like. Well, yeah, but it's a separate so that I just that's a separate document that to show how it would appear in the document if you made the change. I just wanted it to stand out to you so that you could see it in context. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

[00:16:32] With the addition of lines six through 11. consider a range of relevant factors including a student's age you know I'm from Hampton Virginia right next door to Newport News Virginia so I think that there are some behaviors that are so severe and maybe have a pattern such that they shouldn't be considered we still should give

[00:17:12] that find a way to give that child an education but keeping that child in a traditional school setting is inappropriate yes I agree so related specifically to the concerns about what happened with the young child from Newport News there are some policies that require a 10-day suspension and a referral to our office those policies in particular are related to weapons so LCPS has taken all

[00:17:49] possible weapons and made four categories of weapons. Category A weapons are firearms and bombs. So any student regardless of their age who possesses or uses a firearm or bomb on school property or at a school sponsored activity must be suspended for 10 days and forwarded to our office for consideration.

[00:18:11] And we would have to consider expulsion and could choose not to forward that student for expulsion only if there were special circumstances. But that that kind of violation does have to result in specific discipline regardless of age etc.

[00:18:35] That also extends to Category B weapons which are weapons other than guns and bombs that are considered weapons under the law. It also extends to possession of a Schedule 1 2 substance at school and distribution of a controlled substance or illegal drug at school.

[00:18:56] When you mentioned guns and bombs, you said the use of, does that also include possession on school property? Yes, possession or use. Thank you.

[00:19:18] Historically, the reason that we ramped up DEIA, et cetera, is because of that word equitably but now that we have what should I say executive principles and all they can help those principles to make it equitably administered because the

[00:19:54] reason we ramped it up is because the discipline policy in general was not being administered equitably so are we confident now that because of our strata of administrators that we can ensure equitable administration of this policy I think that the various layers of administration can increase your confidence that there are more eyes on that issue and a more coordinated

[00:20:29] response if there is data that shows that there might be an inequitable application of the policy I'm good with that but I wanted to point that out out because historically in Loudoun County the reason that the DOJ got involved with Loudoun is because of lack of equitable treatment so I wanted to point that out any other questions comments discussion yes Miss Scanlon

[00:21:08] so I wasn't sure if the two amendments that I drafted for you you were interested in actually proposing and voting upon do we need to add them because they are different from what we had when we did information yes yes go

[00:21:32] ahead and accept the yes so I'd like to amend the original policy with the following amendment I move to amend policy 8205 as follows at the end of Paragraph 1 insert the school board expects LCPS administrators to apply student disciplinary policies equitably and to consider a range of relevant factors

[00:22:11] including a student's age developmental level disability status and other relevant circumstances when determining an appropriate response. Whenever practical that response should prioritize learning accountability and restoration over exclusion from school we have a

[00:22:42] motion on the floor to amend policy 8205 as presented by dr. Dean is there all in favor of that amendment please say aye all opposed seeing no opposition the amendment is accepted into the policy.

[00:23:05] Now we have to vote on the policy itself. We have another amendment. Okay go for it. Thank you chair LaBelle. This is an amendment to policy 8205. I move to amend policy 8205 as follows in subsection a.4 change both directly and substantially unquote to directly materially and substantially unquote.

[00:23:31] Thank you Dr. Rashid their second to that motion a second Thank You dr. Dean there's a motion on the floor to add the changes from dr. Sheed to the current policy all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed seeing no opposition that amendment is passed now we are going to pass the or we're going to vote on the entire amid policy with the amendments added to it all those in favor of the

[00:24:07] amended policy 8205 please say I make a second I'm sorry second and I made the first motion so now we're going to vote all those in favor say aye aye all All opposed seeing no opposition.

[00:24:29] This policy passes as amended. Thank you. Now Ms. Scanlon do you want to present us with information about policy 82-20.

[00:24:46] Yes thank you. Policy 82-20 is not coming before you today because it's on track for its five year review. It's coming before you because I think we can improve upon that policy in particular the changes to this policy do several things.

[00:25:06] Primarily it is taking all possible sanctions that could be administered to a student and bringing them all under one policy. Currently these various sanctions are scattered a little between policies.

[00:25:25] There is nothing in this policy that is a new sanction nothing that didn't exist previously. But I think it's important particularly for our families our students and anybody new to Loudon as I was a year and a half ago to be able to go one place and see all of the various sanctions how they would be administered the appropriate cross references to any policy that might delve into that a little bit further.

[00:25:50] So that's the primary change in the policy is it sweeps up all possible sanctions from in-school sanctions all the way through a possible expulsion in one policy. It also clearly identifies who has the authority to implement each of those various sanctions.

[00:26:11] So for example only the school board or SBAC has the authority to expel. So under the portion related to expulsion it makes clear that only SBAC or the full board has the authority to take that action. Likewise, only SBAC, the school board, or the division superintendent has the authority to long-term suspend.

