Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Legislative and Policy Committee Meeting, Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 35m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1173315705?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 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] good evening everyone call to order the March 11 2026 legislative and policy committee meeting sign up to make in-person public comments occurred prior to the start of the committee meeting the meeting will be audio recorded and posted on board Docs do we have any public comment signups today see I don't see anyone okay since no one has signed up for public comment we'll move on to item number three moving on to the draft of minutes for the February 11 2026 meeting have the board members had time to look over the minutes and are there

[00:00:38] any changes to them I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the February 11 2026 the legislative audit and policy committee as it was called legislative audit and policy committee last time I'd like to make a motion to approve the draft minutes from February 11 2026 we have a second second thank you the motions been properly moved by miss Griffiths and seconded by dr rasheed all those in favor of approving the minutes say aye aye aye all those opposed the

[00:01:12] motion passes three to zero with all school board members voting in favor all right we'll move on to item number four um this is new policy 6330 distribution of information and posting within schools on school grounds or during school sponsored events presented by dr bergen i'll turn it over to Dr. Bergen thank you Mr. Svensson and board members as you're aware we took this item up at your last meeting by way of background policy 865 which is currently on the books is being recommended for deletion in its

[00:01:48] entirety and replacement with 6330 distribution of information and posting of schools on school grounds or during school sponsored events this policy has has been through many revisions beginning several years ago before this board with F&O and then with this board but the previous LANP committee it was heard once by the full board it was sent back to this committee you heard at your last meeting and we are now here to take action what we'd like to do at this time now is share with you the feedback that was received since you last met so that we can review the information that we received from individual citizens and

[00:02:26] from the advisory committees who chose to submit comments we do have a presentation that just summarizes the comments they are redundant so if you're looking at the handouts that were in board docs with the MSAC feedback and the spreadsheet of the individual comments you could you could read it there or I'm going to summarize it in this presentation on the screen which is also available to you in board docs okay so first we'll start with MSAC if you can go to the next slide please MSAC began at their first feedback was

[00:03:02] relative to lines six through eight in the section that reads only requests from the following organization slash entities to distribute and or post materials within schools on school grounds or at school sponsored activities may be approved upon the authorization of a principal or lcps building administrator and i'm accentuating the word or because the feedback from msac was that it was ambiguous that the word or whose decision takes precedence our approval split between two authorized parties what if there is a principal and another building administrator

[00:03:39] such as an assistant principal so in consultation with legal to remove that ambiguity the following revision is recommended by the administration for the committee to sent to the end of the sentence on line eight so it would read may be approved upon the authorization of the building principal or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites we believe that will clarify any ambiguity most of the time this would be a matter for a building principal but we do have some centers where there is a a

[00:04:15] or this building is a non-school site and the building administrator would have to make that determination any questions about that proposed change based upon the feedback from MSAC at line eight okay the next comment from MSAC was at lines 42 to 43 the section of the policy that reads advocate for or against a political campaign or political cause as further described in section b2 below and the comment from MSAC is that there's politics in everything and anything can and likely will become a political cause this term is vague I

[00:04:54] I would, in response, refer the committee down to lines 73 through 79, which provide three examples of political campaigns or political causes. As listed in the policy in those lines, number one, the election or defeat of any candidate, number two, the passage or defeat of any referendum question, or number three, the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the General Assembly, or Congress.

[00:05:24] Accordingly, administration is not recommending any further revisions to lines 42 through 43 since the policy does clarify what political cause or political campaign might mean in lines 73 to 79.

[00:05:39] Any questions from the board members about lines 42 through 43 and the feedback from MSAC? Okay. The next comment from MSAC was at lines 45 and 46.

[00:05:59] the part of the policy that reads are likely to cause substantial disruption of or a material interference with school activities and I'm accentuating all of those words as MSAC did the comment being that the wording is subjective particularly if the decision is being made by one person the reasons and specifics for the denial should be documented so there's clear evidence showing the cause of the denial in response the administration would say we rely on our building principals and their professional judgment to determine what constitutes an event that is likely to cause substantial disruption or material

[00:06:36] interference with school activities and accordingly we are not recommending any further revisions to lines 45 and 46 questions from the board members mr. Spencer yes I just wanted to ask mr. Allen if this language also tracks legal precedent Supreme Court language that is so it might be helpful if this is kind of a definition or term of art in the law.

[00:07:02] - Thank you, Chair Finson. It is, it's arising out of Tinker versus Des Moines Independent Community School District. So that case out of the Supreme Court and its progeny has expanded Tinker to provide that determination of the likelihood of a material and substantial disruption is kind of a term of legal art.

[00:07:24] And schools may consider foreseeability of disruption. And so this language is also in other school board policies in the student discipline suite. Okay, all right, then we'll move on.

[00:07:45] The next comment from MSAC applies to lines 56 through 64, which is section B1 of the newly revised, or the new policy 6330. Section B1 is in regards to distribution of political materials on election days.

[00:08:06] The comment from MSAC is that the wording allows an individual to be approached and does not allow for accountability if this section is not followed. And the recommendation from MSAC was that we add wording, something similar to a person may not be approached, material may only be distributed if the person approaches and requests such materials, individuals, companies, organizations who violate the provisions of this section shall be subject to the provisions of school board policy 6620.

[00:08:35] In response, lines 56 to 64 pertain to election days, which generally are non-school days, and the officials who are in charge of the polling would be responsible for generally anything that's occurring relative to the posting of political signs.

[00:08:55] Wherever the polling place is, whether it's a school, a church, a community center, the rules apply as to what politicians can and cannot do with the electorate as they're approaching to cast their vote. so accordingly we're not recommending any changes to lines 56 to 64 since that section is pertinent to be one election days which generally are not school days any questions from the board members about that feedback yes miss Griffiths thank you chair Spence and you're just going to run through these and then we can discuss them again that's okay I mean I don't need to ask

[00:09:34] questions right now I just want to hear everything yeah I just wanted to make sure that we were provide on a fulsome update to the board on the feedback that you received since you last met and then after my plan is after we provide the feedback you all then would discuss the feedback in your own thoughts about what you want to do with this policy um yeah I mean I'm thinking maybe we'd go through each one possibly but thank you continue okay well we're getting to the to the humdinger which is the section where I think is where this this This committee, the previous LAMP, and all the other committees that have taken this

[00:10:11] up have really contemplated the most, in my estimation, from the comments I've heard from board members, both at committee level and in the full board, and that's at lines 81 to 92, which is section B3, which is distribution of political materials on back-to-school nights and during school open houses.

[00:10:27] The comment from MSAC is that these events should be focused on parents and students, and there should not be distractions with political materials being distributed, with The recommendation that this policy be updated to not allow for political materials to be distributed or posted at back-to-school nights or during open houses.

[00:10:45] In response, I would say relative to section B3, lines 81 to 92, that entire paragraph was added by your predecessors, the previous LANP, by a motion made by a member of the committee.

[00:11:00] It was not recommended by the administration that we include that section in the policy. So, consistent with the recommendation from MSAC, the recommendation from the administration is that Section B3 be struck in its entirety. We had never recommended that it be included in the first place.

[00:11:20] So, other than MSAC, we did have comments from several, three to be specific, three individuals who took the time to follow the link and provide their own comment. The first comment, as projected on the screen here, was from an individual who's in favor of individuals being able to attend back-to-school night and open houses, with the rationale being that Civics Education Week in Virginia occurs in the month of September.

[00:11:52] September 17th is Constitution and Citizenship Day. It's the time of year most back-to-school nights occur, and that this is an opportunity for civic engagement with parents at back-to-school nights about local election information, and it's an educational opportunity so I would read that as they are in favor of section b3 as it was amended into the policy to the contrary another individual who identified themselves as the LEAF representative for Eagle Ridge Middle School says serving on the PTA board and helping at back-to-school nights I do not hesitate when I say the distribution of campaign materials at

[00:12:27] our back-to-school night borders on harassment if not crosses the line our community is diverse and Many of our families do not know what or why they are being handed materials. They believe it is school-related. They enter the event with confusion and frustration, which is a distraction to the purpose of back-to-school night.

[00:12:45] And they go on to make further comments, but I stopped there to signify their staunch support of removing B3 or not including that in the policy. And then the last and third comment that we received was from a student.

[00:13:03] And as indicated on this slide, the student says that I strongly urge you to vote against this policy. As a student organizer of the Broad Run High School Against ICE walkout, the ability to distribute flyers was essential to our campaign. Restricting students' rights to protest, speak up, talk, pass things amongst ourselves clearly violates our First Amendment rights.

[00:13:24] Students have voices and rights too, even within instructional time. While I understand not allowing posting of materials is not the business of the school, what is passed between students. We are also required to take U.S. government and political participation, and advocacy is taught to be a civic responsibility.

[00:13:40] Allow us to exercise our rights and display our interests and causes that are important to us. In response, the administration would point this student and all students to policy 8273, Student Speech and Expression, which was last revised in September of 2024.

[00:13:56] And I'll read as indicated on the screen, students have the right to freedom of speech and expression during instructional and non-instructional time, both inside and outside classrooms, or other areas where instruction is occurring. Such freedom of speech includes oral and written communication, student advocacy for social or political causes and communications in different formats, such as in publications on clothing or through electronic digital social media.

[00:14:19] This right does not extend to or include speech or other expressive conduct that violates Policy 8210, Introduction to Student Discipline, and/or that leads to or is likely to lead substantial disruption or material interference with instructional time school activities or an invasion on the rights of others so in response to this comment the administration's recommendation is that we would footnote into this policy policy 8273 student speech and expression that is all the feedback that we received and I will pause here and turn it back over to the committee for further discussion about this policy thank you dr. Bergen I

[00:14:58] really appreciate the presentation especially the format as we discussed I think it's really helpful to see kind of comment by comment feedback by feedback what are what the administrative response is and to talk through it in this way so I appreciate you all taking the time to put that together I'll open the floor to my colleagues for any comments they may have thank you chair Svensson and by the way thank you so much for bringing this back I really appreciate I think it's you know a lot of discussion still needs to be had I think I am I think on B3 you did say dr. Bergen that a recommendation was to strike it out B3 is that is that correct I thought that

[00:15:38] when when the administration brought 6330 as a new policy to the previous L&P board that section was not in the recommendation of the administration like the individual who identified themselves as part of leap we regularly as we've reported out to the board and to the previous committee we regularly hear very similar comments from other schools that there are in my words bad actors people who do not even though they were told in advance by mr. Sutton they were reminded on while they were at the property stay 40 feet away don't

[00:16:17] approach people be respectful they don't follow those instructions and they enter the school they approach people and people don't want to be approached they came to back-to-school night or open house to meet their child's teacher they're not there to interact with people running for political office whoever those people are whatever party they may belong to and so our recommendation from the administration is that we do not allow for the distribution of political materials during instructional time and back to school nights and open houses are part of the school divisions mission we'd

[00:16:51] sponsor those events so that parents can come and meet their child's teacher I just feel that it's critical for candidate there's a big difference between elected officials and candidates elected officials are able to you know make appointments and be in the school and candidates have to work a little bit harder to meet parents and speak to parents so I think you know per what you were saying I don't think that B3 should be on here and should be taken out for

[00:17:29] the simple reason that it's just some it's just a common thing that candidates do to get to to meet parents and you know chat with them I mean regarding the school board I'm not talking about all political candidates but for all political candidates it would be to try and meet constituents who is going to enforce saying staying stationary 40 at 40 feet and you know if the person moves who's going to enforce that I feel like that's a lot of pressure on the

[00:18:05] principals my thought is maybe putting signs that say stay 40 feet back and be more clear you know with tape or something I just I just don't feel like it's fair for candidates that are running to be stationary or you know all the way back and not be able to speak to people or hand out materials I think they should be able to do that this is probably one of the only times they can during a back-to-school night to get to meet all the parents in their districts

[00:18:43] so that's just my thought there and I I'm sure we'll have further discussion on that and other items thank you dr. she thank you chair just for clarity B3 in the red line copy is currently not struck out that's correct it was we brought the policy back that as it had been presented to the full school board who sent it to this committee because the full school board received the red line version as it was delivered out of LA and P predecessors and your

[00:19:18] predecessors at this committee level inserted B3 during the their final meeting it was a motion by one of the members of LA and P to include that language am I speaking to your recollection as well that's what I recall so the previous committee voted to keep keep B3 in place as it is in the red line copy yes ma'am they during their meeting they inserted it in during their meeting and then voted it out of committee to go to the full school board with B3 intact only for it to get sent back only for it to get sent back because

[00:19:53] to your comments and to the comments from the community it's split I've heard comments from board members and in both directions that it should be and it shouldn't be included and that's why I think it's worthy of the discussion we're having and then the recommendation is which we who had on that slide there was to strike it admin recommends that they strike B3 out or yeah rec yes the recommendation of the administration in keeping with the comment we received from the one individual who who identified themselves as a

[00:20:26] representative of LEAF we never included it in 6330 as an administration because we have heard from multiple school sites very similarly that it is difficult to manage you tell people to stay 40 feet away you tell them to stay stationary we tell them in advance and we tell them at the event they still do it so if we just say there's no distribution of political materials during instructional days to include back to school nights and open houses then we don't have to police it because it won't be happening because it won't be permitted thank you for that clarification

[00:21:01] Thank you, Dr. Shee. Thank you, Ms. Griffis. I think on this piece of the policy, I have been struggling with this as well, as I think most of my colleagues are split, because we can all appreciate that it is helpful as a candidate to speak with parents, and I think, you know, I can speak for hopefully all of my colleagues that we would do so in a respectful manner and approach parents that wish to be approached and talk about the issues.