[00:26:32] So it makes very clear that that's where the authority lies. The policy also includes the expectation, which is an expectation of the VDOE, as well as Loudoun County Public Schools, that whenever a sanction is administered to a student, it is paired with an appropriate intervention.

[00:26:56] so that is made plain in the policy. And finally, so this policy, you see a lot of things being added in to complete the picture. There is one thing that is removed. I have removed from the policy the authority of teachers to remove a student from class for two reasons.

[00:27:15] One, teachers absolutely have that authority under certain circumstances set forth in the Code of Virginia, and that authority is very explicitly set forth in policy 8215 in school disciplinary measures. So it doesn't take away a teacher's ability to do that.

[00:27:33] It's just this isn't the policy where it belongs. Simply because that is a disciplinary measure or action that can be taken by a teacher but it is not a formal sanction that is administered by an administrator and that gets entered onto a student's cumulative school discipline profile.

[00:27:52] So I removed it from this policy but it does still live in the appropriate policy which is policy 8215 be happy to take any questions that you might have Dr. Dean sorry that's not a problem I'm still looking so if a student transferred to a different school district and that district that parent signed a release for us to release

[00:28:28] his academic records would his discipline records also go with him or her yes the code of Virginia does require that discipline records follow the student to a different school division or to a private school. Any other comments? Questions? Oh good. She does now.

[00:28:59] Okay. Unless we don't know which private school the kid is going to. Well. We had that situation earlier. Yes. That has been an issue. So we need to send this forward to MSAC, SEAC and all the rest of them.

[00:29:18] And public comment. And public comment. Okay. excuse me is there a motion to do that but do you have another question I move that we move this policy forward for public comment as well as committee and Council's comments okay a second thank you there's a motion on the floor to move policy 82 20 forward for comment public comment council committee comment all

[00:29:55] those in favor say aye aye aye aye opposed see no opposition this policy shall move forward thank you let's go ahead and see what your question is so

[00:30:21] miss Cameron I was at the alternative school today on a school visit and the middle school grouping is growing from when I was there the last time would we ever get to the point of getting to incorporate an elementary school group

[00:30:58] and I know that's a what-if question but I hope so I think that's something that merits thought and consideration of course nobody wants to see any of our students in a situation where the choice of going to a regular school or an alternative school is not a choice that they or their parent gets to make but it's a choice that's made for them and certainly that would be doubly true for a

[00:31:33] young child but there are occasionally but rarely extreme circumstances and as it stands now when those circumstances arise it's very very difficult to serve the needs of those elementary students to get their education while at the same time maintaining safe and productive environments for others so I think it's an important consideration we do now as you know through the school board's generosity have an executive

[00:32:12] principal that is over all of the alternative programs for the first time this school year. And so I think that allows some very focused attention to be put on not only the alternative settings that we currently offer but how we might be able to offer things that are new or different.

[00:32:36] With the expansions that I saw today and my observation, you know, we started Alternative School when we came on board, right?

[00:32:54] Could we get a report from them at some point to the board and to the, I don't know, as a presentation to the board to sort of bring closure to their growth?

[00:33:12] because to me it's growth as to where they are now. The fact that they have middle school students initially they did not. And so I just wonder if that's a possibility. I think that's something that could absolutely happen.

[00:33:28] We could bring it here first and then potentially bring it to the full board if there's interest in that. I can speak to Ms. Miller about that. There's you know as you know the Tate program. There's a wide range of alternative settings that might be interesting to hear about all of them.

[00:33:48] There's the Tate program, the North Star program, the Rise program, which is the recovery school, which is a new addition this year. There's Robey, there's virtual distance learning, Loudon online, so there really are a variety of settings and I think that would be a worthy topic to bring forward as an information item.

[00:34:08] I can look into that and get back to you. - I think that it would also be a good program to have at the regular board meeting full board meeting because that way it would help get it out to the public who are also very uninformed about alternative schools especially when they come to us as an appeals board.

[00:34:30] I think they're not understanding what it is that we are doing so that would be helpful. Thank you Dr. Jeans. Thank you Ms. Scanlon. Any other comments questions. Yes Ms. Scanlon. I would just make one comment next month our SBAC meeting is the third Monday of the month instead of the fourth Monday of the month.

[00:34:57] So just be aware of that we will be here same room same time just the third Monday December 15th and that's simply because the fourth Monday is that holiday week.

[00:35:12] That's the same day as our appeal. We do have a hearing that starts at two And then we'll have our regular SBAC meeting at 4:00 on the 15th. Well unless you want us to.

[00:35:35] OK. You weren't in a hurry to get surgery anyway. I understand. I know. I personally understand that very well. If you're scared say you're scared. Yeah. All right. Is there any other business before this committee? Seeing no other business the meeting's going to adjourn at 4:46.

[00:35:54] Thank you for coming.

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