[00:21:28] But I also understand that this is, when we have back to school night, it's not a public event that's open to the full community. It's specifically for parents. We're not inviting just anyone to come to the schools that evening. It has an academic purpose just for the folks in that school community, the parents of the students at that particular school.

[00:21:50] And I understand how it distracts from that purpose. And I think the comment from the LEAF representative that some of the comment also shared some remarks from the principal at Eagle Ridge Middle School who described what he has to do each back-to-school night when he, when inevitably he has frustrated parents.

[00:22:09] And that's usually kind of the kickoff, the start of his back-to-school night is trying to calm down parents and explain what's happened and what materials they've received, which obviously is not a great way to kick off that event. And I am someone who has been a political organizer before, a field organizer, I have canvassed before, I may be a bit unique, I enjoy it, but I understand not everyone likes to canvass themselves or be approached.

[00:22:36] And I think that there are lots of opportunities during the campaign season for candidates to interact with the community through forums that are put on by organizations, by community organizations by door knocking by by making phone calls by high traffic canvassing at public locations and kind of weighing all the feedback that that I've been hearing I would err on the side of striking B3 just because as I said at the beginning this is not a public event there are public events where candidates can engage with parents and you know I would hope in the

[00:23:14] absence of these back-to-school night opportunities that there might be parent organizations student organizations that might host candidates more frequently so that parents can come with the expectation that they're about to be inundated with politics and and do so on their own terms as opposed to it being during the the back-to-school night so I am planning to introduce an amendment to strike b3 and I'm happy to do that now so then we can continue having the discussion I will just say that it it has been something that I've thought a lot about and have talked to our colleagues who were previously on LAMP

[00:23:51] and I know they all were internally conflicted as well because it is a challenging issue but this is where I where I come down on it so I will at this time make a motion make a move to amend policy 6330 by striking section B 3 in its entirety do I have a second second and now open up to discussion on that thank you chair Svensson so basically taking the whole thing out

[00:24:27] would mean that you know because it does say here we may be able to hand out information but 40 feet away stationary so this that does it completely take out that we're able to hand out information yes it would say that you would not be able to hand out information at that that event I think that completely strict restricts candidates and elected officials too if they wanted to do that as well so I'm in

[00:24:59] disagreement with that I don't think it should be I think it could be amended personally I think that we should be able to hand out information I understand it's hard to enforce the 40 feet away but taking out the whole thing I don't think should be done I think we should be allowed to handle to hand out information to to our constituents at the our district

[00:25:32] schools so is there some way we can rework this without taking it completely out I'll hand it over to dr. she didn't you had a comment I just wanted to piggy back off mrs. Griffith's suggestion I wanted to ask what lcps's suggestion was on that slide as it pertains to any replacement or was lcps saying just take the whole thing out just take the whole thing out we we were never advocating for it to be included okay when we brought 6332 to the previous committee

[00:26:09] okay thank you for that i i think that i i definitely appreciate miss griffith's comments on this i think it's a it's a it's a tough issue but i think the issue is there's no way to properly enforce this we don't have the staff or resources to ensure that folks are complying so i think in the absence of a huge effort at each of our schools um every back to school night or open house I think the better option is just to take it out entirely and again I think that in have other opportunities that are not on this on the school

[00:26:47] property for our candidates to engage with with constituents including parents whether that is door knocking phone calls candidate forums and again as I said I would hope that in the absence of the parents seeing all our candidate faces a back-to-school night that there might be more more candidate forums or by by organizations connected to schools so that they can introduce the community to the candidates and hear from them thank you chair Svensson I I am

[00:27:22] conflicted but I will tell you that we are school board members and school board members should be able to meet their their potential constituents so I have a real I do have a problem with striking this out because I feel like this can restricts us completely and and you were just elected some of us will be running again in two years so please understand that and if you decide to run again in four years you will not be able to do much at a school we're school board members we're not going to be able to do much at a school to speak to the

[00:28:02] parents so I disagree with taking it completely out my suggestion was to do a little bit more uh as far as adding signs um outside stay back 40 feet i've never i've never seen that before um or as i mentioned put some kind of tape restricting uh people to you know so they can't cross a particular line but taking it all out i'm not sure that i agree with that thank you thank you miss griffiths dr rasheed thank you chair and i'd like to piggyback off what Mrs. Griffiths had mentioned and I think it's a pretty good point so at

[00:28:41] back-to-school night do at the actual event itself inside the school do parents or the administration there or the principals there whoever is attending there do they have an opportunity or do they want to talk to like for example the school board rep of that school does that ever happen is that ever part of an agenda if you'll recall that's why we do the school board videos for the back-to-school nights so The board members are able to record those videos, and the principal at the school shows those videos at the beginning of the program.

[00:29:16] I see. Okay, all right. Thank you for that clarification. And to clarify, that would be in, like, our official capacity of school board members in terms of, like, the substance of the school board work and not campaigning. Correct. Yes, that's not campaigning related. So this is elected school board members versus candidates.

[00:29:34] Yes. Yes, Ms. Griffiths. Thank you, Chair Svensson. And with that, you know, some school board members do attend back-to-school nights just in case parents do have questions.

[00:29:50] I myself have done a couple as an elected official just to meet with parents and see if they had any issues. So if you think about it, you have the elected official inside and then the candidate outside, and that's not very fair, right?

[00:30:07] and then with b3 you'd be taking it out completely so so the candidate doesn't even have a chance to present themselves to the parents so that's something else I just wanted to add because a lot of times at these back-to-school nights even though there is a video they'd still like to sometimes meet the school board member and they appreciate if that school board member is there and you know whether they're outside inside you know I'm elected already so I've been inside chatting with parents on back to school night just you know checking to see if there were

[00:30:44] concerns so i i think this is a you know um very sticky situation that we're getting ourselves into um so can i just clarify oh yeah sure based on what you're talking about um what you're speaking about related to being an elected official and getting concerns from from parents as their elected official is different than campaigning or you know presenting political materials to parents on back to school nights so just to clarify kind of that um thank you for that clarification but i but i still think that it could come across because that person might be running again as well at the same

[00:31:23] time that they're campaigning um it could be misconstrued that way um so there is confusion there um are they meeting with the parents are they campaigning now i've done a couple uh back school nights where I actually go to speak to the parents and introduce myself and chat with them as an elected official. However, you know, it could be misconstrued. The optics could look like that person is allowed in the school and then the candidate has no chance of meeting the parents. So it's it's a very

[00:31:58] sticky subject and I'm I'm hoping we can figure something out and not completely strike it out strike s3 where we can't hand out or the candidates can't hand out materials thank you thank you everyone for the the comments I think that in the interest of moving the issue forward maybe we'll take a vote on the amendment now and yes and I can certainly clarify the amendment and then and then we can move forward to other parts of the policy so I will rephrase

[00:32:36] the restate the amendment so the amendment is yes this is my amendment to move to move to amend policy 6330 by striking section b3 so with that we'll take a vote let's see i see you dr she'd i believe you seconded yes oh yes sorry and yes yes yes and and and i think i think you dr asheed you seconded previously yes so thank you for the reminder the emotion was introduced

[00:33:12] by myself and has been seconded by dr. Rashid and so with that take a I guess a voice vote here so starting with dr. Rashid my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is no but I am I allowed to make another suggestion well I think we'll have to we'll close out this okay amendment and then you're welcome to introduce something so no thank you so with that with the amendment passes two to one with dr. asheed and myself voting in favor and miss Griffiths voting no

[00:33:51] all right so we're back to the the base motion on policy 6330 I know there were a few other issues I wanted to to cover here but a miss Griffiths did you with Are there any other amendments related to this section of the policy?

[00:34:14] Well, regarding B3, you have voted to strike it out. But is it possible to put into the policy candidates are allowed to be there, but not political parties, meaning that a candidate can be at a location, but maybe the political parties are not?

[00:34:38] I think that it probably is. Is there an amendment that you have to offer at this time? it would be an amendment um i just wanted to do a temperature check to see how you both felt about that i think that it would be i guess i'll speak for myself that it would be difficult i think to distinguish between the candidate and political party if there are volunteers for that candidate um so i i would not be in favor of that i think it the purpose for me of deleting b3 is to preserve the the back to school night being the focus on the parents and not on the campaign and if i may

[00:35:18] say one more thing the political parties or the candidates they do bring calendars that they give out to the parents so none of that no longer doing that is what you're saying so completely striking out any chance of any candidates meaning the parents and and not no materials so no calendars or anything the school division provides calendars for parents so they're on our website we distribute them any materials that parents need to know about the operation of the school division they receive from the school well I think it was something the political parties did so that's completely striked out I

[00:35:57] struck a taken out yes that's right okay all right I wanted to move to to address a different topic in within the policy so I really appreciated the the student who submitted their their feedback and I agree when I was reading the policy I think that it's important that so this policy is intended to focus on folks who are outside the school community so not the students not the employees and I think that it's important that we clarify that this

[00:36:33] policy concerns those those outside entities and there are separate policies that govern student expression and and and staff staff participation in in political activities so i moved to amend policy 6330 by striking lines three to four and inserting the following paragraph at the beginning of the policy before section a the loudon county school board seeks to minimize intrusions on school operations with respect to the distribution of information and materials as well as posting within schools on school grounds

[00:37:09] or during school sponsored events by individuals that are not lcps students or employees accordingly this policy establishes applicable parameters for that purpose this policy does not relate to student speech and expression which continues to be governed by policy 8273 and its accompanying regulations nor does it relate to employees participation in political activities which continues to be governed by policy 7524 I'll speak to the amendment briefly just that that this is intended to clarify the purpose of the policy and set out that these are parameters that apply to folks that aren't students or staff because I

[00:37:49] appreciate the the need for that clarity following the public input so I with that I'll open for any discussions I'm happy to send that language to both of you so you can see it in writing now and then in the future I will endeavor to have this posted on board docs before and and to that end on a little inside baseball i've moved up the planning meetings for uh with administration ahead of these so that we can have time to develop some of these these changes so you all can have the benefit of seeing that on board docs ahead of time so with that i'll open the floor and i'll just send you all this text

[00:38:29] so you can see it yes miss griffiths thank you chair smenson so basically you said sorry do we have a second for the motion or the amendment uh second yes thank you dr rashid uh yes miss griffiths um you said lines three to four so you're removing from the red line or the clean just trying to so i i believe and uh staff correct me if i'm wrong i believe the red line and the clean are the same because it's a new okay okay but you're removing those two lines and you're adding all that other

[00:39:04] information yes yes okay yeah i'd probably ask you to repeat it again or you know send it to me now if you can yes I just sent that over over teams so you all can see it in writing I'm happy to read it again if that's helpful so this this incorporates some of the some of the language that where it was on lines three to four but just builds it out a little bit for for clarity just to say that we're not we're not changing other policies that govern students and staff this is related to to outside individuals and groups.

[00:39:41] - Yes, yes. - Mr. Svensson? - Yes. - Just to assist staff in managing the amendment, could you kindly send it by teams to staff?

[00:39:57] Marie can display it on the screen if you send it to her. She can access it and stick it up also everyone in the room and to Mr. Allen so he can just review it for his legal lens.

[00:40:09] That would be helpful and appreciative.

[00:40:43] - Dr. Rasheed. - Thank you, Chair, and based on your amendment, are you saying you can't distribute like pamphlets like non-LCPS related events or pamphlets that relate to their brochures or any material is that what this is kind of going towards so this is just clarifying that all the things that are within policy 6330 are aimed at are not aimed at students or employees because they're governed by separate policies so the requirements restrictions

[00:41:20] authorizations um that are in 63 30 apply to to not do not apply to students or staff okay thank

[00:41:29] you is there further discussion on the amendment it's not intended to be a substantive change but

[00:42:14] rather instead of just having like the cross references at the end of the policy to just spell out at the front what the policy's purpose is miss griffiths thank you chair svensson um i think it's I think it's vague when you say let's say minimize intrusions on in school operations with respect to the distribution of information and materials as well as posting within schools you already took out b3 so I'm just trying to understand on school grounds or during school sponsored events

[00:42:51] so you know it may not be political it could be anything it could be you know promoting a football game or you know a band competition i mean um i don't think the verbiage here works um if and if you could elaborate on that because it doesn't look to me like that would work because then it's sort of saying you can't do anything at all um well miss griffith i just would point you to section a of the policy because that kind of outlines which minimizing intrusion

[00:43:29] - Yeah, so I would, so to section one, so the request from the organizations and entities that are spelled out in section one, they can get authorization from the principal at the school, or if it's not a school, the building administrator, and those are the organizations that could get authorization to distribute materials, and that would be subject to the guidelines that are in this policy.

[00:43:54] And so that's kind of, that's the basis for the policy we're putting forward this these these guide this guidelines these requirements for the district

[00:44:05] distribution of information and materials overall further questions or comments on the amendment

[00:44:39] yes thank you chair svensson just that i feel it's uh it's some more verbiage um that you can't do anything um that that's how it reads to me um so those are just my thoughts thank you miss griffiths um all right at this time i will we can if there are no further comments we can vote on the vote on the amendment um happy to restate it um so i have moved to amend policy 60 through 30 by striking lines three to four and inserting the following paragraph at the beginning of the policy

[00:45:16] before section a the loudon county school board seeks to minimize intrusions on school operations with respect to the distribution of information materials as well as posting within schools on school grounds or during school sponsored events by individuals that are not lcps students or employees accordingly this policy establishes applicable parameters for that purpose this policy does not relate to student speech and expression which continues to be governed by policy 8273 and its accompanying regulation nor does it relate to employees participation in political activities which continues to be governed by policy 7524 with that I will do a voice vote I introduce the

[00:45:53] amendment dr. Rashid seconded and my vote is yes my vote is yes no thank you motion the amendment passes two to one with dr. Rashid and myself voting in favor and miss Griffiths voting no the technical the technical amendment to

[00:46:29] introduce here because there's a typo on line 12 I move to amend policy 6330 by replacing the word educational on line 12 with education and I'm and I am introducing this amendment because it's the name of the organization is the Loudon Education Foundation and not the Loudon Educational Foundation is there any is there any discussion on this amendment second no thank you dr.

[00:46:57] Rasheed yeah the amendment has been seconded by dr. Rasheed any discussion on the amendment well we'll vote on the event that now dr. Rasheed yes I vote yes yes thank you the vote passes three to zero with all school board members

[00:47:22] voting in favor of the amendment and I wanted to raise an additional this is something that we discussed at the last meeting when it was an information item that when policy 6330 was an information item we discussed that the Loudoun Education Association is not spelled out in section a one of the policy but that

[00:47:58] the collective bargaining agreement would would supersede any policy in in terms of whether lea would or would not be allowed to distribute materials so i want to include some language in the policy just to make that clear for the reader um this this would be the case um whether we include the language or not because the collective bargaining agreement supersedes the the language of the policy but i would like to move uh that the committee amend the proposed version of policy 6330 to insert the following language as a new

[00:48:32] section a2 to begin on line which is currently line 27 and renumber the subsequent sections of section a as a3 a4 and a5 respectively following language is requests that are received from the Loudoun Education Association or other exclusive bargaining representatives will be governed and addressed in accordance with the school board's resolution providing for collective bargaining and/or respective collective bargaining agreements do I

[00:49:07] have a second for that second I will send that right now thank you all right I

[00:49:18] will send that first to Marie so she can thank you chair Spenson this is

[00:49:58] requests to put materials or requests to enter the school can you elaborate a little bit more on that um yes so this is in section a concerning the distribution of information and materials so this would be requests to distribute information or materials yes dr also in addition are you eliminating number two or no it's just it's renumbering so it's going in it will be the new number two and what's currently number two will be number three

[00:50:28] and so forth further comments questions uh we'll move to a vote uh i introduced the the motion and dr rashid has seconded um dr rashid how do you vote yes i vote yes no the motion passes two to one with dr rashid and myself voting in favor and miss griffiths voting no thank you

[00:51:04] um all right i would ask now staff could you display the proposed amendment um to line eight addressing the concern about the ambiguity of principal and school building administrator that That was on the slide previously.

[00:51:26] From the feedback? Yes, please. Yeah, so, sure. So, Marie, thank you. It was MSAC feedback relative to line 8, if you go back to the beginning of this presentation. Keep going.

[00:51:48] It would be the very first MSAC recommendation. There. Go down one. Yeah. So, the administrative response, if you scroll down, Marie, the administrative response is that we would amend the end of line 8 to say may be approved upon authorization of the building principle or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites oh i'm sorry that's not my motion that was our recommendation as the administration if you'd like to take that up as a motion thank you um yes i'm i'm happy to introduce that motion so i move to amend policy

[00:52:23] 6330 by replacing language on lines seven to eight so replacing the current language that reads may be approved upon authorization of a principal or lcps building administrator and replacing that with the following language may be approved upon authorization of the building principal or designee or the building administrator at non-school sites do i have a second for that motion thank you dr

[00:52:56] she did a second the motion is on the floor now uh any comments or oh yes uh well i think i i just read from the slide. Any comments on this one? This is to remove the ambiguity that MSAC raised, which I agree with.

[00:53:29] No comments on the amendment. We'll move to vote. I introduced the motion and Dr. Rasheed seconded. So Dr. Rasheed, how do you vote? Yes. I vote yes. Ms. Griffiths? No. The motion passes two to one with Dr. Rasheed and myself voting in favor and Ms. Griffiths voting

[00:53:56] know the one piece of feedback that was introduced by msac that i didn't see on the slides related to

[00:54:31] disclosure when material was generated by artificial intelligence which i thought was a valuable piece of feedback we already have a disclosure requirement in the proposed policy and in lines 33 to 34 and so I will be moving to I at this time I move to amend policy 6330 by inserting the following paragraph after section a 1 3 what is

[00:55:04] currently a 1 3 on our papers to read to I moved to amend policy 6330 by inserting the following paragraph after section section a 1 3 which will become think for as as currently here but I think we've added something in between so I think based on a prior amendment it will be number five but if you're looking at the current proposed policy it's number four I will the language would read information and materials that are approved for distribution and

[00:55:42] are generated by artificial intelligence whether in whole or in part must include the following statement quote these materials contain content generated using artificial intelligence end quote do i have a second for that motion second thank you dr asheed um i would open the floor to comments no we'll we'll move to a vote uh the motion is introduced by myself seconded by dr asheed dr asheed how do you vote yes i vote yes yes thank you the motion passes unanimously with all three school board members present voting

[00:56:20] yes um and then yes miss griffiths you have an amendment you want to put on the floor while

[00:56:50] we're reading it miss griffiths do you want to uh make make the motion i move to amend policy 6330 with an amendment as far as lines section d lines 100 to 104 elected and this is off the red line that we had um elected officials seeking to visit during any lcps sponsored activities as defined in policy 8020 relations with school support organizations should contact the LCPS coordinator and government relations to

[00:57:29] efficiently coordinate such visits and minimize disruption of activities proposed language of section D replacement would be elected officials elected officials seeking to visit during any LCPS sponsored activities as defined in policy 80/20 relations with school support organizations may coordinate directly with the relevant school principal thank you thank you you miss Griffiths do we have a second for the motion I will second the motion and then I will open the and miss Griffiths would you like to speak to

[00:58:08] your motion yes thank you chair Svensson section D as currently written routes elected official school visits through the LCPS coordinator of government relations an administrative employee under the authority of the superintendent this structure gives the administration effective gatekeeping authority over the movements of elected school board members inverting the proper oversight and relationship between the school between the board and the administrative staff it supervises elected officials have both a right and a responsibility to visit schools conditioning

[00:58:46] those visits on administrative coordination is inconsistent with the board's oversight role and creates unnecessary bureaucratic bureaucratic friction direct coordination with principals who manage day-to-day school operations is appropriate appropriate and efficient channel to to use thank you thank you miss Griffiths I had a question for staff on this when in the policy it says elected officials our school board

[00:59:14] members contemplated included and as elected officials in this I can answer the question hopefully no generally school board members who want to visit at schools absolutely make their own arrangements to do that with with the

[00:59:48] members of the the school staff or the principals I think what I think what this is speaking to is the fact that traditionally elected officials he you know in some cases members of Congress state delegate members of our state delegation what they'll do is maybe they don't know what the process is maybe they don't want to interfere with the flow of the of the of the school day maybe they don't know what the flow of the school day is or or maybe they'll

[01:00:26] just call the principal and the principal will feel obligated to make arrangements to let somebody visit which under normal circumstances would be more then would be welcome but maybe they're hesitant to deny someone an opportunity to visit their school especially like during SOLs and testing and things like that so the reason that I think that this this this works is because it allows it allows the opportunity to create an avenue with with which people who don't normally go into our buildings on a day-to-day basis or a

[01:01:04] week-to-week basis something like that especially our elected school board members allows them the opportunity to create a really really clear and scheduled you know opportunity for them it's it's really about convenience for everybody thank you further comments dr. Rasheed so the amendment is what you were mr. Sutton you were pertaining to them not originally what's in the red line you're just saying it provides more clarification so mrs. great I thought

[01:01:42] you were talking in reference to mrs. Griffith's amendment or the true the red line copy I assume mrs. Griffith and I'll ask her to repeat her concern was that it inhibits the ability of school board members to go into buildings and that it inhibits the ability of school board members to establish and maintain relationships with principals and and members of our school community I'm saying that that's that's not my understanding of this school board members can can do or not do visit schools at there and they and you do you certainly don't you certainly don't ask anybody's permission up on second floor

[01:02:22] to do that so thank you chair Spence and I I think in reference to this amendment there are some principles that feel like they have to you know they can't just speak to you they have to go through the administration to schedule something and And I was trying to avoid that because a lot of principals are nervous about scheduling with a board member.

[01:02:55] Several have told me that, that they were told not to schedule directly. So that is what this amendment's about. I'm going to move to introduce a substitute amendment.

[01:03:12] Mr. Allen, please let me know if I am not following the proper procedures to do this as I go. but i moved to amend lines 100 to 104 to read as follows elected officials not including school board loudon count not including loudon county school board members seeking to visit during any lcps sponsored activities as defined in policy 80 20 relations with school support organizations should contact the lcps coordinator for government relations to officially coordinate such visits and

[01:03:49] minimize disruption to such activities and for clarity the language not not including Loudoun County school board members isn't is contained within commas do I have a second for that substitute motion I mean I'm about to second it but then I don't what happens to mrs. Griffith's initial motion or was that something wrong with this today if I made that does provide a little more clarity it's it's really clarifying that school board members shouldn't have an issue per the policy but other maybe other elected officials might have to go

[01:04:29] through somebody else it was a concern for me as a school board member I would reach out to people and find out later well I can't talk to you directly so this would clarify they can talk to us directly so I think your amendment to that is it's good thank you thank you I think we still need a second for the substitute amendment second thank you miss Griffiths so that's up to amend motion has been seconded so I believe if there are no I think that addresses the concern about what this this language could mean so if there are no further

[01:05:05] comments on that we can vote on the on the substitute and then mr. Allen once we vote on the substitute will we will we need to vote on the original or is it just taking care of since we've substituted thank you church vinson if the substitute motion passes and that makes them um amendment that mrs griff has raised moot um so you would not need to take a other vote thank you mr allen all right uh with that we will vote on the substitute dr rashid yes

[01:05:36] yes i vote yes yes thank you um the substitute um motion amendment um passes unanimously three to zero with all school board members present voting in favor all right i appreciate that we're past six o'clock now but i i this is a complex policy with lots of sections so i appreciate that we're taking the time to go through it um and i appreciate that it was sent back to us and that we

[01:06:13] are are doing i think some important work to to clarify the policy okay staff um present the slides again just to see I think there were in addition to the the amendment we've already done on line eight there may have been some other suggested amendments in response to public feedback I just want to make sure that

[01:06:43] we've covered those okay I understand the staff's position on the feedback about

[01:07:25] lines 42 and 43 but I think that it's worth clarifying what the ambiguity that MSAC's identified with respect to the term political cause I agree that could really be lots lots of things so I and I understand we have that language further language that clarifies it further below but I'm going to now right now move to

[01:08:04] amend policy 6330 by revising lines 42 to 43 to read as follows so this is currently the copy we have this is a for B that's going to read now advocate for or against one the election or defeat of any political candidate to the passage or defeat of any ballot referendum question or three the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board Loudoun County Board of Supervisors the Virginia General Assembly or the United States Congress. Do I have a second for that motion?

[01:08:43] I can. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. And now I'll open the floor for comments on the. In the items that you had mentioned, I don't have it in front of me, but something about you said, you itemized it, like you said a couple of things. Did you want to add and/or? Could you be both at the same time? Because I couldn't, I didn't catch the details that fast.

[01:09:12] good question the current language we have further below in b2 where where this uh language comes from uses the term or you could be doing multiple yeah yeah if uh mr allen has a thought about changing it to and or thank you chair swenson i think the or gives flexibility if it's any

[01:09:49] one of those independently it would be uh prohibited and if it was multiple of those it'd be prohibited so I think the or captures that but I understand your point thank you and just for clarification I should say that the language in currently in b3 is slightly different what what the language that I added was just for clarification in front of the word referendum I added the word ballot to clarify what what type of referendum we're talking about and before General Assembly added the word Virginia and before Congress I added the words United States

[01:10:26] So my current amendment has that language, but otherwise it tracks the language that's in the policy. Any further comments? I just have a clarifying question.

[01:10:47] So the language prior to your amendment that is in the red line version at lines 74 through 79, your amendment would move very similar language to be repeated at lines 42 and 43?

[01:11:07] Yes. Okay. Would you also then, for consistency, want us to track those same changes in lines 74 through 79 to insert, for instance, United States before Congress? Yes. Okay. I'm happy to – should I introduce that as a separate motion, Mr. Allen, or because I can do a substitute motion and put it all in one?

[01:11:31] I think for clarity of the record, thank you, Chair Swenson. You can do a substitute motion to put it all in one. I'll do that. I move to introduce a substitute motion at this time. So I move to amend policy 60 through 30 by revising lines 42 through 43 to read as follows. Advocate for or against one, the election or defeat of any political candidate, two, the passage or defeat of any ballot referendum question, or three, the passage or defeat of any matter pending before the school board, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the Virginia General Assembly, or the United States

[01:12:06] Congress further a move to amend policy 6330 by revising lines 74 to 77 to conform with language to be introduced in lines 42 to 43. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. I appreciate that. So we have our substitute motion on the floor that now takes care of the conforming edits to lines 74 to 77,

[01:12:42] and we have the language now at 42 to 43 any comments on we'll move to vote

[01:12:51] Dr. Rasheed yes I vote yes yes thank you all have any further discussion on

[01:13:23] policy 6330 I do not all right we will having voted on our amendments we will move to the the base motion so dr. she'd how do you vote I'll let them all right we're going to vote that the legislative and policy committee forward new policy 6330 to the

[01:14:03] full school board as an information item just for clarification if the recommendation could also include the deletion of policy 865 would also be part of the oh okay yes yes okay i will do that all right um so i move that the so i'll just i'll put but i guess do i have a do i have a motion

[01:14:41] uh to approve the base motion as amended second yes i make a motion i make a motion to approve it as amended thank you dr asheed do you have a second i'll second um okay so dr asheed has moved to approve the base motion as amended i have seconded um now the base motion is that the legislative and policy committee review the deletion of policy 865 and new policy 6330

[01:15:13] and forward it to the full school board as an information item yeah and then so that yeah so i think that was the original base motion at uh at the top of the at the meeting but just so everyone to refresh everyone's memory since it's been a little bit um so we have that base motion as amended on the floor i don't believe there's any further discussion so move to the vote dr rashid yes i vote yes miss griffis no the motion as amended passes two to one with dr

[01:15:48] rashid and myself voting yes and miss griffis voting no um thank you very much everyone for your patience um and we'll now move to our information items move to policy to item 5.01 policy 2350 appeal of administrative decisions presented by dr bergen thank you dr bergen thank you mr svenson so board members these two policies are before you for information tonight and i would like to review with you the proposed changes beginning with 2350 and then after a

[01:16:26] review of these two policies uh the recommendation of staff is that after you have contemplated the proposed changes that they would then be approved by the committee to go out for community feedback return as action items at the next meeting so policy 2350 appeal of administrative decisions is due for its five-year review the last review occurred on September 30 of 2021 which at that time included only technical changes there are a number of proposed changes before the committee today beginning at lines two and three clarification that appeals of administrative decisions to the

[01:17:04] school board would be through a select committee at line four clarification that appeals would be permitted to both policies as well as regulations when applicable at lines five and six clarification that the policy provides the procedures for the appeal process when that process has not already been specifically set forth in another policy for which appeals are permitted line nine changes the title of paragraph a to select committee of the school board there are proposed

[01:17:41] Scrivener changes in lines 13 16 21 29 30 39 and 42 most all of which include striking of the word division before superintendent to be in conformance with other policy updates lines 44 through 46 provide clarification on the timeline for the completion of the appeals process that it shall be as soon as practicable when additional time is required for the collection and process of additional information beyond the 30 days lines 48 and 49 clarification that decisions of the select committee shall be final with no further appeals

[01:18:20] permitted and lines 52 and 53 insertion of the reference to policy 80 70 written comments and complaints for resolution of any complaint that is not covered by this or any other policy those are the proposed changes be happy to take any questions thank you dr. Bergen I'll open the floor for questions thank you chair Svensson select committee what committee would this go through normally the school board chair appoints all committee assignments and

[01:18:57] there is all the school board members are appointed to the select committee on a rotating basis so each board member gets a month and one more thing that makes sense thank you so much the line 48 and 49 the decision of the select committee of the school board shall be final no further appeals I feel like that's absolutely final and we should look at appeals on a case-by-case basis I know that we have policies where we want to just you know end any appeals but

[01:19:36] sometimes there are reasons why appeals should be considered so I feel like that's super final so that particular line I'm not sure I'm okay with the decision of the select committee of the school board shall be final and not further appealable and as school board members I'm not sure if you've experienced this but some cases have come up where I know we have the policy but case-by-case basis should be considered so I can do an amendment

[01:20:13] to it today or provide an amendment for the school board as far as maybe adding case-by-case or a case-by-case basis thank you dr. she thank you chair could I just get some context in regards to the current and apologies if you already said it for the the the 48 49 edition of the decision of the select committee that statement is there a reason why

[01:20:45] that was added or it was just for it was just to make it more defined i'm assuming thank you dr rasheed um i believe this recommendation from staff was to provide as you indicated greater clarity that the select committee of the school board you know there's various appeals for special permissions attendance zone and that select committee of the school board is the final kind

[01:21:18] of arbiter of those decisions just so that families have expectations that that is the final step in the process i think before it wasn't clear and it might give them a false hope that there's another step to the full board or to some other school board organization or entity that would be the arbiter of yet another decision on top of that so it just provides greater clarity so it's not to say I'm just out of curiosity

[01:21:53] this statement well before this statement was added in a traditional sense parents were able to appeal before or thank you for the question dr.

[01:22:09] to Rashid no this is no the practice is not changing the decisions of the select committee have always been final and so therefore it's just clarifying that procedure okay thank you thank you chair Svensson that particular line I would probably add and I can do the amendment for that Kate not only a case-by-case case basis but at the school board's discretion regarding that particular case things change and

[01:22:47] we shouldn't we should be able to maybe go back and and revisit the issue one when a decision has been made thank you thank you miss Griffith mrs. Griffith in terms of what's provided for and the code for say discipline hearings as you might be aware the SBAC committee here's all discipline appeals and so under the code applicable code section allows for a full appeal to the board when that's not a unanimous decision if

[01:23:26] it's a two one split and it's adverse to the student so the board and the committee here could contemplate a procedure like that it's it's just not currently practice and so that's why this language was added to conform and confirm current practice so but that's certainly within the purview of the committee or the board if they want to contemplate that question on this all

[01:24:01] right thank you for the presentation we will move forward to item 5.03 oh no sorry yes 5.02 policy 3040 school building administration presented by dr bergen thank you chair spenson okay this is the second information before you tonight board members this policy is also due for its five-year review it was last reviewed in september of 2021 and at that time there were no changes it was just affirmed to continue to be on the books

[01:24:35] there are some proposed changes before the committee today beginning at line two spelling out loudon county in place of lcps and the striking of the word division before superintendent conformance with other policy updates. At line four, insertion of the word Virginia for clarification that licenses are prescribed by the Virginia Board of Education. At line six, striking the reference to charter school principals since they are under the supervision of their own charter boards or their per their charter school contracts. Charter school principals are not under the

[01:25:13] supervision of the division superintendent. Lines six and seven are Scrivener changes, including use of the verb shall and shall be in lieu of the verb is. Lines 11 and 12, additional language to clarify that principals shall perform any such duties as may be assigned to them by the superintendent pursuant to the rules and regulations of the school board. And lines 14 through 22, insertion of additional language that is found in both the Virginia Code and in the VSBA model policy, which is recommended that the committee consider adding

[01:25:53] to this policy recommendations from a principal to the superintendent on personnel matters such as appointments, assignments, promotions, transfers, and dismissals, as well as the training for principals in the evaluation and documentation of employee performance, as well as training for assistant principals and other supervisory personnel in the evaluation and documentation of employee performance.

[01:26:18] and then lastly at lines 24 and 25 insertion of additional language to clarify that the administration and operation of charter schools is governed by policy 5410 charter schools and its accompanying regulation those are all of the proposed changes from the administration relative to this policy thank you dr. Bergen dr. Rashid thank you dr. Bergen I know that the principals are not under LCPS so what contract and I maybe you already said it

[01:26:55] what contract are they under if any if they're not an LCPS employee and can we dictate you know such trainings that were mentioned in this contract or in this policy so I'll take your first question the principles of the charter schools are under the supervision of the charter boards they select their principals they evaluate their principals in terms of dictating additional training was that your question it's already in Virginia code we require that our our principals need to be trained into how to supervise and

[01:27:33] document their supervision of principals when they're in the classroom performing their their required evaluations so that's the training is in reference to how principals are trained and how to conduct teacher evaluations I'll defer to legal if they'd like to elaborate on my my response to your question thank you dr. Bergen I think you've captured it it would be contractual for the the charter school agreement but yeah my understanding is that they are charter school principals are hired and at the under the supervision of the charter school board of directors although there is as you

[01:28:13] may be aware from your prior chairship of the special centers and programs that there is a dedicated executive principal who provides guidance from the school leadership team and that was Elaine Lehman but can like does their board their charter school board have duties that they also tell their principal that they have to do that may conflict with what we're saying I'm just trying to avoid any conflicts so good for clarity this policy before you does not apply to

[01:28:51] the principals of the charter schools because they're not under the supervision of the superintendent so the insertion of the additional language would be for the principals who work for Loudoun County Public Schools thank you thank you thank you dr. Rashid any further questions for staff or comments thank you all we have no discussion items on the agenda so we'll move on to new business is there any new business that folks would like to bring I don't

[01:29:27] have new business but I had a discussion item just a general question oh okay yes okay well do we so I will move back to number six no no worries I shouldn't have gone back past it so quickly yes Dr. Rashid a discussion item thank you so much chair just out of curiosity I know it's a hot topic about data center tax exemption I believe it's a long lines of the budget is there any way you guys can tell me a little bit about a little bit about that because I know it's um

[01:30:01] pretty big up for debate thank you for the question okay so basically what's going on is this with the budget because we're sort of at it currently in a budget impasse essentially you have the data center tack can you hear me okay essentially have the data center tax exemption which basically is a launch long-standing incentive program which it was designed in 2008 to lure

[01:30:33] businesses, technology companies specifically, into Virginia. And it eliminates, sorry, my words, the benefit is that they are exempt from the 5.3, I think it's 5.3% tax related to like their servers and, you know, paper towels they put in their, you know, cafeteria and things to that effect. So what happened this week is, I guess, yeah, a little bit last week, is they sort of

[01:31:09] came at loggerheads. So the majority leader of the Senate decided that they wanted to move up the 2035 removal of that exemption to 2027. That created a problem for the House, which is absolutely not going to remove that until 2035. And what we're talking about is we're probably talking about a million six uh uh excuse me a billion six in in you know senator lucas's who's head of the finance committee her she's saying a billion six that we're not getting and uh the

[01:31:48] governor uh and the house the speaker is seeing billion six that we weren't really going to get until 2037 anyway because we made all these we made all these agreements with the companies to do it and if we break that now then that's going to inhibit our ability to to generate more revenue vis-a-vis more companies coming in here who are not going to come in here in their mind because we're going against what we agreed to do and the new companies who are saying wait a minute you

[01:32:16] agreed to do this um the basically the reason it's it's so intense intense for us is because What it does is it affects what we do here.

[01:32:34] Does it affect us immediately? Is it going to tomorrow or are we going to be in dire straits? No, but the long-term ramifications of them taking away that tax exemption is that all the businesses and all the technology companies and all those folks that want to come here are not going to come here.

[01:32:55] They're going to kind of go to Kentucky, they're going to go to Texas, and they're going to go to Ohio. And so long-term, you're going to see a dramatic drop in those companies come because what they do is they automatically put in $150 million for whatever the fee is, plus you're going to employ a certain number of people, and that certain number of people are going to be, you know, we're talking high-skilled jobs, and they're going to live in Loudoun County, and they're going to raise their children, the whole bit.

[01:33:26] So it's really an argument over whether the subsidy is needed or not and an argument over, okay, if we don't have it, how are we going to work with that? And if we do have it, what are we going to – how are we going to work with that? So, you know, the fact of the matter is that they are on a deadline.

[01:33:44] We're on a deadline. Mid-March, they have to come to a conclusion. So we'll just see if – who will, you know, who will pull their car out of the way first. I don't know. I don't know yet if this isn't, I was talking to Joel Andrus with Kemper, I was talking to him today quite a bit about it.

[01:34:06] We just don't know yet whether this is a game of chicken. Okay, I want other things, or this is really something that the Finance Committee and Senator Lucas feels really strongly about. Because in their mind, the billion dollars is coming somewhere.

[01:34:23] So in the Senate's mind, the billion six is coming somewhere. So if we don't get it from the data center, we're going to take it out of the budget somewhere else, which creates another issue because then the loggerhead related to the budget becomes about other things, like, you know, whether it's teacher raises or infrastructure costs or whatever.

[01:34:44] I mean, those are my words, not anybody's words. But, you know, full repeal, compromise phase out. I'm assuming that it's going to be a partial rollback because the governor is involved. But other than that, I mean, short story long, sorry. But that's where we're at.

[01:35:00] And we won't know anything until they decide that they're going to make the compromise. Thank you so much. That's a slew of information and worry some too at the same time. But thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rasheed. Any further discussion items?

[01:35:18] No? Thank you. And I believe we'd already gone to new business, but there were no new business items, right? Seeing no business items, I'll move to adjournment. Our next meeting is scheduled for April 8th, 2026. Please mark your calendars. And at this time we will adjourn the meeting at 6:35 p.m.

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